Jim The Scot

Hi J Not sure what you mean by dining packages.Have cruised many times with Marella and never heard of that Regarding booking specialitiy dining,it should appear on the cruise control,it certainly does on mine

Itininary has now been changed for future cruises on TUI website and now showing Freeport as 1st port of call and Charleston last as opposed to the other way around

Airport to port is only a 10mins/15 mins transfer.We were late on arriving last year (nearer 11-30)but airport was dead quiet so breezed past security and luggage pick up and were at the port/ship check in in no more than 30 mins Bit of walk from port check in to ship Like Dinglebert,only food offering by time we did ship check in and got onboard was burgers,hot dogs and like

Thanks again Pink I have mobility issues so a walk of that distance is out so if we decide to do anything on our second day it will need to be a yellow cab or uber Just done a uber price estimator $30/$33

Hi Pink Wasn,t expecting a response so quick as I posted when you hadn,t quite docked in PC so thanks for the wee quick update and glad you had a fab time and nice to hear positive feedback. We watched Discovery sail in and out of PC and NY and it got the impression the ship wasn,t at capacity as there wasn,t many on the decks. Will be quite happy if our cruise isn,t capacity,nothing worse than scrambling to find a lounger or somewhere to sit,especially on the sea days We were intially down for the two week cruise but changed to one week then a week in Orlando so only doing Charleston,Freeport and NY Mrs JTS has been to NY twice but I haven,t and its always been on my to do list so looking forward to it We have an excursion booked for our first day and was hoping to do our thing on the second day.How far from the port to main attractions,walkable or uber?

Thanks for that Pink15 More importantly what was your thoughts on the cruise overall?

Cant say I,m happy that the itinerary has been reversed for the sake of a few hours more in NY.Instead of what should have been 2 sea days on tracking the ship its now over 3 days. Port Canaveral to NY = 1 day 16hrs and NY to Charleston =1 day 12hrs

Enjoy MC We,ve 7 weeks to wait

Have a good one RR

😅 I know,I need to have words Besides I,m a scot and mean 😉

We,re dinky doo Nancy apart from the aches and pains which comes with the ageing process 😅 We,ve only had a cabin twice in all the cruises we have been on First time was on Ocean Village 2 many moons ago and second time was just last year on Discovery 2,we were given a delux balcony cabin on deck 7 as a freebie but thats only because myself and Mrs JTS came down with covid 3 days into our cruise and were moved there as they were using these cabins as isolation cabins 😷 Lovely cabin but unfortunately too unwell to enjoy it but such is life

Hi Nancy Hope your well and good to see you back on the forum Yeah it would appear they,re basing the price upgrade from the time we booked but I,ve know way of knowing what that price was as booked it last year.TUI could be plucking a price out of mid air for all I know 😉😅 I,ll ask at reception once onboard and we have a figure in mind what we,re willing to pay and will stick to it.Any more and we,ll keep our money,all the more spends for Florida on our 2nd week The balcony cabins have all had an upgrade but not sure if that incorporated more storage space.Saying that, being male I dont require much storage space but might affect Mrs JTS 😁.Funny you should mention the balcony cabin you had was just along from coffee port as thats one of the ones we were after I know everyone doesn,t select their cabin but keeping tabs on availability and cabin location so will have a rough idea whats unoccupied when we go

Kinda agree with you Its not just Marella standards that have dropped or cost increases.Flight prices,land based holidays in fact its everything whether it be in supermarkets,restaurants,takeaways,pubs,utilty bills,dealing with with businesses,building materials,the list is endless Sadly its a sign of the times and something we,ll all have to deal with and accept as dont see things changing much in the future I,ll keep holidaying and cruising as long as I,m able and my income/bank balance allows We,re only here once,theres no practice swings

Thanks Dinglebert TUI are cleverer than I thought if they can remember price of balconies when we booked as booked the cruise last year 😉😁 We just fancied a balcony cabin and wasn,t based on a better deal in fact the outside we booked is cheaper now.The way we looked at it is is they,d be getting more money from us if we upgraded to a balcony I,ve a bad habit of tracking prices dronnygirl so will keep an eye on it but if what Dinglebert says it,ll not make any difference if the price drops or not 9 weeks to go and although I know everyone doesn,t pay to select their cabin theres more empty cabins than occupied I,ll see what they say at check in or guest services once onboard

As always we have our cabin booked/selected for our up and coming America Cruise,however, me and Mrs JTS were thinking of treating ourselves and upgrading from outside to a balcony if it was Bruce Forsyth The way we did our sums was by way of deducting what we had paid for our outside cabin from the price of the balcony online for the same cruise(dummy booking).I know,not an exact science but it was the best idea we could come up with at the time 😆 On that basis popped into our TA today who gave TUI who came back with a price which was over £100 more expensive than priced on the dummy booking for same. Through either being tight fisted or principle we decided it was a treat too far so declined TUI price😉😅 To cut a long story short has anyone asked at ship/port check in if they could pay to upgrade?Is that even an option with Marella?

Yes,arrived this morning and appears to be docked/berthed at Manhattan Terminal which is a bonus and not Cape Liberty Nice pics Scotstravellers,hope your having a whale of a time

Did a bit of tracking and Discovery left Freeport at 5-30ish yesterday and is en route to New York a day and 13 hr sailing away so it looks like South Carolina which should have been the 1st port of call will now be the last port after NY before heading back to Port Canaveral

Thanks G Not a Book Facer 😁

Well 1st day for Discovery sailing from Port Canaveral and not following itinerary so far.Should be heading to Charleston South Carolina but is en route to Freeport which should be the last port of call on itinerary🤔

Thanks TJ Yeah I saw that. Its only August and September sailings which doesn,t suit us unfortunately.With child care duties/shool runs we are stuck with school hols for our cruises

Nice one dronnygirl,never noticed that itinerary Agree Instanbul is an amazing,fascinating place and its an experience sailing the Dardanelles

Pity Marella dont do Instanbul

👍 Might be missing the reasoning but if there is no longer the requirement for guests to be vaccinated and no pre-departure testing requirements why the requirement to complete a Covid 19 declaration form?

Nice one Counting the days till they update the cruise requirements 😅

USA mandate is not lifted until 11th May so I wouldn,t expect TUI to announce any changes until then,if at all TUI dont come into the Billy Whizz category when keeping customers informed on anything 😉