avoiding airfare for cruise?

In article , LVTravel
wrote:

While I have lived in Maryland almost my entire life (61 years) I have only
been under the spans one time in any vessel (landed on the new span one time
in a MSP MedEvac helicopter as the flight paramedic) and that was the time I
was filming the SS John Brown, a WWII Liberty Ship

I don't think I knew you lived here. I have been under Bay Bridge three
times on cruises.

--
Charles

In article , Bill
wrote:

It's also been suggested on multiple occasions that you call a travel
agent, who can also answer these questions for you. Maybe you like the
idea that all of the people here are at your beck and call, answering
your questions instead of having to get just one opinion from a T/A.

None here have to answer.

--
Charles

The libraries around here have computers with internet access, no
charge. I bet you could go to your library and use their computers.
And an extremely useful website where there are alot more cruise nuts
is 'cruisecritic'.

"Bill" wrote in message
...
On 6/8/2010 9:02 PM, Ohioguy wrote:
Ok, so you're saying that because you're cheap and on a cheap Internet
plan, then your time is worth more than the dozen people who have been
spending their time answering your endless questions??

You make a lot of assumptions, Bill.

I don't think I am. You have been pointed at online sources to get all of
the information you are posting asking people to spend their time
answering. You said you can't (won't) do that because you have a limited
amount of time on your crappy dialup plan, and will not spend the
additional money to go to those websites where those questions would (for
the most part) be answered. So maybe it's not your time that is worth more
than everyone else's, but it's certainly your money which you claim is.

It's also been suggested on multiple occasions that you call a travel
agent, who can also answer these questions for you. Maybe you like the
idea that all of the people here are at your beck and call, answering your
questions instead of having to get just one opinion from a T/A.

Bill

Hi Bill,

I respond to Ohioguy because I enjoy doing so. I do not feel any
imposition, nor do I care if he is trying to maximize his convenience or
minimize his costs. I like to visit with folks about cruising. I'm not
sure why you're upset, but I, for one, don't share the feeling.

Harry Cooper

The libraries around here have computers with internet access, no
charge. I bet you could go to your library and use their computers.

That is true - on the occasions where I had large photos to submit
with an article I had written, I've gone to the library to upload them.
However, this requires that someone be able to watch the kids for me
to do so. I guess the long term solution is simply that I need to get
high speed Internet. I was just hoping that prices would come down to
more reasonable levels. I was also hoping they would have released some
sort of internal high speed modem by now - I hate having external
peripherals outside the case, with all the extra wires & such.

It's also been suggested on multiple occasions that you call a travel
agent, who can also answer these questions for you. Maybe you like the
idea that all of the people here are at your beck and call, answering
your questions instead of having to get just one opinion from a T/A.

Perhaps I trust the experiences of many people more than the opinion
of just one person. Nobody has to answer my questions, nor is anybody
forced to even read them. If you find my postings so troublesome, I
suggest you simply add me to your killfile so you won't see them when
you browse the group.

The truth is that I simply hate talking to people on the telephone.
I am a writer, and I'm married to a librarian, in part because I knew
she valued the written word as much as I do. I prefer the written word
- nobody can claim "I never said that", etc., etc., because there is a
record.

I previously worked as a telephone tech support guy for a large
computer company. The company was laying people off left and right, and
folks who called in for support had to wait on hold for 2 hours before
talking to me. I was only allowed to spend about 10 minutes trying to
help them with hardware or software problems before "escalating" them to
a senior technician. (where they got to wait another 40 minutes on hold
first) Due to the number of troubleshooting steps that customers were
expected to perform, not to mention that most of these customers were
completely unused to troubleshooting their PC's, I rarely got to see the
culmination of my troubleshooting efforts. I got sick and tired of
hearing people cuss me out over corporate policies. I got to the point
where I hated to pick up the telephone.

So yes, I don't like to call people, unless it is a basic question to
make sure something is in stock at a store before I drive there to buy
it - or it is a friend or relative.

Charles wrote:

In article , LVTravel
wrote:

While I have lived in Maryland almost my entire life (61 years) I have only
been under the spans one time in any vessel (landed on the new span one time
in a MSP MedEvac helicopter as the flight paramedic) and that was the time I
was filming the SS John Brown, a WWII Liberty Ship

I don't think I knew you lived here. I have been under Bay Bridge three
times on cruises.

I've been under the Bay Bridge five times on a cruise ship (one was a
repositioning cruise so only one way) and numerous times by sailboat.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to observe any of the times as it was too
late for me and I couldn't stay awake that long or else it was too
early in the morning. I've never even been able to see going under
the Key Bridge.

Baltimore is a wonderful port to cruise from. There's almost always
only one ship in port and it is set up nicely - easy on and easy off.

(Surfer E2468) wrote:

Do not know about hotels etc.but we drive to baltimore in about 2 and
1/2 hours,and it is well marked,if you book a cruise from there they
send you all the directions on how to get there. you can park at the
pier for $15.00 a day,we are sailing from there in august.
A much better deal than flying,do not like the hassel you get from the
airlines now. Such asflights being cancelled,fees for checking
luggage,and hours layovers in airports. taking a chance of missing the
ship unless you go a day ahead of time,then there is the extra cost
involved for hotel,meals,and transportation to the port.

I see no reason whatever for people to complain about "non-cruise
related questions" People ask about hotels at cruise ports all the
time and no one says anything. We don't need any net-nannys - this is
an unmoderated group and if you don't want to read Ohioguy, then just
skip his posts.

I also agree with Ohioguy about the bloated Windows based programs. I
have to do all the internet in our house because Bob refuses to do
anything but CPM.

Yes Baltimore is a great port to sail from. What we do is rent a car,
turn it in at the airport and take a taxi to the cruise ship. Then we
don't have to pay for parking. But you if you do want to park, there
is parking there. I think there are some hotels near the airport
(which I also agree are much cheaper than in the Inner Harbor area)
which may allow you to leave a car there, and there's also cheaper
parking at the airport than at the dock.






cruise lover(~~~~~)






.

Ohioguy wrote:

SNIP

Perhaps I trust the experiences of many people more than the opinion
of just one person.

Then why not put your trust in one of the travel agents that many of us
experienced cruisers use and recommend. Most of these TAs have not only
booked our cruises and gotten repeat bookings from us, but have also
cruised with us and become friends of ours.

The truth is that I simply hate talking to people on the telephone. I
am a writer, and I'm married to a librarian, in part because I knew she
valued the written word as much as I do. I prefer the written word -
nobody can claim "I never said that", etc., etc., because there is a
record.

Most of the TAs that most of us would recommend work well by email if
that is what you prefer.

Our main TA is Lori Cunningham, the owner of skyscrapertours.com and our
other favorite TA is George Leppla, We have booked with each of them
many times, cruised with them and become good friends with them. Another
good TA to use is Susette who posts here. We haven't booked with her,
but many of our friends have booked with her and cruised with her.

sue

On Tue, 8 Jun 2010 18:31:09 -0400, LVTravel wrote:

"Ari" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:29:37 -0400, Ohioguy wrote:

Questions: where, exactly, is the cruise ship port in Baltimore?

Probably near the Atlantic Ocean.

Actually it is about 180 miles up the Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic
Ocean.

Near is relative to Dayton.
--
Ari's Fun Times!
http://tr.im/hrFG
Motto: Run, rabbit, Run!

On Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:15:05 -0700, margaret wrote:

I'm still researching but I want to go to
the Caribbean round about New Year. I have organised my flight [from the
UK] and know which hotels I want in either Fort Lauderde or Miami. I'm
leaning towards Celebrity as I enjoyed readng two posts about that line.
Margaret

Unless you like crowds and high fares, go just *after* New Year. You
will see a significant drop in both.
--
Ari's Fun Times!
http://tr.im/hrFG
Motto: Run, rabbit, Run!