vulcan1971

I only needed to read a handful of "comments" and had to stop. Beyond disgusting that people would want to cruise with no care or thought to the safety of anybody else. I feel sorry for the people that have to sift through all that chaff to get to a few good kernels of whatever.

13 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

Is your spouse in danger now?? I  may scout out the zenith cruisers just in case I eventually need a new one..

1 minute ago, gold1953 said:

maybe different wording.. If your spouse passes away or you you trade them in for a new model.. or they trade you in

@gold1953 - LOL... my spouse is not in danger. Upon first reading your post, I thought you were trying to be funny (maybe you were, maybe you weren't). I took it as you being funny and it just made me laugh, hence why I was glad I finished drinking my water not spitting it out over my computer.

2 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

and if you lose your spouse for any reason then one other person sharing your address automatically will share your status

I'm glad I finished swallowing my glass of water before reading this!

On 8/5/2020 at 5:31 AM, chemmo said:

We have loads of cruises behind us now. Sometimes friends will ask us if we ever get bored or question why we don’t try alternative cruise lines. 

 

The answer is simply we never get to do everything we plan on doing! We have found so much we enjoy doing and want to do again we have a ‘we will do that tomorrow’ attitude to things we haven’t yet experienced. Now we cannot cruise at present we are becoming more determined to make every second count next cruise...

 

So here are the things I am definitely going to do next cruise!

 

Sit at the Martini bar, every time we pass it is so busy so we carry on to Michael’s and have a drink there.

Be more adventurous in my drink choices, don’t just stick to what I know I like.

Take part in a trivia quiz.

Go to a show, years since I did one (too busy chatting in bars).

Get up really early one morning for a swim in an empty pool.

Walk around the ship decks after midnight stargazing...

 

 

So what are you planning for your next cruise?

Any recommendations of things you have done that are worth others trying?

 

 

 

@chemmo - like many others that came before me have already said... THANK YOU for creating this thread! I could only be so lucky to be able to cross paths with you on a future cruise.

I had to read the whole thread before I would decide to post. So many of the posts made me smile, made me giggle, and made me tear up. So much we have to say and share... and so much more for each and every person to be grateful for in life.

While I may be yearning for my next cruise, it won't happen until I know that I can travel with my partner and do it in a safe manner. I'm very fortunate to have an employer that sent me home to work back in mid-March because of their concern for the employees to be safe. I won't be returning to the office anytime soon (and I live in NY). I take every precaution possible... I do it for my own safety and I do it for everybody else as well.

I'm in the process of lifting / shifting our March 2021 Apex cruise and this thread certainly helps to take the sting out of this decision. When I am able to safely travel again and take our next cruise, I will be thinking about the following:

• Enjoy the journey, not just the destination.
• Savor even the small joys in life.
• Live each moment like there is no tomorrow.
• Appreciate the good fortunes in your life and the people you hold close.

Thanks to all that shared their ideas on what to do next... of which some have been added to my "list".  😃

I'm glad to see this thread and have enjoyed reading each persons differing experiences.

I've already had several short versions of "The Talk" as a means of priming the situation for when it will eventually need to occur. I have a March 2021 Apex Aft S1 and there appears to be plenty of option for a L&S in 2022. On top of this, I'm also not able to travel to Canada during this time so having "The Talk" on the phone has been easier than I anticipated. My partner is working to get a new PR card issued but who knows how long that will take. I figure if cruises are happening in early 2021 and we are both able to travel, we could hopefully just book something last minute.

14 hours ago, jelayne said:

Can you L & S twice.?  

@jelayne - I was looking at the requirements to qualify this weekend. Here is a excerpt that states only 1 time...

On 8/15/2020 at 6:48 AM, Je Souhaite said:

What are the advantages / differences between these two classes.

 

Are there any disadvantages to the Aqua class other than most cabins being under the hangover?

@Je Souhaite - this won't answer all your questions, but a few of your concerns about Aqua Class.

6 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

The Aqua Class cabins are the best marketing scheme I've ever seen.  Celebrity has found a way to sell some of the least desirable cabins at a premium price.  I agree Blu is very nice but most of the cabins are under the pool deck, other open deck areas and ocean view cafe, for many that's not very good.  Noise from activities during the day and evening as well as cleaning activities can all be issues.  As others have pointed out, the cabins in desirable go very quickly.  Unless I could get a desirable location, I would stick with the veranda cabins because Concierge Class offers virtually nothing that is of interest to me.  

@ipeeinthepool - I concur with your assessment that Aqua Class has been a great way to market cabins that some (probably many) find to be in an undesirable location on the ship.

@gaylemh - I've done Aqua Class on Constellation (stateroom 9112) and Summit (stateroom 9043). I also did an Aqua Class Suite on Reflection (stateroom 2109) prior to their reclassification as a Sky Suite. I believe that I entered my assessments of those rooms on the pinned M-Class or S-Class room thread reviews. My recollection is that I did not find any of those staterooms to be noisy from whatever activities happened above. In two cases (Summit and Reflection), the room choice was largely driven based on location and availability at booking for the exceptionally larger "angled" balcony. Trust me when I say the angled balcony space is worth it. As some others have pointed out, the balconies of most Deck 11 Aqua Class rooms receive too much direct sun. Some others have indicated on occasion that soot can be an issue on rear/aft balconies. Also, if the weather is bad (i.e., rain or wind) you have little to no ability for enjoyment of the balcony space. I find the "overhang" on Deck 9 to be a benefit/bonus. It didn't affect my ability for taking photography or video on the balcony, which I do quite a bit. We never dealt with any issues of rain or wind. If the other room amenities (i.e., spa spaces) are an important factor, the S-Class ships have much nicer spa amenities. We enjoyed them for what they were, but they did not factor into our decision to book Aqua Class on M-Class ships. The restaurant Blu is an exceptional benefit for dining in a beautiful, intimate dining room with more personalized waiter service. We enjoyed the food and realize again that this is a topic that is subjective and opinions vary as people have different experiences. At the end of the day, only you will know best how you will use your balcony and what factors you need to consider in choosing your room location.

On 4/15/2020 at 11:31 AM, Paulpgr said:

 

 

 

 

 

@Paulpgr - probably one of the best postings on this board.

2 minutes ago, ORV said:

Probably more information than you were seeking, but it's not a simple explanation. 

@ORV - This was the perfect amount of information!  🙂 Thank you so much for sharing.

9 minutes ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

https://mscfans.blog/2020/07/31/msc-to-restart-cruise-operations-in-august-with-2-ships/

I guess this is good news for people living in the EU and other countries that have been cleared to travel to the EU.

3 hours ago, ORV said:

I don't know about other cruise lines but with Oceania there is a set of perks that comes with booking the world cruise. Among them is free laundry, free medical care, free Visas, First class air to embarking and disembarking port, included hotel at the start, Free shipping of your luggage to ship and back home, being at the Gold Level of their Loyalty club when you step on the ship, even if you've never been on them before, which comes with it's own set of perks which are refreshed for each segment, or under most circumstance 15 times for a 180 day cruise. Unlike most cruise lines where you have to actually already have sailed the days to earn the loyalty level, with Oceania it's whatever you would earn by the end of the trip, which for a World cruise is 15 segments. 

 

No wonder it's so expensive, you could buy a small house or a really nice car for what it takes to book an inside(which I wouldn't do) for the WC. 

Hello @ORV - Thank you for sharing the information in your post. I've looked at Oceania for a long time and have a couple of questions to seek further clarification to the highlighted section above.

1. Are you indicating that a passenger (new to Oceania) booking a World Cruise would embark the ship with Gold level status?

2. Upon completion of a World Cruise, what status would a new cruiser retain?

3. Given that you only get a 10% discount on the beverage packages (through Platinum), I'm guessing that this is not a deal breaker for cruisers when considering whether to purchase of a drinks package? Or do guests generally not buy the package?

Feel free to elaborate further as you see fit.

1 hour ago, kelmac said:

 Celebrity does provide two loads of laundry, per person, as part of the Elite Plus level of the Captain's club, although I'm not sure if they would allow that to recycle for each segment of a World Cruise?

 

Enjoy!

Kel

@kelmac - I, too, have wondered if the perks of your cruise line status level would refresh upon the next cruise (if you are doing multiple connected segments). I realize this is slightly off topic to the OP question, but if this is how a cruise line creates a World Cruise is to have multiple segments that can be booked separately, I would expect that one should be able to "refresh" their perks on the next cruise segment.

Like many others, I would be excited to have an opportunity to do a world cruise on Celebrity. I don't see that happening anytime soon. I'd be fine with either an M-Class or S-Class ship. I will experience Apex in 2021 and will reserve comment or judgement till that cruise has been taken.

Until then, I mentioned I continue to dream and plan. I found the video for Viking's 2022 world cruise on Viking Star and I have included a few others I've considered as described below:

1. Viking Star (135 days) | 24 Dec 2021 - 09 May 2022 | Ft. Lauderdale, FL to London (Tillbury), England

2. Crystal Serenity (116 days) | 17 Jan 2022 - 13 May 2022 | Miami, FL (roundtrip)

3. Oceania Insignia (180 days) | 06 Jan 2022 - 05 Jul 2022 | Los Angeles, CA to New York City, NY

4. Princess Island Princess (111 days) | 05 Jan 2022 - 27 Apr 2022 | Ft. Lauderdale (roundtrip) (video is for the 2021 world cruise)

5. Regent Seven Seas Mariner (120 days) | 05 Jan 2022 - 05 May 2022 | San Francisco, CA (roundtrip)

6. Cunard Queen Victoria (111 days) | 08 Jan 2022 - 01 May 2022 | Hamburg, Germany (roundtrip)

7. MSC Poesia (112 days) | 05 Jan 2022 - 01 May 2022 | Genoa, Italy (roundtrip)

8. Crystal Serenity (140 days) | 11 Jan 2023 - 31 May 2023 | Miami, FL to Barcelona, Spain

16 hours ago, kelmac said:

Oops!  My mistake -- It should read 2022 for the World Cruise on the Poesia.

@kelmac - here is the link to the video. I always enjoy watching these.

12 hours ago, pumpkin 11 said:

I agree! I wouldn’t mind taking all of my vacation at once and do a three or four week cruise or travel marathon. 
 

After covid, home is boring!!!

@pumpkin 11 - In some past years I have taken 4 weeks of vacation. One of those years, I started my trip with a week in Italy, followed by a 16 day transatlantic cruise (Rome --> Ft. Lauderdale), then another week where I drove to a B&B in Key West, FL. That took me to just before Thanksgiving where my family gathered in Georgia for our gathering on the family farm.

6 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Yes I worked in Rensselaer NY at the now defunct Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals and we are very close to Skippack PA now and go to a lot of the restaurants there including 19 Bella.   Small world.

@TeeRick - I didn't mean to be off-topic on the thread. Please send a private message using the link below in my signature.

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Hey Good luck. I used to live near you in Clifton Park years ago!  Stay well!

@TeeRick - thank you. I'm quite familiar with Clifton Park. Prior to moving to upstate NY, I used to live in Chesterbrook. One of my favorite restaurants (19 Bella) was near you in Cedars, PA.

I started cruising in 2006 with my first Transatlantic in 2012. That cruise was quickly followed by two more Transatlantic cruises. I knew immediately that longer cruises with lots of sea days were my cup of tea. I have been dreaming about world cruises for several years. I'm always looking at the itineraries from different cruise lines (e.g., Crystal, Cunard, Oceania, etc.). My longest cruise to date is 16 days. Next year, depending on how things go, I am looking to book my first cruise experience on Regent Seven Seas for a B2B (total of 22 days) in the Mediterranean.

I'm not retired... I'm still working for at least another 20 years. I would do a world cruise in a heartbeat, but that pesky work situation gets in the way of many things I want to do or plan. Until then, I will continue to dream and plan.

8 hours ago, TeeRick said:

In many (but not all) states in the US one can get a COVID-19 nasal swab (PCR) test at CVS Minute Clinics.  Results within 48 hours I believe.  Or at a state-run or county-run testing site (typically not rapid turn-around).  Also if your state has LabCorp (some are now in Walgreens) you can get a COVID-19 Antibody test with results in 24 hours for $10.  The swab test is better for knowing if you are infected currently.  The antibody test is limited in that it might take up to two weeks for COVID antibodies to develop after infection.  So it is better if you just want to see if you previously were infected (in last 1-4 months).

@TeeRick - I stumbled into this thread by accident and glad to have read your post. I'm likely not going to need a test any time soon because my company sent most office based employees home on 12 March 2020 to work. We are not likely returning to the office in 2020. I will check out my local pharmacy chains (some of the ones you mentioned are in my area) to see what are the test timeframes. Thank you!

2 minutes ago, pumpkin 11 said:

Neither was what you posted about! You talked about science, so am I.

@pumpkin 11 - to the extent that I replied and disagreed with your premise, you are correct that what I said was not relevant to the thread. However, that does not change the fact that your posts continue to be off topic and attempting to derail this thread with comments not pertaining to cruising or the OP's topic of this thread.

12 minutes ago, pumpkin 11 said:

What about the science between "men and women" or the science of "cancer clusters." Science is just another buzz word of 2020. It is a means of enforcement.

@pumpkin 11 - your comments are not cruise related or even remotely related to the OP's topic. Please refrain from further quoting me or derailing this thread. Thank you.

1 hour ago, pumpkin 11 said:

Welcome to 2020, where fact is just whatever you want the "science" to be.

@pumpkin 11 - I'm not sure what is the point of your post or why you quoted my post to communicate this.

On a side note, and not that you would know this about me, but I am a Scientist by virtue of my education and training for the work I do in the pharmaceutical industry. I would strongly disagree with your stated premise.

25 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

Again, I never attached anyone or the Moderator would have removed my post.

Let’s move on.

 

I may regret this, but here goes...

@Pinboy - Before you quoted my only post in this thread (before typing this post), I think we can both agree that I don't know you and you don't know me. So, with that said, anything I say here is not from any place of malice or ill will toward you. When I saw your reply that has now garnered so much attention, I didn't quite follow it, understand it, or even think it was humorous. I don't think I am alone in my assessment as several of the posts are essentially saying the same thing. These people are not attacking you, they are trying their best to point out to you in a variety of ways how they also did not find your post humorous. Sorry if that feels like they are piling on.

I am not going to critique their approaches to pointing out how what you posted was not considered funny, or even understood because that would be considered a personal attack. Also, I've not seen any of your prior posts (outside of this thread topic) and I won't be spending any time to check them out. Just know that the way you see something is not how others may see the same thing, including humor.

3 hours ago, Texed said:

 

Mr Vulcan,

I have always enjoyed your posts.  Hope you go back to posting again.  😊

@Texed - thank you for your words of encouragement. In my mind you will ALWAYS be synonymous with waffles. 😆 Here's to cruising again with a plate of freshly made waffles.