GottaKnowWhen

Our 2nd day in Old San Juan (this trip. Have been fortunate to visit several times before.) First, back story. We flew Wednesday from our local airport to DTW, then on to ATL, then to SJU. Actually, we didn't. In DTW, we were delayed 2 hours because the heavy snow in Minneapolis prevented the pilots getting to DTW for our flight. Once in ATL, we missed our midday flight to SJU. We could rebook on the evening flight leaving 6ish, or something else. The 6pm ATL-SJU was already overbooked, they put us on a flight to JFK, and onward to SJU. Eventually got to San Juan around midnight Wednesday. But, of course, without luggage. Thursday my bag was flown ATL-SJU on the early morning flight. It sat at the airport here from early afternoon until around 7:00pm, then was driven around the San Juan environs, and eventually back to the airport about midnight. [I know all of this through a combination of information from my Delta Find My Luggage app and my Apple air tags.] So today, Friday, Meg's bag was flown ATL-SJU, and both bags were delivered to our hotel a bit after noon. Moral(s) of the story: 1) do NOT fly into your embarkation point day-of. Or even the day before. Stuff happens. Allow extra days, go early, enjoy your embarkation port. 2) Put Apple air tags or similar in your luggage to help track what is going on. So, today in San Juan. NCL and Viking in port, and today is Three Kings Day so the start of a three-day weekend for much of Latin America. Busy city! We walked, watched the kite flyers on the National Park grounds outside the fort, had lunch, enjoyed the scene. A wonderful light dinner tonight at Cosa Nostra on Fortelleza, very near our Casa Blanca hotel. A good day. Tomorrow we board Str Pride around 1:00pm. Stan

I would have thought they would run into the “you must be logged in” warnings. I’ll try it, thanks for the suggestion! Stan

Thanks Bo. I have seen a few “live from” threads, they all have been quite different in tone, length, etc. and so I am not sure what exactly people expect from that designation. I used to blog on trips for friends via a standard blog site but that stopped primarily because my focus is more on photography than on hour-to-hour details, and the upload of photos to the blog site was way way too slow. Internet speeds have risen, uploads aren’t quite so painful, and so my intent was to revisit my blogging approach but using Cruise Critic as the host. Many of my friends are not cruisers and so will not see this site, but I’ll post some elsewhere as well. A long reply to a short question! But nothing else to do right now while waiting to see if/when our delayed luggage is reunited with us. Stan

We have a two-week cruise, Star Pride, starting this Saturday Jan 7. Arrived in San Juan late last night, today we spent a leisurely day wandering Old San Juan. A favorite location for us! Stan

I started to set up an extended trip: Seward Alaska to Vancouver to LA to Lauderdale. I was cautioned that it might not be permitted because of U.S. law that says that Foreign Flag carriers (like Celebrity) cannot carry passengers from one U.S. port to another. A round-trip, like from Seattle or from Lauderdale, is ok as long as there is one foreign port along the way. And a repositioning trip, like from LA to Lauderdale, is apparently ok. I was prepared to argue that my itinerary would meet the letter of the law, but if I lost the argument at the last minute, that would be a lot of plans to change and $$$$ to try and recover. In any case, Celebrity ship deployments and schedules changed, the question was moot, and I settled on a different way to overspend my budget. Your notion would probably require a layover of 3-4 months in Florida along the way as ships go South out of Seattle (or West across the Pacific) in the Fall, which is when any East Coast ships are also deploying South to Florida/Caribbean. Stan

Just off a cruise. I had an OBC issue, $$$ that showed in my Confirmations (not from TA) were not in my account onboard. Guest Services could do nothing. They contacted Miami. A day later, nothing. I emailed my TA. She is on safari in Rwanda. She replied within 2 hours, called Celebrity, about 4 hours later told me that my OBC was now there in my account. Not the first time I have had great support from her! I still do some bookings on my own, but a good TA can be VERY helpful. Stan

Jim, sorry we never linked up onboard. I wasn't able to access Cruise Critic even one time during the cruise and never saw any of your posts. I'll catch up when I get home tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have updated my Signature below with a link to a selection of my photos from the Dec 3 cruise as well as links to Iceland, Canada and Alaska trip from earlier this year. Stan

She is a nice person. But what is important is that her "nice person" persona is not just a mask designed for social media or whatever. We've sailed with her on two different ships, Summit and Eclipse or Equinox. The staff and crew respected her, enjoyed working for her, and did their best to emulate her "nice person" example. She runs a good ship! And oh by the way is fun and engaging and self effacing and, if some want to "certify" her as a Media Star, then I don't hold that against her. I think Corporate does well to put her out as an example of officers one might meet if they would only buy a Celebrity cruise. Good marketing ploy. Stan

I cannot speak to the Southern Hemisphere, but I know that in the Caribbean earlier this year, while C19 testing was a requirement for boarding, we and all other b2b passengers were scheduled for a time to go to queue in a lounge where we were swabbed/tested. Anyone testing positive was either put off or, more often, left aboard the ship until 5+ days had passed and the infected one was shown to be symptom free.

Those doing a b2b do get lunch in the MDR.

Thank you! I never thought of the zero receipt approach.

Noises from your boat? Or from the crew? I don’t mean to make light of your experience, I totally appreciate the impact of wind/waves on small boats. But I had to ask the follow up question to your comment!

My first adult-era cruise, 2013, in the Caribbean - my biggest complaint was that it never felt like we were on the water! Could have been in a hotel atop 15-foot concrete foundations! Dull.

We have always tipped after each b2b2b segment. Cabin attendant and MDR servers and bartenders and restroom attendants… Crew changeovers happen, crew get rotated among locations, and you can’t be sure you will have the same people on each leg.

With a drinks package, you won’t have a $0.00 receipt. They swipe your card, and done. And to the large4 question, I often tip (cash) favorite bar tenders during and/or at the end of a cruise. But not on every drink.

Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess. Go for it!

Yes.

Another option we’ve used a couple of times is to go 3-5 or 6-7 days prior to the cruise, arrange through a decent local company for a trip to Iguazu etc. Note, on the back end of your cruise, the taxis lined up outside the cruise terminal are a racket. On exiting, walk left a block or two before trying to engage a cruising cab. Better yet, let that same local company arrange your transport after the cruise as well. “Say Hueque” is good. if you opt for a one-day quickie, make sure that your tour guide/driver includes time in La Boca and at the Recolleta, two iconic visits in B.A.

I haven’t seen any complaints on this thread. I have seen others, like myself, who are first or 2nd timers on Windstar, commenting on some aspects of the Windstar Experience. Several of the comments have been about the dining situation. My first time, it was pleasant. My second time, with a closer to capacity ship, it was not pleasant. Not complaining, just commenting. My third time will be in the Caribbean, warmer weather, maybe more options. If dining is still not pleasant, there will be no fourth time. Not a complaint, just a comment. Not comparing to other cruise lines per se, but rather to our understanding that when we pay mega bucks for a floating resort that proclaims great food as part of the experience, we would hope to be able to enjoy that great food in relative quiet like in any fine restaurant. Your expectations may be different. No need to criticize people who have different view points.

Yes, but. For me, the issue was that my wife and I would like to sit together and have a quiet dinner, at least a few nights. On the Pride, I recall they were opening at 6:45? We found that if we went at our preferred 7-7:15 time for dinner, the only options were sharing, and the alternative of waiting for somebody to finish and leave did not seem feasible. So, to get our preferred seating, we would join the lineup. Whether they opened at 6:30 or 7:00, same issue. If you want a First Seating, you go and line up for 15-20 minutes. I am not sure there even was a second seating. Dining area too small, a come-when-you-want policy not working well. A big deal? No, a minor annoyance, but definitely detracted. Our first time aboard, in August, there were fewer passengers and it just wasn’t an issue. In October, quite different with a full load of passengers. We’ll be back aboard in January, and the dining/seating situation is not something I am looking forward to. I am hoping that being able to go outdoors will make a big difference. Stan

Check your booking documents. An emergency contact number is given. --- Emergency: Friends and family can contact the ship by calling 877-266-1020. From outside the U.S., they can call 321-953-9002. The cost is $7.95 USD a minute. This can be charged to their MasterCard® or Visa®. --- The caller will need to know your ship's name, your name, and your cabin number. As I recall, the call comes to Guest Services, they try to call you in your cabin, if no answer they leave you a voice message. You can call out, again at $7.95/minute. Or you can wait until the next time you are near an island with cell service you can use via roaming. Stan

That’s why I switched from AT&T to Sprint, hundreds dollars charges on a Europe trip in 2017 or 2018. I thought I had their $10/day plan set up, they tricked me with the fine print.

T-Mobile/Sprint. But you need to be in a country, within reach of a cell tower, not out at sea. At sea you are piggybacking on Celebrity's satellite access and need to pay Celebrity for the privilege.

Just curious - if your phone is off and you don’t use the app, how can you tell whether or not the info on the app is correct? It does get updated periodically, and if you hit the Update button, you will get good info…

With respect to Covid etc, our experience on the Pride was that the staff was quite conscientious with cleaning, masking, etc., passengers not so much. Fortunately the elevators are too small for there ever to be much close contact with a crowd there! We didn’t contract any disease, sorry for those that did. I very much enjoyed the rough seas, it felt like we were sailing, not driving on a highway. My wife and several others found it uncomfortable and complained of poor sleep.