neilrr

Hi Everyone:

My partner and I booked our cruise in March for the Panama Canal on the Beyond.  Looking forward to it.

Hope to meet other LGBT members on the cruise.

This is our first time on the new E-class ship.

See you all soon.

Neil & Uwe 

53 minutes ago, TheHawk1 said:

This is the most helpful explanation I've seen of how this itinerary works. The details on Celebrity's web site are useless.

 

I'm on Beyond on Feb. 24 sailing, which also includes Panama canal.  I chose to do a ship excursion to Panama City since I figure it may be the only time I ever get to go there.  But knowing that I will still get half of the "canal locks experience" is more than sufficient.

 

Thank you for the information.

Thank you canderson for your solid explanation.  I do agree with TheHawk1 - the information from Celebrity (who I also spoke with) could not explain exactly how the itinerary worked. At least I know I am not alone and crazy after taking over 40 cruises around the world.

Thanks again for all your assistance. 

I had the same problem too with the Flash sale, as one of the excursions I picked was lower so they cancelled and rebooked at the lower price. Several of the excursions we were thinking about did not have the days included in the pull down menu.  Hopefully, they will fix it shortly... 

16 hours ago, jbcallender said:

Neil,

 

We are on that same cruise and I had the exact same question.  Good information provided by all.

 

Jeff

Look forward to meeting you on the cruise at Sail Away

Neil

_________________________________________________________

Thank you all for the wonderful and informative answers I was looking for.

In this case, it sounds like I would want to stay on the ship and go through the canal, as that is what we are coming for.😁 I have been on over 40 cruises and this was one of the very few times I had trouble getting a straight answer on the itinerary . This is why I love CruiseCritic.

Hope to see you all on a future cruise.

Neil

1 hour ago, FRMPEI said:

Right! 2023 we only did the first lock. The Panama Canal complete transit from ocean to ocean is 3 locks your cruise will only be the first lock. Your stop in Colon Panama is only for a few hours then your next sea day will be a cruise to your next port of call. Your only option for a Panama excursion is the day your come into Gatun Lake and tender to shore for your excursion and then a bus drive back to Colon to meet the ship.

 

A side note back into 2017 we stopped at Colon and did a ship excursion of the canal. How this worked was we boarded a bus in Colon drove/toured to the Gatun lake which is in between the 1st and 2 lock. We boarded a tourist boat and that carried a least 100 people and then transited the 2nd and then the 3rd canal and landed on the Pacific Ocean side. So between 2017 and 2023 we have officially done a complete transit of the canal. (2017 2 old locks 2023 1 new lock)

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

But do you go back through the lock on the following sea day? Do you see the same thing?  Do you feel it is worthwhile to do an excursion day one if we are going back through the lock day two?

Thank you.

Neil 

20 minutes ago, FRMPEI said:

 

I agree with you... the highlight is going thru the lock. I will describe our March 2023 Edge canal/Colon experience. We did not book an excursion because we had done one on our 2017 trip and stayed on the ship. Since you are arriving on Beyond you will transiting the first and only the first lock of the new Canal which is comprised of 3 separate gates/lifts. From memory I think you are lifted about 27meter/85feet. Be prepared to get up early if you want a spot on an open deck. We had a Sky Suite so we watched from our deck. For us the the sun had not yet risen and it was very foggy to start but that burnt of pretty quickly. You can see the first lock of "old 1900's" in the distance.  After getting thru the 3 lift you will arrive in Gatun Lake and only go a few hundred meters from the lock and you remain there until about 3:00PM where the Beyond will do a 360 spin and back thru the first lock into the Atlantic side. If you choose to take an excursion a tender will take you to shore which is close by and you will meet back up with the ship via bus at Colon.  If you stay on Ship do not get off at Colon, I did but they really did not want me to. I just wanted to get a couple photos and was not allowed to enter the port buildings.

 

Hope this help?

Regards,

Kevin Reid 

Kevin:

Thank you for your in depth reply. I assume you did not do the whole canal either. Is the folowing sea day the same as the first if we want to do an excursion in Panama? We will be heading to Aruba and Bonaire. 

Neil

Just now, neilrr said:

 

23 minutes ago, FRMPEI said:

 

Hi Everyone:

I am on the Celebrity Beyond on the March 17th Cruise.  I am a little confused and have yet to get a straight answer re: the Panama Canal stop.

We are scheduled to to get to the Panama Canal on Friday March 21 from 6AM-3PM.  Celebrity shows multiple excursions and then the ship appears to meet them in Colon from 5PM -9PM on March 21st. Would you be missing going through the canal which is the highlight of the trip by going on the excursion?

The following day is a sea day and I assume we are going back through the canal, as we are going on to Bonaire and Aruba.

I would really appreciate if my Cruisecritic friends can shed some light on this for me.

Thank you so much.

Neil

Hi all!!

Watch the HBO short film on the Diamond Princess "The Final Cruise" from last March -- actually filmed on the ship (approx. 45 mins.) and you will understand why people need to all be vaccinated upon boarding.

We will wait until the dust settles and see how the test and first actual cruises go. I want to see all of the procedures in place.  How do they handle embarkation, debarkation, bars, pools, buffets, restaurants, masks, etc..

We have forty+ cruises under our belts... We will take the wait and see approach...

Happy and Safe Sailing to All..🛳️🍸

Better to be on the leading edge than the bleeding edge... No rush to cruise until they figure this mess out.. We will wait until 2022... Let the games begin...😁

1 minute ago, terrydtx said:

This, if enforceable, with the cruise industry will most likely keep and cruises from sailing form Florida this year. I like your Governor but the cruise industry should have been exempt from this new law. I can agree that restaurants and some business should not require COVID passports, but the cruise lines have to require the proof. A lawyer friend of mine told me that all the cruise lines need to do is require passengers, as part of their pre cruise online documentation, provide a copy of their vaccinations or not get their boarding passes. This could totally bypass the Florida Law.

Unfortunately, those little cards are being reproduced in Miami for $15 a pop. They need to create a national or state wide accessible database of those who has received the vaccine. They already have it in a database somewhere beside the little white card. This will probably have to come at a national level otherwise, I do not believe other countries will let us in on our good looks...😁 Well maybe.. Time will tell... 

I can also show them my childhood vaccinations on a loose leaf paper my mother gave me and I still have to this day. I guess we have not come that far in technology in 60 years...LOL

17 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

100% agree. Get Stuck or stay stuck at home!

7 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

My biggest heath problem pre Covid with cruises was coming home with terrible upper respiratory infections (URI) contracted while on the ship.  No fun flying home for 8 hours on a airplane coughing up a lung. Because I am so susceptible to URIs, my doctor gives me a ZPac antibiotic pack to carry when I travel overseas.

 

terrydtx- Amen... I totally agree with you.. Let them all stay home. Our beloved Governor in FL passed a law no Covid passports or documentation requirements - I totally disagree... Tell that to the families of the 600K that are now deceased...

I also have URI issues -- probably due to my students in class as they carry "lots" of germs..😊 That

Z-PAC did work years ago; I think they watered it down and it did not work for me anymore -- I started using a 10 day supply of Augmentin and it is wonderful. It knocks that URI out one, two three. I also carry a mild inhaler and when needed a steroid.

Happy Future Travels...😁🛳️    

Hi Everyone:  I read all the posts on here and I totally agree that passengers and crew should all be fully vaccinated.  As a teacher with most students remote and few in class-- children should not be allowed aboard until vaccinated. If you have a chance to see the short film on HBO "The Last Cruise" you would think twice before getting on a ship unvaccinated.  It was about the Diamond Princess and the 15 passengers that died and what happened aboard to passengers and crew. Not an Oscar winner, but certainly something to see.

As stated by others -- we will not get on the ship until all of the procedures are in place and they worked out all of the logistics.  A ship in Japan just had one case the other day and the whole ship was forced to get off in the next port.

We will take a wait and see.  I am glad we took our 40 cruises prior to Covid.  We would love to cruise again, but we will wait to see how things pan out...  Nice to be on the leading edge and not the bleeding edge....    

Happy Sailing to All...😊🛳️

20 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

This article answers a lot of questions raised on this thread:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=6078&source=99362

Thank you... That article did answer a lot of questions... We are still taking a wait and see attitude. Let's see what happens in the first couple of months after cruising resumes and how everything shakes out.

I like to be on the leading edge not the bleeding edge...

Hope to see everyone soon...😊🛳️ 

Red Ginger -- Rack of Lamb and Lobster Pad Thai (Medium Spice) - I ordered it the first time and it was bland. The second time (medium spice) was much better.

Also, love the lobster and filet mignon sandwiches at the grill with truffle fries.. Yum.. Yum..  

Funny story -- I was applying for a State grad school 20 years ago -- they had a huge packet to fill out and one of the sections was health with verification of all childhood vaccines -- They said to get confirmation from my doctor or I would have to take all shots again (that wasn't going to happen) - well my childhood doctor has been dead for 30 or 40 years. I said (which I swear I do still have it) my mother gave me a loose leaf paper with all my shots; they said no way; I ended up going to a private grad school that took me with no medical information required. 😁

I am totally in favor of a vaccine (online) passport; the irony is I am back to a paper vaccine confirmation for Covid  -- 60 years later... I can put it with my mother's loose leaf paper.. 😊

Happy Sailing!!!🛳️

Hi all:

Picked this up from the Oceania Board:

Yesterday The US. Dept. of State issued a do not travel warning.  Since most countries are listed as RED, they said not to travel internationally.  The list keeps increasing red level 4 countries.  This includes business travel.  How will this affect cruising?

_________________________________________

At this time, I would agree -- not a good time to travel anywhere until the dust settles and we see cases going in the other direction. Cases are rising all around the world (take a look that the CNN story today on India, as an example) -- IMHO -not worth taking a chance on your life. Even though we may be vaccinated - crew members, port personnel, excursion personnel in many foreign countries are probably not at this time.

Hope to see you all soon -- 🛳️😊  

21 hours ago, cantstopingcruising said:

 

do you remember the box of Cova chocolates on our pillows?

22 hours ago, peanut head said:

Which venue did you get the eggplant tower and can you describe it?

Now that you mention it I do remember the Cova chocolates. As for the eggplant it was a small tower appetizer that was wonderful.  It has been so long I don't remember which ship.  One thing we made sure not to have was the duck soup. It was awful..😁 The wild forest mushroom soup was the best.

We also loved the midnight buffets -- not to eat, but the work the people put into the ice carvings and the fruit sculptures that they did.  It was amazing. Great memories...   

Love the escargot and the eggplant tower...

Miss the harpist in the specialty dining room on Millie years ago..

Most of all -- We really miss Michel Roux... We go back a long way with Celebrity... Under his watch that was when the Celebrity food and menus were at the top of their game... 😁🛳️

5 hours ago, harkinmr said:

I hate to break it to you, but the cruise lines are making vaccines mandatory (except maybe Carnival).  They know that vaccinated passengers and crew are their ticket to a safe return.  What DeSantis thinks about mandatory vaccines is immaterial.  He does not have the authority (no matter how much he pretends) to prevent cruise lines from requiring their passengers to be vaccinated.

Amen!!! I totally agree with you... Forget about DeSantis  - he is only looking out for his political gain to  score a few points. He not worried about the safety of the people.

Until the cruise lines run the test cruises and have all the procedures in place, passengers are not going to take a chance.  I am all for a vaccination stamp on the passport. This must be done for all passenger and crew. Additionally, look at Europe - who will let you into their country and ports?? Even in the Caribbean - I know they want the tourist business -- but are they willing to sacrifice their lives or their family??? Most islands will not...

We have done over 40 cruises and want to get back to it, but until this gets straightened out -- no cruising for us... BTW We have had both our Pfizer shots and are still cautious and careful...

Hope to see everyone onboard soon...🛳️😊

7 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

My thought was an official qr code sticker you would place on one of the pages of your passport.

Excellent thought... They are also putting an App on peoples phones in some of the Asian countries using the Green/Yellow/Red light methodology.  I am not exactly sure of how it works.  I am sure some people here would find it to invasive to their privacy.  At least we are thinking out of the box...😁

11 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I would be interested in viewing the source material for both of your statements.  The Cruise Lines are awaiting technical guidance documents from the CDC which would explain what is needed.  So far, CDC hasn't done that.  I think you may have it backward, the CDC needs to inform the cruise industry as to its expectations before the cruise lines can meet their expectations.  Please let us know where you got the information that it is the cruise lines holding up things.

 

I'm interested in viewing the numbers on crew infection rates.  I was not aware this was occurring.  Can you let us know where to find that information?

 

Thanks in advance.

Daniel A - Not surprised about the crew.  As you know, they live and work in very tight quarters. Not only does there need to be a plan for the passengers, but for the crew too and most importantly everyone boarding the ship needs to be vaccinated. 

I was also thinking about the "vaccination passport" being discussed  They can just create a section on the current passports for a seal of some sort that the vaccination has been completed and verified. Unfortunately, this paper card can be duplicated -- but they do have it recorded officially on-line for those people completing the shots and cross referencing it to stamp the passport. We already have the TSA Pre-Check and the Int'l portion as well; they could hook it up with that.  Just an idea...

Take care...🛳️   

5 minutes ago, clo said:

Yep. Here's quoting the new CDC director.

 

https://www.aol.com/news/cdc-director-speaks-impending-doom-153120133-155036670.html

Thank you....😊  We live in S. FL and we were watching what was going on in Miami (we are 65 miles north) and all the other spring break towns. Most of these people are going to bring Covid home asymptomatically.

Believe me, I am known as "Party Boy" on the cruise lines, but when it comes to something as serious as this, it is not worth losing your life over. We are just waiting  as we had one cruise to the Caribbean scheduled a week after everything shut down last year and another for last summer to Iceland. All were cancelled. We are hoping for some clarity by the fall to possibly look at making reservations for late fall or spring 2022. 

Take care and stay safe...😎