sanger727

That may have been Gate 1's decision to ensure safekeeping of the passports. We traveled to Peru in 2021 and no hotel kept our passports. I personally have never experienced a hotel keeping our passport, other than to make a copy. Not saying it could never happen but have traveled in South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa without experiencing this.

I don't know of any of the major US based cruise lines that allow a 20 year old to sail by themselves. So, that's the first thing to look in to.

Yes, we have had this happen a few times. It's to do with what nationality you are, what ports you are stopping in, and the immigration paperwork needed. In Carribean cruises, for example, I've seen them collect non-us passenger passports. I've had mine held before in European and Asian itineraries. It helps them expedite processing the paperwork they need to do. AFAIK, if you really don't feel safe getting off the ship without your passport, you can pick them up at guest services daily to take them to shore with you and then return them when you get back.

my issue is primarily based on vision. I’ve gotten motion sick at movies several times. If I see motion but don’t feel it or don’t see motion but do feel it I get sick. So big boats are actually worse for me than small boats. You can see out the window that you are moving but can’t feel it. Have to either be on deck looking at the horizon or inside with no windows when seas are calm. When seas are rough, all bets are off 🙄

bonine is supposed to be non-drowsy. For some people it can still cause drowsiness. I like the patches for long trips and bonine for short trip. However, be aware that the patches can have much more significant and severe side effects than bonine. It's worth trying at home first, especially if he is prone to medication side effects. I rarely have medication side effects and haven't had issues with patches.

You could try MSC. They have quite a few that stop in Egypt.

All the TA's I've used have taken my CC info for the deposit and saved it on file to use for final payment. There's never been a specific authorization other than them telling you that upon booking. I'm sure that fulfills any requirements they have. Not dissimilar to when I renew my satellite radio for the year and they advise me that they will keep the card on file and auto-renew at current rates the next year.

That's true. But if that is what they meant, it's extremely misleading to even include it. It would be much simpler to say, "whether at dinner, relaxing by the pool, or out exploring". The fact that they include "in your suite" strongly implies that you can get the drink "while in your suite".

Yes, on Celebrity you can. So that would be the rationale for charging it to your account rather than giving cash.

I agree with the title of this thread but for a different reason. We booked our last cruise via a travel agent we found from an online competitive cruise pricing website. The guy was great when we asked questions and booked. Then they charged us the deposit, he never sent an invoice, and I never heard from him again. I didn't worry too much at the time, I was able to confirm with the cruise company that we were booked and our deposit was paid, we still had over a year before final payment was due. Fast forward to a month before our final payment was due. I had sent him many e-mails with no response and called him many times with no answer or call back. I started to get worried that his negligent attitude was going to lead to our final payment not getting made. The cruise line wouldn't accept payments from us directly. I called the main line for the travel agency and left a message on the general voicemail which got me a call back from someone else. She promised that our agent would call us back. Course he never did. I finally had to file a complaint with the better business bureau to get someone to call us back and take our payment information! Yes, be careful who you book with!

There were coronaviruses before 2019, not COVID-19. We have never experienced a virus before where you are forced to test, forced to quarantine, etc over a cough or a runny nose. No, it's not the same and won't be until the world has a whole accepts covid as a cold/flu and stops reacting to it.

I haven't seen this documentary, however we had our own experience with an erupting volcano. We were Hawaii in May of 2018. We took an independent tour of Volcanos National Park the day we were in Hilo. Just as a FYI, at the time there was lava flow into the water and over a residential neighborhood in Hilo, but nothing new or spectacular. The ships tour took the same itinerary we did, just a bit later. We spoke with people on the ships tour at dinner. One of the first stops was the overlook of Kileauea caldera. We learned about the history of the volcano and saw a small amount of white steam coming from the caldera. We went on to the lava tubes. We then stopped at an overlook of a crater - really no idea which one. As I approached the edge, a significant earthquake struck. Then we saw a section of the walls of one of the craters collapse. We left the area and our guide felt that it was safe to continue the tour. Earthquakes are very common there. As we were driving a stretch of roach, all the buses and vans had pulled to the side and stopped. We looked back behind us and there was billowing grey and black smoke coming out of the Kileaua caldera now. We asked our guide if that was normal and he told us absolutely not and we immediately left. I was told at dinner that the ships tour was in the lava tubes when this occurred and didn't leave the park until the rangers closed it. As we headed out of the park there was a scheduled stop at a orchid farm that we decided to make. As we were there another large earthquake hit. We were concerned that the ship might decide to leave early if conditions were too bad. He said he didn't think so unless the earthquakes occurred at sea and there was a tsunami warning. The last stop was a black sand beach. When we arrived there it was closed for Tsunami warnings. We headed straight back to the boat and made it back without issue. Luckily, as far as I know, no one was hurt. But it certainly reinforces that nothing is without risk and unexpected natural disasters can occur without warning.

Some cruise lines allow passengers to use OBC to give extra tips.

We took a southeast Asia river cruise in November/December. A link to the review is here: Any information that you specifically looking for? We did Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. All three are fully open with no vaccination or testing requirements. We were required to show our vaccination cards to Avalon. We flew from Siem Reap to Phenom Phen and boarded the ship there. I don't think sailing from Sieam Reap vs flying is a deciding factor. I would not be up for a bus ride. Also, you want to go towards the end of the dry season. Areas of the Tonle Sap that are normally flooded will be dry. If that is a deciding factor, I would make sure that they can sail from Siem Reap to Phenom Phen at that time of the year.

I really don’t think you will see any response by the crew to ‘prepaid’ service charge. If it’s pre-paid you paid. most people who don’t prepay will be charged the service charge without incident. All the same for the crew. The handful of people that reduce or remove the service charge at the beginning or mid cruise may receive a decrease in services. I wouldn’t be concerned either way as long as you don’t plan on being in the last group.

I don’t doubt that this is a difficult situation. Our cruise director first told us that we would be quarantined until we tested negative. Which, as we all know, can be problematic if you take a pcr test. Not to mention that two of the ‘positive’ people had tested negative at that point with no change in their quartine status. We finally called the embassy for answers and were told that there were no quarantine rules in Vietnam, but that could vary by city officials. Our cruise director laughed with we told him what the embassy said and was like, that might be the official policy but it’s really up to local officials. my point is that, especially if local officials are hard to predict, they have no business giving anyone a covid test without a policy on what that means. I suspect they gave it thinking we would be negative. And everyone who took it thought they would be negative. Everyone on the trip was vaccinated and boosted. And the virus spread like crazy. We all assumed it was a different respiratory virus. And it may have been.

I’m not in that age group but my parents are, including one I travel with frequently. Based on my traveling, yes, that’s about right for the over 70s I have encountered. I have no doubt that you are. But we had one trip almost ruined by an over 70 couple that was completely unable to do Peru and Machu pichu. The trip was saved by our tour guide calling a second guide to stay with them.

yes, possibly. Our cruise director kept saying that this had not happened before on Avalon. Hard to believe. But hopefully they see the importance of creating a plan now. My job at my workplace for like 2 years was managing the covid policies, quarantines, compliance, etc. So I certainly appreciate the need for isolation/quarantine. But it needs to be defined through policy. When an illness spreads through the tour, a handful of people are picked out to be quarantined; and there’s no policy on who, what, why, and how long; it starts to feel targeted. For example, at one point the ‘positive’ people asked if we could go on the sundeck by ourselves, during an excursion or dinner; a time when just about everyone would be busy. The answer was, ‘no’; and not because ‘our policy is you can’t leave your room for this many days’, it was ‘well, a negative person may not do the excursion or dinner and may way to use the sundeck’. And like I said, setting us loose in Ho Chi Minh City with directions to the central market detracted from the validity of any of the ‘rules’ they put in place.

Sorry. No. They also said there are accessible cabins available in other categories. This is the only option on a suite. If you want a specific cabin category, you have to book early - disabled or fully abled. There's no reason the OP should be stuck with an inside when they want a suite when the exact same scenario tomorrow when a disabled person goes to book. They were too late, they can take the accessible inside room.

They are just playing the same game with specialty restaurants that they do with the beverage package. The beverage package is ridiculously overpriced - but all anyone is actually paying is the gratuities. The specialty dining is ridiculously overpriced - so they can increase the gratuities they charge for the "free" meals.

So, if it is true that the only cabins left other than insides are disabled cabins, are you suggesting the able bodied person shouldn't book the cruise and instead leave that only cabins available for a disabled person? That's a wholly different situation than someone parking in a disabled parking spot. The person can always park a bit further and walk. This person can't helicopter onto the cruise every day because the only cabin left is disabled and they want to leave it open. If that's what's left they have done their due diligence.

In my experience, for every 70 year old that is fit and able; there is a 70 year old that isn't but and either lacks the self awareness or self restraint to not book activities that they can't do. Lacking a physical exam for fitness, you can't blame them for creating and arbitrary cutoff number.

I've never done Atlantis, but check out the ports of calls forum. I've seen alot of people say that they get around the Atlantis daily pass by purchasing a hotel room. I'm not sure which hotel it is, but there is one that includes 4 daily passes to Atlantis in the room rate. People book a room, take a taxi, check in and get their passes. Then go to Atlantis, check out, and get a taxi back to the ship.

You are going to exit Cambodia and enter Vietnam on 2/21. We sailed to the border the evening before. We crossed the border in the morning. It looks like you are doing the same thing.

Just something to note. Some states make it so their birth certificates can't be photocopied. We can into this when we got married in Jamaica. I was born in Kentucky and was fine. My husband was born in Ohio. His birth certificate was a replacement one he had got from vital statistics. The paper they use to print them on turn to "void" if you make a copy or scan then. We had to send copies ahead to the resort to arrange our marriage license. I ended up having to take a picture with my phone to send it to them.