The Anchor Banker

Thank you for the feedback.  Based on the comments I guess it is the European version of a Caribbean cruise with Barcelona being a bonus?

We are looking at several options this fall, one of which is a Canary Islands cruise on the Infinity.  We like the Infinity, have never been to Barcelona and thought it might be a nice vacation but we are not finding a lot of positive comments online and don't personally know anyone who has done a Canary Islands cruise.  Can anyone who has been recently give some feedback as to whether this is a bucket list worthy vacation?

Thanks for the feedback.  

I think we are looking at just a day trip to the Argentinian side.  The flights seem very reasonable online for early am departure and evening return.  

Can we safely do this on our own?  Such as finding a taxi around 4am from the Sheraton to take us to the airport?  Taxi from IGR to the Falls, etc.  Are the flights reliable?  Can we see all we need to see, do the boat ride to the falls, etc without a guide?

Can someone please give some direction or advice on the Falls?  Celebrity offers a very costly day trip but it appears I can go before or after the cruise by booking flights on my own for about $50 each way from Buenos Aires.  Add taxi fare and admission to the park and I’m still $1000 per person cheaper.

Am I missing something?  Is it better with a guide or in a package?  Should I be booking through another vendor?  Can anyone provide some guidance?

I guess the problem is at the regular drink package price, I will choose a different cruise line.  However, if it were reasonably priced and I could know that and lock that in while I book, I would choose RC.  From what I am understanding, I won't have access to the live discounts being offered until AFTER I book which in this case is frustrating when the drink package could potentially cost nearly as much or possibly even more than the cruise.

We are not big drinkers by any means but rather just enjoy being able to have a drink whenever we feel like it without having to think about how much it's costing.  We never really considered a drink package until it was included on a couple Celebrity cruises and we found we loved it and it made the cruise far more relaxing and enjoyable.  We spent more time exploring the various lounges throughout the ship where we could grab a drink and enjoy the entertainment being offered or even just meet some new friends in a social setting.  

This will be a last minute booking so cancelling and rebooking isn't really an option.  

Thank you for the suggestion to ask kindly in the Roll Call.  

I was hoping there was a site where this info might be posted so we knew for certain what the drink package was going to cost before we book the cruise.  As we are only a couple weeks away, I'd hate to book then find out the drink package is more than we are willing to pay.  There are other all inclusive options with other cruise lines that we are comparing it to.

I can live with the $100 per day (yes there are 2 of us) but would just like to know the amount for sure before we book.  It's kind of a chicken and egg scenario.  I guess there is no way to lock in one of the sale prices before or while booking either?  

Is there somewhere we can see when drink packages are discounted before we book the cruise? 

We have found a Royal Caribbean cruise we really like but the cost of the drink package is holding us back.  

We are looking at a Royal Caribbean cruise as our favorite option but the standard cost of the drink package seems excessive.  If the drink package was discounted to something reasonable, we would book for sure.  Is there a website or somewhere I can see what discounts are offered before booking?  

8 hours ago, goncruzn said:

They could choose to go to one of the hotels close to the pier and have an early lunch in the hotel restaurant.  You don't have to be a guest of the hotel in order to do so.  They could then arrange a shuttle or uber to the pier.  The Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina is nicely located just around the corner from the 17th Street Causeway entrance of the port on Eisenhower Blvd.  You can have lunch and sit outside by the pool and enjoy the view of the yachts which are "parked" next to the hotel.

This is a great idea and I'm not sure why I didn't think of it myself since we stayed here a few weeks ago and it was fantastic.

7 hours ago, MrFunInTheSun said:

 

To be clear the delayed ability to get on the ship has nothing to do with Allure of the seas propulsion issues. Allure of the seas has always had a delayed arrival time and sail away of 8pm this day. 

 

Allure of the seas is currently on its last sailing out of Miami. 

 

Along with Harmony of the seas is on its last sailing out of Ft Lauderdale. Both ships must return to their original ports before they can sail to their new ports.

 

Allure can’t leave Miami for Ft Lauderdale until all her passengers are off the ship. And Allure can’t go into Ft Lauderdale until Harmony has disembarked all her passengers and  then sail to Port Canaveral. 

I'm not sure if that's the case or not but they said their original scheduled boarding time was 12pm and it was changed yesterday to after 4pm.  The letter explained there was an issue with the ship's speed and there was also a reduction in the amount of time in port in San Juan.

Well, if they did that they would miss their wedding!

I helped a couple of first time cruisers put together their honeymoon on the Allure of the Seas this weekend.  I was happy we found a great direct flight that arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 10am and told them they would be enjoying their first delicious salad bar and beef on a bun at the Park Cafe before noon.  Unfortunately, today they received notice of the propulsion issue on the Allure and that they would not be permitted to board before 4pm and they should not go to the terminal before 4pm. 

So now they are asking me what they can do from 10am until 4pm other than sit in the airport and stare at their luggage.   I don't think they'd be up for an everglades tour as I did read that was something others have considered.  Does anyone have any good suggestions that I can pass along to them?   

Thanks for your review. We are contemplating the POA vs doing 2 islands by land (12 day total vacation). Reading multiple reviews echoing similar sentiments to yours has us leaning towards land.

We are avid cruisers and would love to "sample" each island and the sail around the Na Pali coast looks wonderful but I guess we could do that in the future when we have more time and can do one of the nicer ships from California. For the price of this one, there seems to be better value doing a land vacation.

Your head must be spinning now! I guess only you would know if you could spend 12 days in one place. Has this friend been on a cruise, any other islands or just Maui? I would say it would be less hectic to stay in one place as you don't have to deal with multiple car rentals, time lost coming and going, etc. Good luck on your final decision! Maybe you could stay on Maui for the most part and visit another island for a couple of days.

Ha ha ha yes, my friend has certainly made us rethink our plans. He has stayed in Oahu, Kauai and Maui in the past and said Maui was his favorite and he'd gladly stay there for weeks.

Staying in Maui for the 12 days or even 3 days in Oahu and 9 days in Maui is significantly less expensive than a cruise and stay though we like the idea of seeing all the Hawaiian Islands on one trip with the cruise. All 3 options seem nice but it's just tough to decide which to do.

What I'm leaning towards now is arriving in Honolulu the day before the cruise (I don't think we can go any earlier because of work), sailing for the 7 days and then flying to Maui right after the cruise and spending 4 nights there before flying home. It means missing Pearl Harbor on this trip but I'm sure we will be back again.

With all due respect and just being honest, Maui is not an island that you should have to be talked into visiting. If you enjoy Oahu, that should certainly be the place to spend your time. The whole idea is to enjoy Hawaii and have a great vacation.

Please understand that I am happy to receive any advice and am very appreciative to those who share their thoughts.

I have never been to Hawaii and I am open to any suggestions anyone is willing to provide. Last night I ran into a friend who has been to Hawaii 10 times and his recommendation was to minimize our time in Honolulu and go straight to Maui after the cruise or even skip the cruise altogether and spend 12 days in Maui. He made quite a compelling argument so needless to say, we are now weighing our options.

Losing the hours in the airport. Are one of the other islands going to provide a better experience for 4 days? If so, I'd consider it. From what I've been reading we should enjoy our time in Oahu.

Great to hear. We are flying a similar distance and were concerned about having only 1 day to deal with the jet lag. Any jet lag after the vacation will be well worth it and manageable!

I really appreciate the tips and will get into greater detail on what to do at each Port stop soon. The more pressing item now will be booking my flights and as such I will have to figure out exactly how long we are going to stay in Hawaii. As it looks right now, we are probably only going to get one night prior to the cruise. I know more time would be better to get adjusted to the time zone and recover from the long flight but I don't think work schedules will allow it.

We will have time after the cruise so now I'm trying to decide how many days and where to stay. We can probably do about 4-5 days max. I had thought about going to Maui or one of the other islands but logistically it probably doesn't make sense for such a short period of time. Agree?

With 4-5 days in Oahu, we are thinking about renting a car for a day or two and driving the island and exploring the other side, doing a bit of snorkeling and visiting Pearl Harbour. Most likely some exploring of Honolulu and R&R the rest of the time. Is 4-5 days on Oahu reasonable? Other things you recommend we do? Can anyone recommend a hotel? I know there are lots there but perhaps best bang for the buck.

Thank you for the outstanding feedback. The comments from seasoned, experienced cruisers was exactly what I was hoping to receive. I also really appreciate the tips on what to do on each Hawaiian Island. The helicopter tour looks amazing and the car rental tip is valuable to save us some precious time.

We have some extra available vacation time in late November/early December this year. Normally we are restricted to 1 week so we have done many Caribbean cruises, primarily on RCI and Celebrity lately. We have never cruised with Norwegian. With up to about 12 days to travel , we have been searching for something interesting and different.

We have found the itineraries on POA and Spirit intriguing though the reviews on both ships are not glowing. We'd appreciate your take on each ship and itinerary and if you have any other ideas (cruise or not) for us to consider that time of year, we'd love to hear it. We've enjoyed our cruises so much we tend to stick to them but we don't often have this much extra time for travel, so we'd be open to anything.

Here's my commentary on POA and Spirit based on what I've found so far:

Norwegian Spirit

Barcelona, Casablanca, Las Palmas Tenerife, Funchal, Malaga, Alicante

We've always wanted to see Barcelona so we'd be able to add a couple days there. The price is reasonable and it includes a drink package which is also very nice. We don't know that much about the Canary islands or the other port stops though I read about 60 reviews and people seem to enjoy them. Hearing from someone who's done both this itinerary and Hawaii would probably be very helpful.

Norwegian Pride of America

Standard Hawaiian Loop

Hawaii is on our bucket list (as it is for many people). We could spend a couple extra days in Honolulu, which is nice. The port stops and the sail along the Na Pali Coast looks pretty amazing.

The all in cost of this vacation will be significantly higher than the Spirit and will exclude a drink package. We are willing to pay more for a bucket list vacation so cost is a consideration but not the main factor. We are also considering a 2 island land (Oahu and Maui) vacation in Hawaii as an alternative, but the sense I get from the POA reviews is that most people prefer getting a taste of all the islands on the ship.

So what's your opinion CC friends? Canaries on the Spirit? Hawaii on POA? 2 Island Land Hawaii? A different idea we haven't considered (bearing in mind we have up to 12 days in late November/early December)?

So as a gold member if I am there at noon, I should be able to board and they are not going to make me wait for the scheduled 3pm boarding time for my deck?

Been on both last year and will do both this year again. With kids-go Allure!!! So much more to do with/for the kids. No brainer! They will enjoy it and want to go back again.

This cruise is actually without our kids - couples getaway.

Thanks for your replies, they have been helpful.

We are debating between Silhouette and Allure. We have sailed the Solstice class a couple times and they are our favourite ships but recognize we sailed during holiday periods where the crowd tends to be younger. When we sailed, the average age was early 50's and most of the music/entertainment was geared to that age group which worked for us (we are mid 40's). This time we are looking at sailing without our kids in late November or early December which I know is the low season and were wondering if that would mean an older crowd (not that there is anything wrong with that, we just might enjoy Allure a little more in that case).