DoctorFeelgood

Cruise sailing date is 3 January 2023.

Today's date is 4 September 2023.

My NCL final payment due date says 5 September 2023.

My NCL webpage says 121 days until sailing.

After some soul searching, I decided this wasn't the cruise for me. Issues include that the cabin we were booked in is right under the gym (plus some other things).

I called to cancel the cruise and the agent says I'm at 119 days, and a penalty applies.

What's going on?

On 4/6/2021 at 4:18 AM, BIG POOCH said:

With the reports of them requiring vaccinations, we will never be cruising on NCL again.  Hope they realize just how much this is going to hurt their business even more than it already has been.

This is America. Stupid people welcome to keep being as stupid as they want. Don’t get vaccinated. But they’re almost certain to be severely limiting their travel choices.

Even if some countries allow the unvaccinated in, how are those dummies even going the get there?
 

Airlines? Doubt it. No one wants to be sharing a plane with virus-spewing cretin. Airlines don’t even let people smoke on a plane. They’re not going to knowingly expose their crews and passengers to a moron who could be carrying a deadly infectious disease. Think of the liability!

Cruise lines? Ha! See how they freak out over Norovirus? How much does one Noro outbreak cost? Is any cruise line going to risk losing millions of dollars a day by letting an infected twit on board? Doubt it.

And what about travel insurance? I’m sure it won’t be a problem for people who are vaccinated. What about the deliberately unvaccinated? I doubt they’ll be able to find insurance, and if they do it’ll be suitably expensive and limited.

Which is great! Because it means that anti-vaxxer nutcases won’t be endangering the rest of us. The rest of us wouldn’t choose to have our vacations spoiled or our lives risked by, say, willingly traveling to a war zone.

So, if people want to engage in insane, anti-social, anti-vax temper tantrums, they don’t get to be part of the things that other people get to do, like go on a cruise or fly on a passenger plane.

Doesn’t stop them from chartering a private jet or private yacht.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/02/cdc-fully-vaccinated-may-travel/

Doctor here.

Are you all fellow Americans and talking about the 3x5"-ish CDC COVID vaccination card?

My thought is: Don't depend on it being good for international travel. It might be, but let's face it, there's lots of reasons why you'll probably be using something else for travel between the US and many other places. The first couple of things that come to mind are:

• The current global standard is the "International Certification of Vaccination or Prophylaxis" authorized by the World Health Organization. Most of us recognize this as a piece of yellow cardstock that folds in half to about the length and width of a business card. (They come in different colors depending on the era and the country issuing them.)  You may have got one from a travel medicine clinic when they gave to vaccinations for things like Yellow Fever for travel to third world or tropical countries. It's realistic to think that some countries you may want to travel to would not take the white CDC card because it's not WHO-approved.
• Both the CDC and the ICVP cards are easily forgeable. In times past, no one would think about forging a vaccination card. But this pandemic has revealed that there are many people who (for reasons including self-centeredness, misinformation, ignorance and stupidity) would do exactly that, just as they have chosen to endanger others by refusing to wear masks, etc.

So, I'm definitely keeping my white CDC card, but I'm fully expecting to need to get some kind of high-security, holographic hard copy version or highly-secure app in order to travel to many destinations.

Doctor here.

I second complaywer.

I spent the past year helping to save people from COVID, and some of my colleagues died doing so.
Masks and vaccines are not an overreaction to a global pandemic that stretched ICUs in some places to the bursting point and killed 550k Americans.

If some cruise lines want to cater to COVID-deniers, anti-maskers, and anti-vaxxers? Let 'em.

I'll be sailing with a cruise line that caters to people who get vaccinated, wear masks and wash their hands after they use the restroom.

As I understand it, the US-based cruise industry is on hold and waiting for a number of signals to resume.

One is for the CDC to issue "return to cruising" guidelines. The crowded conditions and the degree of intermingling on a cruise ship make it the perfect place to share disease. We know this. Norovirus. Right? So, I expect the guidelines to be balancing the knife edge of "too strict" and "too inconvenient". And it's not just the CDC. It's the jurisdictions of the various ports of call. Many of those may just follow along with the CDC. But I expect the final common criteria has to include vaccination, masks, and PCR (NAAT) testing, and the extra baggage of internationally-accepted high-fidelity, high-security testing and health documentation standards. Health concerns aside, think of the financial motivation for cruise lines to handle return-from-COVID in a watertight way. What's the cost of holding a vessel in quarantine for 2 weeks?

That 3Kids person again... sheesh! ;-)

Please post or private message me the name and contact information for your Mazatlan guide. Looking for something to do at that port of call.

Any info / updates on this old thread?

OK. I'll drink to that! Thanks!

My free booking choice was "pick 1 of 4". I chose the UBP.

Now, in the final 30 days, going over my paperwork and didn't see the UBP anywhere.

I called NCL.

"Oh. You chose the dining package"

"No, I paid separate for that... it's on my statement."

"Ok. Let me check another system.... It says you didn't make a choice."

I re-chose UBP, and paid the grats.

Now, I'm a little sensitized.

My statement now says "Adult Beverage Package".

Is that the same as the "Ultimate Beverage Package"?

Big thanks!!! :)

I haven't been on Jewel yet, but I have been on sister ships. With respect to the previous responder, my reply differs.

The gyms have limited space, usually shared with an open area for yoga, etc., cardio equipment and strength equipment. As you can see in the photo, on a ship this size, a dozen or so treadmills are routine, sometimes 4 or so elliptical machines. The strength equipment is usually a basic set of 8 to 10 machines (usually not Nautilus or Cybex, but some off-brand): seated leg press, seated knee extension / lying leg curls, seated chest press, seated shoulder raises, and others. Most ships I have been on have some basic dumbbells, but these are lighter weights. I don't recall seeing freeweights of any significant size on a cruise ship. Reasons probably include hazard / liability related to ship movements up there on the higher decks, and the demographics of the usual cruising passengers.

I'll post more gym info when I sail on January 3.

Ditto. Please comment on "save a few bucks"...:confused:

Thanks for working for us on your vacation.

How much was the sushi?

Was the thermal suite all operational? (I was on one cruise where nothing seemed to work... Pearl, I think.)

Is breakfast at Moderno available to all or only suite passengers?

Was the unlimited internet worth it? Seems like you had quite the problem with slow speeds and spotty connectivity.

Thanks for the tip on self-disembarkation... I would have naturally done that option, but will try to avoid it.

Have a guarantee, but currently booked in the mirror image mini-suite. Looks like the right choice with the extra balcony footage.

Great review. It helps me prepare for my trip.

How's the sushi?

Great, helpful review!

I'm glad things worked out for you for the most part. One question though: How did you know your railing would be steel and not glass? None of the websites I am familiar with have that kind of detail.