MMastell

Is the Suite Beverage Package included if a discount is applied? I just booked a sailing in an S1 and the agent said there was no package when she applied my State discount even though she said it was included when I started to make the reservation.  I'm curious but wouldn't cancel because the discount is far more than the beverage package.

5 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Just make sure she buys some waterproof pants for wet landings, a merino sweater, thermal underwear and liner gloves. All the rest is superfluous.  

We live in Minnesota and we'll enjoy the 35F January temperatures in Antarctica. Cold weather gear is not a problem. 🙂

Thank you for sharing this. We will be doing Antarctica in January '21.  It was very informative and I love your humor.  My wife and I are long time cruisers with over 60 sailings under our belts. Antarctica will be our last continent to visit. We have sailed on many lines and book aft balconies or suites but this is our first "ultra luxury" experience and, mostly my wife, worries about not fitting in or spending $5,000 for more clothes. We dress according to the dress code, converse on most topics and know the difference between a salad fork and dinner fork. 🙂 I know we will have a great time and I'll be the one in the "off the rack" suit or blazer. My wife will probably go out and spend the $5000 + for new outfits. 🙂                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Mike

If you have a passport you will never have to worry about Enhanced DL, Birth Certificate,divorce papers ever again. I'm a strong passport advocate.

Take care 

Mike

I'm happy to hear they have Don Julio Reposado. My wife doesn't drink much but she does like a shot of tequila.

Take care, 

Mike

I was looking at the Seabourn site today and saw that my V3 suite, on the Quest 1/13/21 cruise, had dropped by $2,970 pp.. Called my TA and now have that price. It pays to keep checking. That $6,000 will pay for the airfare.

Take care,

Mike

Credit card insurance is not the best. Pre-existing conditions are not covered by Chase SP, Amex Platinum, etc.. I always have private insurance to cover me.  

Take care,

Mike

On 10/8/2019 at 3:55 AM, plane7c said:

I am booked on the April 5  2020 cruise from Manaus to Miami.  The first Seabourn air arrangement had me fly from Newark to Miami on April 3 then Miami to Manaus arriving at 12:10 a.m. the morning of April 4.  The cruise starts on April 5 so I asked what I was supposed to do until then.  Seabourn booked me in a superior room at the Quality Hotel in Manaus for $589.  I objected to those arrangements.  The second Seabourn air arrangement has me fly from Newark to Miami on April 4 and then from Miami to Manaus overnight arriving in Manaus on April 5 at 7:45 a.m. Group transfer from airport to ship.  

When I booked this cruise on August 1, Seabourn told me I needed a visa to enter Brazil but I informed them that as of June 17, 2019, US citizens no longer need a visa to visit Brazil.  Seabourn then confirmed that was so.  I am concerned about having to get a Yellow Fever vaccination for Devils Island.  Would those of you who have taken this cruise tell me about that?

Looking forward to sailing on the Amazon river and thanks for recommending the Amazon dance show. 

Is that $589 Brazilian Real or American dollars?  You can book an executive suite $117/night USD. I've stayed there and it's on par with a standard Sheraton or Radisson. It also had a nice Continental breakfast with a vast array of fruits, cheese and meats. We did find that a number of staff,even Customer Service, spoke little or no English. Thankfully my wife is fluent in Portuguese.

I would speak with Seabourn about that price and see if they lower it or cancel the hotel and book it yourself.

Take care,

Mike

Iguacu Falls are gorgeous and if you give yourself enough time you can easily do it on your own for less than $2,000 per person. That includes air, hotel, rental car, helicopter tour and boat tour.  Plan on spending two to three days to experience the falls and the surrounding area. There can be flight delays and the weather is unpredictable but rarely rains for the entire day take these things into account so you don't miss the ship. Once you experience the falls you will never forget it.

Take care,

Mike

An Invicta watch is not the best choice.. I purchased one and it stopped  working after six months. 

Because they're not.

Art auctions. are the worst. Others mentioned are right up there.

Take care,

Mike

On 7/17/2019 at 5:25 PM, 2SailingNomads said:

The Odyssey does not have a hardened hull, the Quest is the ship that does and currently sails to Antarctica, at least until the new Venture true expedition ship comes on-line.

Yes: I got the two confused.

Take care,

Mike

I hope she will be doing the Antarctica route in 2020 and 2021. 

Take care, Mike

Does anyone have an idea when the 2021, Antarctic Journey schedules will be available? 

Thank you.

Take care,

Mike

Have a cocktail in the atrium bar and toast the cruise. then to the room and unpack carryons. Then we hit Guy"s or the buffet. 

Take care,

Mike

I picked up another 200 shares on Friday. It will probably drop a bit more but I think the future looks good.

Take care,

Mik

My wife and I were on the previous cruise.  The Transatlantic from Barcelona to Port Canaveral.  Our cabin steward was great but the understaffing was present there.  The shortage of bartenders and servers in the bars was ridiculous.  The wait was terrible at the Martini Bar, O'Sheehan's and the Pool Bar.  We were also quite disappointed with downgrade in quality and selections in the specialty restaurants.  Cagney's and Le Bistro were very disappointing compared to our previous visits.  BTW: We are Platinum and have sailed Epic before. We'll try another NCL cruise but we're done with Epic.

Take care,

Mike

I don't understand why people are so worried about the cancellation and interruptions part of the travel insurance. The worst that will happen is that you don't go the cruise and you lose the money. Don't get me wrong, you should have insurance that covers the cost of the cruise and some sort of trip interruption. Losing the cost of the cruse is just losing money you've already spent.

What is going make an impact into the family fortune are the medical and repatriation. These costs can hit six figures depending on what your condition is and where you need to be evacuated from. I became severely ill in Mexico and the wonderful doctors made it even worse. I had a five day hospital bill of $28,000 and repatriation of $40,000. Luckily, I didn't need a private plane or it would have been close to $100,000. My Allianz policy covered everything.

Foreign hospitals charge you full price and most do not negotiate so you better have travel insurance.

I've said for years that anyone traveling outside of the country is a fool for not having travel insurance with at least $100,000 in medical and repatriation and I stand by that.

BTW: Most credit card travel insurance, including Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve and Amex Platinum do not cover pre-existing conditions. I have Chase Preferred and Amex Platinum and just today when I called Chase for another issue, they went over the benefits of Reserve and it doesn't cover pre-existing.

Take care,

Mike

The first time I sailed the Epic was with my wife and sister. The bathroom setup was somewhat of a pain and I spent a lot of time on the balcony while my sister got ready or had to use the facilities.

One night my sister had a gastric problem and it woke us all up out of a sound sleep. :o:o I vowed never to sail that ship after that cruise.

Guess what? Never say never. My wife and I have booked the November transatlantic. With the two of us there will be no issues with the bathroom configuration.

If you are with someone who you aren't completely comfortable with then I wouldn't choose these cabins.

Take care,

Mike

I really don't want to have the time I have dinner dictate my schedule. Do we want to lay by he pool a little longer? Do want to go to the early show instead of the late? Are we tired and want to eat earlier? Do we want to eat in an alternative restaurant?

Those are the things that makes having a set dining time very inconvenient. I have been cruising for over 20 years and I really disliked having to let your tablemates know, 24 hours in advance that you wouldn't be there the next night. Then telling the waiter and the Maitre 'd. Sorry, but that's a pain in the butt and we would have stopped cruising if NCL hadn't introduced Freestyle and in a few years all other cruise lines followed.

Also, there were two times we had tablemates from Hell. Or maybe one set were from heaven. They were angry that we didn't participate in their prayer service. :confused::rolleyes:

Take care,

Mike

I've been trying to figure the whole wi-fi/cell phone thing for the past day or so. I read that your smart phone can be used to make wi-fi calls without using cell towers. We tried it at home and it worked calling cell to cell. My question is does it work if you call a land line? Our dog is going to be neutered while we're on our cruise and we'll want to check on him after the procedure. We'll be at Harvest Caye the day of and Roatan the next day. I know we will have access to wi fi while at Harvest Caye and where we're going in Roatan (Infinity Bay). Will we be able to make a call from either of those places, or while on board the ship, to a land line to check on our boy?

 

Also related, we got the 250 minute perk and I see varying answers as to whether we can upgrade to unlimited when on the ship. If not, we can use the 250 minutes on one device and purchase the unlimited on the other device. How do you know when you've reached your 250 minute limit?

Just put your phone in airplane mode and use an app like; What's App, Skype or Wifi calling. No problem and I've used Skype and What'sApp numerous times.

Take care,

Mike

yes they do but very limited menu

Thank you for answering.

Take care,

Mike

Are they still serving breakfast at O'Sheehans?

Take care,

Mike

Thanks for this thread NewCruiser51912.

 

We're booked onto the 2nd Sept 2018 Mediterranean cruise and some of the threads and comments I've seen have been really down on the ship - I was starting to worry.

 

Sure she's an ugly ship - but hey it's a floating hotel with alcohol, food and entertainment in the sunny Mediterranean. What's not to like?

 

Whilst my partner and I are young and active I'm thinking that given that this is our main holiday of the year we might want to create our own sea-day. I've been to Cannes, Nice & Monte Carlo a few times - so we might skip that one.

I agree with you. I sailed on Epic a few months after her introduction into the fleet. We did a seven day cruise and I loved everything available on the ship. The entertainment was first rate. This was when they had Blue Man Group, Cirque and other shows. I was enthralled with all the dining options and Moderno, The Noodle Bar and other venues were first rate. However, I left the ship and said: "I'll never sail that ship again." The bad stuck in my mind and blocked out the good. The ship is butt ugly from the outside. It reminds me of Frankenstein of the Seas. :) The wave room design and the silly bathroom layout and semi-lack of privacy really bothered me. The smoke smell that funnels up from the casino was obnoxious and I was a smoker.

After a year or so to really think about it I found that the look didn't really bother me that much. The other big thing was that we shared the cabin with my sister and the privacy issue with the bathroom was magnified because of that. After thinking about it we decided instead of flying back from Europe in November we dumped the return flight (we just won't show) and booked the 11/4 Transatlantic. This will be just my wife and I and it will be a great way to decompress after, what I believe will be a busy six weeks touring Europe.

The morale of the story is: Never say never, again. :)

Take care,

Mike