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Silent Penguin

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  1. On that occasion, yes. The upgrade from classic to premium was also discounted. I can't swear it was 40% but I think it was. I remember it was worth looking at! We didn't upgrade our drinks package but we did upgrade our wifi to premium.
  2. Last year, during the Labor Day sale, we saved 50% on our laundry package and could have saved 40% on the drink package and the wifi package but we already had drinks and wifi included in our booking.
  3. I saw that, but I'm waiting for a better sale. We don't sail until November. Memorial Day or Labor Day could be better.
  4. Hello! Thank you for your valuable contribution as a person from a different country from me. In regards to your question, every single thing in my carry-on bag is drastically more expensive to replace if I buy it on the ship as apposed to on land. If I flew to just about anywhere in Europe, and the airline temporarily lost my luggage, I wouldn't be concerned about finding normally or even cheaply priced over-the-counter medications like pain relievers, toiletries, clothing or a phone charger once I left the airport. On the other hand, if the cruise line temporarily lost my luggage, the only place I could shop would be the ship's stores which charge nearly 2x as much for the same items. Furthermore the variety of items available onboard is small and some things are not stocked at all. Certain clothing items most ladies would want are simply not available to buy onboard, and regardless of gender, you can't buy cold medicine in the ship's store. Only the medical center has it, and it's shockingly costly.
  5. SHIP: Constellation REVOLUTIONIZED: No CABIN #: 9065 DECK #: 9 CLASS: AQ2 AREA: BED NEAR: Bathroom QUIET?: NO BALCONY VIEW: Great, unobstructed BALCONY SIZE: standard WIND A PROBLEM?: No SOOT A PROBLEM?: No PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: The problem wasn't from above as one might expect. There's a crew access door across the hall from this room. At certain times of the day or night, the door is constantly being opened and closed. It was pretty annoying, bad enough that I will not book this room again even if it's the only Aqua class room left. The last night of the cruise was the worst for noise. I'm pretty sure every single suitcase put out in the hallway had to be individually carried through this door.
  6. Thank you for your sharing your experience and advice, especially about recognizing the appearance of words in an alphabet I don't know. I expect that will be a good coping strategy for us when we go to Greece, probably in a couple years. I agree with you about learning to say please, thank you, and sorry in whatever country you visit. I practice my vocabulary on my family even though it kind of annoys them to hear me speak anything but English. Since last summer, my daughter has been retaliating in Portuguese.
  7. A great read on a cold and snowy day. The pictures are so compelling. I want to go! Reluctant to drive in a country where we have no language fluency whatsoever. What's your opinion on that?
  8. Thank you for the acknowledgement and badge. I've learned so much from the Cruise Critic community, and I am grateful for the opportunity to give something back.
  9. Hi, Girr. Thank you for the advice. I'll look into that. I do have coverage through my credit card, but I thought I had to pick one policy - the one with my card or the one I bought- or the other. It didn't occur to me that one might pick up where the other left off.
  10. I mentioned that I would update when my travel insurance claim was settled. I just got a check today. It didn't cover as much as I thought it would but that's on me. I misunderstood the difference between Trip Delay daily max and total max. They paid me the max for all three days. Too bad it fell short by 158.00. Good thing my delay was off-season. Another lesson learned. Possibly, next time, I will go with a policy with higher limits.
  11. I'm with you. There was a time when the cheapest option trumped every other consideration but not anymore. For 7 of us to share a private van cost us each 32 euros. It would have been the safest way to go if we were picked up at our Airbinb or if we had taken an Uber to where the others were staying. Live and learn.
  12. Hi, RocCruisers, I'm laughing right now because I'd be asking some of the same questions if I was reading my story. There are definitely contextual details I left out. Before answering the questions, I want to acknowledge your point about how my story would be different if we hadn't been in port city where the culture, language, and means of transportation hadn't been amicable to solo travel. And, while you didn't say it I will. There are obviously port cities where it would have been super dangerous for a solo female, even one who grew up in the big, bad city and who has traveled solo on occasion for decades. Answers to your questions I am 57, and my husband if 59. Neither of us have health issues yet. Dh and I have been married 34 years. (Yes, we have a track record) I get the impression I am respected by my family but don't have super hero status. (Thank you for the compliment though.) I have a cheap OnePlus Nord I bought at Walmart last year and T-Mobile service. I had both an already fully charged external charger and a cable. Those I always keep on me and not in my checked luggage. If, for some reason I didn't have either or both of them on me, the trip to the police station would have dropped to second on my to-do list and finding a store that sold external chargers and cords would have been first. My backpack (carry-on) was pretty much ready for action. Like most cruisers, my carry-on always contains what I think I'll need if my checked luggage goes missing for a day or two. The only change I made was to lighten the bag by dumping what I didn't need, like a bottle of wine, a swimsuit and flipflops, and some little stuff that wouldn't fit in my suitcase. Those became dh's problem. I also removed a few things that are extremely expensive or difficult to procure on a ship (in the event of lost luggage) but easy and cheap to get if I needed to buy them while I was in Rome. If there's a downside to carrying recent (6 months or less) passport photos when you leave the country, I don't see it. Personally, though, I don't think I will since most US embassies and consulates have a photo booth, and even if it's broken or the they don't have one, there's bound to be one nearby where they are sending everyone. That being said, if I or anyone in my family had mobility issues, then yes, I would bring photos. P.S. Readers of this thread, I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence with this unsolicited advice, but since it didn't occur to me, maybe it hasn't occurred to others. Before you leave your home country, at the very least, familiarize yourself with the emergency passport process. It's as easy as visiting your country's embassy website. The website will not only educate you on the procedure but will also have the downloadable forms you will need to complete.
  13. Are you open to Airbnb as well? We stayed in an Airbnb in Monti the week before our transatlantic. Super convenient location. Everything was within walking distance. Fantastic apartment for under 200 a night. I wish I was there right now! (The body on the bed did not come with the apartment. That is my jet-lagged husband who fell asleep while I was talking to our hostess.)
  14. I booked it on May 11, 2023. The tour was on November 3, 2023. I was just looking up the name of the tour to see if I remembered the group size right, and like you said, it's not there! I checked multiple dates for the same excursion on other sites (e.g. Viator, The Rome Guy) as well, so you must be right about the Museum revamping their offerings.
  15. Thank you for the compliment and the comments on my post. I'm starting to think I should get permission to cross-post (which I believe is against the rules). If I could, I would include not only my story but the posts that followed. Everyone here has added valuable advice and perspective. I'm with you about France's prohibition on emergency passports. Surprised but not surprised.
  16. We booked our small group tour (max 20) through the Vatican Museum website. We chose the tour that included an after-hours tour of the Sistine Chapel. It is my understanding that this particular tour is not offered daily, and it sells out quickly because the number of groups that can be in the chapel during this small window of time is limited. Our guide told us the maximum is 80 people. I can't say how far in advance this tour sells out. I booked early November tickets in the beginning of May and I never checked back to find out when the tour stopped being available on the website.
  17. Space on the card! Amen. There's no denying having space on the card is a game changer. The funny thing is, when I traveled abroad as a young adult, I found myself in some tough situations due to a lack of funds, and as a result there were times I didn't eat, I hitchhiked or walked, and I slept in the cheapest hostels I could find without regard to safety or cleanliness, but though I can pretty much do whatever I want now, when this happened to me, my default mode was to walk instead of ride and to eat, sleep and fly as cheap as safely possible.
  18. Excellent advice. On every point, I completely agree. The thing about the carabiner or safety pin, that is exactly what I was planning to do before we left our Airbnb but I foolishly gambled on the fact that we were only going to be on the train for one stop, and I could just keep a hand on my bag. Someone on the ship told me that when she and her sister were in Spain, her sister had a similar thing happened to her only it was hard pinch to back of her arm instead of a shove.
  19. Ugh, I'm with you on having wanted to go after that guy. I know I would have wanted to beat him with my shoe if I caught up to him. I have to laugh at your signature line about passport photos. I didn't include it in my account, but when I left the Embassy to go to the Metro station to get my picture taken, it was chucking down rain, and I had no umbrella! You can easily imagine how horrid my passport photo turned out.
  20. Two months ago, on the morning of embarkment day, I was pickpocketed on the Metro in Rome. Because of my lack of diligence (I opted for a crossbody Baggallini handbag instead of an under-the-shirt pouch), I fell prey to the famous 3 person (maybe 2) pickpocket scheme that involves physically distracting the victim so an accomplice can quickly and stealthily grab whatever's easy to snatch from the victim's handbag. In my case, it was the euros I needed to pay someone on our cruise for a group excursion he arranged and, more importantly, my passport. That being said, this post is not about crime in Rome or how to protect yourself from becoming a victim. I'm here to share my experience as a cruise passenger who had to deal with being denied boarding due to lacking a passport. First, here's what happened. My husband and I spent the week before our TA in Rome. The morning of embarkation, we needed to meet up with the other people with whom we were sharing a shuttle from Rome to Civitavecchia. Our meeting place was very close to Termini station. Since our Airbnb was mere steps from Cavour station, we hopped on the Metro. The train was crowded, but we managed to snug into a bit of space near the door. I only had a carry-on suitcase, a backpack and my crossbody Baggallini handbag, so I straddled my suitcase, used my left hand to steady myself and rested my right hand on my zipped up, crossbody handbag. When the train stopped at Termini Station, I was jostled roughly by an exiting passenger. At same time I was reacting and regaining my balance, someone else must have zipped open and made a quick grab from my purse. Maybe, the same person zipped it closed or maybe another person did. It wasn't until we were at the McDonald's (don't judge, the cappuccino is good, cheap, and served in a china cup) in Termini Station, when I went to extract some euros, that I discovered my cash was gone. Fortunately, my credit card and driver's license were still safely stored in a different pocket of my handbag. For some reason, it didn't register that my passport was missing. We were bummed about the cash but knew nothing could be done about its loss. We had our breakfast, met up with our group, and were none the wiser about the passport until we got to the cruise terminal. When we arrived at the cruise terminal, dh and I handed our suitcases to the porter and prepared to enter the terminal. That is when I discovered my passport was also missing. This is the point in the story when most people I've told it to say something to the effect of, "OMG, you must have been freaking out!" Not really. I've never been that kind of person. My immediate response was, I'm definitely not going to be boarding this morning so we better find a Celebrity representative to help us navigate next steps. Step 1. Find the right person It was easy to find the right Celebrity employee to help us with my situation. Once I explained to security outside the terminal doors that I didn't have my passport, we were handed over to a Celebrity security person who would attend to us inside the terminal. She escorted us into the terminal waiting area where she suggested our checked bags be returned to us so we could search them. I wanted to skip that step since I knew it was a waste of time, but we definitely were going to need them back if we couldn't get on the ship anyway. She left us in the waiting area in order to track down our bags. While we were waiting for the checked bags to be returned, dh and I discussed my predicament. I convinced him that it would be best if he boarded the ship (with all our luggage except my backpack) and I boogied back to Rome to get an emergency passport at the American Embassy and meet up with the ship as soon as I could. With that decision made, I went to look for our designated Celebrity representative to get an update on our bags. At least an hour had passed by then. As it turned out the bags still hadn't been located. I asked if we could forget about locating the bags and just move forward with my situation as a passenger without a passport. She seemed strangely relieved to be released from the responsibility of finding our luggage. Step 2. Documentation of denial to board. After we established that I was not boarding, the representative took all my booking information. (There might have been a form for me to fill out, but I don't remember.) and instructed me to return to the waiting area. After that, dh and I parted ways. I made him promise to have a really good time while he had the whole room to himself and to enjoy having no one to nag him not to go crazy with the drink package. Once he left, I sat for a long time - until boarding was closed. Then the representative gave me my official letter with the emergency travel phone number written on it. She explained that my next step was to file a police report, either in Civitavecchia or in Rome. After that, I was to take the denial to board letter and the police report to the American Embassy in Rome to apply for an emergency passport. She informed me that the Embassy would be closed for emergency situations by the time I got to Rome (Emergency services are from 8 am - 12 pm) but once I had my emergency passport and had made travel arrangements to meet the ship in whichever port I was going to board, I was to call the phone number written down on the letter. Step 3: Police Report. The Celebrity representative informed me that there was a police station less than a mile from the cruise port and only a couple blocks from the train station, so I decided I would make my report there before boarding a train back to Rome. I should have asked her for directions to the police station since there was no wifi in the terminal to look them up the address or directions. I probably would have found the station eventually, but fortunately, I met a nice port employee on the shuttle from the pier to the port entrance who offered to walk me most of the way to the station since she was going that way on her way home. I arrived at the station hungry and tired, but luckily it was a slow crime day, and I didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes for an officer to take my report. He didn't speak English and I speak only a little Italian, so we mostly communicated using Google Translate on our cell phones. He provided me with a formal copy of the report and sent me on my way. Step 4. Apply for an Emergency Passport. It was about 4:30 pm by then. After leaving the police station, I walked to the train station where I got a bag of peanut M&M's and train ticket back to Rome. Since I wasn't going to be able to apply for an emergency passport until the next day, I used my time on the train and the free wifi to search hotel options close to the American Embassy and to research the emergency passport process on the Embassy website. As one would expect, I wanted to be well prepared to hit the ground running the next day. Applying for an emergency passport wasn't so bad. It was just a little more complicated than a visit to the Motor Vehicle Administration since there were more steps involved than taking a number, waiting my turn, and then walking up to the counter to submit my forms and pay the fees. First of all, there was security inspection before I entered the building. I had to surrender my phone, tablet and backpack. I was allowed to keep my small handbag though. Also, when it was my turn to approach the counter to submit my completed application, paying the fee and leaving with my document was not the next step. Instead, I was to submit my application (and police report) and return to the seating area to wait while my application was reviewed. Once it was reviewed, I was called up to a different counter to be interviewed and take an oath. I think I signed something, too. Once that was completed, I crossed the room to the clerk's counter to pay the fee. Then, I was to take my receipt and passport photos back to the counter where my approved application was, so that the new passport could be made. This is where I hit a little snag. I didn't have passport photos in hand, and unfortunately, the photo booth in the building was broken. Apparently, this happens often, because the clerk didn't hesitate to tell me that there was a photo booth at the Metro station, about 4 blocks away. She assured me that as soon as I returned with my photos I could come right back to her counter even if there was someone there with her. She wasn't lying. As soon as I returned with my photos, she waived me right over. Now that she had all she needed from me, she informed me that it could be up to a couple hours before my passport was ready, so I should return to the seating area. I was surprised when it only took 20 minutes. All said and done, I was in and out in about 2-1/2 hours. I entered the security line at 7:40 am, entered the building at 8:30 am and was on my way by 10:30 am. Step 5. Travel arrangements to meet up with the ship With my emergency passport in hand, I hiked to Termini station in order to catch the train to the airport. Logistically speaking, I could have made it to the cruise port in Toulon where the ship would be docked until 4:00 that day, but any little delay -train, plane or taxi- would have jeopardize that. It was a moot point anyway since France is one of the few European countries that doesn't recognize a US emergency passports. I wouldn't be allowed in the country anyway. I learned that at the embassy. So, instead, while riding the train to FCO airport, I booked a flight to Mallorca -the next port of call after Toulon- for later that night and a hotel near the port. I also called Celebrity to inform them that I would be boarding the ship in Mallorca. Step 6. Meeting the ship. That night I flew to Mallorca and stayed in a hotel that was technically within walking distance of where the ship would dock the next morning. I did walk, and it didn't kill me, but it was a LOT farther than it looked, and I wasn't in the right shoes for a 2 mile trek. To add insult to injury, the port is pretty big, and I walked to the wrong cruise terminal where I was given directions to what also turned out to be the wrong terminal before heading in the right direction. I was hot, thirsty, hungry and foot sore by the time I reached the ship, but once I reached the gangway boarding was as easy as announcing my arrival to the gangway attendant and waiting for the senior security officer to come down, confirm my identity and clear me to board. This ordeal -if I can even call it that - could have been a lot worse. Once we got home, I applied for a regular passport, which I didn't have to pay for since I had already paid the replacement fee for the emergency passport. It came in the mail 2 or 3 weeks later. Now, I'm dealing with a trip insurance claim, and that seems to be taking a lot more time and effort. LOL. Maybe, I'll share that experience once it's completed.
  21. I watched/listened to it last night. I enjoyed it, and I didn't feel like it was any longer than previous Webinars, but I needed to mute it once "Um" guy started talking. I don't remember his name. I appreciate all his hard work, but sorry, too many "ums" just drive me nuts.
  22. We are currently in 9065. Noise from above is not a problem. Noise from across the hall is. The crew access door is being opened and shut almost constantly except from late at night until early morning. It's way too busy in this corridor for me to recommend the location to anyone.
  23. You and me both. We're on the Constellation right now. Like a lot of passengers, we have a late morning flight to catch. Oh, well. It is what it is.
  24. I agree but I will add this. My kids, who are adults now, have never been to Disney World, but they have been on several Disney cruises. If you ask them your question, without hesitation they would tell you the "magic" was still there for them at 16 as it was when they were little. The only kid who had a less than spectacular time was our oldest, who, on our last Disney cruise was 20.
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