papadave

Strong agreement with the original post.    I'm currently sailing on the Rotterdam.   All precruise email from HAL still listed Amsterdam as the embarkation port in more places than it mentioned the Rotterdam port.   Why it was so difficult to change such information is beyond me.    Subject lines were vague and could have stayed change of embarkation port instead of the extremely vague important update phrase which was also used when they pushed our boarding time slot off by 20 minutes.  They could also have explained which trains go to Rotterdam as it is not as inconvenient as a change of ports in the US would have been.     A little clarity would have been nice.    

Maybe they should encourage us all to go to a maritime museum or a science museum to learn more about the chalenges of maintaining water appropriate for agriculture in the Netherlands.   I'm fascinated by all that I am learning and did not realize how much they have to do just to have fresh water that is not contanimated by sea water.  At the least, it is crucial to farming, but it sounds like it is important in other areas as well.   

The train ride is not terribly long and I normally don't do anything on embarkation day other than get to the port and get on the ship.    I feel bad for anyone who had to cancel other plans to fit in an additional hour of travel or those folks who booked the hotel right next to the cruise port in Amsterdam just so they did not need to consider anything beyond getting to their hotel.   Patience and understanding, in this case, is a virtue and it would be wrong to blame any cruise line for a drought that is harming a large portion of a continent.   Having not been contacted by the cruise line yet, I am disappointed in the slowness of communication.   I hope that others in my shoes, embarking on the 31st, get more advanced notice than the people leaving tomorrow, the 24th.

Having read a lot on message boards, I can summarize what people are saying.   It depends on the ship.  Overall, when cruising returned staffing levels have been lower and beverage service in main dining rooms is typically being handled by the waitstaff instead of a dedicated beverage person, such as a wine steward.   Sometimes this is wonderful, efficient and better than before.   Other times, you are better off picking up a drink at a bar on the way in.    

As someone who will look at a menu before deciding on what to drink with dinner, I typically order at the table and hope that service is good, but I am not above leaving a dining room if the nearest bar is convenient.   It might appear rude, but if you prefer to have your drink with your meal and not as a separate course (I hate sitting with food in front of me and waiting for the drink to accompany it), that is often the better option.  If you are asked by your waiter or someone above the waiter, just be honest.   They need to recognize when there is a gap.   If they are shortstaffed, it would be unfair to blame anyone, but you need not ruin your own experience either.

It appears to be unrealistic to walk from the cruise port back to any shopping.   If you want to spend a number of hours shopping, then it makes sense to drop your bags and take a taxi/car service to a shopping area, shop for hours, then take another taxi or car service back to the port.   If you are doing this, try to work with your driver to consider the trip from the hotel to the ship followed by shopping as hotel plus one stop, as luggage handlers should be able to take your bags in a minute or two as long as all of your bags have luggage tags.

Sorry for responding to the post when it is so far removed from the original topic, but I feel like I need to chime in.

Farmed trout can be raised in what are essentially concrete pools like a swimming pool in fresh water without any risk of impacting on the wild population.   They could, in theory, be raised in a desert if water was pumped in.   Farmed salmon, however, are not truly isolated from the wild population in that they are raised in netted areas but in water that flows to where wild salmon live.    Everything in the farmed salmon operation (feed, antiobiotics, fish waste) can migrate into the wild salmon's environment.   If a farmed salmon escape through a hole in a net and joins the wild salmon it can reproduce with the wild salmon or be eaten in the wild.

If you have the opportunity to visit Long Island, you may want to go to the trout hatchery in Cold Spring Harbor, NY, which is open to the public.   There you can see a farmed trout operation close up.   

Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquiarium | Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquiarium (cshfishhatchery.org)

As for the original post, catch of the day or similar designation is a common menu listing on menus at fine restaurants everywhere.  It allows the chef to procure the best fish available.    My recommendation, when you are on a cruise ship, is to try unfamiliar fish if it is offered, as you can always ask for a different main course if you find what is presented unappealing.    My personal practice is to order something I am unfamiliar with, if I don't like it I will briefly explain that I was trying to broaden my palate, but would like to quickly change for something else, then ask what is ready to serve, so that my tablemates don't have to wait for me to eat a main course after they are done with their main dishes.   There is usually something that can come out very quickly, even if it is on the kid's menu.

Speak with your travel agent.   Make sure you need to purchase it now as I am usually given multiple opportunities to purchase prior to final payment of the cruise, sometimes beyond final payment.    My only concern, speaking as someone with very limited understanding of how things work now, would paying for insurance, having the cruise line cancel the trip, and not getting a refund on the insurance.    I suggest having the discussion with your travel agent and attempting to purchase something that is not a waste if the cruise line cancels the ship.

The cruises are cheap because people like certain plans when they have limited time available and this is a time of great uncertainty.   That is, if you are planning a trip by car around the holidays you can rely on using your car to go somewhere and will be able to figure out alternatives even if some places are off limits.   If you are planning a cruise and it gets cancelled you have no plans.   Also, if you can't go ashore, or know that ports may change due to land-based restrictions which may change while you are on board, this may not be the best time for a family vacation.    That much said, if you are flexibile and can take advantage of the lower fares, now is the time to seize the opportunity.

We went on a less crowded ship this summer, one that was very nice but apparently can feel overcrowded when fully booked, and had a great time.   If that sounds good to you, why not go for it?

I've been on both ships.    Very similar, but not identical.   Some things are located in different places.   Unless you are switching from one ship to another in a short period of time, none of these differences are worth noting.

Wow, was I happy that my travel agent could take care of this.   I got the cancellation email today, contacted my travel agent, and was booked in a "lift and shift" to March 2023, which I find better than March 2022 anyway.   We are changing from a 14 day itinerary to a 12 day itinerary and have plenty of time to plan, so we may keep the same number of travel days and just tag on a couple of days on land in Japan.   

We are using a future cruise credit that has been bouncing from one cancelled cruise to another, so a cash refund was not an option for us.   If you are being offered cash, that may be a plus, as it gives you more flexibility to decide when you cruise and opens you up to all cruise lines.   I'm a big fan of Celebrity, but wound up on an MSC Cruise in Europe this summer and was pleasantly surprised, so take that for what it is worth.

Highly recommend Barcelo Sants Hotel at the Sants Train station.    Easy for transportation, good value, good restaurants in the area.  Personally, I would not stay on La Rambla, have been warned not to eat anywhere on La Rambla, and did not find the area around La Rambla very charming.   

The hotel right at the Sants train station (hotel name Barcelo Sants) had a reasonable rate (something around USD $100 a night, plenty of taxis to the cruise port the next day, requires no travel for someone arriving at the train station, has a direct train line from the airport, and has generously sized rooms, which you don't always find in Barcelona.

We used points through our credit card, so we didn't pay money for the room.   There were some wonderful restaurants within walking distance.    This is not a touristy part of the city, so when you are eating, you are eating in a restaurant you are eating with locals.   

We disembarked in Barcelona in early August.    There were more than enough taxis to go around.

FYI, with COVID, every taxi we took in Barcelona and in Madrid was able to take a credit card on a no contact device, so you don't need to bother with handing a driver cash or taking back change from the driver's hands.

We found a pay what you wish tour of the Gothic Quarter.   Technically, it was free, but not tipping when someone spends two hours of their time showing you around and that is how they make a living just is not right.    It was fairly informative.   Easy to find with an online search.   In the end, it gave us some other ideas of what to do with our otherwise free time in Barcelona.   We were staying in Barcelona post-cruise, so I'm not sure this applies, as anyone just going off of the ship that day and returning had to stay in the bubble, meaning that a tour booked through the ship, starting and ending at the ship, was mandatory.

So, you need to check with your cruise line (NCL) and find out if you can book your own excursion.   If not, you may need to wait until they post what is available.

7 hours ago, Até said:

MSC has had to make a lot of changes and I agree they could do a better job getting out word of these requirements.  On the US website the change to requiring US passengers on EU sailings to have COVID-19 insurance was made somewhere around July 15th, but there were hints before that as all new bookings were being notified of the requirement.

 

I suspect you were closely watching the regulations for travel to Spain and Italy since they were also changing almost daily.  The MSC Terms & Conditions you were forced to acknowledge in order to get your boarding documents had a very large section advising passengers to keep updated with the MSC website's Health and Safety protocols which were also frequently changing. 

 

For any US passenger traveling on these very first available EU sailings I have to think perhaps you should have been more proactive in ensuring you met the current protocols.  Personally I think you got very lucky when MSC  allowed you to board anyway.  There has been one other report that US passengers were allowed on the ship without the now required insurance but I suspect we will soon be hearing reports of people being denied boarding due to lack of insurance.

I never saw anything.   My wife never saw anything.   If my travel agent was informed, the information was not passed along to me.   MSC issued cruise documents for boarding to me when I did on line check in.   During on line check in I was not asked about separate COVID insurance.   This was not on me.   

Back from our cruise.   Everyone had to take a test at the port prior to boarding the ship.   Not fun.   Really, not fun.   However, given the choice between being overcautious and not cautious enough, I would say I was happier to know everyone was tested that day, not a day or two earlier.   We were not the only people who got to the city of departure a day before embarkation and went out to eat.    MSC does what it can, but fellow passengers on board remove their mask all the time, until they are told to put the mask on, and remove the mask again as soon as they are not being watched.  It is reassuring to know that everyone got on board testing negative.

The only reason I might never cruise with MSC again is that I got to the port in Barcelona on July 24 and was told, for the first time ever, to present proof that I had COVID insurance and would not be permitted to board the ship without COVID insurance.   We have health insurance, but did not purchase any separate COVID insurance.    This requirement was not communicated to me prior to my showing up to get on the ship.  I offered to pay on the spot but was told that wasn't possible.   A supervisor needed to sort things out.  We were permitted to cruise.   Other than a brief apology, nothing more.   It might have been nice to find strawberries in the cabin or a card.   Not that I deserve compensation, but I was surprised that I wasn't given a voucher for a massage or a meal in a specialty restaurant.   Being told you can't board is jarring and I was rather unhappy the rest of the day.

My personal experience is that MSC does a very poor job of communicating with passengers.  

We returned from our cruise.   We were able to get on the ship.   Still, if anyone at MSC is reading this, telling your customer that you don't need to worry about the words that you are reading saying that you still need to check in can be ignored if your ticket has been mailed to you is not enough to keep your customer satisfied when that customer is flying to a different continent in order to take a cruise.   Especially when the customer requests that you put in writing that the words saying you have not checked in can be ignored.   I asked for a letter or an email.  MSC refused to send me one.   I had my travel agent contact MSC, and MSC still refused.   This was frustrating to say the least.

Oh, when we got to the point of embarkation in Barcelona, an MSC employee who did not have a complete grasp on requirements insisted that we needed to have COVID insurance separate from our health insurance, which was the first time I ever heard about such a requirement.    I was beyond upset.   Eventually a supervisor came and cleared things up, but it is obvious that MSC failed to provide clear guidance to some of its employees.    I thought we were not getting on the ship.   MSC really needs to get its act together.

That much said, the cruise was pleasant.

I find everything about this very frustrating.   I completed what I could online and get an error message, essentially.    My travel agent sent me the complete ticket, boarding passes and luggage tags by email.   Both the website and the MSC app make it look as if I still need to check in, but MSC customer service assures me that I am checked in and won't have any trouble getting on board.   However, they refuse to send me an email stating that despite the MSC app showing I NEED to check in, I am already properly checked in.   It did not seem like much to ask for and I don't understand why they refuse.   My hope is that this amounts to nothing, but it creates anxiety on my part and does not represent proper customer service.    I have spent approximately four hours either waiting to speak with customer service representatives or on the phone and this is all I get.   

If your TA has a website, check to see if there is a chat option.   Sometimes you can make headway with that.

To answer the question about going to the main dining room, you might want to have dinner there with passengers who are not in Aqua class, as you can't just invite passengers to join you to dine in Blu.

If the law only permits certain ships, the list of ships probably came from the cruise lines and not from the lawmakers.    It does seem shortsighted to switch the ships rather than amend the law if the ships are nearly identical.   However, if they are not identical, there may not be enough time to amend the law.  Having cruised on both ships, I don't remember any difference that stood out.  Based on the Cruise Critic profile of both ships, the passenger size is identical, but the Summit carries a smaller crew.   So, if that information is accurate, there is at least one thing that stands out.   

You are a wonderful friend for trying to accommodate others, but I don't think you are going to have any luck finding a good soft shell crab on a cruise ship.   Maybe, just maybe, you might find one tucked away in the Japanese menu of a specialty restaurant on a cruise ship, but I don't recall seeing one there and would not have ordered a soft shell if it wasn't alive a minute before being cooked.   I clean and cook my own and have been doing this for decades.   For most people this is a food item you either love or don't love.   I just don't expect to see this on a cruise ship menu any more than I would expect to see kangaroo meat.

I think the previous posts fairly well cover the topic.   Blu is nice, smaller, with a healthier menu.   The healthier menu is not for everyone.    My daughter does not eat meat, but eats fish, so this was a real plus for her.    I enjoyed the Persian Gardens and visited many times, but my mother went once and did not take advantage of them for the rest of the cruise.   So everything depends on where your own preferences and priorities fall.   Just because I wouldn't hesitate to book Aqua for a couple of hundred dollars for the entire cruise per room (not per person) doesn't mean I'd pay a thousand dollars for the privilege.   If you're not interested in dining at Blu or using the Persian Gardens it does not pay.   If I was looking at value, I'd also consider whether I could spend the money off the ship on great meals while in port, depending on your itinerary.   That's something many people overlook -- the opportunity to have a fantastic meal that is not included in the price of the cruise, but you could budget for.   Also, because of the limited number of accessible cabins in Aqua class, you may be stuck with a cabin that is not to your liking.   Spend some time looking at your ship's deck plan.   That's a good investment.

We booked this cruise knowing that it is not the most likely to sail.   If they cancel, you should get your money back or a future cruise credit with something extra thrown in.  My best guess, based on past patterns of when cruise cancellation have been posted, is that the decision is coming soon and two or three weeks from now they will notify passengers if they are cancelling.   If you are concerned about missing out, my recommendation is that you book the cruise while cabins are available.   They might need to switch out the Halifax port for a different port.   While it is actually a nice port stop, I don't imagine that will be a deal breaker for too many folks.   For us, if they drop Iceland from the itinerary we will probably cancel, but otherwise are rolling the dice and waiting to find out if this will really happen.

The CDC guidelines are but one hurdle to clear for this cruise.   Every country along the way, plus the destination, have got to give approval for this to go as planned.   Celebrity may be able to make some modifications, but they also may need to wait and see what is happening before making any changes.

I hope this happens and if it does look forward to meeting everyone else who is enthusiastic about a return to cruising.

Inside cabins can be nice too.    Having sailed in small staterooms both inside and with a window I can't say that I wanted to spend much more time in my cabin with a window.   If you are likely to use your cabin as a bed and a bathroom, not as a place to hang out, you might be fine with an inside cabin.   It is very much a personal choice.

You may see some difference in taxes and port charges depending on the itinerary you choose.   As this is a 7 day cruise you are unlikely to have any very expensive port charges.   The highest port charge I paid was for the Panama Canal, which was hundreds of dollars for two people.   Normally, port charges are reasonable.   

It sounds like you were very lucky, have been offered a nice deal which will let you know whether or not cruises are your thing.   Have a great time.