RICCruisers

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

Although I do not have to justify my statement to someone like you, a poster on a board,  I will be very happy to email you (if you provide me your email) how they conned us. Will provide you specific proof that you ask for above.

 

 

You owe me (a poster on a board) absolutely nothing. You owe the company that you are calling con artists an answer. Many people that post on this board are familiar with the company you are talking about. I have had interaction with them myself. I won’t defend them since I had a negative experience, but I also won’t defame their reputation by calling them con artists as you have done. 

43 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

If you do not agree fine, but please respect others' experiences. THEY ARE CONS. It is not unaccurate or unfair. This is our experience with them.

 Lack of response is one thing but conning your customer in other ways is totally not good. Yes I repeat THEY ARE CONS!

 

 

You are entitled to your own opinion of course. However when you make comments calling a company Cons without offering any proof it is a different issue. I haven’t seen you post anything in this thread that backs up your statement. In saying this, I am assuming your definition of Cons is a Con Artist. I am also assuming that English is your primary language and you know what a Con Artist is. If not, then it is my bad. Otherwise, be careful calling someone a Con unless you have specific proof of what they lied about and how they stole your money. 

Tip early, Tip midway, Tip at the end. The staff appreciates it whatever way you choose. 
 

Just make sure you don’t tip with a Fruit Cake. 😜

7 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

for heaven sake. It's personal choice as to whether you want to ta=ravel or not. The only concern the cruise line would have is whether you pose a risk to other passengers.

Otherwise, your a grown up. Decide for yourself. Totally offended that the cruise line, or any business, would presume to make this choice on my behalf.

I appreciate your opinion, especially since I just turned 70. Unfortunately it was the actuarial tables that were making those suggestions. This is especially true at the beginning of COVID which is when that rule was adopted. I don’t remember the exact figures of the percentage of deaths and hospitalizations early in the pandemic, but they were extremely high, I recall 80%+ for the deaths. The numbers still skew to the older populations but not as dramatic. Fortunately the rule has been eliminated. 

2 minutes ago, lvmypug said:

 Can I use obt in the slots in the casino and then convert to cash?

I assume you mean OBC (onboard credit).  The answer is no.  You receive promotional credit when using OBC.  Once you play all of the OBC any winnings can be converted into cash.  

48 minutes ago, George C said:

It is easy with roll call , we had great luck in Caribbean and Europe our excursion were much nicer and cheaper than any ships. Use TripAdvisor to see different excursion offered .

We have also put small groups together from our roll calls. Beside the issue of not being allowed at various ports, the other issue is that you are typically in an 8 passenger van that doesn’t allow for any type of social distancing. While you may “know” the others from talking on  your roll call they are similar to the other passengers on the busses used for ship excursions. The major benefit of the small group is fewer people to be caught up in for contact tracing. 

Jim, I don’t know if you and lain ever venture off the ship for a dinner on an overnight, but here is a link to Passions on the Beach in Aruba.  https://www.amsterdammanor.com/passions-on-the-beach

We had a large group from our Role Call do a dinner there a few years ago. It’s easy to social distance on the beach. The fact that it was on Valentines Day made it just a bit more special. Although since that is my birthday I thanked the group for attending my special day. 
 

Ed

23 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

She had been a hold out on vaccination but was scheduled for her first shot on 9/19.   I also hope she recovers but have a hard time understanding someone with cancer that refused for so long to get a shot.   

 

I don't want to belittler her but hope others will take head and be vaccinated if they haven't already. 

Jim - Wishing your daughters MIL a full and speedy recovery. My sister in Ft Myers FL is currently recovering at home. Fighting pneumonia but looks like she will be OK. She’s fully vaccinated and that is likely what has allowed her to fight it off without being hospitalized. Without the vaccine we’d likely be planning a funeral. She has many underlying conditions. 
 

A compliment to you from my DW. She appreciated how you phrased your comments about your family member - Sympathetic but still making your point. 
 

Have a great cruise and congratulations on skipping Nassau and getting an overnight in Aruba. You better check they don’t charge you a supplement for that change.
 

We are on Silhouette 1/24/22 and have overnights in both Aruba and Curaçao. Bonaire was nixed for some reason. 

20 minutes ago, curtsfan said:

We got fresh squeezed OJ every morning & it wasn’t from a carton.

Can you indicate which restaurant(s) served fresh squeezed orange juice?

1 hour ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Not according to this....😁

 

Southern Caribbean
On your own tours are permitted in St. Croix, St. Thomas, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and St. Lucia. 

I think I will take Jim’s word on this since he was just there 2 days ago. 

39 minutes ago, hcat said:

So what happened to them and the car? Hope all is now well

Go up to Post 4 for the link to Part 2 for the rest of the story. All’s well that ends well. 

36 minutes ago, Phxazzcruisers said:

we specifically asked the servers and were told it was indeed fresh squeezed.  i can only report what we were told

The main issue is “When” was it fresh squeezed. I’m not saying the staff told you an untruth. They are telling you what they are told. It was fresh squeezed and then packaged, delivered to the ship and then poured into a glass to be served. Check out the Spa Cafe and see if they have the juicing machines where fresh oranges are actually pressed into juice. That’s also where you can get the best smoothies made fresh to order. 

40 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Too many threads dealing with this! 😊

 

Here's Part 2 of her thread, which actually has a lot of information and answers that she didn't have time to provide before the first thread was locked, such as what happened to the car:

 

 

@FouremcoThanks for posting Part 2. 

Here is a link to a Royal passenger that describes in detail how they were handled. No guarantee Celebrity will be the same. Spoiler Alert - They were handled very well 
 

Just now, Fouremco said:

Celebrity is the master of ambiguity. While you and I might interpret this to mean that you would be flown home to Henrico, Celebrity could meet these terms by flying you back to FLL, putting you up in a Fort Lauderdale motel for your quarantine period, and then put you on a Greyhound bus to Henrico. I'm not suggesting that is the case, but as Jim says, it would be interesting to see a post from someone who has actual experience with Celebrity's handling of a positive patient.

I actually started a thread asking an evacuated to give their experience. I know it’s not likely to get a response, but no harm in asking. 

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

My understanding from the FAQ is Celebrity pays the cost of the flight back to FLL until the end of October.    After that I am sure they will reexamine.   It is being offered as a way to build customer confidence. 

Here is the description from the X website of how they handle a positive case onboard. It is vague on what “home” is.  It does not say embarkation port and I don’t consider FLL as “home”. 

If you test positive for COVID-19 during the cruise, Celebrity Cruises will cover the costs of COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard, any required land-based quarantine, and travel home for you and your Travelling Party.

This description is valid through October 31. 

The Spa Cafe on Infinity had real fresh squeezed orange juice in the Med back in September 2019. We only discovered it on the second to last day when we went there for breakfast. I’m not sure if all M Class ships serve it but we loved it. You do need the Premium Drink Package. 

We have all read about the positive cases on Celebrity sailings over the past few months. I have not seen any posts from the actual passengers on how they were handled. From what we have been told by Celebrity, they are debarked at the next port and flown home in a private jet. It would be very beneficial to hear from someone who has gone through this experience. I totally understand they probably prefer this to remain private, but I have some questions.
 

The main question I have is - What happens once you land “at home”. Are you quarantined somewhere?  Are you allowed to go to where your car is parked to drive home?  Are you transferred to a medical facility?  
 

From what I have read here the posts are saying that Celebrity has handled the positive cases very well. What are those posters using to make those comments? Do you know those passengers and have first hand knowledge or are you simply saying the passenger was sent off the ship in an ambulance and are no longer on the ship and all is well. 
 

If one of those passengers reads this and is willing to answer what happened after you were taken off the ship I know I would be indebted to you as I am sure many of us would also be. My hope is that all of those passengers are doing well and looking forward to their next cruise. 

You should be fine in the Solarium. It could be that person was alternating between the pool deck and Solarium. 

Yes. The Premium Package includes smoothies. 

@GeorgiaPeach I’d like to add my favorites to the reading list. Old Archie comic books and Mad Magazine. Just can’t get enough of Alfred E Neumann. 

Agree that the ship’s Gelato is nowhere near as good as Gelato in most Italian towns we have visited. Ben and Jerry’s is much better than the ship’s Gelato in my opinion only. 
 

The reason they moved the Gelato to the OV Cafe is because there was rarely line and paying for staff was a losing proposition. 

I imagine that Equinox will have the opportunity to test the facial recognition system since a passenger tested positive yesterday and was taken off the ship today. 

21 hours ago, miched said:

Beer and  soft drinks have been in aluminum cans for years. There isn’t any aluminum taste as the cans are coated.   
 

The same with canned water in aluminum cans as they are coated.  It is just your perception that it is in a aluminum can so you can taste it.   What does aluminum taste like?    I think the issue is you are tasting water that doesn’t taste like what you normally drink 

 

Take a can home and have it analyzed. I am sure there is no aluminum in it 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅 

We only had one cruise on Edge back in 2019 with the 

metal cans and the taste was very evident to us. Not saying it was an aluminum taste, but definitely not what we liked. Maybe your palette and ours are different. We wit purchase the Evian and transfer it into plastic bottles or Tevi cups we bring onboard. 

28 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Although I absolutely agree with your thoughts above, I want to say OUCH!

And perhaps a bit of your own advise of “Class and Understanding” could be exercised by all on the forum, whether it be for a cruise line or a fellow cruiser or a poster we do not agree with or are angry with or anyone.

@ArzeenaThank you for your post. You are probably correct that I could have simply ignored that post.