reverie4401

Is there anyone on the Radiance now that can give us an update on the fix. We are B2B with the April 6 and the April 17 TP and sure do not want to reschedule flying to Sydney from the US and then find out the April 17 cruise is also cancelled. David

The cruises we are talking about are taking place April 17, 2019 Sydney to Honolulu. And May 2, 2019 to Vancouver, BC.

 

I think my travel agent has gotten me a balcony on the April 17, 2019 cruise, but I don't have the details yet. There are no suites available.

They released the Alaskan cruises today, so were hoping they would release the TP's back to Sydney as well. As for Spring 2019, call the Redeployment Resolution department. We spent a bit of time with them earlier this year when they redeployed the Ovation in Australia. David

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

I feel your pain, but I am not seeing this sailing at all when I search RCI for it. Definitely nothing on the next cruise from Hawaii.

 

JC

I am on the Oasis and Future Cruise does not show it open for booking either TP cruises for Fall 2019.

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Inviting folks from Freedom TA board to come here

Thanks. We are booked on Symphony. Love the Oasis ships. David and Micky.

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

In case anyone stubles onto this thread, we actually cleared immigration in San Juan. It went smoothly as they cleared us on the ship and did the passengers first prior to crew. We still have customs in Tampa.

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Hi David,

We are on this sailing also, like you we are hoping to clear immigration in San Juan.

Our recent experience has been on NCL Epic crossings were we cleared onboard in St Thomas.

On any of our previous crossings on Royal, (admittedly six years ago, so policy may have changed) I don't recall clearing anywhere other than mainland US, even when SJ was a port of call.

 

regards

Mark & Heather

 

Heather and Mark,

 

I remember the discussion on the Brilliance thread, and was underwhelmed with the responses and conclusions. Actually, it looked like it could go either way. The response from Royal appeared to be from one of their agents. Sometimes, you will get a completely different response, if you do not like the answer.

 

I was hoping someone recently (like earlier this year) had experience going through San Juan prior to arriving in Florida.

 

BTW, we are from the US.

 

do they wait for the ship to dock or does someone come on earlier via a pilot boat

 

You will never see immigration and/or customs officials using the pilot boats. They enter the ship from the piers. Have you ever watched the pilots jump onto and off the ship? I do not think any government would subject their immigration staff to jumping on the ship.

 

My summation is to expect clearing immigration and customs in Tampa from the discussions and if I am surprised by clearing immigration in San Juan, I will be a happy camper. As I stated earlier, on the TP, we cleared immigration on the ship in Honolulu, but had to clear customs in Seattle. That made the process a lot quicker in Seattle. Note, immigration and customs are two different events and they can be split. I sure wish that Royal would take advantage of clearing immigration and customs in San Juan. David

why do they need to clear immigration, surely they know exactly who is on the ship from when they cleared entering the ship.

 

on our TA from US to UK they had someone onboard during the crossing,

 

then everyone just walks off in the uk, no lines

The UK authorities fly staff to Vigo, Spain for customs and immigration on cruises to South Hampton. Nice trip for them and great for cruisers. For some reason our authorities do not go for the extra mile and make landing in the US easier . Yes, I am from the US and we have seen big delays in Ft. Lauderdale getting off the ship from TA's. BTW, this will be my 15th TA. David

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Next month, we are traveling on the Brilliance from Barcelona to Tampa with a stop in San Juan. On several West bound TA's we have had very poor debarkations due to immigration clearing of the entire crew prior to passengers. However, this will be our first TA where we stopped in a US port prior to arriving in the mainland. Hopefully, the ship will clear immigration in San Juan.

 

Does anyone have experience with clearing immigration in San Juan prior to arriving in Tampa or any other US port?

 

We recently completed the Explorer Sydney to Seattle and the ship cleared immigration in Honolulu. That made debarkation in Seattle a breeze.

 

Thanks in advance. David

So you'd have Pinnacles with 700-800 points grandfathered in, but "pre-pinnacles" with 700-800 points get less perks? Yeah, that'll fly...

 

What would you call Pre-Pinnacle? I assume that nomenclature is a place holder, it's a terrible name.

PITS--"Pinnacles in training"

 

Term actually used last week on the Oasis by the C&A loyalty ambassador. Not sure what her definition of PITS was.

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Best rates in Vancouver will be from VBCE with a location downtown. Not optimum since you will need to do two conversions, from USD to CAD first.

This is not a problem if you have a no fee ATM card for the first conversion from USD to CAD.

I contacted a guide in China and this was his response:

 

Regarding the ATM issue, according to the staff of the terminal, there is no ATM at the Wusongkou Terminal, but you can find ATM on the street near the terminal, the distance is about 1km.

 

Thanks for checking. Seems that an ATM would do quite a business with foreigners landing in China, whether for one day or ending a cruise in Shanghai.

 

I was taken by the duty free staff down to an atm on the ground floor because they only took cash no eftpos when the cruise terminal was brand new.

sydgal

 

sydgal, are you saying that there was an ATM in the terminal? However, is this available for cruisers terminating in Shanghai?

 

I did find a solution however. We are doing a Trans-Pacific cruise on the Celebrity Millennium, which starts in Vancouver. Vancouver had much better foreign exchange providers than in South Carolina. So I will pick up Yuan in Vancouver. Thanks for your responses. David

Does any recent traveler know if there are ATM's or an ATM at the Baoshan cruise terminal in Shanghai? We will be arriving there at the end of September and plan to taxi to our hotel in Shanghai. I would prefer to get Yuan from an ATM rather than some from a bank at home.

 

Thanks in advance. David

I'm just now starting to look into Asia cruises for the winter of 2016/2017 and I'm finding it overwhelming. I guess I've gotten as far as thinking that a Singapore to Hong Kong itinerary is a good "starter" trip. (Is that true, btw?)

 

I've been looking at a couple of different lines itineraries and I see different ports even on that route. What are the "must do" ports that I should be looking at for a first-time Asia cruiser? What ports are not worth the bother or are too far from where we want to go?

 

What are the typical number of sea days for a 2 week (plus or minus) itinerary?

 

Our most recent lines have been Azamara which we're a little tired of, and Seabourn which looks prohibitively expensive for this length of time and itinerary. I'm looking more seriously at doing a Celebrity AquaClass as a potential compromise between price & size, but I don't know how good their itineraries are (vs. Azamara which has always had great itineraries). I can't seem to find Oceania's itineraries for that far out, but they'd be of interest as well.

 

I'm happy to start reading guidebooks from the library but I can't even find one that talks about Asia cruising. Please advise away! Thanks.

 

We are Diamond + on Royal and also Elite on Celebrity. However, in February 2014 we opted for Azamara Journey 14 day from Singapore to Hong Kong. The chief advantage was sited by John Bull. The smaller ship goes downtown, thus saves lots of time getting from the larger commercial port to the touring sites. In fact, the Millennium was on almost the same itinerary, and we could see it way out of town at several stops. That cruise had two overnights in Bangkok and one in Saigon, plus Danang and Halong Bay. The Viet Nam stops were great. We did not go into Hanoi, but had a delightful day on Halong Bay on a private boat. The trip into Hanoi was 3 hours on a sub-par road each way. Our picture was taken at Halong Bay. Weather wise, February was a great time as the weather was not too hot (80's) with the exception of Halong Bay which was maybe 70 degrees. As we cruised toward Hong Kong via Hainan Island it was a bit cool. We loved when the attendants brought blankets out to keep us warm on the stern of the ship.

 

Azamara is running a special now through the end of August, book inside and get a veranda.

 

David

Taxis want Yuan.

 

I can't answer your question about ATM's at the terminal as I had Yuan and did not look for any....................

 

.

 

Woodyren, I figured that was the answer, but I was hoping just the same. Hopefully, someone can enlighten my whether there are ATM's at the port or do I have to hit a local bank in the US and get soaked. David

This will be our first visit to Shanghai. We are docking at Baoshan. Are there ATM's at the port? It doesn't seem sporting to get a cheap taxi if you do not have an Yuan. Or do the taxi drivers want USD and convert from the meters?

 

Thanks. David

There is not a similar shuttle from Newark Airport to Cape Liberty. You have to take a cab, arrange a car service, or use the cruiseline transfer.

 

Thanks. But, it seems strange that they do not offer the same service both ways. David

I looked through you Version 3 and saw that there is a shuttle from Cape Liberty to the Newark Airport for $16. My question is there a similar shuttle from the Newark Airport to the port for the same price?

 

And if so, where do you meet the shuttle?

 

Thanks, David

Thanks to those that started and maintain the spread sheet. David

Last time on Oasis the bed was next to closet--

 

How can I book a cabin with the bed next to the slider?

 

Thanks!

jkskrap, Thanks for the great review of the Freedom western Caribbean itinerary. We are getting ready to book a Freedom cruise in February. Thanks again. David