Nebr.cruiser

Years ago, (early 2000's) we had to cancel two major trips because of serious illness of elderly parents. At this time, I don't remember the companies concerned, although I could probably figure it out. In both cases I believe they were well-known companies. At this time, we were below Medicare age. The first, a trip to 3 week trip to China, we cancelled about two days before we were scheduled to leave as my mother had a major heart attack. The second time, my husband's mother had major surgery and complications that cause a second surgery and over a month in the hospital. That trip was a river cruise in Europe plus extended time in Austria, Switzerland and Venice, again about 3 weeks. In both cases we received full refunds of our trip, according to what our plans provided. Yes, we did have to provide extensive proof that it was not wise for us to leave our ill family members, which did take some quite a bit of leg work and a paper trail for proof. Probably 4-6 weeks after filing, in each case, we received full credit.

Like some others, I just don't have the patience to watch many you tube videos. I don't need to know every detail either; After about 50 cruises, I'm pretty comfortable with what ships are like, and have never been on a ship that I didn't like anyway. Sometimes, mostly due to weather, a cruise might not be ideal, but mostly the ships are fine. Go with the flow! I actually avoid most posts here or anywhere on the internet if it involves watching a video!

We spent almost six weeks in Australia/New Zealand in February and March of this year. We had a fabulous time, with a couple of problems, noted at the end. After we arrived in Sydney,did a Princess cruise up the coast to Port Douglas. The weather and stops were great; very hot, for sure. Very unusually, for us, we did Princess tours at all the stops because of the logistics--all ports are tendered, and it was hard to find independent tours that fit our time schedule--and enjoyed them. Then we spent five days in Sydney. We learned to use the public transportation and went to all the iconic spots. We also took a one day tour to the Blue Mountains which we enjoyed a lot. Sydney is a wonderful city--and I'm not that fond of big cities--but loved this one. Then we took an RCI cruise to New Zealand. Again, we lucked out with great weather. We did independent tours in all the ports. The highlight was Hobbittown--really exceeded expectations--and The fiords. But every stop was so scenic. After that we flew from Sydney to the Uluru areas. Be prepared for extreme heat--most days were around 108. We spent 4 days here, doing a tour package that included all of the main sights and quite a few extras, such as dinner under the stars, field of lights, etc. We also journeyed to King's Canyon. If doing this part again, I would go to Alice Springs area rather than King's Canyo, or just head back to Sydney. While the Canyon is beautiful, it's not all that different from many, many areas in our desert Southwest, and it was a long brutal (first bus was very warm) ride there and back. I think 5-6 hours, one way. I did enjoy seeing the outback in all its vastness and we saw wild camels, dingos and horses. Tours at Uluru start at 5:30 in the morning due to heat and are generally done by 10, otherwise it would be unbearable and maybe dangerous. Evening tours were still hot but doable. The flight over, especially, was tough; we were in economy and so tight; also flight ended up being almost 18 hours because we were in holding pattern above Sydney for almost 2 hours. Coming back we had bulkhead seats, which was better, and the flight was 13 hours. Next time I'd definitely want to go at least premium economy. The big downside, for us, was that we all got sick towards the end, my husband and sister much more so than me. The RCI ship had many, many people coughing and obviously sick. The last couple of days at sea we all tested, as they were really sick and me a little. We all tested negative for Covid. And we tested twice, once more when we got to Uluru. They were feeling rotten enough that they missed a couple of the tours. At home, we all tested positive, and I tested positive for two influenzas as well. Good news is that we all recovered and were never sick enough to need extra meds or hospital. I'd do it all again--different itineray, seeing places we missed like Melbourne, Darwin, etc.--in spite of getting sick It was the trip of a lifetime.

We were in Athens one day on a previous cruise and loved it. We're planning on spending an extra day or two there pre-cruise. No, sadly, we don't go to Rhodes. We enjoyed Mykonos--just walked around the charming town, didn't do an excursion there.

Hoping we will continue to be the only ship in port! We start in Athens, day at sea, then Santorini, Ephesus, Mykonos and several stops in Greece before returning to Athens.

Just looked up our itinerary. Our ship, Celebrity Infinity, is the only one listed in port, and we are there from 8-10pm. This sounds great! Is it possible or likely that more ships will port that day, (May 18, 2024) or not?

Thanks everyone. I had looked for the answer on their website, but I did not see anything about drinks other than alcoholic. I see now that soft drinks, coffees, teas and juices are included. Not smoothies, shakes, etc., sadly. They place I looked on Celebrity website made it seem as if we had to have a different package for non-alcoholic. I guess I just didn't click on the 'what's included' tab.

We have the drink package (plus grats, free wifi) for the first time ever for a cruise in May. Strangely, it was more expensive to buy this cruise without the package. We hardly ever drink--maybe a few glasses a wine at holidays--and have never had a drink package, or even bought a drink on a cruise. Not teetotalers, just don't really care about it that much. What else can we get with our package? Soft drink? Specialty coffee? Smoothies? We may have a drink or two, since it's included, who knows?

We'd tip $5 to $10 pp., depending on the length and quality of the tour.

It just depends, but if we are on shore at lunch time we usually find a nice looking place, preferably with outside eating and a view (if weather permits) and eat ashore. It's part of the experience for us. At the least we stop for something to drink. I don't think we've ever gone back to the ship just for lunch and then gone on shore again. If we are only on shore a few hours, when we return to the ship, we probably won't get back off.

Huh, strange. Cruising from San Pedro last year, my sister didn't have a medallion, they had a bunch extra and just did something to it (programmed it for her room, name,etc.?) and gave it to her within a couple of minutes. Same scenario in Sydney in February. They had stacks of extra medallions in an area at check-out.

I don't know for sure, but I bet just the regular medallion.

I don't believe that any taxis or other transport can deliver you right to the ship. There will be buses or shuttles at the gate to the port to take passengers to the ship. It definitely is a cargo port. Walking is also not possible, as far as I know. But, it was no trouble taking the shuttles, except of course for moving luggage.

Yes to the above. My sister didn't have hers; took all of two minutes longer than us, if that. I'm not sure I'm ordering ours ahead anymore.

So true. Our bodies all react differently. I was tested and went through 4 1/2 years of allergy shots with little results. I was only tested for environmental and animal allergies; mine came back mostly different trees, weeds and molds. Haven't been tested for dust mites. I'm glad you found your solution and a way to 'fix' it. Sharing experiences is a great way to learn.

Well, three of us are in our late 70's, one late 60's. I'm the oldest at 78 and probably the only one that *could* do the walk, but I'm not going to! LOL. Sometimes you have to be smart. If I was younger, maybe.

Thanks for this. Sounds like a good possibility for us. No walking down the stairs for us, but we will probably be back to Fira quite late; cable car was not a problem at that time on our last stop. It was dark, and no line for cable car or tender.

I know this may sound crazy and maybe not appropriate, but I have suffered from all kinds of allergies for 30 years, to the extent that it really affected my life style, mostly from horrible coughing, often so bad that I really hated going out in public. Years of doctor's, meds, nasal irrigating up to 5 times a day, etc. For some reason acid reflux medication helped somewhat. In May of this year I was prescribed Celebrex (generic form) for severe leg pain due to stenosis of the spine. After a few weeks, I suddenly noticed that I was not coughing at all--maybe a mild cough a couple of times a day, and most other allergy symptoms were gone--still gone. Truly miraculous for me. I still have occasional sniffles and eye watering; it's been a bad allergy season here. My doctor agrees that it is probably the anti-inflammatory part of the drug that has helped my allergies, especially the post nasal drip. I have not used a cough drop in 3 months (practically lived on them before) and have dropped two nose sprays, all nasal irrigation and some of my other allergy meds. I can't over-emphasize what a difference this has made in my life. And, leg pain is gone as well. Just something to think about. I do realize that Celebrex does have some side effects, as most meds do. Of course, check with your doctor!

The penguins were definitely the main attraction on our tour. Which is what we wanted.

Was this for a water ferry to Oia? Probably a good option for us, as we don't have to get off the ship really early, due to our long time in port. (having been there before, getting on tenders early if not on a ship tour is not easy). It probably would work for us. I have found a tour company that would pick us up in Oia and take us where ever we wanted.

We've been to Santorini before and really disliked the wait to get on the cable car. If we book an excursion through Celebrity, do they ferry you to the Oia area instead? Also, we get priority for the tenders then. We'd probably only do the on your own in Oia, because we have another specific place on the island we want to see, and we would book a local tour for that. (Kamari, since my sister lived there back in the 60's.) Our ship is in port from 8-10 pm, so we do have plenty of time, at least.

I'll see if I can find the company. I think we had about 8 in the van. The private tour you mentioned sounds like it would be great for four. It is quite a ways to the penguins and not a great lot to see on the way, although we did enjoy the scenery and saw guanacos. But the penguin colony was great.

We had no issues on our Australian cruise, but we also cruised to New Zealand on that trip, doing the 24 hr before tests, along, supposedly, with all other passengers. Many, many people obviously sick with lots of coughing, etc. on the cruise. All three of us ended up feeling not the best at the end of the cruise--we all tested negative however. Upon getting home, we all tested positive, plus I also tested positive for two types of influenza. The tests seem to have so many false results that I'm not sure how all that hassle helps. This was in March.

I don't remember putting it on the app, but maybe we did!

I don't know if this applies, but after a bad experience with Sim cards in Australia/New Zealand (they never worked for any of the three of us; possibly our fault? not being tech minded, ), we just used WhatsApp. Of course, we really only needed it to call family, especially my husband's 97 year old very anxious Mother. (WHy would anyone want to go so far away?)