rubinstein2r

November 13, 2015

I am in the middle of the Atlantic in an Aqua Class stateroom. My neighbor leaves their balcony night on every night. Is it appropriate for me to let them know this annoys me and, if so, what would be the appropriate way to do so?

August 24, 2015

We are on the Constellation TA in November and have made decisions on what to do in all ports except this one. Independent tours in Italy and Morocco, ship excursions in Cartagena and Tenerife but we are just underwhelmed so far by what we have seen about this port. Suggestions please?

June 3, 2015

Thinking of booking a private tour with this company. They have excellent reviews on TripAdvisor just wondering if cruisers have used them. We would be doing Marrakech from Agadir.

May 30, 2015

We will be on a Celebrity TA in November. One port is Agadir, Morocco. The ship has a tour to Marrakesh but it is 2.5 hrs. on a bus each way. Have any of you taken this, or a similar tour, to Marrakesh and is it worth the drive time? BTW, the ship is scheduled to arrive 7am and doesn't depart until 10pm. Thanks.

Wondering what you ended up doing in Morocco as we will be there November 2015 on the Constellation.

May 30, 2015

We are on the same cruise, I think, in November and have similar feelings about ship tours. We are considering a small group doing Tadourant and Tioute but Marrakech is really tempting. Do you have a tour guide selected? Hoping to make a decision in next few days. You can e-mail me at myrarubinstein at gmail dot com.

April 5, 2015

We are cruising Rome to FLL in Nov (15 Nts). Leaving Miami flying to Rome. So we need to figure out where to park the car fora reasonable price and how to get back to the car when the vacation is over.

April 1, 2015

I booked a transatl for Fall 2015 in June 2014 on Celebrity. I want to buy insurance and airfare now and I want travel insurance which will allow me to cancel both the cruise and the airfare in the event of the hospitalization/death of a family member. Is this possible? Can someone point me in a direction?

January 10, 2015

We booked a Fall 2015 TA while on a cruise this summer. Because it is a TA, no beverage package freebie or even discount was offered. Are Beverage Package discounts ever offered for TA's? Does anyone have any suggestions on saving on beverages on a 13 night TA? $49 a night for 13 nights feels like an awful lot of $$ especially because we are not "big" drinkers. On the other hand, I don't want to have to think about the cost of every drink (soft or hard) or she specialty coffees.

October 29, 2014

Our tour of Cartagena with Dan and Berit Wick of was one of the most memorable things I have ever done on a cruise and I HIGHLY recommend it. I'm sure if they are available they will be glad to give you a tour in your timeframe. Please do not hesitate to contact them at danbwick@gmail.com. Please give them my regards and let them know that when the time is right, I WILL be back.

--Myra Rubinstein

May 19, 2014

Cruising to Bermuda 6/15-22. Tried to book transport on the Celebrity website and it appears none is offered. Can this be? Car services seem to want $94 per person for what should be no more than an hour ride.

Does Celebrity not offer an alternative? Any other suggestions?

Thank you.

May 17, 2014

Cruising 6/15 to Bermuda on Celebrity Summit. A friend will be dropping us at the pier. Is 1:00 good for a 4:00 sailing or should we try to get there earlier?

We don't have transport arranged for post-cruise and we're too old and too grown-up for buses and subways. What is recommended (and reasonably priced because at the end of the cruise we'll be nearly broke). :)

April 21, 2014

I'm interested in why people book a specialty restaurant on a formal night or why not... We will be on a Bermuda cruise in June with two other couples and want to have one "extra special" night. Trying to decide which night to do it.

April 19, 2014

There seems to be a very long menu for the Normandie and it SHOULD have something for everyone. Has anyone eaten there who is a vegetarian? Were you happy with it?

March 31, 2014

We booked directly with Celebrity and yes, it is on their reservation. I'll let you know how this turns out.

March 31, 2014

They're mostly concerned about the meat. They eat vegetarian and dairy out non-kosher but are also big meat eaters so have already arranged to have meals available (Kosher) when they want them.

Thanks for the suggestion!

March 31, 2014

We will be traveling on Summit to Bermuda with two other couples. One of the couples keeps Kosher and has ordered special food to be available. If we make a reservation for six at one of the specialty restaurants, can that couple have their "special" meal served there? And will their up charge be the same?

Thanks!

March 10, 2014

We took a tour of Cartagena with Friends for Colombia (having read about it on Cruise Critic) and it was one of the best vacation days my husband and I have ever had (and we have traveled a lot). Dan and Berit Wick are two of the most comfortable, genuine and generous people we have met and through them you have the opportunity to meet other people in Cartagena making your visit there a true visit and not just and excursion.

Dan and Berit were waiting on the pier as we exited the ship and had a small comfortable van/bus waiting for us and several other cruisers. After we all introduced ourselves we were quickly on our way.

Our first stop was a community center. There we met the senior citizens who use it daily. We played dominoes with them, danced with them and gave them packages of healthy food (prepared in advance by Dan and Berit, for us to "give"). Next stop was a preschool where I (being a teacher both in a former life and in my heart) sat down on the ground and started teaching finger plays to the children who immediately opened their hearts and smiling faces to me. Next stop was the patio garden of a local resident. Through a program affiliated with the Clinton Foundation, residents are growing vegetables on their home-patios both for their own use and for sale (what an idea… why not do it in the US?). He was just so proud of what he had done, he was glowing with pride in the warm Cartagena sun. Finally we stopped at the old town and took a walking tour with Dan and Berit who were totally familiar with the locals (running into several friends and introducing us to them) and stopped to buy some sweets at a local bakery and treats at a small restaurant all of which they generously shared with us.

We were back at the ship in plenty of time. The cost of all of this was about $20 per person, barely enough, IMHO to cover the cost of the transportation, snacks and the gifts of food to the seniors.

I can't recommend this excursion, which is so much more than an excursion, highly enough. I dream of the day I can return to Cartagena for a longer stay, perhaps to volunteer.

February 11, 2014

I did post a review on the reviews boat but will summarize here. In Cayman we did Hell and Turtle Farm and Stingrays with Captain Marvin's. Recommended. In Cartagena we did a tour that included a community center, patio garden and day care center as well as walking tour of old city with Friends For Colombia. High point of our trip. In Costa Rica we did Aerial Tram tour. Recommended. In Colon we went to see the Embera Indians with Embera Village Tours. Highly recommended.

February 11, 2014

We just got back from 11 days on Equinox. Most days we went to Persian Gardens around 5 to de-stress. You know vacation is SO stressful! We used the steam room and showers and enjoyed the silence and the heated loungers as the sun set. It was one of my favorite things on the ship. Not for everyone but definitely for ME.