No More Flying

[Randyk47]

7 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Yeah, Amtrak isn't cheap if you want sleeping accommodations. But I'm a train geek, so for me it's worth it. And I'm near NYC, so there are lots of train possibilities for me. 

 

 

The other issue is Mrs K still works a regular job.  Seven days of train travel would cost her at least five days of her vacation leave on top of what she is taking for the cruise.   As it is our next cruise this coming January is tight for her schedule.  We actually decided on a Caribbean cruise because of time and distance.  She was accepted to the US Army War College in their distance learning masters program.  That’s a demanding two-year grind that she just started.   She’s one of only nine non-uniformed Army civilians in a class of 400+ so she wants to do well.  

[mcrcruiser]

11 minutes ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

Hi Cliff! 

We do the same thing! Go up the day before we will stay at Doubletree or Hampton Inns have dinner out and off to the cruise terminal!! That is what we’re doing March 2020 as we go to Panama Canal! Get off in FLL going to Hilton and then taking a shuttle to Miami spending the night at Hilton and boarding on Oceania Riviera to do a TA to Med for 2 cruises. Will be on The Koningsdam January 2021 doing Hawaii and Mexico!

Denise😊

 

Denise great  itineraries .We have done those same TA /Med  cruises years back on Celebrity . We did the full Canal transit twice on Celebrity ships . In fact one year we did Caribbean 10 days then Panama Canal 15 days & the third leg was SD to Vancouver  .Total of the B2B2B was  35 days , It was on  Infinity at the time  . The  Panama Canal is a standout  .You will surely enjoy that cruise . 

 

 Cliff

[JeffElizabeth]

I am unwilling to give up Colorado, but my wife would do it in a minute, probably the coast of Washington, but we would still be pretty limited on where we could cruise without flying.  

[JeffElizabeth]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Sums up exactly my feelings. If I stopped flying, so much anticipation and enjoyment would leave my life.

 

I always feel a few hours (short, though they may seem long) of mild discomfort are worth the MANY hours of pleasure once I get to my destination(s).

And flying in cattle cars make you appreciate cruising more. 

[MISTER 67]

16 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We  live  35 minutes to the San diego port & 1 .5 hours to the San Pedro port . After many years of flying east to take Trans Atlantic ,Panama  Canal  & Many Caribbean cruises ,we decided to not fly any longer  .Not only the cost savings of flights but the hassles in airports are eliminated

 

 How many of you are doing the same as us , by driving to the ports or getting some one to drive you there ?

We live in Florida and gave up flying 10 years ago. There is nowhere that we feel we need to see that would include flying to get there. We are happy taking our 3 or 4 Caribbean cruises a year out of one of the Florida ports. For us the ship is the destination as we hardly get off the ship anymore. 

We hate flying, the whole experience is almost depressing besides being stressful. 

[sfaaa]

I am fine with flying so long as it is a short flight. Any flight over 3 hours and I would start to get cranky.

[mcrcruiser]

8 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

And flying in cattle cars make you appreciate cruising more. 

 Years back we  did cruise like through the Panama Canal where we would fly one way only  .Then we did repositioning cruises from San Diego to Vancouver  to take a Alaska cruise to Seward Alaska  .Thus ,we flew one way  nome

[hobo1937]

We live in Las Vegas and when we first started cruising in 2003 most of the cruises we wanted to do required flying longer distances. As the years went on , and the flying became more of a hassle, we started looking for ways to lessen the number of long flights. Luckily,  we were able to take some cruise that allowed us to do that. In the fall of 2009 Princess offered a back to back 60 day SF to Sydney and Sydney to LA cruises. Never saw this itinerary again but sure glad we did it at that time. Also some friends wanted to do a Med cruise on the Ruby from Venice to Ft Lauderdale in 2013. Weren't thrilled to fly to Venice so again luckily  we found a Holland America Cruise that went from Ft Lauderdale to Rome that gave us a few days enjoy Italy before doing the Ruby Cruise.Again, never saw this option again. For those  in the So Cal/Nevada/ Arizona area Holland offers  a San Diego-Lima Peru round trip. So there are options out there but if you see something that interests you jump on it if you can as it may never happen again.

Edited August 10, 2019 by hobo1937
typing error

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

We live in Florida and gave up flying 10 years ago. There is nowhere that we feel we need to see that would include flying to get there. We are happy taking our 3 or 4 Caribbean cruises a year out of one of the Florida ports. For us the ship is the destination as we hardly get off the ship anymore. 

We hate flying, the whole experience is almost depressing besides being stressful. 

 We are on the same page . You named it exactly "depressing & stressful" .Then add to that extra cost .We preder to spend the extra on the cruise ship for enjoyment 👍

[summer slope]

We don't fly anymore than we have to....family activities.  We are cruising through the canal from FLL to San Diego, then spending 10 days up and down the California coast then another cruise back through the canal to FLL....eliminates the stress of lost luggage, cancelled flights, etc.

 

[AV8rix]

53 minutes ago, ArtsyCraftsy said:

 

I live about 50 miles from the Vancouver (BC) cruise terminal and about 100 miles from either of the two Seattle cruise terminals, so I look for cruises that embark from there as much as possible.  I can take Amtrak -- the train stations are in the middle of town in both cases -- and then taxi (or Uber in Seattle) to the terminal.  Saves me a lot of aggravation and stress, for sure.

 

Lana in Bellingham, WA

I'm in Everett.  I always prefer to board in Vancouver whenever possible.  It's cheaper for me to get to and from Vancouver than it is for me to get to and from Smith Cove.  And that's a sad commentary on the state of (or lack therof) mass transit in the Seattle metro area.  There's free parking at the Everett transit station and I take the Amtrak Cascade to Vancouver Pacific Central Station.  From there it's about 15 minutes to Canada Place on the wonderful SkyTrain or a $10 cab ride. 

 

However, like you, when forced to board at Smith Cove I do take the Amtrak from Everett to Seattle and then Lyft to the port.  But getting back up north that way is impossible because of Amtrak's schedule.  So I have to either hire a car or take Shuttle Express to SEA and then Shuttle Express again from the airport to Everett.

[JeffElizabeth]

What would be the best place to live if you wanted to cut down on flying? Probably Miami, but I also think NYC-Tri-state area would be great.

[TriumphGuy]

I detest flying and try to avoid it whenever possible. Last February we drove to Fort Lauderdale from Chicago. We took our time, took us three days but it was worth it to me. Plus almost every time I fly I catch a bug which puts a real damper on the trip. In 2002 we flew to New Zealand and I spent 3 days flat on my back in a rented RV recovering from some disease. It was after that I swore I would only fly if I had no other option.
That said, we have a TA booked for next April, and will need to fly Chicago> Ft Lauderdale and Paris>Chicago. We booked Premium Economy seats so hopefully won't be too awful. Might look into Business Class on the Paris flight, if it doesn't wipe out our retirement. 

[Randyk47]

5 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

What would be the best place to live if you wanted to cut down on flying? Probably Miami, but I also think NYC-Tri-state area would be great.

 

If the cruise ship is your “destination” then I would say Miami because of all the choices.  If you want to go on a variety of itineraries to different and maybe exotic ports then there is no perfect place.

[sfaaa]

20 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

What would be the best place to live if you wanted to cut down on flying? Probably Miami, but I also think NYC-Tri-state area would be great.

Live on a cruise ship as a long term passenger.

[3rdGenCunarder]

55 minutes ago, Randyk47 said:

 

The other issue is Mrs K still works a regular job.  Seven days of train travel would cost her at least five days of her vacation leave on top of what she is taking for the cruise.   As it is our next cruise this coming January is tight for her schedule.  We actually decided on a Caribbean cruise because of time and distance.  She was accepted to the US Army War College in their distance learning masters program.  That’s a demanding two-year grind that she just started.   She’s one of only nine non-uniformed Army civilians in a class of 400+ so she wants to do well.  

 

Congrats to Mrs K!

 

Yes, the train does add a lot of time to a trip. I should have added that I'm retired, so I don't have the vacation day problem. I thought about it for my Alaska cruise, but it's a day to Chicago, then I would stay overnight one a day as a time "buffer" in case the first train is late. Then another 2 days to Seattle. Then time to visit with friends, and THEN the cruise. The whole trip  would have been longer than I want to be away. One of these days I want to do a train-based "land cruise."

 

[MISTER 67]

16 hours ago, School library lady said:

I wish we could! But when you live in Oklahoma and like to cruise, you pretty much have to fly.

You could drive to Houston for cruises out of Galveston or New Orleans. 

[Grandma7]

I guess I am crazy, but I actually love the flying part of my trip! To me, it signals that my vacation has started. I turn off my phone any order a glass of champagne when I get on the plane. When I was a young child my family would often go to the Atlanta airport for our Sunday entertainment and just people watch. I loved it and found it so fascinating, wondering where the people were going,etc. I still love doing this while waiting for the plane!

[mcrcruiser]

49 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

What would be the best place to live if you wanted to cut down on flying? Probably Miami, but I also think NYC-Tri-state area would be great.

 Putting ourselves in your place (if you are retired )   one of the best places to live in Florida is along the Atlantic coast line if affordable  .Reason is it gets humid in the summer ;but ,you are also subject to hurricane  .Move more north to Jacksonville  .Other alternative is mid Florida  , The Villages is a retirement community of reasonable priced homes with every amenity possible  including many golf courses place to eat that are reasonable ie  .You can still drive to all the Florida ports from the villages on the turnpike  (tolls ).There are these ports   Tampa is the best port  ,then the   Cape  ,Ft Lauderdale & lastly Miami .Do not live in or near Miami 

 

 The NYC Tri area is extremely pricy with high taxes .Florida is a low tax state 

 

  Hope this info  helps  you 

[tommui987]

16 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We know that there are cruise lines that sail from Hawaii to Australia  & while there one can sail to many Pacific ocean destinations  .Then it is a one way flight back  .Celebrity is one that comes to mind & perhaps Holland America

 

Actually Celebrity and HAL cruises originate from the West Coast and stops in Hawaii on a Hawaii cruise or on its way down under or to the Far East. Sometimes it is difficult to join those cruises from here.

 

Should add on flights to join a cruise, I will be going from here to Amsterdam by way of San Francisco next month and back here from Rome by way of Chicago and San Francisco.

 

Two years ago, it was to Shanghai via Tokyo and back here from Hong Kong via Guam!

[SetAnOpenCourse]

We fly to a few cruises, but they have to be pretty special, like a Transatlantic, or Asia, or the right European cruise.  We’ll probably do another Alaska cruise at some point, which will be worth the discomfort and hassle of flying (worth it one more time).

 

The ship also needs to be worth the flying hassle - forget the recent builds in the fleet!

 

I must admit, if we weren’t living in Florida we probably would never had tried cruising.  A big reason to move here was to fly less.

 

 

[Lovely other]

If only we could cruise from Belfast ... I can however get a ferry to the Isle of Mull or Islay from the tiny town I live near but it’s not quite as much fun 😁

[DeeniEncinitas]

8 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

are you aware of the Dec 7 and 14 Oceaina cruise out of San Pedro to SF?    

Hi Dan!

yes know of those cruises, but for us going up our coast is not a big deal. Our daughter lived up in San Francisco when she was going to school and seeing Santa Barbara which we drive to and San Francisco well been there done that. For a lot of our CCERS on the east coast and Canada it would be a wonderful cruise👍

Denise😊

[dillpickle48]

Our worst flight was driving to Sydney Australia, then flying to Istanbul to commence our HAL cruise. With a 4 hour stop over in Dubai, it was 39 hours from home to the ship.  We now fly less.

[Randyk47]

20 hours ago, sfaaa said:

Live on a cruise ship as a long term passenger.

 

Like the late Mama Lou.   Cruised constantly to almost the end of her life.  Quite a character.