zwallace

12

5 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

I know these cruises are popular, but the best way to see New England is cars, hotels, inns, and throw in a ferry (for Martha’s Vineyard).  This way would get you more time in Boston, Portsmouth, Kennebunkport, Portland, Camden, and Bar Harbor/Acadia. You’d get better views of foliage (rent an SUV) and get to spots you cannot get to on a cruise and truly enjoy New England food.  Second leg would be driving through Vermont and stopping in Burlington to Quebec City and then Montreal.  Unless being on a cruise itself is the top priority, I wouldn’t do this.  I spent almost my whole life in New England.  There are so many options better than a cruise.  If you don’t take my advice, you will still have a great time on a cruise.

Thank you for your suggestions.   We should have done this ten years ago. Unfortunately, my husband no longer feels comfortable driving to places he's not  familiar with, nor do I. We find cruises to be our best options for setting new places, if only for a short time. 

5 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Have you also considered RC out of Baltimore?  That would most likely be on Vision of the Seas, probably 9 nights.  That would be our personal preference.

We prefer OV over balcony, especially for a cool-weather cruise.  Are you looking at a fall sailing?

Yes it would be a September 2024 sailing. We've only done ocean view once, balconies otherwise. We usually sail to Southern Caribbean. and once to Alaska. It's not so much the balcony for these two rooms; the ocean view is 141 square feet, the balcony is 207 square feet with a larger balcony as well. That's a decent size difference. Decisions...

We are trying to decide between NCL Sky or RCL Liberty of the Seas for a 2024 cruise. Reviews suggest the Sky is almost too small but also say the food and entertainment are great. Reviews for LIberty suggest it is tired and dated with subpar food, service and entertainment. The NCL is an 11 day from Baltimore ending in Quebec. The RCL is a 9 day r/t from Bayonne, N,J.  We've only sailed with Celebrity and Carnival, so either line will be new to us.  We're active senior citizens in our sixties. I figure with the 9 port itinerary on Sky, we probably won't be staying up too late for shows etc. We can book a balcony on RCL cheaper than an ocean view on Liberty. We have never sailed to Canada/New England I'd  appreciate CC member's opinions on which ship and which cruise to book. Thanks in advance. 

Kelkel2 because we booked our flights through Carnival,

Southwest will not speak with us directly. We actually used a big box travel agency to book the cruise so our PVP had to book the flights for us. 

Thank you for your informative narrative. We've been loyal SW Customers for several years and have never had one problem, ever.  We booked flights through Carnival via SW for our February 4th cruise. I called Carnival this morning, and was advised we couldn't cancel our flights, so we're at the mercy of SW unless we want to eat the fare and drive from Missouri. I'm sure hoping that SW can pull it together in a month. 

5 minutes ago, jsglow said:

The Old Locks. She's a Panamax. Perfect fit. You'll hear swearing from the bridge in both Italian AND Spanish when they brush the lock wall! Yes, it's THAT tight; maybe 6 inches on each side. Then the next day in Port you'll see the paint guys touching up the hull.

 

Enjoy!

jsglow thanks! I can't wait to see it!

We're booked on the Pride for a partial transit in February. I've Googled but can't find which locks the Pride uses, old or new. I'm hoping for old locks. Can anyone tell me which locks are used? Thanks!

We didn't have any problems last year. I'm going to hope for the best this year. We fly in a day early so hopefully we'll make it to the cruise on time. 

We recently booked an 8 day cruise to the Panama Canal on Carnival. I then proceeded to book flights through our preferred airline, Southwest. The cost for two round-trip tickets was over $1300 from Missouri to Tampa!  After searching for a few minutes for cheaper options, I discovered Carnival had Fly2fun, so I looked at the flights offered. Lo and behold,  Southwest Air was offered and I booked two r/t tickets for $537. We booked our flights thru Celebrity last year at a substantial savings and it worked out perfectly. I'm hoping it does again this year. If it does, I'm totally sold on booking thru the cruise lines. 

17 minutes ago, RollWave said:

 

I answered above in #69. Copying below as well. I think it will depend greatly on your cabin - apparently some cabins were revolutionized and others were not. On our sailing the crew, in our opinion, differed to the larger groups - this was noticeable to us in Blu where we were a party of 2 and were lost in the shuffle several times during the five night sailing.

 

 

Copied from Post #69:

 

It will depend on where you are on the ship. I have heard some cabins were updated and others were not. We were on Deck 11 in Aqua class in a relic of a cabin with multiple issues. Encountering others in our hallway we heard comments such as - surprising that Celebrity would allow passengers into cabins like this, the cabin is a dump, and this is the worst cruise ever.

 

Cabin Issues: Door was hard to open and would not lock from the inside - was fixed on day 2 after 2 service calls. Electrical issue in the wall so the bedside lamps would not work - was fixed late on day 2 after 3 service calls - the adjoining cabin had a similar issue. Brown & orange chunky water coming out of the bathroom sink - it was gross and stained the sink bowl. No hot water in the shower - instructed by management to let the sink and shower run together for a bit to get the water running. Interactive TV did not work so really nothing to watch and could not see the on-board account which lead to going to guest services to get a printout AND discuss the cabin issues - both met with blank stares and no offer to compensate. Wifi did not work in the cabin so we had to go out to the hallway and sit on a couch by the elevator bank. The room furnishings were old and tired - sagging, faded burgundy couch, old carpet, frayed throw pillows. The decorative sheer was missing from the slider and there were missing hooks for the blackout curtain, so it did not completely close. A direct quote from our cabin steward (to us and others around us) - please do not judge my service based on the condition of the cabin.

 

To note - we own a real estate business.  I could stay at home and work through a project punch list or manage a tenant's service requests. We were not at all pleased to do this while on a ship on behalf of Celebrity and with no apology, explanation, or compensation. Furthermore, being in a property business it is appalling to me that nobody at Celebrity walked the cabins to see if the electricity was working, if the door locked, if the water was running properly, if the TV worked, if components of the room were working or if they were missing - negligent and unacceptable especially since several of these issues were unsafe and unsanitary. 

I'm sorry that you had that experience. We switched from Aqua to a corner aft and if our room is that bad I guess I'll just sit out on the big deck and enjoy the wake. 

6 hours ago, Guindalf said:

I'm starting this thread out of curiosity. This is intended as a no judgement zone, so keep your opinions to yourself.

 

All I'd like to know is whether you have decided to cancel or keep your booking and cruise. So if you've made that decision, please go ahead and tell us...

 

Date of sailing:

Cancel or Cruise:

Rebooked or not? Other travel plans:

Comment on why you made the decision (if you want) without bashing anyone who made a different choice:

 

I would ask you to respect each other. neither choice is right or wrong, just personal.

We went back and forth on whether to sail on the 11 day cruise to the ABC Islands tomorrow. When they canceled Key West I almost canceled but didn't. We originally booked an Aqua cabin which would've been new for us. Then I was able to snag a corner aft which we've never had either so we gave up the Aqua cabin for the bigger room and huge balcony. Then came Omicron and canceled flights everywhere. At the end of the day we decided to risk it all and here we are in Tampa. Flights were not canceled,  covid tests were negative and who knows what the future holds? We are 65 and 70, in good health for our ages, and we don't want to live in fear until we die. I think there will be more variants, likely more serious  than Omicron, so we're cruising now, while we still can. If we sail the Caribbean for 11 days without getting off the ship, it still beats sitting in the house in Missouri in the cold winter. To each their own. 

5 hours ago, RollWave said:

*Sorry - Reposting*

 

Date of sailing: Millenium - December 9, 2021

Cancel or Cruise: Cancelled

Rebooked or not? Other travel plans: Did not re-book. Waiting on FCC

 

Comment on why you made the decision (if you want) without bashing anyone who made a different choice:

We had a wonderful trip on Summit in October. We had a horrible trip on Constellation in November. We have an upcoming trip planned for Edge at the end of this month (January). The Edge sailing is one we have been looking forward to as it is a new ship for us and in Retreat. The Constellation sailing was so awful that we could not stand the thought of getting on a ship (a thought that we never in a million years imagined could happen) so we cancelled Millenium. We wanted to put some distance between the Constellation sailing and the upcoming Edge sailing as we really want to enjoy Edge. Sadly, as of today we are trying to decide what to do about the Edge sailing.

Why was your Constellation cruise so bad? Was it the ship itself or other factors? We sail on her tomorrow so just curious. 

We passed the tests. Headed to our hotel preflight now. 

For those of you testing tomorrow for the Constellation on Monday,  may the odds be ever in your favor. I can't believe it's almost here. Afraid to get excited till we're actually sitting on the ship with a Pina colada in my hand. 🤞🤞🤞

Well I snagged the corner aft on this cruise so if we have negative tests and the  airline gets us to Florida, we're going to sail. I can be happy just lying out on that huge deck. We've been to Aruba and Curacao twice. I was looking forward to Bonaire for the snorkeling excursion but not a deal breaker.  I've went back and forth all day but have decided to go for it if we can. 

Merry Christmas to all cruise critic readers. It doesn't feel very merry reading the news this morning. I read Bonaire is requiring a negative test 48 hours prior to getting off at their island. I also read Aruba and Curacao refused Carnival passengers getting off at their islands due to having a small number of positives on board. We're supposed to sail to these 3 islands January 3rd. Asking for opinions as to whether you think Celebrity will even sail with this itinerary or instead change the ports, or perhaps just cancel the cruise entirely. Or maybe they'll start requiring everyone to mask up outside their cabins, not my idea of a relaxing vacation as I find myself gasping for air when I have one on. I'm thinking about canceling before the 48 hour window closes. Being from Missouri, it'll be a miracle if our flights don't get canceled anyway. I think I'm just done with trying to cruise. 

Thanks for the info!

Glad to see they dropped CNN.  

Can previous cruisers tell me what TV channels are offered? I could care less buy dh like his daily fix of the news. 

On 12/20/2021 at 6:52 AM, crewsweeper said:

There are masseuses' lined up all along the malecon.  You can get  a massage anywhere.

And believe me, you'll be in for a shock on the changes along the malecon since Cats Meow days.

When you dock, just take a gander at the old Cha Chi place.

But do yourselves a favor and walk the whole length of the malecon if you can.  

 

I'm sorry but I don't know what malecon  is. 🤔

43 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

You have to make your own decision, of course. All I can contribute is that my parents are getting very elderly and -- due to COVID and not being able to get everyone vaccinated until 2021 -- we had to spend Christmas apart as a family last year.  Personally I found it sad and depressing. I am so happy that we are all able to gather this year. 

 

Our parents have passed on.  We have gotten together throughout the entire pandemic.  Some of us vaccinated, some of us are not.  We've continued to live our lives and not be ruled by fear.  The seasonal flu is what worries me right now.

I'm so stressed right now.  We sail on January 3rd and will test on New Year's day. One of my grandsons has a fever and sniffles. There's an outbreak of the regular seasonal flu going around.   Our other grandson's girlfriend's family has several family members who have Covid.   And we're supposed to have all 18 family members to our home for Christmas.  The meal is planned, the gifts are wrapped and under the tree.  And I'm scared that one of them will give the virus to us and I will have planned and organized this whole vacation in vain.  Is it terribly selfish to cancel Christmas so we aren't potentially exposed to the virus, and minimize our risks prior to our sail? What would my kids and grandkids think if I did that?  I feel horrible for even considering this because I love my family and want to spend the holiday with them.  But I also want to be sitting in our hotel room in two weeks from tonight waiting to fly to Tampa on the 2nd. 

I'm just asking what you are doing in these trying times.  Would you risk getting the virus or cancel Christmas?  i even thought of rescheduling our Christmas till we return from our cruise. All thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

We're docking at Costa Maya January 5th.  The last time we were in Costa Maya was in 2006 and we went to the Cat's Meow and spent a wonderful day there having great drinks and I got a massage right on the beach.  I read that the Cat's Meow is long gone and I hate to hear that.  But are there any other beaches where they offer a massage on a beach?  Sure would like to get one again while we''re there.  

16 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

OP, congratulations on scoring a corner FV!  Except for the M-class penthouses, they're the best cabins in the fleet IMO.  Earlier this month, I moved from S1 (6131) to corner FV (8181) on Summit and much preferred the FV.  The cabin space is terrific and the balcony.....oh my!  After 4 recent cruises in Luminae and 3 in the MDR, I was every bit as happy with the MDR where I actually received more attentive service.  Food was excellent in both.  I did frequently order from the MDR and Blu menus in Luminae.  I will offer one suggestion for Summit/Millennium FVs - bring your own mirror.  The lighted one is about 15 ft from the desk (where the plugs are); it's on the wall between the door and the closet with no outlet.  

 

Recently saw an FV become available for next year's Constellation TA and was able to downgrade from S1 6146 (great cabin) to corner FV 7199.  I couldn't be more pleased.

Thanks for your suggesting to bring my own mirror. I always bring a 10X magnifying mirror. I can't see too put my makeup on otherwise. I'd look like bozo the clown of I had to rely on regular strength mirrors. 🤡