EBPC December 9, 2012!!! Who's in????

[CaptainandTennille]

Sounds like a lot of fun and the kids are really looking forward to it.

 

[LindaBabe]

You made it!

 

[yucaipagal]

I want to join in on the FE.

Welcome!! I had to do that too when we went on our first Disney cruise so that I could PM my info I'm glad your joining!

 

[So Cal Crew]

never heard of this - what do you do?

A Cabin Crawl is when you get 1 cabin from each category so people can check out the different staterooms. (Maybe 5 - 8 different cabins) Some people offer drinks or snacks in some of the rooms that are a little larger or have verandahs. (Not a must) Sometimes you can do a poker game where you get a card from each cabin and then at the end, the person with the best hand wins a small prize. You can end at the largest stateroom or at a bar. Like anything, they can be a ton of fun or just ok. If you haven't seen the different staterooms, it's nice to see what's out there.

 

[LindaBabe]

GOOD Morning, Happy Cruisers!

Another rainy one here in upstate New York.

I finished making page kits for scrapbooking the Hawaii days of our last cruise. May not scrap the cruise days at sea - kinda been there done that after 14 cruises - and these were not particularly memorable.

What's on your agenda today?

Whatever it is - Hope you have a good one!

 

[pharmjenn]

Everyone that was waiting, the SWA fares are available for booking now. For us to get back to Oakland, it is $250. For the same price plus miles, we can get first class on United back to San Francisco. I don't know what to do!!!
Free bags on either airline, have to change planes on United vs just a plane stop and use up miles. But get real food on board. Hmm.

Also- a question. The flight leave FLL at 12:30. I assume that we get off the ship early enough to catch that without a problem? The next flight is 3:30 with plane change, so if it had to be that flight, we would go with United no question.

 

[WVURunner]

Everyone that was waiting, the SWA fares are available for booking now.

Looks like it is going to be $160 each way for us on SWA. Not to bad! Plus since I now get 2 free bags, I can pack more shoes!

 

[dthogue]

Booked my airfare this mornng - thanks Southwest for finally opening flights for December. Only problem is that the only non stop flight home doesn't leave until 7:45pm - oh well, guess we will rent a car and spend the day in Miami - oh poor me We might change our flight and come home Monday morning - depends if I can get off work for another day - I really hate to push it too much, since I'm already taking off 2 weeks

 

[dthogue]

A Cabin Crawl is when you get 1 cabin from each category so people can check out the different staterooms. (Maybe 5 - 8 different cabins) Some people offer drinks or snacks in some of the rooms that are a little larger or have verandahs. (Not a must) Sometimes you can do a poker game where you get a card from each cabin and then at the end, the person with the best hand wins a small prize. You can end at the largest stateroom or at a bar. Like anything, they can be a ton of fun or just ok. If you haven't seen the different staterooms, it's nice to see what's out there.

Sounds like fun, but I don't think anyone wants to see my, boring inside cabin, but I would love to see other cabins!

Everyone that was waiting, the SWA fares are available for booking now. For us to get back to Oakland, it is $250. For the same price plus miles, we can get first class on United back to San Francisco. I don't know what to do!!!
Free bags on either airline, have to change planes on United vs just a plane stop and use up miles. But get real food on board. Hmm.

Also- a question. The flight leave FLL at 12:30. I assume that we get off the ship early enough to catch that without a problem? The next flight is 3:30 with plane change, so if it had to be that flight, we would go with United no question.

Who knows what time they will starting letting people off the ship - since we are the first DCL cruise sailing into Miami, you never know what problems could occur. If you get off by 9am, and it is a 45 minute ride to FLL, you should be ok for a 12:30 flight.

 

[pharmjenn]

Thanks Tammy. I didn't check through the thread, but I seem to recall some other people on flights at 12:30 or 12:50 out of FLL, so think we will be ok. If we can get to the airport by 11am, which would be leaving the port at 10am

 

[Started With a Mouse]

Everyone that was waiting, the SWA fares are available for booking now. For us to get back to Oakland, it is $250. For the same price plus miles, we can get first class on United back to San Francisco. I don't know what to do!!!
Free bags on either airline, have to change planes on United vs just a plane stop and use up miles. But get real food on board. Hmm.

Also- a question. The flight leave FLL at 12:30. I assume that we get off the ship early enough to catch that without a problem? The next flight is 3:30 with plane change, so if it had to be that flight, we would go with United no question.

We booked two weeks ago on United to come back to Los Angeles. Fares were $201 including all taxes. I couldn't see it going lower, right before Christmas. Looks like it's the same price on Southwest to fly home. At least Southwest has a nice array of gift cards to choose from, along with hotels and rental cars too that we can use all the points on. Speaking of hotels, is anyone staying in Miami? Still trying to find something decent, for a reasonable price.

 

[Moby]

Our airfare is booked on Southwest! We fly out of Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 a.m. on Dec 23. We will be using Transport SAS from Port of Miami to FLL for $15 per person. Here is the link if anyone else is interested:

http://www.ridesas.com/html/rates.html

We are flying from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix to spend Christmas with family and will return to Nevada on New Year's Eve, so we'll have a 3 week vacation including our cruise!

 

[Moby]

The flight leave FLL at 12:30. I assume that we get off the ship early enough to catch that without a problem? The next flight is 3:30 with plane change, so if it had to be that flight, we would go with United no question.

I booked a 12:30 flight from FLL. The shuttle service we are using from Port of Miami (SAS transportation) said that anything after 11:00 a.m. would work. That seemed like it was cutting it close, but I assume he knows what he's talking about since he drives it every day.

 

[WVURunner]

Does anyone know what rental car places are near the Port of Miami? Ideally, I would love to send my husband out early to grab a rental and then pick us up. Do any offer a free shuttle to their office from the port? I would hate to have to send him to the airport!

We plan on driving the 4 hours to Tampa where we will spend Christmas with my grandmother, cousins, and Aunt and Uncle and then fly back home to Philly on the 26th. The question is, do we try to fit in a WDW trip? It would be neat to say we did land and world in the same month!

 

[Started With a Mouse]

Does anyone know what rental car places are near the Port of Miami? Ideally, I would love to send my husband out early to grab a rental and then pick us up. Do any offer a free shuttle to their office from the port? I would hate to have to send him to the airport!

We plan on driving the 4 hours to Tampa where we will spend Christmas with my grandmother, cousins, and Aunt and Uncle and then fly back home to Philly on the 26th. The question is, do we try to fit in a WDW trip? It would be neat to say we did land and world in the same month!

That seems to be the question of the hour.

 

[Started With a Mouse]

Found this on the official Port of Miami website.

What rental car agencies do business with the Port of Miami?
There are no rental facilities on the Port of Miami. However, the following companies provide transport shuttle services from the Port to their rental offices:

Alamo: 1-800-462-526
Dollar: 1-800-800-3665
Hertz Customer Service Phone Number: 1-888-777-6095
Hertz Reservations Phone Number: 1-800-654-3131
Thrifty: 1-800-847-4389

 

[dededisney]

There are a few of us on another thread on the cruise line forum about the rental car situation in Miami. We will be doing a carnival cruise in July and have Budget booked, but there seems to be a lot of different information out there about it. But, once we get back, I will report my findings. I got a great rate for a one-day rental for $41 and that includes taxes! I am picking up at the port (have to take a taxi to get there) and dropping it off at FLL. We'll see how it goes. I was told by the rude agent at Budget that it would probably be a $10 - $15 cab fare from the port to their office which is about 1 1/2 miles away. What we always do is have my DH go and get the car and come back and get us with all the luggage. And if you can share a taxi...even better (which is what we will be doing for this cruise in July).

 

[Started With a Mouse]

Does anyone know what rental car places are near the Port of Miami? Ideally, I would love to send my husband out early to grab a rental and then pick us up. Do any offer a free shuttle to their office from the port? I would hate to have to send him to the airport!

We plan on driving the 4 hours to Tampa where we will spend Christmas with my grandmother, cousins, and Aunt and Uncle and then fly back home to Philly on the 26th. The question is, do we try to fit in a WDW trip? It would be neat to say we did land and world in the same month!

I just made a one way reservation, picking up at M5E, dropping off at MIA (after our post cruise mini vacay in Miami). I'll just suck up the $15 cab ride, because Budget is around $60 cheaper than any of the other agencies). I used a discount code of U133214 found on a savings website.

 

[Travelbee]

Since we have several first time cruiser and many sea days has anyone thought about organizing a cabin crawl?

We did it last December on the Wonder and most people enjoyed it.

We did this in the med and I can attest to it being a lot of fun.

Just booked my family on this cruise!

This is an active bunch!

Welcome all the new families! Don't forget to join our facebook group too!

Just joined last night! But for some reason it doesn't show up on my mobile app.

Everyone that was waiting, the SWA fares are available for booking now. For us to get back to Oakland, it is $250.

Thanks for the heads up. SWA fares were actually quite a bit higher than United, so I booked United from FLL to LAX for $180 pp on 12/24 at 6:30 am Would have preferred to fly into SNA but the flight times are much longer for more $$.

Speaking of hotels, is anyone staying in Miami? Still trying to find something decent, for a reasonable price.

We will be spending a night in Miami. The plan is to rent a car from the port, go to the Buffalo/Miami game, grab dinner, crash for the night and head out bright and early to the airport. I'm sure we'll be able to find something good at a reasonable price. The deals seem to go through September only so I'm going to wait a bit to book the hotel!

I just made a one way reservation, picking up at M5E, dropping off at MIA (after our post cruise mini vacay in Miami). I'll just suck up the $15 cab ride, because Budget is around $60 cheaper than any of the other agencies). I used a discount code of U133214 found on a savings website.

Thanks! I think that's our plan too!

 

[LindaBabe]

Got my Air. SW to LAX on Friday - too nervous about the weather in december to wait until Saturday. Call it insurance. And a 2:30 departure on a direct flight out of Lauderdale for the trip home. I'll be using SAS shuttle also.