sanger727

I'm not sure what the appeal is of having the buffet outdoors. Every ship I've been on has indoor and outdoor seating available for the buffet. It's much easier to have the buffet at permanent hot/cold stations where the food prep area is nearby.

You'll never get the cruise line to confirm this information. It's not their responsibility to know it. And much more importantly, If the sales office gives you the wrong information or outdated information, you still won't be able to board. As @hallasm stated, There's a huge difference between what the port agent knows on the day that you board and what the shoreside staff knows today. Plus, it could always change between today and the day you board. You are the one responsible for seeking out this information.

I talked to my travel partner about the booster and it turns out she had hers in August so we are good to go after all. Really looking forward to our trip in a few weeks!

thabks for the info. Yes, I got my flu and covid at the same time. Not sure is typhoid is a problem. I’ll let her know.

Thanks for the clarification. Can you point to where the Avalon site says that? Their pre-boarding material about it is vague. as best I can tell, the CDC only requires one booster for ‘up to date’. I think she would prefer not to get it since she just got a flu shot and we are also getting typhoid before the trip. If she doesn’t HAVE to have a booster, it’s up to her.

No. I’m speaking about someone who lives in Colorado purchasing and possessing marijuana in Colorado. Airports, seaports, anything federally controlled, and crossing state lines is federal jurisdiction. All bets are off. The person I quoted wasn’t discussing travel. Simply that possession by anyone, anywhere could lead to arrest.

I think we are primarily in agreement. The point I had made that medical marijuana wasn’t actually a prescription since marijuana isn’t fda approved. As far as being arrested federally. Maybe technically possible. But it would be extremely dicey to arrest someone federally for something that had been legalized on the state level; unless it was within a federal jurisdiction like crossing state lines. One could make a claim for constitutional violation of improper search and seizure. federal courts and prosecutors are very selective about the cases they will prosecute. I can’t believe any federal agent or court would touch a personal use marijuana charge in a legalized state.

hmm. Interesting. I stand corrected. Though to get their plan w international coverage is almost 3X what I pay now so probably not a good investment for me.

Hello. Help Needed! We leave for our Avalon Mekong cruise in a month. I received a health screening email from them that says that you must be fully vaccinated and ‘check validity dates if you vaccine because boosters may be required to keep your vaccine valid’. Are boosters required? CDC says 2 shots are ‘fully vaccinated’. Additional boosters are recommended to keep your vaccine ‘up to date’; but they don’t use the word ‘valid’ so i don’t know what Avalon is trying to say. I understand that the countries we are traveling to have their own requirements. But can anyone who has cruise recently advise what is required by Avalon for boosters? I had a booster last month but my traveling partner hasn’t had a booster recently. She *thinks* she had covid last month so wasn’t planning on getting a booster. But she didn’t get tested so she doesn’t have the 90 day thing.

When you mean your TA is "gone". Do you mean that it literally has closed up shop and gone out of business? Or you are just having trouble getting ahold of your TA. If it literally closed up shop you should be able to get HAL to take back the booking. We have an absentee TA on our November cruise. We called and called and e-mail and e-mailed with no response. Biggest problem was that our final payment was coming up and the cruise line wouldn't take payment directly from us (Avalon). I finally called and left a voicemail on the general mailbox that someone needed to call me back to arrange payment or we would complain to the cruise line. That got me a call back from another TA in the office that promised that my TA would call us back. Didn't happen. Finally registered a complaint with the better business bureau and that got the attention of the owner. We never heard back from our original TA but another one if the office helped us complete payment.

No supplement is addicting? Parents sue over son's death after he took kratom supplement - ABC News (go.com) Not sure what you mean by "no individual can legally possess marijuana". Obviously, that is not true. Given the number of states with recreational use and "medical" use.

I would really like to know what cell phone providers included free international data roaming! I've never seen that.

Geez. I'm always debating between style and comfort. Can wear a dress with a nice sweater and freeze all night or pants with a fleece and be comfortable. Usually start with the sweater and change to fleece after dinner.

Most restaurants use an electronic POS system for orders. Even if they write it on paper at your table, they go back to an electronic station to enter the order for the kitchen. It's far easier to misplace a piece of paper in the chaos of a kitchen than the electronic order that popped up on the screen. Also, those systems can separate out appetizers from mains and color codes them so the kitchen can quickly realize when they are behind. It's really the responsibility of your server to know what you ordered, keep an eye on the screen and see where your order is, and notice if something is wrong.

Just as an update. We leave on our trip 11/18. We ended up using a Visa processing service. While we couldn't confirm that evisas were not valid for our trip, since the cruise documents specifically said they weren't, we didn't want to take the chance of being denied boarding. We did confirm that the only option for Vietnam right now is an evisa, to use a Vietnamese travel agency or to use a Visa processing service. We ended up using the visa processing service. Yes, it was a hefty surcharge, but still, small in relationship to the trip price.

We like to cruise between Thanksgiving and Christmas and have found those sailings to not be crowded. They are often close to giving away Caribbean cruises in September and October since it's the height of hurricane season. We have never booked then because of that, but I assume that those sailings are also less crowded. Not sure what your goal is. Cruises usually sail full because they will give away cabins to casino customers if a sailing isn't selling well. Non-school holidays are best for less kids and fewer 3-4 person cabins - therefore overall less people. But, assume a cruise anytime of the year will sell out.

I'm really confused about what your point is. You quoted someone who said that no state allows people to smoke marijuana in places where cigarette smoking is banned. I don't think anything about this disagrees with that. What they are telling them is that they can't stop someone for smoking "marijuana" since it is now legal. That as legitimate as saying they can't stop someone for smoking "nicotine" since it is legal. That doesn't mean they can't stop someone from smoking in a place where smoking is banned. Regardless of what the person is smoking; no smoking means no smoking.

Well, remember that your guarantee cabin is a minimum. They can upgrade you. So you aren't guaranteed a Havana cabana. You are guaranteed at least a Havana cabana. They can "upgrade" you to any room that they consider is a higher level room.

I haven't used it, but it says it works includes some caribbean islands for no additional charge. Bahamas is included on that list. I agree with you about the data, that won't last long.

And the OP isn't asking about the international travel day pass. OP, I have never used this package, but according to ATT's website, you understand the cruise package correctly.

You could also check with your cruise line's board. Some lines have a texting feature in their apps that you can use without internet. Sometimes for free, sometimes for a charge. Again, everyone in your group would have to choose the same option.

Yes, you can keep your data roaming off and not purchase internet and use texting. Did you discuss the cost with spectrum? Unless they have a cruise ship plan that is considered roaming, and you will get charged per text. If you are doing a once daily check in, it's probably not a big deal. If you are texting back and forth with friends all cruise, it will add up. And they will also have to have their cell service on to get them. If they are on wifi, they won't get your sms text. If you want to text with people onboard, you should all use the same methods of connection. Also, keep in mind that if you make any calls or accept any calls that you will also be charged per minute.

I'm confused as to what your limiting factor is. Is $3,000 your budget? It sounds like you have 18 days available for this vacation. Why not include a land trip staying longer than 5 days? We did a mesh between the two. We flew to Hawaii, stayed for 5 days on our own, then boarded a Celebrity cruises which spent 6 additional days on the island. Then it cruised back for 5 days and we debarked in Vancouver.

Ok so, Yes, in theory, installing a local sim card will avoid roaming charges. You get your sim card from a phone company who provides service. Some phones are locked into a certain phone company (so if you purchased your phone from your phone company) and will have to be "unlocked" to change sim cards. I did this when traveling to australia. I had my phone unlocked before I left and when I arrived I purchase a local sim card from a local phone company. You will most likely be using a prepaid phone service with a set number of minutes and data. Keep in mind that this will change your phone number. You will now be getting service through a local phone company. However, as Bruce Muzz stated, Japan is different. You can only rent a SIM card in japan, not purchase. Same idea, you would rent it in the airport, get it prepaid for a number of minutes/data, and then return it when you leave. You would still have to have your phone unlocked before you left. You can also rent a phone in japan with a japanese sim card. This may be the simpliest solution, but I"m not sure the cost. If you are going for two weeks, it really depends on how much access you want to your phone. If you are just going to check your e-mail and facebook at the hotel, you can turn off roaming and connect to wifi. If you want around the clock phone only access - ATT provides a range of options. We did like a 30 day phone service with set amount of prepaid data and that was not significantly more than the cost of renting a sim card. If you want to use your phone there the way you use your phone here, you can turn on the daily plan or look into the sim card rental.

there are medical only policies that can be significantly cheaper than full trip coverage. We use Geoblue. Their policies are dollars a day and cover any medical issue and medical evacuation.