jszpira

Thanks for all the responses to my question! I didn't even think about chair hogging until I read this thread. It was my first cruise and I saw so many towel held chairs around me, (like the 3 chairs to the right of me were not occupied by people during the 5 hours I was out at the pool), I figured it was the norm.

I was totally wrong about that one! Glad I can up my pool etiquette on my next cruise :)

Curious to know the group's thoughts on someone saving a chair for their other half.

I can sit in the sun for HOURS, while my boyfriend will get bored/sunburned if he is outside for more than 45-60 minutes at a time. We went down to the pool early and after about an hour, he went to work out. He came back a couple hours later after eating/showering etc. and resumed his spot next to me.

I held that chair for him the whole time. Should I have offered it up to someone on the contingent basis that they would have to leave when BF gets back?

I honestly think that chair hogs make people that normally wouldn't be chair hogs turn into them.

I noticed that on sea day 1, all the pool side chairs weren't "claimed" until around 11am, sea day 2 the time was 10 am and on sea day 3 it was 8:30. I said "claimed" because the chairs were not occupied by bodies, but rather by towels/books. I felt fortunate I was able to find a chair to sit in, even though the chairs were only 10% full with actual people. I ended up "chair hogging" my spot because my thought process was "if everyone else is doing it".

Which is bad...I know.

A easy way all us cruisers can help out is by removing our own towels when we leave. I like the idea of a pool butler taking care of cleaning up my space after me, but that means my chair would be left unoccupied for 30 minutes before the butler would clean up the towels and open the chair up for others. To leave the pool area, one must walk by a towel stand. I grabbed my towels and discarded them when I was leaving the pool, immediately signaling to others looking for loungers that the one I was using is now available.

Got the Broncos/Chargers game 12/14 in the stateroom on Reflection. Pleasant surprise!

I think you can expect to see playoff games broadcast on the ship :)

But we've found all the mattresses we've experienced with Celebrity to be very comfy! Almost too comfy and I've taken many an extra nap in our cabins.

 

 

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My BF and I were on Reflection and the beds were LOVELY. I got trapped in "Club Bed" more than a few times for extra naps.

The only downside is that the beds are short, and I am tall. If you're over 5'8", expect feet to hang off the bed. Not a terrible thing, because I like to keep my feet out :)

I've cruised previously using only my BC. Decided to get a passport for my upcoming March cruise since I'm considering a trip to Scotland. Anyway, non-expedited passport was in my hands 13 days after I applied at the post office. I was pleasantly surprised. lol

I wouldn't count on a "pleasant surprise" when it comes to getting a passport quickly. Allocate plenty of time, pay the expedited fee or visit a passport agency.

It would be terrible to receive an unpleasant surprise that derails a trip.

After reading these boards, I was SURE I was going to upgrade my package once I got on board.

I never ended up upgrading. I am mostly a vodka drinker, and I found Ketel One to be fine for my needs.

I still had access to all the bottled water, sodas, Arizona Iced Teas and specialty coffee I could drink. I didn't have vitamin waters or red bulls, but those are things that I don't regularly drink anyway.

Also, if I saw a drink that looked good, but was made with "premium" liquor, I would ask if they could make it "classic" and they would just alter the booze from Grey Goose to Ketel.

I attached a list of the premium/classic drink options.

I had a couple issues with room service charges due to the items I brought on board being mistaken for being mini bar items. I had carried on some gummi bears and a bottle of water. After the first room service day, I saw that I was charged for both of those items. After a bit of back and forth, Guest Relations took the charge off. Just something to keep a heads up about.

For those who are within that "days before travel" frantic stage, the state department has multiple passport agencies across the US that expedite passports for a very reasonable fee.

I posted a link, but if that doesn't work, you can google "passport agency travel.gov" and you can find the site pretty easily.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/information/where-to-apply/agencies.html

We (my boyfriend stalled on getting a passport and then we were in a frenzy) paid $195 ($110 for first time passport, $25 agency processing fee, $60 expedited fee. We would have paid $135 if we had mailed everything and then waited 4-6 weeks, so the only "upcharge" was the $60 for expedited) and had a passport in hand in 2 business days.

While we were waiting at the place in Colorado, there was a guy who went to the airport only to find out that he didn't have the 6 months before expiration necessary to travel. He was in the agency at 12pm and they told him his passport would be ready at 2 pm. Incredible.

This is a service provided by the government. I know there are a lot of private expediting companies, but these government run passport agencies are incredible!!!

There are only a handful across the US, but worth checking out if you need a passport update in a short time frame.

While that may be "the obvious" for most people, I am an idiot and I did not even for a second think about making a visit to GR.

You just saved me a trip to the bank!!

it is likely that there will be at least 3 [probably more] different currencies floating around on the ship, regardless where you are sailing, they have facilities on board to deal with it.

Good!! Then I can get rid of some of my $$$ that I have yet to exchange back from previous trips! Haha

Hi,

I've done prepaid grats, but we all know there are certain people who go above and beyond what is expected of them.

Is tipping $1 bills okay? Or should I bring larger denominations to tip with as well? For example, if I know I'm going to tip the bartender $5 at the end of the night, are 5 $1 bills okay or should I also bring some $5s?

Well, that escalated quickly. I think we can all agree that all service workers deserve to make a decent living wage. In many countries that is through a straight salary. In others, the service that workers provide is given a gratuity based on the level at which they perform. If traditional customs dictate a 15% gratuity, that is the minimum tip I'll leave. If tipping isn't standard, I won't tip.

I saw a previous poster talk about her views vs her husband's view on tipping, and I think they worked out a great solution based on the tipping being in control of the person whose native country they were in.

As for the ship gratuities, IMHO, it comes down to doing the right thing. If you know that gratuities are expected to be paid to the service workers, then just pay them. Grumble and complain about it (my dad used to always remark "I wish I got tipped just for doing my job", to which mom would remark that he should take a job where tipping was the standard), but just do it, and know that it is greatly appreciated.

I worked for tips for a long time. Now that I am in a position in life where I am the one paying the tips, it brings me joy to give someone a couple extra bucks. I plan to prepay my gratuities so they people that help me out as assigned for their job receive their standard pay, and then bring a HUGE stack of $1 bills and disperse them to crew members that assist me throughout the cruise. Room service..extra tip. Bartender who makes a fancy drink...extra tip. Dining room server who brings me 6 lobster tails...extra tip :)

At the average of $12 a day Celebrity suggests for gratuity, most passengers are looking at paying less than 15% a day per person in tips (based on the cost of the stateroom).

If you haven't had a tip based job, I'll let you know that a dollar make a HUGE difference in a server/bartender/stewards day. It may not be a lot to you, but for them, small tips can add up and really boost their pay.

Most important question: did the lab worker and her companion get the same $200 OBC and 50% off future cruise as all the other passengers?

The thing about Ebola is that 70% of people who contract it, die.

True. However, all those infections are happening in areas of the world were healthcare is not the best. Many of those infected were malnourished, underweight and in generally bad health. I would assume that their already taxed immune systems put them at a disadvantage.

If such an outbreak occurred in the USA, I bet the mortality rate would be much higher than anyone would feel comfortable with, but likely it would be a lot lower than 70%.

Just my opinion.

I see a real positive in any Ebola panic. People in our part of the world now see a possibility that Ebola can affect them quite directly. IMHO this may cause some to give the elimination of Ebola a higher priority. More funding for Ebola research may lead to effective drugs which can save lives in Africa.

Agree. More knowledge and awareness will hopefully bring about a solution that lowers the mortality rate.

I was thinking, if there was a disease that only affected the 1%, how long would it take to find a cute? 72 hours? Haha.

I wonder how certain people on this thread could explain how none of Thomas Duncan's family, who shared an apartment with him for several days while he was infectious, became infected themselves? I mean, if it's so easy to transmit that an entire cruise ship could become infected from a lab tech who wasn't showing any symptoms, shouldn't all of Thomas Duncan's family be dead by now?

 

:rolleyes:

Probably. But uninformed hysteria doesn't want to believe that ebola isn't spread just by looking at someone.

To be honest, the only thing I'm truly worried about for my upcoming cruise is the high price of drinks.

I leave on the Breeze a week from tomorrow and I refuse to worry about a thing. I'm excited. I flew from Florida to Las Vegas ten days after 9-11 and the planes were almost empty. I hogged a whole row of seats to myself and slept like a baby, there and back. Me, worry?

Bad things can happen in any number of situations. I'd prefer to go down, guns blazin. If I'm gonna get ebola, I'd want it with a drink in hand sailing through Caribbean waters!

Ebola certainly presents a strong argument for State sponsored research as the drug companies would not have seen it as a profitable venture.

 

 

 

Ironically if one of the companies had worked on it they would now stand to make a fortune but it did not fit into their 'quick buck' mindset.

Homeland Security is funding a portable device that can test and provide results within 15 minutes at 25 bucks a pop

.....but the company researching and producing the device is still 2 years out from a finished product. Dang it.

My understanding is that when there are no symptoms it also means there is very little detectable virus and tests are therefore not that accurate; also there is not yet a quick test available,

Yup. In looking at how ebola is detected via blood test, it's $250 a test in a $20k PCR machine. Doubtful that the ship or any port on the itinerary would have the capability. Also, testing each day for the duration of the incubation period would run $5000 a patient. Given that the hospital has about 80 people they are monitoring and Frontier put 800 people on alert, that's a lot of unnecessary testing and cost that might not yield a positive result, even if the patient is positive, but has a small viral load. Pretty much, they don't have a cheap reliable quick test, so the detection has to wait until physical symptoms are present.

One of the reasons flu isn't as deadly as it used to be is that more and more people have been exposed to it and have some immunity.

 

 

 

Unlike flu, currently ebola is not an airborne disease.

Flu and ebola are both droplet communicated diseases, neither is airborne.

Flu is often thought to be airborne because the virus is spread through coughing or sneezing, but you need to be in direct contact with the droplet (about 4 feet) and have it contact a transfer point (mucus membrane, open wound) for the virus to have an effect you. The flu is transferred more readily than ebola through coughing/sneezing because coughing/sneezing are a flu symptom, while ebola doesn't usually exhibit upper respiratory symptoms.

In relation to a cruise, you can be in the same dining room as someone with ebola/flu and not have an issue unless they directly contact you, where as if the person has chicken pox or measles, their breathing can send particles into the air that can circulate for hours and you can end up breathing in said particles, and end up being infected by someone from the other side if the room. That being said, I'd prefer to not be in a room with anyone who any of those diseases! :)

Ps. Sorry about these long epidemiological posts. I'm fascinated by disease transmission and preparing for my first cruise in years, this Magic story is right up my alley!!

I love sea days and if they want to make me live on the ship forever, then I'm OK with that :D

Such an optimist! Who hasn't wanted a bit of an extended vacation!?

As to those that gave direct care to Duncan, I think they should have been "locked down" for 21 days with pay. They should have been in some form of house confinement to see if they developed a fever, aches, head aches, etc.. As to testing, I do not know if test prior to becoming symptomatic are effective.

Exactly. Quarantine and pay people during that time. Yeah, it sucks to cancel a trip, but that's the nature of employment sometimes.

As for testing, I agree with the symptoms thing. Also, I think the idea of having vials and vials of potentially infected ebola blood hanging around probably isn't for the best. I don't really know all that much about the testing, so that's all just speculation.