TeaBag

I have not been back to this thread for a while and I was hoping it had a happy ending. I am so sorry about your lost bags.

I had a bag destroyed by BA. It hung over the wheels of a luggage cart and every single garment in the garment bag had the right shoulder torn away. I was paid $20/lb! I am still looking for silk dresses and good sweaters for $20/lb! :mad: I am a receipt keeper and I had most of the receipts for the clothes. I submitted my claim to our house insurance and got a check for over $2000. If you don't get any more than the $300, I would claim through your property insurance. Good Luck. I hope you enjoy your trip to Vegas.

We board Nov 3. I will ask him if I can get through the crowds........

Thank you for your post. We are really looking forward to Perry in less than 3 weeks.

I totally agree with you about the closing time of 9AM in Blu. We were on Millennium in April and arrived one morning just minutes after 9AM and were told it was closed. Bummer. We have 8 sea days on this next cruise and I'm sure there will be lots of people who arrive too late for Blu, esp if they are with Perry till 12:30AM!

I think if you can afford it, you can't go wrong with Uniworld! From what I remember, they handled the floods very well in terms of offering refunds and future credits, even though they weren't required to. I think it says the most about a company when you have to deal with them during unfortunate situations and how they handle it!

How right you are. I always thought Viking was the Mercedes of river cruising and now see I was completely wrong. You learn a lot from the CC boards, thanks to people like you. Thank you for the heads up re Uniworld.

Yes, I add my thanks too for the wonderful pictures and descriptive posts. We, too are, looking at our first river cruise and we want to get it right considering the terrible experiences some had this year because of the floods.

"Get a life?" "Knock it off?"

 

Wow. Just wow.

 

I'm sorry if those who haven't been to a port or on a ship before depend on roll calls solely for information. I have been in many cruises, have been to most European ports, and don't do many organized excursions, ship or roll-call organized. So I should only be on a roll call as a resource for others? I should just keep quiet because I don't want slot pulls or cabin crawls? I shouldn't complain about the endless solicitation for cruise tours in which I have no interest? The endless lists of who's going in which van, and how great Gino the driver was/is/will be?

 

What arrogance this displays to assume anyone has the right to tell me what I should find valuable.

 

The "chatter" is how we get to know people ahead of time. The "chatter" is how we see if there might be common interests, and the potential to share a meal or drinks together. The "chatter" also gives me an indication of who I might avoid, so while not always pleasant, it's useful to me.

 

If I am going to give information to others to help their cruise be better, the least they can do is allow me to get something out of the exchange as well.

 

If I "allow" the conversations that have little interest to me, please allow those that hold little interest for you.

 

Maybe instead of separate threads for tours versus chatter, every poster should self identify as "social" or "antisocial!" :D

 

(Sorry, but a few posts pushed my buttons. My back is acting up again, and I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I'm cranky....oh, but wait, you don't allow chatter here!;) )

 

The most useful thing about my current rollcall was finding out that there's a small child who will miss trick or treating, so we'll get some treats for her right before the cruise. This will make my trip far more enjoyable than touring with some group who treats their vacation like a checklist of must-sees, and takes no time to savor the small unique experiences in a new or different culture.

 

So sayeth Blazer boy!:cool:

 

(There. I feel better.)

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Forums mobile app

Right on Blazerboy! If roll call posters must only discuss things relative to the cruise, how do you know if you are talking to 30 somethings or 70 somethings? Then when you meet face to face you may not have many interests in common. I am another who doesn't mind the chit chat as it helps you to learn other peoples' interests while you get to know them and share the private excursions arranged on the roll call.

There is a very good port section that can be used for info if that is all you want from a roll call.

I do agree that there can be people who can spoil the whole roll call.

BTW, have you tried one of those inversion beds for your back? Mine works well when I use it! Oops, sorry, this is off topic, but then this is not a roll call..............

I just found your review on Ama, jazzbeau and enjoyed reading it. It seems you are a Celebrity fan, as are we, so we will focus on your recommendation since it looks like we like the same cruises.

Take a look at AmaWaterways. They deliver what Scenic promises.

Thank you. I was just reading about them.

More people are voicing their complaints about the behaviour of Scenic Tours

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g1-i10703-k5487168-o70-Scenic_Cruises_European_River_Cruise-Cruises.html#52728649

Marty, first of all let me thank you for posting your review of that unfortunate river cruise/bus trip with Scenic. Secondly let me say that I am very sorry that your anticipated trip was such a disappointment.

I can't believe how timely this is. We attended a presentation by Scenic just yesterday and we were very impressed with the product. We were even thinking we might just sign up for their cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam for 2015 even though it is a lot of money! Well, your post has put an end to this dream. Thank you again.

My husband and I have about 200 sailing days and have 41 tier points. We joined Captain's Club when one had to pay in order to join, way back when. Our first sailing was on the Meridan before =X= was bought out by Royal Carib.

 

We are booked on 3 more cruises: 7-day Eastern Carib in November 2013, 14-day Asia in January 2014, and 24-day Transpacific in September 2014. So after October of next year we will be well on our way to being about 250 days with Celebrity. Wow! Can't believe we've cruised that many times.

 

I hope that the new rumored tier level will come about soon. Though I am not holding my breath as we've heard rumors about this for years now as other posters have noted.

Wow, I was typing while you were posting Mary El. Our first was also on the Meridian and we, too, paid to belong to the Captains Club. That was back in the days when you got one tier point per cruise no matter what the length was.

#1. Onboard math course to enable points vs days and inside's vs Concierge to be calculated properly in the complicated "NEW" VIP program. ETA 2020.

Will this be included in the new pick your perks program or will it not be combinable with any other discounts?:D

PS. Haven't we had a great summer here in BC!

We have heard so much about Sue Denning and we are hoping that she will still be on the Eclipse for the TA in Nov. so we get to meet her and enjoy her sparkle.

This was an awesome video. You are very talented and your children are adorable. You had some great looking food too. We will be on Millennium Apr 11. I loved the pictures of Hong Kong and they have got us really excited. I love HK, love Singapore too but we are not going there.

Terry, as always your pictures are amazing. They make me hungry and I have just eaten dinner! I hope it is okay with you that I posted the link to this thread on another one where the OP was asking about the brunch. I think your pictures do the brunch more justice than any description.

Lucky you. We have 34.

I envy you going to Tahiti, Sailor Jack. We were there on Mercury's first sailing to OZ.

I think there is a cat back up my line somewhere as I really don't enjoy the water. Never get in the pools on the ships, hot tubs either. Anyway, that turquoise water in the South Pacific is compelling. I organized a Helmet Dive in Bora Bora for our cruise and it became the highlight of the cruise. We were down about 20' for 30 mins with our lives in the hands of the guy on the boat controlling the oxygen:eek:. this was a once in a lifetime experience for me and the closest I will ever get to scuba diving or even snorkeling. If you are not an experienced scuba diver and would laugh at this kind of dive, I really recommend it even if you have to get it through the ship's tours. Ours was private since they normally don't work on Sunday and he organized a special tour for us. The name of the company is Aqua Safari.

Thank you so much for such an entertaining review, Sailor Jack. So sorry you had to leave Vancouver. Was it all the rain that washed you away down there to Atlanta?

We have a banana tree too Why do a lot of Vancouverites have banana trees? Are we trying to get the world to believe it's hot here? Ours refuses to produce bananas, so we have to tie plastic ones on in the summer to fool the neighbors.:D

I hope you try Celebrity again and that we are on the same cruise.

Booked in 1130 for Alaska (Millennium) and looking forward to it.

It seems that Captain Patsoulas is back at the helm onboard Millenium.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for keeping us informed GH especially when you had to do it off the ship. Who is the new Captain? We sail Apr 11 and we are looking forward to having some of the problems of sailing in Asia solved.

I am having my NEW granite countertops, built-in microwave, and stainless steel appliances installed NOW! :D :p :o

In your gated community?

We had an aft cabin once and had the Steward bring us dinner which we ate there. It was wonderful. there's nothing like eating dinner while watching a city recede and then the wake. We gave him a large tip and next day he asked if we wanted dinner there again.........

This is a great review. I love your enthusiasm for everything.

We have done both, Alaska once and the Med 3 times, so you know what my vote will be. However, no one has commented on the fact that you want to go in Aug. It will be steamy hot in Europe in places and that is when everyone holidays over there, so I would think the various places you visit will have long line-ups and a lot of people. We last cruised the Med on the Equinox so I second the vote already mentioned for the sailing from Barcelona. Venice is awesome so is Ephesus, actually Europe is awesome.

Alaska is pretty amazing too and even if I am biased, Vancouver is a lovely city, but that will only be a 7 day cruise!!

Happy 39th next month. Enjoy your 40th whatever you do and if you want to trade with me, I'll be happy. I've had a few birthdays since my 40th, quite a few!

Avoid holiday cruises on any line. If you have the time try a transatlantic, particularly on Celebrity. We have hardly seen any kids on the long cruises we have taken but you do see some and they are generally very well behaved.