Capt_BJ

provided as I recall ... I know we didn't pack any!

I thought I read that we cross the arctic circle on the cruise. Does anyone know this and is there any ceremony ? You probably do/might cross the circle at this point (orange) all of Iceland is south of the circle but at this point it is less than a mile so it depends on how they 'cut the corner'. We've twice crossed the circle on VO cruises (last time went Bergen to Longyearbyen ... that's WAY further north) ... passing this marker 'on the circle' on these cruises they did a Bluenose ceremony where you dip into COLD water and are rewarded with some blue frosting on the nose and some Aquavit to warm up and a certificate ... the ceremony is 'voluntary' ... they fill a hot tup with cold water and a LOT of ice .... and replenish the ice as 'needed' . here's Mrs taking her dip .... having patrolled the Bering Sea for a while in my USCG time ... already a member .. editorial comments: 1) each time the ceremony was on a sea day after the crossing .... it consumed several hours 2) I've know people to cross the circle on other lines and nothing was done in recognition . . .

I do not remember the exact cost but I do remember it was nothing to get excited about. BUT do be aware that just about everything in Iceland is gonna seem $$ as compared to US. ALSO the hotel we stayed at - FOSS - had a desk in the lobby to help arrange transportation / tours and the such and answer questions. We found them VERY helpful and service with a smile! Are you familiar with the geography? Know where the cruise port is?

you are looking at a distance of under 3 miles (average) .. there are plenty of taxi. Our last cruise ended in Reyk' and the hotel was about 1.5 miles. Taxi was easy and credit card was easy to use ....

My Bar at Sunset House https://sunsethouse.com/dining/ Guy Harvey's place https://biteclubcayman.com/restaurant/boathouse-grill/

https://hotrayzlimos.com/fleet/party-bus-27-passenger/ they have a trailer for bags . . .

YC? Ya mean PC? Probably ... it is gonna take about the same time to get to Melb' as it would to MCO but I'm pretty sure you'll get thru TSA faster. It is unusual for Melb' to have more than 2 planes at a time

(besides Uber or Lyft) Uber or Lyft Red Coach is not a 'shuttle' between the airports but rather a luxury long haul bus ..... if you can book something that fits your schedule it should be nice but frankly I'd do U/L for freedom of scheduling . .

Best? What's your measuring stick? Lots of Honor 'sublet' spots from Park n Cruise <after they went kaput on their own> but I'm not sure they ever came back after COVID ... the old link is dead and I can't find a new one ..... Park n Cruise and Park Port Canaveral are the same distance from the port ... which is nearest your terminal depends on the terminal .... they go back and forth for best price (with reservation) PPC is paved and PnC is gravel appears to be biggest difference. I usually use PnC .... https://parkncruiseportcanaveral.com/ https://www.parkportcanaveral.com/ there are several others but I know these two are GOOD.

looking at the schedule for Jan LIBERTY is using terminal 3 ... just follow the signs to Terminal 3 on the B side aka the SOUTH side

I have no experience with this service myself but similar operations have been around since the 80's! https://reserve.cruise-connection.com/

I'm assuming you mean you have dinner the night before your cruise ... if I'm wrong read no further best food in Tampa comes down to TWO places IMO BERN'S https://bernssteakhouse.com/ ..... regularly on the top 10 steak houses in the US and arguably the largest wine list in the world. AND don't forget to make an adjacent reservation to the dessert room. Or Columbia .... very good Spanish/Mediterranean ..... the Sangria is noteworthy ..... spanish dancers ONLY in main dining room and some days. BUT there is a Columbia grill in the 'Tampa Bay History Center (on the water front)' with a partial menu ..... https://www.columbiarestaurant.com/columbia-cafe-at-the-tbhc

I think key here is to ask the host for tables where people are ASKING to sit with others. THIS and I'd mention that when getting to the 'desk' mentioning "I'd like to share a table" has always meant we met new and interesting folks... Or as my 6 yea daughter once said: friends I haven't met yet. Our last VO cruise we enjoyed most nights at a large table with new friends. BTW this was a 'common thing' when we began cruising back around 1982 .... big table, multiple groups .. encourage fellowship (and when it didn't work out you went to the mart'd, slipped him a few and got your table changed!!!!)

the small inexpensive 'walkie talkies' typically seen operate under 1990's technology and the FRS - Family Radio Service. These are very low power and operate at a frequency that's "ok" out in open areas but horrible when dealing with STEEL. The next step up from FRS is GMRS but these are typically more $$ and used in semi-professional use. There are yet other hand held radios that DO work well on ships (we used them on ships I worked on) but they typically cost about $1000 per radio and larger ships which employ them often have 'repeaters' installed to improve range versus steel. On board 'cellular phone' systems have all but eliminated these in non-military applications. I have a set of FRS radios we bought for cruise use back in the day .... they never worked well on a cruise but I kept them for use around the house - sometime helpful during repair projects <searching for the correct circuit breaker>! They have not come out of the drawer in years since now we just call each other on our cell phones!

recently ran into this but 5 minutes talking to a people made it a non issue . . .

everytime we've cruised Viking (1 river, 2 ocean) I've activated the 'international' and have had ZERO issues. Mrs traveled to Norway on her own and did not activate 'full international' but used the 'call once and get 24 hours> to get her lost bags back ... no issues there either. I've investigated other providers but when I bring up 'international' everyone has said ''' no" ..... that said" T-Mobile IS the big dog in most of EU but my son dropped T after a year in the US due to poor coverage . . . where he lives (Alabama)

remember that 'port canaveral' is a business entity IN THE TOWN of Cape Canaveral. For example the Enterprise location 'in the port' has the address: 710 Mullet Rd, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920. In the port is a shared location for Enterprise/Alamo/National also in Cape Canaveral are Budget Dollar / Thrifty (shared location) AVIS all are fairly close to the port and on A1A search for a 'location' of Cape Canaveral . . .

watching the web cam for the port I see little activity. OTOH PC is a really good place for off site parking. There are several options within a 10 minute shuttle ride and they charge half what the port does for their garages .... https://www.parkportcanaveral.com/ https://parkncruiseportcanaveral.com/

you do realize that Miami to Orlando is 200 miles . . .

Thon chain is sort of the Holiday Inn of Norway ... reliable, clean, safe. There are a couple walking distance from the train station - in addition to 'opera house'. We used Thon Terminus .... Radisson Blu is right there too ....

we sailed from PE for a cruise over Thanksgiving last year and parking was a NIGHTMARE .... It was not our first time sailing from PE but the first time driving (usually fly in or park at child's house who lives near and drives us to the port) We arrived at 10 and most parking was full and folks blocking the entrances. Asking them where parking was available got a shrug and general hand wave ..... eventually I was led to 'the big garage' and directed to park under a big sign: "DO NOT PARK HERE" ..... car WAS there when we returned ..... It taints me so far as ever sailing from PE again ... I surely won't plan to park there even on the best of times you can be at a terminal with NO nearby parking and as dependent on a shuttle as if you were parked off site. If I'm flying in same day, PE is nice as it is SO close to the airport. Driving ... not so much. Since I live minutes from Port Canaveral now the flying thing no longer applies . . . and PC gets a big preference over the southern ports . . .

I'm doing Brightline in January, and I bought the more expensive tickets, which include an Uber connection between station and port. Not sure if you're interested in that. Just doing your own Uber, might be better, but you'd have to check the numbers. yep ... some serious number crunching is required here. With the 'premium' ticket your port to station leg is covered no matter how many UBER are required (and I believe I saw they run a mini-bus now); AND I believe the + ticket has some checked bags included .... Versus 2 adults and two kids <how big are we talkin?> and bags per UBER which may not fit!! requiring uber+ or 3 cars ..... You could be looking at two 'mini-van' taxi or two UBER+ ..... versus a BL+ ride with included drinks! {p.s. BL killed another one today so factor in extra time for possible police investigations ... they are maintaining their position as the most deadly rail road per mile of track}

in major US ports there is usually a standing Captain of the Port order for a threshold windspeed beyond which tugs are required to escort large vessels. 'not negotiable' 😗

MSC entered channel about 9am ... tug escort due to winds (standing port order) appears only one ship being allowed to be in channel at a time which will slow things more .... 9:30 and MSC is at the turning basin and OASIS OTS is passing the sea buoy

Port of Miami is closed this morning due to weather / wind as of 9AM there are 7 cruise ships which normally would be well into off load ... loitering outside of the port .... it appears the first is just now being allowed into the approach channel ..... it appears that due to the wind the Captain of the Port is requiring tug escort / assist .....