Bill Miller

I have an annual policy with Allianz. I've found that if you bought the cruise line cancellation, it's good but only covers you for that trip and may not cover medical emergencies in foreign countries. If you book two or more cruises a year the Allianz annual cost is about the same as the cruise lines cost for two individual cruise booking policies. Also some of the more high end credit cards offer travel benefits as far as cancellation/medical. There is a sub category on Cruise Critic that discusses travel insurance. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/ Bon Voyage.

Sad news indeed. I encourage all who travel to consider an annual travel insurance policy. Several companies offer trip cancellation and medical coverage. I have an annual policy we used when the wife busted her hip walking the dog a day before a cruise. Cancelled cruise cost recovered. An accident out of your home country requiring medical treatment can be devastatingly expensive. Bon Voyage!

Celebrity has stops in Charleston, SC which is close to the Boone Hall Plantation. https://www.boonehallplantation.com/

Yikes!

A great Youtube site for maritime coverage is What's going on with shipping. This is a report from this AM. Expect accurate updates in the future.

A web site that many of us in maritime world enjoy for excellent information is, "What's going on with shipping." Here is link from this mornings disaster coverage.

Don Jon Marine, Port Newark is mobilizing heavy lift equipment for Baltimore. donjon.com

I posted this a few days ago on the Celebrity forum.: Good news. Things are popping at the Passport renewal office. Mailed on March 1, renewal application, fee, photo (CVS pharmacy) and old passport. Received new one today. Used standard renewal, did not use expedited service. Used the online form to fill out application which has a QR code dedicated to your individual renewal. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew.html Mailed 2nd day priority to Irving Texas office. Received new Passport today March 21 in priority second day envelope. Summer is coming avoid the rush.

Come on, this is a government operation. What could possibly go wrong?

Bonus, the expired passports submitted with the renewal process just arrived by mail. Many ports of entry stamps remind of successful travels. Very nice.

Reserve your space. The lot fills up.

Good news. Things are popping at the Passport renewal office. Mailed on March 1, renewal application, fee, photo (CVS pharmacy) and old passport. Received new one today. Used standard renewal, did not use expedited service. Used the online form to fill out application which has a QR code dedicated to your individual renewal. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew.html Mailed 2nd day priority to Irving Texas office. Received new Passport today March 21 in priority second day envelope. Summer is coming avoid the rush.

Elaine5715 you're right of course. For some reason I was thinking of passengers hoping for an early bolt to Miami or Ft Lauderdale airports. My bad.

Doesn't matter what time the ship gets to the dock. What matters is when it is cleared by US Customs for debarkation to begin. Also for debark to begin, all of the shoreside people who make the process work must be ready and in place. Still wondering when the ship gets to the dock? Here is the Miami Pilots schedule web site: https://bbpilots.com/

On a supposedly upscale cruise line, you shouldn't need to "get lucky." You shouldn't need ear plugs or a white noise machine. Something is horribly wrong to continue having these problems. Thank god for the M class ships, keeping cruising simple fun and sleep worthy.

Hotel Ariston https://www.hotelariston.it/en/ From Termini Station to Hotel Ariston only 3 minutes on foot. FROM - Rome's "Leonardo da Vinci" airport with the "Leonardo Express" train which will take you to Termini station in 30 minutes. FROM - Express Train to Civitavecchia leaves Termini every hour. Or from Civitavecchia to Termini Station. Very inexpensive. We stayed at the Hotel Ariston last October during the Ryders Cup golf tournament and it was busy with Ryders Cup fans. We enjoyed good rates, booking directly thru the hotels web site. Rooms are clean and AC worked great. Room furniture by IKEA, but that wasn't a big issue when you are enjoying magnificent Rome. Across the street from the Ariston are several sidewalk cafes, cold beer in large mugs and simple menu choices. Taxis pile up on the street looking for fares, so travelling to swankier dining choices is easy. It's easy to hop a taxi for the quick ride to popular tourist spots. Taxis are set up with credit card readers so you don't have to fumble with currency. We were there on a Friday and Saturday. On Sunday this religious city shuts down to a very slow pace, but we were off to the airport for a flight to London so it didn't matter. A quick walk around the block we were in the train station, no hassle with taxis. We only have English as a language and yet the whole visit was very comfortable. Wishing you, A Bon Voyage!

Hotel Ariston https://www.hotelariston.it/en/ From Termini Station to Hotel Ariston only 3 minutes on foot. FROM - Rome's "Leonardo da Vinci" airport with the "Leonardo Express" train which will take you to Termini station in 30 minutes. FROM - Express Train to Civitavecchia leaves Termini every hour. Or from Civitavecchia to Termini Station. Very inexpensive. We stayed at the Hotel Ariston last October during the Ryders Cup golf tournament and it was busy with Ryders Cup fans. We enjoyed good rates, booking directly thru the hotels web site. Rooms are clean and AC worked great. Room furniture by IKEA, but that wasn't a big issue when you are enjoying magnificent Rome. Across the street from the Ariston are several sidewalk cafes, cold beer in large mugs and simple menu choices. Taxis pile up on the street looking for fares, so travelling to swankier dining choices is easy. It's easy to hop a taxi for the quick ride to popular tourist spots. Taxis are set up with credit card readers so you don't have to fumble with currency. We were there on a Friday and Saturday. On Sunday this religious city shuts down to a very slow pace, but we were off to the airport for a flight to London so it didn't matter. A quick walk around the block we were in the train station, no hassle with taxis. We only have English as a language and yet the whole visit was very comfortable. Wishing you, A Bon Voyage!

What could possibly go wrong?

This is just me saying, but...... After 11 closed loop cruises... maybe it's time to consider growing up and getting a passport. If you must leave the ship for medical reasons or other problems in a foreign country your going to have expensive problems getting back to the USA. But heck, what do I know? Your lucks been running great for 11 cruises.

Take a walk on the wild side to the trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific page for many discussions about this. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2474-transatlantic-transpacific-repositioning-trans-ocean-cruises/

I was lectured by my wife, but then I left the casino and went back to the cabin and bed. On the plus side, I was up.

Marine Traffic shows Carnival Legend at the wharf in Baltimore. Hoping all of my Carnival friends are aboard and enjoying a cold beverage.

Atlantis is a good taxi excursion to kill 2 hours in Nassau. Take the taxi, see the amazing floor to ceiling windows looking into a fabulous underwater tropical fish habitat. It really is worth the view. Nassau, nicely done. Head back to the ship for lunch and multiple cold beverages. When we were in Nassau Facebook Zuckerberg's mega yacht was tied at the wharf and it was fun watching the crew preparing to host guests. The crew had sneakers the same color as FB blue. Pretty funny.

Ooops, and I forgot to mention the increase in Bahamian port tax. I guess somebodies got to pay the freight. Bahamas not doing much to police crappy excursion boats running to out islands. (Capsized vessel resulting in deaths recently) What a disgrace. Atlantis, about the only thing worth visiting on this hard rock shoal, but you can do Atlantis in a couple of hours.

Dang, when I read the topic headline, Bahamas rears its ugly head, I thought it was about the new Bahamian, Value Added Tax. Value Added Tax, a sinister drop dead to the cruise lines who have kept the limestone rock islands floating in dollars since the 1960's.