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Barry ATL

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    Atlanta, GA
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Celebrity

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  1. @dides, this is a great chart! It makes it easy to understand and compare.
  2. When I have had a drink package, I have found that after about three days of "trying to get my money's worth", my body tells me to stop. I mean that the thought of more alcohol is not appealing. That being said, I always carry around a napkin adding up the price of the drinks all day to make sure I am "in the good". 😄
  3. Steve at trip insurance store dot com is great! They are knowledgeable and will talk to you on the phone. I always double insure. I get a policy to cover the cruise cost with some evacuation coverage (you can never have enough of this coverage). We also add a GeoBlue policy (the Blue Cross-Blue Shield travel product). The reason for that is they are the largest insurer of ex-pats and operate like regular USA insurance. They have a worldwide network of doctors and hospitals. When you visit one of them, they will bill GeoBlue directly with nothing out of pocket. I do not have the resources to cover a $10,000 hospital bill and then wait for re-imbursement. In all, these two policies together are just a little more than what the cruise companies provide and have MUCH better coverage. By the way, Steve only represents a few companies because he has vetted them over the years. He makes sure the companies he represents will pay and have no "gotchas" in the coverage. His website has many articles that explain the different types of coverage and what they recommend.
  4. In most EU countries supper is a late meal compared to the US. I do not have kids, but I assume that means kids go to bed later than their US counterparts. In turn, that would mean kids are up later with the adults. I am just thinking out loud, but I could be wrong.
  5. I thought the same thing. I had forgotten that the cruise line stopped paying them with a promise they would get their pay when the lines started sailing again. For a lot of those crew, that money goes to their family. If you treat THOUSANDS of employees badly in a crisis, that might tend to bite you in the a$$.
  6. Streaming service Peacock releases a documentary on the Diamon Princess Covid crisis. This one is longer than the HBO one released about a year ago. and covers more of what happened off of the ship. Decider.com has a pretty good review on it at https://decider.com/2022/09/14/hell-of-a-cruise-on-peacock-stream-it-or-skip-it/ Here is a couple of partial quotes about the documentary: "Hell of a Cruise takes a bigger, broader approach to the topic, roping corporate and political bungling and malfeasance into the narrative, reaching a conclusion that’s harshly critical of decisions made at the top. And to name names, that includes an especially pointy finger pointing at Carnival CEO Arnold Donald – who, per a postscript title card, made $10 and $13 million in 2020 and 2021 respectively..." "But the overall picture is wholly damning of the Carnival Corporation. Especially egregious: The company concocting a hashtag, #HangInThereDiamondPrincess, to boost morale aboard the quarantined ship." "But the overall picture is wholly damning of the Carnival Corporation. Especially egregious: The company concocting a hashtag, #HangInThereDiamondPrincess, to boost morale aboard the quarantined ship." I just finished watching and it is very damning of the cruise lines.
  7. ANDROID: I am an android user. I know the OP is iPhone, but wanted to post for others reading this. The Android world is slowly moving to Google Messages as the default app for text messages. Samsung and some of the other phone manufacturers have begun loading Google Messages as the default text messaging app on new phones. That being said, Google Messages will work like iMessage. It works over the INTERnet to send SMS and MMS (text and picture messages). If your android phone is using a different default app, it is easy to download Google Messages from the Play Store.
  8. Several comments here mentioned Alaska, Vancouver, etc. In those areas all cruise ships have to switch over to the high obit satellites. Service will ALWAYS be dead slow in those areas. The fast internet is only on the low orbit satellites. Those are are more in the southern USA and going south (Caribbean, Latin America, Mediterranean, etc.)
  9. We have done two "last cruise" of the season trips. One on Princess and one on Celebrity. It is a great time. Our observations: Pro: --One of the few times of the year where kids are back in school in most of the world. 3000+ passengers and only 12 children. --We experienced the cold and it added to the cruise experience. Sitting on the balcony wrapped in the bedspread watching the glaciers is one of our best memories. --The ports were not crazy busy. --SALES in the stores. The ships were offloading all of the sweat shirts, etc. We loaded up on some winter wear that was cheaper than buying on land. If you are on the last cruise of the season, the ship shops must get rid of all of the winter wear by the last day of the cruise as the next cruise will be in warm weather. Con: --Had to pack for summer and full on winter. When the cruise starts in Seattle, we were in shorts and t-shirts. At the northern most point of the cruise we were in winter coats. --It is an indoor cruise for the most part. For the glaciers, many people were on deck in coats for the view. Hot chocolate was available in many places on deck. These two cruises are our most memorable vacations of our entire life. You just have to be flexible with the weather.
  10. If I am not mistaken, Margaritaville does not operate as a closed loop cruise. I think there are stricter requirements for closed loop cruises. I could be wrong. Hopefully, one of our resident legal experts can jump in. I am just curious. I again say, Carnival did a great thing.
  11. This is a great story. It also is a reminder that cruise ships can be transportation. I do have a question. The Passenger Vessel Services Act normally restrict someone getting onboard in another country when the cruise is closed loop? If so, can the cruise line get exemptions for situations like the one in this article? https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/12/us/autistic-child-family-stranded-aruba/index.html
  12. I hope those on board will tell us a little more about the transfer between ships. Did they have all of your info already loaded into the computer on the new shop? What about keycards? Same cabin numbers? How did they handle luggage? I know, a lot of questions. I am really curious about the process. I am happy the comments so far have been positive.
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