Belgian fry

I have been advised by colleagues working there to have the forms. You probably won't be asked for them, but if you are and you don't have them, then it's no laughing matter

I wrote to yakkan@mhlw.go.jp with a list of our medicines. I'l glad I did because my husband's blood thinner requires the Yunyu Kakunin-sho certificate

I think I need to cancel our premium upgrades. I need to stick to European wines due to sulfite sensitivity (which is why I upgraded), but it doesn't look like there's going to be much available

We bring the allowed amount of wine on because their limited choice of not great wines make me ill (as in "requiring the hospital on board ship twice" ill). It was actually on board one of their ships that I had two serious allergic reactions to sulfites, although I didn't know at the time what was happening. So, if I want wines which are safer for me, I have to stick to European wines really, as they are less messed about.

My mum had polio as a child. She made sure we had all our immunisations. 

As for Covid vaccines, my father is a medical research scientist (now retired) and he had no reservations about us having it. Nothing is really ever new in medicine. Many people will have been working on it for many years. Whilst Covid was new, Coronaviruses aren’t 

Tipping is not appropriate in Japan. Please respect the culture

There is no dedicated Bow cam channel any more (at least there wasn't in February). The TV cycles between the bow cam and navigational information (some of this is very bright), so we were not able to do this

11 hours ago, pukekolive said:

I personally think it is just a couple of people catching up with the previous cull who misunderstood what their TA and Celebrity told them. Others who read what these people posted are on another X ship and the future cruise agent told them the cruises are still going ahead, not cancelled.

more than a month later? Seems a bit odd to me.

I think it's more likely this is round 2

1 minute ago, micruiser2002 said:

What sailing?  

16 March and the one afterwards, I believe 

Judging from posts on the Celebrity Millennium FB group, there seem to have been more people being cancelled yesterday and today. Argh!

In Europe, fares that are non/refundable (most of them) are just that. If you cancel, you get nothing, no credit, nada! Our economy class fares from Brussels to Tokyo were €1400 each, so it would have been expensive!!!

Thanks for the article @Mahdnc

As for the point that has been raised about booking through Celebrity: people outside of the US,UK and Australia and New Zealand are not eligible to book flights through Celebrity

I am very relieved that our booking still appears to be OK

I'd say if you're comfortable being out and about where you live, then you're probably at no higher risk on a cruise ship.

By coincidence, my husband tested positive this morning. No idea where he picked it up but he has been in the office, to shops, to the restaurant

On 5/18/2023 at 3:57 PM, micruiser2002 said:

If it is Yokohama I would just find an inexpensive hotel near the port and book 1 night.  We have this hotel booked pre-cruise in October and the nightly rates are very reasonable.  https://www.the-squarehotel.com/sym/

Realistically though, they're not going to let me check in at 8am though, are they?

If we can't check in until 3 or 4 pm, there isn't much point

On 5/19/2023 at 8:00 PM, JohnCA said:

You can book dayrooms at Hilton hotels directly on their website or app: just use the same date for arrival and departure.  They have a hotel opening in Yokohama in September.  The one at Narita is quite cheap.  Beware that a dayroom usually requires you to be out by 5 or 6 pm.

 

Japanese hotels are usually strict about checkin times, so don't book a hotel for the night and expect to check in early, except maybe at airport hotels.  I did once get off a cruise and checked into the Yokohama Intercontinental at 11am, but there were dozens of cruise passengers sitting around who were not so fortunate (I think it helped that I had "Platinum Status" and also could ask for early checkin in Japanese).
 

Thanks but it's not working for me for the Hilton Yokohama

1 hour ago, Goldconnection said:

We’ve used dayuse.com. Not all day rooms require you to be out by 5 or 6 pm at least not here in the US. We are looking into to booking a 12pm to 9pm time slot in LA. 

What are you searching for? I’m getting 0 hotels in Yokohama

Thanks, it may just be me but I can't find any hotels offering day rooms in Yokohama. Do you have to approach them directly?

Does anyone know what time we should expect boarding to start? I've never had such a late departure on embarkation day.

I just came on here to ask the same question. We arrive on Millenium on the morning of 9 April but don't fly our of Haneda until just after midnight

4 hours ago, Tarwood3 said:

Not all cabin categories were affected.  

Insides were affected though

5 hours ago, Tarwood3 said:

Not talking about L&S…meaning those who booked for the first time after October 2021.  It came straight from the lady in charge of the concierge team handling these cancelations …

We booked in March 2022, in an inside, and are still confirmed 

I have a booking with Celebrity which I'd rather get rid of (due to their terrible handling of their Japan over-bookings, which is causing us untold stress).

When might we expect to be able to see what SS is going to offer?

5 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

This thread was supposed to be about the problem and got hijacked to be about how Celebrity is handling it. 

Because how Celebrity is handling it IS the problem

13 minutes ago, anniegb said:

Did you ever receive a reply from the Celebrity rep in Belgium ? I appreciate it is a Bank Holiday in most of Europe today and all offices may not be open.

Not yet, other than a message to say they had spoken to the US and were waiting for a reply. But you’re right, everything is closed here today anyway

If we’re cancelled, we’re also cancelling our Galapagos booking and will never sail Celebrity again. We may actually cancel our Galapagos cruise regardless. I’ve lost all faith in Celebrity