STLCRUISIN

18 hours ago, Cookie002 said:

Ok, the big red boat…. That was the first incarnation of a Disney cruise ship, right? That must be 20 years ago?

 

lol

The Big Red Boat we sailed on was the SS Atlantic back in 1989, 32 years ago....our first cruise. Yes, it had Disney characters and was the forerunner of Disney starting up their own Line.

Years ago on the Big Red Boat there was a submarine sailing right alongside the ship while we sailed into port. Cool Sight!!!

I'm sorry you are going through this and I understand your disappointment.  We booked Mr. Sanchos when we were doing a Mardi Gras cruise in February of this year which was cancelled for obvious reasons. Mr. Sanchos refunded our money within a week so you should have no problem.

The last time we sailed, which was on the Infinity, the Martini Bar had both JW Red and JW Black. One of the bartenders told us he thought the Casino Bar had JW Green but we didn't check it out. So I suppose its best to check around at the different bars when you're onboard. You might be lucky and find something you like at the Sunset Bar

1 hour ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Is that actually a pool?!   It looks like a hot tub.

The pool is just to the right behind the loungers

STL - Saint Louis

CRUISIN - Self explanatory

Maybe they are not sailing at 100% capacity so they are not having an early seating but rather Select Dining at any time from 5:30 on or an assigned table for late seating.

This was several years ago on the Majesty Of The Seas but there was a women sunning topless on a lounge chair on the pool deck. About 20 feet away there had to have been at least 10 guys crammed into the hot tub....all looking in one direction...at her. It wasn't odd but was just so hilarious with them all jammed together that is was obvious why they were there.

I don't know if this has been brought up by anyone but how is the frequency of onboard announcements between cruise lines? 

We like that Celebrity generally has only one announcement per day around 10 or 11am with the captain and cruise director. We've been on other lines in the past that seem to have onboard announcements throughout the day.

When we toured all the Edge upper suites in April 2019 the Penthouse Suite did have an overhang.

6 minutes ago, marieps said:

Finally, our first river cruise on AMA in July 2022, shifted from 2021.  Needless to say our fingers are crossed.  Doing national parks in the meantime.  Grand Canyon and Yellowstone done.  Zion and the Utah greats this April.  Safe travels all.

marieps - I hope you enjoy AMA cruises. This will be our 2nd and 3rd river cruise with them. It's a totally different experience from ocean cruising but very nice. And since you'll be on the Magna I'm assuming you'll be sailing the Danube which has such beautiful scenery. 

Covid and its effects on ocean sailing (as well as all travel) had us looking at other alternatives to see the world and for us in 2022 river cruising will satisfy that need.

For us, other than the 2 Celebrity cruises we did a L&S to August 2021 and February 2022 and a Princess cruise booked in August, 2021 we have no intention of booking any other ocean cruises until the industry is back to normal.

In the meantime, we have booked two River cruises for 2022 since they seem to be a bit more predictable and stable and deal with smaller number of guests. 

Sometimes you can also catch a whiff when walking through the cabin hallways. We've been on all the M-Class ships and only had the bathroom musty smell a couple of times. It seemed to happen when the ship was docked all day during turnover or when in port. We just poured some water down the floor drain (not shower drain) because it dries out causing the odor.

On 10/28/2020 at 12:57 PM, trbarton said:

Yes I have used EZ Air for all of my flights except for short ones. I have always had the best price plus you have the guarantee that Princess will help if any problems. Remember you are getting The consolidator fares. I highly recommend EZ air. 
 

Tom😀

Thank you Tom!!!

6 hours ago, worldtraveller said:

I have only ever had two issues using EZ Air, the main one being that not all flights are included so sometimes you can't get the schedule you really want but it is a small price to pay for the great fares.  The other issue I had (once) is that my flight was changed (the airline changed the plane and it no longer had first class even though that is what I had booked) but I wasn't notified by either the airline or Princess.  I happened to look at the seats and and noticed the change.      

Thank you worldtraveller. Since we are taking a Celebrity cruise right after the Princess cruise I checked the Celebrity site and found more choices in flights but the cost was far greater then Princess so I know just what you are talking about.

About your other issue, since the airlines always change flight times and cancel flights I'm always rechecking the status of any booked flights since many times the cruiseline and, when booked directly with the airline, the airline themselves don't notify me of the change or cancellation. So I've learned it's always good to be proactive.

19 hours ago, Thrak said:

Sadly, even with EZ Air pricing, we are still constrained to flying "cattle class". That's one reason we flew Virgin Atlantic to Heathrow as they offer a bit better seats and other perks such as free drinks even in the cheap seats.

Thank you for letting me know about Virgin. We don't always get to fly Business so it's good to hear what experience you had in economy on Virgin Atlantic.

21 hours ago, Hlitner said:

For those that are willing to pay the money for Business Class, it is actually possible to get a free cruise :).  Let me explain.  It is often possible to find some fantastic Business Class (and sometimes First Class) fares using EZAir or similar booking engines with HAL and Seabourn (and possible some other cruise lines).  Some of these business class fares are very special (sometimes call "P" fares) and can be about half the price of normal business class.  There are times when the deals are so good that it is cheaper to book a European or Asian cruise just to get the airfare.  The price of the cruise plus airfare can even be less then the price of simply booking business class on your own.  

 

Hank

Hank, Thank you for the tip. Sounds like what TeaBag posted above that they were able to get on their one-way fare from Vancouver to Singapore.

17 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Well, on your advice, we did it but only the trip to Singapore.  I never thought we would ever fly on China Airlines but business class for 2 for $1328 CDN is compelling.  I just hope it's not a paper airplane LOL.

I loved your comment about the aquarium room.  We called them swan rooms!  Anyway, we had booked one of those and we got upgraded for free to a small balcony room.  And I have to say, you have made the right decision booking one of those.  I do so want to do another river cruise.  We sailed Budapest to Amsterdam and it was spectacular.

I wish I could meet you to thank you for your advice re EZair.  Enjoy your sailings.

Yes, I like the ability to change things and get a refund if it doesn't work out.

Well Done!!!! Glad you were able to find such a great fare for BC seats. It makes flying so much easier to manage....especially a long flight from Canada to Asia. We did a 14 day from Hong Kong (prior to the current unrest) to Singapore in February 2019 and absolutely loved every moment of it. Spent a few days in Singapore after the cruise for sightseeing.

Your AMA cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam sounds like it was a 14 day sailing the Danube AND Rhine?? I'll bet it truly was spectacular!!

2 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

Thanks for the info.  This is worth looking into.  We need a one way to Singapore and back from Rome and I would love Bus class since I worry about DVT on long flights. 

I know this is off the topic but you will love AMA and I'm sure you will visit the Keukhenof Gardens on that one.  The gardens are in the top 5 most beautiful places we have ever been.

We did the Christmas Markets on AMA a couple years ago. This will be our 2nd with them and just moved it from April 2021 to April 2022. My wife loved AMA, me not so much because we got the lowest accommodation which was below deck, very small windows too high up to look out (I called it the aquarium room). And also since it was cold couldn't use the top deck much so we spent our time inside when not on excursions.  The Tulip Cruise should be better. A bit warmer and we moved on up like the Jefferson's to a deluxe accommodation 😄.

Good luck with your Business class search!!

Thank you everyone for your positive insights on EZair. We have already booked the one-way flight with Princess and the Business Class fare from Saint Louis to London Heathrow was only $1209/pp vs $2700/pp through Celebrity and over $5000/pp one-way directly with the airlines. So you can see why I was a little skeptical of the Princess fare.

I just hope by next August the world will have returned to some sense of normalcy. In the meantime, thanks again and stay safe.

Hi All, We booked a Princess cruise for next August 2021 roundtrip out of Southampton to be followed up with a Celebrity cruise from Southampton, England to Boston. I checked one-way Business Class airfares (STL-LHR) through both Princess EZair and Flights By Celebrity and Princess has, by far, the lowest fare I've ever seen for a one-way flight... over $900 less than Celebrity. Both are the same....Buy Now, Pay Later and you can cancel at any time up to 45 days and within the 45 days you get a credit.

Okay, so has anyone taken advantage of Princess EZair in the past, are their rates generally very good for international flights and how is it dealing with them in the event of any changes/cancellations (can you work directly with the airline). I'm looking to make sure their isn't a catch somewhere that I don't see because the one-way business class fares look too good to be true when comparing to Celebrity and directly with the airlines.

Thanks for your help.

My wife and I both liked the room itself very much. It is well designed and had a very nice size bathroom. I enjoyed the lighting controls especially when it was time to go to sleep you hit the button that slowly turns them off giving you enough time to get in bed.

BUT we totally disagreed with the IV situation. My wife loved it and I didn't. Being 6' I kept banging my elbows and arms into the accordion doors and was always moving things around when getting up or sitting down. My wife, on the other hand, is 4'11" and had no issues whatsoever. In fact she thought there was plenty of room although she threw me a bone every once in a while and told me she felt sorry for me as she sat there curled up with her wine and staring out to sea 😄.

We were on a cool weather TA in April so having the window closed or partly open at times was beneficial. Otherwise, the window was locked only a couple times in ports when they were being washed.

Several years ago we were on an Azamara cruise. As we were standing off the back of the ship while cruising through the Bosporus on our way to the Black Sea one of us said, "Who would have thought that two kids from Saint Charles, Missouri would be seeing the world like this." Just then a woman sitting about 6 feet from us said, "Hey, I'm from Saint Charles too!" We've become good friends and keep in touch to this day.

We did a Lift & Shift of our February 7, 2021 Mardi Gras cruise on the Equinox, moving it to a February, 2022 Southern Caribbean cruise. Very disappointed but at this point New Orleans isn't even sure if they're going to have a Mardi Gras in 2021.

My wife loves the chocolate cake on the every night menu in the MDR. We both like the crab cake appetizer, lamb chops and beef wellington.