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Dubai in 2012 is the only place our credit cards did not work - ever - and there were other folks we had met on Seabourn at the time having the same difficulty. They worked for us everywhere else we have traveled, and worked fine once we left Dubai. We had advised our credit card companies where we were traveling.  What was going on in Dubai is still a mystery to us. 

The ATM issue happened only in France and that was many years earlier.
 

We have never had thousands tied up in traveler's checks that we did not use fairly promptly.  They were just our security blanket.  Pre-pandemic we would commonly cruise for 30 to 60 days at a time and having extra cash available was comfortable. We also used to cash unused checks as soon as we got home. We absolutely forgot about the traveler's checks in question and we are talking about hundreds here not thousands.  And we were surprised at how difficult it will be to recover the funds. 

We were in Delos once almost 30 years ago.  Fascinating small island covered with bits of ancient ruins.  As we walked the paths we realized that they were littered with pieces of ancient orange clay aqueducts - we found this island unique as it hasn’t (or hadn’t at that time) been developed at all and there were limits as to how many folks could be on the island at a time.  Of course you are forbidden to take home anything that you find there.

Wow!  Thanks @SLSD.  I missed that somewhere.  “It’s good to be King” (or in my case Queen) - or cruising Seabourn.

Hope I am not getting tiresome with my questions but DH and I are pretty stoked to have finally made the commitment to travel again.  

When I go to the Seabourn website and look up our Seabourn Club perks one of them is the choice of 2 hours of internet.  When I go to the copy of the Seabourn Cruise Confirmation sent by my TA (Seabourn’s paper) that also lists the Seabourn Club perks there is no mention at all of internet time as an optional perk.  Is this new?  Is it due to impending Starlink service?  Is internet no longer a Club perk?  We will be on the Sojourn in November.

@SLSD I probably did ask this question in 2012 when we took our first Seabourn cruise on the Pride. At that time time they cashed them and in fact if we hadn’t had them we would have been up a creek in Dubai at the end of our journey. We spent a few nights in Dubai and found our credit cards no good at most places - if the Intercontinental Hotel had not cashed them for us not sure what we would have done.  Also totally unsure why our credit cards did not work there.
 

That was almost as much fun as our trip to France some years earlier when our ATM card that our bank assured us would work in France did not work. Once again our Traveler's Checks kept us from starving.  This is why we were so loyal to Traveler's Checks. Though we do, now, finally understand that they are as antiquated as we are.  😒

Unfortunately your google search is probably as antiquated as my question as our local bank, which sold them to us originally, has refused to take them.

Thank you anyway.

Here is an antiquated question. We used to always travel with traveler's checks. We would buy a bunch and take them on our cruises until they were gone. Simple way to carry cash. Still had some in 2020 when the pandemic curtailed our travel. Found them in a drawer recently and it turns out getting them cashed is no longer simple since no one uses them anymore. We can drive to an American Express bank and cash them … but wondering if Seabourn will cash them when we cruise in a few months?

Does anyone have any recent experience or knowledge?

Again, thank you in advance. 

@SLSD your on board plan is our plan. I don’t care for the buffets either for many reasons so they are easy to avoid. After three years of no travel we had to make three trips to Seattle since May as, sadly, my sister passed away which trumped my fear of flying, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants and we have done very well so we reasoned why not try a trip that could actually be fun.  Just have not been sure about using Flight Ease. Thank you for your encouragement. 

Thank you all for the feedback. We are now booked with good flight times and have seat assignments both ways. So happy to hear positive experiences as we usually do our own air.

Finally brave enough to cruise again (it has been a tough few years without cruising but fear of the pandemic trumped time on the sea for us).

We are using future cruise deposits that are about to expire and Seabourn’s latest offer to lure us back to the sea that includes a $500 pp reduction in air fare.  We are trying to determine if that price reduction is worth it - as in the few days since our TA made the original reservations one of our flight times was already drastically changed to a totally non acceptable departure at 7 am (which has now been corrected by our TA).

But … the lingering fear that the first class seats and flight times that we think we are getting may again wander to something else exists.  What are your recent experiences with Seabourn’s Flight Ease program?  Is there a way to be sure we are getting what we think we are getting?  Or should we just do our own air which we know we can depend on?  We need to decide fairly soon.

We would greatly appreciate the opinions and experiences of those who have been brave enough to cruise recently despite covid.  Thank you very much in advance.

Thank you for your feedback.

As an FYI - My kitty, Delilah, had thyroid issues in 2018 and we had her treated with radioactive iodine.  This treatment is a cure.  Her thyroid issues disappeared and she thrived for most of the five years until recently when her one kidney (she had only one kidney) finally failed.  She was 17 years old.  She did well.

For the treatment we had to take her to a special veterinary hospital a ways away and she had to remain in the hospital for a few days to dispel most of the radioactivity which was not easy on her and the treatment was expensive - both of which are something to consider.  We tried her on medication at the time and she did not do well with the meds.

My sister’s cat was also treated with radioactive iodine for her thyroid condition and lived well over five years past treatment when she finally passed at 19 years of age due to other issues.

Sorry if this question has already been answered but we haven’t cruised since the pandemic and are currently booking a November cruise on the Sojourn.  I know that Seabourn has gone to pump dispenser soaps like so many other lines - but do they still offer any bar soaps or should I bring my own if I prefer a bar of soap in the shower?

Thank you all in advance.

The Eurodam, a few moments ago this morning, at Pier 91 in Seattle.  Photo taken from the Edgewater Hotel. The structure on the right is the pier for the Victoria Clipper.

@Crazy For Cats Mint has some relationship to catnip.  After my Delilah went nuts over a sealed container of mint flavored dental floss I looked it up.  I now keep even the unopened and sealed dental floss locked up.  Since the floss was in the cardboard and plastic bubble container I had purchased it in I wasn’t worried about it as a cat hazard.  

Enjoy your tea even if you have to share.

@Cruzin Terri I feel your pain.  So sorry you are going thru this on top of everything else you have been dealing with.  

In 2019 we were booked on BA thru American Airlines in business class from Chicago to Dublin for a cruise - and in the last minute BA announced a strike for our travel day.  We ended up on American, more money as I recall and different travel days so I had to add some days to our hotel stay in Dublin too.  Though the outgoing flight was refunded in full (except for the fee we paid to preselect our seats which disappeared into the luminiferous ether) we also paid a penalty to cancel the return as no strike had yet been announced for the day of the return flight - and worst of all I missed my last opportunity to enjoy the upper deck of a 747.  BA no longer flies them.  Sigh

Not sure I will go out of my way to book BA again.

Though I do not post often I read the Daily almost every day and have become quite involved in the lives of so many folks I have never met.  I really appreciate the dedication of those who unfailingly do the lists and those who substitute for them when the regulars are unavailable.  A wonderful, warm community. Thank you all.

Hello Dr. Dobro

Very happy to hear from you and we are anxious to follow along.  The itinerary sounds wonderful.  The street art in Miami is absolutely fascinating - we were not aware of it and it definitely deserves a visit.  Thanks for sharing.

Looking forward to the rest of your journey.

Not sure how it will be handled in this day and post covid era - but the most memorable Seder we have ever had the privilege to be a part of was on the Prinsendam, during a Grand cruise.  We had a Rabbi on board and were one or two nights out from landing in Jerusalem.  It was the year of the Arab spring and we boarded thinking we would not get to Egypt but a few days before the ship got permission to port there - and then on to Israel with Passover in the middle.  “Next year in Jerusalem” took on a special meaning that night.

We had to sign up in advance for the Seder, the Rabbi had arranged for Haggadahs and an appropriate Passover meal - we filled one side of the Lido (standing room only) and even the Captain, Captain Albert, was in attendance.

I can’t say what will happen today.  They used to bring on Rabbi’s for the holidays and Hanukkah even on regular cruises.  Don’t know if that still happens.

And yet another from Safaga … never did learn how to paste multiple pics into the same post

Another from the port of Safaga

Port of Safaga … or were we in an Indiana Jones film - from Seabourn Pride 2012

Ahhh … Refrigerators and Renovations ….

First I wish to thank everyone on this thread for what a wonderful, warm, fuzzy place this is to come. I usually just lurk here but I cannot get past a day without peeking in and I am so grateful for the fellowship and support that this group demonstrates.  If only the whole world could operate in as friendly and cooperative a fashion as this group manages every day.

Now, a little background.  Late 2019 we decided to consider moving from our noisy downtown high rise to a quieter more suburban/urban environment.  By mid January 2020 we had contracted to purchase a suburban condo a block and a half from their downtown area, and within three weeks we had multiple offers on our downtown condo.  That was all before we really even heard of covid.

By the time our move in date arrived in March of 2020 we were not even certain that we could have our movers come to move us as that day the Governor of Illinois closed the state.  

We had purchased our new home confident that we would be happy there after a few renovations. But due to covid we quarantined and postponed.  Sort of like living in someone else’s home - all the walls were the wrong colors for us (e.g. our kitchen was painted vermillion).  And as we lived there we realized that changing the kitchen counters and backsplash would not deal with the cabinets (doors falling off, hinges exploding …) and many other issues.  Ultimately we would need a new kitchen.

When the vaccine arrived in 2021 we immediately had the floors replaced which was one of the jobs that we knew would have to be done.  New floors made a big difference.

Then we started work on getting a designer and arranging for a new kitchen.  After designs were finalized it took a full 9 months for the cabinets to come in (thank you covid).  Then another three months to get on the contractor’s schedule (thank covid again) and finally, late July 2022, materials were delivered and the project was to begin.  Well, the local permit office was so backed up that their delays added 8 weeks to our renovation time with similar delays by contractors, etc.  It was last week that the kitchen was essentially completed after six and a half months without a kitchen.  We drooled daily at @dfishrecipes but there was little more than take out in our daily menus.

@Cruzin Terriwe feel your pain.

The refrigerator was one of our biggest bugaboos.  The original owners of our unit had replaced their old refrigerator with a new French door LG with a bottom drawer freezer between our first viewing of our unit and our second.  If we had known that they were thinking of doing that we would have told them not to.  I really hated the bottom drawer which is where frozen food goes to hide and die.  The drawer would not stay open so when I needed to dig or rearrange anything in the bottom I needed DH to hold the drawer open.

During the kitchen design process we had picked out a GE side by side but then was steered by the designer and sales person to a Samsung refrigerator with a new design and lots of bells and whistles - sort of like a side by side, and sort of like a French door - it has four doors.  The top section has French doors, the bottom section is like a side by side with two separate doors and two separate compartments.  One side being the freezer and the other side a section that could be freezer or refrigerator.  

Since the project took so long to materialize we thought inventory issues would not figure in - but they did.  We had to replace our choice of cooktops three times due to lack of availability … and when the Samsung refrigerator finally arrived - it did not fit in the space supposedly designed for it in any way.  The Samsung door hinges were not zero clearance hinges and required space to the left and right to open doors that somehow our “designer” missed when drawing up the plans.

We had to pick a new unit from the small amount of inventory available.  We ended up with a GE side by side ironically almost identical to the unit I had originally chosen - and low and behold - not only does it have zero clearance hinges, the vegetable bins in the frig hold more than all three bins in the LG and we still have plenty of shelf and door storage space.  And the freezer is wonderful - organized and I can see everything I have stored.  So much to consider when buying appliances.  

During the refrigerator debacle there was a couple of weeks when we had three refrigerators in our home.  The Samsung has now been returned and the old fridge has been rehomed.

I realize my trials are inconsequential compared to the serious life issues that so many on this thread deal with which is probably why I have not shared before now.

But I do wish to again thank those who keep this thread going and keep alive my desire to cruise.  We are not yet ready to dip our toes into the virus ridden seas of travel.  

I also wish good thoughts and prayers to all on this thread who can use them.  You folks might not know me but I have definitely gotten to know all of you.

@Ichiban Nekko we are so extremely sorry to hear that you had to truncate your cruise so quickly. We send all of our sincerest wishes for a speedy recovery to your husband.  Thank heavens for trip and evacuation insurance - not the way one wants to find out if the insurance works as promised.

We treasure our shared Alaska cruise some years ago.  You are a couple of the best dining room table mates we have ever experienced.

Hope you are well and at home soon and ready to cruise again.

When the pilot goes out does the gas automatically turn off or does it continue to flow?  The latter is a significant safety issue. Possibly it just needs to be serviced. 

When we were in the townhouse in the suburbs we had a gas “insert” fireplace.  It was sealed with glass in the front, it used outside air for combustion and vented outside, but it also had a motor we could turn on that circulated inside air around the firebox and vented it into the room when we really wanted to use it for heat - the circulated air was not mixed with the air used for combustion.  It had a remote and no pilot - it turned on with some sort of sparking mechanism that did not depend on having the electricity on.  

We decided to go this route when one winter we were snowed in with over a foot of snow and the outside temps were in the double digits below zero Fahrenheit when the electricity started to flash on and off.  The insert threw enough heat to warm the whole first floor and would work (without, of course, the circulating fan) during power failures.  

We loved it.  The insert was installed inside of our masonry wood burning fire box and the glass doors covered any evidence of the old margins of the fireplace.