bscrive

Brian and Deb from Ottawa.  We just booked this cruise yesterday.  We cancelled our cruise on the Magic for this one because we don't have to fly.  Found it by accident looking for a cruise for a friend and we decided to take it. 

Looks like most of the ship is booked as we only had four balcony cabins to choose from.  It has been a long time since we have been on Carnival.  Our first two cruise were on the Valor and Victory back in 2005 & 2007 and then we went to RCI for a while.  We are on the Voyager of the Seas in March and it will be a first time back on RCI since 2019.  Since then we have been on Princess, Holland America and NCL.  We did not care for NCL at all and won't be sailing with them unless there is a whopper of a deal.  Too expensive for what you get and the room was small for what they consider a mini suite. 

We have been to all of the islands, but it will be nice to get back to Grenada and Dominica.  We loved both those islands and it has been a while since we have been there.

We got a really good deal at the Hampton Inn and Suites Staten Island for a hotel, so we booked that the night before.  Anything else closer to the port was just too expensive, or didn't include breakfast, or had free parking. 

We decided to park at the port as any other place around was the same price, or you had to take their shuttle to the port.  When the cruise is done, we want to jump in our truck and go home.  We did a sailing out of Bayonne where we did the shuttle thing.  We had to wait hours for the shuttle guy to show up.  Never again.  The next time we parked at the port in Bayonne and it was easy to get on the road after the cruise.

9 hours ago, waiting2retire said:

Since you refer specifically to the CDC vaccination card, is Verifly only available to Americans?

No, we can upload our vaccination paper as well.  Just take a photo of it and upload it.

I have been hearing reports that the internet was really bad.  Has it improved lately.  We were thinking of purchasing it, but don't want to if it isn't working well.

We are going on the Sky Princess at the end of Feb.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

The cruise we are doing is the May 14 - 26, 2016 one.

Unfortunately, the Air Transat flight does not have a flight on the Thursday night or we would book that one. We have to agree that it could be doable but if something happens with he plane then we would be out of luck. I think we will wait a few months to see what other flights we can get and leave on Thursday night instead. We will also check out Choice Air but a couple of times that family has booked through that, they only got to the ship about an hour before the cut off time. Do you know if the ship will wait if you book the flight through RCCL and it is late?

We booked a 12 night mediterranean cruise may of 2016 and I was wondering how long it takes from the time you land to get to the cruise ship. The reason why I ask is that we can get a direct flight from Montreal to Barcelona pretty cheap with Air Transat but the plane lands at noon and the ship sails at 5pm. I know that we have to be at the cruise terminal at 3:30pm at the latest. So, is 3 hours enough time to get through customs and get to the terminal? I know we are cutting it close and that if the plane is late we could be in trouble. But, it is a direct flight and all the other flights have long layovers.

My husband and I are planning on doing this cruise next April. I am in the planning stages right now. I do have a few questions for anyone that can help me.

 

1. How do most people get to Bayonne? Ride their bike, trailer??? Any problems with leaving vehicle/trailer at host hotel, such as theft, damage???

 

2. How do you get to the port to embark? Hubby will have to ride the bike, of coarse:p. But how does the passenger get there with all the luggage? Taxi, shuttle, other option???? Do people ever get together to share a ride to the port?

 

3. Once at the port, where/how do you meet up with your partner? How is this handled?

 

 

This sounds like one REALLY awesome cruise!!!!!

We just came back from the March 19-30 cruise. The ride was great. We will do it again. We did get rained out after about an hour in San Juan but that happens.

What we did was trailer the bikes. Some did ride their bikes but at this time of the year that is a real gamble with snow or freezing rain. We parked the truck and trailer at a spot not far from the port call Premier Parking and it was $12/day. We dropped off the bike in the designated area right beside the ship and then latter put the bike in the hold of the ship and then dropped off the luggage (I would suggest you drop off the luggage first because it quickly got really busy) and then parked at Premier. The place has secured parking and a free shuttle to and from the pier. All six of us took the shuttle so we would stay together.

The bikes were loaded at around 11:30am but you will need to get there with the bike between 10:00-10:30am to make sure that everyone is there before the bikes are put on the ship. The bikes saddle bags are checked by security and nitrogen is put in the gas tank, to keep the fumes down. You then can go and park the truck and come back for regular check-in at the main terminal.

After the cruise the bikes are unloaded to the same designated area and then you get on a bus that takes you to the terminal to get your luggage and go through customs. After that we found the Premier Parking guy and hopped in the shuttle with our luggage to our parking spot where we loaded the truck up with our luggage and then went back to the pier and picked up the bikes and headed home.

I hope this helps out anyone interested in this cruise. The bikers you will meet are great and you will make a lot of new friends.

I am going on the one this Monday and as far as I know, you have to stay with the group.

To me that is better because if something happens to you and you don't make the ship you will have to find a way back home with your bike. Also, I don't think their insurance would cover and our own insurance does not cover you in the caribbean I think, I may be wrong.

I will be bringing my bike on the back of a pickup. Do they have a ramp or something to get the bike off and put them back on when we get back or do I have to bring a ramp? Or is there something near by, a hill or something.

Man, that must be nice to go on two cruises so close together. Wish we could do the same.

What are you riding?

We will have a Valkyrie I/S, mine, a Goldwing and a Victory Cross Country.

Have fun and we will see you on the second run.

There are six of us going on the March 19th cruise with Tami and Steve. We have all cruised before but this is the first time with the bikes. We cannot wait. I found out about the bike cruise right after we booked another cruise a couple of years ago. We finally got it set up last January and we are counting the days. Anyone else going with us? I know there is a motorcycle club joining us.