Eli_6

THIS is 100 percent accurate. With that said, I don't think any judge in any land would fault Celebrity for skipping ports in Israel given the current set of circumstances. Egypt might be a different situation. I feel for all involved. Obviously more so for the people of Israel and the Middle East, but also for people who have dreamed of visiting these places their entire lives. I was supposed to go to Egypt in 2020 with my local museum and then Covid hit. I have wanted to go to the Holy Land for my entire life. I been looking at this exact itinerary (Egypt and Israel from Athens) for a year now and dreaming of going with my family. I doubt that I would feel safe taking my children to Israel any time in the near future. I suspect this will affect itineraries for not just months but possibly years. Celebrity may pull out of even doing this itinerary.

I was just about to book the Celebrity itinerary to Alexandria and Israel for spring break...with my husband and two young kids. Definitely will be changing plans now. So sad for the entire country. For the entire area.

Has anyone heard how far out these are being canceled or itineraries being changed?

My pet peeve is Carnival not enforcing its own rules.

I agree that the best solution is just to eat breakfast and take your time getting off the ship. We probably would have done this except for my son had a soccer game we were trying to get to. Part of my annoyance on embark/debark is that I absolute KNOW Carnival can do better because I have seen it done at other ports when the rules were actually enforced. It is not that hard to disembark diamonds, plats, suites, and fttf before you open the doors to the rest of the ship. It is not that hard to have a security guard tell the people trying to wait in front of the door on deck 3 that they have to go wait somewhere else. It is not that hard to make people show their S&S card before allowing them in the plat/diamond/fttf waiting area for early debark. If a group of 10 shows up and only 1 of them is platinum, then you obviously know they aren't all booked in the same room. I mean, come on! Do better Carnival. Enforce your own rules.

FYI the VIP Catamaran is a carnival excursion. Will try to post some pics tomorrow.

Short review of our recent 7 day on the Vista. All-in-all, it was one of the best cruises I have been on with some noticeable exceptions. The Havana area was amazing. It MADE the cruise. If you ever have a chance to go on a Vista class ship, absolutely stay in the Havana area. That area absolutely MADE our cruise. Room was nice and super clean. Housekeeping 10 out of 10. We watched Haunting in Venice in the Imax and loved it. Our VIP catamaran cruise (with snorkeling) in Cozumel was an 11 out of 10. We only had 9 people on the entire catamaran that usually has 30 to 40! Also the absolute BEST chef's table we have been to. Sadly, though, the good food pretty much ended there. MDR dinner and buffet was terrible. Pasta bar also terrible. Literally zero flavor. Even the normally excellent sandwiches were bad. JiJi's was ok at best. Only good food was Seaday brunch, burger place, and pizza. Drinks were good, though. And strong! Never had a bad one the entire cruise. The casino smells so horribly of smoke you can smell it from the floor above and below when walking up/down the stairs nearby. Really bad. We only spent like 15 minutes in there because of it. I really wish they would find somewhere to put a non-smoking when Vista goes into dry dock. We also greatly enjoyed our Victor Bodden excursion in Roatan. Our guide took us to an amazing area where we snorkeled right from the beach! I will try to post some pics later. Truly some of the best shore snorkeling we have done. We also did a Carnival shore excursion to Lamanai. The tour guides were good and I have no complaints other than it was soooooo hot and humid and miserable that it made it not as enjoyable as it could have been. Not Carnival's fault or the tour operator's fault, but I wouldn't recommend that tour unless you are going in winter. (And I am from Houston so used to working in the yard in 100+ degrees heat and humidity, but this felt more like 120.) Overall, a great cruise! I will truly miss the Vista and her Havana area. One knock I will say is this: Carnival needs to put a stop to plats and diamonds bringing their party of 20 with them to the plat/diamond party and to priority embark/disembark. I have never seen such madness in my life. We left the plat/diamond reception because the entire theatre was full and we couldn't get a drink (and 3/4 of the people were NOT plat/diamond) and it was complete pandemonium with *some* people grabbing 3 and 4 drinks and chugging them. It was literally comical to watch some of these people. We only stayed about 10 minutes because, well, we don't need free drinks that bad. I actually really don't care that much about the plat/diamond party but the disembark actually annoys me because when we are disembarking we are typically trying to catch a plane or make it home to either work or relieve grandparents or, in this case, to my son's soccer game. Only the plat/diamond/suites/fttf and the people staying in their cabin should get priority...not the platinum person and their 63 friends. CCL needs to monitor this and put a stop to it because when people had to get out their boarding pass to disembark, 2/3 to 3/4 of those disembarking with the platinums were not platinums which tells me a lot of people are abusing the benefit. I mean, I get CCL doesn't want to piss people off, but in the process they are basically voiding the number 1 "benefit" of being plat/diamond or paying for a suite. Carnival was also disembarking other people waiting in the lobby at same time as diamonds and plats which meant that about 1,000 people disembarked before us. This wouldn't have been as big of a deal but the passport machines were down so it ended up taking us 1 hour and 40 minutes to disembark...with plat priority. I find it really annoying that we have stayed devoted to Carnival in part for this benefit (and the free laundry) and basically it no longer matters at all. Or, at least, it didn't matter AT ALL on this cruise! We could have waited in the lobby and been off sooner if we had just gone to the lobby and stood by the door when we came down to wait in the plat/dia area.

So debark was a debacle. Took 1 hour 40 minutes to disembark. I think every plat and diamond bought 20 guests with them to unload with them. Even worse, Carnival was just letting people off the boat who were not priority who were waiting in the lobby even though they were simultaneously announcing that people weren't supposed to be waiting in the lobby. So, basically, if my husband and I had simply come down to the lobby and waited (which no one was supposed to be doing) at the same time we went to the reflections rest. (where plats were told to go for carry off/express debark) rather than going to the platinum waiting area, we would have been off the boat with or before the diamonds and way before we actually were. Really annoying they allow so many people to benefit from breaking the rules. Adding insult to injury, the passport machines were down so it took extra long. Those 1,000+ people without any sort of priority who got off before us by breaking the rules ended up making us stand in line for over an hour to get our passport looked at.

It ended up not taking long once we started boarding. Not sure why there was a delay on boarding. So far trip has been great except my husband's back is bothering him.

Not even on a European cruise. This is the platinum/diamond waiting area at Galveston waiting to board the Vista right now at 10:53 am. Does not include fttf. Definitely waiting to show up until later next time.

I have been on at least two cruises where there was a code blue. I suspect those people would have coded at home in their bed, too. I'm not too worried about needing to be medically evacuated. I have managed to make it 40 years without ever having ridden in an ambulance. Only time I have stayed overnight in a hospital was when I gave birth. Only surgeries I have had were elective cosmetic procedures and a c-section. Never had a broken bone either. All the above applies to my kids as well...no broken bones, no hospital stays except at birth, no ambulance rides, and no surgeries.

Yes, they are "entitled" to drop off their suitcases under Carnival's rules. I would have probably used the word "allowed" instead of entitled, though, because there isn't a darn thing wrong with what they are doing.

I enjoy most of these "arguments." At least they aren't about dinner attire in the MDR and the steakhouse. And, no, I am not trying to start a debate about dinner attire in the MDR and the steakhouse.

You should join some of the travel or points forums on the book (also not allowed to say the name). That is where I have primarily learned about the best travel CCs. There are literally so many travel cards out there that have different benefits. Some of them are definitely better than others. I know for example on plat biz amex emergency medical transportation is provided at no cost if approved by them through their global assistance hotline at up to 100k. It also provides trip interruption, baggage loss, and cell phone insurance. Medical is now up to 250k per trip. (I looked it up in response to this thread. I thought it was 200k, but they upped it to 250k since I last looked it up.) I am sure amex black offers even better but I think you have to have 500k a year in spend to qualify. There is no min spend on amex plat but the fee is $799 after 09/26. Gold has benefits, too, and the fee is more reasonable. I think the plum and green cards are either free or have a lower fee...not sure as I don't have one. There is also a capital one card that you get by invitation (not the Venture X but even a different card) if you have a banking relationship with capital one that I was told has medical up to like a million. However, that is not who I bank with and it is too much trouble to change my bank considering I have been with my bank for 20+ years. As an aside, I am talking about the plat biz because I can look at my own account. The personal platinum may have different or even better benefits...not sure. There is also an amex black card, but the fee is the thousands and I think you have to have a spend of like 500k a year. There are many more that I don't know anything about and poster above apparently has unlimited medical on one so clearly there are even better ones out there. I know a lot of people like the Chase Ink cars (business cards) and the Chase Sapphire, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Venture X, Citi Premier, etc. There are co-branded cards with airlines, too, like am Amex Platinum Delta, a SW card, an American Airlines card, an Aer Lingus, Iberia, BA, etc. My favorite is actually a British Air card offered by Chase and it only has a $95 annual fee. However, the reason I like it is not because of the insurance, but because once I spend 30k on it in a year, I get a companion pass so that means when I fly to Europe (even if it is in first class or business), I can fly with a friend for free. (I can actually fly anywhere that British Airways flies, but the most bang for my buck is usually Europe.) Since those flights run 5k-10k in biz or first, that's a huge savings. Southwest has a similar deal with a credit card where you can get a companion pass and your companion can fly free all year long with you on domestic flights. However, I don't know the ins and outs of that card as I don't have that card.

As an aside, I am not trying to be some pompous know-it-all jerk or pound my chest with my legal knowledge. But I do think that it is good for people to know that not everything written in a contract is always enforceable. And there are consumer protection laws (that vary from state to state) that protect the consumer from deceptive practices.

I am not sure which card you are talking about with a 600 fee (amex platinum has 799 fee or venture x is 395???) or only 2500 medical, but the one I am talking about isn't capped at $2500. The card I have has 200k in coverage. That will go pretty far in Mexico. You can add AUs on cards for children, household members, and employees so they get their own card and are covered under the same benefits...so it is possible that 20-somethings could have one of those cards. Long story short: If you feel more comfortable with travel insurance, go ahead. You do you. I feel okay given the health of myself and family in just using our card insurance. I have traveled around the world and only one time had a health incident (noro)...and it wasn't enough to even make a claim on the insurance we did have. Admittedly, being married to a physician, I probably feel more comfortable than most because we can generally treat anything minor without going to the onboard doctor or getting treatment on land. If we had major health issues, I might feel differently.

No, they can't just sail in circles for no reason if they choose because it is written in the contract. There are certain laws that you cannot contract around. Not everything written in a contract is enforceable. SNS, but your google law degree does not equal my honors JD from a top law school or my 15 years of legal practice. I am now reminded why I try to make a habit of never getting into any sort of legal discussion with anyone on the internet...because the dunning krueger effect is STRONG on the world wide web.

Yeah, pp is wrong. There are absolutely some credit cards that cover emergency medical when traveling. There are also some that cover car insurance so you don't have to buy it from the rental place simply if you use your card. There are others that cover plane cancellation and delay, trip interruption, lost luggage, hotel stays, etc., etc. My guess is the PP simply doesn't have those particular cards.

I also was the victim of a scam where I actually ordered a high end dishwasher and they charged my credit card for it and then showed it ostensibly delivered. Only it was delivered to some other address and not my own. (In reality, I suspect just a small cheap package was delivered.) My CC gave me back the money, but I am sure they never saw it from the scammers. I wasn't alerted to the fact that it was a scam until literally the day of delivery when fedex said it arrived and it didn't and I noticed that the address of where they were shipping the item to had suddenly changed from my address to some other address. These scammers go to great lengths to look legitimate Even the website where I ordered the dishwasher from looked completely legitimate and had a business address you could look up in NY, etc. It had multiple reviews on the website and had reviews on google. They even answered emails I sent in asking about the dishwasher. I had even tried (before the scam) to contact the manufacturer to make sure their claim that they were a licensed dealer was correct, but the manufacturer never got back with me.

@jsglowThat's why I said "in this instance they have an Act of God defense." My original point was not to argue anyone had a claim against Ccl in this instance. It was to address the armchair lawyers suggesting the cruise contract gives the line free reign to skip ports as they please and the consumer has no recourse. Albeit, I concede I may have not communicated this point well. My main point was I feel for these people. Especially the ones who paid the full rates and weren't on a casino rate. If that had been my family and I and we had dropped 12k to 15k for 2 rooms, pulled the kids from school for two weeks (which means no more vaca until next summer because they can only miss so many days) and lost tens of thousands in revenue with my husband being away from his business and not gotten to see Greenland, we would have been devastated! And whatever some piddly insurance paid out for a missed port would not come CLOSE to touching the real loss in either money or frustration. Ccl should have done what ncl did in the same situation when a Greenland cruise could not dock at Greenland: Offered a 25 or 30 percent FCC. That would make the consumer happier and pretty much guarantee they would be back and spend more $$$. It may not have fully compensated everyone, but it at least makes it seem like ccl cares...

If they sold a cruise to Greenland and just decided not to go to Greenland, Carnival absolutely could have a DTPA claim brought against them. In this instance, they would have an "Act of God" defense since a hurricane prevented them from going; but as a general rule, businesses cannot advertise one thing and deliver a significantly different or inferior product without reason or excuse.

I much prefer the tervis tumbler to the fish/shark ones or the fish bowl. Fish bowl is glass and awkward and I always felt a bit silly walking around drinking out of a fish head.

You have to use one of the ones you buy on board because that is part of what they advertise is the benefit of buying the tervis tumbler or the blow fish or the shark or whatever. You get XX ounces for the price of XX ounces. (I don't recall exactly how many but like 16 ounces for price of 12 ounces or whatever.)

Yes. You just aren't supposed to hang out, but you can definitely leave your stuff.

I am not continuing to argue with yall. I wasn't on the ship and I have no dog in this fight. I don't agree with you on the reasonableness of a piddly $200 pittance as recompense for not going to Greenland on a cruise that Carnival undoubtedly advertised as a Greenland cruise and charged "Greenland" prices for. Despite what the cruise contract says, there are still consumer laws which prevent a cruise company from advertising one thing and delivering another. Carnival may have an out with the reason for not going being an act of God/the weather. But as a general rule, Carnival absolutely does have a duty to deliver what they advertise and sell...as does any business. Not to mention the fact it is just bad business. I am willing to bet a lot of the people on that Greenland cruise will never cruise with Carnival again. If they had given them even a small FCC, that story might be different. It is easier to keep a customer than gain a new one.