LB_NJ

I booked my next cruise in Aqua because for us, Blu is worth it and Persian garden, the daily water, and a couple of yoga classes add a little bit of value, also on some of the ships the shower is a little nicer.

If I remember correctly Cunard puts kettles in all the rooms.

Is over $150 per person/per night for Ocean View the new normal? I ask because a cruise I have scheduled for January is currently pricing out at that price.

Daily water and a welcome bottle of sparkling wine on request. Also some free exercise classes.

I have not been on Apex so my views are about Summit and Constellation but first a question. Have you sailed Celebrity in the recent past? Wondering if you generally like the coffee on Celebrity and just want to know how Apex compares? Also, you will not get a good answer to your question. I say this because food is subjective and coffee even more so. For example I buy good whole bean coffee and use a burr grinder at home. However, I really don’t like Starbucks coffee which some people really enjoy. Personally, I detest Celebrity coffee with the exception of the espresso based drinks at Baccio Cafe. Until you have tried the coffee onboard yourself it will be impossible to predict if you will be happy.

IN THE US, assemble, walk right off the ship and get back on. If some passengers decide to walk around the ship and not get off then you could be sitting for hours waiting for the rude people.

I forgot about the fog horn, we had a lot of fog also. We had an ocean view cabin low and midship so it didn’t bother us. Took that cabin because it would be the best if the waves got too bad but they never really went above about 12-16 feet so not that bad. However I am glad we weren’t towards the front of the ship because of the fog horn. Would never have slept. We had the same problem however we ended up not throwing away the return ticket and went back to Italy. By then we had enough airline miles (got one of those airline credit cards that gives you lots of miles for getting the card) to fly back to the USA from Porto. RC was NO help in getting good airline prices. Maybe you will have more luck. FYI, there are rumors that airlines go after people who discard international return tickets but that may not be true.

Regardless of the advertisement Celebrity seems to do some type of dynamic pricing like the airlines where prices can change day to day. They might even charge hourly but I have not checked. Because of Celebrity’s best price guarantee I don’t think they really ever go down before final payment because of all the money they would have to refund.

I meant a la carte as opposed to their tasting menu.

I have a cruise booked on Eclipse in Aqua. It looks pricey however thinking about a dinner in Murano (ala carte). The sample menu on the website lists appetizers, entrees, and a cheese course. First, besides cheese are there also deserts? I assume you are limited to one entree however are you limited to one appetizer? Finally, is the food much better than Blu?

I don't know about Ascent however, on some ships they will let you order off the MDR menu when you are in Blu.

My comment about iffy weather was not really about storms, although they are possible, it is that depending on the route in can be cold and rainy. This is not the Caribbean or a summer cruise TA cruise. As others have said it is the luck of the draw. As long as you understand that weather can be unpredictable go for it. Fyi, cruises that start in the US and end in the Mediterranean or vice versa can be up to 15 days long. It is like a Mediterranean cruise coupled with a 7/8 day TA.

Interesting, my insurance policy doesn’t have that, however, it looks like that only covers airline change fees, not the cost of a new ticket or any other costs related to the change of itinerary.

Does your policy specifically cover a change of embarkation/debarkation ports? I would like to know which insurance carrier covers that circumstance.

Except for Cancel for any reason insurance (almost double the cost and you only get back 75% of your loss) travel insurance probably won't cover what happened. I looked at an old travel insurance policy from Trawick which was underwritten by Nationwide and it would not cover this. Also, this is not the airlines fault. They shouldn't suffer any losses. BTW, most airlines will let you make a penalty free change (except for the most basic airline tickets) except you have to pay the current rate on the new itinerary. The company responsible is the one that owns and/or was operating the cargo ship. They should pay for everything. However, they probably did not have enough insurance to cover everything and they probably put the ship into its own corporation to prevent anything like this being charged to the parent corporation.

Also, people cancel which opens up a spot or two. And even if you book an excursion Celebrity sometimes cancels. Happened to me more than once.

However prepaying gratuities gives Royal’s crack IT group another opportunity to screw up with your money. FYI, start a spreadsheet to keep track of the refunds. They don’t always come back in straightforward amounts.

Yes cancel cruise planner before a cruise. If it doesn’t put you into another penalty phase give it a couple of days between when you cancel cruise planner items and when you cancel the cruise.

Repositioning cruises (almost all TAs except the Cunard QM2 are repositioning cruises) tend to sail when the weather is iffy. We had pretty bad weather when we sailed. Cold and wet with rough seas. We were on Enchantment which is a smaller ship. It was aTA NJ to Italy with stops in Spain and France. We also went to Monaco on an excursion. We did Chops lunches for 2 of the days for a change of pace. Other than that we did the MDR for dinner all the days. I was OK with the food. In the end you have to decide if you are OK with eating in the MDR for that many nights. There are a lot of sea days so I learned to love Sodoku. If you get bored easily don’t do a TA. Pre-buy Euros if you are doing Spain, pounds if England. It is NOT the Caribbean where you can get away with using dollar bills. We spent an extra week in Italy at the end of our cruise and were happy we did. We booked that all on our own. If you have airline points use that for airfare. ONE WAY AIRFARE BACK TO THE US IS COST PROHIBITIVE. Fyi, my wife loved the cruise and wants to do another. I was happy I tried it once but not sure I would do it again.

Royal is still showing a cruise out of Baltimore at the end of May. I think they are being a little optimistic. They really should warn people that they might be switched to another departure port.

Are they planning on staying in Norfolk through the rest of 2024? If they can't get back by the end of drydock then they can't get back without canceling a cruise or cutting another cruise a day short.

I read somewhere that the official cruise parking lot for Norfolk holds 1200 cars. Would this be an issue if Vision were also to dock there?

I don't remember the dollar limit on Premium however if you purchase over the limit you will be charged the difference plus 20% on the difference plus any applicable tax on the difference.

I have. There are always last minute cancellations however, low bids will probably not succeed.

Royal is NOTORIOUSLY BAD at keeping passengers informed!