Comments for I'm a Travel Ninja

Comment on O’Hare’s Little Hidden Oasis by john mcc

john mcc — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:15:19 +0000

wow that is cool. I will check it out next trip. I know exactly where that stairway is.

Comment on How to Beat Airport Security by brad

brad — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:54:27 +0000

this is AWESOME advice. thank you, travel ninja!

Comment on My First and Last Cruise by Dave

Dave — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:52:19 +0000

I don’t know, I think it’s partially an issue of expectation vs reality. On my first cruise my wife and I sat with some people at formal dinner who told us unless we wanted to do special stuff like the cooking class or kayaking we should never do a ship excursion. We’d always spend less money and be more able to do what we wanted a lot easier. Do some research on your own and find out what you’d like to see and go there on your own. Most of the cabbies speak enough English that you don’t even need to know Spanish. Oh, and always remember to ask how much it costs to go where you want to. It’s pretty cheap to get most places. One more thing, if you’re going somewhere to get so drunk you can’t stand, go on a ship excursion. I hear that if you puke all over a cab in Mexico (or most places for that matter), you’re paying for it.

On our second cruise we followed the advice and found a nice quiet beach in Cozumel which had some ridiculously good food for ridiculously cheap. We also took a cab from Progresso to Dziblchaltun and got there faster than the tour group and we didn’t need to go around in a tour group (well, I suppose you can really leave that if you wanted). I think we had a lot more fun without doing boat excursions.

As for on ship, it all depeds on what you like to do. I’m not a fan of signing up for everything as you’re potentially knocking someone who wants to do something off the list to an event you’re not intending to go to, but you should sign up for what you want on the first day. Rooms are going to be small as are shops and casinos and such because you have a limited amount of ship to fit 2500-4000 people on as well as crew and shops and dining facilities, etc… You can’t expect hotel-like accommodations.

Comment on My First and Last Cruise by Steven

Steven — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:02:07 +0000

Thank you. Now I have some more ammo for my argument with my wife against going on a cruise.

Comment on My First and Last Cruise by Jay Garnett

Jay Garnett — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:29:01 +0000

Great post! I’ve never been on a cruise mainly because my expectations mirror what you experienced.

Comment on Make The Most Of Your Frequent Flyer Program by jsbull

jsbull — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:13:54 +0000

I just came across a great temporary offer from American called: “Qualify For AAdvantage Elite Status Faster Than Ever”
The offer doubles your Elite-Status Qualifying Miles for travel in the month of January, 2012. This counts even for travel already booked, so long as you haven’t departed yet.
Details: http://www.aa.com/viewPromotionDetails.do?fN=DblElite2011.xml&_locale=en_US