SailingHigher

We both have CPAP machines. Requested distilled water and extension cord through two shoreside concierge operators. Neither got the message through to the ship’s team. Our stateroom attendant brought a gallon of distilled to the cabin within an hour or two. The extension cord he brought had a European plug at both ends. I was happy I brought our own extension cord for the U.S. plugs on the two machines. There was only one U.S. plug on one side of king bed in Royal Suite on Beyond. But my cord worked very well. In fact, any U.S. multi-plug adapter would have worked because the ResMed power cord was plenty long to stretch across to the second nightstand. Just had to run it between the mattress and the headboard.

Like CruiserFromSC, we also enjoyed Nice + Eze. My DW called it the Nice & Easy excursion. We were able to slip away from our guide and do both stops on our own for at least 90 minutes each. It was a great half day with wonderful shoulder season weather. (BTW, the walk to the top of Eze from the parking lot at the bottom of the village is definitely strenuous and not for anyone with bad knees or other mobility issues.) I’ll also recommend the Marseille Soap Museum Tour, because Celebrity’s description didn’t do it justice. We started early, but not too early, via motor coach to the Notre Dame Basilica. (Guide was great and motor coach was brand new). Hike to the top was a workout but the views were worth it! Then, we had 30 minutes learning about soap and received terrific lavender soaps that we stamped ourselves in various patterns. Finally, we walked all over the harbor, around the fishmongers’ stands, and spent time in cafes and shops until assembling at City Hall for the return to the port around 12:15 p.m. I thought Marseille would be a dud, but so far it was may favorite day. Great fun, beautiful and a very well executed excursion. PS - The petite train tour did not look comfortable for tall folks.

We are on the same Beyond cruise. I’ll echo the comment about the shower complexity in some suites. Twice I’ve screamed very loudly as the overhead rain shower head drenched all of me with very cold water! I’m learning slowly how to master the two knobs that control the wand and the shower head, but it is so far a great challenge to reach the knobs, avoid the cold water lurking in the pipes, and avoid spraying the floor area past the tiled shower walls. I love a challenge, though. I’m going to conquer this before October 3!

We are currently in a suite on the Beyond. I have noticed plenty of sun deck seat hogs in The Retreat, especially prime seats toward the bow. No enforcement of the rules as far as I can tell, but also not much complaining either. Since we prefer the shade, it hasn’t affected us too much. As for other comments about behavior in The Retreat, my 2 cents is that it isn’t too different in the Retreat except that the complainers sound more entitled. We’re at sea today due to weather. I was trying to catch up on emails around 10 a.m., but the complaining drove me back to the cabin. The daily repeat of light breakfast selections, the lack of current cleanliness in the restroom, the weather, the new itinerary, etc., these were all topics raised with the concierge and servers within my earshot. At this moment, I would pay extra to return to the main pool deck and put some distance between myself and these suite-level “peers.” And lest anyone think I don’t really fit in with this crowd, I’ll go on record and say that my Retreat burger yesterday in Santa Margherita was just plain awful. <smile>

My TA convinced me to buy similar coverage from Allianz. I had the same positive experience when I presented a claim in late May. Due to a false positive PCR Covid test result, we canceled just over 24 hours before our flight to begin a Windstar Norway cruise. Allianz paid promptly. I bought the same coverage for our next two trips.

My bad. Until Scooter Girl’s post, I didn’t realize that the Celebrity app differentiates between Eden Cafe, Eden Bar, and Eden Restaurant. Eden Cafe does appear open for lunch on Day 1. I wonder if that means Raw on 5 is also open for lunch and just not listed in the app.

Not for lunch. Eden opens at 6 pm on Day 1. Same for Raw on 5. The only specialty restaurant open for Day 1 lunch on Beyond (according to my Celebrity app) is Le Grand Bistro. The MDRs and Luminae appear closed for lunch, too. Though, I expect Tuscan is open for the Concierge Class lunch.

My planner for my Beyond cruise next week says there is a one hour show at 11 p.m. in Eden each night. Shows start on Day 2.

I’m looking forward to your thread, Host Anne. (Or even a post-cruise recap!) I’m confident you will have a great time and that you’ll enjoy the ship’s cuisine. On our only cruise from Iceland (on Crystal), I was pretty underwhelmed by that country’s shoreside offerings. The salmon was good and the lamb Hot Dogs were interesting, but it’s not exactly a prime destination for fresh fruit and vegetables. <grin>

Let me echo this suggestion. Our MoveUp bid to an upper suite on Beyond came through on Friday morning. That afternoon, I called 877-RETREAT and explained that I had prepaid for three specialty dining reservations. The shoreside concierge processed credit card refunds for two of them. I had used cabin credits for Le Voyage, but that restaurant is not part of the upper suite reservation deal. She also reassured me that all reservation times were still in place even though they would not show up in the Celebrity App at this time. She offered to make any other reservations I was considering. Now that we have more choices without fees, I'll come up with a few more and probably call again. Great service and there was no wait to speak with her during business hours.

We sail on Beyond on 9/24. I've studied the menus and was persuaded to book Le Voyage (standard meal, not tasting or Chef's Table), Rooftop Garden Grill, and Eden. I'm having second thoughts about Le Voyage and might switch to Fine Cut even though it has mixed reviews on other ships.

Ship: Beyond Length of Cruise: 9 Nights Cruise Sail Date: September 24, 2022 Date email offer received: August 9 Captain’s Club Tier: Classic Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: TA Current Cabin: Sky Suite (S1) Bid? Yes/No: Yes Accepted?: Yes. Royal Suite. Minimum Bids: Don't Recall Accepted Offer Email: 9/2/22 Bids Made: Penthouse Suite - $2,645 USD pp. ("Fair" Offer) "Expired" as of 8/29) Royal Suite - $2,250 USD pp. ("Strong" Offer) "Pending" as of 8/29, ACEEPTED 9/2

I'm also cruising on Sept. 24. I have had bids on two upper suites in place for several weeks. I was able to check the tracker and modify my bids until last week. This morning, however, the highest category now shows my bid to be "expired." The other category says "pending" and there is no longer a button to modify the bid. Could this mean that my offer will very soon be accepted? I was thinking about canceling the bid, but now I'm tempted to stay the course and see what happens. (Still no credit card charge for my bid.)

I greatly appreciate your post (and Leejnd4's) as good reminders for caution as to all gear on every dive. Even when you bring your own stuff, there can be surprises. I have several stories from Cozumel, but the one that sticks out involved a badly damaged O-ring on my second tank of the day. About 12 minutes into the dive, my own brand new first stage started leaking like crazy at the tank connection. I caught the divemaster's attention by showing my tank was at 700 psi when everyone else was probably at 1800. Through hand gestures, he encouraged me to just buddy breathe and continue the drift dive to the end. My buddy and I disagreed with that, surfaced safely, and bobbed forever waiting for the boat driver to return from his beach break. I've never had a first stage problem before or since, and I now carry extra O-rings and inspect every tank valve before I get wet.

stev16766, I would love to hear your report when you return from Wind Spirit and I hope you share it. We're booked for Wind Spirit in June '23 and I'm an avid diver. I have faced your dilemma multiple times on Princess, RCCI, and Crystal trips. When I had a veranda cabin, I packed my BC, regulator, dive computer, mask, snorkel (sometimes), and one warm water wetsuit. Worked fine. But when I didn't have a veranda to safely hang the wet suit and BC overnight, I rented almost everything but still packed my mask, regulator and computer. That also worked fine, even though I missed not having my wetsuit and BC. I've never packed fins, weights or other accessories for cruise ship dive trips, but on liveaboard dive vacations, naturally I bring the full kit, including backups. Given the cabin descriptions for Wind Spirit, I'm considering just taking the mask and snorkel and skipping all diving. So, I'd love to hear how your trip works out. Thanks.

My palate is pretty much the same. In terms of the Buffalo Trace offerings, I'd say Eagle Rare and Blanton's are my favorites and almost impossible to find. EH Taylor is another that I tend to rave about in blind tastings. Those three are not inexpensive, but great to sip. Buffalo Trace bourbon is a good mixer. And the distillery is very nice and easy to get to from the highway. Worth a stop. This summer I've been leaning in favor of Four Roses Single Barrel or Knob Creek 12. I also like big bottles of Woodford from Costco. Woodford manhattans are an outstanding cocktail for restaurants and weekends. I doubt I'll see any Four Roses Single Barrel riding on the Beyond in late September. I sure hope they have Woodford, however. PS - You might give Angel's Envy or Michter's a try sometime. And 1792 is a nice choice that is more affordable than pretty much any of the others above.

I feel your pain. The testing rules are frustrating to be sure. I'm guessing, of course, but it could be that Windstar has received static from port authorities about the type of testing protocols that are currently acceptable. The requirements have been dynamic. There is still significant variation from country to country. For each sailing, Windstar must assemble records and be ready to satisfy themselves and officials in multiple countries that requisite precautions are followed by passengers and crew. I wouldn't be surprised if there are differences as to what the current rules are among cruise line personnel and government inspectors.

Excellent question. I searched the online WS contract (last updated as of March 29), my very recent invoice/confirmation fine print, and the WS website, but I could not find a definitive answer. There were specific references to Covid, but they focused on proof required at the time of sailing, not what may happen if one becomes positive during sailing. Two related items caught my eye. (1) the contract now makes it clear that canceling due to Covid results will affect what sort of refund/credit can be achieved; and (2) it notifies passengers that they could be fined in certain countries who do not allow tourists to enter who are positive for a contagious disease.

Diebroke, that's close to the same strategy we mapped out for our Memorial Day weekend Star Legend cruise to Norway. We took at-home rapid tests starting on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, DW took a PCR test at CVS. On Thursday, I took a CVS PCR test. Late Thursday, her PCR results came back positive despite lack of symptoms and multiple negative at-home and supervised rapid antigen tests. Our flight was scheduled for Friday night, so a decision was looming. We decided not to risk being positive when we reached Amsterdam due to quarantine risk and guilt about potentially exposing other travelers. We canceled just before our 48-hour window expired. We took other PCR tests over the holiday weekend and ALL were negative. We received FCCs only because we made our decision more than 48 hours prior to sailing. Now we have credits on WS and Delta and are shopping for 2023. I don't regret the decision, but we are convinced that the one positive test was a false positive. As you said, travel planning sure is complicated these days.