Covepointcruiser

Since South African government mandates actual passports, if you don’t want to carry yours best remain onboard the ship.

We had a mix of a great pianist, string trios, and a harpist in the Commodore Club in December. All three acts were wonderful and you could appreciate the music and still be able to speak to table mates. Never had a problem getting a seat and are sailings were fully booked. Never experience the “Black hole of Calcutta” in the Queens Room unless you are speaking of the behavior of the ballroom dancers.

You can’t compare this to COVID forced cancellations. No company in the world knew how to deal with a global pandemic. We didn’t know how countries were closing down, where airlines and ships would be allowed to travel and all of this changing every day if not minute. Canceling voyages because of technical issues happens and there is a course of action that will be taken. Everyone will be unhappy and disappointed but it is not an unheard of event.

Bingo is still a being money maker for Catholic Churches and schools. They seem to run it every week and have a number of loyal followers. Trivia seems to have taken the place of Bingo and it very popular with a loyal and boisterous following.

Not being able to fly is a major problem. If you are on a voyage and have a serious health issue do you just remain in the nearest port until a ship comes by? At least you won’t need to pay for medical insurance.

Why travel on the QM2 if you completely avoid the Britannia? The Kings Court is lacking compared to other lines. I do know that the fares in Britannia can be significantly less than the comparable air fare. Room service would offer a better meal than the Kings Court.

Credit Cards are key, without them and a substantial line of credit, it is really not safe to travel. At least you will have 30 to 60 days to pay the credit card bill. If you bought travel insurance, it would cover an economy class ticket home plus additional for hotels and meals. This would also not be an immediate payment.

Luckily in England you are not stranded as there are a multitude of flights to every place in the world. With the full refund of your fare you should be able to book a flight and perhaps tour around England with your 7 travel days. It’s a relatively short flight to NYC so Business Class is nice but not essential.

We had the TK meal last night, barbecued pork ribs, and everything served was excellent. We took the excursion in Nuku’alofa Hiva and the beauty of the island was amazing. It was definitely a rough 3 hour ride but the views were gorgeous. The tiny sliver of a ship in the photo is our Odyssey.

We used them in December to the QM2. I packed my hair dryer with no problems. Leave rechargeable batteries out of your cases as they cause fires. We travel wearing our heavy shoes and in Jackets. We always pack essentials in the cases we put in the overhead. My husband has a computer backpack where we keep our electronics and essential documents. If you are not in Business/First Class, get on as early as you can to claim overhead space.

We are posting live from the Seabourn Odyssey. We anchored outside of Atuona in Hiva Oa, see even spell check knows nothing about these islands. We had to skip the port as seas were too rough for the tenders. Captain is doing a scenic sail around the islands instead. Entertainment is not to Celebrity standards but food is excellent. Tonight I have counted 17 entree choices between the classic and daily evening menu but it includes 4 vegan entrees. This is a repositioning cruise so it is less expensive.

Enjoying your travel thread, wonder when they will return with cruises to Cuba. We were there once on Azamara. We are currently suffering through a Tahiti to Hawaii cruise on Seabourn Odyssey. We are visiting extremely small islands and have now hit the first of the Marquesas. So many islands and only 2000 people total. No docks and we are waiting for the water to calm down enough for tenders.

A Navy Blazer is all you will need to look at though you made an effort.

Will you be happy with your cruise if it is Greece, Egypt and not Greece, Israel and Egypt. Israel is always iffy.

We have been converts to smaller ships when we care about the itinerary. They can visit ports you will never see on Celebrity ships. If they are also luxury ships, all the better. Azamara offers a nice middle ground, better than Celebrity, but not luxury and with good prices.

You are correct, she should not have been given a choice given the circumstances on board. If there is a port, corpses should be unloaded as anything can happen with power and equipment on ships. It’s not like there is an alternative when you are at sea.

Bur his posts would not be 35+ pages long if we didn’t have sidebars about travel on Celebrity and Europe.

What Suite do you have on the QM2? If you have a Q2, it will be much better than a Penthouse on Celebrity. Any Queens Grill cabin will compare favorably with Celebrity but Q4 and above have additional bathrooms and benefits. The Q1s are two story suites and are very grand. If you are in a Princess Grill suite, it is similar to a Sky Suite. You will dine in Princess Grill instead of Queens Grill. We have been in all sorts of weather, including a hurricane, on the QM2 and she handles the weather smoothly. We always take Bonnie to be safe and it does not cause drowsiness. Pack for elegant evenings, a tux does nicely for 5 out of 7 day.

We were very surprised on a recent embarkation in Papeete that we had no wellness check or health questionnaire. A Seabourn, not a Celebrity ship, but they had 5 cabins in quarantine on the previous leg and required masks to be worn indoor. No masks on our 4/15 sailing, so I guess we are lucky.

One would hope all of the comped cabins for Blue Chip members would be the first canceled. Anyone on a comped cruise should go before those paying full fare.

Unless Celebrity caused the death, what responsibility does the ship have? I am not sure you even have the option of burial at sea although that would seem better than contaminating food or drink storage for remaining passengers. If the body cooler(s) were available, how man could they hold? Will insurance cover offloading of body at next port, this can be expensive.

No toilet breaks. Visit restrooms right before you embark the zodiacs. If you are landing to a small village onshore there might be a bathroom, although we only spotted one in a museum. All the kayak excursions we saw were only on the water with no landings. Nuuk is the only city type landing and restrooms were available in the museums and shopping areas.

We have found the air conditioning in the indoor dining spaces on the Odyssey to be set to a low temperature making men in jackets comfortable but ladies requiring sweaters or shawls. This tropical voyage is not tropical in temperature in public areas.

Could you possibly book refundable flights? United is still advertising no charge for booking changes. The Marriott Group allows you to cancel without charge 48 hours in advance and they have many properties in Japan.

Celebrity should skip this port in the future, the infrastructure is severely lacking.