Banjo

23 hours ago, davekathy said:

. Don't be surprised if the small continental buffet breakfast for elites and above in the Tuscan Grill goes away or makes the same changes as the OVC. Whatever those changes will be. 

Why would they do that? On many of the cruises, if the total # of elites or higher are low, they already have a system with a menu. If they have to do it cafeteria style, they could do with limited staff with so few food options they now offer.

I find it relaxing. I am not big fan of the buffet or spending the morning in the MDR.

😄

On 5/18/2020 at 2:50 PM, pn1 said:

What about men who emit loud, juicy farts? (Would a lady ever do that?)

Standing in a buffet lines when someone does that can be quite disconcerting, especially if it is a long, drawn out, affair with a little "pop" at the end. Maybe a little "matter" is expressed with the final "pop"? Yuck. 

But the worst offenders must be those who drop a silent and deadly fart? With no noise to attract attention, the "offender" can slip away before the pungent aroma circulates. I've often wondered what health impact there must be on other people in a closed environment such as a cruise ship?

I guess there's no restriction on farting in cruise ship buffets, restaurants and other public areas?

Paul in Australia

Old Saying: "A dog smells himself first"😅

I like the buffet.

My only complaint it gets really crowded for lunch and breakfast. So it is very popular & doubt its going anywhere.

I rarely eat breakfast at the buffet. Enjoy the Elite breakfast in the Tuscan. It's many times a buffet if they have a certain number of Elites.

Also they have none paying alternatives with the Mast Grill and MDR.

Just checked my credit card and the refundable deposit I had on end of October Apex Trans Atlantic cruise showed up. Still waiting on a refund for a April 24th Reflection Trans Atlantic (which would be ending this Saturday). This is a lot more $ than the deposit 😕. I requested refunds on both around April 1st.  What a pain this is.

18 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

If you were really cured by antibiotics, you didn't have the flu. The flu is a virus. Antibiotics don't treat viruses, they treat infections.

My bad, the urgent care clinic has a portal and I just checked-it was Baloxavir Marboxil. It worked because in a few days I felt better. The flu really hit bad the particular Fall.

Still too early to tell.

Some folks mention the vaccine would do it for them, others say no vaccine is perfect citing the flu vaccine. The one difference between the flu and covid 19 is if you get it do you have a reliable treatment. Every Fall I get the flu vaccine (had a pneumonia vaccine also) and did get the flu back in November 2017. It was just prior to our Infinity cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Santiago, Chile. Went to a urgent care (it was so bad then it closed my MDs office) and was given a antibiotic treatment regimen.  4 or 5 days later I was fine. Also, want to see what happens when some passenger(s) gets it how do ports treat the cruise ship passengers.

We will see.  

1 hour ago, hcat said:

This is not about this lawsuit,  but situations for crew have certainly changed as the Covid  and cruising story has unfolded. Was surprised to read there are many still on the ships.  Hope they get home safely and are healthy.

 

The article posted recently about the entertainer still onboard Infinity ( as of  time of the story) was sad and upsetting...

 

Looks like plans may be underway to get  many staff and crew on various ships back  home. 

 

 

Concerning the Apex crew, our last cruise was on the Solstice destination cruise Honolulu to Sydney last October. It was long cruise with lots of sea days. Each morning we wander down to the Elite Breakfast in the Tuscan dining Rm. Surprised they did it buffet style because it was never very crowded with Elites or higher and we were always able to get the same window ocean view table with our server (who gets the drinks) being the same. Our server was very nice and outgoing so we got to know her. She stated she was selected for this Apex training in St Nazarie France. She indicated this was like an honor and Celebrity wanted its best staff for Apex's inaugural cruise. I often wonder how she is doing. I hope she okay.

BTW, we were booked on the Apex for this October trans-Atlantic Barcelona-Ft Lauderdale. Now we should have been on the Reflection for Ft Lauderdale-Dublin trans -Atlantic.  

Just read this concerning the Apex crew:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/01/no-one-comes-the-cruise-ship-crews-cast-adrift-by-coronavirus

If they keep the doctors statement we will definitely see a different age demographic. I rather see a vaccination record. When I used to travel with my parents overseas in the late 59s & early 60s we had them.

Caribbean/Alaska is too heavily dependent economically on cruising, eventually no change. Europe/Latin America/Asia/Australia I don't know. They may not be so welcoming to allow cruise ships in.

I know of a owner of a B&B in Western North Carolina that used to work in a management position for RCCL at the headquarters in Miami. He is a chef by trade and helped develop the menus. I had him cater an affair for us a year ago in one of the B&B dining rooms. Learning that we cruised a lot on Celebrity he laughed and said: "Royal makes the money and Celebrity spends it"

And you thought Celebrity has problems:

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-carnival-cruise-coronavirus/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

This also a indictment of the cruise ship industry.

If this was already posted my apologies.

1 hour ago, phoenix_dream said:

IMHO it's much more complicated than that.  Let's say a person is 85 years old and has heart problems.  He/she is determined to continue living their life as long as they can and they love cruising  So they do.  Onboard they have a heart attack and pass away.  It is possible that there may be some short disruption or change of ports to get them medical assistance - and maybe not  But what is not possible is that multiple people on that ship will catch a heart attack, or that multiple people on that ship will need to be quarantined in their cabins to avoid a heart attack, or that ports will not let the ship dock because someone had a heart attack.  Unless the cruise line really messes up handling it in some way, it is also not at all likely that they will have any bad press because of it, much less lawsuits.  

My wife and I enjoy trans-Atlantics. It is a very mature crowd. Done like 8 and waiting for a refund on a next Friday Reflection trans-Atlantic to Ireland. What you stated happens alot. 

I cancelled my October Apex trans-Atlantic last week and I have not seen anything yet. It's only a week. In the past when I cancelled I see my Celebrity deposit show up on my credit card in a day or two.

I don't think so. The elderly, by far, makes up the largest demographic on a cruise ship. If anything the cruise ship companies were trying to be more accommodating, example-dialysis units on ships.  

My father worked for an airline that had world wide reach and we traveled as a family any chance we could back in youth (early 60s) to the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, etc.. I recall having this official gray booklet (similar to a passport) having your complete vaccination history. Also when the plane arrived back in the States a public health inspector would give a look see prior to anyone departing the plane. I could see that maybe coming back.

I believe things will get back to normal but we may have to wait for a viable treatment regimen & a vaccine.

We were booked on the April 24th Reflection trans-Atlantic to Ireland. I used Delta Sky Miles on a code-share KLM to return to Atlanta from Dublin. Within a day or two, after I cancelled, I had all the miles returned to my Sky Miles account and all the associated taxes and fees returned to my credit card. Did the cancellation on the Delta website.

I just cancelled our trans-Atlantic Apr 24th Reflection cruise to Ireland.

I booked with Delta. For ATL-FLL they gave me a e-credit. Like FCC it has to be used by the end of 2021. We will use it at least to visit kids & grandchildren when this calms down so not really concerned. For my return (DUB-ATL) I used Delta miles on a KLM code share. They were pretty good with that. Returned the miles to my account and reimbursed all the taxes, fees that go with using miles and a payed upgrade to economy comfort.

On 3/22/2020 at 7:54 PM, Denny01 said:

I understand not booking anything in 2020....but I have a TransAtlantic on the Apex in late Oct and it’s something I can enjoy planning and thinking about. A cruise I made in Oct 2019. Just a good diversion We’ll see how it goes, but it’s nice having it there to talk and plan about. I also have one in late March 2021 on Eclipse from Tokyo to Vancouver. It looked great but unless there’s a huge change, that one will go away. 

 

So my view is, yup, wait a bit and see how this all goes through May and then consider it. It would be low risk if you are a Celebrity cruiser and don’t have a problem with a FCC for 2021 if you made the reservation for late 2020 and then moved it.

 

Den

We are booked on that Apex cruise also. Have till mid-July for final payment so we have some time but not optimistic. We love trans-Atlantics and I just cancelled a April 24th Reflection trans-Atlantic to Ireland. Broke my heart. I just hoping 2021 we have this all behind us. 

3 hours ago, Fouremco said:

The Coronavirus Health Protocols can be found here: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ca/travel-alert

Thanks for the link.

We have taken a lot of Celebrity trans-Atlantic cruises. This was going to be our 8th one. Judging from my observation of the demographics of the ages of the passengers and numerous times we have made unscheduled stops (one time in the Azores, another time leaving Vigo and having to return, helicopters landing on the bow helipad, etc...) for a medical related disembarking, it's going to leave those trans-Atlantic cruises 1/2 empty. 

Probably reason we did not get it is that going to be reviewd in 30 days.

We will see how this goes.

19 hours ago, hcat said:

Let's not forget that drs have lawyers..just like Celebrity.  

 

Signing a med form for summer camp may be one thing but a certification of  fitness to travel quite another...

We are pretty healthy and my wife is just over 70. We go to the same MD, I know he would not sign it. He's not going to jeapordize his practice and would not blame him.  

BTW, we are scheduled for the Reflection April 24th Trans-Atlantic, have not cancelled yet-plan to. Have not recieved any request from Celebrity or seen it on the website.

On 2/19/2020 at 2:27 PM, aml3679 said:

We are in Blu and do not notice lines or crowds


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I think it depends when you go.

We are Elite+ and on S class ships we usually enjoy a few Cocktail Hour drinks at the Ensemble Lounge from 5 to 545. We take our last drink, a glass of wine, with us around the corner to BLU. Around 6p it's never a wait. You may not get one of those coveted window tables but the couch seats that are along the wall are always available. The wife likes those seats 😊

Have trans-Atlantic's planned for April & October and have no plans to change. Was looking at an Asian cruise for 2021, may wait on that.

If you let them know in advance a gallon of distilled water and extension cord is waiting in your cabin when you arrive. If not just mention it to the room steward, he or she will get it for you.

30 minutes ago, CruiserMickey said:

 

Yes, these mobile kiosks were out most days on the Feb. 2-9, 2020 cruise. From what I recall they featured perfume, watches, pearl jewelry, books, journals...

I been on a lot Celebrity cruises and I never noticed the cart. Have to look next time. Where do they have it?

On my recent Solstice Honolulu-Sydney cruise I got a nice windbreaker with a Alaska patch on it. It was in the shops next to the casino and it was heavily discounted. I suspect inventory they wanted to move with the Solstice not returning to Alaska for several months. Surprised I found my size.

I recall years ago, can even remember which Celebrity ship I was on, I went to Faberge eggs lecture presented by one of the high-end shops. Did not purchase one 🙂