brookie848

That was an amazing review. I'd love to read one like that again. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. Good luck at the Apple store today!

Question about getting food later. I haven't cruised since 2019, but when I did there was often a small buffet set up in the casino later in the evening. It was basic stuff -- wings, chicken tenders, veggies, cheese & crackers. I was wondering if that is still happening. I'm really enjoying following along with you!

Holy crap! Why??? I mean, I know the Dom isn't cheap, but that's a lot of extra money to spend for two hours. And are you even sober enough to appreciate the Dom? I'm assuming a lot of people have been drinking a good bit today.

We're on this cruise in February. Can you let me know if there were any martini tastings? Those seem to be hit-or-miss on cruises now. I always enjoyed learning about the drinks and chatting with other passengers during the tasting.

Not on the Epic (it was the Dawn), but we were at the airport by 7:00 once in San Juan. I booked our flight for 10:55 and I'm not worried about it. I do know that grabbing a porter can save time if the lines are long.

You can fight NCL on this. Just say that you need sugar-free, no caffeine drinks. We actually had a waiver to bring on liquids for several cruises. Our reasons were that my husband needed sugar-free no caffeine options and at the time Diet Sierra Mist was difficult to come by on ships. We also needed it for sugar-free ginger ale, since they do not offer this.

I find this interesting. As a diabetic, I don't think they could exclude all the sugar free beverages without getting worried about discrimination (I know my husband would LOVE to fight with NCL about this). I think I remember reading on a Carnival live posting that Coke Zero either wasn't available everywhere or wasn't part of the drink package. Personally I think Coke Zero tastes like crap, so I'm fine with regular Diet Coke, but if they won't allow me to have what is "medically" necessary, then I will not be happy. Besides wine, my go-to drinks are whatever and diet soda.

That is weird. We were on the first cruise of the season on the Dawn out of San Juan in November of 2017. Things were moving smoothly, which surprised us a bit. Not only was this the first cruise of the season for the ship, but 2017 was the year of the hurricanes and San Juan as a whole was in pretty bad shape.

Your flight isn't canceled. By you are flying out of the NE -- in January. You are going to have to be de-iced. That's going to add time to your flight. Okay, by some miracle you land at 3:30. I'm assuming you have to be on board no later than 5 if the ship leaves at 7 (we're on this same cruise in February, but I haven't checked what time we have to be there yet). It's going to take you 30 minutes to get off the plane, walk through the airport, and get a taxi. If you have to pick up luggage, add another who knows how long. It's about a 15-minute ride from the airport to the port, but that's if all goes well. The earliest you are going to make it to the port is 4:15. Just no. Suck it up and pay for the hotel. If the hotel costs in San Juan are too much, at least consider flying as far as Florida the day before and staying somewhere cheap there -- and then take the first flight out the morning of the cruise. Still not the best situation, but it's better than trying to make it from the northeast.

So sorry your time in Antigua is cut short. It is my favorite port (we go to BeachLimerz). The cruise I want to book in 2024 has a stop there. Even with the changes, enjoy your cruise!

Thank you! Are you doing the ABCs, St. Lucia and St. Kitts? The other thing I'd love to know is the distance needed to walk from the ship to the port areas for the ABCs. I broke my foot (not recommended) back in August, had surgery in September and will have a second surgery in January to remove hardware. I won't be at 100% yet, but I plan on having a great cruise anyway. I just know that sometimes the walk from ship to the actual port area can be quite long (hello Barbados, Nassau and Cozumel). I'm not sure how much fun that is going to be for me.

Does anyone know the situation on the Epic? We haven't been on there for years and I was thinking of getting my brother a gift card to use when we cruise in February. It seems to have a stand-alone Starbucks, so I'm hoping this will work out for him. He doesn't drink enough to warrant the Starbucks package, which is offered for our sailing.

I would love for SIX to come to the Epic.

Do the Silver Cove ones. The only time we were at GSC we did a regular cabana and we were not impressed with the whole experience. The walk to the cabana was long and difficult for my husband, who is color blind and has zero depth perception when walking in sand. The ground was uneven and since they shuttle you to the Cove, that is a much, much better option. We did not have any stairs to our regular cabana and we were close to the bathrooms, which was nice. But the beach in that area was a walk down a hill and the beach was very rocky and it was not easy to get in and out of the water there. The next time we are on an itinerary that stops at GSC, we will likely not get off the ship. The tendering process was a nightmare (people were waiting 45+ minutes in the hot sun before the tenders left to go back to the ship) and the whole experience was just not worth it to us. We'd much rather enjoy a nearly empty ship.

Better perks can be found in the Owners Suites, Deluxe Owners Suites, and Garden Villa. If balconies are not important to you, check out the forward-facing Deluxe Owner Suites. We sailed in one a few years ago and it was less expensive than a 2-bedroom suite. With the higher-end suites, the additional perks include three (I think more for the Garden Villa) bottles of alcohol/wine and mixers for your drinks in your cabin -- so free cans of soda. I believe you also get reserved seating with the higher suites, but we actually preferred the regular seating in the theater. The DOS without balconies have two different layouts -- two are 2-bedroom and two are not. We needed a 2-bedroom suite. The views were great and we'd consider that cabin again.

Boarding will start regular time -- noon-ish (or before). The last two times we sailed out of San Juan (pre-Covid), our departure wasn't until 9:00 and we still went to the port in the morning. When we sailed from this port (last time was 2019), there was one security line. Once you were through, the Haven line was way at the end of the check-in area. I'll be curious to see if there have been any changes.

Have you ever filed a claim using travel insurance? We have twice. It is not a simple process and it took a long time to do. We needed death certificates for one and a very elaborate medical form filled out for the other (among tons of other paperwork). Insurance works, but canceling because you don't like the change will not be enough reason. Since you live in NY, there is no such thing as "cancel any reason" insurance. Be very careful before you decide to go this route.

People are generally very friendly. Join a trivia team at the beginning of the week and right there are some people you might be able to hang with for the rest of the week. We've chatted with people at bars, the the buffet, sitting across from us at dinner -- you'll be able to tell if they are not interested in chatting. Someone else will be -- that's one of the fun things about going on a cruise.

This happens. There were two ships there when we visited a few years ago.

The problem with booking a suite is that they don't necessarily care about lowering the prices for those. They fill them through the upgrade program. So your prices may not fall at all. Or they may not fall enough to justify not getting the original cabin you wanted. Only you can decide what is worth it to you.

We called a couple of weeks ago to make our final payment and change the third person in our cabin. Our cruise consultant told us our cruise fare had gone down by about $3,000. He just adjusted the price for us. So you should be able to call and get this taken care of to your liking.

I've found that none of the port sites are accurate. I wouldn't freak out.

Ken -- Can you let me know how this goes for you? We will be stopping on the island in early March. I'll have my second foot surgery sometime in December (breaking your foot in five places is NOT recommended). I'm not sure how much walking I'll be able to do then and I'm trying to find ways to mitigate this.

If you are deciding between the two, do Haven Spa, like FLcruisergrl said.

On our March cruise, we will be in Aruba from 8-5. We plan on this being our beach day. I'm having a difficult time keeping track of all of the beaches and what is offered where. We are not opposed to paying for an all-inclusive if that ends up being best for us. Here is what we need: Chair and umbrella rental. Places to buy food/drink. Decent restrooms! Shade -- especially if umbrella rentals are not available. We prefer to take a taxi and need a taxi there to pick us up when we are ready to leave. We don't care about snorkeling and would prefer a sandy beach. Our favorite Caribbean beaches/places to go include Jost Van Dyke, BeachLimerz in Antigua (I'd live here if I could), Nachi Cocum in Cozumel, Rascals in Barbados (Boatyard was okay, too). Thanks!