SusieQft

1 hour ago, CruisetheCs said:

 

The problem is that most if not all policies available do not cover pre-existing conditions unless the policies are purchased within a short time after booking the cruise.  Any insurance without pre-existing condition coverage may be of very limited value. Insurance companies may try to deny coverage for many things by saying that "new" conditions are related to the pre-existing conditions.

 

Personally, I would seriously consider cancelling the cruise if I couldn't get coverage of incidents related to pre-existing conditions.  Too easy for the insurance company to deny coverage and lead to an expensive time-consuming dispute.

 

I pay very close attention to the pre-existing conditions issue as well.  I suggest that you check with Steve at tripinsurancestore.com .  This may vary by state, but when I use the link on his website to request a quote, one of the options that it gives me is CSA Freestyle, which covers pre-existing conditions as long as you pay within 24 hours of final payment.

On 7/5/2022 at 9:30 AM, exlandlubber said:

Hello Aloha 1,

I’m terribly sorry about the delay and I hope there’s still time to answer your question. We were using our phones to make contact with Emed. The question was “Do you hear this sound?” and then a couple of notes were played.  OK, no problem. Then for whatever reason, the website said that we needed to “turn on our microphone” in settings which we had already done and checked on several times. Eventually we were “heard” but it was very frustrating. I think next time, I’ll use my iPad or a computer instead as that may fix the problem. Like I said, hope I’m not too late to answer your question.

We did the eMed tests on my phone in June (sequentially so we could help each other, which was needed), and also heart the test notes but not the eMed reps each time.  They quickly went to using Chat which slowed things down but at least it worked.

23 hours ago, Reveuse said:

That was the end of the first day. Great day, great start.. 

Thank you for sharing your first impressions.  Please ignore those who like to pick on newbies, I am sure they are in the minority, especially once on board the ship.

Having just booked my very first cruise on Silversea, I would like to thank everyone for their comments on this thread.  I realize that dress codes tend to be "done to death," probably on all the forums.  But some of us are new here and a current thread is much easier to find than digging through the archives.

Our boarding time in Vancouver wad originally 4, and changed to 2:20.  We arrived at ~12, and there were no lines.  We had numerous stations spaced out with lots of walking between.  So it took a while, but no waiting.

I can't answer for Regent, but the Walgreens NAAT test just worked perfectly for us to board Seabourn Odyssey in Vancouver yesterday. 

We boarded Odyssey yesterday, and I am posting this from the ship, at least if you see it I will have.

We had booked a window cabin on Deck 4, and discovered at check-in they had moved us to a balcony cabin on Deck 5.  That was a relief, even though I finally had to go on a scavenger hunt myself to find our luggage on Deck 4.

Deck 4 is an isolation/quarantine area, complete with red warning signs, PPE, etc.

Sometimes if the internet connection goes out for technical but non-nefarious reasons, you will get the message "This website is not available."  Perhaps there is a benign explanation.

2 hours ago, LMB01 said:

we board this same ship in 2 months for a 14 day Alaska cruise and have some anxiety about that

We board tomorrow for the same.  I would prefer to have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised than vice versa.  This board has certainly adjusted my expectations downward.  This will be our first time on Seabourn, so future bookings hang in the balance.

We rented a private mail box (PMB), and get almost all our mail there.  Ours is PostNet, but we used to use a UPS Store before we moved to our current location.  They hold all our mail until we get home.  When we are gone for more than 30 days, we have our mail forwarded there from our house address.  I think you can forward the mail for up to one year.

This solution does have a cost, and is less convenient for routine mail when we are home, since we have to drive about a mile to the mail drop to pick it up.  But it is next door to a convenient grocery store, so it is usually not a wasted trip.  And besides the travel security, it also allows us to receive packages in a safe location away from the weather (usually heat in our case) and porch pirates.  At our previous house there was no obvious place for the delivery person to leave packages, so sometimes it took us a while to notice we had received one.  Once we found a package several months after it had been left under a bush.  The PMB was our solution to that problem, and it also works well for extended travel.

BTW, the USPS Informed Delivery is not available to PMB customers, but some mail receiving companies will provide a similar service, and also mail forwarding on a selective basis or just all of it..  The post office does everything they can to make things difficult for PMB users.

I find this thread disturbing because we are booked in Splendor 934 for 67 nights starting in Dec 2023.  I just reviewed all the Splendor and Explorer reviews on Suite Guru, and there is a paucity of reviews in that part of either ship except for the recent one from 2012_Alaska_Bound for 932.  If there is similar vibration in other areas as some have mentioned, then trying to second guess a cabin change in advance may not be that helpful.

I am hoping that this is a maintenance issue on Splendor that Regent will resolve well within the next year and a half.  Am I being too naive?

Since Explorer has been sailing a lot longer and no one is complaining about a similar issue there, that would support the idea that it should not be a design flaw, and hopefully something they can fix.  Certainly they have been made aware of it.  If not, then Navigator is not the only Regent ship with a reputation for uncomfortable vibration issues.  That would be a shame.

We are also booked on Navigator in December 2022 (in a forward suite), so we will eventually be able to make our own direct observations and comparisons.

9 minutes ago, wingit said:

I asked at Seabourn Square this morning.  We can get a Covid test on board before disembarking in Vancouver if it is required to travel back to our home — in my case the US. 

Were you previously notified that they would not, and this is back-tracking since the announcement came after you were on board?  Or was the new policy to start on a later segment?

@purpleally, I am responding, with some trepidation, only because you have made these exact same complaints several times before.

1.  I do not consider myself a "Crystal person," at least not any longer.  Does the fact that I used to sail on Crystal mean that I cannot have opinions about other cruise lines?

2.  My wish is that people would stop trying to police the language of others! 

3.  Do you really think it is "luxurious" to pull the rug out from under the passengers with regard to providing the testing to fly home to the US, with less than 2 weeks notice before sailing?  After promising for months that any onboard testing needed to fly home would be provided on the ship?  Even if they said they will still provide it but with a charge would be better than abandoning the passengers to find their own somewhere else.  How is this not a valid complaint?  I am very disappointed to realize that it is really Carnival and/or HAL that calls the shots on Seabourn.

On 5/6/2022 at 3:03 AM, UUNetBill said:

Seabourn was our (close) second choice when we first started cruising.  We ranked them 1) Regent, 2) Seabourn, 3) Crystal, and 4) Silversea.  They were all very close, but Regent ended up winning us over with the 'one and done' approach - truly all-inclusive.  At the time (2009) Crystal still had assigned dining, smaller cabins, and fewer inclusions; Silversea was a touch too formal-feeling; Seabourn was a close number two but Regent had an itinerary that worked well for us...and the rest, as they say, is history.  We're at the point now that it would be difficult to switch as we're so familiar with Regent's product - we know so many of the crew (and some passengers) that it really is like coming home when we sail with them.  So while I theoretically could switch, I don't know that I ever would...but if we found an awesome sailing on another line, well...I guess it could happen.  😄

Bill, I totally understand your point here.  We felt the same about Crystal, although we had finally decided to branch out a little and did have a Regent booking for fall of 2020 before the you-know-what hit the fan.  We thought it would be nice to have more itinerary options and see what else is out there.  All our Crystal Society loyalty credits are worthless now, and we were almost far enough into that to get a "free cruise."  Oh well, live and learn.

Our one Regent booking has expanded to 3 now, still all in the future, so I sure hope we love Regent as much as I think we will.  We also have a booking on Seabourn, just to try it out, and hope to also try at least Silversea and maybe even Cunard/Viking/??? in the near future.

I suspect that Regent is going to be my new favorite, but I am definitely going to play the field a bit for now.  Having been burned once, we are leery about restricting ourselves to just one line.  Loyalty perks are nice, but can be ephemeral.

4 hours ago, saminina said:

Please......it's Holland America.......not Seabourn.

I realize the decision probably came down from HAL and that HAL owns Seabourn, but I booked Seabourn, not HAL.  I thought Seabourn is supposed to be better than HAL, but maybe I was mistaken about that.

I am also an UNHAPPY recipient of this notice.  Last night I ordered the self tests, and paid extra for expedited shipping because the standard shipping would have them arriving the day before we fly to Vancouver, way too close for comfort.

I have seen conflicting reports about wifi availability on Seabourn.  Is it included now, and will it be reliable enough for proctored tests?

I am another Crystal "refugee" looking for a new favorite cruise line, and I have to say that Seabourn is not off to a great start.

Thank you @pattycruisealot21 for the info about the testing site at the Convention Centre.  It is great to know that is another option.

Is there anything on the Seabourn or CCL websites about the shareholder benefit?  I can't find any info.

4 hours ago, rucrazy said:

I

Question for all Is it A, B, C or D

A) Cruiseline+Itinerary=Smiles

B) Itinerary+Cruiseline-=Smiles

C) Itinery+Itinery= Smiles 

D) Cruiseline+Cruisline= Smiles

 

A  🙂🙂🙂

8 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

I don't know, of course, but I have a guess: it's for potential contact-tracing. If someone falls ill with Covid shortly after arrival in the country, authorities might want to try to find the people sitting near the sick person on the plane. 

It that is the case and there are a large number of travelers in seat 21C, the risk of being flagged as a contact will be higher.  🤔

4 hours ago, AtA said:

Also if it wasn't for them trying to hide covid from us assuming we'd all "panic", I would feel better about trying them again.

It sounds like most lines are now "hiding covid" as much as they can, at least until it gets so out of control that active measures or segment cancellations are required.

I meant resort wifi, not website.  It is working fine for other websites. I only get this on rssc.com

@Mike Moore, you are probably aware, but many pages on the rssc website, right now including the home page, only show me:  

"HTTP header value exceeds the configured limit of 8192 characters"

If this is not happening to others, could it be because I am using NordVPN on a (land based) resort website?

4 hours ago, Sunprince said:

Navigator has been nicely furnished, crew are great and it is smaller than other Regent ships which is a bonus.  Just not sure that it compares per diem to the luxury Regent experience and value per $ spent.  

I have not done an exhaustive study, but my gut impression on the voyages I have looked at is that the per diem is a bit lower on Navigator than on the larger Regent ships.

3 hours ago, asnaleah said:

Thanks to all who tried to help. I’m still confused because a person could sail from Barcelona to London (17 nights) or all the way to Dublin (23 nights I think) as one segment. We have it booked as two segments, 10 and 7 nights. The 17 and 23 nighters in one segment should have formal nights. I will ask my TA to find out. Or, I will bring a nicer dress and wear it. Not going to worry about it anymore!

They would have to treat the people who only booked one of the shorter segments the same as those who booked the B2B, even if said B2B was marketed as one "segment."   It would be impossible to have a Formal Optional night for those on the B2B without also violating their policy of NOT having one for the shorter segments.  How is that confusing?  🙃

Of course you can always dress formally if you wish on any night, as several others have pointed out.

On 3/20/2022 at 4:38 PM, GOARMY said:

Sometimes it pays to read the small print.  Cruise segments, repeat segments, of 16 or more days' duration usually have two Formal Optional nights.  These are identified in the "Guest Statement" summary on a page titled:  "Cruise Itinerary".

Should this be on the initial "Guest Statement," or perhaps only after final payment? 

I have 3 bookings, and none of them say anything about formal nights on that page.  One of them is a 67 night circle South America that includes four segments of 16, 21, 12, and 18 nights.  I can't imagine that there will not be any Formal Optional nights on this cruise.

The other 2 bookings are B2Bs with 12 +12 nights and 10 + 14 nights.  I am less certain that these will include any Formal Optional nights, but it would be nice to have this information (including which nights) before it opens up to make the restaurant reservations.