SelectSys

Ok, I said it was simply person's claim.

Define well and by which standards? You do realize that the whole cruise and shipping industry "exploits" wage differences between various parts of the world to deliver their services? Filipino deck hands and cabin stewards have different ideas as to what it means to be paid well {i.e., take the job) in comparison to people working in the US, UK, Canada, etc. I agree that everyone on the ship's crew should eat well and healthily. Amazingly, in looking a bit about this issue on line, I have seen anecdotal information that scurvy is a possible issue in some crew member diets on very long contracts. I am actually 100% in agreement with this statement even though we likely disagree on how and what to change. However, that would venture into politics so I'll pass on saying more. Regardless the refrain from the popular Talking Heads song, "Once in a Lifetime" seems apropos: "Same as it ever was, same as it ever was Same as it ever was, same as it ever was Same as it ever was, same as it ever was Same as it ever was, same as it ever was"

It actually doesn't have to exist. Other means of distribution and advancement exist although they tend to be less efficient and eventually lead to decay.

Worthy? What do you mean? As a human or as an employee? Do you see any difference? Does it bother you that the ship's officers are compensated more and have better living conditions than most of the crew? You certainly can exercise free will and not book any more cruises if you like.

Everything in life involving some form of commerce tends to have one group subsidizing another. The most basic example, albeit dying, of this is a postal stamp. It doesn't matter how far the underlying letter goes, the price of the stamp is the same even the costs too deliver the letter change on where it is going. Personally, I am happy to know that people who gamble and drink help keep my base cruise fare low. Is it fair that drinkers and gamblers subsidize me? I think so as everyone onboard is there by choice and is free to do as they please - passengers and crew alike. BTW - Maybe on luxury lines people can eat 2 48oz steaks at no additional charge. I can attest this is not the case on a mass market line

According to the link below, the amount spent per day feeding the crew is only 1/3 that of the passengers. https://crew-center.com/economics-food-aboard-cruise-ships#:~:text=While passengers may receive a,affordable%2C food to crew members.

And now you know one of the key reasons why most of the crew isn't generally permitted to dine in the passenger venues regardless of line - money. Potential crowding of passenger spaces is another reason too.

While JFK has multiple terminals, it seems to me that over time they have consolidated somewhat along major alliance boundaries. For example, OneWorld seems to be all in Terminal 8. In Chicago, if a flight isn't precleared somewhere else like in Ireland you are going to need to take a train from terminal 5 to your other terminal. Again, on AA this means a train transfer from Terminal 5 to 3. For the chance of being in a single terminal, I would pick JFK was my my only criteria. Not really too big even if you need to change terminals at JFK as, like ORD, they have a train between terminals. JFK also has buses inside the secure area for certain terminal combinations. @Boatdrill, GE makes the time required in immigration the least of concerns when picking a connecting airport in the US. I would start looking at which airport is subject to more delays and what airport provides me with the most backup options to get to my final destination in case something goes wrong. For what it's worth, I would pick ORD over JFK if it was me flying home to San Diego on a OneWorld carrier using GE at immigration.

My first flight to Tokyo Narita was back in the early 1990's on an American Airlines MD11 from San Jose. Agreed, I have never found this to be true except perhaps in some very old parts of the airport that are undergoing renovation. I was in TBIT last month in the satellite terminal and it was very clean. On the freeway or via BART? It used to be kind of a logistical hassle to get to downtown SF back in the days of the BART bus between the airport and the Oakland Coliseum. However, the "new" train system makes it super easy to get between the airport and the BART station. Of course I always went during rush hour periods and might feel differently late at night. I also haven't been on BART since before the pandemic so I can't speak to how if feels to be on BART now.

If you are willing to venture outside the Marina and walk a few blocks, I would recommend "El Peregrino" (The Pilgrim) for steak. I haven't been in Cabo for over a year, but the most current reviews still look really good. I typically don't recommend for most cruise visits as the restaurant doesn't open until the afternoon. I would also recommend making a reservation in advance as I have been turned away when just showing up. https://elperegrinocabo.com/ Walking map from the cruise pier:

@EllieinNJ - While I am not a true PV expert, I have been in the city enough times to wonder what the value of taking a HOHO bus in PV might be? Looking at the map @Ine posted, it is just as simple to take the local bus or a taxi to get where you want to go. Maybe some of our true PV experts will chime in and venture an opinion with respect to the PV HOHO bus.

It seems with respect to cruising, one of the best ways to get a "discount" (i.e., better price) is to wait until the last moment. Fortunately it seems that there are at least a couple of websites that tend to focus on making these deals visible. One of the habits that I am trying to break myself of following retirement is not to plan too far ahead with respect to travel to get a "discount" regardless of the trip being a cruise or not. My only counter to last minute cruising that I am trying to balance is the cost of airfare versus the cruise fare as these tend to go in opposite directions for last minute travel.

@missrisaleigh - you also ask for his preference as well. For example, does he want more of a beach experience? Good luck and I am sure you will have a great time regardless of what you choose.

Maybe your dislike of the airport is effecting your LAX karma.🙂 Regardless, all personal experience - yours and mine - is anecdotal. It's not a question of if but rather when. Next time your are at LAX, look to the the east and you will see the elevated train bed under construction. Yes, the politicians controlling CA don't believe in building roads. In certain cases they are actually eliminating roads in parts of LA and converting them to bike lanes. I agree 100% that traffic in Southern California is horrible. This is usually true if you are coming from the city proper. Traffic at times can be really bad from the South and East Bay depending on time of day which is why I like BART for OAK flights. You should be good on that flight. Sadly, I have spent too much time in the winter waiting in SFO for a delayed evening flight home or in the morning at SAN missing a meeting because of fog or other weather at SFO. For predictability, I will pick Oakland over SFO to day flights trading flights being on time at the airport for the longer transit time via BART. One more thing I like about LAX for international flights from where I live is that I can fly nonstop at reasonable cost (due to all the competition) to many destinations. For me, making a connection is just another opportunity to get delayed by unforeseen circumstances.

We can agree to disagree and you are most free to avoid the airport as you see fit. I suppose this could happen, but you must be an incredibly unlucky person. I rent cars at LAX occasionally to avoid parking at the airport for long periods of time and I have never waited anything like that for a shuttle. The good news is that a new, consolidated rental car facility is under construction which will be connected by an automated train system to make things much, much better. https://www.lawa.org/transforminglax/projects/underway/conrac https://www.lawa.org/transforminglax/projects/underway/apm When were you last at LAX? There are dedicated lanes on the inside for terminal shuttles that help avoid most of the general traffic. It's not that dirty to me. I was just in TBIT for a flight and the terminal seemed fine. That's your answer? SFO is way worse than LAX with its crossing runways that are too close together such that operations at the airport are frequently impacted by weather. No thanks.

We are flying on Singapore Airlines non-stop in premium economy for $2400 round trip. I would have searched harder for business class on One World carriers if we weren't traveling with another couple that aren't very flexible. I am sure that RDU to DPS tickets exist but could be really expensive. Your question regarding the transfer desk piqued my interest so I found this link: https://www.changiairport.com/en/airport-guide/transit.html To qualify as a Transit Passenger, traveller must: Have both flights booked in the same booking itinerary Have their check-in luggage tagged-through from the origin airport to their final destination

I think you are a bit too harsh on LAX. The airport doesn't need to be a Disneyland, it just needs to support the movement of people and aircraft. This LAX does well having 4 runways that allow large numbers of flight operations. I also don't find the airport excessively dirty in relation to other US airports. LAX provides really great connectivity for one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America. LAX provides great connectivity to the world which is I guess what LA wants. In addition, LAX is not dominated by any single airline and thus usually has competitive pricing on flights. Where LAX falls down for me is in terms of access by car. The terminal access roads aren't great and the traffic in and out of the airport backs up. This gets compounded by the fact that the freeways in LA are all over capacity. However, the roads are more a function of the state and local governments policy decisions than that of the airport itself.

Some of the freshest seafood in PV is at "Boca de Tomate" beach just north of the airport. There are several beach front restaurants and will show you the fish they are going to cook for you lunch. Lots of seafood combinations there too and the tables are actually placed on the sand under open air buildings. This wouldn't be your normal cruise ship PV visit, but I really like the food and atmosphere at "Boca de Tomate" for lunch. In addition, you can see large numbers of crocodiles along the road to the beach. You can get really close to them as they come up right to the edge of a half broken chain metal fence keeping them off the road. Any taxi or Uber driver will be familiar with Boca de Tomate. Have fun!

It's the one above the Cathedral, right?

When my kids were growing up they liked to play the "OXXO game" in the car. The rule was that the first person to see and call out an OXXO could give the other a soft punch on the arm. Sometimes you can get more than one OXXO at a busy intersection on different sides of the street. They both laugh about it and I would bet they still might play as adults if presented with the opportunity.

Didn't know that, but it certainly can make sense even though it requires another water distribution network.

I am sorry to see you off to such a poor start with your cruising experience. I am not surprised that RCCL is directing you to the travel agent. This is always the case if you book via an agent for any reason. Your TA in turn is calling a general number for support when necessary and I would be surprised if they had a named cruise line representative. Good luck and hopefully you don't let this initial hiccup get you discouraged about cruising.

In all my flights on Alaska I have never seen them to be all that strict on bag sizes if they are within reason. Alaska is also really good about gate checking bags to expedite the boarding process and as said by @klfrodo encourage passengers in the last couple of boarding groups to do so if the plane is at all full. One thing I noted on my last Alaska flight was making sure that passengers consolidated their carry on into two bags. The agent at the door stopped the person in front of me from boarding and kept watching the passenger so they wouldn't sneak on the plane. Regardless, Alaska is nothing like some of the ULCC carriers that make passengers put bags into boxes or weigh them with portable scales.

I just bought tickets from LAX to SIN for similar dates and would have been hard pressed to find $4500 business class seats except on Philippine Airlines. $4500 from Raleigh on JAL (plus a bit of AA I guess to get to JFK) sounds like a really good deal to me.

The distance from the cruise terminal to the airport isn't all that far and early in the morning I can't see it taking more than 30 minutes via taxi/uber. You can also investigate the train connection from Circular Quay as an alternative. I would bet that you can get an early departure from the ship and be off by 7:00-7:30 and be at the airport probably no later than a little after 8:00AM. Remember that you will have some amount of immigration and agricultural screening leaving the ship which can slow things down a bit so get off as early as possible. With the above being said, I would seriously consider the advice of @FlyerTalker above. We took the cruise from Honolulu to Sydney last fall and spent another 5 days in the Sydney area following the cruise. Sydney is a great city and well worth getting to know if you can spare the extra time. Good luck! My advice would be to call Celebrity and ask how soon you can get off the ship. Of course they are also going to be selling airport transfers too.