Scottygirl1

55 minutes ago, nini said:

If it is refundable OBC, you will receive a refund. So you do not need to spend it at all. We received a check form ours just a few weeks after our cruise.

No, ours are non-refundable.  I'll just have to spend up while on the ship 🙂

7 minutes ago, Teechur said:

You can spend it on Princess excursions now for use during your trip.

You can also spend it in the stores onboard and in certain portside shops. (Buy gifts.) You could also spend it on sanctuary days, photos, casino, etc.

Oh wow, I didn't know that.  It asked for a credit card when I booked my shore trips.  I'll go and have another look, thanks.  Yes, the stores on board, I forgot. I do like a little bit of costume jewellery when I travel.

We will have $200 onboard credit which we can't spend until onboard.  We already have the drink and wifi package and don't usually eat at the Specialty restaurants or do spa treatments etc.   We have already booked and paid for shore excursions.  Serious question, what can we spend this money on? 

I'm rather enjoying your follow up posts... feel free to keep commenting (I know it's not Princess related now but still travel).  I'm sorry to hear about your DW's experience.  When travelling I have one of those cross body bags that can't be cut.  I'm so glad your wife fended them off but so scary.

1 hour ago, Steelers0854 said:

correct, I meant the sauce that came with it on the plate. Had there been more of that it would have helped with the dryness of the chicken. 

 

You’re not wrong, but also we had a couple hours of guided tour driving around the city, which you could argue you could get from the HO/HO side as well. The museum is also free for everyone so that doesn’t really factor in either. Princess tours will NEVER present a value vs booking on your own but the costs do add up. Taxi into the city and back, $70, lunch for 2, $65, Castle tickets $40, HO/HO $40. You can probably argue we got a better tour from a local guide than the HO/HO would offer. In addition all I had to do was show up and not organize anything. Also, we got back to the dock after 6pm which was the time of the last tender back to the ship but because we were on a Princess tour it wasn’t an issue and traffic was very bad getting to and from the ship. 

That all makes a lot of sense.  We have the Edinburgh on your own booked and while it's more expensive than getting a taxi, I like the guaranteed 'getting back to the ship' aspect.  Thanks for this thread and all the help and advice.

5 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

I'm certainly not picking on the OP's tour, but if you look at what they did, a lot of it was "on your own" touring time, including:

• Skipped the museum and instead walked around Royal Mile for 90 minutes.
• 3 hours for lunch and walking around Princes street and the area before meeting back up with the tour group
• Going through the castle on our own and spent just under 2 hours there.

 

Once you skip the museum, 90% of the day is walking and touring on your own.  Everything here can be done without paying for a pricey tour.  Just make sure to buy tickets to the Castle in advance if you will be there on a busy day.  And if you want an organized tour of the castle, those are easy to get.  A roundtrip taxi will cost 50 pounds or 25 each for two people compared to the price of the tour.  The itinerary above includes 6 1/2 hours of "on your own time."  So why not just plan your own day?
 

Agreed actually.  We had planned that originally and have seen the bus you can get directly to the town centre.  Either that or the ship's tour of 'Edinburgh on your own' (just to be sure we get back to the ship on time).

We are in the process of figuring out Edinburgh tours.  We hadn't thought of the tour you went on because we want to spend time walking Royal Mile etc but now that you've said you can skip the museum and use that time walking, I think we might book the tour you did.  My grandmother's side of the family all lived in and around that area so I'd like to just experience walking those streets.  

1 hour ago, Steelers0854 said:

I was just looking at the tour options and out of all of them I think it’s still the best option. I think with a better guide it would have been more enjoyable for us. The 2 sites are pretty cool in and of themselves. 

Thank you, yes hopefully we'll have a better experience. I'm enjoying your updates by the way!

We are on the Best of Highlands Tour out of Invergordon on our August cruise.  I was really hoping it would be great but not so sure after your review and experience.  

The list of drinks shows on the comparison page and does show soda under classic package. 

 https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/05_07_SP_Beverage-Package-Flyer_051721.pdf

Pinned at the top of this board is an "S Class" notice - linked is a spreadsheet which will give all the details you need.  If you look at a room you want on Reflection it will state if the bed is by the balcony or by the bathroom.  Here is that spreadsheet to save you time.  Make sure you only look at Reflection cabins though as other ships have different layouts.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lYvbGYBf2WB3jSFTVuliFltauVnhdqfheWJTeFujSbs/edit#gid=86443689

My sister and niece were on this cruise - boarded in Auckland and disembarked in Dunedin.  They had to get off then as the new restrictions came into place about 14 day isolation etc if they carried on to Australia.  My sister and my niece are now in isolation after being informed by our health authorities that they were exposed to the virus - both on the cruise and also at Dunedin airport where they were most of the day waiting for a flight.

2 minutes ago, cruisine21 said:

Were you covered by insurance?

Most travel insurance does not cover pandemics.  I know our major policy has this exclusion - thankfully we managed to cancel our holiday before losing much money.

We also cancelled our May cruise before paying in full and lost our deposit.  That cruise will not go ahead now due to cruise ships not being allowed to dock in New Zealand.  Oh well... $400 down the drain but at least I know what I'm doing.

3 hours ago, Longwood50 said:

I am booked on the Celebrity Infinity May 9, 2020 out of Barcelona.  The ship departs and visits France and Italy as well as other ports in Spain.  The travel alert says that boarding will be denied to anyone who travels through any of the Shengen countries which of course includes Spain, France and Italy.  Has anyone heard what Celebrity is intending to do since it has not announced the cancelling of the cruise but it obviously has made it impossible for anyone to board it. 

It does say this so perhaps by May it won't apply?  It's crazy.   "These temporary safety precautions will remain in place for a projected period of 30 days and will continued to be reviewed daily" 

7 minutes ago, Oville said:

Odd obesity isn’t included.

I would imagine that obese people would often be diabetic or have high blood pressure etc.  If they are fit and well then I don't think obesity itself would be a reason.  It might also be a brave doctor to sign off a morbidly obese person as 'fit to travel' under the current situation.

2 minutes ago, Oville said:

I’m not in my 70s but do have controlled asthma.  I am very fit, probably more so than most on any cruise.  There seems to be some discrimination (age, health) going on here. 

I think that is covered here:

Boarding will be denied to any person with a severe, chronic medical condition, including those specified by the CDC. Guests of all ages will be screened prior to boarding, regarding underlying health issues that may prevent them from sailing, i.e. chronic heart, lung, liver, or kidney disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, or cancer.

My sister is currently sailing on a B2B cruise.  Does this mean that when the ship gets to Sydney for the start of the second leg of her B2B she will be denied re-embarkation?  She is over 70 and suffers from advanced diabetes.

Clearly not berthing... 

On another thread it mentioned that someone had died from a fall off a balcony?  Could it be because of this?

50 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

In other words, you don't know this to be a fact.  You are just guessing.

You don't seem to want the truth regarding this.   I'm sure you are a lovely person who has cruised for many years but we are not guessing.  There are many, many first hand accounts from passengers on these ships.  If you don't believe me please go and have a look at David Abel's videos from before the quarantine up to today.  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKydRcHz9jhu_t247j7JLUQ/videos

45 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

And you know this because?

Because that is exactly what happened on the Diamond Princess.  Did you not follow that closely?  The time spent in their cabins was dreadful.  They were given a dust pan to clean the floor, towels were dumped outside the door and the ONLY contact was with a medical professional in full face mask and gown at the door to test for the virus.  

58 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I believe that's exactly how it works.  You are confined to your cabin.

No, it's not how it works.  You won't have a cabin attendant or a butler.  Your meals (such as they are in disposable plastic trays) will be left outside your room.  You have to change your own bed, clean your own room and bathroom.  I don't think that sounds like fun to me especially as you are then at the added risk of becoming sick.  We have certainly cancelled our cruise.

1 hour ago, emairs said:

We are leaving on Friday for a b2b cruise on the Solstice departing from Auckland on March 10.

Just found out that a couple in our town in Ontario, who arrived from Iran, have Covid 19.

Just as well that we are leaving town😊

 

My sister and my niece are also doing that B2B cruise - enjoy 🙂

We have cancelled a May cruise and also will cancel an August cruise.  The main reason is not fear of Corona virus but that we are not covered by travel insurance for this event (pandemic/epidemic including corona virus).  We had planned a 6 week European holiday involving many thousands of dollars and to not be covered for change of travel plans etc is simply not worth the risk.  Thankfully we only lose one deposit, everything else is refundable.