The Crazie Explorers New England Cruise September 15, 2011

lashl · July 11, 2010

Welcome back Howard. Glad you had a good trip. Looks like 7PM with possibly a stager eating time will work out for all. If the pre-drinks are good enough the time may not be the only thing staggering!

deb1220 · July 11, 2010

Welcome back Howard. Glad you had a good trip. Looks like 7PM with possibly a stager eating time will work out for all. If the pre-drinks are good enough the time may not be the only thing staggering!

LOVE IT!!!

rogue · July 11, 2010

Welcome back Howard. Glad you had a good trip. Looks like 7PM with possibly a stager eating time will work out for all. If the pre-drinks are good enough the time may not be the only thing staggering!

Very good!

Ellie · July 12, 2010

Just picked up this bit of information regarding a pre-cruise hotel: Country Inn & Suites in Elizabeth, NJ charges $45 for a shuttle to the port! That's outrageous! A taxi charges the same (with a "tour" of the area on the way). Apparently a "free shuttle" is only for transportation to the Newark Airport. The closer one gets to New York, the more likely it is that your expenses will increase tenfold!

I always refer to Trip Advisor before I book anything. Sometimes their information is much needed.

Debbie: Parking at the port - Charging $19/day x 9 days = $171.....(I know you can do math) and that seems high to me, especially since their security is probably not what one would like it to be. I'm sure you could get a room and park for free somewhere at that price. We'll be staying at a pre-cruise hotel and leaving our car also. Would much prefer that to parking at the port. Haven't looked into a hotel booking yet. Have plenty of time to do that.

Can you tell we're so spoiled sailing out of Fort Lauderdale most of the time?

Ellie · July 12, 2010

Another thing I've been wondering about is the dinner arrangements.

When we cruise with our Travel Club group, there is a private dining room (or at least a section closed off away from the others) where everyone in our group can be seated together in one area. There was only one seating time for this, and those who did not wish to participate made their own dining arrangements. Our group's "leader" requested everyone's opinions, and based on that, she made up a seating plan (similar to a wedding reception!), where we were on a list with a table # next to our name. We were given the opportunity to sit with other people each night. We chose to sit with one particular couple each night but agreed to change tables in order to sit with different couples also each night. It turned out well, but there were also those who had 1 or 2 couples at their table and did not wish to sit with any of the others. To each his own, huh? Did anyone look into the possibility of having a separate dining area for the Crazies? They make thank us if we do!

Too many days off work for me....my mind always wander to cruising! Just read some more info on the Oasis.....(November 13th!). Cannot wait for this one. This is also a group cruise from our Travel Club, and since we are a group of 8 people (all from NJ), and knowing how we don't like to leave some place when we're having fun, we chose late dining......otherwise, if we had MTD, we might miss dinner completely!

KeithnRita · July 12, 2010

Welcome aback from your trip, Howard! Rita's been to Phoenix, I have not. She has a sister living there. We've only seen the Grand Canyon from an airplane on the way to Vegas. Maybe one day.

As far as that photo with me smiling, is the red eyes from the camera or the drinks?

We are normally second seating diners as we like to have a cocktail or two and do some pre-diner dancing. We choose MTD, which we will call 'our time dining' ,to go along with the group. Our very first cruise was with a group of about 60 and we all had tables together on second seating. That was long before MTD. On our one and only NCL cruise we choose freestyle just to see if we would like it. Our service ranged from excellent to poor depending on the time we showed up. The poor was due to waiters having to many tables.

deb1220 · July 12, 2010

Ellie - Since this is our first cruise without airfare, $171.00 does not seem like a lot when we're not paying $500.00 for airfare. Anyway, I do hope we can find a pre-cruise hotel where we can leave our car during the cruise.....and also be a reasonable hotel with shuttle service to the port.......$45.00 - that's crazy!

cruisetarp · July 12, 2010

Ellie - I have thought of those small dining rooms and plan on looking into it.

Thanks for the information on the shuttle charges - will definately keep that in mind when I start looking for hotels in the area. I had to really laugh when you mentioned the cab ride with tour included. You will see the humor of that once you see the Newark/Bayonne area.

rogue · July 12, 2010

We'll wait and see what the prices are. There are remote lots for the airport in the area. There is a PARK TO GO lot 4 minutes away for $11/day. If it's cheaper to get a hotel room over night, then we may just do that.

lashl · July 12, 2010

I am sure with MaryLou on it we will come up with a better hotel/shuttle package. NY/NJ is expensive and if we can't do better such is life. We are going anyway! Remember the company is priceless!