Gypsywych

Hey!   Thank you all very much.  Our hotel is less than 70 miles from the Port of Tampa.  We're going to check Waze and the traffic site shown above ( Thank you Capt BJ) around 8am.  If it's backing up, we'll leave then. If traffic is lighter, we'll hang out and have another cup of coffee.  It's all good.

There is an Alamo Car Rental place right there at Shades of Green  and the Tampa agency is on Kennedy about 10 minutes from the Port.  They run a shuttle on cruise days. 

Thanks.  We've done the Kissimmee to Universal and back traffic during the week, in all of that construction.  Whew!
Glad to have some perspective on heading on into Tampa from there.  I appreciate it. 

We'll be in Orlando for a few days before our cruise out of Tampa in November.  We'd like to just leave the morning of the cruise and drive straight down to the Port.  How is traffic usually on a weekday morning?   If we want to arrive at the port by 10am, how much time should we allow? 

12 hours ago, evandbob said:

The OP thinks that carnival will lower it's tipping rate if gratuities are folded into the cruise fare?  Fat chance of them or any other corporation turning down extra revenue.

 

They would just use the add on revenue from charging everyone the tip scale to raise executive salaries and give stockholders a higher dividend.

This.

Exactly this. 

2 hours ago, davekathy said:

I deleted mine. Hopefully now the wait time will go much faster. 

Oops.  Found it. 

AARP Rewards for Good let me log in today. I'm no longer locked out. 

15 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

It had to be Dora that I mentioned in the post above I would imagine.

Yes! That is her. Thank you. 

We sailed on the Miracle through the Canal from Long Beach last January. 
Booked a private whale watching tour in Cabo.  It was amazing.    https://whalewatchcabo.com/

We had an excellent private excursion in Cartagena as well, but I do not remember the name of the company. It was run by a woman. 
We did a ship excursion in Guatemala because everything is at least a two-hour ride from the port.   If it's offered, do not do the Mayan Ruins tour.  Not worth the time or money. (If you absolutely must do the ruins, wear long pants & take a jacket, it's at altitude)   Go visit Antigua instead.
In  Puntarenas Costa Rica we did a ship excursion to a coffee plantation that was excellent.  Very informative, fun and there was food and shopping time included.   

We did not have a stop in Puerto Limon, but I hear there is an excellent sloth rescue there. 
 

9 hours ago, scpirate said:

Tour guides might not be giving the government their cut.strawberry tours sent an email yesterday changing their meeting location.someone is doing something shady in my.opinion with all these changes all of a sudden.i had to prepay my tour with PayPal.

Interesting.

Would you mind sharing which tour company you are using?

I thought Strawberry Tours was "free".

(And by free, I mean that I thought you tipped heavily at the end) 

1 hour ago, wemjam said:

After all my cruises I know all this lol!  I am asking specifically about Cuba because it is slightly different than other ports and want to know about how long it took people to get through the customs process and get the money exchanged.  Cuba is not like other ports where you just walk off the ship and boom you are there.  My understanding is you will have to wait in lines for customs, and then again to change your money since only CUC is accepted and no credit cards.  Comments on that process and time it takes from those that have done it.

My apologies.  I thought I was answering exactly what you asked.  

As with any port, no matter what time they tie up to the dock, you can't disembark until the ship has been cleared with the port authorities. 
If you're on a ship excursion, your tickets will tell you where and what time to meet. 
If you're taking a private excursion, you may not be able to disembark until the first wave of ship excursions have gone.

9 hours ago, ebslcc said:

Unfortunately what I heard from 4 separate private tour guides during our last December cruise is private tour operators and private businesses are constantly getting squeezed from changing Cuban government regulations also.  New rules came into play just before our arrival.  e.g. one of the tour operators said that private restaurants can no longer bring in musicians without going through a government agency and paying a booking fee.  "That's why less private restaurants have live music".   

 

What's happening with Blexie?  They no longer can pick up passengers where they used to?  

 

Laurence

 

 

From my understanding,  Cuban authorities did a sweep of waiting tour guides in Plaza de San Francisco one day a couple of weeks ago.  Held about 10 of them in jail for a full day and fined them (I assume for operating without proper Cuban licenses?).  
Since then,   Blexie has changed his meeting spot for his groups,  FerTours has gone out of business, and CubaOutings has closed due to "injuries to all employee in a vehicle accident".  

2 hours ago, MrMarc said:

I know I am going to be flamed, but I am going to say this anyway.  We as Americans go into a foreign country and disregard or flaunt laws that we think are wrong, and then are surprised and outraged when we are subjected to those laws and what that country considers justice.  We do not get to make the rules for everyone else.  I hope it goes well also.

I'm not going to flame,  and I'm not even going to disagree with your comments.  :)   

....but I am wondering what your comments have to do with Blexie making changes to his meeting place?  The Cuban government hasn't said that these tours are illegal. They aren't trying to discourage tourists from taking them. If anything they are trying to discourage the tour guides themselves from operating.  

The cruise lines do not know any more than we do at this point.  Bolton's remarks were very non-specific about Cuban travel. It could take months for the administration to work out what the new policies will be.   
So what should Oceania be doing?  

1) Control your children.   Not all children, just the ones who need more parental guidance.
2) I am happy to aid the scooters, walkers, and wheelchairs load the elevators first, please be kind enough to not run over my feet as we're getting off the elevators.   

3) Scooters sounding their horns do not have the right of way through the casino or the Lido.  
4) Please shower between your beach/shore excursion and dinner in the MDR.  Your tablemates (and the tables close by) will thank you. 

17 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

 

There is a difference when the itinerary is changed before the cruise departs. With the number of ships and cruises potentially affected, and Carnival's tendency to overcompensate, I think the policy is out the window..

 

I'm not so sure about that one.  Carnival's policy on compensation seems all over the map at times. 
I think it depends on how many and how loudly people complain and to whom.  

Got caught as well, and I only used one of the codes once.   I called today and the woman was extremely apologetic, but couldn't tell me if our account would be released or not.   She did say that the codes we receive are linked to our accounts, and couldn't be used on others.   Lesson learned. 

This day tour company has good reviews on Trip Advisor, but does anyone here have any experience with this company? 

Thanks

We're booked on the Paradise to Cuba in November.  Carnival is really stressing the need to book ship sponsored excursions due to US travel prohibitions.  Was getting off the ship an issue with a privately booked tour?  

I have not had to get a refund on the actual cruise, but I did have to get a refund on an excursion.  They asked if I still had the original gift card,  when I did not, I was sent a new one for the refunded amount.  Took about 3 weeks.  

I have not attempted to have them refunded by AARP.  

2 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

I'm sure it also wouldn't hurt if they had smaller plates. Those massive ones almost make you feel like you have to load up. A smaller plate might make someone say "I'll just get more later" to which they might not.

They went to those huge plates when they took away the trays.  Again, to save money by not washing trays.   But I absolutely agree with you.  It is very easy to put far too much on those huge oval plates.  Everything looks so good!  

10 hours ago, CoolOne56 said:

Ok, but how do you offer smaller portions in a buffet?

While you can't stop people from overloading their plates, you can  a) add a server or two to dish out portions (which is unlikely since paying for labor is a higher cost than food), 

b) portion the food in smaller sizes which will cut down on what many people put on their plate. 

Carnival takes in (on average) a little over $1400 per passenger on a 7-day cruise.  That includes shopping, drinks, excursions, etc.   On that same 7 day cruise, Carnival will spend $87 per passenger on food.  That's $12 a day.   That's the "waste" Carnival is trying to cut down.  
I think they should go the other way.  Up the quality of what is served, spend a little more time on preparation, and offer smaller portions. 

3 hours ago, NightOne said:

 

It is dead. The site may technically be up but the Carnival price watching is totally broke. There has been no feedback from the site owner in probably more than a year now.

 

A real shame as it was a great resource in the past.

Thanks.