JSR

We are on a Grand Voyage around South America. Anyone have any fav tours, excursions, or not to be missed suggestions. It is 71 days so I am not going to list all the ports. It is Silversea Nova departing Jan 4, 2024. While I am a paraplegic I like walking tours, street art, food, etc. I can not do traditional coach tours, but can do car or accessible van tours. Thanks for all your help!

It would be helpful to know what cabin number you were in as I was also on the Harmony and our bathroom was laid out completely differently and was wonderful. I too am a para with many cruises.

Have you considered purchasing and using luggage trackers. They need to be specific to your phone Apple or Android. You set them up and then put them inside your luggage. At least you’d not have to rely on the airlines to know where your bags were.

@Bo1953 and @NorthStarStateCruiser Thank you both this is very helpful. I will pursue it. This is all FCC from pandemic cancelled cruises. We are back to cruising just our style has changed and we do not find ourselves cruising Celebrity at this time. I figure if I can donate the FCC, then I will not feel the pressure of it going away. Of course, the minute I do I will want to take a Celebrity cruise. LOL

That sounds great. I’d love to do that and not have to fly home. Have a wedding to plan this fall else I’d book it. good luck with your decision.

If you have an email that you think might be a starting point would you please share it? Thanks.

@binro01 I didn’t know you could just transfer FCC. I thought only the person it was issued to could use it, is this incorrect? I was hoping Celebrity had some seamless and simple path to donation. Maybe to make a wish foundation or some such charity.

Does anyone know if there is a method to donate FCC to a 501C charity and if so would you share the information? sorry no individual donations 😂😂😂 seriously, thanks for the help.

My husband did numerous crossings on the SS United States as a child in the 60s. The last one the family was moving back from Germany, they had the dog in the kennel, the car in the hold, and the hamster in the cabin. It took 3 days. Last summer he really wanted me to try and have a crossing experience again. We did 9 nights from Hamburg to NYC on the QM2. He expected it to be a one and done. Much to our surprise I really enjoyed it despite turbulent seas and a lot of gloomy weather. We are doing the QM2 crossing again after our Arctic/Europe vacation this summer. It sure beats flying.

Here is a link to our cruise last summer. We really enjoyed the trip, I highly recommend it.

@cruiseej Thank you that information is very helpful. Hubby is appreciative too! Nice to have a men's list.

Here is the link to our roll call if you want to join. Looking forward to meeting you. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2908180-queen-mary-2-southampton-to-nyc-june-23-2023/#comment-62751406

@shippmates thank you. We are considering shipping things home from Tromso as we will not be in a rush for our winter clothes in the end of June. That will help as those clothes are the bulky ones. We may need some of our formal wear along route so we will manage it. Once we solve hubby's suit, we are fine as it is a 7 day cruise, all he needs is a change of shirt and tie, he will have a sport coat too. I am resolved that worst case is we will have it pressed upon arrival and all will be good. My dress clothes roll up so I will be fine, may even go the one black dress, two jacket route. I have ordered a pair of shoes that would work all the dinners, fingers crossed when they arrive they will fit. That will help, it is always the shoes that take up so much space...I am really trying to put into practice minimal packing, time will tell if I succeed.

@Rothko1 and @cruiseej Thank you both. This is all wonderful information. I know I am starting early but life will get very busy in May and I need to have all this sorted out. If it would only stop snowing I could start putting things in a suitcase. LOL I am glad you mentioned the challenges of peeling off layers. I would have never thought about that. My hubby gets warm quickly. We did order the jackets, hubbies was easy, mine I gave it my best shot. I love that some ladies changed outfits, I am not that gal and hubby is not that guy. I also plan to do laundry. We are on Endeavour 14 days, then 5 days in Amsterdam area, then off to Southampton to board the QM2 to NYC, then will fly home from there. I am considering shipping some clothes home from Tromso (not sure if this is possible) that we will not need on the rest of our journey. You both mentioned ship clothes- would you mind giving me an idea what you wore on the ship?

@Joe33472 They are both loads of fun. I have to say I was surprised how much I enjoyed the crossing on the QM2. My husband is still shocked, he thought it would be a one and done. He had crossed numerous times on the SS United States as a kid and he wanted to try and recreate that experience - of course 2022 and the 1960s are very different but it was fun. A lot of our enjoyment were the people we dinned with as we opted for a table for 6 and the people we met in the dining room who were not seated at our table and those we met while doing laps around the deck. We took bridge lessons, my husband went to a few lectures, I loved the library, we eat most of our meals including lunch and dinner in the QG, all and all the time passed quickly despite the weather. Be aware that Gala night is what you make it. Many people wore nice clothes with sensible shoes, all looked lovely but very few wore gowns or anything fashion forward or head turning. Due to luggage restrictions and the burden of hauling suitcases around while touring in Europe you see a lot simple black dresses with lovely jackets that can be switched out, etc. We are facing the luggage problem and I am still trying to wrap my brain around it as we will be coming from an expedition cruise in the arctic on SS and then some land touring. My fear is we will need a full time porter to get all the various layers and clothes hauled from one place to another, while I can roll up a couple of formal dress my husband's jacket and suit do not roll! We will also have parkas and boots which will be given to us on SS. Enjoy your wonderful trips ahead of you.

Sounds like you have already sorted this out. Since you asked about the comparison. I have cruised QG on the QM2 and Retreat on Celebrity Edge. They are two very different experiences. QG the cabin is large but older then retreat cabins we have been in. You do have a dedicated bar on both, both have a concierge lounge with snacks and a concierge, QM2 does not have the dedicated pool and grill like Retreat, QM2 dining room is fabulous with exceptional service and food, Lunimae while better then the MD is nothing compared to the selection and quality of QG dining. Butler service quality ranges from good to exceptional on both depending on who your butler is. We are on the June 23, 2023 crossing.

@cruiseej yes do avoid the food. The BOS- KEF flight ends up running closer to 6 hours or at least it did last year. Not eating is no problem. If you have no physical issues you will be fine. Both my husband and I have issues which make the plane matter, his our physical and mine are part physical and part I like comfort. Due to our limitations we try to limit flights to max of 6 hours. For us this is two 5 -6 hour flights in one day. We will take the QM2 back to avoid flying except for the JFK to LAX. There is a hotel connected to the airport at BOS, a Sheraton, you can walk there through the airport about a 15-30 minute walk depending on what terminal you arrive at or take a shuttle. I believe we flew AA from LAX last year. Jet Blue Mint Class seats are partial lie down and are far superior to Iceland air, though we stopped flying them as we always had the same flight attendant that was so rude to others it made us uncomfortable, Every flight she had someone put off the plane prior to take off including a vet with a service dog in training. Delta was about $8000 one way LAX to KEF which we did not want to pay, we used 375,000 points each which is a lot however, that is what the points are for and we booked early.

I flew business class on Iceland air last year Boston to Reykjavik (flew LAX to BOS the night before). I can say never again. Luckily I didn’t eat the food when it was served -basically raw fish (yes I eat sushi but not on an airplane). The lady across from me did eat hers and threw up the rest of the flight. The seats were uncomfortable. As much as I hate red eyes we are flying Delta LAX to JFK changing planes and then flying Delta JFK to LAX all Delta One Biz class. Lots of points used but so worth it.

@mscdivina2016 When I looked at the deck plan post July 17, 2023 which is what I assume the ship will look like after dry dock (though I do not know for sure) there is no casino. I do not see one on either deck plan though I may have missed it. I wonder if they removed it on the first go around of rebranding the ship from Crystal. When I compared it to the old Crystal deck plans it is gone. https://cdn.sanity.io/files/rd0y3pad/production/83ef752f03353255467afeca8b3e35dfde599a42.pdf https://cdn.sanity.io/files/rd0y3pad/production/0041bc4b5bf2334b823dac66613b4b3321c4bed1.pdf

@Stumblefoot Due to some consulting work I do, I have access to SS's TA sight. I tediously looked up availability of each cat of cabin and cruise on my computer while listening to insipid music on my phone.

We are on the Endeavour this summer in the Arctic and I am trying not to over pack as we will be traveling in Europe and then home on the QM2. I can figure out the bundling part for being on deck or zodiac as far as layers, just suggestions on quantity of base layer, mid layer, hats and gloves would be helpful. For anyone who has been on the ship recently, how is the temp on the ship itself? Trying to figure out if I need dress boats, or would I be ok with dress shoes, do I need really warm slacks (ie cashmere or is cotton ok)? Do I need a really warm sweater for dinner or is a light weight cardigan enough or something in between? Same for hubby. Dress clothes are a non issue from what I can tell on expedition cruises and since we are going to QM2 we will have them with us anyway. I just do not want to hall more then I need around on the land portion of our trip. Also, Parka's - I can not for the life of me figure out what size I need. I understand they are unisex and tend to be more boxy then women's parka's. I am short waisted, have small shoulders, but I am not small. I would say I am either a M or a L (generally get petite so they are cut shorter) normally depending on cute - any suggestions on size? Are they good about letting you exchange if you guess incorrectly? Thanks so much for the help!

What you do when you are on a long hold on the phone...Some trivia as of March 18, 2023. Interesting to see where the numbers land when they actually sail. May 7- May 20 Southampton to Reykjavík - 41% sold May 20 - June 3 Reykjavik RT - 95% sold June 3 - June 17 Reykjavik to Tromso - 51% sold June 17 - July 1 Tromso to Reykjavik - 53% sold July 1 - July 17 Reykjavik To Churchill 25% sold

A question for those that understand these time lines. Given that no one will know for sure until the time comes, does anyone think they may fall behind schedule and have to reschedule May sailings? Our cruise is not until June 4, and I am being a little goofy even asking...we were originally on a Seabourn itinerary which was cancelled twice due to ship delays and then never rescheduled. Our cruise is currently sold at 50% capacity. Thanks for indulging me about this.

@Gourmet Gal how far in advance should I do this. It’s too far now as this is a Jan -March 2024 cruise and the March flights are not out. Not to mention that this far out they change. I’m still have flights for May changing.

Couldn’t agree more! I am super motivated in new places. I noticed the last few times we were in the Caribbean I did a lot of go ahead honey, I’ll be comfortable her on the ship whenever you get back. A rain poncho is easy and small to throw in a bag. He can use it or not. But by all means go for it! It is beautiful. Some of the vistas while sailing in and out of the fjords are worth the journey. You can also do the ship bus tours and he can get off the bus or not. Seems you have a plan to March to your own drummer if need be. Have fun whatever you decide.