sparks1093

This info alone makes me glad that I followed along. I'm often up at 5a.m. even on vacation so knowing where the coffee is helps. Which WiFi plan are you using?

They "bought a cruise that would include scenic cruising off the Antarctic mainland". This quote from the linked Forbes article above indicates to me that they weren't actually going to be going ashore, they were just sailing by. I can certainly understand the disappointment at not getting to see what most people won't, especially if the cruise line charges a premium for the itinerary (and I am sure that they did).

This is true but one would expect that someone who goes into the hospitability industry would be concerned more with hospitality for the guest, especially if a premium is being charged for the services being provided. Customer satisfaction goes hand in hand with repeat business, after all. But in any case, as I said none of this surprises me about Oceania and NCL.

I'm actually not surprised that NCL and Oceania have that kind of record. Based on his comments when he took over NCL Del Rio struck me as someone more concerned with what what the guest could do for him than the other way round.

Can't wait until we board in April but your review will help.

Little these days is obvious to everyone, especially when dealing with a government agency. 🙂

You do save a few bucks if you buy each of those things prior to sailing.

You generally need to be traveling soon in order to do this (I think it's less than two weeks) and there is an expedite fee involved.

Our youngest son sent his first application off on 1/19 and received it back yesterday. I think State is back to normal for processing times. (And this was not an expedited thing.)

I am betting that first drink of the day tasted extra sweet. Thank you for posting your experience. DW and I are fortunate that we have the ability to always fly in the day before but there are many people that don't have that luxury.

Sometimes semantics matter.

I fully understand why people would be unhappy about the Antarctica thing, but what would you expect me to do? I wasn't affected at all by it since I wasn't a passenger. As for having a bus tour instead of a river cruise, I get that, too but at least in those cases it happens only when nature interferes (and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if that scenario isn't mentioned somewhere in all of the fine print). I haven't sailed NCL in years and am not really interested in river cruising so I can't even boycott the companies in question out of solidarity with those that were affected. Do I use these instances to insist on more government regulations? Um, no, not really. As pointed out that is a beast that is hard to control and hard to give any real teeth to the regulations/law. ETA- Since I had a few extra minutes I read through Viking's Passenger Ticket Contract. Summary- we might have to provide alternative transportation and lodging because of water conditions. Our obligation to the passenger if this happens- nothing. I am not a lawyer and that is only from a quick read so there may be something that I missed.

Son applied for a passport on 1/19, received it back today. 30 days.

Exactly this.

Well, the terms and conditions may be presented for people to read but very few do.

I'm sure the Dairy Industry will be glad to know that all of the "Got Milk" commercials failed. 🤣

Milk is also included.

Thanks for the review, we'll be onboard in 64ish days. Question on Bolt- how fast is it? It doesn't look like it does anything crazy and I'm not generally a rollercoaster fan, but am thinking about it so I can say I've been on one at sea (well, other than the ship I happen to be on in rough seas).

Not surprising, but of course each of those terms had a specific definition. For instance, "'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot guard themself(sic) against common physical dangers."

There is that, but something like this is so prevalent ultimately it means not doing business with anyone. In the present case not doing business with Carnival and doing business with one of their competitors ends with the same result for the consumer since the other cruise lines would likely respond similarly.

This is actually what the response would be for a lot of companies. It is a decent amount of revenue and they aren't going to forego that unless there is a law making them. Truth be told I probably wouldn't opt in even if it were an option. I generally ignore junk mail and junk email anyway.

Well, in keeping with the spirit of this particular thread we want to know when a cruise line makes a change and doesn't do right by the passengers (and of course that, too, is something that will vary- some will find what the cruise line did to be acceptable and others not so much), i.e. knowing that a cruise will not be going to a particular port and leaving the port on the itinerary until the last minute.

I had to check something in my booking and for our upcoming trip Carnival's insurance costs $218. When I tried to add it in order to get details of coverage it wouldn't let me since we are inside the final payment window.

That's one of the beautiful things about Cruise Critic if one hangs out long enough. We see how the different cruise lines handle different scenarios.

I had a little extra time this morning so I did some checking on insuremytrip.com. I'm not sure how OP is defining "last minute", so I input the details of a cruise leaving in one month, cost of the cruise $2500, no airfare, one week duration, initial deposit today. A plan from Generali was lowest at $115.50 which offered $50k medial coverage and $250k evacuation coverage. It has a lookback period of 180 days for pre-existing conditions. The first plan that offered a pre-existing condition waiver (when purchased within a certain period of time from first payment) was from John Hancock. That plan was $175, had $100k medical coverage and $500k evacuation. By way of comparison we purchased a plan in December for our upcoming April cruise. Picked a Nationwide plan that cost $150.77. Coverage is for both the cruise and flights totaling $3500. No pre-existing condition waiver, lookback 60 days. $75k for medical, $250k evacuation. To buy the same plan today (64 days before trip) would cost $18 more. (All of the above quotes are for two travelers.)