carolina_yankee

I was never able to find a FB roll call and the CC one is not active at all! It would be nice if that meant it’s going to be a very quiet cruise. 😊

We're on the Apex. It looks like the full Cabana set-up would be better for four people? We are two couples on separate reservations but connected. Also, do these have to be booked once on board, or does the lack of a booking option in the app mean they are already booked?

I normally do, too, or just do it on my own. In fact, the only cruise line excursions I’ve taken have been the ones provided as part of the fare for river cruises. The only thing that moved me here was the Celebrity’s price was very similar to the 3rd party price, and tendering is involved. I just figured if the excursion was through Celebrity, then we’d get tendering priority and it would make things a little easier. However, the more I think about, the more I think that if the excursion prices are similar, the 3rd party is probably offering something a bit more in-depth or nice than what Celebrity is through their partner. Plus, the excursion will be less crowded with a 3rd party so it will work for the best anyway. In all honesty, if I could see how to rent a car at the tender dock, that’s what I’d do but from what I’ve read that isn’t offered any more. I agree absolutely - and for others reading, I am absolutely not pushing an age discrimination claim. I know how these things work and I’m a big boy who can adapt and roll with the punches. However, I did let Celebrity know my opinion of them being the only cruise line to work with the only provider that puts a top age limit on this excursion and how ridiculous and insulting it was. I specifically pointed out that we have several Disney cruises under our belt because we are young at heart and take “active and discovery” river cruises because we like to be on the move. I concluded by wondering if Celebrity would be the right fit for us if they were unable or unwilling to offer the kinds of experiences we would enjoy. Maybe that and our all-inclusive package will get me a glass of champagne. 🙂 We’re going to have fun regardless, so it will all work out.

Well, Celebrity shorex said no dice. The age 70 restrictions stands. So, we’ll book through another vendor that offers back to ship guarantee and Celebrity won’t get our money for this excursion. We’re also re-evaluating booking with 3rd parties ourselves at other ports so Celebrity won’t get their cut. If they choose to operate this way, I don’t see a point in rewarding them. Nobody else has an upper age limit for this tour, including HAL, which stereotypically should have plenty of the older types. Bad taste for a first timer. However, we’ll get to our excursions, save money, and have a wonderful cruise with our friends anyway.

That doesn’t work if the discrimination is due to a third party provider and you’re in another country where US law doesn’t apply. Believe me, though, I’ve had the same thoughts!

And while people can lie about their age at the gate, the cruise line has our birthdates, so the option to book DH is grayed out as “age limited!” Sigh. I’m sure it will get sorted, it’s just a nuisance in the meantime.

So, here's a funny. Our travel agent contacted Celebrity about the age restriction for a waiver. They gave her instructions on what we had to do, saying there was still plenty of vacancies on the excursion (tour of QE II Botanic Gardens and Pedro St. James in Grand Cayman). We emailed shorex with our request for a waiver. Now the excursion is listed as fully booked - the least likely excursion in George Town to be get fully booked!! I have to hope it's IT. At this point, it's almost guaranteed we will book through a third party like shoreexcursionsgroup.com unless they are fixing something behind the scenes. Aargh. ETA: Well, the app says it's fully booked. The website just has the reserve button grayed out with a note "we're working on it" so perhaps they are indeed setting things up so we can book!

I'm a person of size, but I didn't read the comment as judging. I read it as operational - essentially, "if you're on the ship, you can get on the tender." Since Celebrity lets people cruise with wheelchairs and a myriad of other health issues, I can't fathom weight being an issue for cruising, boarding, or tendering. There may be some difficulty in actually getting into the tender of some people, but again, if a person in a wheel chair can be accommodated, so could a person of size. Any weight limitations have to be coming from the excursion vendor, which could be legit, or be capricious.

I wouldn't say this is true. I'm not an electrician and I knew nothing about surge protectors until I started reading cruise boards. I have carried extension cords (non-surge protected) on board ships of other lines with never an issue. Now with USB adapters, faster charging, and better batteries, I don't do it because I don't need them. However, I wouldn't say the average person, even the average cruiser, knows that surge protectors are fire hazards or even prohibited.

It has kind of an Indiana Jones feel to it, but I’m sure it depends on how long the ship is in port. Most lines will also have excursions that go there if you want the timing security. I kind of like how Altun Ha and Chacchoben compliment each other, with one steep being a little more rustic and undiscovered, and the other seeing the ruins more out in the open like it would have been. But that doesn’t do you any good if you’re only going to see one!

I haven’t done either but have researched a lot because we are in a similar situation. Belize also has Lamanai ruins, which takes a bit longer to get to, but is still partially unexcavated like Chacchoben. If your choice is just between the two you posted, Altun Ha is more developed and out in the open, and you can climb the pyramids. Chacchoben is more in the jungle, and still looks undeveloped. I think both take about the same amount of bus time and are about 4 hour excursions total. Lamanai in Belize throws in a 20 minute river run between bus and ruins and includes lunch, is 6 or 6 1/2 hours. We will definitely do Chacchoben, but are deciding if we want to do Altun Ha, Lamanai, or just stay on the ship in Belize (not tubers), so I appreciate your question and look forward to others’ responses.

If the stats of 200+ crashes and 80+ dead in the last 15 years is true, I would definitely re-think one of these flights, whether independently or through a cruise company. At least with the cruise company, you know the company is vetted. As for the suit, I agree that there is no way HAL is responsible. I doubt they would settle. If a company knows they are in the right, they will fight. Disney is famous for settling as fast as possible when there is even the slightest hint of liability, but if the claim is bogus and they can prove it, they fight tooth and nail.

Celebrity still requires vaccines for all passengers over 12 for US departures, as well as testing for cruises six nights and longer, but it's now 3 days instead of two days prior to boarding. https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/updated-us-travel-requirements

I love a good English curry and samosa!! I'm also all over the traditional English breakfast. Gotta love a country where the national foods are so global!! The benefits of empire . . .

If it weren't for the travel snafus, I doubt I would be thinking about it. With the travel snafus, I feel compelled to. I've had friends do it successfully for years so I figure it's time to just get on board and do it. As for complaints about taking up overhead bins, well, I quote the head of RyanAir regarding AMS: You had one job and you didn't do it. Let me know my bags will get to where I'm going and I'll go back to checking them, even if they are carry-on size. Also, don't make me wait 60-90 minutes to get them at baggage claim. And while you're at it, if you don't want me to carry on my bags, stop charging me for them! And especially, stop charging me for them when you can't get them to me. As for taking up other people's time or dropping bags on someone's head, I'm not that person. Plus, I *never* wear stinky clothes.

Meh - a distinction without a difference to me. A balcony has three sides, a railing, and an open space. An IV has three sides a barrier, and an open space. And not contradictory at all. While the Disney Fantasy balconies have connectors that can be opened to share balconies, the Disney Magic and Wonder do not, meaning that having a balcony doesn’t even guarantee I get what I want. My point is that the IV doesn’t really take away anything, nor does it necessarily add anything. It’s just different. I’m reasonably confident I’ll enjoy sitting on it, standing at the opening, etc. My experience on our Avalon cruise showed me that’ll be just fine.

We had a panorama view cabin on the Avalon Tapestry II for our Seine river Cruise. It was great to pull open the doors and have the outside as part of the stateroom. A/C also went off when that happened. Was never a problem, but was also cool in late April. Whether or not the IV is a true “balcony” it gets you basically the same thing a balcony gets you (view, fresh air, more space to spread out). It just does it a little differently. The major drawback for us since we often cruise with friends is that there is no divider to open up the two balconies so we can share one large balcony together, or get together without going through the other’s room while somebody is asleep. That’s a major downer. To me, all of the other differences can be managed without ranking them as better than or worse than. They are just different.

I don’t think question is how to operationally eliminate children. If that’s the goal, it’s done easily enough as some other lines demonstrate. As a long-time childless DCL cruiser, I would say the trick is to design the ships with adults-only areas and kids-only areas where the two never need cross. Disney has mixed results on this with the Fantasy and Dream, but we found it fairly easy to avoid crowds of kids and kid activities on the Magic and Wonder. Nothing’s going to stop a rude child from annoying an adult. Then again, nothing’s going to stop a rude adult from annoying an adult, either. Out in the wild, I meet more of the latter than the former. I wouldn’t mind an adults only cruise, but I will generally choose those lines for the itinerary rather than experience. I chose HAL for 2 weeks Midnight Sun over Viking because it was cheaper, though my heart would have been with Viking. I know HAL isn’t adults-only but I’m not expecting many kids on our cruise. I just want to know that a ship’s atmosphere isn’t going to be uptight. Having multiple generations around enriches my own experience of the cruise.

Gary Bembridge, the Tips for Travellers guy on YouTube, said in his weekly Q&A yesterday that his goal is to carry-on for this next cruise because of the airline/airport issues. I think he’s flying from England to the States. It just struck me as interesting that more people are giving it a try. We’re certainly going to try for our next cruise, November on the Apex, flying to FLL from EWR. I’m not worried about losing luggage on that one, so we’re doing it as a challenge to see if we can pull it off for future travel.

We are COVID virgins and consider ourselves very lucky. We’ve also traveled cautiously every year of the pandemic. Last two years included flights and hotel stays. This year included a river cruise and we have two ocean cruises and one Middle East land trip planned over the next year. I recognize we may well get COVID at some point, and we’ll deal with it when it happens. We are OK with being quarantined as we can self-entertain fairly well. We assume COVID won’t be serious for us, but we have no logical reason to think ourselves special in that way. It’s just a statistic roll of the dice. My question would be whether or not one could relax enough to enjoy the cruise, even with precautions. If you can’t relax and enjoy the experience, it really isn’t worth it. Unfortunately, you won’t have a sense of either the policies or the prevalence of COVID for a particular cruise before final payment date.

Another vote for the waitlist in the meantime. Only late dinner was available when we booked our Apex cruise. We waitlisted Select dining and were switched within a couple of weeks. The cruise was about six months out at the time.

For those concerned about toiletries, there are toothpaste pills and mouthwash pills. I’m not sure on the links policy here, but try stuff from By Humankind. They also have travel sized bars of shampoo, conditioner, and soap. I’ve used those before and they last a good week or more. I also am happy to use what’s available on the ship or in a better hotel. I do understand sometimes you need specific brands. My spouse needs particular soap and hair products for skin issues so he will always carry his toiletries. I would really like to travel Carry-on only for the simplicity of it. Waiting for luggage for an hour is a buzz-kill, both at the beginning and ending of a trip. I’m still a bit nervous that I could make it happen. With our trips next year, I’m sure we’ll take one carry-on between us with 1-2 days worth of stuff in case the checked bags go missing. I do have some camera gear and a decent camera backpack now (Peak Deisgn) that can handle a lot, so I may yet pull off carry-on only. Even when packing ruthlessly (so I thought), I still had items I wore only once or not at all on the last two trips, so there is room for improvement.

That's really helpful. Thank you. They don't have a private driver option listed for Hammerfest on our cruise yet, but there's plenty of time. Given the nature of this particular opportunity, we would be willing to spend the money.

We will been the Rotterdam for the Voyage of the Midnight Sun next July. One of the stops is in Hammerfest, Norway on a Saturday, and one of the excursions is to Alta. With 20 minutes of Alta is the valley and church where my family lived for two generations before emigrating to the US in the 19th century. It is tantalizing to be so close and yet so far. Normally, I would simply rent a car but it appears all the rental locations, including the airport, are closed on Saturdays (and might not have hours late enough for return even if they were open). Would HAL be able to arrange a private excursion? (Avalon Waterways did this for us on a River Cruise once). If not, would my next best bet be to contact the tourism office in Hammerfest to see if they know guides or drivers who could help? It is a bit of a trek - 2 1/2 hours each way, so the cruise ship protection could be useful. It's July, so weather shouldn't be a travel problem. Worst case, we'll just do the Alta excursion since it's fairly close and we want to the Northern Lights Cathedral anyway. Thanks!

Thanks all for the tips and the reality that we're not alone. We aren't active cyclists, hikers, kayakers, campers, by any means, but all our joints work, we have balance, and we have stamina!! Last summer at the Grand Canyon and this year in France proved to us we're not over the hill yet - years of Disney World - Commando Style probably trained us. It's funny that the private excursions through 3rd parties don't have the age limits, which does make me a little suspicious about Celebrity's policy, but it's so random (and age differs based on excursion) that I can see it being the provider and not the cruise line. In this case, the Celebrity excursion is about the same price as 3rd party, so I'll call and see. It's not likely to be popular excursion in a port where beaches and snorkeling are the norm, so I'm not worried about numbers, and it would be nice to have Celebrity handle everything from tendering onward since this is our first time at Grand Cayman (and tendering). If we do end up with 3rd party, then that's fine too.