DAllenTCY

Fall/jump off during daylight. David

Most travel agencies are not open on Sundays or Holidays. Not that it applies to your circumstance, but it has been an issue in the past with others. David

That's how it works. David

When passports are collected, you are given receipts. Sooner or later during the voyage you will be notified to pick your PPs back up. I suppose the alternative is to wake you up night after night at 1 or 4 am when documents are being viewed by foreign customs officers who have boarded the ship and are looking at as many as 4,000 passports. Choose sleep. David

Ralph's is a fine store; however, there are closer options to the pier. The Harbor Market just a block away would have had what you needed. It has been open for a year. The Rite Aid pharmacy is only 4 blocks away. Either would have saved you a cab. David

Or you can get bacon on your burger at Guys every day. There are BLT's at the Deli, too. David

HAL Club Orange comes to mind. NCL "Haven" has gone that way and so has Celebrity "Aqua". David

Roller bags with 4 wheels are easy to roll just about anywhere. Those have replaced many thousands of SkyCaps and RedCaps over recent years. David

And those tin metal pins that they would send for you to wear if you had a flight to the ship. David

There are 2 other pools..... both on Lido Deck. The aft pool is a bit more relaxing during the day because they do not have Fun Squad "games" or the music from the large screen TV. You can also spend time outside of your inside cabin up on Deck 15 at the Serenity area or forward on the Promenade Deck where there are additional loungers. I have only been off of the ship 6 days. I found the food selection at the Lido Buffet to be vastly improved in quality since a year ago. The prime rib (served several nights) was tender and tasty. My impression was that the Lido offerings were very similar to the MDR. Have a great Horizon cruise....three and one half sea days! David

Last Sunday....I had plenty of time to get off the Carnival Horizon and get to American Airlines for my 10:04 am departure. I was very anxious about it so I took a taxi....$42 on the meter....gave $15 tip. You would have to carry off luggage and be in line to disembark at 7 am.....Pre-check at airport, too. Good luck. David

My thought is that more damage reports at the pier are recorded with hard sided luggage. They tend to split in the corners when stacked one on top of the other. The major issue with soft sided bags seems to be with wheels that snap off and rain. One way or the other.....I'm carrying on by bag on Saturday. David

It was clearly stated on my last cruise that although 2 liters of water were in the room, because I was sailing solo....only one was free. David

My experience on the last two Carnival cruises as a Platinum guest. The fire doors were locked until about 1:20 pm Deck 2 forward staircase Horizon and Panorama David

How convenient is the route from FLL airport to the train....and the train to MIA station? I've tried Tri-Rail and it was just so-so and with more stops. Thanks David

I'll through this out since we're talking about shoreside employees and how we through out our best efforts every sailing day toward your voyage. None of us gets up in the morning and goes to work expecting tips. We do this job because we are fellow cruisers at heart. I'll bet that..... whatever port you mention...... the majority of us wishes we were among you sailing today, or we have our own separate cruises in the near future. David

A "professional" travel agent in my humble opinion is one who will provide you with necessary minimum requirements for a particular cruise. For instance....citizenship documentation, possible vaccination, visa, entry form needs, confirmed flight, and hotel reservations. They should be ASTA certified at a minimum. Shortcomings, are those new to the industry who may or may not be directly employed by a cruise line nor have extensive cruise personal experience. Example: Cruises to the Hawaiian Islands requires proof of citizenship. Please do not offer a driver's license at check--in and tell me that your travel agent told you that you do not one to cruise to Hawaii. I do not accept that you were told on the phone that you don't need acceptable document. As your PCC or agent how many cruises they have taken and on which lines? There is a huge difference between veteran cruisers and those who only have brochures to hand out. My personal opinion does not reflect that of either my current employer, past employer, or future employer. David

1,843 boarding + 654 (B2B) = 2,497 David

You will need your Canadian Passport in hand. Boarding Pass on your phone is acceptable as long as the QR Codes can be scanned. David

Some of the dining room staff are rotated for shore leave on embarkation day. Others may be assisting with luggage collection very late the night before... or delivery of bags to your room for departure. Maybe dining room staff are helping out with wheelchair assistance? My guess. David

Not "Open Boarding" at 11:30 am. There is a difference from the terminal being available to enter as in the "terminal is open".....and going onboard. As far as I can recall today's Group E (12:50pm) and F (1:10pm) were called to board the ship about 15 minutes prior to their scheduled "times". Then "Open Boarding" was announced to all present after check-in about 1pm. There may have been 300 people in the terminal at 11am; however, they would have been seated in "A", "B", "C", "D", etc. groups until that group was called to board. David.

There are security guards at the entry gate. Their job is to allow only those sailing to enter. If there was a lapse, it was unusual and unacceptable. David

Thank you for posting your trip. I have just a few comments if you care to reply. Embarkation Not impressed, Disney, not impressed. They had unmarked lines outside the port building by 10:30 that were hard to follow, and impossible to distinguish which line was yours. We found the, literally, one person out there to ask what line we should wait in, and were thrilled she directed us to the correct line. Dropping off the bags, however, was nowhere near the lines, and was not marked or announced at all. We found it accidentally, as it was located past the lines, across the alley from the port itself. We had an 11:30 Port Arrival Time, and headed out of the blazing sun into the building at right about 11:30. You arrived one hour early....so why would you expect port personnel be available at that hour? Dropping off luggage is after your security clearance. Why would you expect to drop off bags without anyone knowing who you are and whether you are sailing this day? Disney Cruise Line and this port take a very hard line on security... as do port employees. David

When I began working at the pier we had a form that could be filled out in such an instance. If I recall it was an "Acknowledgement Form". In short it said that you would accept a fee upon return to the US if your documents were not in order. One of my side jobs (besides making coffee and cleaning the pot at the end of the day) was to throw those forms in the dumpster about 1 season later. David

2,842 embarking tomorrow....plus 78 who will be B2B. Great weather in the forecast...enjoy your trip. David