rhammond

Unfortunately, these rumors almost always prove to be true. I've had multiple cancelled cruises that have started this way.

Too bad I didn't check the forums sooner, I just booked my flights yesterday! I hope they give us a definite answer soon so we can re-book.

I was on the 3/7 cruise and got the email, it’s been cancelled. I have already rebooked on a different sailing.

We did a 10 day Mediterranean on the Vista at the end of last May, the weather was perfect. We started in Athens and ended in Barcelona, it was an awesome itinerary. Athens, Kusadasi, Rhodes, Malta, Sicily, Florence, Naples, Rome, Marseille, Barcelona - my absolute favorite was Naples/Amalfi Coast, I'd go back there in a second. We loved all of the stops, but Italy was the best. Next we're looking to leave out of Venice and go down the Baltic to Mykonos and Santorini.

We were on Jewel of the Seas over Christmas in the Caribbean, it's an older, smaller ship, wouldn't be my first choice to go back on her. Symphony of the Seas is debuting next spring in Europe with some Mediterranean itineraries, may be an option if you'd like to try a new ship. Norwegian also has some great Europe itineraries.

With Verizon if you sign up for the travel pass and it's free and can be done with just a text msg, it's only $2 a day or 24 hours to talk, text and data in Mexico and it goes off your domestic plan so if you have unlimited everything then you have unlimited everything in Mexico also. BUT just so you know for others, Belize and Roatan are NOT part of Mexico. Those places its $10 a day or 24 hours to use your cell there and again it goes off your domestic plan usage. Grand Cayman is also $10 a day/24 hours. And activating travel pass is just a simple text to a certain Verizon code to activate it or sign up for it and it's free. Then just use your cell in port and you'll see the $2 or $10 travel pass surcharge on your bill next month.

 

Last year Verizon used to have a international plan that was for cruisers and worked on the cruise ships cell tower and in most ports too. $40 per line per month that was going to use it you where covered for up to 100 minutes, 100 texts and 100 mb of data. Incoming texts were free and unlimited. When we took our cruise last year in April on Splendor we used this and it worked great because our young kids stayed home being watched by grandma and needed to be in contact in case of emergency. but we also were told by the Verizon rep that added our international plan before we left that Verizon is testing wifi calling and texting and if you are connected to a wifi service on the ship and activated wifi calling on your phone you could make phone calls and texts through wifi and it wouldn't count towards the 100 minute/text limit on the international plan. We tried this and it does work, at least it did on Splendor. We never saw the itemized calls or texts that we tested on the ship in our bill. Carnival may have blocked this feature since then but others have said it still works and some have said it does not. Verizon also does not have any cruise ship international calling plan anymore with cellular at see because last summer AT&T/Cellular at sea decided up the lease price by a lot for other carriers to use the tower at a discounted price for their international calling plans and Verizon did not renew their lease with Cellular at sea because they were asking way too much for lease renewal. You can make a call with a Verizon cell on the ships Cellular at Sea tower for $2.99 a minute but why pay an extra dollar when you can use your staterooms phone for $1.99 a minute or like others have said use one of the ships wifi packages and communicate through Facebook messenger or what's app. Voice calling through Facebook messenger does work on even the social media package but it's sketchy to good sometimes and sound is delayed by a couple few seconds. It's tough sometimes to talk to others back home with that voice delay cause your always talking over each other or interrupting each other. But texting and sending pictures through Facebook messenger even on the social plan works pretty good if you have a fairly good wifi signal from the ship.

 

It seems every year or 2 cell providers and Cellular at Sea change things up, change calling plans and international rates or plans or just give up and add neighboring countries onto the domestic plan for free to try and simplify things or attract customers with better calling plans that include more coverage with added international coverage into the existing domestic plan. So in another year or 2 it will be all different again. Who knows

FYI, Verizon is now $5/day for Mexico and Canada.

You can also take the lift to the Upper Barrakka Gardens if you're looking to stay close to the port. This takes you to the gardens and many streets to walk around with shops and restaurants.

I would do the Portland Discovery, for price, but I would only do the lighthouse cruise part. Portland is a very walkable town (I live here), and you can do much more than a simple "drive by" in a trolley. Walk to the Longfellow house up Exchange street and see the cannon ball stuck in the building from 1812, and go in the home. Go into the Victoria mansion, see the brewery tours, savor the great restaurants. If you've got the time in port, I actually recommend the mail boat run from Casco Bay lines at 10am, it goes to the 5 inhabited islands in the bay, delivering groceries and mail to the islanders, and the skippers give a talk about the islands, island life, and history along the way. It takes 2.5-3.5 hours, depending on cargo, so you could explore some of the Old Port near the dock in the morning, catch the mail boat, have lunch in the Old Port, and then wander into town for the sights.

Can you get to most of those things by walking directly from the ship?