Underwatr

Now I'm trying to enter emergency contact info and running into the same issues even with carefully entering 2-digit abbreviations for states. Eventually I'll break down and ask my travel agent but I can't help feeling like there's some data validity check that I'm unknowingly violating.

...if they're not fully vaccinated, per your excerpt. The main difference is that those over 18 must be fully vaccinated, and boosted if at least 270 days from completion of the initial course,

That's where the requirement is, then. It doesn't matter that Canada doesn't (otherwise) require a test for arrivals, everyone who's going to board a cruise ship in Canada or to board a cruise ship that will dock in Canada at any point on the cruise has to be tested before embarkation.

How does that work for ports of call?

Looking (briefly) over the US contract terms at https://www.cunard.com/en-us/advice-and-policies/passage-contract, the only portion of the fare which can be increased for a US booking are 'taxes fees and port expenses' which are further defined to include: U.S. Customs fees, head taxes, Panama Canal tolls, dockage fees, wharfage fees, inspection fees, pilotage, air taxes, hotel or VAT taxes incurred as part of a land tour, immigration and naturalization fees, and Internal Revenue Service fees, as well as fees for navigation, berthing, stevedoring, baggage handling/storage and security services. "Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses are subject to change and Carrier reserves the right to collect any increases in effect at the time of sailing even if the fare has already been paid in full." I've seen clauses related to fuel surcharges in the past but they've always been announced a month or two in advance. I don't see a provision for retroactive adjustment of the fare due to fuel or crude oil pricing in the US contract terms.

Thanks for this info. I'm another who was unable to enter contact info because the US state name was completely filled out rather than the 2-character abbreviation. I rely heavily on Chrome's autofill feature so I was in a cycle of letting it autofill the complete state name every time I tried to enter my traveling companion's information. Maybe there should be a link to this thread or a shorter summary somewhere pointing out the issues and resolution.

Two Cunard press releases on the Carnival Corporation and plc website, both dated August 12. One appears to be targeted to the US market and the other to the UK/rest of the world, but they contain the same language aside from minor differences in contact information. I suppose it contains the same changes being communicated in emails. https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cunard-updates-covid-19-travel-requirements-0 https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cunard-updates-covid-19-travel-requirements Cunard updates Covid-19 travel requirements From Tuesday, September 6, 2022 self-testing prior to travel will change from "mandatory" to "highly recommended" for vaccinated guests on the vast majority of voyages. Only guests sailing on longer, more complex itineraries will be required to have an observed or in person antigen or PCR test with a fit to travel certificate prior to departure. These include a number of sailings of 16 nights or more and other specific voyages. These new guidelines apply to all Cunard itineraries sailing from Southampton, England, and all other departure points, with the exception of countries where government regulations and protocols may vary including Canada and Australia. The vaccination policy for Cunard guests remains the same and full details can be found at: Our assurance to you (cunard.com) Exact requirements will be communicated to all guests in due course with the latest updates on www.cunard.com from early September. All the updated guidelines and protocols are subject to local regulations of applicable homeports and destinations.

The one exception of which I'm aware is Black and White night (usually the first formal night on an itinerary). It's easy for men since the standard tuxedo is pretty much automatically compliant to the "theme", but in my experience the women also tend to wear black/white outfits on that night. If it's changed to Red and White (my itinerary's schedule says Black and White) night the only thing I can do (and probably would) is to wear a red tie and cummerbund with my tuxedo. But you're right - aside from Black and White the themes for the night are largely ignored, and few if any of the participants who do participate actually wear their masks etc at dinner.

A UK Pound is currently on the order of 1.5 Canadian dollars or higher. Lines can adjust port fees right up until sailing although I think (for no good reason) that it would be unusual for the change to be as small as a dollar or two.

With traditional dining you have A set dining time at a specific table with the same fellow passengers (depending on the size of the table) More recently (I think since the COVID closure) QM2 (and QE?) has had traditional dining at the first sitting but open dining for second sitting. Come when you want during a window (7:45 to 9:00) (I think you can reserve a time?) and you'll be seated at an available table, normally with a different waiter team each night. I've long been a first sitting fan but my new traveling partner reminded me of the shortcomings of first seating (rushing to get ready for dinner after a day ashore, missing sailaway parties since departure from Caribbean ports is often around 6:00 PM...) so we've reserved second seating for our Caribbean voyage in November. I'm fantasizing that we'll hit it off so well with our dining companions on the first night that we'll make arrangements to have a standing reservation (at the same table, even) for the rest of the trip and the shortcomings of open dining will have been avoided. I can dream, can't i?

Isn't that where they stuck the lifeboats on Koningsdam?

It's a little better now that its been heavily pedestrianized. It still gets throngs but they're not confined to the narrower sidewalks. I've stayed there once (and generally pass through once per weekend trip to New York City). Now I stay somewhere calmer and/or cheaper but I can see the appeal for someone who hasn't spent much if any time in Manhattan.

They'd need to go to Canada (e.g., Halifax) between two NYC calls. There is a similar itinerary each year in early July.

The line wants to sail as full as possible, even when COVID restrictions are in place. That means that unsold staterooms will go on "Fire Sale" after final payment date when the cancellation or rebooking penalties begin to apply and the line has a good track of the likely occupancy. I don't go out of my way to see what happens to prices after final payment since I expect that they'll fall below what I paid (although for what are probably less attractive staterooms in the category).

If the refund is made to the shipboard account as onboard credit it should be in the form of "refundable credit." They refund port charges similarly when a port is missed and it's refundable (which means that you are entitled to any unused refundable credit at the end of the voyage). I forget but I think nonrefundable OBC is spent first. I don't believe that I had any left at the end to worry about getting the refund.

I'm not sure that was wise.

There is, but only after the Queue to enter the terminal, the queue to pass through security, and the queue to complete health etc. paperwork (none of which presented a bottleneck prior to COVID in my experience). But then the Grills check-in queue is also available to Platinum and Diamond passengers and it seems that a significant fraction of the passengers boarding in New York (for the Caribbean anyway) are Platinum or Diamond.

Most of my QM2 trips have been NYC-Caribbean and I've never seen the roof open. If they are opening it that's great but I had concluded that there was a technical issue preventing the roof from opening.

I believe that's your difference. The policies are the line's policies, not the port's.

I've been studying the underlying issue. At the risk of turning this into a COVID thread, I think you're less likely to have a residual false positive from an antigen test than from a PCR test. A PCR test can be sensitive to inactive virus fragments that the body can shed for weeks following infection, while the US CDC considers an antigen test to be indicative of a current infection which can be assumed to be contagious. I believe that without an active infection you are quite unlikely to test positive on an Antigen test, therefore a positive antigen test would not be considered indicative of a past infection that is currently non-contagious. I've recently tested positive on an Antigen test following recovery from a mild COVID infection. This is believed to be a "rebound" due to having taken Pfizer's Paxlovid antiviral during my earlier illness.

It. Isn't. Enforced. And they're not going to differentially implement (let alone enforce!) such a policy.

It appears that some time in the past 30 years the state legislature has approved the sale of beer and wine after 8 AM on Sunday.

My experience is old but in the 90's at least, alcohol sales of any sort (including beer and wine, available in many grocery stores in NY) were not permitted before noon on a Sunday in New York State. Hopefully you can work around that restriction.

In my experience passengers also present a passport at check-in. If it's easy to upload just any photo it's more difficult to present a falsified passport (and the issue you raise is actually easier when they take a photo at check-in of whoever shows up with the appropriate boarding pass)

Well...? My wounds are healing nicely (the cracked rib still bothers me when I roll over in bed) but now I've been diagnosed with COVID, which I likely caught either over the weekend during a return trip to New York City, or just before the trip (I'm in a weekly trivia league and when I let everyone know I was missing this week due to being in isolation the woman who I sat next to mentioned that she got sick the day after last week's match). I'm doing well, with very mild symptoms and no fever since the day I was diagnosed, and I'm halfway through my course of the standard Pfizer antiviral "cocktail." According to the current guidelines I can join society (wearing a mask) on Monday.