family travel

Union Station Hotel In Nashville

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All cruise lines have to know where the passengers are....

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Not so fast, world traveler.  Experienced cruisers have learned a few secrets about determining the best stateroom choices.  It’s true that most  contemporary and premium class ships being built today offer “cookie cutter” cabins that are very similar in dimension and layout.  But even if they all appear to be the same according to the deck plan, there are some things you can do to make sure you get the best bang for your buck.  The prime consideration is location, location, location.

 Carefully view the deck plan to check for elevator, lobbies, and high traffic areas like buffet entrances.  Staterooms in this area can be a little more lively (read noisy) than
others.  And also take note if the cabin is under an active public area.  A few years ago, I was in a beautiful balcony cabin that was directly beneath an upper outside deck storage locker.  Every morning, my traveling mate and I were summoned from our dream-filled sleep not by the sound of gentle waves slapping against the hull but by not-so-gentle
deck hands dragging things on their “floor” which also happened to be our
ceiling. 

You can do a lot of this research yourself, but here’s a hint.  Your cruise specialist likely
knows a lot of these tricks of the trade and can assist you in the search for that perfect hideaway.  Of course, if you are an early riser and long for the old military style wake up call, then my former balcony stateroom is probably available!

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Have you ever been stuck on the tarmac? Well this travel agent has. It's completely frustrating when you taxi out and you're waiting for take off and the plane engines shut down. I'd love to hear about your "stuck on the tarmac" experience.

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We used the Carnival transfer from the airport and it was a comfortable ride. Embarkation was smooth. It probably helped because we always arrive early. We moved through the lines and made it on the ship fairly quickly. The traffic jam came when we got into the lobby and ALL the elevators were full and we did not know of to get out of that area. The ship is laid out like the other Carnival ships that we have been on, only larger. The ship was beautiful, as was our stateroom. We had a Spa Balcony. Our room steward was great and had the rooms ready by two. We expected long line at the buffet, but these seem ridiculously long. Especially on the boarding day. The Mongolian was great, but slow. Our wait staff in the restaurant was great, but then with two days to go our lead waiter couldn’t work anymore. The replacement tried hard, but he just wasn’t Orlando. The Sushi is free and that is always good. My teenage son enjoyed the waterslide, mini golf, the beanbag toss and the pools. My husband and I enjoyed the Thalassotheray pool and saunas and steam rooms in the Cloud 9. The teen center turned out to be a meeting place and then they would head out to troll the ship. My husband enjoyed the football on the seaside theater, except when they cut the last two minutes off to play Pirates of the Caribbean. Talk about men running to the sports bar. Debarkation was very organized. Luggage came off quickly. The longest line was customs, why don’t people fill out the forms ahead of time? I like the fact that the terminal has an “airport” like conveyor which makes finding your bag easier. We used the transfers from Carnival to get back to the airport. However, we had to wait a little bit until the bus was full to head back to the airport.

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