guitarcrazy

We were on a Celebrity Med cruise in 2012 and a Princess Baltic cruise in 2016.  Prior to 2012 we had cruised on Holland and Norwegian.  The first day of the Celebrity Cruise, the food knocked my shoes off.  However after that, the food was indistinguishable from all other cruise lines I had previously used. In general I find cruise food good but not great; I have cruised on Crystal and Paul Gauguin since that Princess 2016 cruise and did find that their food was a notch better-say very good, but still not great.  For what it’s worth I have heard Regent is great-but have not tried it.   As it is, with “good” food that is way too plentiful, I eat way too much.  I’d hate to see how much weight I would gain if I thought the food was great 😄 So I am happy to go on Princess, Celebrity, Holland, and NCL and will go based on itinerary and price.  So far, I’ve avoided Carnival and Royal Caribbean, as well as Silversea and Viking…but for differing reasons.

On 6/22/2022 at 10:56 AM, Tedferg said:

It just occurred to me, if CDC does not recommend re-test within 90 days of positive the 3-day pre-sail is unnecessary. No big deal more curiosity and caution on my part.

If you have had covid within 90 days you will not get it again and not spread it, which is why CDC does not recommend retest.  It is extremely, extremely rare to get Covid with 6 months of a prior infection.  Hence CDC -you do not need to take the antigen test either.  Zip.  Zero.  Nada.  But at 3 months and 1 day you should, as you could be one of those rare outliers.

12 hours ago, memoak said:

No symptoms may not seem like an illness to you but a person with no symptoms spread the virus to my 98 year old mother

So sad your mom is sick.  Sadly, you can test negative and still spread.  In fact first day or so of symptoms (and they are usually mild) you usually test negative.  And likely that day before when you are asymptomatic and minding your own business without any idea of having the virus, you are already spreading-and of course you would test negative.  Very tricky.

3 hours ago, miagirl said:

Does anyone know or have any idea when the EU rules for cruising might expire?  Meaning to be considered fully vaxed one needs a booster if it's been more than 9 months since you completed your vax series. or even might be reviewed?  I'm fully vaxed and boosted but my travel companion is only vaxed and is VERY reluctant to get boosted.  We're suppose to be going on a 3 week Mediterranean cruise departing Rome in September.   Final payment is due mid-June.  Any suggestions as to where I could dig this information out would be sincerely appreciated  

Take note that there are quite a few countries-Denmark, Norway, Iceland, UK, to just name a few that no longer have vaccination for Covid as an entry requirement (let alone no need for booster)  None.  No need for even PCR testing.  

Considering that Princess has only recently required a booster (? this last Saturday), I think it will be quite a while.  I presume this is reflexive due to complaints from their recent onboard outbreak.  I’m in a similar issue in that medically I can not take the booster and my cruise is in July.

I find this change frustrating.  The policy until today was fully vaccinated-but did not require a booster.  The sites my itinerary goes to, also do not require a booster.   We made our decision to take the cruise based on the information provided prior to today-including the dropping of covid requirements by all of the countries our cruise would visit.  Princess now has more strict rules than the US, UK, Iceland, Norway, Denmark.  Crazy.  My husband and I both had sever chest pain following our second covid vaccine—we are very nervous about getting an additional vaccine.

Hi all-

Any issue bringing golf bag luggage cases on board the ships?  We have a 16 day cruise and wanted to golf at a few of the stops.

thanks!

7 night Tahiti and Society Island cruise.   We are ex scuba divers so we always carry our own simple gear-and I see on the website that they do provide Kayaks and paddle boards-but I guess we use these only on Moto Mahana and their private Bora Bora beach?  

I didn’t know about the covid test every 3 days for private excursions,  I am very optimistic about our trip happening,  but I suspect this will still be in place for a while, which although understandable it is going to be a pain in the ***.  Anyway, any other thoughts/suggestions?  I have gone back quite a few pages here looking for information.

Hello,

I started a thread back in February 2, 2020 with my concerns for an upcoming trip Feb 27, 2020 and whether I should cancel or not.  As medical professionals we decided to be prudent and cancel our trip (wah!).  We eventually booked a trip for October, 2021 figuring all would be well by then.  We've been biting our nails these last few weeks wondering if our cruise would happen.  It looks to us like it likely will, and we plan to be on our cruise and our concerns of Feb 2020 have dramatically abated.  In any case, and not to discuss virulence etc. now, but we don't have a great idea of what to expect in terms of activities offered by the boat.   We met some TA's on a Gallapagos cruise back in 2018 who had done PG cruises multiple times and waxed on how wonderful the cruises are, and what they specifically said, "the back of the boat opens up and there are a ton of different water toys you can use".  At the time they expounded on that, but don't remember what they meant.  So, here are my questions:

1) What does the ship supply for use?  rafts?  face masks/snorkels/shorty wet suits? other fun gear to use?

2)  Is it possible to snorkel without having to book excursions or rent a car?  Is there a way to snorkel near the ship, or are we anchored too far out and so not allowed?

3) Are there some "must do" activities on specific islands we should sign up and pay for?  Or must see things?

4) Are some private vendors way better than PG vendors and we should sign up with them ahead of time?

5) Are there some fabulous local restaurants we should try and skip the PG meal?

thanks for ANY help!  Trying not to get too excited 😄

On 7/25/2021 at 2:15 PM, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

Taxis are at the airport when flights arrive. After dark there is a surcharge  ... figure $25 to the ship. I believe the shuttle can only be booked when it's part of a package booked through PG. I've tried to book the shuttle when I've booked air myself and was told no can do  ... but do check, things may have changed. 

 

Thanks for your responses.  I will check with PG tomorrow.  I have taken many many other cruises, some arriving the same day, others the day before and never an issue.  My question was thus if there was some structural issue I should be aware of in getting from the airport to the cruise boat.  I presume it should be easy enough to catch a taxi at that time…

So, follow up-called PG this am and I am able to pay for their shuttle ($30/person) from the Airpot to the ship.  The PG representative said my flight is the flight PG is using, and thus a ton of my cruise mates will be on the flight with me;.  

Thanks for your responses.  I will check with PG tomorrow.  I have taken many many other cruises, some arriving the same day, others the day before and never an issue.  My question was thus if there was some structural issue I should be aware of in getting from the airport to the cruise boat.  I presume it should be easy enough to catch a taxi at that time…

Hi all,

We have our (lol, rescheduled!) 7 day cruise end of October.  I'm looking at an LAX-PPT flight that leaves 3pm and arrives 8:30pm in PPT.  The boat takes off 11:55pm.  Any concerns getting from airport to PG?  I would guess as it's a small island, the answer is no, but perhaps some of you seasoned Paul Gauguin folk can confirm...

Just to put closure for me here.  We decided not to fly to Tahiti last Friday and not board our cruise on Saturday.  We would probably have been fine, but as we are in a high risk level, we didn't want to be on an 8 hour flight, and did not want to risk the small chance of quarantine.  We lost a lot of money and a wonderful cruise opportunity, but for us, this was the right condition and we are good with it.

Thank you for all of your comments to date.  Unfortunately, our information keeps evolving on this virus and it is not good.  Incubation periods of 5-12 days with rare super spreaders up to 24 days-and the virus surviving on surfaces up to 9 days.  All way beyond the normal parameters we see with flu.  The Holland ship that landed in Cambodia, and supposedly "safe" now is showing a passenger with Covid-19 (the name they are using for the novel Coronavirus).  The scary barometer is up yet another notch for me.

We are going on a Paul Gauguin cruise end of February.  Hoping to have more information between now and then.  I read there were 300 Chinese tourists that had arrived a week or so ago to Tahiti-I presume none from Wuhan.  So, probability of an issue there should be small...but I am concerned about flight from LAX.  Should we proceed we plan to wear masks, carry disposable disinfectant wipes and throw away gloves.

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone with a booked cruise is considering cancelling theirs based on the current unknown, or are all full steam ahead with proceeding upcoming cruise?  Frankly, that fake scare in Italy recently spooked me.  We have an upcoming cruise.

2 minutes ago, elwood_98034 said:

I am taking baby steps just now. I saw a video where I saw an unsweetened cake of some sort, but I have pretty much given up on the whole dessert concept.

Elwood, I make a ton of desserts for my husband (brittle diabetic) using almond flour or coconut flour (google and you will be very pleasantly surprised) as well as sugar free puddings thickened with guar gum (easy to buy on Amazon) etc.  These are pretty easy to make at home, and I am no skilled cook.  When we go out to eat hubby only orders berries for dessert or a cheese plate.  It  would be nice if the cruise line would make some deserts/ice cream available.  There are lots of diabetics...

I'm interested in this as well.  By the way, do you know anything about diabetic deserts on ship?  Previously I have seen sugar free, but that is only the tip of the iceberg as we know--lots of deserts have flour/rice/tapioca etc that shoots up glucose levels...

I presume if we have the internet package we do no have to pay the $10/week?  I can't seem to find this in the FAQ, but other questions are answered there.

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-faq/what-cost-phone-and-messenger-package

Well, I've sailed NCL, Princess, Holland, Celebrity, and Crystal.  Crystal was obviously the clear winner-but so pricey, I doubt we will do it again.  The other 4 were all very nice and honestly, except for more kids on NCL, and more older folks on Holland, there was not that much difference as far as hubby and I are concerned.  We have had a terrific "trip of a lifetime" on all of them.  Many say the entertainment on NCL is better, and the food on Celebrity is better.  We haven't found it to be so.  We now guide our trips based on the itinerary and the "value" (ahem, am I getting a good deal).  I guess one's attitude is what makes the experience and we are so happy to be on vacation it makes it all good.

We are a family of 7 traveling in June.  We are signed up now for regular freestyle dining-is there a problem with seating in the MDR for a large group like ours?  Will long waits be a problem?  Should we opt instead to a set time, if so how should we do this?  I called Norwegian and they said they could not help us.  Thanks for your help.

Hi Lepidoptera,

I was planning on signing up for the Costco afflicted shore excursion. It may not be any better.   Our ship ports at Mykonos only from 9 to 3.  I thought of doing it myself but was concerned that the ferry left Delos at 1:30 then not until 3:00.  The ship leaves at 3:00 and I was afraid if somehow I missed the 1:30 I would be in big doo-doo.

Thanks for all of your replies.  Bummer.  

Hello!

Super excited to be on the Star this upcoming summer for the Adriatic cruise!

I was reading review on the Delos Island excursion and many comments here and on TripAdvisor suggesting one brings a bag lunch.  Does anyone know if we can take a box lunch out with us to shore from the ship?  And if so, does Norwegian charge us for it?

If you don't go I guarantee you will regret it, particularly if you like history. Valley of the Kings is stunning, it is unassuming on the outside but once you enter the tombs with all the hyrogliphics it is simply amazing. Egypt is experiencing a down turn in tourists so the pyramids, Valley of the Kings etc is not crowded. From all my travels around the world this was a highlight

I plan on doing a cruise in later 2019, but still unsure if I want to do Silversea Spirit vs Crystal Esprit vs Seabourn. The Esprit cruise allows seeing the pyramid--but Sprit goes to the Valley of the Kings. If anyone here has been both to the Valley of the Kings and the Pyramids, I am interested in hearing what they think of itinerary's that include one but not the other.

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