songbird1329

We did the Chichén Itza tour on our last cruise.  The site is absolutely amazing.  Much more impressive than any other Mayan site.  But, as others have said, you spend more time in the ferry and the bus than you do at the site.

our guide handed us headphones when we got off the bus, started talking the moment we entered the park, and didn’t stop for a moment.  No bathroom break (he talked while we visited the ladies room), no chance to stop and buy souvenirs,  he just kept talking and showing the sites from the moment we arrived until the moment he led us back to the bus.

We’re going to San Gervasio, Tucumán wasn’t offered on our cruise.  San Gervasio is much closer to the port.

I’ll hold you to that …

It’s a cheap menorah from Amazon, I’ll have to change the lights every night.

Yep, Constellation

So, being vaxxed and boosted, I don’t have to test to go to Cartegena.  Good to know, as we will be on the December 12 Cruise on the Constellation.

So we will be sailing December 12-23, and I know the ship will be decorated for Christmas.

and I’ll be bringing a little something for our cabin.  Plug it in with a USB cord and it’s good to go.

Starting to get excited.  We booked this cruise in May 2021.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s an insurance thing, 

Ditto, December 12 cruise, couldn’t check in  yesterday

We will be on the Constellations in December, 11 nights, three sea days.  Three chic nights?

We have it booked for our cruise in December on the Constellation. We’ve taken similar tours on Carnival and Royal Caribbean 

You need to buy travel insurance right after you book your cruise to avoid exclusions/look back periods for pre existing medical conditions.

We’ve got some interesting insurance regulations here in NY, so the policy Celebrity will sell to us is underwritten by Arch Insurance, a subsidiary of Aon, rather than being underwritten by Aon directly.  
 

of course you can buy coverage from any company.   It you’re still going to have issues with coverage for pre existing conditions if you wait too long to obtain coverage.

^{There’s a separate notice for the three affected states on the website,  that coverage can be purchased from Arch, but when my boyfriend booked our upcoming trip, the agent he spoke to told him that we could not purchase coverage at all.}
 

On 7/28/2022 at 5:40 PM, Babr said:

Cruise Care is actually underwritten by Arch Insurance. AON just administers the policy.

 

Residents of New York and some other places can’t buy it because state regulation prohibit it. In New York, the problem is the CFAR provision. It is not considered insurance because it does not protect against a risk, merely the whim of the policy holder. Even though the CFAR is provided by the cruise line not the insurance company, it is contained in the same policy.

That’s not correct.  We in NY can get Cruise Care coverage, but the policy is underwritten by Aon’s subsidiary Arch and the terms comply with NY law

Yes, New York has interesting regulations. 
 

You can get Cruise Care insurance, but the policy is underwritten by Arch Insurance Company (Arch is owned by Aon, but they’re considered a separate company for most purposes) and the the terms of coverage are slightly different than the policy written by Aon.

Thank you

It’s not a partial transit, Colon is the port of call.

On 7/13/2022 at 4:22 PM, BillB48 said:

Have not used Celebrity for this excursion, but all the cruise lines use the same excursion boats and operate in the same manner.

 

Basically this tour is offered for cruises that are making a partial transit of the Atlantic Locks or just making a port call at Colon.  In the case of the partial transit cruise you will tender off the ship once you pass through the locks and reach Gatun Lake.  From there you will be transported by bus to the Pacific side where you will board the excursion vessel which will take you through the original set of locks and Gaillard (Culebra) Cut.  After the cruise portion of the excursion you will be bused back to Colon where you will re-board the ship.

 

This is an excellent excursion that gives you a good look at the particularly if you are on a partial transit or just a port call at Colon.  Happy to try and answer any specific questions.

it’s not a partial transit, it’s Colon as the port of call.  

You cannot prevent people from getting sick on cruise ships.  Before COVID there were other viruses.  Norovirus comes to mind.

Vaccines, mask requirements, pre cruise testing, etc. are all tools to minimize the risk that COVID will spread.  At some point the tools will have outlived their usefulness and will become ineffective.  
 

When the tools become unduly burdensome and ineffective, it’s time to retire the tools.

Have we reached that point with cruising?  I hope so.  I’m fully vaccinated and feel comfortable traveling, and if I don’t have to worry about testing for COVID I’ll be ok.

Everyone has their own comfort level.  I have friends who still won’t go to a restaurant unless it has outdoor dining.   So if you feel the risk of becoming ill outweighs the benefits of cruising, it’s your decision and I won’t fault you.  But I intend to enjoy my cruise in December regardless of testing requirements.

Anyone take the Wonders of Engineering: Panama Canal Locks and Culebra Cut Cruise? Any feedback/reviews?

My father learned the hard way that you don’t put your medication in your checked luggage. My father was a cardiac patient and took several different pills every day.  He and my younger sisters flew from NYC to Miami.  The plane then flew from Miami to a city in South America.  My father’s suitcase flew to South America and back to Miami, where it was returned to him.  Not only was he without his meds for two days, but his suitcase a

had been thoroughly searched.

48 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

It's TMZ.  That tells you everything you need to know about the story's credibility.  That the Daily Mail picked up the story from TMZ and published it, tells you all you need to know about them as a source, too.

 

This is a whole lot of nothing!

Um, TMZ is very gossipy, but it usually scoops other publications.  The story was also in the Daily Mail.  
 

This  media reported what appears in the court documents.  Your skepticism is unwarranted, the media only reported what the reporter read in the pleadings.
 

 As I said, it will be up to the woman and her attorney to prove the allegations in her complaint to the judge and jury.

I’m going to elaborate on what I said earlier…

The news articles indicate suit was filed in federal court.  A suit filed in federal court is subject to Rule 11 sanctions, meaning the party and her attorneys can be sanctioned by a court for filing frivolous litigation.  Which means that she has a good faith basis to believe that she acquired HIV from a blood transfusion administered aboard a Celebrity ship.

HIV is sometimes transmitted through blood transfusions.  It will be the plaintiff’s obligation to show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that her HIV was caused by the transfusion, and that proper medical screening would have prevented the transmission of HIV.

This is going to be an interesting case to watch.

If this woman has an attorney, she and her attorney believe they have enough evidence to make a case.  Whether they do have sufficient evidence is a different issue.

Thanks.  Now can someone please help me explain this to my panicked boyfriend who thinks we won’t have any shore excursions?

We’re booked on the Constellation in December.  It’s our first post COVID  cruise and our first cruise on X.

 We prefer the cruise lines own shore excursions.  When we booked this cruise last year we didn’t see a lot of shore excursions listed for each port.  We thought They’d  add more excursions as the date of the cruise got closer.

well, that hasn’t happened yet.  And some of the excursions we planned to book are no longer listed.

any ideas about what’s happening here?  Will they add more excursions?  When?