Vagabond Knight

I think "best of" results are only helpful if the evaluation was done by neutral parties who tried all the options within a relatively close period of time. Getting votes of "The Best" from someone who only has sailed a specific favorite cruise line is not helpful. Comparing a pre-Covid experience on one line and a post-Covid experience on another is not helpful.

It sure would be nice if the cruise lines would send out a schedule of major events a few weeks before the cruise, to include items like which nights you should plan to dress up, and what themed parties will be taking place (and when). Many groups plan meet-ups, others want to reserve specialty dining, and it would be nice to know what those plans might be overlapping. It can also be disappointing to guests when they board a cruise unaware of and unprepared for events like a 70s party, when they would have really enjoyed bringing an appropriate outfit along had they only known.

4pm

The app, just like the apps for all the other cruise lines, isn't very useful until you get onboard and connect to the ship's wi-fi, and then it starts populating all the info.

The scheduled departure time from the port on Day 8 is 7pm.

Thanks, folks! 🛳️

I used to have a better feel for this, but we've been bopping around multiple cruise lines over the past year and I think I'm getting them confused. Looking to book some specialty dining for our upcoming cruise, but can't remember the rules of thumb for which nights Celebrity plans the fancy dress / fancy food nights. Itinerary is as follows: 1 Depart 2 At Sea 3 Port Day 4 At Sea 5 At Sea 6 Port Day 7 Port Day 8 Port Day 9 At Sea 10 Arrive Back Home Thanks in advance!

Well, our neighbor just returned from an Apex cruise in an "infinite veranda" cabin and said never again. Said they did not like the "fake balcony" at all.

Yes, thank you for your help!

I believe the ship has sailed regarding CFAR. I think for most insurances, you have a very short window to purchase insurance and have that included. Isn't it something like within a week of making your deposit? But although you can't cancel just because you don't feel like going and have insurance reimburse you, a number of other more unexpected situations would be covered. There's also usually a lookback of something like 60 days regarding any pre-existing conditions. I'd call the knowledgeable folks at Trip Insurance Store and ask them for advice.

So, now that I sent ONCE AGAIN sent them the medical summary with the diagnosis and the detailed treatment and medication list, and the receipt from the infirmary showing it was paid, and the onboard account showing it was paid, and the credit card statement showing that the onboard account was paid, they email me today saying they're continuing assessment of my claim but they now want the full medical report. Maybe they thought that would trip me up, but I did already have all twelve pages scanned and ready to go in case they got that ridiculous. I actually think this goes above and beyond what I should have to submit and is an invasion of my privacy, but I'll play their little game for now. We're buying insurance today for three more cruises, and you can be assured that we are NOT buying it through IMG.

Excellent! I haven't been so fortunate. Last week IMG asked me to send the proof of medical treatment, diagnosis, charges and payment, which I'd already sent them when I placed the claim a month ago. I submitted those documents AGAIN and also wrote another note asking how they'd managed to lose the documents that I'd already sent. Crickets chirping....

My husband and I are also craft beer aficionados (and home brewers). We have been to Alaskan Brewing on a couple of cruise stops but the last one was 2016 and so I don't know if things are the same there or what may have changed by now. We went to the brewery itself and not the public house. If it's still the same, you wouldn't take kids to the main brewery because there's no food there AND they'd be bored to tears. Alaskan Brewing beer is wonderful, especially their smoked porter, so it sounds like the public house would be a good stop for you. If you will also be visiting Skagway, make it a point to go to Skagway Brewing. Their food was amazing when we visited, as well as their beer. They moved to a larger location a few years ago and we can't wait to see it. Hope it retained the warm and friendly character of the old location. It's one of our favorite stops in Alaska! We also took some kind of gold dredge excursion in Skagway that bored the heck out of us, but we got through the boredom encouraged by the fact that there was tiny nanobrewery onsite or nearby that we planned to visit after the tour. I have forgotten the name of the brewery, but it was awful. They had four beers on tap and one taste was worse than the last. We try to be supportive of small breweries, but we couldn't even bring ourselves to buy a "pity pint" there.

We have taken MANY private excursions over the years from various sources such as Viator and Shore Excursions Group, and individual companies such as Cosol Tours in St Lucia, Joe Banana Limos in Italy, and Harv & Marv Whale Watching in Alaska. The private tours have always been much better than the ship's tours and often less expensive. We've never had an issue, but we always have trip insurance to back us up. There are many reasons a port can be missed. Many have already been mentioned, and another is if the ship has to divert due to a medical emergency. I see the vendor's viewpoint as well regarding no refunds since many small businesses would be financially harmed by last minute cancelations. Personally, we would not hesitate to book an excursion from an external party as long as they've been around for a while and are highly rated, but we'd also ensure that the funds (and any possible trip interruption) are covered by our travel insurance. We would have missed out on many extraordinary experiences if we'd restricted ourselves to excursions offered by the cruise lines. We recently took a four cruise 47 day trip with 20+ ports and I think only two of our excursions were through one the cruise lines.

Wow, that would be kind of crazy since it affects EVERYONE on a very direct and regular basis. 😲

I have not been on the Mardi Gras yet (going in a few weeks), but did transatlantics in both directions (Port Canaveral - Barcelona) a couple of months ago on the Freedom. The ship was old, tacky, depressing, and the food was terrible. We would never sail that ship again. However, what we also learned was that we probably don't ever want to take a cruise on ANY ship that's going into or coming out of dry dock/refurbishment. They had contractors onboard working on the ship on the way over AND on the way back. Some passengers were treated to drilling and hammering near their cabins through the night. We had to walk over cables and extention cords in the hallways. There were guys in the hallway with masks on pulling down ceiling tiles. None of the washers and dryers were working for days on the way back because they hadn't finished installed the new panels. There were plumbing issues and flooding in some cabins and hallways. Some of the hallways outside cabins on at least three of the floors had a strong smell similar to animal urine on the way back... don't know if it was from a solvent used in the refurb, or due to something being opened up that hadn't been opened in years, or a glue of some kind, or what. There was paint overspray on balconies that hadn't been cleaned up yet and plastic hanging off the edges of newly installed windows.

The inflation numbers that the government claims do not match what I've experienced personally. I'd love to know what's gone down in price over the last couple of years enough to offset the 35-40% increase I've seen at the grocery store.

Agree. The segments that actually contained cruise information were somewhat helpful, though when I actually did want to grab some specific information it went by too fast. No biggie, I can do online research with the best of 'em. My issue is that far too much time was spent on one of the employee's life story and on asking about everyone's favorite destinations. What someone did when they were a kid, or the favorite port of a cruise line employee, does not influence which cruises I take. Please just give me the destination descriptions/pic and the juicy details on itineraries.

I did contact Steve at the Trip Insurance Store and he's checking into it for me. His reaction was, "Why didn't you contact me when you needed to file a claim? I would have helped." Honestly, it never occurred to me to involve the insurance broker. I figured once they helped you find the policy that suited you and sold it to you, they were done. Pretty impressive that he feels compelled to follow through and help his customers with claims. I would imagine that's not what the majority do. Funny you mention filing a suit. I've only ever sued anyone once, and that was a homeowners insurance company that "didn't act in good faith." I had very detailed documentation and, though it took a while, I won and it cost them FAR more than it would have cost them to simply do what they were supposed to do at the beginning.

I am dealing with a claim right now from IMG/itravelinsured, also purchased from Trip Insurance Store and I'm getting extremely frustrated. I got sick on the second cruise of a 47 day four cruise trip, and the ONLY expense I'm trying to recover is the part of the charges from the ship's infirmary that were not covered by my regular insurance... no excursions, no trip delay, no loss other than the rest of the cost of the medical charge. I filled out the form and provided them with the medical documentation and receipt, the cruise itinerary/invoice and proof of payment (credit card statement). The auto-reply I got when I submitted the claim said I needed all receipts for the entire trip. I called an talked to a customer service rep who said that just the information for that one cruise should do it. Then another email after that said I need that info for the entire trip. What??? I'm now scrambling to come up with invoices from the other three cruises and travel items, all of which were not affected, and I have to send ten credit card statements from three different credit cards for pieces of the trip that we purchased over a period of eight months, plus the final folios for each cruise. This makes no sense whatsoever. How would the two cruises after I got sick affect payment of the illness on the second cruise? I feel like they're trying to make this a hardship and hope that I give up trying to collect from them.

I very much like the idea of some quiet public areas, free of phone conversations, especially (but not limited to) those using speaker-phone mode and free of music coming from phones or personal speakers. The Elks Club member who mentioned their club having a rule that people were supposed to leave their club's bar area to take an incoming call or make a call had the right idea. I doubt that any of us are opposed to someone texting (without sounds on), taking photos or browsing the internet or cruise line app with sound turned off. However, having to listen to loud video calls with someone's grandkids, or a remote work call laying into an employee who missed a project deadline, or a video game, or a YouTube video of people laughing at others doing face plants doesn't make for a very relaxing time when you're in quiet relaxation mode. Yes, some of it's just common courtesy and there's no way to prevent all of this all over the ship, and there shouldn't be anyhow... sharing fun stuff with others a great way to spend some of your vacation time... but there should be at least a few areas to get that true quiet relaxation time without having to hole up on your stateroom. It should be somewhat easily enforceable if only restricted to a few specific, well-marked areas.

Sorry, but that's not a problem with the title, that's a problem with reading comprehension. Apparently, the OP needed to title the thread "Just a Question: Would you support "no cell phone" AREAS on Ships?" Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's possible to change the font size and color on a thread title.

I shake my head at the number of people who carry on phone conversations while in a public bathroom stall with uh, bodily function noises happening and toilets flushing all around them. I don't feel like that needs to be a "quiet space," but personally I feel it's kind of disrespectful to the person on the other side of the conversation. 😒

It seems that some read the thread title as "no cell phone areas" instead of "no cell phone" areas. OP was not suggesting a ban in all common areas, but rather a few quiet "escape" areas. If someone needed to be available by phone to work or family at all times during their cruise, they would simply not hang out in those quiet areas. Sounds reasonable to me. You'd still have your stateroom and most of the ship to be available and in touch if you need that constant audible connectivity.

Getting a reminder from the cruise line may be nice but should not be relied upon. It's ultimately up to the customer (and/or their TA) to remember to make a payment on time, using whatever method works best for them. My husband and I use a Google calendar to keep track of activities, appointments, vacations, birthdays, etc. and whenever we book a cruise we put the payment deadlines and the $ amount on the calendar and set an email notification and pop-up notifications that alert us prior to the deadline.