Tom47

Refund was because, unbeknownst to me, we no longer had business class. They didn't explain that even though I asked.

We have just finished a Rhine/Mosel river cruise, Antwerp to Basel. The trip was mostly good, except that many of the pax came down with a viral infection(including us). They provided room service for those who were sick and confined to their rooms.Pull down single beds were very uncomfortable and gave us back pain. Food was good. Wine and beer included in price. Program managers, and staff, including Captain were friendly and helpful. One thing that left a sour taste for us was a bait and switch price. We booked this trip in May 2020 for May 2021. GCT cancelled because of Covid. We had plans for 2022 and rebooked for 2023. We had paid in full for the 2021 trip. When we rebooked, they assured me that we would still get the same price and business air fare. That proved not to be the case. First they sent me a refund of $1110 and then demanded an additional $7500 because the business class airfare was only price Protected for 1 year. We don't recommend GCT and will not use them again. We have used Vantage Travel, but have read of problems with them and many unhappy customers.

Thanks for your excellent review.

If you stopped at Niagara Falls, you would be 13 miles from us.

I am in the anti smoker camp.

We have done 1 US river cruise on American cruise line and recommend them. It was a Columbia river cruise. River cruises are about 2x as much as ocean cruises. For seasickness we use bonine and ginger capsules. For ocean cruises, we have cruised on RCI(Allure), Celebrity--several ships and Azamara. We recommend all 3, but Celebrity or RCI would be best for your needs. Only Princess and HAL go into Glacier Bay NP(permit req'd by NPS).

I ask for English Breakfast tea with honey and always get it.

My wife and I brought our sil, daughter and 3 grand kids on a RCI 52nd anniversary cruise last year(50th cancelled by Covid). Everyone loved it. It was an 8 night Caribbean cruise on Allure OTS r/t Ft. Lauderdale. We had a family conference to decide. Cruise lines considered: RCI, Celebrity, Princess and Disney.. They still talk about how much they liked it. Two of my 3 grans have Cystic Fibrosis and that req'd extra planning. I was able to get an accessible JS to hold all their medical therapy machines..

About 4 years ago, during the Buffalo RC church pedophile scandal, an interesting item came to light. Then Bishop Malone wrote a very complimentary reference letter for a priest to the AOS organization. This priest had been the subject of credible child molestation accusations, subsequently proven true. The Buffalo News was unable to determine if this. priest had gone on any cruises Bishop Malone was forced to retire by the Vatican.

We do eat breakfast and lunch in the buffet on port days.

Lovely review. We will be on Apex in Jan.

We use magnetic clips from Amazon go hold the showed curtain in place.

DW is also allergic to aloe. I asked prior to cruise and had to ask again once on board. DW now brings her own.

Bathrooms & showers both smaller

We have sailed on 8 Celebrity and 4 Azamara cruises. Azamara service is outstanding, food was good and wait times for everything was short, even tendering. Itineraries were great, with small ports that Celebrity doesn't go to. Entertainment was generally good. Big drawback: very small showers, unless you are in a suite.

Azamara has been eliminating casinos during refits. There is no age limit, but no activities for children, The only children that we have seen on 4 Az cruises were crew member children. Az has very small showers for a luxury cruise line.

My situation is different from yours. DW and I decided to bring our daughter and family(s-i-l + 3 grandchildren) on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 50th anniversary. We had a family conference. I had brochures from RCI, Celebrity, Princes and Disney. Disney was eliminated due to very expensive price. Princess eliminated because I had loyalty status with X and RCI. In the end, we chide RCI because it had more activities for grans. The ship we chose, Adventure OTS, had about 3600 pax. It was cancelled due to Covid. We ended up on Allure, 5500 rated pax with actual count 5k pax 2 years later. They loved it. Pat, 14, liked the climbing wall. Julia, 21, liked the full drink package that I purchased for her and parents. Donny, 16, mostly stayed in the cabin with his Nintendo. I booked 3 cabins, 1 JS, and 2 balcony cabins. The JS and 1 balcony cabin were connecting cabins. I asked for and got, an accessible JS cabin so there would room for the Cystic Fibrosis medical therapy machines that my 2 CF grans must use on a daily basis. It was the first cruise for them. Hope this helps. I recommend Odyssey. Two of my DSIL's sisters asked me to adopt them!!

We have cruised 8 Celebrity, 3 Royal, 2 Hurtigruten, 1 ACL(US river cruises),4 Azamara, 1 pearl Seas, and 4 Vantage river cruises. Our favorite is Celebrity, but we would consider HAL, Oceania, and Princess for itinerary. We would never sail on Carnival or NCL On one Celebrity Caribbean cruise, we were docked next to an NCL ship. We watched(from our balcony) as a "Froggy" bar had a conga line with teens old enough to drink ashore, but not aboard ship, get stupid drunk(shots being poured down their throat).. When all aboard time came they staggered back to the NCL ship and the bar was empty..

DW and I watched your video and liked it, although we always eat dinner in the MDR. We only eat in the buffet on port days.

See below picture of me in a Tilley hat.

We liked to go to the library to read. We bring kindles and sometimes paperbacks to donate. We are sad that there is no library on Apex, as we will on it 1 yr from now.

Antarctica rules for expedition landings on Antarctica specify pax count under 250, + crew, or max 500 combined. Our ship had 234 pax. Rules may have changed since then

We are Elite+. We did an Antarctica expedition cruise with Hurtigruten. It was 21 days on the ship, + 3 days ashore in Argentina(package deal from TA). It cost about 24k for 2 of us in 2016. It included S. Georgia and the ship was small enough to dock in Port Stanley. Expedition landings were by zodiac boats. We recommend it..

We decided to do the Antarctica cruise while on a China river cruise with Vantage travel. They offered an Antarctica cruise on Hurtigruten. One of the travelers in our group said "You're from Buffalo, and you worried about the cold? It was 40s-50s while we were there!" Our Antarctica cruise was from February to March and the temps were indeed 40-55. The Expedition leader told us that our cruise was the only one that season to make all the landings. Our Drake passage was smooth also. Buffalo and Western New York are pretty much recovered form the terrible blizzard during the week preceding New Years. However, the death toll is now up to 45 Hamburg, south of Buffalo, got 81 inches of snow, while we in N. Tonawanda, north of Buffalo, got 49 inches. We do love being retired, and did not go out until it was safe.

While I do like Caribbean cruises, we did do an Antarctica expedition cruise on a Hurtiigruten ship.. It is currently drizzling here.