Just back Dream 6/25 cruise from Miami! First timer review! Questions?

[harleyquinn]

Next time don't take Bonine unless you start to feel queasy. No need to medicate yourself if it's not necessary- most cruisers don't need it, especially on these little Bahamian/Caribbean cruises. And not taking it might keep you from feeling weird after the cruise is over.

Interesting. Everything I read said it was better to just take it proactively. We didn’t take anything until the first night when hubby and I felt off (which could have been anything). My daughter opted to not take it and she is totally fine.

 

[Cheburashka]

Interesting. Everything I read said it was better to just take it proactively. We didn’t take anything until the first night when hubby and I felt off (which could have been anything). My daughter opted to not take it and she is totally fine.

You only take it proactively if you're prone to seasickness on cruise ships, which most people are not. In your initial post you said you'd taken it the whole cruise, so I thought that meant you'd all been medicating from the time you'd arrived with no symptoms ever being an issue, but here it sounds like you waited until you felt queasy, which is what I recommended and what makes sense. Now that you know you tend to get queasy, it also makes sense to take it upon boarding on future cruises.

One thing to note is that first nights are often the worst based on the itinerary- it's often when the ship is really sailing fast through the ocean. I had that experience on our Wonder Alaska cruise. It was the only cruise where I ever felt any seasickness, and I only felt it on the first night when the ship crossed a portion of the Pacific to get from Canada to the placid Alaskan waters. I didn't take any medicine, just took it easy that night, and it was very mild & short lived. No issues after that on the cruise and never at all on any other cruises, including the ones that really rocked.

 

[harleyquinn]

You only take it proactively if you're prone to seasickness on cruise ships, which most people are not. In your initial post you said you'd taken it the whole cruise, but here it sounds like you waited until you felt queasy, which is what I recommended and what makes sense.

I’m not sure if we really felt queasy or if it was just travel effects. We definitely didn’t take it precruise like I saw some suggest. Your explanation of it being recommended only for those that have experienced it makes sense. DH does experience motion sickness and so does DD, so I was really worried about it and probably took it too soon. Hopefully I’ll be able to cruise again sometime and test it better!

 

[Cruzin’Sisters]

Boarding group 3 was at 11. Some were allowed in for testing at 10:30.

Thanks so much for info. I did 30 day online check in at midnight. I was up until 2 am! Did one check in on the computer and got 11:15, boarding group 4. Not too shabby. Then Dory decided to swim by…Still had to do another room reservation. Thankful for DS21. Had to send the photos of passport and head shot to my iPad, where he stored in document file, where we could locate it to upload. Phew. Got boarding group 5. What a relief. Hoping the call groups 4-6 and we can board together. Now to think positive thoughts about the COVID testing…

 

[Cruzin’Sisters]

Nope. It’s over $50 now. We paid $37. I think it’s $54 now?

Lightyear, Turning Red, Dr. Strange, Sneakerella, and Rise are the big ones.

Looking forward to seeing Thor on the ship in August!

 

[Southern Pirate]

30 days out. Fingers crossed. Do you know what was the soonest one could start boarding the ship? Earliest PAT?
TIA

When we showed up, no body asked about PAT. You can see our video at

 

[Southern Pirate]

Can you recall the soonest people were let onto the ship? Boarding group 1…

I believe we boarded at about 11:00 or close to it.

 

[harleyquinn]

Thanks so much for info. I did 30 day online check in at midnight. I was up until 2 am! Did one check in on the computer and got 11:15, boarding group 4. Not too shabby. Then Dory decided to swim by…Still had to do another room reservation. Thankful for DS21. Had to send the photos of passport and head shot to my iPad, where he stored in document file, where we could locate it to upload. Phew. Got boarding group 5. What a relief. Hoping the call groups 4-6 and we can board together. Now to think positive thoughts about the COVID testing…

I read another thread here (actually a couple) where groups with different PATs were able to board together. I would say that I loved getting there at noon. There were literally no lines. We basically walked right on without dealing with any hold up from people who got there way too early for their PAT. I think you should be in great shape at 11:15!

 

[harleyquinn]

When we showed up, no body asked about PAT. You can see our video at

They didn’t ask us either, but they do scan the form. There were a ton of people waiting for their group to be called when we went in, so they are definitely not ignoring it completely,

 

[AZMermaid]

What happened with airport shuttle? Our plan is to stay near airport (Hilton garden inn west), rent a car for 24 hours (8p-8p) to go to the Everglades and Little Havana the day before the cruise. My husband is going to return the car and shuttle back. Then Uber/Lyft to terminal the next day. Should we rethink this?

 

[harleyquinn]

What happened with airport shuttle? Our plan is to stay near airport (Hilton garden inn west), rent a car for 24 hours (8p-8p) to go to the Everglades and Little Havana the day before the cruise. My husband is going to return the car and shuttle back. Then Uber/Lyft to terminal the next day. Should we rethink this?

Just call the hotel now and have them explain exactly how the shuttle works.

After you get your bags, you’ll go out door number 23, across the street to the shuttle pick up area. There are THREE poorly marked stops. One is to the right and most people go there not realizing that there are 2 more to the left. They are numbered 21-23.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn East. I called after getting my bags and was told to go to the shuttle area and then hung up on. We went to the stop on the right and after about 20 minutes watched our shuttle fly past us without stopping. This is when Dh realized there were other stops. After another 20 minutes of waiting, I called again and said where do I need to be, I’m at stop 22. And she said the shuttle would be there at 1pm. We’ll it blew past us at 1:20. DH even jumped off the sidewalk and they completely ignored him. I ran over to 23 thinking they had just gone to the wrong stop, but they weren’t there.

We ended up taking a $17 taxi to go like a quarter of a mile. There were TONS of people out there sweating and waiting for shuttles.

 

[AZMermaid]

Good to know! Thanks!