Jump to content

cyntil8ing

Members
  • Posts

    1,959
  • Joined

Everything posted by cyntil8ing

  1. That must have been way back. Our first cruise in 2009 earned 2 points for a Concierge cabin. The current points system came about in 2013. We cruise too many different lines to earn high tier anywhere. Our five cruises last year were on four different lines. Our three cruises this year are on three different lines. Depending on cruise and cabin choices, we might get to Elite Plus in 2025, but it's really not important to us.
  2. If you have medical insurance that covers you outside of the country (unlike Medicare) you might consider evacuation coverage. Most times, travel insurance benefits are secondary to your own medical insurance anyway. We have an annual family policy from Medjet Assist, which will transport us to our hospital of choice. It also covers us in the US, any time we are more than 150 miles from home and need a hospital.
  3. Different cruise lines have different rules. I have been booking my kids in their own shared cabin since they were 13 and 15. We have done this on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity. I was pretty surprised when I had to book my husband with my 18 year old son in our next door cabins this summer. I have no comment on who will be sleeping where.
  4. My son applied for a new passport (his first adult 10 year one) on 1/16, regular service, and according to USPS Informed Delivery it will arrive today. Happy to no longer have to take kids to apply in person every five years.
  5. It was way back in 2015, before Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, but our stay at El Conquistador was fabulous. It is on the eastern side of the island in Fajardo. We chose it to visit the nearby bioluminescent bay but our tour was unfortunately canceled. We did day trips to El Yunque and Cueva Ventana. The resort has its own private island that you take a ferry to. There is also a water park on site. https://www.conquistadorresort.com/ Our photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2P9Y6TjaprksfEvr5 The following year, we headed south to Ponce, where we stayed at Hilton resort. It was nice too.
  6. I know this is an old thread, but I want to throw in a suggestion that if you don't want to carry the planner, at least take a photo before leaving the ship. Not only will you have the all aboard time, but also the local agent's contact info if something goes wrong. We had a ship leave us behind in Nassau, but due to a medical emergency, where my dad was taken from the ship's medical center to the local hospital. I sent my husband in the ambulance with Dad, while I packed up all our stuff and tried to find us lodging, during Christmas week, without luck. The port agent drove us around in a golf cart until we found somewhere with rooms available. He was so kind to us. I wish I remembered his name, but it was all a fog. I got the kids settled then he took me to the hospital. Riding the streets of Nassau in a golf cart is an adventure! We had all our belongings and passports, so that was a huge weight lifted, but I know what a deal it is to have to scramble like that at a moment's notice. Dad was released from the hospital the next day and we flew home the day after that, beating the ship home.
  7. I've since upgraded to the fancy-schmancy version with the charging glass and base, though I leave them at home for week long cruises, but my previous brush charged via usb. It was a pain, because I don't have usb outlets in my bathroom. I did once forget to charge before leaving home, but guess what -- the brush works manually too! So glad I upgraded.
  8. OMG, we were just in St. John last month and we took the cruise line's On Your Own tour. All of the taxis were booked for the cruise line Turtle Bay excursion and no one wanted to deal with just two of us wanting to go to Cinnamon Bay. One of the drivers shouted over to Charlie, asking him if he'd take us and he said yes, so we squeezed in, and had a private taxi after dropping the folks off at Turtle Bay with the other half dozen taxis. I will admit, the verbal history lesson got to be a little much after a time, but he is the sweetest, most kind, lovely man. And how he drives that stick shift up and down those hills while still holding the microphone and talking non-stop is just amazing. After Trunk Bay, the road to Cinnamon Bay gets VERY steep and twisty. A car in front of us couldn't get up the hill and around the turn and kept sliding back towards us. Charlie parked the truck in the middle of the road to prevent other drivers coming up from behind from trying to pass, jumped into the car, threw it into low gear and got it up the hill for the people. Then he jumped back in the truck and we continued on our way. Here's the curve where the car got stuck coming up. The taxi fare to Cinnamon Bay was $11 per person, each way. Trunk Bay is $9. There is a posted fare card in the taxi, which is the open air trucks that hold maybe 12 - 15? Here they are lined up at Trunk Bay. And here's why it's worth the extra few minutes to get to Cinnamon Bay. 😀 Nearly a private beach!
  9. I haven't been on Eclipse, but it looks like the Passport Bar to me, just off the Grand Foyer on Deck 3. The furniture is different than I've seen on other S-class ships, but it's been a while since I've been on one.
  10. The red flag was the payment to the agent instead of to the cruise line. The agent should use your card to pay the cruise line directly. Any other way, as you unfortunately found out, is ripe for trouble. Sorry this happened. Hope you can get some sort of resolution.
  11. What a great topic! I have noticed that on a ship, we go through a roll of paper about every other day. At home, we go through about the same. The difference is how much I have to take off the roll each time. For at least a week after coming home, I have to remind myself to not pull as hard, or I will have way too much. It’s like a half a spin at home compared to three spins on the ship. lol.
  12. Having something in the cart means nothing. When you go to check out, price and availability will be re-checked. If it has sold out or the price has changed, you’re SOL. If it’s a price you’re comfortable with, buy it. You can always cancel and, assuming availability, rebook later.
  13. Another thing to be aware of is ship time vs island (local) time. Mexico does not spring forward to EDT in March. It stays on EST all year long. So, depending on when in March you cruise, and on if your ship changes time zones, when you think you’re arriving at 8:00am, it may be just 7:00am local time, which would leave you plenty of time to make the excursion. And my own personal pet peeve about Costa Maya is that it is very difficult to find your way out of the port, by their design. Plan on staying to the left.
  14. I have to admit, I consider anyone who refers to Silhouette as Silly as just being afraid to try to spell it correctly.
  15. I don’t have a recommendation on a ship tour, as we spent a few days in Antigua on a land trip to Guatemala years ago. It’s lovely and the people are wonderful. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. Some photos from my visit: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2Byp291FroNL5XEy6
  16. Since this thread is all about being pedantic (and I for one am here for it), it's "Hear! Hear!", unless that is, you're calling a dog to come "Here! Here!" 😀
  17. When renting cars, we drop everyone and their luggage off at the port, then return the car, with the driver making their own way back to the port and boarding separately.
  18. We made this mistake of trying a ride share when we arrived a few Friday evenings ago in the middle of the holiday rush. We had one cancel on us after waiting. Driver claimed we weren’t there and tried to stick us with a cancellation fee, so I had to dispute that. We then waited quite some time again for a second car. All told, it took us nearly an hour to get to the hotel. It was not worth the few dollars we saved. Will just taxi next time. Much more success getting to port the next morning. Cost was less than $15 with tip for an XL. It arrived in 5 minutes. We had the same issue on debarkation. Couldn’t get an Uber or Lyft after 45 minutes of trying. We ended up in a taxi again.
  19. Ever heard of Latin America? Here’s another surprise for you — Latinos don’t speak Latin. 😀 The class sounds interesting. My son would love it, both the food and the cooking.
  20. Ha! Yes, we have last name jokes too. Our’s is Lord! There are good comedians that can have us all laughing together, but there are also comedians that try to make us laughable. It’s a line some can walk and some can’t. Fortunately and unfortunately, we have run into both.
  21. Ugh. This was inexcusable. We too are a family where one child does not look like the rest of us. We had an issue earlier this year, our first ever with embarkation in 20+ cruises, over a dozen on Celebrity. We had mom and dad in one room, and son and daughter in another next door, all within guidelines. Our daughter could not make it, so son was going to be alone in the room. Not sure why this led the agent to ask if he was adopted, but she did. I did not answer, instead asking why she asked. She gave me some story about him being under 18 and alone in the room. I asked again why she needed this information and again she didn’t answer, so I turned and walked toward the ship (we had completed the check-in and had our passports back in hand). I stopped in front of the desk where they send you if there are issues and asked if there was a problem with our documents. She ran up and started to explain that he couldn’t be in the room alone. They said that of course he could as he was next door and sent us on our way. When that child was about 8, he was asked by Customs when disembarking to identify who we were to him. He was very confused and concerned and didn’t know how to answer. Finally, the customs agent asked,”who is this?” and pointed to me. Son smiled and said “mom!” and we we’re on our way. I was shaky about the interaction for days. I do not carry adoption paperwork because it is not required. The other area we run into issues are comedy shows. Comedians love to ask questions and we have generally learned how to get them to move on without making anyone uncomfortable, but we never sit in the first few rows.
  22. We had snack mix on Apex last week. It did not look like the mix above, but was like small pieces of sesame seeded flatbread. It was not bad!
  23. Hi Abby. I am not sure how I missed this while it was ongoing, but thanks for the trip down memory lane this morning. I have yet to pull photos from all the cameras, but I don’t think we ever took a photo of the four of us. Too bad! We enjoyed your company and wish you well on your many, many, many, many upcoming cruises!
  24. We have booked private excursions many times and continue to do so. Only once have we missed one and not received a full refund. Many years ago we booked a snorkeling excursion in Grand Turk and the ship missed the port. We lost our $10 deposit. However, we had trip insurance and could have filed a claim for it, but I forgot once we returned home. Our credit card also includes trip cancelation insurance, so that may also be an option. Aruba is outside the typical weather-related missed ports. If you have trip insurance or used a credit card with cancellation insurance, I wouldn’t worry about it.
  25. Only cell phone quality, but these are from my NYC sail away in September. IMG_2500.mov IMG_2503.mov IMG_2511.mov IMG_2517.mov IMG_2520.mov
×
×
  • Create New...