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I've read scary reviews for the various rental car agencies. Mostly having to do with being charged for damage one did not do. To be fair, I've read the same sad stories for renting cars and scooters on Santorini too. Maybe it comes with the territory. I have a premium credit card that acts as primary car insurance even internationally. If I summon enough courage to rent in Iceland (or Santorini), I'' probably instead buy the rental agency insurance to avoid the hassle.

Do you show the results on your phone (not paper)? If so, any problems doing so?

I read some threads about biting flying insects (midges) during the short Iceland summer. With the cold, I assume you didn't experience any?

Could have sailed to Iceland in 3 days... 🙃

I'm new to Celebrity, please pardon my dopey question. There's a promo offering $400 OBC. Not sure if it makes a difference, but unsure if it is Celebrity OBC, or Travel Agent OBC. Will daily gratuities get paid from OBC? Will I see occur daily on my onboard account as grats get charged? Here's an old thread from 2018, prepandemic, that was incorrectly titled. The thread's overwhelming opinion in the thread is that you can use OBC for daily service charges / gratuities. They say it can be seen on a daily basis in your account consuming OBC. My question is- has anything changed since the restart? Is it still the same?

Needing a hard copy is worrisome. At home, we have a printer, but it desperately wants to retire. It takes several restarts, oiling the print head rail, etc. to get it to work. Thought about getting a new one, but we really don't have a need for printing any more. Asking around, no one around us has or wants a printer any more. For many, testing has to be done at the embark city because of time limits. It's hard to get a print out when traveling, perhaps in a different country 😕

Looks like the cruise lines are trying to attract a younger age demographic, as shown by the models in their video and print advertisements. This would also explain why food is now often "charred", which is popular with some/many millenials. Burnt steaks, overdone croissants... 🙃

I found that my musical Etymotic earplugs are fine for show as well as conversations. These lower the volume (evenly across the spectrum to maintain music quality), but do not block out sound completely. One airline pilot wrote in a review that they work great for blocking the air noise and engine buzz, but still able to converse with the copilot and navigator.

I'm thinking about wearing hiking boot onto the plane, but doesn't this cause extra steps at airport security screening? Like removing the boots and having to send them through the x-ray machine. I'm not excited about having to removing my shoes at security 😬

Is August a good time (bug wise) to visit Greenland? Sounds like Alaska, where bugs are gone by August or September, from what I've read.

I think this is very particular to which crewmember is running the soundboard on a given ship. So some might say "it was fine on the So-And-So of the Seas" But others would say "it was shaking my body on That-And-That of the Seas!" That said, there is a trend toward loud. A friend of mine just came back from a Princess cruise complaining about the excessive loudness in the theater. I recommended earplugs-- not the normal kind, but instead the musical kind. These earplugs strive to lower the sound evenly, and are used by musicians. Musicians are of course very close to the instruments. For example, violinists can have issues with the one ear next to the instrument. There is a wide range of cost and quality to musician earplugs. The inexpensive ones, which I use, cost about $20 a pair. It goes way up from there, to custom molded plugs bespoke to a person. So for weekend garage bands, cruisers, and casual listeners- the $20 works great. I use Etymotic brand. Other companies make them too.

I knew something was not right with this carrier. They changed a connecting flight right before the lockdown which left us stranded in London overnight. They were totally unresponsive as to assistance. I'm a former road warrior, familiar with what airlines are required to do under US and EU regulations. We made lemonade out of it and had wonderful evening in London, which we had never visited before. Tried fish and chips in twice, rode on the Tube, saw Kensington Palace, London Tower, all the good tourist places. In the end, we are thankful for that quick trip as the lockdown happened right after that. We still fondly reminisce about that evening.

Personally, I'd hate it if the cruiselines went in this direction. It would be a move in the wrong direction 🙂 The current practice works because it doesn't happen "that often". If they changed to broad categories only, it'd be a license for them to move people around willy nilly all the time.

What did GeoBlue not cover? Did the 3rd party insurance also provide annual coverage, or per voyage coverage?

Which online proctor did you use?

Could you use video conferencing that most people have already (FaceTime, etc), ior did you have to install their app for the proctored test?

What kind of wildlife did you see? We were on Encore late last year and didn't see any because we didn't know to look 😔 😔 😔

On hotels/land, or during a cruise? I recall Rome being a very crowded place with locals and tourists alike. I haven't been back post pandemic, maybe it is different now.

Yep. We normally arrive one day ahead. With all the recent flight problems, we have upped it to two days before the cruise.

If you did get it again, would you skip the Paxlovid?

For older ships like Radiance, do they allow booking shows before embark?

That's weird, they should know who is / isn't onboard at all times. No shows are not unusual, probably happens on every sailing especially on the mega ships. What would they have done if both of you didn't embark? Call you at your work or home asking when you'll come to the muster? 😆 😆 😆

It looks like this summer is a bad time to have complications like special pre-negotiated fares, blocks of seats, etc 😞 We've never used cruiseline air, always do our own air arrangements. That said, we now arrive two nights ahead of embarkation.

I guess the flu is different for everyone too. I don't ever recall losing the sense of smell from the flu, nor have I heard anyone ever mention that flu symptom...?

Her sense of smell has not come back fully, or not at all? 😞 I hope you and yours completely recover soon. And Mom's sense of smell too!