Saving Up To Be Eccentric

I saw where there's a bus that goes to the Turtle Farm as well as Hell. Which is its first stop, or do they run both directions?

Congrats on emerald. And it will be another 2 years before I can be diamond. Don't know how ya'll do it so fast.

$$$ and time. One day, I can hope for that to be me.

Off-topic, but what type of parrots are those?

The Alaska board will have a lot of info about how the weather is in various ports. Ketchikan and Juneau have a lot of rain. And once you get into the temperate rain forest, under the trees in Ketchikan, the temperature drops; also, when you get close to glaciers - glacier bay, Hubbard, Mendenhall (should you choose to hike out to Nugget Falls), the temp will also drop.

All of the whale-watching boats share the same marine frequency and when whales are spotted, a radio call notifies all of the boat captains in the area. So whale watching comes down to an issue of comfort.

And safety. We were close by the water, so our knees got soaked when we knelt down for pictures, and everybody had to keep hold of something in the boat. Everyone on board loved it, but I would not be comfortable telling anyone with a child or physical disabilities to do that. The kiosk operator sold the people in front of me on a larger boat than they originally wanted, because they had a stroller-age child in tow.

p.s. ooh, a 14 day B2B? You've got to be excited this close to time!

And is it all possible to visit Cancun or a Tequila tasting during this trip?

It's about two hours between Cozumel and Tulum, with the ferry and drive time. It'd be something like two hours if you hired a driver to get you to Cancun from Tulum, as they are in opposite directions from the ferry landing. Add the time back to Cozumel from Cancun... do you want to spend 6+ hours out of your day in transportation?

Try this thread, about page 39: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1984388

If you start about page 30, she posted most of the various pay venue menus, as well.

I didn't book in advance, but Whale Tales was available when we got to the kiosks at the dock. There were 7 people plus the captain, and I think there must have been at least a dozen boats in the same channel that we were at: they all have radios and so they all know where the action is.

There is also a free museum at the back of one of the shops on the west side of Broadway.

At 5th, I think, and worthwhile.

You can also find on-line walking tours of Skagway. Ketchikan has them on line and also at the visitor's center near the pier.

Oh, and after you go through Totem Bight, if you have some time before the bus comes back, try going next door to Potlatch Park. It's not obvious from the road, but if instead of turning in between those first two totems to Totem Bight you had kept walking from the bus stop, you'd find it.

You will be fine. Trying to use all the alternate routes will just get you confused and you really won't save much time if you get lost. It is really easy. Just take I35 and when it splits (in Denton just north of the metroplex) stay on I35E. Once you get downtown just past the American Airlines arena (it will be on your left, going south) you will want to be in the right lane. Take the exit for Houston (it is marked well) and go under the short tunnel and exit to your right again (Will see signs for I45)(It is only a mile maybe two from the time you get off I35E until you are on I45. You do not get on I30 at all. Once you get on I45 you will have clear sailing till Houston area. You won't see much of anything until around the Conroe area. It is actually a very boring ride.

If you zoom in on a map of Dallas, this is the parallel freeway to I30 that basically only exists in downtown. You'll notice that it's so short that the signage only says what's on the other side. However, if you are listening to traffic reports, it's critical to know this section is called "Woodall Rodgers." The 35 and 30 interchange is called the Mixmaster. 35E north of 30 = "Stemmonds" and 75/45 (the milage and name change, the pavement doesn't) = "Central" 45 south of downtown is now called Schepps officially, but I've not heard many people use it. Loop 635 = "LBJ" 35E South of downtown to 30 through downtown = RL Thornton ... Loop 12, however, stays loop 12, because it's actually a group of streets that make a city loop.

I have heard that there are toll roads around Houston that only use prepaid passes (no toll booths), so out-of-towners (who don't have the passes) end up getting bills from the state of Texas requiring the driver to pay not only the tolls but a hefty fine or service charge in addition. Any truth to this?

Yes, some truth. But those roads are well-marked, and you shouldn't need to drive on them. The main difficulty seems to be when a GPS says to take Hardy Toll Road instead of I45 in north Houston when it's late at night and there's no one manning the booth - but that's also when you don't need to take the toll road as a bypass! So ignore the GPS whining that you should take Hardy or tell it to find an alternate route. Westpark doesn't have any booths, but you can either take surface streets or I10, and that's clear out of the way for a North-South trip.

The Sam Houston Toll (it's limited access loop 8) does have cash lanes.

Has anyone been on this excursion? Would that be too dark when we arrive the glacier? Is an hour enough to spend on the glacier? Also, is it really worth to go on whale watching part? I've been told you can still see a lot of whales and other wildlife on the cruise.

 

Thanks!

Have not been on that excursion, but I do have a picture of what 6:45 looks like from the Roberts Tramway. You'll be fine with the light. And with an hour at Mendenhall, I could hike out to Nugget Falls and back (source: I did on my own tour). So if you're willing to only spend about five minutes at the visitors' center, that's doable (but the temperature will drop markedly as you approach the huge chunk of ice, so I'd bring a jacket).

The whales we saw from the ship weren't that close and I didn't get any good pictures. The whales we saw from the boat out of Juneau/Auke Bay were much closer and even I managed a few decent snaps for the book. :D

Really, VUCowboy? They don't update their download documents when there's a change? I've been seeing that IT was a problem, but I didn't know that.

Do any of you happen to know where to look to see when the excursions are supposed to start prior to getting on the ship?

In case anyone else needs to know this: you can download a .pdf brochure from the Royal Caribbean webside, that will indicate start times.

The MDR is not open for lunch on embarkation day. Promenade Cafe would be the only other choice for lunch other than Windjammer.

Thanks! The promenade is already on the must-visit list for ice-show tix.

And, for those of you on the Grand Cayman itinerary: I can only guess that the tenders were rather backed up if you got into your port on time, that RCI excursions got priority as did C&A high rewards and suite occupants, and other than that it was first come-first serve. Which has lead to asking myself is, "Is it better to do a shorter RCI excursion to get off the ship and then book something else through local providers - and would that even be plausible?" Do any of you happen to know where to look to see when the excursions are supposed to start prior to getting on the ship?

I've seen several people suggest that Windjammer is always super-crowded on embarkation day, and that you should skip it and go to the MDR. But on the dailies that a fellow CCer scanned in, it doesn't say that the MDR is open for lunch, only that you can ask the manager dining questions there. Is it a WJ only lunch day on Navigator? Is it not as bad as on some other ships? :confused:

If you stay on 59 to 45 South, it is on the south side of town. Just have to be sure to be in the right lane just past town to exit.

I find the 610 loop backs up and ends up taking longer than the straight shot.

I drive Galveston - Woodlands - Galveston all the time to visit DS.

I don't do it all the time. Just often enough to have had the fun of trying to get through when somebody broke down/ had an accident at the 45/ 10 or 45/59 interchanges. That's why I suggested checking the website - the route you suggested is the best as long as there aren't horrible traffic snarls downtown - but I sometimes have rotten traffic luck.

Priorities depend on boarding day: have I been on a city tour until a few minutes before I should be in line at the port or am I ready and waiting early in the day? Exploring the ship is always a day 1 priority if it's a new ship. Deckplans are never the whole story!

The thing about downtown Houtson traffic is that it can be something of a crap shoot if it's clear; it only takes one accident downtown to royally foul things. If you have a smart phone, I'd check traffic reports after your flight. Find the link at traffic.houstontranstar.org for mobile. Smooth sailing? Go 59 to 45. Back ups on various interchanges that do not include "loop 610" or "loop 8/ Sam Houston Toll", I'd go 610 - take the 610 East branch around to 45 south of downtown.

I don't know if you've looked into it, but there's a board here just for Hawaian ports of call. Also, you can go on trip advisor for more land-based info on Oahu. I occasionally lurk and plan my next big vacation on both websites.

Maxy might have been pleasant but who cares he didn't clean your room from the previous pax. Disgusting

^This is also what threw me. Ronaldo, our steward last year, worked his butt off for his rooms. Yes, he was friendly, too, and I'm pretty sure that we got our linens changed out once mid-week - the day that our towels that we'd been re-hanging after use were mysteriously bone-dry and folded. And he was willing to go find someone in housekeeping to take an iron to one of the cleaning tags (on a sock - hello blisters) they put on during the laundry sale so the fabric wasn't damaged. Why is the OP friendly with someone who isn't doing their job after it was pointed out to them? It doesn't make sense.

Was the Sun perfect last year? No. The acrobat show got very high marks, but the musical review show ... yikes. And as much as I loved the view from the forward lounge, when they brought out the live music to butcher love songs, stationed front and center, yikes again. That said, there was live music on board that was good, it was just in different venues without the view; pick your poison. Would I sail her again? Absolutely. Will it be my next cruise or vacation? Nope; but then, even if a Seattle native had a great time on a southern caribbean destination cruise, I wouldn't expect them to want to do that trip again immediately, either.

Is there any other option, f.i. a less well known 'cruiseline' to explore the Hawaiian archipel?

Note that the "uncruise" line mentioned by the previous poster is a recent rebranding of a different adventure small cruise line. It's pricy, as small ships are wont to be, but I haven't seen *any* reviews other than the glowing testimonials they publish on their site.

What kind of timeframe difference does this make for Navigator's Grand Cayman tendering? If the ship docks at 8am, there's a lot of night owls still roosting. But 11 is a reasonable time for everyone except high school teens, so I'd imagine that's something like 3k people all at once. Should I consider a short city tour or something just to see some of the sites and get off the ship before picking up an independent trip out to see the stingrays?

Thanks to those who corrected my initial assumption that there would be a lunch discount at Sabor! Oh, well, can't blame me for hoping.

Also, thanks to OKC cruiser for posting the link to the scanned compass. I'll still be on the lookout for MDR menu sequences, but the compass is a big help for a rough plan for the week. Not that I expect travel plans to ever survive intact, but if I don't know to *plan* to get ice show tix, then I might not get any!

Sabor debuted a new lunch menu last week with a few additional items. I'll post a picture of the menu when I have a chance to go through my pictures.

What was Sabor's lunch upcharge?