thinfool

A Transit Center was built about 4 years ago at the Miami Airport. A shuttle train takes pax from the airport to the Center...about a 5 minute ride. The trirail is part of the transport center....down a long escalator and board the train. Even tho weekend schedules are limited, there should be a train at the station because it is the end of the line. That train will be open, available and waiting for their scheduled departure. Take it to Griffin Rd, which, I believe, is the nearest station to the airport/cruise port. From there you can uber to your hotel, or the airport. A shuttle may also be available. Allow an hour for the MIA to Griffin Rd trip.

It's ground coffee at the drink station in the various eating/bar venues. I am elite and have my booze allotment changed to a coffee card. I am not a fan of designer coffee drinks....so I am charged for brewed coffee. Even so, if I did not have a coffee card I would pay the pittance for a cup of black coffee. It would be considerably less for a 7-10 day sailing than what they charge for a standard coffee card. I tend to get it early at the IC. Who knew so many folks get up that early to stand in line for their cuppa joe?

We sailed on the Sky out of Port Everglades in mid November. Thinking that the restart would result in a more orderly compliance of boarding time by fellow passengers, we made sure that our boarding efforts were more in line with the assigned time. WHAT A JOKE. Nothing changed. Everyone was there, all at once. No enforcement was evident. Lines were long. The entrance line was outside the building and about 400 feet down the street alongside the building. My take on the assigned boarding time is to ignore it, make your own schedule, and plan on joining the masses who have the same goal as you....get on the ship! Because of a hurricane, which turned out to be a non-event, we had to pick up our medallions at the port.

Same for us in Port Everglades...except we had our bags with us. Masked up, we took the shuttle to our car and drove home. For those concerned about being shuttled to a hotel, I am pretty sure this would apply if you were overseas. In the US there are few if any restrictions on covid positive folks. Other countries are different.

Reading your comments creates in my mind the question, "Have you ever had covid?"

We were escorted, our escort had copies of our passports which she said she shared with CBP. We left the ship thru a large door in the side of the ship that they use at ports....other pax were still disembarking. We were free to find our way back to our vehicle, which we did. By then the wife was way better...tho still positive, no fever. She is still positive....nothing at all shows when I take a test. She is mostly tired and has a headache. Otherwise no loss of taste (ever), no fever lately, no cough or ugly sinus drainage. Seems like a slow road to recovery.

Coke products are fleet wide on Princess. Only Carnival has Pepsi, tho I thought I read recently that Carnival was going back to Coke. You can also hand carry one 12 pack of cans (we did coke zero) per person thru the embarkation/scanning line. Diet coke is easily available onboard.

I suggest that you find something as far south of Atlanta as possible. Early morning traffic is awful, and it doesn't seem to be dependent on which way you are going...so going south can be just as crowded as any other direction.

We have had compromised cards several times over the last few years. The actual direction from the owner of the card (Visa, MC, Amex, etc) is to call the number they have for reporting loss, never have I been instructed to notify anyone else, tho this is certainly possible. Only the person that answers the phone number that I have called can give me instructions on what to do next. It is not my card, it belongs to the issuer. Typically I just answer the questions and take the direction that the CC folks offer. What I have learned over the many times I have had to deal with this...the CC companies do not care about the loss or who did it. They take the information, close your account, send out new cards for you to use. Then you get to take care of all of the autopays that you had linked to your now worthless card numbers. A real pain.

Wife was (very) positive for covid on the Sky a couple of weeks ago...midway thru a 7 day trip. Princess tested, confirmed result thru their medical team. We were isolated for the last 3 days of our trip. A sweet gal in the pursers dept was assigned to coordinate with us. We survived well, I was negative and could roam the ship. Anyway, as we debarked our gal from the purser gave us letters of FCC, carefully telling us to be sure to keep the letters safe so that we could prove we have the Princess approved credits to use on another sailing. (must use within 1 yr) Wife is still positive, but the test line is fading a little more each day.

We just left Park n Go last week, Nov 26. It was not price competitive with the port garage. However, when I mentioned it to the PnGo personnel, they made the point that they use 'date sensitive' rates...so parking during a holiday period will be more than a non-holiday period. We were there during the Thanksgiving week, so we paid for the privilege. Believe me, they know how to fill up that parking lot. While some on CC bristle at the idea of leaving keys or fob with PnG, clearly there are lots and lots who have no problem with this issue. Never read a report of a problem with this at PnG. As far as the difference in getting to your car, PnG really shines because they will take you to your car. No walking thru a garage dragging or carrying a bag, no elevator issues. Our driver was happy to help load our bags into the shuttle and later into our car. Tipping is obvious.

Tell your folks that they only need to deal with this issue on sea days. Other days, in an Alaska port, they should have access to domestic cell service that will enable their hotspot regardless of wifi onboard status.

Nov 19-26, 2022

The Australian board here on CC is a great recommendation, especially because you said, " We can't do the pacific because she doesn't have passports and the expense is too great for her and the kids." US cruisers have little idea about Oz arrangements for sailings in your area. We have special ID requirements/allowances for what are called closed loop cruises wherein travel without a passport is allowed. Does anything like that exist in Oz? It may be that you will be forced to get passports for more of your party than you know. Hope not. Still, this is a place to start, even before you select a cruise line.

Amazing. We just left the Sky...wife had covid so both of us were isolated..we were assigned a person at the pursers desk...she contacted us everyday for status...we had 3 days of the cruise left. She took care of escorting us off of the ship, and wrote and delivered our FCC documents as we left. She carefully told us to be sure to keep the document so that we can prove that we received the FCC for a future cruise. Sounded a little cya to me, but we did as told. No complaints as to the way they cared for us. This all happened in Florida, we live in Florida, so no issues with hotels, etc.

So sad...the book seems to solve/avoid all problems. Still, if I were them I would move this issue as far up the Princess food chain that I could. Chris Elliott (http://elliott.org ) may be of some help doing this. Did they possibly have a minor traveling with them? If so, pp books are required.

if this is indeed a problem to be corrected, it would have also been a problem before we had medallions. There was a time that the old cruise card had our cabin number. If this becomes a real issue I am sure that Princess will find a way to deal with it. If it was already an issue, the media would have jumped like a dog on a bone...media stories would have amplified it beyond our imagination. As already noted here, your security photo is for security only. The profile photo that you use can be anything. Someone mentioned a dog (great idea), I use a cute pic of Lego Batman (my wife hates it). Whether Princess uses any kind of image recognition behind the scenes when you approach your cabin, I do not know. I do know that Batman appears as I approach my door..which seems to be amazingly unlocked when I get to it.

Pretty sure this is only if you take the bottle to the dining room where stewards would open and serve it. Opening and drinking in your room does not necessitate a corkage fee.

One 750 ml bottle of wine is still allowed...per person.

The day we rounded the Horn it looked like a farm pond. Almost disappointing. Point is...tlhere is no telling sea conditions at any given time. South America is a great trip!

Assuming a Caribbean itinerary...just use US Dollars or a credit card. Credit cards are best but do not let them charge your purchase in US currency. Make sure it is charged in local currency. If your will be in Europe you need local currency or credit card. Again, credit card is best with charge in local currency. Use a local ATM in europe to get local currency. You can get it before you go (in the US) but you will be charged for the privilege.

Never seen a need for a reservation. Literally hundreds of cars leave the parking garages before 10 am every day that ships arrive and disembark their thousands of passengers. This clearly leaves a lot of spaces for those who arrive to embark on their sailings. Quite the shuffle.

From the MSC website MSC Cruises has announced the easing of boarding requirements from 1 October 2022, provided for in the health and safety protocol. For all those embarking on the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Red Sea, Caribbean and Antilles, the obligation of vaccination against Covid-19 will no longer be needed, even if it remains strongly recommended. In the same geographic regions citizens who are fully vaccinated (two doses of the vaccine or one dose of Johnson & Johnson) will no longer be required to submit a negative swab result, but it is still recommended.

Interesting...the official parking at MIA is $25.00/day...POM is $22.00/day last time I checked. Off site lots may be available at MIA that are more competitive. Nice, thoughtful and creative way to battle the exhorbitant fees at the port.

Looking at Amtrak in December...no late night trips...$137.pp for the daytime trips. (one way)