dotcomgirl

I did the adult cupcake class on the Allure a few years ago and I had a lot of fun. I made the hamburger and fries.

We sail in a few weeks on the Freedom and I signed myself up for the class again. I hear that each day they have one class that makes the hamburger and fries cupcake and one class that makes a dog cupcake. The dog cupcake doesn't look like nearly as much fun as the hamburger and fries cupcake. So when I board the ship, I'm going straight to the Cupcake Cupboard to find out which cupcake is being made during the class I signed up for. If it happens to be the dog cupcake, I'll be switching classes on the spot!

We took this tour a few years ago. We loved it. Here is my detailed review and description of it: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1472939

Check which companies have offices near the port with shuttle . Some companies might have offices . That $210 does it include all taxes etc ?

Sometimes it's cheaper to go direct to a company than thru a third party.

Yes, that price includes everything. And yes, I checked direct with the companies. That price is direct through Alamo using a coupon and contract code.

Thanks for your help. I booked the Alamo reservation with pickup in Port Canaveral.

What type of car are you looking at and how many days ?

I checked a website , the most expensive car was full size SUV (Escalade) was $80 per (incl Taxes) unlimited miles.

2 and a half days (pickup at 9am and return at 1:30pm two days later). Standard car. I quoted using Costco pricing with a free upgrade and I'm getting $210 now. This is for the first week in May.

Which company are you looking at?

I just can't believe the price difference because we are paying $16 for a one day rental to go from MCO to Port Canaveral pre-cruise!

I think I'm going to go with your idea anyway and pay the $210. It's only a $65 difference once I factor in the shuttle cost. Then we don't need to worry about rushing to catch the shuttle.

How does Alamo's shuttle work from the port to their Cape Canaveral location? Does it run nonstop?

Costs to rent in Port Canaveral were originally 300-$400 more for a two day rental. Not worth it. But just checked and it's about $110 difference now. I'll have to look into the possibility of changing.

We also don't have to wait in any rental car line at MCO. We walk straight to the car lot, pick a car, show our license and credit card, and drive away. Love Alamo.

We sail the Freedom in a few weeks and we are using a shuttle service post-cruise to take us from Port Canaveral to MCO. We don't have a flight to catch (we are just picking up a rental car at MCO), but we want to spend the day at Sea World the day our cruise gets back, so we would like to be off the ship fairly early.

The shuttle meets at either 8am (for an 8:15am departure) or at 8:45am (for a 9am departure). Will we have any problems getting off the ship and picking up our luggage and making it to the 8am shuttle? Or should we just be safe and book the 8:45am shuttle?

TRAYS. THEY DON'T HAVE TRAYS AT THE BUFFET? I can't imagine. How to people get their food back to their table?

Lol, they just use larger plates now I believe. They expect you to be able to carry a single plate and a drink cup. If you want more or if you want to get food for a family member at the same time, then too bad, you'll be making another trip!

A plastic tray. I commonly offer to go to the Windjammer or Sorrentos to bring back food to the room for my husband. They got rid of the trays, so now I just bring my own. Helps a ton to carry food for two people. I got mine on Amazon. Fits perfectly in the inside zippered pocket of my suitcase and takes up no extra space. Easy to travel with.

We are using Fat Fish and can't figure out which time to go with. We are in port from 7am-3pm local time, with last tender being at 2:15pm.

There is an 8am tour time or a 10:30am tour time. They said if we do the 10:30am time, we won't be back to the Hard Rock Cafe (near the dock) until between 1:45-2pm.

If we choose the 8am tour time, I'm worried we won't be able to get off of our ship in time. We arrive at 7am, but I hear that it can take awhile to get a tender. Especially because there will be FIVE cruise ships in port that day.

Which time would you choose?

For your Grand Cayman day, can you please make note of the port time compared to ship time... is it the same?

Royal shows times for Grand Cayman as 8am-4pm and I am trying to figure out if that is ship's time staying on Florida time or if 8am-4pm is local port time. Grand Cayman is an hour behind Florida right now.

I currently have an outside excursion booked for 10:30am because I was scared of screwing up the times and being late (so I didn't want to risk the early time).

So I'm confused... we booked our upcoming sailing through a TA. The TA offered us $100 OBC plus $168 credit for gratuities... for a total of $268. Today I downloaded our RCI Guest Ticket Booklet and it shows $100 OBC credit per person for a total of $200.

I know that TA OBC does not usually show up on any documents and we would typically see it reflected in our account the 2nd day of the cruise. So are we to expect that our total OBC for the sailing will equal $468 ($268 from the TA and $200 from RCI)?

I have no idea why our Guest Ticket Booklet shows $200 OBC right now. Maybe because we booked our sailing with the TA when RCI had a special going on? We booked at the end of October and we booked in a balcony room. Is it typical that we would also receive OBC from Royal?

Is there a way to find out for sure? I mean, I'll take whatever amount we will get... I'd just sort of like to know in advance because I'm excited about it!

And don't forget that on T Mobile with most plans you get unlimited international texting free of charge in most destinations.

http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/simple-choice-international-plan-countries.html

We did it on the Allure in 2011. We loved it and thought it was completely worth it. Here's my review from back then:

All Access Tour - My Review from the Allure's Tour http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1472939

On the list that someone shared, it said that they will be getting rid of the Cupcake Cupboard during dry dock. I just signed up for the cupcake decorating class for my April cruise. Is this class going to get canceled on me?

Do you remember if the ship's time was different from island time on Grand Cayman? Example: did your itinerary show you in port from 8-4 but it was actually 7-3 island time?

Does anyone know if the times listed for each port are always ship's time or island time?

For example: Grand Cayman we are in port from 8am-4pm. Since Grand Cayman doesn't take part in Daylight Savings, island time would be 7am-3pm. Or does Royal Caribbean show all of their times in island time and thus we would truly be there from 8-4?

I am trying to book an excursion with an outside company and I don't know what time to tell them we get into port!

I want to sign up in advance for the adult cupcake cupboard decorating class on the Freedom. However, I hear that they offer two different types that you might make: a puppy and a burger with fries. I have made the burger with fries cupcake on the Allure before, and I would like to do it again. Is there any way to know which cupcake they assign to which class? I don't want to pick a time in advance only to find out that I just happened to choose the class where they make the puppy.

thanks for all this info, we are jus too older folks who would like to swim and have the ship food I think they provide a bbq? we probabley will not stay long and would love to just meander off the ship when we want. Am I day dreaming that this could work? just need shade really. Although the cabanas sound so nice its just the two of us..any more advice appreciated...I do not liked to be crowded so a thinking we should walk aways? or just grin and bear it?

You'll be fine! I would suggest walking down the beach aways though. You'll be able to get decent shade that way and have fewer crowds. Once you get past cabana 9 or so, the crowds are noticeably thinner. I really liked being almost at the far end of the beach. The difference in people was huge. And yes, there is a decent lunch served with hot dogs and burgers and such.

Where at. I'm at ZAU

 

 

Aft Cabins Rule

D01. And my husband works at ZDV.

 

This is the only Island we select to book two excursions and let me tell you how we do it.

 

We book the first zip line excursion available on line as soon as we can.

This way we are off the ship quickly, place our bag at barefoot beach and walk to the zip line, or take the taxi or shuttle.

 

Thank you for the detailed response! I think we are just going to book the excursion in advance and forget about trying to save the $25 per person. Better to know we get to do it than take the risk.

Do you suggest booking the earliest time available even if we are not planning to do additional excursions that day?

I've been a controller for over 30 years

 

 

Aft Cabins Rule

Lol, small world. I'm one too. Going on just 7 years myself though.

It's for the entire cruise. We are only doing one excursion per island.

P.S. @ ATC Cruiser... Are you an ATC as a profession or does the ATC in your name stand for something else?

We definitely want to do the zip line in Labadee.

Today I just got a reminder email from RCI that if we book 2 shore excursions in advance, we will receive a $25 per person voucher to then use towards another excursion (which must be booked onboard the ship).

Is it worth waiting to book the zip line until we are onboard so that we can get a $25 per person discount on it?

My husband will be super upset if it is unavailable if we try to book when onboard. I'm hoping that it's not likely to sell out.

We are trying to decide between doing RCI's Grand Cayman excursion - Stingray City or Discover Scuba. We are two adults. We've heard good things about both... which one would you choose?

After our cruise returns to Port Canaveral we will be spending two days in Orlando. Need help with options...

Option 1: Book pre-cruise Port Canaveral hotel fly, snooze, and cruise package. Includes round trip transportation from MCO. After the cruise we would use the hotel transportation to take us back to MCO to pick up rental car. Would rent with Alamo and cost for car would be approx. $100.

Option 2: Wider range of pre-cruise hotel options and use transportation company for one way transport from MCO to hotel. After cruise, use Dollar rent a car at Port Canaveral. Return car two days later to MCO when we fly home. Cost would be approx. $70.

I lean towards option 2, however, I'm a little wary of renting from Dollar.

Suggestions?