SnowshoeCat

I'm booked on the Rotterdam for an early May Norwegian fjord sailing. I am truly undecided. I've never been on HAL and as of now, there is no roll call. I'm not active on roll calls in general, but follow them just to see who's on my ship. I'm guessing there will be a high percentage of Europeans on the trip (either that or the lack of a roll call indicates I'll have the ship to myself). I'm solo and can usually keep myself busy, but it would be nice to be able to meet people for conversation, as well.

Even though I got a reasonable fare, I'm still concerned about "value." I love visiting Norway, but with a 7-night cruise, there are two sea days and 4 ports. So after traveling and sailing, my 9 day trip will only have 4 days in Norway. And I haven't even purchased airfare yet. I'm looking at the ship as part of the destination. What kind of activities might there be?

So I'd really like to gather information to make my decision. It's ultimately up to me, of course, but maybe there are some good bits of info you can share to ramp up my enthusiasm, or convince me to wait.

Thank you - and happy sailing!

It was not a bill from SunPass, it was a bill from Dollar.

SunPass tried to help.

My bill was from the car rental agency, also, since they were billed by Sun Pass. I understand your situation is different (and I agree, smells fishy).

I deleted the part of my post where I mentioned how tourist-friendly Florida used to be, but now I feel things are deteriorating, especially in the car rental area. It's still good - I just feel I need to be more careful than ever, because I hate that feeling of someone trying to cheat me. I actually typed this out twice and deleted it again because I'm not trying to start anything. You just reminded me of my trip earlier in the month and I wanted to vent a bit ;)

I hope you get a positive resolution.

Wow, I am "bad" today.

 

And I see where they mentioned thrifty and dollar.

 

I still favor Hertz, Avis and National.

 

I think I better get new glasses though.

 

Happy Holidays

Ah well, it happens to the best of us.

I had a problem with a rental car with a Sunpass and the administration fee was $25. I was given a phone number to call. I tried to calmly explain what happened and they waived the fee. It was aggravating, but it all worked out

Sanford is the airport - Orlando Sanford. I'm assuming that's what they meant.

Okay, thanks again. I knew the walking distance wasn't far, I just wasn't sure what kind of area it is, whether it's heavily industrial with lots of big machinery rolling around. Thoughts of Bayonne come to mind ;)

Thanks for the reassurances. I thought 9 am would be a good start time, too. I'd probably drive straight through to the airport. I pack light and I'm used to handling my luggage, unless you think a quick detour to the port would be easy?

I didn't know the Silver Line is free. Is it possible to walk to Black Falcon from World Trade Center station?

I'm thinking of taking a cruise out of Boston. I would need to rent a car one way. It looks like the easiest method is to return the car to Logan, then take the silver line to the port. Is that correct? Looks too easy ;)

Additionally, I might need a hotel the night before, so I'd be looking for someplace 1-2 hours west. I'll be coming straight along the Mass Pike. I'd like something far enough out to keep the cost down, but close enough to have time to deal with any traffic delays. The cruise leaves on a Friday, so there's rush hour to think about. I don't need a specific hotel, just location. Thanks.

There were a few others on the trail. We saw maybe 8 people on the trail and another 6 people at Westeras Farm

Thank you for the information. Definitely something I would love to do.

Sounds wonderful! Were there other people on the trail? I wouldn't normally hike alone, but if it's a popular route, I just might take the risk.

I just returned from Europe a couple of days ago. The FA on the westbound flight asked me to close the shade because the glare "makes it hard to see the seatback entertainment screens". I thought that was a little odd. On the eastbound flight (departure after sundown) I was surprised all the shades were down. I thought for safety they were supposed to be open during takeoff and landing.

Speaking of the BW Adams, what do you think of it? We booked it as a possibility.

I stayed there last year. I had a car, so didn't use their shuttles. I would suggest pinning them down for schedules and reservations. The shuttle seemed to run on demand, or haphazardly. But it could have just been a bad weekend, or I just misinterpreted what I was witnessing.

The hotel was fine. The "included breakfast" consisted of a voucher for limited choices at the on-site restaurant. You could always order more stuff, just don't expect a full buffet. We enjoyed dinner there, as well. We spent a couple of extra dollars for the water view room. That may not be necessary if you're going on a cruise ;)

Sort of funny to have learned about the SBers who laughed at ship security and said - Ha Ha, what are you going to do to me? Being put off at a Caribbean port must have been interesting. Would think Jamaica and Haiti would have jails that would not be attractive and negotiating transport home a hassle for Mommy and Daddy! LOL.

Was there a thread about this? Sounds like it would make for some good reading :D

Round trip, free parking at their Rensselaer lot.

A couple of years ago I was looking for a few days away. I found a 4-night cruise that was cheaper than a hotel (and included meals!), even with the solo supplement. I'd say most people were there to have fun, but there wasn't much in the way of sloppy, disgusting drunk behavior. It was, shall we say, "festive". There were all sorts of people on board, and again, most just seemed to want to get away and have fun.

I tend to go to bed early and get up early, so maybe I missed the worst of the behavior. And when we were in port, I enjoyed the quiet ship.

There's one that leaves from Albany (Rensselaer, actually). Several of us have used it, driving to Albany the night before. yankeetrails.com

Thanks for all that information. If budget was the only consideration, I would drive to JFK and leave my car at my mother's house. There's a bigger "hassle" factor involved with that - the extra drive, the flight times, and getting back to her house - and so amazingly, Newark really does seem like the best option. It's the right balance of cost, convenience, travel time and schedules.

Geez - if your going to drive that far have you looked into YOW. It's actually a little closer and you can book in Cdn$. Exchange right now is around 30%. I just looked a r/t ticked next Apr (don't know when you're travelling) and the price for YOW/YYZ/DUB was around $850C. At today's rate that is about $645U.

R/T YYZ-DUB is $540US. Parking, gas and tolls will still be cheaper than the EWR departure. But...the flight gets in later in the afternoon, making the drive home more difficult. I would need a night in a hotel. Cheap hotels around Niagara Falls and it would almost break even. The return flight to EWR arrives just before noon, and I could probably drive home that day, and arrive before the scheduled connecting flight.

I did look into YOW and the routing would be through YYZ or BOS (or JFK). So I looked at BOS and was routed back through YYZ. It's been fun, checking out all the options.

BHX may be different, it's a pretty small airport by international standards with minimal connections so it may not be geared up to deal with internatonal connections in the way I'd described which would be the way at say, LHR.

 

I've used BHX but never for connections.

The original information I got about the transfers was from the LHR website. BHX's website was a little more vague, probably because, as you say, it's not a major int'l hub. I might just go through AMS. The airport is a destination itself, and I like walking around there. I know, silly, but I actually like airports.

WOW... You're willing to make 2 stops instead of 1 to save $100 ?? :confused:

Did they scale back your O/T or something? :D

Hae020...............y Buddy (aorry - new cat. he's discovering the keyboard) - I was just in your neighborhood last week!

Anyway, no. I'd actually have to drive to EWR. Gas and parking, and I'd still save over $100 (US), and I don't have to worry about connections.

No O/T, I retired :) But they let me keep my parking spot at the airport for those times I actually do fly from home.

Okay, thank you. So I don't need to worry about my bags, but I will need time to go through immigration and security? Does two hours in BHX sound okay?

It was about $100. And in the interest of full disclosure, there's no cruise involved. This is just the only travel-related message board I regularly visit and I've picked up interesting information even when it's someone else's question.

Oh no, I've got all day. What was the other question?

I don't think I've ever changed planes in the UK before. I've either flown across the pond right to my European destination, or changed in Amsterdam. Amsterdam has always been seamless and easy.

I'm planning a flight from the US to Dublin. If I want to save a few dollars, and not arrive too early, I can skip the non-stop and fly through the UK, either Glasgow, Manchester, or Birmingham. When researching the transfer procedures, it seems that unlike AMS, the UK requires going through immigration, collecting baggage, rechecking it, and re-clearing security, even for transit passengers. Am I reading that right? Has anyone done this recently? There's also the option of transferring in AMS. It's a little further out of the way, but at least I'll have a comfortable three hours to walk around. The BHX transfer was only 2 hours, the others were even shorter.

We have had some great lecturers on a few of our HAL cruises :). But they were all longer cruises where HAL used to go overboard (pun intended) to obtain world class lecture folks. But HAL has also cut-back their lecture programs on many of their shorter cruises. Whether or not you get a decent lecturer on a 7 day cruise in questionable. Also keep in mind that lectures are usually a normal part of sea days, but on a short cruise there are not many of those.

 

Hank

Thanks Hank. I realize that. There are only two sea days, which is more than enough for me. If I'm going on a Norway cruise, it's to visit Norway! I'm also considering Hurtigruten so I can see more ports.

No, no North Cape. Just your typical 7 nighter: Alesund, Geiranger, Bergen and either Flam (NCL) or Eidfjord (HAL).

I'm leaning towards HAL. I just like the "feeling" I'm getting from what I've read. I like the idea of lecturers.

BQ: Hi neighbor!