RoyDeb

My wife and I did a partial transit on the Caribbean Princess in January 2020.  I would not recommend that ship to anyone because the places where you could view the locks were very crowded and we tried scrambling around to find a better viewing area but just met with more crowds.

My wife and I were recently on a cruise on Oasis of the Seas. We went to the Next Cruise area to inquire about making a deposit for a future cruise. Since we were undecided about a particular cruise, the agent would not let us. We returned home and called the Crown and Anchor Society to see if there was a change in the policy. We were informed the program is called Decide Later and allowed us to make a deposit of $100 for each of us.

We don't know if any others have encountered being refused this service while on board but wanted to make you aware it still exists.

Our last cruise was out of Miami but we spent the evening before in a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. On our hotel shuttle was a woman who had overslept and missed her original flight. She caught a later flight and got to the port just in time to see her ship sail away. So she ended up paying for a night at the hotel in Ft. Lauderdale and then paying for a flight to one of the Caribbean islands to catch up with the cruise. This incident reinforced our traveling to the port the day before sailing.

Port of Galveston parking is not covered parking. I used it the first time we took a cruise out of there but never again because of the hassle of using the shuttles to drop your car and again when picking up your car.