trinaM

Each to their own.

Some people say a short cruise of 1 to 5 days is "not a Cruise experience"

I say Each to their own. Maybe you have next to no vacation from work.

Maybe you are new to cruising and don't know if it is for you.

You can have fun, have a nice meal, see some entertaining shows, comedians, and enjoy the ship with a one, two or three day cruise.

anyway, Enjoy your experiences cruising.

Ended up taking a short taxi ride. I am glad that We did because we walked alot the day before. It was pleasant. I saw that it would have been a bit more of a walk than I had imagined. Thanks to all for your experiences.

As someone who has cruised twice from Ballentyne Pier, worked at said pier, lived close by in younger days, I would gladly paid $10/$15 taxi even from closest bus stop to get to ship.

thanks for your info.

It helps to know something about the port at Ballentyne.

Live from the Island Princess--Panama Canal Eastbound--Day One

Hi PunkiC,

have a great cruise. Sounds like a great deal of fun.

LOVE those LIVE chats from a cruise!

Sail,

So Sorry to hear of your Loss.

Prayers for you and your loved ones.

Actually that was almost certainly Scottbee - he has posted step-by-step directionsthis link takes you to his photo album with actual pictures of the entire process (SB - perhaps a link in your Signature with this would make it easier to find when searching...?)

thank you for the directions to Scottbee's Picture gala of skytrain to canada place. I appreciate it.

I'm all for saving money on cruises but I was just adding up costs the other day for a 7 day cruise. I always use a website to book my hotels when I travel and the average cost usually runs between $70-$90 per night for a double or king with continental or almost complete breakfast. Using an $80 average that's $560 for 7 days, Since breakfast is included . lets add up what lunch costs for 2 at McDonalds ($5 x 2 =$10)or Panera ( $8 for a meal + $1.75 for a medium drink= $9.75 x 2 = $19.50) So we have an average of $15/ day for lunch or $105 for 7 days. Dinner at Applebees for 2 on special = $20 + $5 for non alcoholic drinks = $25. Dinner at a good Seafood or Steak house here in SW FL costs $50 -$75, so lets use an aggregate average of $50 for this or $350. We must not forget that it takes gas in the car to get there so lets just say 1 tank of gas for the week at $50.

 

So the totals are:

Hotel $560.00

Lunch $105.00

Dinner $350.00

Trans $50.00

 

TOTAL$1065.00

 

So if one would save up just over $20/ week the basic cost of a 7 day cruise inside cabin found on any of the websites we all use for finding deals would be paid for.

 

IAHAWKIZE A member of:

FRITOS BANDITOS CC Group

I for one like your analysis. It is an average cost idea, but that does help if you are a frugal person trying to make a comparison, So thank you.

I have used them and it works out well for me.

I am a little tired of the "lemonade:" flavor though! too many uses

I do like them though.

You may have to budget for the following tips that are not included in the pre-paid grats:

 

This is what we tip so others may feel it is too much or not enough, but just trying to give you an honest idea of what to expect.

 

Taxi - we would tip based on milage and service

 

 

 

 

.

what is the tip for the taxi driver based on mileage? how much for a mile? thanks.

I just wanted to share my cruise budget template. It includes as many categories for budgeting as I could think of.

 

http://www.embarkandaway.com/budgets.html

 

Let me know what you think! Also feel free to ask questions about the categories.

 

Note: The Automatic Tip section is for people who just pay the suggested guideline and don't want to tip crew members individually.

Thank you for this link.

Both my one-days have been on a weekend when it was possible to do both. On each I've shared a breakfast table with people doing exactly this - they all, without exception, used Quickshuttle. While the Bolt schedule is pretty good, the extra time getting to the bus from the pier and then to the pier from the bus on the other end is time that you don't need to spend if you use QS.

 

Crucial factor - the border. The delay at the border last time I did a one-day was outrageous - the supposed-to-be-four-hour trip took six-and-a-half, and that was with cutting the stops post-border short because the delay had been so bad. We sat in nose-to-tail traffic for almost three hours. Border staff actually told us that the delay was directly caused by the huge influx of cruise passengers returning from one-day cruises - I was skeptical, given the weekend one-days the previous year had not seemed to cause such a bottleneck, but perhaps combined with decreased staffing levels/a bout of flu...

 

Border patrol were literally walking down the queue of waiting coaches, boarding and asking if everyone on-board was Canadian/US citizens - if so, they checked your passports visually on the bus and sent you off through a car lane they had opened for just this purpose. As our coach had a couple of other nationalities on-board, we had to wait and were very jealous of the coaches behind us we then saw starting to whiz by...

 

It would not surprise me to hear that some folks trying to do the double-double Princess status earning (2 single cabins, 2 trips = 4 credits apiece for a single weekend...) missed the second ship. QS at least went pier-pier, with an ETA of c.1 pm, so might just have managed to get you there in time to board with a 2 hour delay - add on the need to get from Amtrak to Pier 91 in Seattle traffic and I wager.

 

If I were ever to try a double-double like this, I would book Quickshuttle despite the big cost differential from Bolt.

Thank you for your experiences. I just don't want to miss the second ship!!

anyone else haVE experiences with this?

OK... I now know that I can't upload an Excel file (which is what my cruise planner is formatted in ), so if anyone would like the .xls file, please reach out to me via email and I'll be happy to send you the entire file. All the tabs are pre-formatted so that once you plug in your sail date and your ship name on the first page (Travel Info), this info populates corresponding cells on the other tabs. It also has a preset reminders tab that will take your cruise date and automatically calculate reminders for certain activities that you need to do pre-cruise at different intervals (1, 2, 3 weeks prior). In the meantime, I will attempt to post .pdf's of the individual tabs. Crossing my fingers and hoping this works. :)

this is great, thank you for sharing.

I'm looking to book for a cruise in May which is only a few weeks away. There have been sales so the price has been decreasing but will it go down again during the month it departs? Also I noticed there are still quite a bit of rooms available. Would that help decrease it during the month of May if the ship still needs more people to go? I'm nervous to book now and then when May comes around, the price is even lower.

Isn't It like airlines supply and demand, It goes up and down according to the cruiselines?

Just wondering if anyone has ever cancelled with one TA and re-booked with another, because another can offer you a much lower price and/or better incentives? Just wondering how it worked out if you did?

My story with rebooking- I did cancel a cruise I booked with a travel agent.

I did not like the vibe in working with this cruise agency OWNER.

after I cancelled, she required a cancellation fee. I protested because NO one told me of the fact when I booked with them.

She didn't make me pay the penalty because I was not forewarned but it left a bad taste in my mouth and I used an online agency to

book the cruise.

I guess it s good to make sure you know what the cancellation policies are. period before you choose.

Before you even get on the cruise, there are ways to save money....I posted on my blog, how to cruise on a budget. Take a look if you like.

http://karanandmichael.blogspot.com/2014/03/traveling-on-budget.html

Hope it helps...

I like your blog intro to budget cruising. Thanks for the link.

Hope you and your family had fun cruising.

I"m still interested in sailing on ONE cruise from Seattle to Vancouver and then

getting Transportation back to Seattle Pier to Sail on a Second One day cruise leaving the NEXT day.

Has anyone tried the BOLT bus?

does anyone have experiences with cruising a ONE day cruise and returning to the Same port the NEXT DAY to Cruise a second ship ?

thank you.

We are cruising Alaska, back to back, out of Vancouver on June 23rd. It is much less expensive to fly from Detroit to Seattle than Detroit to Vancouver. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting from Seattle to Vancouver? Any info would be appreciated.

Its about a 3 and 1/2 hour to 4 hour trip (average)

I love to take the train up from seattle.

try amtrak.com

alternatively, there is quickshuttle, and or renting a car.

have a great time on your cruise.

that when you finish working your way around all of the downtown poutineries you come back and tell us which one was the best? ;)

I will, if i find any wonderful not to be missed Poutine.

its all subjective anyway.

everyone likes something different.

To all: thanks for your helpful replies.:)

Cheers.

Hi Trina, this is a birthday present from my husband. :) The price was great, just about what you would pay for a hotel room anyway. We have always wanted to take the train between Vancouver and Seattle but could never make it work. This way, when we disembark the cruise in Seattle we are spending the night in a hotel and taking the train back to Vancouver in the morning! Should be wonderful.

Hi Karen,

I love that train trip, Its so relaxing. Quite the way to travel between Vancouver /Seattle or the reverse. I might even just take the train for the scenery!.

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Susan

Langley, I see you usually cruise RCI, how did you choose this Princess ONE day cruise?

This is exactly what someone on the Roll Call mentioned and it makes perfect sense! Ballentyne is not the prettiest pier ever but our one ship will make check in and embarkation much easier. :)

I'm Loving reading and re reading this specific topic. Even though I have cruises under my belt, people always have great ideas in preparing for your cruise and things that make it work for them.. Thanks all for your imput.

I remember in the late 2006, 2007 HAL did not close their buffets exactly at 8pm

any one else remember when they actually started that policy?

thanks.

HI I will be in Vancouver and I am craving poutine. Can anyone direct me to

the BEST POUTINE in Vancouver (downtown) area?

Thank you again!!

hi

What is the Walk like from Centennial/heatly ave to the actual Terminal Doors?

What is it like?

What amenities does the Ballentyne Pier have that is different from Canada Place.

Oh and by the way. Thanks all for responding to my questions!! :)

My thought on booking a Guarentee is Be happy with the category you are choosing.

I have booked MANY guarentees on ships, and for me was very happy with most all of them.

Occasionally I was bumped up to another category of cabin IE mini suite and was happy, but really would have been fine with what I had.

Some times you don't get bumped up at all, and they put you where they want to. What they think is an upgrade, you may not.

But that said, I have had really good experiences doing it.

Most of all Have fun on your cruise!!