ABC islands do not require shore excursions..do them on your own

 Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao are all very safe and it’s easy to do what’re you want without a shore excursion.

Aruba tips

Once off the ship, walk across the street and the buses are now parked on the street behind the shops. If you want a beach the buses one way to the best beaches eagle and palm (my favourite) are 10 minutes away. Buses are frequent and almost all do the beach route.  I prefer Palm as if you need a toilet you can go into one of the hotels or restaurants.  Buses are 3$ usd one way.

Downtown is tiny with lots of shops with the usual t shirts and gifts. I found the shops cheaper than the stalls.  I walked to the renaissance hotel on the water (10 to 20 minutes to your right depending on how many stops to take pictures). This is where the I love Aruba sign is. The park here has great water views and benches.

Curaçao tips

You will need a taxi here to go to the beach. I love the blue beach resort, for best snorkeling and a small but pretty beach.

But this is the island to walk into town across the bridge,. A 10 minutes away walk and you are in shopping Mecca. Note if the bridge is up, there is a free ferry.  Sadly many shops didn’t survive Covid. Look for the “ everything is 6$ shop as I got a sun dress and a golf shirt each 6$. There was also a shop closing where everything was $5.   

The synagogue museum is a must see, as there is a 3 story museum and of course the oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere. It has the traditional sand on the floor. Note you need a picture id, to get in. They  don’t accept cash and it’s $18 usd to get in . It has short hours from 10 to 2 pm.

Plan on a couple of shopping hours to browse slowly .  Lots of Great Wall art to take photos of.

Bonaire tips

Lots of places for snorkeling and you will need a water taxi to the island or one of the beaches. 

Downtown consists of a couple of streets of shops. There is a lot of construction and the streets are dug up. Prices surprisingly were better than Aruba for t shirts etc

You can see fish and sea turtles from the dock as the water is really clear. 

These islands are not in the hurricane zone and all were very hot and humid.

My tip for all are wear sun dresses for the women and lightweight tees and shorts for mea, sun hats and sunscreen are musts.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Using Princess cruises upgrade bidding

 After no luck getting an upgrade with RCL via their bidding program, I thought I would try the Princess program. I was in an interior cabin for an almost fully booked enchanted Princess Caribbean cruise in January.  As per the many u tube videos on tactics, I bided for an ocean view and an obstructed balcony cabin. I bidded the minimum amount on both types, as soon as bidding opened 85 days before the cruise. I do this as solo travellers pay double the bid.

Within a week I got the email that my bid was successful for the balcony. So for 270 usd I got a nice cabin. While it is obstructed view, it is only the top of a lifeboat below the railing. It is mid ship.  For this prime location I would have paid almost 4000 cdn. Instead I paid 1482 usd. Or about 2000cdn.

So it is ok to bid the minimum and don’t worry if the ship seems full.

Tips

Bid the minimum on various types of cabins

Just bid and forget about it, as hopefully you are happy with the current cabin.

Hope this helps 

Marcia 

Caribbean princess 2.0 - it’s still a good value cruise ship

 I am on a 12 day southern Caribbean cruise on the old but still sailing Caribbean Princess ship. It was refurbished in the last 2 years so the hull appears freshly painted, lots of furnishings and carpets replaced. It still caters to an older demographic and mostly Americans and some Canadians. 

I sailed on her 4 years ago and the things that were good still are and the bad stuff still not fixed.

The food is very good all around the ship.

Service of the cabins and in the dining room good. 

The ship and public places clean. 

My outside cabin is clean, comfortable and the plumbing and air conditioning works

The tv still has movies with newer releases for free

Now for the stuff that hasn’t gotten better

- the internet is slow to download emails 

- I still had to get help to log on  to the internet as it’s not intuitive and instructions useless

- staff are polite but only the room steward is customer focused. Most act as though it is not a place they want to be

- entertainment is still the worst at sea of all the cruise lines. The acts are re hashes meaning a magician, production shows that are repeated on all their ships and has been vocalists . You will get one or two acts that are great. Note the theatre is always packed. Get their a half hour before the show for a seat 

- game shows have not been updated since I last cruised with Princess 4 years ago

- to get thru dinner is at minimum 1.5 hours 

So why did I come… excellent ports, cheap price for a solo

Just lower your expectations and you can have a good time.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Go port is still my go shuttle to cruise port when flying into Orlando airport

 While I was disappointed when they contacted me that they no longer pick up at the airport hotels. Note you have to take the hotel shuttle back to the airport gate A 3/4. They are still the best value high volume shuttle to the Cape Canaveral cruise port. They start the shuttles at 10 am to 2 pm and it takes about 45 to a hour to get parked at your cruise terminal and off load your bags. It depends on how many cruise ships are in port as they stop at all ships for each bus.

They have a well tuned approach at the airport. You check in at the desk, they give you a number and you board the buses in batches of numbers. The only put 26 numbers per bus because of all of the luggage.

It costs 29.99 usd per person one way.

Tip 

Get there between 9am and 9:15 if you want a 10 am bus. Because the ships came in late due to weather their first bus was delayed and I left at 10:25 am

I will always use them in Orlando as they are half the price of the cruise shuttle (Princess) and much more timely.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Comfort suites Orlando international airport- pre cruise hotel was good

 I am constantly searching for a good pre cruise hotel in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale at a reasonable price with breakfast and free airport shuttle. Comfort suites Orlando airport fits the criteria. I called for the shuttle at 11:30 am and they were at the designated gate within 10 minutes. When I got to the hotel Carmen gave me my room right away even though check in is 4 pm. She also recommended the Latin restaurant across the street for lunch. It was excellent. It was crowded with mostly latinos. The staff was helpful in helping me make choices. The food is served cafeteria style. The portions are huge. I had enough for lunch and dinner it cost me 10 dollars with a pop.  Down the street within a10 minutes walk are several fast food places and 7 eleven. There are lights, crosswalks so don’t let the busy street discourage you.

At the hotel the room is huge, with a king size bed and sofa area, mini fridge and microwave. It was very clean and the bed comfortable. My only issue was how loud the air conditioner is when it starts up. If you keep it at 72 f, it is quiet.

The breakfast was ok but the eggs are inedible. The pastries, waffles and fruit and yogurt were fine as was the juice. 

They offer a shuttle to the cruise port for $35 pp, but it is $30 for Go port back at the airport.  Go port no longer picks up at hotels.

Tips

Pre book the shuttle for the next day to the airport and make sure you give yourselves plenty of time as they pick up at another hotel

I would stay at this hotel again

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Air Canada phone help is 2.5 hours wait, but the reps are great

In the past two days I have had to call Air Canada customer service to get a seat reinstated when Royal Caribbean had to change my flights.  Royal Caribbean is to blame for the second call both to them and to Air Canada as they did not issue the flight tickets even though I paid in full.   Always request they issue the ticket when you have fully paid. They do not do this automatically.

I checked on line and AI said the average wait time to speak to an Air Canada rep would be between 2 and 3 hours. Air Canada touts it has a call back feature but on both calls this call back was not offered to me.  So expect at least 2 hours to speak to a rep.  The only way I could get me seat reinstated was to speak to an agent.

But when I finally go through to the reps on both days they were great. The first one told me RCL had not issued the ticket and call RCL back. The second rep acknowledged I paid for the seat for my flight and wondered why RCL had changed the booking number. (It appears they didn't have to????). Anyway the cost of my seat had gone up so they couldn't give it back to me at the same price. When there was an issue with the system accepting my credit card (for 9$ - so it must be their system). The rep told me to hold and then did something so I didn't have to pay the extra.  She was awesome in her help to me. 

I also want to acknowledge the Air Canada  rep at the Newwark airport. I advised the RCL had changed my flight to a later one and she got me on the earlier flight (my original) and refunded what I paid for my seat. Again awesome.

Some tips:

- don't use RCL air to sea if you can help it... they are mixed in helpfulness if you have an issue with your flight on a same day cruise (read my other post) . 3x they didn't help me and once they did. Use with caution.  I used them as it was for a transatlantic and could not find flights that leave from Florida and return from Barcelona for RCL's price. 

- Book direct with the airline ... they are more likely to help you if in need. Also they offer more flexible re-booking options if you purchase the flex flight option that includes seat selection and 1 checked baggage. Note this is always the cheaper option if you need to pick your seat and have a checked bag.

- Go in a day earlier than the cruise departure... yes you have to pay for a hotel but its really worth the no hassle. 

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Why you have to go in a day early for a cruise - Especially RCL

 Well I have just re-booked my flights thru Flights thru Royal for my cruise next spring in order to go a day early. 

As mentioned in other posts, I have had many issues with flying in the same day for an RCL cruise.

My flight in March to Houston was significantly delayed due to high winds and I barely made the last RCL shuttle on the day of the cruise and missed out on the first day The Key benefits.

My flight in September was cancelled by Air Canada (they said in the email due to weather - but the weather in Toronto and Newark was great. (I think the plane was not available due to bad weather the day before).  I was in luck that RCL could get me on an early flight because I live close to the airport. I only made it with 15 minutes to spare. 

Now I am rebooking my flight for the RCL cruise next April to the day before as I cannot have another panic attack when the flight is cancelled of delayed the day of the cruise.

I am having to pay a 117 CDN penalty for changing the flight and now I realized that they changed who they booked thru for the same return Air Canada flight. It is code shared with Lufthansa so they used Luftansa instead of Air Canada and the booking was cancelled. I had paid $88 for a seat selection and am currently on hold with Air Canada to see if they will honour the seat selection. 

I have been waiting for  over 1.5 hours to speak to someone from Air Canada customer service. 

So don't go day of and have a panic attack... go in  a day before 

Hope this helps

Marcia

Marcia