AZ cruise getaways

The Homewood Suites in Fort Lauderdale has a Port of Miami Cruise Package that they offer with transfers and breakfast included. They also have shuttles from the airport in FLL.

Does anyone know anything about this hotel and it's cruise package and arriving in in Fort Lauderdale?

We will need to arrive in Fort Lauderdale, but our cruise will leave out of the Port of Miami? Does this hotel really include airport and Port of Miami cruiseport transfer? If it does, it seems like it may be just what we're looking for.

Looking to do a pre- or post- cruise trip to see some of Australia, maybe 4 or 5 days only. We are hoping to do the Ovation of the Seas out of Sydney to see some of New Zealand. We've always wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef and wondered what else we could combine to make a package trip for a few days and see some of Australia, especially if we're really going to travel that far, we need to see a little bit of the country.

Thank you.

Hello,

Spending a few days in Orlando visiting the theme parks, so we'll be looking for transportation to depart a hotel in Orlando to head to Port Canaveral. Will also need transportation back to Orlando airport after the cruise.

We seem to be finding lots of transportation from the airport to the Port, but not finding much from an Orlando hotel, only airport hotels.

Need help. Thanks.

Does anyone know if the shore excursions are reading "cannot be purchased online, try again once you board the ship", does this mean that they are sold out? Are they likely to make new groups if there's enough interest? We have an Anthem of the Seas cruise in a few weeks and 2 of the excursions are reading that way on the Royal site for shore excursions.

Thank you.

Hello,

Can someone help with an explanation of Dynamic Dining? We've been on Royal several times, but this will be new to us. Do we need to make reservations? Will we be told which dining room to be in on what night? How does this all work? One of those things we're starting to stress about with our cruise only a month away.

Thank you to those that can help.

Well, it turns out you were correct, there are no more D1 cabins, so we are now back in the Cat. X guarantee bucket again. We will cross our fingers, but according to the agent, we may end up back in that cabin, if that is all that's available. They seemed very understanding of the medical situation. We are really hoping that this all turns out well and will be watching to see what our cabin may be over the next few days.

Thank you.

Well, as it turns out, our cabin would be right above those deck six cabins that were mentioned. Guess I will be giving Royal a call tomorrow to see about possibly changing the cabin. I did read one post from someone who actually stayed in the cabin we were assigned to and they said it smelled horrible all the time.

Anyone with good options for D1 category cabins on the Anthem to possibly pick if I had that opportunity, or at least know better when they offer another room, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Does anyone know where the smoking areas are on the Anthem of the Seas? We thought we'd take a chance on a balcony guarantee and now I'm not so sure since I'm reading about smoking areas just below our cabin. I am a cancer survivor and we are very sensitive to smoke, and now wonder if we've made a mistake. Are there large areas on deck 5 that are smoking areas?

Thank you.

Hello,

I am considering upgrading our category to the category X guarantee on the

Anthem of the Seas. Can anyone tell me about their experience with this type of category? Is it sometimes not such a good thing or can it be obstructed?

Thank you to anyone who may be able to add something on the subject.

Going in the night before is not an option at this point.

We were hoping to do the bus that Royal Caribbean used to offer, but then we found out that they didn't contract with them this year. We couldn't find other buses that would get us into the area on time. Amtrak almost seemed like a possibility but they won't take checked bags.

So now we're at a point of a rental car, but it is normally supposed to be a 3 hour trip, so we think that if we leave western Mass. between 6 and 7 AM, we should be all right. Just want to avoid traffic as much as possible.

Thank you for the tips and directions.

We will be driving down from Western Massachusetts the morning of the cruise for the Anthem, so it will be a week day. What are the best directions, coming from the Springfield, MA area and will be headed to the Enterprise Rental Car on Kennedy Blvd. I've heard that the Tappan Zee bridge might be better, but none of the directions are giving it that way.

Thank you.

Well, is Enterprise the only car rental that will work close to the pier? That's what it seems like I've heard, but some of those were older posts. Brother in law only has a jeep...not enough room for the 3 of us and luggage, and then there would be parking, too. We are beginning to think that doing a car is the only way; just needed to know one close to the pier to avoid heavy taxi costs. Brother in law will need to get a car to drive back after the cruise and we will get a flight from Newark to the west coast. We were just visiting family in central Mass., and brother in law is in Western Mass. He can meet us in Worcester. Routes are not that different from Western or Central Mass.

Yes, we are planning on traveling the morning of the cruise, it will be a Thursday morning in June. We originally were going to take the bus that Royal Caribbean used to recommend, but they no longer have that contract. We will be visiting family in Massachusetts and then head to the cruise. After we realized the bus wasn't going to work, we thought the one way car would be the best option. My brother in law, who will be traveling with us, probably knows more about the New York weekday traveling.

Thanks for your ideas or options, if there are any.

Does anyone know the car rentals that are closest to the cruise port? We would be driving one way from Massachusetts pre-cruise. And would it be easy to get back to the car rental after the cruise from the port? This is our first time out of this cruise port.

Thank you.

It seems that more and more airlines just don't care about what happens with these bags, even after collecting the huge fees that they take in for these bags. It probably starts with those who have had connections, as we had. We went in 2 days ahead of time just for this sort of thing. The bags never made it to the hotel in London until 2 days after we boarded the cruise. British Airways and our travel insurance had our cruise schedule, but the bags always seemed to make it to the port we just left and then we'd have to reschedule all over. I made friends with someone else onboard who was with Delta and also never got her bags. And Princess told us that there were many onboard this cruise who lost their bags.

I still can't believe that we did a 12-day cruise with practically no wardrobe.

As far as the dress on formal nights, I think you have to remember that a large number of people never got their luggage on this cruise. And that includes my husband and I. His full suit stayed in his luggage until we received his bag 4 weeks after we left home. My bag came 3 days before the cruise ended, long after both formals. One of my dresses was actually missing when I received the bag. And we were told by Princess staff that an unusual amount of luggage didn't make this cruise!

Please be considerate when you see those people in jeans on formal night. It may not be there choice. I had never missed a formal on a cruise before. I still cannot believe that we went on a 12 day cruise and 2 days in London with such a limited wardrobe.

We were able to see many places new to us and really enjoyed the touring for the time that we were not stressing on this vacation.

We are just off the Royal Princess, June 2nd sailing, and yes, there were an exceptional amount of colds, coughs. Staff would not let us into the dining room without actually washing our hands. And my husband brought home one of those colds.

The other thing that was going around on this sailing was lost luggage. Princess said they had a large amount of people on this cruise that had missing luggage. Unfortunately, this included us....my bag finally got to me 3 days before the end of the cruise, and British Airways still doesn't know where my husband's luggage is over 2 weeks later. We do not understand why British Airways will not allow the travel insurance or Princess talk to them. Some kind of new privacy rules!!

Princess was fabulous about our missing luggage. They did the best they could with trying to track the bags. They tried to help with finding the bags and they helped out with the amount of laundry that we had to do. There was a wonderful agent at the check in desk in Southampton that got us a taxi and sent us to a particular store in the town to get some basic clothes items. Of course, we were not able to attend formals this cruise, though.

I'm glad that my husband convinced me to stay for the cruise, rather than go home. We did the best we could and enjoyed ourselves the best we could under these conditions and stresses.

Is there a better side of the ship to be on since it looks like it is going counter clockwise around the main island. It sort of looks like starboard might be better except for around the Wales area.

I need opinions on best cabins for the lowest balcony price on the Royal Princess. And unobstructed please. It seems there are a lot of obstructed view cabins on this ship. There seems to be a lot of talk about elevator usage, too, so would probably be nice to not be too far from the elevator and be midship or almost midship.

Right now we are torn beween deck 10 or 12, maybe. Need some opinions.

Thanks.

Can anyone tell me what the best and easiest transportation would be out of Quebec City to get back to Boston, if you have a family member who will absolutely not get on an airplane?

Love to hear good ideas on this one. Thanks.

Where is everyone watching the live sailaway?

Secret balcony? Guess if we all knew it wouldn't be secret anymore!!

Thanks for the info about the shows. Maybe my husband will calm down a bit about missing out now. It was really stressing him out, and this is supposed to be a vacation.

PS. I've been watching these boards for years, but this past year is the first time I've signed up and am now participating. Thanks all.

We are also getting on the Oasis next week, May 31st.

Do you have reservations to all the shows. We can't get in for the comedians or Come Fly With Me. Will we be able to get in once onboard? We don't like that we can't get in. There are only 2 of us.

Hello,

Can anyone tell me about the comedy shows on the Oasis of the Seas? Is it the same show everyday? Is there a schedule posted somewhere, so that you can make choices before you board? Even though we love comedians, etc., we would not want to see the same show everyday, nor would we want to miss someone who's really good or different.

Thanks.