Snickersbockerglory

1 minute ago, TYinPalmSprings said:

Okay then. The CLIA/cruise lines have changed their policy to refuse passage to a group of people, some of whom will never be able to use a credit,  then, return their money. Otherwise, it is theft. Would you allow this with any other purchase you make. They take the money and do not provide the goods or service after the fact because they changed their policy?  

I'm really confused because the travel advisory I see says it is a full refund? 

I'm really shocked at some of the opinions expressed on this thread!

Cruise lines have opted to ask for medical notes not because they want to voluntarily bar the over 70s (why would they when that demographic make up a large section of their market) but because there are real concerns that if you are stuck on a ship and get sick with something like coronavirus, your odds for recovering are shortened. Those who are under 70 and have chronic illness are in the same boat (no pun intended).

It's not age discrimination, it's the simple fact that as you get older your immune system weakens.  If you got seriously ill with pneumonia on a ship you would not only create difficulties for the crew trying to manoeuvre the ship to somewhere you could get health care but also inconvenience the other thousands of passengers on board potentially. 

Also, to those having a go at celebrity for the policy, the situation is very rapidly changing day by day, and I very much doubt that they have had time to work out all the ins and outs, they are merely trying to respond to government policy, port closures and keeping passengers safe. No one else knows how long this virus is going to last so why would celebrity?  They're not out to get you personally and yet the tone of some of these posts feels like you're taking a global health crisis as a personal affront. 

The travel industry will have taken a huge hit this year. This time next year I would be surprised if the industry looked the same, I would imagine many companies may go bust or have to substantially change to survive this crisis. 

Given the desperation of Italy and other countries who are struggling to contain the virus and to cope with treating those infected this thread is in very poor taste. I say that as someone for whom the cruise I had booked was a once in a lifetime family cruise to celebrate my 40th birthday, with 4 generations. But the health of my grandmother and parents (and others who may become ill) comes above a holiday. Holidays and money come and go. 

2 hours ago, hcat said:

Celebrity advertises an autism friendly  program which might be good for a child with sensory difficulties..I am not up on this so forgive me if these two things are not relatable but you could check into the program.

 

 

Thank you, yes they are very closely related /overlapping in many cases and we were happy that celebrity was autism friendly as it does make it easier. 

52 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I personally don't think there is a whole lot for children to do on Celebrity ships but I also don't think most cruisers traveling without children begrudge those who do, so long as the children are well behaved.  And as far as this thread is concerned, I encourage you to look at it as a very small, microcosm of views that exist in the very large, grand scheme.  I hope you enjoy your cruise!

I agree that there is not a huge amount to do for children on celebrity especially as they get older, and it was something we weighed up - did we think there was enough to entertain them on the sea days - but I guess because they are small and not really ready for fairgrounds, etc, we hoped that the kids club and swimming pool and other low key activities would be enough. 

I have just read through the link that was posted a few pages ago in this thread and am now really worried to the point where we're considering cancelling and just losing the deposit. Our children are never unsupervised and always removed from an environment if they are not being well behaved, but I can understand why people would not want to travel with children who are unsupervised and running riot. 

I still think however that these are two separate issues - a blanket statement of disliking all children on a cruise versus unruly children and parents (which is unpleasant wherever you are). 

We've previously cruised with celebrity but not since we've had children. We're booked to go on a med cruise out of Southampton next summer with my two young children but must say I'm now slightly dreading it thanks to some of the posts on this thread. I feel like we're not going to be able to use any of the public areas for fear of people staring at us disapprovingly for daring to have children on board. 

In response to the person who asked why parents would choose Celebrity (and the other poster who said it was selfish), yes there was a certain element of being selfish about it. It's to celebrate my birthday and rather than do a family holiday resort as we've done previously I wanted to do a holiday that felt special. I also wanted to do one which felt simple and so travelling from Southampton and not having to contain children on a flight was a big part of the decision. Royal Caribbean didn't do any itineraries from Southampton that interested me. 

One of my children also has sensory difficulties and I am not sure she would cope well with the busyness and excitement on an RC cruise. 

We did think quite long about whether to do this cruise, decided to based on the kids clubs reviews, however it definitely feels like you can't really win as a parent. If we let them go to kids club we're dumping our kids on a babysitting service, and yet other cruisers neither want to hear or see children! And yes we will be taking them to the bars they are allowed in and enjoying spending time with them. 

As far as I'm concerned we are not taking them out of school but travelling in the holidays when more families are expected (I would love to be able to travel outside of holiday times), we are travelling on a cruise which allows children and have paid a fare for them so they have as much right to be there as anyone else. If you don't want children then go on an adult only cruise. If the larger ships didn't make themselves available to families they would very often struggle to fill the ships (and would either have to up prices or go out of business). 

Saying that I wish i had read this thread before booking as it would have made me think twice.