leaveitallbehind

When anyone is asking regarding a first time experience, while there will be a lot of very good ideas and experiences related here, I always suggest talking with a live travel agent experienced in (this case) river cruises. They would have all of the comparative information available regarding the different river cruise lines as well as on board styles, itinerary options, land tours, etc., and could best fit your expectations, desires, and budget with options that would best address that. For additional information from Cruise Critic, I would also suggest posting this on the River Cruising forum at this link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/115-river-cruising/

By your own definition the entire situation is one of uncertainty. What would you expect Celebrity to do to address the uncertainty? The eruption could continue for years, or just months, or weeks, or days - no one knows. Without a functioning crystal ball, how should the cruise line mitigate that? I would think as things progress over the coming months towards the cruise departure date, should conditions exist and situations warrant changes, Celebrity will respond as needed. Clearly if no one can get to the departure port they won't likely have a ship there waiting. The itinerary would by then have been addressed and changed as needed. But until then and through the uncertainty I don't know what else they could, or should, do. I would suggest purchasing the insurance as outside of the known circumstance as you describe, there is greater value to having it for your trip than not. And there are also other insurance providers to compare and consider.

If the price you paid states that it includes a gratuity, then no additional gratuity is necessary. You can opt to add anything additional you want, but it would not be required.

....sounds like our HOA except with owners with dogs off their leashes. LOL. But we digress.....

...and maybe at the end of the day your minimum bid was the highest (and maybe first in with a tie). Who knows with their algorithms. But I was always told it was highest bid, but likely only the man behind the curtain knows for sure....

All OV's with Large Balconies are located on the humps as that structure is what provides the large balcony. There are two humps on Wonder, one of which is mid-ship and the other slightly forward but still mostly mid-ship IMO.

Well as I see it there are three types of people; those who know and understand the rules, those who don't know them but will learn, and those who don't believe the rules apply to them. Take your pick on the two out of three with the items found at the table......

Will never say never, ever, or always, etc. But in our early days of cruising when we did book the occasional cruise sponsored excursion, we were not able (by their contract) to book certain excursions with the same operator outside of the ship when that ship was in port. It would seem to pose a conflict of interests. But certainly things have changed and our last experience with this was many years ago, so I am by no means providing a definitive answer or contradicting your comments. Simply anecdotal experience.

Typically the cruise lines see a B2B with their passengers as two separately booked cruises that happen to follow each other. To them they are two separate folios. If you select a stateroom and it is available on both cruises, then you naturally would not move. But if you are doing a GTY they also are typically assigned separately for each cruise so the odds of remaining in the same stateroom IMO would be pretty slim. Perhaps others will report different experiences.

Transitioning? RCCL has always targeted families as their primary demographics. Just sharpening their aim a bit with Oasis, Quantum, and Icon class ships. And as to higher levels of C&A sipping their complimentary drinks, watch it now, I resemble that remark - yuk, yuk, yuk! As long as I qualify for an excursion to the bar and back, all will be good......

Just FYI - from the Celebrity FAQ's under Alcohol Policy (from the US website): Guests are not permitted to bring alcoholic beverages onboard; with the exception of embarkation day when each guest (of legal drinking age) is permitted to bring onboard one (1) 750 ml bottle of wine (which are subject to a corkage fee) per guest. A corkage fee does not apply to guests with the Classic Beverage Package or Premium Beverage Package. Security may inspect containers (including water bottles, soda bottles, mouthwash, canteens, etc.) at any time and will dispose of alcohol concealed in such containers. Alcoholic beverages that are purchased from onboard shops or in ports of call (which must be presented to security upon re-boarding), will be secured by ship's personnel. Alcohol secured by ship's personnel will be returned to guests just prior to the conclusion of their cruise vacation.

I'm not entering a debate about the fairness or alternatives with this and am only stating what I understand to be the reasons behind these guidelines. Your comments perhaps would be better directed to the cruise lines who implement them.

Fairness, as any individual might see it, has nothing to do with it. Insurance liability guidelines are based on actuarial data and not individual fitness evaluations. That would not be feasible to determine individually on any given cruise excursion, because, as mentioned by several responders already, how and by whom would that be determined? As also mentioned, there are liability based guidelines in place based on this data and have been for many years.

Very possible. But I believe it is the cruise line's liability insurance that is dictating the age restrictions with their sponsored tours. As they are independent and not subject to the cruise line's insurance, private contractors may not have the same issue. It would, I guess, depend on their own liability insurance.

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As I understand it, @firefly333 is correct. The age (and other) guidelines posted for excursions have nothing to do with the cruise lines but have to do with the cruise line liability insurance requirements regarding those excursion providers. It is also nothing new. My suggestion would be that if there is a ship sponsored excursion you would like to do that is restricting your participation look to book it on your own though through an independent operator.

If you booked with a non-refundable deposit they will charge you a change fee to rebook to another ship or itinerary. If you cancel your reservation altogether you will loose the full deposit amount. If you booked with a refundable deposit then you can change or cancel your reservation without penalty. Contact RCCL directly at 800-327-6700 and speak with a reservation agent and they can make the changes you need for you. Have your reservation numbers handy when you and the others call. You need not speak to the same agent as your reservation numbers will indicate your booking histories and the agent can coordinate your changes.

There typically will be specials on board that usually are offered primarily for port of call days. Prior to sailing, it is hard to predict for sure when a sale will occur, but if there is a sale on the cruise planner for spa services and it looks attractive you can book it then. Keep watching and if you see a better price you can cancel and rebook without penalty up to three days prior to boarding. Hard to tell whether the advanced sales or on board offers will have the best pricing.

Typically as @smokeybandit suggests the award notifications are closer to the sailing date as that would be when the final adjusted bids would be completed for the available stateroom categories and the highest bids would be available for selection. Awarding the upgrades too early may eliminate the opportunity for the highest bids to be submitted.

Fairly certain that metal detectors can not be brought on board the ship in the first place.

Good catch! Knew that but reversed the AM & PM. One of just many senior moments! Thanks for correcting that.

Thanks for that explanation. Although I don't necessarily agree with their perspective. But any debate regarding that is not my intent as it is JMO. I will just accept that I have been lucky with my returned port fees.

Never heard that it was at the ships discretion. If a port of call is missed, you did not receive the value of that port fee, so it gets refunded. Why would it not come back to the customer who paid it? But lucky or not, our experience has been we have always had them returned. That being said, we have fortunately only had a few missed ports of call in our cruising years.

Prior to 2013, no ship casinos could be open while in port in Bermuda. In 2013 legislation was passed allowing ships with 2,000 or more passengers to operate their casinos between 9 AM - 5 PM for the excusive use of the passengers for a licensing fee paid by the cruise lines to Bermuda. The licenses were only valid from April to November. The thought was that these hours would allow for passengers to gamble while in port but would not interfere with local business operations in the evening hours. In 2021 a bill was passed that would allow for those hours to be extended by way of the cruise lines applying for an extension. The bill also allowed the license to be issued for 12 months versus the original 8 month period.

Yes - there are head count based port fees that go to Haiti by arrangement since its inception. BTW although they have exclusive rights to the property as a private destination, RCCL does not own Labadee. They have a long term lease through 2050 on the property and own what they have developed.