GottaKnowWhen

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Because your trip starts in a foreign country (Canada), and ends in the US, it is a foreign voyage, and not subject to the PVSA.  PVSA is only concerned with domestic voyages, ones that start and end in a US port.  Yes, your cruise would be legal for a US flag ship, again because it is a foreign voyage.  The advantage that a US flag ship would have is to be able to sail a cruise that only includes US ports (no Canadian ports), or one that started in one US port and ended in another US port, whether or not it included a Canadian port.  It is far more costly to operate a US flag vessel than a Marshall Island flag vessel, which is why Pearl Cruises has flagged the Mist there.  Because she was built in Canada, that gives the ship an advantage in becoming Canadian flag, which is also much more expensive than MI flag, but would allow the ship to cruise exclusively Canadian ports, just like the PVSA allows US flag ships to cruise exclusively US ports.

Thanks! 

4 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

As the Pearl Mist is a newer ship, and Canadian built, I'm sure ACL will retain the ship, as reflagging to Canadian would avail them of the ability to meet the Canadian Coastal Shipping Act (analogous to PVSA), and sail exclusively to Canadian ports.  Or, maintaining the Marshall Island flag would give them significant tax advantage.

 

I have no doubt that ACL, with its ambitious building program, will target the Great Lakes market, using US flag vessels where appropriate, and Canadian vessels where appropriate.  The AQV ocean ships were too old for economical usage (IMHO), and the river boats were bought at near scrap prices to keep them from competitors, while ACL powers over Viking in the US river market.

I thought I understood the PVSA etc but am now lost! I have reservations on Pearl Mist next summer, starts in Toronto, ends in Duluth, touches both U.S. and Canadian ports along the way.Would such a route be ok for a U.S. flagged ship? Is it actually ok for Pearl Mist with Canadian or whatever flag now? 

1 minute ago, Cruise Junky said:

The problem with stringing together a bunch of B2B’s is the travel time to and from embarkation ports. If you did that in the Caribbean you’d spend far too many days going to and from Ft Lauderdale rather than exploring ports.  Same with the Med. You hit the bigger embarkation ports but less time for the lesser explored.   

I agree that to/from Lauderdale can be a bummer, but it does provide extra sea days which I rate as a plus. In the Med, turnaround in Barcelona can be a good day well spent, and next-port from either Barcelona or Civitavechia will not be that far away.

1 minute ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 
You could be getting even more days on HAL with 9+12 day itineraries 

But then I wouldn't be on Celebrity. I have been on 3 Windstar and 1 Hurtigruten cruises in the last 2 years, in addition to Celebrity, so I am not totally fixed on Celebrity. Another Windstar coming this year, a 14-day Pearl Mist next year. But I have no desire to start fresh on another large-ship mass market cruise line. I'll make do with the Celebrity I know. In addition to the 19 day b2b mentioned, I'll have 7 days on Expedition later this year, and then a 37 day b2b2b on Equinox at the end of next year...

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

I was being facetious after being bombarded with daily mail about their 4/5 day cruises.  I am a big Celebrity Fan but their itineraries aren’t that interesting anymore. Hard to string 2 together in Europe that offer anything new. No more lengthy Carribean.  So as much as I prefer X as a cruiseline, HAL has far better itineraries 

I agree about longer itineraries being better in many ways. In February 2025 I do have a 10+9 b2b on Eclipse, getting my extra days that way.

I would do the Constellation. Yes, start with a few days in Rome. On the ship, don’t go to Florence from LaSpezia, instead do a tour of a couple of the Tuscan hill towns. At the end of the cruise, spend a little time in Ravenna, then take a train via Bologna to Florence and stay there at least another three days. Pre book your museum tickets in Florence to cut down on the time standing in line.

I became aware of the demise of American Queen when I got an email from them yesterday saying bye bye, so sorry, and here are links to follow to file for refunds. I was, and still am, quite puzzled as I do not now and never have had a reservation or trip with this cruise line.
I had noticed their offerings and had them in my “maybe some day” file folder, but never any customer/vendor relationship. 
I appreciate the useful discussions here!

Stan

We usually get the canapés, it adds a bit of extra adventure trying to figure out what it is that they have put on that plate! Which we almost always finish. On day 1 we have a list of items to discuss with the steward; on the list is the date/time when we would like the sparkling wine, the days when we would like the canapés (when we don't expect to off on excursion), etc. Twenty-seven cruises on Celebrity so far, never a glitch.

Stan

10 hours ago, Topless23 said:

So, we've just completed our 66th cruise. this minor review is about 6 months late, so forgive me for that.

This was #12 on Celebrity, This will be our last on this line. 

The reason may sound silly, but it's the little things that drive one nutty.

Sometime in Feb '23, while we were onboard X in an aft suite and without any kind of advance notice, Celebrity started charging $13 for room service. Didn't notice it til I checked the onboard fees a week later. Shocker!  Went to the desk to ask WTH and was informed it was a fleet wide change.

Now, we're not cheap, but after paying close to $8k for the cruise, it just irks me to have to pay $13 to have a burger delivered to the room. I don't mind the additional charge for the speciality restaurants, or for top shelf booze (on top of the included drinks package). Those are givens. 

But charging for room service is just wrong. If it's that important to the bottom line, just charge more up front. 

After the Celebrity cruise, we spent 15 days on Regent Splendor (livin in the lap of real luxury) and we just got back from 14 days on Princess. Regent doesn't charge for anything, while Princess does if you order from the TV or room phone, but if you order off the Princess app on your cell (on Medallion class ships), there is no charge, and they find you and deliver it to you wherever you are on the ship.

So, I'm done with Celebrity. It's not any better onboard than Princess or HAL, but I just can't take the cheap.

Bye.

15 minutes ago, rinshin said:

On Celebrity app, there is a wine showing I normally like.  Will they deliver this to our stateroom before the cruise to our cabin for our consumption during the cruise? Or at least during the day of our embarkation?   Not interested in taking this home as I can easily get this at home. 
 

We are bringing two better wines all the way to Amsterdam but the one wine on app is ok once our two bottles are gone.  

I am not sure where you see this in the app. But then the thread title is Gifts and Gear... I will assume you are talking about using the web site, because that is what I have used. For a 12-14 day cruise, I will often pre-order bottles of wine through the website Gifts section. And I usually pay with OBC, but sometimes I need to use a credit card. When you order, you get to specify when it should be delivered to your stateroom (i.e., what day) and your room steward will see that it is delivered. You also are asked to provide details for the gift card that goes with each bottle. So e.g. on our first cruise (mid February) I ordered my wife's favorite, to be delivered on Valentines Day, with the gift card From Me and Valentines' mushy notes. Generally, I have the several bottles all delivered on Day 1. As I recall, all the wines on the list are screw-cap, but you can request a corkscrew from the steward if the two bottles you carry aboard and/or a Celebrity wine has a cork.

Just in case, I always travel with a corkscrew bottle opener. It is plastic so no issues with security scans.

Oh, one other note... occasionally on about day 5 or 6 of a longer cruise there will be a wine sale. A couple of the servers/sommeliers will set up a table in the Oceanview Cafe and offer the usual Celebrity stock wines at 20% off. Buy one or two, they'll deliver to your stateroom later that day. But this is a sometimes thing, not something you can count on.

18 minutes ago, IpswichChris said:

Interested to see this topic - my husband & I, both in our 70s. will be there on Star Pride in late October.  I also wondered about how difficult it is.  I’m more of a sun & beach person than he is, so I’ll probably go for it while he sits it out on the ship😏

A few shots from the walk through the rocks...

Not sure “age” is a good measure. I worry more about physical mobility in these cases. As to the Virgin Gorda Bath excursion, I (78 at the time) and my wife (77 at the time, with a bad hip and gimpy knee) both enjoyed that excursion.

Stan

On 1/9/2024 at 9:50 PM, ijkh said:

In the news again Ecuador has become much less stable.   Yikes do we really want to go in September?

We are scheduled for late September 2024. Following the news reports…

17 minutes ago, GatorMomInNC said:

Thanks this is very helpful! 

We don't have a boarding time.  We weren't going to a winery, just the town of Vin del Mar as well as a drive around Valparaiso as part of a pre-boarding tour and transfer from Santiago.  Now I am wondering if we should hire a private driver and head straight to the port...  I hate to miss seeing more of Valparaiso and Chile in general, but I have yet to read one positive thing about the embarkation process at Valparaiso port. 

 

My experience in Valparaiso is dated (December 2015, on our 2nd Celebrity cruise), but that port remains vividly in my memory. We disembarked there after a 14-night cruise from Lauderdale down through the Panama Canal and along the South American coast. On arrival in Valpo, we got off (no drama), found a taxi, and went to our hotel in the heights, MM450 Hotel Boutique. Our tour guide met us there and we spent the next two days with him off and on before then going with him (and our travel companions) to Santiago with winery stops etc along the way. [From Santiago we went on to Easter Island for Christmas, but that is another story.]

My recommendation: go from Santiago with the tour you planned, but at least one day early. Once in Valpo and settled into a hotel, then (via Trip Advisor) find a walking tour. Wonderful artwork on the walls in portions of the city, spectacular views from the various ascensors which provide elevator-like transportation from below up into the city. With the tour or on your own, be sure to see Pablo Naruda's home "La Sebastiana".  For embarkation, take a taxi from your hotel mid-morning and settle into your cruise. I just checked Trip Advisor, our guide Juan Victor Reyes is no longer shown but searching for him brought up several interesting alternative walking tours.

Stan

21 hours ago, samofam said:

This is just another example of cut-backs. One of the Zenith benefits is to attend the concierge lunch usually on embarkation day. However, Zenith CC members no longer have priority embarkation.

Zenith members are now assigned a boarding time at the time of checking in online.  How is a passenger supposed  to keep the boarding time of 12.30 - 1 pm and make it to the lunch without a rush, which is basically impossible when you walk with a cane.

I reached out to retreated support and asked for an earlier boarding time and was told 'regrettably' that is not possible. LOL....

I am not Zenith nor have I traveled in suites, so I can't address that aspect of what you have seen in the past and how you see things have changed.

I am Elite+, so quite a few cruises on Celebrity, all in Concierge Class. We have always very much enjoyed the embarkation-day lunch, and I can understand your disappointment at missing that. I have found that it feels much less rushed when we have a relatively early embarkation time. And so I go online and request an early time within a few hours after they open up the check-in process, typically 45 days prior to sailing. Mostly recently, in Vancouver, we were aboard by 11:30, had dropped our things in the stateroom, picked up our room keys, and had over an hour to wait for the lunch to open. Fortunately the Pool Bar was open...

12:01am, as others have said. But I am not sure that it is based on EST for every cruise. For Alaska last summer I think I checked in 5-6:00am EST which was 1-2:00 Alaska time. And for an Eastern Med trip I think we checked in according to Athens local time zone. So you can try at 12:01am EST, but don't be surprised if you need to wait until 12:01 Vancouver/Seattle time.

If you look at your app you can see current ship's time.

36 minutes ago, zitsky said:

So because fewer people visit Bali I should expect poor service and complete chaos? 

I would suggest, again, that you relax and enjoy. Travel is an adventure that few are able to experience!
Maybe you get poor service, slow embarkation, in Valparaiso or Bali or Ravenna (my own recent experience) because the shore-side staff just don’t do this every day and are not a smooth operation. Or maybe you get super service, fast embark, etc because you are an infrequent and prized special traveler. Or maybe you find just another port. Whatever happens, suck it up, take a few deep breaths, and look forward to your upcoming cruise.

12 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Who told you that Valparaiso was “seldom visited”?  I don’t go often but I’ve been there twice in the last 5 years.  Lots of South Americans might disagree that no one goes on cruises to Valparaiso.

Seldom by Celebrity.

As you are probably quite aware, shore-side details like checkin and luggage handling and embarkation in general is handled by a shore-side team. Who are probably not Celebrity staff, particularly in seldom visited ports like Valparaiso or Bali. Not being snarky, just suggesting that a more general forum within Cruise Critic might be a place you could find more information. I could argue that the less used ports might get better service from the occasional staff. Or, maybe, they get worse service from the inexperienced occasional staff. In general, I would suck it up and enjoy any cruise from anyplace! 
safe travels and happy holidays.

Stan

30 minutes ago, keesar said:

…  I also did not see many seniors at Coco Cay.

The seniors were the ones out on the jet skis. We’ve learnt not to waste time sitting in the sun drinking.

7 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

My summary of the webinar: if the words exciting, awesome, amazing, incredible and cool were omitted the webinar would have lasted less than 1/3 the time. Thanks for the 5 Captains Club points though!

Really? I thought the whole presentation was awesome. Incredible even! Well, except for the gratuitous chit-chat.

43 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I started cruising Celebrity in 1996 and they did paper bills for years. The bill would be put on my cabin door very early overnight  am on debarkation day . I would go to Guest Relations a few times before the end of a cruise and get a paper copy.

I started in 2013. I don't remember a paper accounting. But, I must confess, it could have happened and was of so little consequence to me that I just don't remember! The only issues I have ever had with Celebrity onboard accounting are not related to charges incurred, but rather making sure my OBC has been properly credited to my account, and I resolve such questions early in the cruise.

23 hours ago, peachcreamsicle said:

Maybe, I’ve just never experienced that in 15+ cruises on multiple cruise lines.
 

Also, we weren’t provided a paper bill like on previous cruises.  It was just emailed and had I not opened the PDF, I would have missed the charge.  It makes you wonder if they’re just sneaking it on there.  Just a reminder to look at your bill 🙂

In 25 or so Celebrity cruises I have never seen a bill on paper except when I went to Guest Relations for some reason and asked for a paper copy. Usually when I wanted to have a receipt of sorts when going through customs for items bought aboard.

On 11/27/2023 at 12:30 PM, dcbiker97 said:

The store only sells items. The classes are super basic, if they still have them (like how to use an Ipad). They do not do repairs. 

But they are quite tech savvy and may be able to help diagnose any issues you are having. I suspect they would see it as a welcome break from people asking “how do I upgrade my internet service while onboard? How do I sign in? “

Speaking of your (very fine) photography and the equipment you're using...

I went back and checked what I had done in 2018. Full-frame (Pentax K-1) and three lenses: 15-30mm for 7% of the shots, 24-70 for 10% of the shots, and the remaining 83% with 70-200. Of those with the 70-200 lens, about half were at 200mm, the remaining scattered across that full range.

I was more focused on wildlife other than birds: this was one of my favorite shots:

Waiting for Momma