GeezerCouple

Hi LHT28, My query was in response to ChadNKate's comment, which seemed to apply to recent changes on Riviera's spa deck. GC

A few years ago, we spent about 2 weeks in Japan, including some major cities, and also some relatively off the beaten track. In all but one case, our large bags were sent ahead, the evening before, so we just kept and used our carry-on, and then brought that with us. The one place where we didn't do that was for the two nights we spent at a Buddhist Monastery. So we had the large bags sent to the *next* place, and just used our overnights for the stay. The service (forgetting its name) has a logo that includes a cat carrying a kitten by the scruff of its neck, and we had glimpses of those small trucks almost everywhere if we bothered to look and notice. SO convenient! The only other place I remember having that luxury without special arrangements was when we took the scenice (Oh SO scenic!) train from Oslo to Bergen. Our bags were waiting for us in the hotel in Bergen. Nice. GC

Bringing back memories... On Noordam Nov/Dec, 2019, Auckland to Sydney. Loved it! Thanks. 🙂 GC

We don't do (or "we do", depending upon item/activity) many of those things no matter where we are. GC

They changed the Therapy Pool on the Riviera? If so, are there any current photos? We made very good use of that... nice a warm, and not an "enclosed feeling" like with a shared "whirlpool tub". In fact, even better, there was almost never anyone in there with us! GC

Jersey42 raises a very important point! In some cases, and possibly often when from the cruiseline or another vendor (bundled with a trip), if you look at the wording, it may not include the word "insurance". It may be a vacation "protection" offer or perhaps some sort of "guarantee/assurance", etc. IF it does *not* include the word "INSURANCE", chances are very good (er, bad!) that it is not, in fact, insurance. The same protections don't apply, and it's also likely that the "terms" are quite different if one compares carefully. In that case, not only is the traveler probably getting less helpful "coverage", but the state insurance commissioner's office/etc., probably won't be able to help, as it wouldn't be "regulated insurance". We have always purchase our travel insurance from a third party vendor (in our case, Travel Insured, through TripInsuranceStore) after reading about all of this almost 10 years ago, just before our first "big trip" (non-business trip!) after our honeymoon. And thank goodness, as that cruise/resort combo was cancelled at almost the very last moment, and was one of our largest claims. Anyway, for several years, neither of us realized that we had "insurance" but some of the other types of "coverages" being discussed here might *not* be actual "insurance". I had just assume it was ALL "insurance"! Point is, if the "coverage" isn't insurance, it also isn't "regulated", so I suppose anything goes, or, at least, anything the vendor can get away with...? We were lucky with that first claim. We had insurance that covered pre-existing conditions. We aren't sure if what happened was or wasn't due to a pre-existing condtion, but we can very easily imagine that a vendor would try to claim it was, and we'd have a hard time proving otherwise. Fortunately, when we spoke with TIS folks (several times!), they mentioned that, among other things. Given that we both have assorted "things" that developed as we, er, "grew up" 😉 we made certain that all of our travel insurance covers pre-existing conditions, full stop. It's difficult enough that the actual insurance can be difficult to understand at first, but add to that the coverages that aren't even actual insurance, and the situation is just asking for confusion or worse! NOTE: That Carnival link Jersey42 included above leads to a description of "Carnival Vacation Protection". The first one listed is: "TRIP CANCELLATION (*Cancellation Fee Waiver Program non-insurance feature provided by Carnival Cruise Line)" The next part listed *is* "travel insurance". The third part listed is, again, "non-insurance services..." GC

Do notify Oceania in advance. We've found them to be *very* careful about dietary allergies/restrictions. So give them advance notice so they can be prepared.as well as possible. (We've found them very responsive to special requests that weren't medically necessary, but "just a preference".) I'm sure there are some others here who can tell if decafe is always just as available as regular. And I'll ask DH. (He sometimes drinks decafe at home, but I don't know if he did that on any cruises.) GC

Oh... so good to know! We were on the Trollfjord, and have such good memories. We'll look into these! 🙂 GC

With timing like this, I'd forget the "Oceania logistics". The *last* thing I'd want, IF we were trying to get that flight, is to have to wait for a bus/van to fill up with others, and then perhaps make several stops at the airport or go to one main stop that might not be near *your* terminal. It might not be a huge airport in this case, of course. IF you really want to try for that flight (and I am NOT familiar with the area/airport to have any specific knowledge), I'd suggest trying to be among the first off, and head straight to a taxi, and then to the airport. Things might go like a charm, early arrival/clearing/etc. Or not. However... we would be fully prepared to miss the flight, knowing that we gave it the best try possible, *if* we were going to give it a try. We personally always allow extra time, not only so we don't have to rush, but if we are in a foreign area, there *will* be something to occupy us for another day or two, so we might as well enjoy it while there! No need to rush or to stress about it during the cruise. Win/win. And we have the same approach prior to a cruise. We always arrive comfortably in advance, at least one night, and often several, depending upon whether we are making the area "part" of the trip. "Worst case"? How about a visit to the Blue Lagoon to relax the rest of the day! 🙂 Or find something that appeals to you, of course. Good luck! GC

DH, the coffee connoisseur of our household, loves Baristas, on the Riviera (that's the only O ship we've sailed, and we love it). The Barista at Baristas tends to get to know him, and after asking for the same thing a few times, and then the Barista would ask DH when he walked in, soon it became just if DH smiled and nodded. 🙂 And... Baristas tends to have some very nice biscuits, pastries... etc. Am I remembering correctly that they had Madeleines, or is that wishful thinking? Possibly chocolate Madeleines?? (I used to make those, but I don't find them elsewhere, and being a card-carrying Chocoholic...... 😉 ) DH would often return from Baristas with a treat for me. Or several! And then there is the surf and turf at Waves. I remember reading about that before our first O cruise, and wondering what all the commotion was about. Well...!! Yes indeed! Yum! There have been some other threads here about the general food. We wouldn't be surprised if things aren't quite up to par due to the various Covid issues. We also happened to find some of the Specialties, well, special. Another "thing" I kept hearing about before our first O cruise was the "Sea Bass" at Red Ginger. Oh my... Oh, I miss all of that.... hopefully we'll be back soon... ENJOY all of it! GC

And... the travel agent is NOT an insurance specialist, travel or otherwise. Would you prefer to purchase home or car insurance from the home builder or auto manufacturer, or from an insurance agent/broker who specializes in that type of insurance? We strongly recommend using a broker. They will not be bound to one particular insurer, so they have more flexibility in helping you compare different policies and figure out which fits your particular need best. GC

We simply tell any food prep situation (restaurant, cruise...) that although A (DH) and B (me) are indeed food allergies, that "cross contamination is NOT a problem" and that separate prep is NOT needed... we just can't have 'pieces' of A/B on our plate. But in general, for food allergies, they probably still need to do at least some separate prep... they can't extract extra salt once the dish is made, nor bother taking out sesame seeds from <whatever>, etc. I suspect that they want to be overly cautious rather than the reverse, and especially with certain allergies that can have life-threatening reactions. "Tree nuts" and "shellfish" allergies *can* be of that dire type, even if they aren't in your situation. I can understand them being careful. Also, there's a reasonable chance that there are others who may need the same special prep, and if so, that's going to happen anyway. My food allergy is an unusual one, so it's unlikely others would have the same request/need. Fortunately, it's an ingredient I can usually "see", so what I usually need to do is avoid things like "mystery meat loaf", which isn't something I'm likely to order anyway. 😉 DH's is an ingredient that can't be "seen", so he does need to rely upon the prep. And we ALWAYS remind the waitstaff when we give a food order, and we ALSO always ask, "This is the <RESTRICTION> RIGHT?" when it is served. Better safe than sorry! GC

You should find out *exactly* what is included in the ceremony/etc., or if any extras are available with or without extra cost (if there are any you want). Will there be others with you, for example? More importantly, ONLY *you* can decide if it's "worth the charge" to *you*, especially since you don't know the preferences or price points/income/etc., of others here. $250 sounds pretty inexpensive for a private, special celebration of a meaningful occasion, but again... what does it include? GC

[emphasis added] Ah, thanks. I misread what you had written as meaning that flights couldn't land *between* 0432 and 0602, which seemed very odd indeed. What time do the noise restrictions begin, and are they staggered at all, like for the flights that can land between 0432 and 0602? Many thanks, as always. The information you share with us is very much appreciated, and also interesting! 🙂 GC

Okay, I'll bite! I understand the situation about slots available, regardless of whether it's due to weather or staffing or whatever. However, IF it's staffing and starting times/etc., shouldn't that be incorporated in the scheduled departure/arrival time? Weather delays or snafus at the airport, yup, understand that. But I'm intrigued: What is special about "between 0432 and 0602"? I knew there were night restrictions, but I definitely assumed they started well before 0432. And also, what's with the "2". Thanks! Curious GC 😉

Call the airline. They can (or most can/will?) help with special seating requests for medical/disability reasons. They will typically also let someone traveling with you sit next to you. But call soon. Some airlines block some seats for this purpose, so you may not see the availability on the seating chart. (Bulkhead for wheelchair, etc.) But they may release those seats as the flight date approaches, rather than risk having them remain empty. Make SURE that you see the appropriate reservation in your email/ticket, and it's the correct seating. GC

Hmmmm... I had no idea about this little discount. Too bad we didn't know about it before, but thus far, we've only been on one HAL cruise... and we LOVED IT! The only reason we haven't been back yet is...Covid... I ended up sick, but that wasn't until the last day or two of our time in Sydney. I was carried off our our plane from Hong Kong [want a fast way through an airport?] in mid-December, 2019, and spent 10 days in hospital on oxygen. I was diagnosed with RSV (which we'd never previously heard of, and now everyone knows about it), but... we'll never know if maybe, just maybe, I also had a little "something else", given the timing and travel... 😡 Anyway, at least we'll know for the future. (But we were so thrilled with the Lincoln Center Stage, and that's not going to be the same regular, which might make a difference. However, the main call is always the itinerary!) GC

Yikes! 😱 I'm glad we've both escaped from your clutches... We'll be keeping an eye out for YOU! 😡 GC

You keep complaining about the "difficulty in collecting" without recognizing that there are a few common reasons for the times claims are denied. 1) The "event" causing the loss was never covered by the insurance in the first place. This requires careful reading of the policy, or discussions with a *good* agent or broker. We feel that a broker is best, as they can help one compare policies to help find the best fit, rather than needing to sell coverage from one insurer. 2) Receipts aren't sent. The insurers have a right to documentation that the claims are valid, to do their best to prevent fraud. 3) Refusal to release medical records. IF someone has a policy with any medical restrictions, that means that IF there is a claim based on a medical reason, the insurer can - and probably will - need to double check that the claim isn't based on something restricted. If one doesn't want to submit former records, get a policy without any medical restrictions (get the waiver of the pre-existing condition exclusion). Then what was in your old records is simply irrelevant. 4) Use an insurer that doesn't have a history of making collecting on claims difficult. Also, working with an agent/broker can help here IF there are any snafus about collecting. (There is no extra charge to use an agent or a broker.) We are among those who have had quite a few claims, something we certainly wish had not needed to happen. They have ranged from a few big ones to medium, and a few small claims. It's the big ones that matter. Yes, we can "afford" to lose the trip costs. We wouldn't have paid for the trips if we couldn't have afforded them. However, we do NOT relish the thought of "paying yet again" to take that trip that we paid for but didn't get to take. Some of these are well into 5 figures. Our first "big trip" since our honeymoon some years ago, was a cruise shortly after we discovered CC. Fortunately, we also discovered Travel Insurance here! [Thank you again!!] At the last moment, we had to cancel everything, with zero refund with *everything* already paid. All we can say is that as we did our "alternate travel" among medical providers, several times we looked at each other and murmured, "Thanks *goodness* we won't need to pay AGAIN to take this trip later!" We are convinced that if we had lost that amount, we probably would have been so turned off that we may never have. booked a "big trip" again, or certainly not one with non-refundable costs. And... we would have missed out on some of our very best life experiences! Some of the trips we since took were... VERY SPECIAL to us. Incredible. We would have missed out on so much had we decided, "no more expensive travel for us!" The *only* claim we had "trouble with", and never collected" was for the *tip* on two small taxi fares. I didn't get receipts! Duh on me! Nope, I didn't fight the insurer. It was such a tiny sum, and I learned, yes, GET those receipts, even the little ones. Total was less than $10 for both tips. Again, *not* worth the aggravation of arguing, so we'll never know if we could have "won". This is of a total well into 5 figures, with none of that total needing any argument. None. And for all of the rest of the claims, there was never a reason to complain in the first place! And nope, we do not remember the "color of the check" they sent. The checks tended to arrive within just a couple of weeks (2 or 3) of submitting the claims plus all documentation. The checks cleared, which is more important than the color of the check stock. [For those now following, jclinard tends to comment in travel insurance complaints that he only wants to hear from those who know the color of the check that the insurer uses. I understand his more general point, and I AGREE. It's of limited help knowing about the "customer service" if no claim has been made. However, IF there is any difficulty at the purchasing step, I certainly wouldn't be inclined to use that insurer, lest things be similar or worse if there were to be a claim! It is indeed how a CLAIM is handled that matters. That, PLUS... any assistance that is needed mid-trip, such as when one is in hospital in a foreign country, or such.] The point is: Make sure you are getting the *right* coverage, and from an insurer who is known to pay promptly and without nonsense. It IS that simple. Despite our satisfaction with our travel insurance (all through Travel Insured, purchased through TripInsuranceStore.com), we do wish we had never needed to make those claims and that we could instead be "complaining" that we had "not needed" the insurance! But alas, one can't know that in advance... 😉 GC

We both disagree about that RT. DH wasn't sure about doing it both ways. The reason that we decided to do the RT instead of one way was that we were on an Astronomy sailing, and one of our goals was to see the Northern Lights, although there is never any certainty. As it turned out, it was very clouding the *entire* time sailing North! However, aside from continuing to hope we'd see some Lights on the SB sailing, we just LOVED the scenery. It was beyond amazing. We couldn't get enough of it, wherever we looked. And some of the small port towns were so picturesque. The entire area is just gorgeous, breathtaking. After a couple days SB, the clouds parted. 🙂 GOOD thing we already knew that the human eye rarely (ever?) sees the incredibly vivid colors of the Northern Lights that are shown in photos. We saw some dramatic "designs", including the "curtain" waving a bit. It was amazing, but there were no vivid colors... at least there were some, how to put it, dim colors. Dim. Very dim. Almost, "is that some *color* over there!?" 😀 Fortunately, the Astronomer with our group was taking *lots* of photos, and he also had a bunch of even better photos from a previous "Astronomy" sailing. But we couldn't get enough of the landscapes, the scenery, etc. We had chosen very late Feb/early March, precisely because there should be lots of snow. (We chose a very early Alaska sailing, too, the first of the season the year we did that, also so we'd see maximum "snow capped peaks", etc.!) And we'd love to go back! It was that special. And of course, that train ride, through that middle area (I don't know what it is called) where it seems other worldly. We were expecting something special, but it still took our breath away. Okay... I've rambled on enough. We were *not* sorry we did the full round trip! GC

Thanks so much. We are among those who really enjoy the tub (well, *I* do, anyway!). Did they also leave the huge walk-in closet, or has that been replaced, too? It's difficult to tell for sure from the photo. Thanks again! And yes... er, no... that carpet!?! GC

We didn't do this. However, when we went for our appointment at our local major airport, we had waited for a very long time. This was early in the process, so lots of people were signing up. (This was not air-side; it was the public area of the airport.) We showed up, and at the end of a short hallway, there was a solid wood door, with a modest label on it, and no instructions. There were several benches in the hallway, so we just sat down. No one else showed up, leaving or to wait. After a while, we wondered whether we were supposed to knock on the door, or just try to walk in...? But given how hard it had been to get appointments, we weren't even sure we were in the right place. We expected to see others queueing up, too. About the time we decided, "Maybe we *should* knock on the door!", someone opened the door, looked at us, and said our names. In we went. While there, during a bit of chit chat time (it was only us and several agents!?), we asked if we could have "just shown up" some weeks or months earlier, given the difficulty getting appointments and the lack of other applicants. They said that would have been fine, but there would be no guarantee they'd have time for walk-ups. That was when we mentioned there were no instructions about whether to walk in, or knock on the door, etc., and they seemed to be surprised by the suggestion to put a note up, either way. (!) So if you are *there* anyway, I'd give it a try, as long as not succeeding wouldn't be a serious problem. GC

Yes, and I didn't intend to make light of all of the adjustments that cruising (and travel in general) tend to try to make to help those who need any sort of special accommodations. It's really remarkable already, and I'm sure it will be better and better. We had already decided, quite some time ago, that IF the only way we could continue to travel would be to have some sort of assistant join us, then we'd do that! There were some discussions here on CC several years ago about agencies/etc., who could help with that assistance if someone didn't already know someone who could help. Time will tell. GC

Yup, a really special way to start the day. 😡 (And, well, some of us will be there in less than 20 years.) Could have been phrased, uh, slightly more delicately, without losing much... The more interesting issue is how cruising (whatever that will look like in 20 years!) and travel more generally will be for the very elderly and otherwise frail/etc. My new robotic foot will probably be much better than the one I broke while doing competitive ballroom dancing a few years ago! Maybe I'll have a matching pair! But with my new personal jetpack, who will need feet then? 🤣 GC

We are mid/very late 70s. So in 20 years.... alas... However, IF we could, we certainly would!! GC