DeltaOne

Safari here.  My fix was to delete the Cruise Critic cookies (Preferences, Privacy, Manage Website data, do a search for "Cruise" and then delete any items it finds).

You'll have to log in on your next visit.

2 minutes ago, tumblew467 said:

You can go to the trip insurance store and he explains all the diff policies or call them they may be able to help.

I second the advice to call the folks at the trip insurance store.  They're quite good at explaining your options and  helping you make a choice.  

Ask them about their "insure as you go" strategy. https://tripinsurancestore.com

2 hours ago, broberts said:

@Paul from Maryland, Thanks for the screen grabs. 😀 It appears that I misunderstood the context. I thought post signatures were being discussed.

 

Perhaps my first post on this subject should have included something about this being a problem on Activity Streams.  I do all my reading here via Activity Streams.  I forgot that the regular forum pages don't use the condense/expand buttons.

11 hours ago, broberts said:

 

Same here. Can someone post a screen grab showing a "condense" button please.

See below.  I see Condensed/Expanded on my Activity Stream pages, on the upper right side.

One pic shows the page set to Condensed.  One pic shows the page set to Expanded (exposes the first few lines of the post).

The buttons stopped working for a few days, but now they work normally again.

And now Condense/Expand is working again.

My guess is someone at CC found the problem...if so...thanks!

No luck.  Emptied browser cache, deleted cookies, signed out/back in...the Condensed/Expanded button still doesn't work.

11 hours ago, Host Kat said:

Howdy! First of all, please make sure View Signatures? is enabled on your Cruise Critic account. 

I have View Signatures turned off.  The Condensed/Expanded buttons have worked fine since the big upgrade...they stopped working a few days ago.  

I toggled View Signatures on, it didn't help.  

Next I'm going to log off of Cruise Critic and back on, delete cookies...the standard stuff.  Maybe that'll help?  I'll report back.

In the last few days the Condensed/Expanded button stopped working.  I'm using Mac OS and Safari (current versions).  I've tried Google Chrome too.

10 minutes ago, SandyMc said:

Did you have much trouble getting your chair in and out of your room?  I just wonder if I will have to fold mine up every time I go to the room......

We travel with someone that uses a power wheelchair.  It does not fold up and would not fit through a regular cabin door.  We have to book an accessible cabin and that means booking 9 to 12 months out...or else all the accessible rooms are taken.

The hallway problem mentioned is a real one.  Two cruises ago, on the Breakaway, our room was on deck 13 at the front of the ship.  That meant a long walk down the hallway to reach the elevators.  Between 8 am and noon and 4 pm to 8 pm the person in the wheelchair needed someone to accompany them to or from the room -- to move the steward carts so they could get by.  

The stewards tried to help in that when they saw us coming they would move the cart forward or backward so the wheelchair could use the indented door areas to get by.  But often the steward was working in a room and didn't see us coming.

I've been watching the prices on our Celebrity cruise for April 2020.  I've called at least twice after seeing a price reduction only to be told the lower price is for a non-refundable deposit.  No thanks, I'll stick with my refundable deposit.

The "games" Celebrity has been playing with pricing is almost enough to make me cancel the cruise.  Things like refundable versus non-refundable, 4 perks vs 3 perks vs 2 perks, 3rd and 4th guests half-off, etc.  Plus they hide the cabin category to make it hard to compare apples to apples and hide the deposit refund information in the tiny print.  Feels very much like a bait & switch scheme.  

8 hours ago, PCWalton1 said:

However we got as far as the Maui Winery and two things happened. First it started raining and looking farther along that direction it looked worse. Second because she has been ill for the past week Marie started to get carsick from the twisting road.

My wife, son and I attempted the Road to Hana a few years ago.  About one-third of the way in my son was feeling nauseous.  We turned around and headed back, but he didn't feel better until we got back to the "normal" roads.

12 hours ago, calicakes said:

 I believe one of the “salesman” had a proximity scanner and stole my card information while it was still in my pocket.

We bought sleeves for our credit cards and passports on Amazon that block RFID scanning.

But mostly we leave them on the ship or in the hotel room.  Last time we ventured off the ship in Nassau the only thing we took with us was about $60 cash, our state photo ID and our ship ID card.  We even left our iPhones and Apple watches on the ship.

To wrap this up, I found the help and advice from Trip Insurance Store to be just what I wanted.  

I'm using the "pay as you go" method described above.  Today I purchased enough insurance to cover my cruise down payment.  Next April, when I pay the cruise balance, I'll call the folks at Trip Insurance Store to have them increase the insured amount.  

I'm very happy with this strategy.  Why pay now for insurance I won't use for ten months?

8 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

We purchased, through TIS, a policy from Travel Insured, and... with less than 2 weeks until we were supposed to leave home, DH had a medical emergency.  We were SO glad that we had read up on travel insurance here... and that we decided to get a policy!  We were paid promptly.

Thanks!  I'll be calling TIS tomorrow.

14 minutes ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Paul,

 

You are on the right track.

 

In your case, if you have other prepaid non-refundable trip costs like airfare, hotels & excursions, then increasing to $5,000 for the full cruise cost will not work for you.

 

Steve

 

I do not anticipate having other prepaid non-refundable costs.  So "pay as you go" may very well work for me.

Great info, thanks!

1 hour ago, Jersey42 said:

I meant recommended by people on these boards.  Steve is with tripinsurancestore.com and is highly recommended.  Others have had excellent service from other brokers.  I mentioned one earlier and you can search for more.  The good news is you do not pay anything more for using a broker and their advice can also be helpful.

Nice info, thanks!

5 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

Again, it is always a good idea to call one of the brokers recommended in this forum for recommendations specific to your situation. 

Hmmm.  I've participated around here for a long time but never knew there are "recommended" brokers.  Recommended by the folks that run Cruise Critic or recommendations by the folks that post public messages?  I'll look around on the main CC site for any such recommendations.  Thanks.

2 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

If you have any more questions about this, ask me here.

Steve, I read those links, and want to make sure I understand this strategy.

When I booked the cruise today I paid a deposit of $750.  So within the next few days (maybe up to 14 days?) I would buy travel insurance for $750.  Buying insurance now, while the cruise is 100% refundable, gets me coverage for pre-existing conditions?  Or cancel for any reason coverage?

Then, when the final payment ($5,000) is due, I'd "up" the travel insurance by $5,000.  At that point I'm fully covered for the money I'm spending on the cruise.  

Have I got any of this right?  

It sounds like you're a professional in this business.  Can you tell me with who?  Or tell me if there are more questions I should be asking?

Are there insurance policies that refund the cost if you cancel the cruise before final payment?  I recently had to cancel an upcoming trip to Disney World before final payment.  They refunded my deposit but said the cost of the insurance could not be refunded.  

We just booked a Celebrity Cruise for July 2020.  The following text was on our confirmation page:

------

Help protect your vacation payment by purchasing travel protection. You can purchase Celebrity CruiseCare at any time from deposit up through and including final payment; however, the Cancellation Penalty Waiver takes effect only upon payment of the appropriate plan cost amount, which is in addition to any required cruise deposit/payment due. Payment of the cruise fare deposit amount without the additional plan cost due will not enroll you in this plan. To view the terms, conditions and exclusions, please visit https://www.archinsurancesolutions.com/coverage/celebrity.

-----

Does the "however, the Cancellation Penalty Waiver takes effect only upon payment of the appropriate plan cost amount, which is in addition to any required cruise deposit/payment due" mean that you're not covered for cancellation until the insurance is paid in full?  That seems too obvious?  It must mean something else?

We just booked today, do we have two weeks to purchase insurance so that pre-existing conditions are covered?

If you're nervous about the feel of a larger ship then you definitely should get the Haven.  You'll have the best of both worlds where you can venture out in to the general areas of the ship and then retreat to the Haven if/when you need some peace and quiet. 

We've done the Haven twice on the Breakaway and we LOVED the peace and quiet of the Haven.

On our last Haven trip the Butler visited our cabin twice a day.  A morning run to check/replenish the coffee maker, maybe drop off some fruit.  Then an afternoon run to drop off snacks.  

I agree with most posters, the flat rate per day, per person, is crazy.  

I don't remember the exact tips I left, but it was around $40 to $50 to the butler for the week.  $20 or $30 to the concierge, whom we only asked one or two questions during the week.

I did tip the maitre d and head hostess in the Haven Restaurant.  They made our visits to the Haven Restaurant enjoyable, they certainly went above and beyond to make us happy.  

I should have tipped one of the Haven bartenders.  I didn't, but he was a joy to talk to and made me some great drinks.  Even suggesting and pushing me to try a few new things.  I did turn in a complimentary comment card for him -- I hope it helped him in some way.

If you're a CC regular then you won't learn much from the Haven briefing.  I'd still recommend going though.  They'll be giving out sliders/fries and welcome aboard drinks (free).  Don't overindulge...you'll want to enjoy lunch in the Haven restaurant on boarding day.

We've done two Haven sailings on the Breakaway.  The briefing will be about 15 to 30 minutes after the first Haven group boards the ship.  Our two briefings on the Breakaway were in the Haven pool/outdoor dining area.  

The briefing only lasts about 5 minutes.  On the Breakaway it was hard to hear the concierge, even though he was using a small portable public address system.

On 4/6/2019 at 9:02 AM, GoodScout said:

Time changes are maddening for people with Apple Watches and iPhones. They pick up time settings from the local cell network, so if you're onboard on a sea day or in a town where you don't have AT&T Cruise service, you have to go through the difficulty of manually changing it. On the morning of time changes I wake up in my room never knowing the real time. 

On your iPhone: Settings / General / Date & Time.  Turn off Set Automatically.  Then set the local time as necessary.

The Apple Watch, I suspect, will pick these changes up from the iPhone.

I use an Activity Stream for finding posts by specific users.  Works well but is a bit tricky to set up right (there are seven or eight variables to configure).  Post a note if you're interested in more information on Activity Streams.

5 hours ago, Aesop081 said:

I've not done the excursion but I have done the road to Hana twice.  I can't imagine how horrible it would be to be in a big bus full of people.  Someone will most likely get motion sick with the breaking, accelerating and the hundreds of turns, most of them 120 to 180 degree type corners.na Hwy, is not the twisty part.

My wife and I, along with our adult son, drove the Road to Hana in January 2016.  In a rental car.  We only made it about half way, my adult son was nauseous from the motion.  We had to turn around and head back -- and my son suffered the entire time.  

My wife and I were fine.  And as for the motion sickness...we probably never went faster than 20 or 25 MPH, and most times were slower than that -- and it still made him nauseous.  He never vomited...thankfully.  But he felt awful.

We also drove the road north (?) out of Lahaina (I forget what they call that).  Scariest road I've ever driven.  There are one or two places where the road is simply two tire tracks and one side of the car is about 12 inches from a cliff wall and the other side of the car is about 12 inches from drop-off of several hundred feet.  I could look out the drivers window and straight down...several hundred feet!  And the worst part...just as we exited to the normal road...we found a "road closed" barrier!  We had to turn around and go right back through the scary part.  That's something I'll never forget and will never attempt again!