floridatravelersforlife

We are Celebrity refugees.  Do you remember the Century or Zenith?  We feel like the R Class ships are like the Century Class.  Not so strong on the entertainment, but all the rest is somewhat similar.   Food is better,  crew is great.  You won't be disappointed IMHO

On 10/30/2019 at 3:59 PM, StanandJim said:

I would call engine noise an absolute zero, but there is a noticeable vibration at above ten knots (which is 90% of the time when the ship is underway) and smuts from the smokestack can be an issue on the terraces of the uppermost Suites.

 

For those reasons, we prefer the Owners Suites on the lower two decks, but any of them are heaven on earth due to the extra space and outstanding service.  In other words, I might prefer one Suite over another but you won't find me turning any of them down.

Sheer Delight!!!

Ditto from us.  Such a relaxing eperience.

15 hours ago, Mike981 said:

 

You will have a great time. Go with the right attitude and go with the flow. Most people who are negative are missing the memory of the 'days of old'.

Take subjective original posts and their subjective posts on CC with a grain of salt.  We have been baffled over the last 20 years by pax posting here (from our same cruise) who had strong opinions which vastly differed from our experience. We were always surprised as though we were on the antimatter version of the cruise!  Experience you cruise for yourself. It beats sitting at home doing the same ole thing.    Factual representations of noisy cabins, etc should be taken for the truth.

Troubled waters is such a subjective descriptor.  If they miscalculated, would they go bankrupt? -no, would they adjust their offerings and thrive - sure.  Celebrity and Royal took a big hit after 9/11 and did ok, by dropping pricing and offering value and promotions  The last six years, they gradually took back some of their  promotions and services which have been discussed thoroughly on this forum.  In general, we long time Celebrity veterans have a limited  runway to cruise and I cannot fault Celebrity to change with it's Customer base.  But for my DW and myself,  we will chase the other Cruiselines that offer up what we want to cling to and pay for.  From our travels we have seen many Celebrity "refugees"  since we voted with our wallet.

To recent cruisers, how is the Vero water working out on board.  I'm especially interested in the quality of the water, sanitation issues,  and  convenience.

w

3 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Why should the State Dept get involved?  What would you expect them to do?

 

DON

The State Dept is the authority on what and what cannot be sent into a country, prescribed, etc.  If the Rx are not Class 3 Narcotics, meds can be Fed Ex'd.  This would be the cheapest, but not fast enough for 2 week cruise.  US Rx sent to a enlightened pharmacy, knowledgeable of its country's regs is the fastest, but finding one is the problem.  State might be able to help.  Again this is not the first time for this occurrence.

I just don't understand why Celebrity doesn't charge a delay fee for waiting for these people.  Put it in the terms of carriage and charge $500-1000 penalty.  That should motivate all but the cases due to accident.  It's easy to validate such a fee for extra time for the dock hands standing by and fuel burned waiting and speeding up to make up time.

58 minutes ago, kathy9 said:

Perhaps her Traveler Insurance policy or if a member of Am Ex they could be of assistance. 

I am not sure if the ship's formulary would stock whatever prescription medications she is on or have enough for the cruise.

 

58 minutes ago, kathy9 said:

Perhaps her Traveler Insurance policy or if a member of Am Ex they could be of assistance. 

I am not sure if the ship's formulary would stock whatever prescription medications she is on or have enough for the cruise.

 

I would call the State Dept in the next port.  This is not the first time this has happened to a tourist.

9 hours ago, Riveraddict said:

Hi yellow fever immunization was recommended and kept coming up in my searches .  Asked question re need as when we saw our travel Dr he did not wish to give due to our ages and He had a 72 yo have a fatal reaction to it.  We have been given a certified waver to cover us which on checking with HAL is fine 😊 this is also fine to come back to Australia with. Thank you for answers ✅

The complications are the reason we are hesitant about taking the YF vaccine.  Not worth it to us.  

17 hours ago, RJB said:

So, did you ask and if so what did they say?  You did not tell us in your post. 

Oceania stated they would not deny non vaccinated pax from embarking or debarking off the ship at Miami. With respect to St Lucia, it's the call of the port officials.

As the OP,  I finally got to ask Oceania.  For us it's a non event.  Since we've been there before, we won't get off the ship at St Lucia.  Don't need a vaccination if you don't debark at St Lucia.  With respect to returning to Miami, no worries.

Just as a precaution,  we'll spray Deet on board during our day on the docked ship.  We normally carry this with us anyway when we go to the beaches or forested areas. It saved us many times from sand fleas and mosquitos bites.

Our TA forwarded an Advisory for St Lucia that they may require a YF vaccine proof to enter the country.     The advisory is mealy mouthed and does not state this is mandatory.   Oceania will let us embark at Miami but is silent as to debarkation at Miami.  We plan not to enter ST Lucia and stay on the ship we have been there before.  We also don't want to get a shot for one country.  We have had several vaccinations recently for pneumonia, flu and shingles in recent years and the reactions are getting worst.  Any one have any first hand experience about what is really going on?  The TA is not  helpful.  I will be calling Oceania tomw, but I expect no definite answer.

23 hours ago, ropomo said:

 

I don't think your suit, if ever pursued would go anywhere.  Your cruise contract, which you accept the minute you hand them your first dollar explicitly states: "Oceania Cruises S. de R.L. reserves the right to withdraw and/or cancel a cruise or cruisetour or to make changes in the itinerary and hotel accommodations whenever, in its sole judgment, conditions warrant."  Since definition of "conditions warrant" is in their "sole judgement", they can basically do whatever they want.  While they would most certainly lose customers, they could theoretically leave port and just sail around in circles for the duration of your cruise and return to port (assuming a round trip cruise of course).

However they commit fraud by not advising schedule changes (apparently known to them, as current members are stating) PRIOR TO Final Payment , the contract can be voided, if they subsequently change the schedules they had prior knowledge about.   

I can see the OP's point on a Florida Disney cruise, where there are so many little ones. But on an Oceania cruise, less likely. However we don't cruise during holidays, school vacations where families are more common.

Our Jan 2020 Sirena Southern Caribbean cruise is coming up for final payment.  I am going to check tomw with my TA if there are any short sheets on our port  days and then after payment.  Since Oceania knows about this now, I think we have a class action suit coming if they pull this stunt on a Southern Carribean cruise.

Golly, splitting hairs already.  Small to me means it fits under the Tampa Bradenton Bridge.  The Allure won't 😀

On one of the old Celebrity Century ships (small) a hurricane on the Florida east coast forced the cruise company to move embarkation from Miami to Tampa. All pax and their luggage were bused from Miami Port to Tampa Port.   We left that evening instead of 5 PM .  The cruise itinerary did not change.  Another advantage of small ships

Getting back on topic of veg dishes, I look forward to some veg dishes the have flavor on their own and don't try to replicate standard food .  Tried the Impossible meat at a Burger joint with my grand daughter and the meat patty was not to my liking.  It is so processed that it leaves strange after taste , if one doesn't gulp down the sauces and condiments with it.  I'm a flexitarian, so I eat regular and veg food, and some of the frozen stuff is pretty good.

20 hours ago, clo said:

Not in our top one million of desired destinations.  Been there, done that.  Once was more than enough.  In December we'll be going from Rio to Buenos Aires, with mostly Brazilian ports, one or two in Uruguay and then BA.  Will be gobbling and gulping all that Latin food 🙂

Most of our gut issues were in the Mid East,  Africa and South America.(Santiago and Rio)  Have fun.  

On 7/27/2019 at 10:31 PM, clo said:

Whereas 100% of the time we'll eat on shore.  Can't imagine doing otherwise.

Some ports, there is nothing close by worth eating off the ship.  This is especially true in the Caribbean.  We don't do fast food or Senor Frogs type places.  Not passing off as a food snob, we have been food poisoned too many times.  

90% of the cruise companies tours use national or local tour companies..  They are good.  We did one with another cruiseline, but our criteria was1) itinerary, but 2)excluding a stay at Cusco.   We are susceptible  to altitude sickness.  We can handle a few hours above 10,000 ft but get symptoms after that  we  have problems.  Oxygen, coca leaves etc are minimally effective as we live in Florida and bear the full brunt of the altitude change. 

Our itinerary left Cusco as soon as we landed and our hotel was in Urubamba.  We did four or five sites and MP.  For the 5 of 6 days we stayed under 8000 ft.  The last day we spent in Cusco, with a later flight out to LIma.

We plan to go back to MP, but land at Cuscon and immediately take private transportation to Olantaytambo and take the train to MP and stay at one of the hotels.

It's worth the steep prices.

I have to rolls calls going.  On one there is one member and the other none. Granted one is a year out with a destination of Japan, but the other is the Caribbean next winter.  I fear the social media has diluted the benefit of  CC.

WE used to decorate with some magnetic signs, but stopped after sticky fingers of fellow passengers made them disappear.  Biggest offenders were on Disney ships.  

6 minutes ago, Mynki said:

Interesting. I don't ever recall being subjected to loud music or parties going on late on X or any other cruise ship I've sailed on ever. Does this really apply to Celebrity?

Absolutely.  We have endured rude and selfish noisy neighbors every couple years on our 20 year cruising on Celebrity.

16 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

I think your being too optimistic.   the ban on travel sea and air starts tomorrow June 5....

RE Air -Southwest confirmed my daughter's flights to HAV next week and one can book flights to Havana until Oct 2019.