On a recent trip, Paul and Melissa took a risk and flew to their cruise ship the same day the ship was scheduled to depart.  A snag at the airport meant they missed their cruise departure.  What happened and what did they have to pay?  I asked Paul to write out the adventure.  Here it is in his own words (thanks Paul).

In the past, we have headed out a day before our cruise leaves just in case something should happen that would make us late for the ship. This time it was several hundred dollars more to fly into San Juan a day early, plus the cost of the hotel. We opted for the travel insurance instead.

We arrived at the Cleveland Airport at about 6:45am, which would have given us plenty of time to make our 9:00am direct flight from Cleveland to San Juan. When we got to the airport, with the exception of the emergency lights, everything was dark. The airline representatives told us that the airport had experienced a major power outage and they were unsure as to when the power would be back on. The airline was unable to check passengers in or process them through security. We figured that they would have things up and running by the time our flight was scheduled to leave, so we waited in line with hundreds of other frustrated passengers.

At around 7:45, the airline representatives told us that they were not expecting the power to be restored until around 6:00pm and that flights were being cancelled. They advised passengers to contact the airline to reschedule flights. We began our search for a way to make it to San Juan in time for the ship’s departure at 11:00pm. Since the Cleveland Airport was going to be closed for most of the day, we began to check into neighboring airports. There were a few flights from other airports that would get us to San Juan in enough time to make the ship, however they departed in about an hour and those airports were about a two hour drive away.

After one of us being on the phone with the airline for over 90 minutes and the other of us searching the internet for a last minute flight, we had our solution. We booked two one-way tickets on a flight from Pittsburgh to San Juan with a layover in Orlando. These flights would get us into San Juan at about 1:00am. We would then sleep in the San Juan Airport overnight. The airline refunded us our outgoing flight from Cleveland and was able to book us tickets from San Juan to St. Thomas at about 8:30am the next morning so that we could meet the ship in its first port. We would miss the first night of the cruise, but at least the rest of the trip wouldn’t be a loss.

We tried to rent a car from the Cleveland Airport, but they too were experiencing a power outage and were unable to get us a vehicle. Fortunately, one of my co-workers was nice enough to drive us to Pittsburgh. After an uneventful check-in in Pittsburgh, we were finally on our way south. During our brief layover in Orlando, one of the airline representatives called our names and asked us to respond to the ticket counter. Once I arrived at the counter, she asked me for our tickets. I figured that the flight was overbooked, and that we would be stuck in Orlando overnight. We were greeted with a pleasant surprise. We were upgraded to first class since “we paid the most for our tickets!”

Our flight into San Juan arrived on time. Since we were flying on a different airline to St. Thomas in the morning, we had to collect our luggage from baggage claim and check it in with the new airline. We found that the airline’s ticket counter didn’t open until 6:00am. Since we were dragging our luggage to be checked and had no tickets in hand, we couldn’t go through security to sleep in a safer area. We were left with wrapping the straps from our luggage around our feet to prevent theft, while trying to sleep in the uncomfortable chairs in the public area of the San Juan Airport. We never slept since every time we settled down enough to rest, the cleaning crew would come by with a gas engine-powered floor buffer whose sound rivaled that of an airplane. Finally the ticket counter opened and we were able to get inside the concourse. We arrived in St. Thomas and took a taxi to the ship. Our check-in to the ship was very efficient, and we were in our room by 9:30am. The rest of our trip was wonderful. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather.

This trip taught us a few things. It’s probably safe to fly in the day of the cruise if the ship leaves from the continental United States because there would be other flight options from other airports or airlines should a delay occur. We found that there just aren’t that many flights into San Juan each day, and if you’re not close to the airport from where your “backup plan” flight leaves, you’re not going to make it. Next time we sail from San Juan we’re going a day early, no matter the cost. The travel insurance reimbursed the cost of our last minute tickets which was a great help. We have to commend both Continental Airlines and Princess. They were very accommodating even though what happened was neither of their faults.

Friday we had a bon voyage / birthday party for Mariah.

Saturday night Steph called me from Orlando.  She was upset.  I can’t find my purse.  It has my ID and passports.  I think it was stolen.  I’m not sure they will let us on the ship tomorrow.

What took place from 11:00PM Saturday night to 4:00PM Sunday afternoon was amazing.

It’s all explained in the video.  Grab some popcorn and settle in.

Stolen Passports and the Kindness of Strangers from longyear on Vimeo.

For a complete play-by-play (the DIS posts) of this beautiful mess, click here.

Thanks to the Marriott Orlando Airport hotel for incredible customer service.

Check out The Perfect Gift, the biz run by Shirley and Norm.  They are amazing.

To book your next cruise, call Kelsie or John at Dreams Unlimited.  You will not be disappointed.

I’m probably forgetting to thank somebody.  If you were any part of this little miracle, THANK YOU!

At our house we are referring to 2009 as the year of Disney due to the number of Disney trips we have planned this year.

January 09:  Scot and I traveled to Walt Disney World so that Scot could run his first marathon, the Walt Disney World Marathon. We spent the week following the race touring the parks. It was a nice change of pace for us to visit WDW during the cooler and slower winter months. We experienced wearing jeans and a coat there for the first time.

For a video review of Scot’s experience with the Walt Disney World Marathon, click here.

June 09:  The whole family (Scot, Stephanie, Mariah and Madison) will be vacationing in Walt Disney World for two weeks in the heat and crowds, but don’t fear. I will have a plan to avoid the heat and crowds as much as possible. We will also have a few friends join us along the way.

Above: A June 2006 family vacation at Walt Disney World.

September 09:  Mariah and I will be heading back to Florida for a week to celebrate Mariah’s Sweet 16 Birthday! Plans include a four day cruise to the Bahamas on the Disney Wonder and visiting one of the Disney parks on Mariah’s 16th birthday. Mariah will get FREE admission on her birthday as part of Disney’s What Will You Celebrate campaign. If you are counting, I will be the only one going on all these trips (yea, me!) so I actually bought an Annual Pass this year. I guess it pays to be the vacation planner.

Scot and I have made plans to take each of the girls on trips to celebrate a couple milestones in their lives. I will take the girls on a trip to celebrate their 16th birthdays. Scot will take them on a trip to celebrate their high school graduation. They get to choose what we will do on these trips within reason and budgetary constraints. Mariah’s 16th birthday is the the first of these trips.

Mariah chose to go on her first cruise and I was able to find a decent deal on the four day Disney Wonder. We will visit Nassau, Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island) and have a day at sea. We are both very excited. I can’t wait to introduce my daughter to cruising and I know she will love the Disney touches. They have some great production shows, fireworks, animation classes, movies, etc.

Above: The Disney Wonder in Nassau during crew drills.

As you can see, it will truly be a year of Disney for us. Is there such a thing as too much Disney? Stick around to find out. We will be loading Trekeo with lots of trip reports and video reviews. I hope you explore Disney with us.

For a video review of our experience with Barefoot Sailing, click here.

On our October 2008 Sky cruise we stopped in Freeport and Nassau. We did a Sail & Snorkel Cruise with Sand Dollar Cruises in Freeport on a catamaran. We opted for snorkeling again in Nassau, but this time aboard a sailboat. We booked the All Day Island Cruise with Barefoot Sailing Cruises.

Our day in Nassau was rather gloomy with gray skies and choppy seas, but the rain held off for most of the day. Once at the dock we met up with our captain and mate and after handing over our shoes (they take Barefoot Sailing seriously) we boarded our vessel for the day, Riding High, a sailboat along with a dozen others. It was a full boat.

Due to the weather the Captain changed the itinerary for the day to give us the best day possible given the conditions. He was able to find us a reef area to snorkel that was protected form the wind. We enjoyed our time snorkeling and saw 3 stingrays, two lionfish, a sea cucumber, a starfish and an eel. Not bad.

The boat was anchored off the shore in the area in the two pictures below. We swam towards the shore and then followed the shore line down a ways snorkeling. It was a little work to get to the reef, but it was nice to be in this protected area where the water was calm.

Lunch was provided on the boat. While we were snorkeling the Captain and First Mate prepared the food. Obviously some of the work was done ahead of time, but they fired up the grill on the boat and threw down some delicious food. It really was an amazing lunch with BBQ chicken, ribs, beans, etc. After lunch those that wanted headed back for more snorkeling. Scot and I were the last ones back to the boat at the end of the day trying to get every last second in the water that we could.

We really enjoyed the day in Nassau with Barefoot Sailing, but we have to say we enjoyed our morning with Captain Tony of Sand Dollar Cruises in Freeport even more. Why?

1. Well, we really liked the catamaran. It was much roomier. She was a beautiful boat.

2. The weather was better which was an unfair advantage, but truthfully factored into our enjoyment.

3. The reef in Nassau was good, but the reef in Freeport was incredible. We saw more fish there than we did snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

4. Captain Tony was a stand up guy to take us out even though we were his only customers that morning. The folks at Barefoot Sailing told us he was crazy and he lost money doing that. I’m sure that is true, but what Tony gained was two loyal supporters who have been singing his praises ever since.

For a video review of our morning Sail & Snorkel with Sand Dollar Cruises, click here.

Scot and I were wanting to do some snorkeling while we were in Freeport. I had heard good things about Captain Tony and Sand Dollar Cruises on www.cruisecritic.com so we decided to give him a try and booked a 3 hour snorkel and sail cruise for the morning we were in Freeport. We are so glad we did. It was a highlight of our cruise.

We got off the ship in Freeport and caught a shared van ride into Port Lucaya. The cost was $5 per person and the ride was 15 minutes or so. The van driver got us headed in the right direction to meet Captain Tony in front of the Port Lucaya Hotel and Yacht Club. Captain Tony was waiting for us and walked us down to the Sand Dollar.

We found out that we were the only two booked for the morning sail! Woohoo! We very much enjoyed our private tour. It was very gracious of Captain Tony to not cancel our excursion. We hopped on board and soon were motoring out to the reef.

As you can see, it was a gorgeous morning and it was great trip out to the reef. We brought our own snorkel equipment, but they have it on board if you don’t have your own. We anchored and geared up. Captain Tony brought some food to toss to the fish who swarmed to the back of the boat as I entered the water. I have never snorkeled with so many fish and so few people. Scot and I had the reef  to ourselves. The clarity of the water was great and the coral and reef were plentiful. I stayed pretty close to the boat the whole time and had plenty to see. Scot was much more adventurous than I and swam much further away. I would guess that we snorkeled an hour to an hour and a half. We had plenty of time to enjoy the reef. About 20 minutes before we left another boat pulled up and offloaded it’s 30+ passengers. We were so glad we had booked with Sand Dollar Cruises.

Once we were back on board it was time to raise the sails and head back to the dock. Water, fruit punch and rum were available on the boat. The sail back was peaceful and relaxing. We enjoyed our time chatting with Captain Tony.

If you are interested in booking with Sand Dollar Cruises you can contact Captain Tony at 242-646-1051. You can try e-mailing him at  anthonyconyers@hotmail.com, but we didn’t have any luck with that. He says he hopes to have a website up sometime in November. The cost for the three hour tour was $45 per person for adults.

Thanks Captain Tony for such a great morning! If we make it back to Freeport we will look you up again.

UPDATE: The Sand Dollar website is up. You can get more information at www.sanddollarcruise.com.

The Carnival Imagination just came out of dry dock and she looks great. Carnival is updating their Fantasy class ships and the Carnival Imagination is the second ship to undergo the complete “Evolutions of Fun” upgrade. John Heald, Carnival’s Senior Cruise Director, shares some details and pictures on his blog. I’d love to spend an afternoon in the Serenity Adults-Only Retreat area with a great book and Scot. Ahh.

DISEMBARKATION:

So on our final morning we got up at 7:45am, showered and then headed to breakfast. After breakfast we headed back to the cabin and packed. We were out of our cabin by 9:30am so that our cabin steward would have access to the room to prepare it for the next guests. We were given a list of things we could do while we waited to disembark. We planned to head to the Bliss Lounge, but we couldn’t even exit the elevator on deck 7 because of throngs of people waiting to get off the ship. We headed away from the crowds and sat in some window seats and read until they made they final call to disembark. We walked right off the ship at 10:30am without having to fight the crowds. There was a bit of a line at immigration, but I think we spent less than 10 minutes waiting.

Grabbed a taxi and $24 plus a tip later we were at the airport. Checked in and made it through security and then grabbed lunch. We flew American home because I had travel vouchers on this airline as well. Lots of flights were delayed because of weather issues. We came really close to getting to volunteer off this flight for $300 in vouchers each. We love getting free flights from free flights. The budget traveler comes out again. At the last second they called our names and said they didn’t need us to volunteer off today. We were the last ones on the plane. We were slightly delayed, but had plenty of time to make our connection in St. Louis. Landed in Indianapolis and we were picked up by my BIL. No problems with our flight home.

SUMMARY: We enjoyed our Freestyle experience. The ship is large and beautiful with plenty to offer. We enjoyed getting a table for two for dinner. Although, we noticed that we felt less connected to other cruisers. We did meet some people at the spa, on excursions, in the lounges, etc. The food was good, not excellent except for Cagney’s and La Cucina. The inside cabins are small, but well designed. The spa was a slice of heaven. The variety of entertainment was great. The staff was friendly. The itinerary was great.

I still would like to take a longer cruise next time. I was jealous of the people who stayed on board for the 9 night cruise to follow. I did purchase a Future Cruise Credit, so we will be cruising with Norwegian again. We also have a cruise booked with 28 of our friends and counting for January 2008 so the obsession continues.

Dining:

Activities: I had hoped to spend the day at the spa, but I had had a little too much sun. The thought of heated tile loungers and pain brought pain to mind rather than relaxation. Instead, we found a quiet, shady spot on a deck with comfy loungers. We spent most of the day reading and napping. Perfect.

Entertainment: Thursday evening we went to see the show Sharkbait: Comedy action juggling.  We have really never seen a juggling show we liked until now. These guys were awesome. Very high energy and entertaining. Later in the evening we headed to the Spinnaker Lounge for the Star Seeker Guest Talent Show. There were some very talented guests on the cruise. It was followed by The Second City: Adult Improv show and the Quest Game.

Dining:

Wednesday morning we headed to the buffet for breakfast and weren’t disappointed. Lunch was at Rum Point Beach. We went to Indigo for dinner. Dinner was ok and service was good. We had the beef and a Creole dish.

Activities: We spent Tuesday at Nachi Cocom in Cozumel and you can read my review and see my photos here.

Wednesday we were in beautiful Grand Cayman. We chose to do the Rays, Reef & Rum Point tour with Native Way Watersports. You can read about that day here.

Entertainment: Tuesday night was the best main show of the week, The Second City sketch show. We have seen Second City in Chicago and Las Vegas and were really looking forward to them on the ship. They did not disappoint. Awesome show. Later in the evening we attended The Not-so-Newlywed Game We came in a bit late, but enjoyed what we saw. It is what you would expect.

Wednesday evening we skipped the show in the theater, Sea Legs: A Showgirl Revue. We hit some other things that were more our taste. We attended a couple of shows in the Spinnaker Lounge, Karaoke and another Second City Show: Scriptless, a total improv show.

DINING:

We dined at The Summer Palace for lunch. The food and service were great.

For dinner we had made reservations for La Cucina, the Italian restaurant. We had a table for two by the window. I had the Land and Sea. It was wonderful. I can’t remember what Scot had. We had Tiramisu for dessert. It was good.

ACTIVITIES: We spent the day at sea relaxing. We purchased a spa day pass and our time at the spa was wonderful. It was $20pp for a day pass or $75pp for a cruise pass. If I went on a 7 day cruise I would probably by the cruise pass.

The spa day pass gives you access to the thermal relaxation suite and gender specific relaxation areas. Within this space are a thalassotherapy pool, hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, tropical rain showers and ice rain showers, a plunge pool, heated tile loungers and loungers with a great view over the bow of the ship. We spent 3-4 hours enjoying the space and felt very relaxed when we left. Once again there are some great pictures here.

ENTERTAINMENT: Tonight’s show was the South Beach Rave a Jean Ann Ryan show. It was dancing, singing, not really our thing. It was a very well done show for what it was, just not to our liking.