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Celebrity Cruisers - How are Things where YOU are?


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Sydney has hit another record with the daily number of cases and we're not coming out of lockdown anytime soon. Meanwhile I'm avidly reading up on everyone else's cruise reviews and watching cruise videos on YouTube while counting down to my Feb 2023 cruise on Celebrity Eclipse. Surely things would be back to normal by then..??!

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In Athens having just completed a  round trip Mediterranean cruise on the Celebrity Apex. We were told this was only the 8th cruise for the ship, which is sailing at greatly reduced capacity. The cruise staff could not have been more welcoming and attentive. Special shout outs to Nina, who kept my wife supplied with diluted Coffee Americano in the Luminae Restaurant.

 

We enjoyed dining in three specialty restaurants (Fine Cut Steakhouse, Rooftop Grill, and Eden). Special shout out to Shakes from Mauritius our waiter in the Eden. We were a little disappointed in the Rooftop Grill, where the mixed drinks (Margarita and Wandering Scotsman) were weak and the barbecue only “ok”. (Fair notice: coming from Texas, margaritas and barbecue are both matters of pride.) We enjoyed greatly the Chef’s Table, a somewhat pricey but great experience. Only 4 participants. However, in addition to the published price, there was an upsell for a special wine pairing. We took the added pairing ($60 per head) and felt it was worth it. As expected, dinner in the Fine Cut Steakhouse was excellent. However, one may want to reserve a table close to the windows and away from the Grand Atrium, which made that part of the restaurant too noisy for our tastes. Our veal cordon blue in the Tuscan Restaurant was disappointing, somewhat overcooked and understuffed.

 

The theatre visual and audio environment is beyond state of the art and must be described as awesome. The production shows displayed incredible athleticism and dance.

 

More later.

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We live on the Fla Panhandle next to Fort Walton Beach and TS Fred is headed towards us. It’s not a hurricane, but will bring lots of wind and rain. Got the yard all ready and just relaxing. It’s that season for the Gulf areas! 

 

Watching tS Grace also which looks as if it could be much stronger. Just watching. And of course as they churn through the Caribbean, cruise ships have to watch them….but not that many out there.

 

den

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Well, on the subject of weather it is dire here in the north of England. Unmitigated rain for days. 

 

Our middle son finally gets married on Saturday after several Covid related postponements and we are really hoping for decent, even if not exceptional, weather for the day. 

 

On the subject of Covid, we are doing well with the vaccination prog but we still have a lot of cases, although thankfully, not many deaths.

 

Travel is hit and miss with countries in Europe. We are booked for Spain in early September and our son for a Greek Honeymoon.

 

Just yesterday, there were rumours of Spain being put on our Red list which means mandatory hotel quarantine on return at a cost of £1700pp. We are very unsure what to do, but we desperately want to travel. Of course, if Spain goes red we would have to cancel, the worry is that we get there and the status changes whilst we are away. We are hoping that Greece stays as is and that the honeymoon can go ahead, even if we don't get to Spain.

 

We have several holidays booked for next year including a cruise.

 

I love this thread, it makes very interesting reading.

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On 8/17/2021 at 10:05 AM, evitacruiser said:

 

Our middle son finally gets married on Saturday after several Covid related postponements and we are really hoping for decent, even if not exceptional, weather for the day. 

 

We are booked for Spain in early September and our son for a Greek Honeymoon.

 

Just yesterday, there were rumours of Spain being put on our Red list which means mandatory hotel quarantine on return at a cost of £1700pp. We are very unsure what to do, but we desperately want to travel. Of course, if Spain goes red we would have to cancel, 

Our youngest son got married on the 7th August, weather was mixed but not too bad, they were able to get photos outdoors and have the evening fireworks . We had an amazing day 💕  the wedding was also delayed from last year and their planned honeymoon to Sri Lanka  and Maldives ended up as three days in Cornwall , but they were cool with that and had a good time. 

I think the next review of red and amber status of countries is 25th Aug and lasts 3 weeks but don't quote me 🙃

 

 

IMG-20210808-WA0098.thumb.jpg.856128d77581c82b83a3046ff6239595.jpg

Edited by sgmn
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Here in New England, looks like we are bracing for hurricane Henri, if it is a direct hit will be first time in 30 years we have had a direct hit from a hurricane and that was Bob, I remember him very well and all the mess he left for me to clean-up!  Today is one of those "calm before the storm" days, sunny, warm and humid...but it seems that tomorrow and Monday will be a different story.  All you folks on the NE/NY/NJ coasts, stay safe!

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14 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Here in New England, looks like we are bracing for hurricane Henri, if it is a direct hit will be first time in 30 years we have had a direct hit from a hurricane and that was Bob, I remember him very well and all the mess he left for me to clean-up!  Today is one of those "calm before the storm" days, sunny, warm and humid...but it seems that tomorrow and Monday will be a different story.  All you folks on the NE/NY/NJ coasts, stay safe!

Best of luck with Henri!  Stay safe.

I remember Bob.  We were in Old Orchard Beach with two young kids.  Had to evacuate.  Power was out for a week.  It was "only" category 1 in Maine when it hit.  But the flooding was intense.

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On 8/21/2021 at 9:40 AM, TeeRick said:

Best of luck with Henri!  Stay safe.

I remember Bob.  We were in Old Orchard Beach with two young kids.  Had to evacuate.  Power was out for a week.  It was "only" category 1 in Maine when it hit.  But the flooding was intense.

Henri decided not to come to Boston, YAY!  Right now we are getting a mini-cane, heavy rain, thunder/lightning and very moderate winds.

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We lucked out, I think , with Henri.

 

We are in Fl  right now ( during hurricane season) and have had perfect weather other than a few nightly soaking thunderstorms. Keeps the grass green.

 

Ironically, Henri, an early hurricane for the northeast,   was making a bee line for where we live on Long Island NY.. Dtr and sil cleared stuff off our deck etc and we watched and waited from Fl.  Lucky for us, storm  went just  east of Montauk,  LI.  Storm moved swiftly away but still dumping tons of rain.  We still have power from what we know...fingers crossed.

 

Waiting to go home on Tuesday..hopefully to NO damage!

 

Weather is unpredictable.,..

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Here in the rural south things are fine as frog's hair for us at least.  With caution and the Moderna vaccine my wife and I have avoided Covid-19.  For us this pandemic has been a boring waste of prime retirement years but still we're grateful.

 

In 60 hours we take the long, early morning drive into savage Atlanta where Delta will fly us to Ft. Lauderdale and the Equinox to Aruba.  We're in our 60's but still ready to party (a little) like it's 1999.

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On 8/22/2021 at 4:35 PM, hcat said:

We lucked out, I think , with Henri.

 

We are in Fl  right now ( during hurricane season) and have had perfect weather other than a few nightly soaking thunderstorms. Keeps the grass green.

 

Ironically, Henri, an early hurricane for the northeast,   was making a bee line for where we live on Long Island NY.. Dtr and sil cleared stuff off our deck etc and we watched and waited from Fl.  Lucky for us, storm  went just  east of Montauk,  LI.  Storm moved swiftly away but still dumping tons of rain.  We still have power from what we know...fingers crossed.

 

Waiting to go home on Tuesday..hopefully to NO damage!

 

Weather is unpredictable.,..

Flight to NY on Frontier was overbooked,,..very crowded. We double masked.

 

No hurricane issues but came home to an oil burner spewing steam, about to blow!  Svc came right away..we have a replacement plan,..but new unit will still involve extra costs.  Waiting for install info..ALways something!

 

Bin Voyage to those cruising soon!

 

 

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13 hours ago, hcat said:

Flight to NY on Frontier was overbooked,,..very crowded. We double masked.

 

No hurricane issues but came home to an oil burner spewing steam, about to blow!  Svc came right away..we have a replacement plan,..but new unit will still involve extra costs.  Waiting for install info..ALways something!

 

Bin Voyage to those cruising soon!

 

 

Why was your oil burner operating in the summer?  Or does it provide hot water too?

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7 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Why was your oil burner operating in the summer?  Or does it provide hot water too?

Yup.. hot water too.  Circa 1987,  the Aqua stat was failing and we missed the clues....and then it failed..   At least no one got hurt and no flood.  New set up going in tom.  We had an A level  protection plan( no charge until a few yrs ago) ..Over the yrs so many parts were replaced at no charge for labor or the parts.  We have to pay some now but got a good discount and zero percent..  pays to have a good  company and very long standing relationship.

 

Loyalty means more to them than it apparently does to X

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On 8/14/2021 at 4:34 PM, Snoopkat said:

Sydney has hit another record with the daily number of cases and we're not coming out of lockdown anytime soon. Meanwhile I'm avidly reading up on everyone else's cruise reviews and watching cruise videos on YouTube while counting down to my Feb 2023 cruise on Celebrity Eclipse. Surely things would be back to normal by then..??!

Yep, Delta variant out of control in Sydney despite (slow) lockdown. Thanks to Sydneysiders breaking lockdown my LGA (Local Government Area - similar to county) is now in lockdown. Until that happened we hadn't had a local infection in twelve months. Just have to be patient now and wait. Like many, I've had my shots and waiting to see what our state is going to do about opening up which may be dependent on vaccination levels. It seems those who are fully vaccinated may be let off the leash, hopefully. May be time to start reading crusing emails again.

Spring in two days. Lovely blue sky and sunny here. Was 16c (60F) this morning ATM 10.44am. Expecting about 21c (70F) top today.

 

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On 8/29/2021 at 8:50 PM, lyndarra said:

Thanks to Sydneysiders breaking lockdown

Sorry to hear about it. But, yep, here in the US same thing. Some evidence of increased vaccination, but not enough. The anti-vaccine and anti-mask segment will make sure that we never get out of this. If another variant comes along that is resistan to the current vaccine, then all bets are off. 

 

On 8/24/2021 at 6:17 PM, Wolf 8 said:

a boring waste of prime retirement years

Agree completely! I know it's selfish to look at it that way, but....yes....1.5 years of basically no traveling that I'll never get back...with no clue as to how much longer it'll go. 

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On 8/24/2021 at 6:17 PM, Wolf 8 said:

my wife and I have avoided Covid-19.

That's the most important part. Same here. Tired of canceling / rebooking trips. Right now I have two trips booked for next month that directly overlap. One of them has to be canceled. The one likely to go is a fly/drive trip out west to see some National Parks. I'm hearing stories of people not being able to get reserved rental cars. That'd be a total bummer. 

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On 8/29/2021 at 8:50 PM, lyndarra said:

Yep, Delta variant out of control in Sydney despite (slow) lockdown. Thanks to Sydneysiders breaking lockdown my LGA (Local Government Area - similar to county) is now in lockdown. Until that happened we hadn't had a local infection in twelve months. Just have to be patient now and wait. Like many, I've had my shots and waiting to see what our state is going to do about opening up which may be dependent on vaccination levels. It seems those who are fully vaccinated may be let off the leash, hopefully. May be time to start reading crusing emails again.

Spring in two days. Lovely blue sky and sunny here. Was 16c (60F) this morning ATM 10.44am. Expecting about 21c (70F) top today.

 

Sorry to hear about the Delta there.  We have good friends in NSW and both vaccinated.  All in all, your country has been spared the major impact of the virus. Both due to good policies and isolation.  And compared to us in the USA.  My small county near Philadelphia is having a delta surge but “only” about 200 cases a day. Most cases and hospitalizations from unvaccinated people.  We are about 65% over 12 fully vaccinated.  Only one death in the past week.  The vaccines are keeping people out of the hospital even with Delta the dominant strain around. But people are more cautious again compared to a couple of months ago.

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