GTarrant

I agree with those stating that your best bet is to roll it to 2023 when it's quite likely many of these restrictions will be lifted. No one can predict the future, but 8 weeks ago Viking still had daily testing onboard, and quarantined people off-ship if they tested positive. And now they don't, and I don't see it returning, no matter what new variants arrive - the public will just isn't there for it.

However you also have to be mindful about the rules for the countries you are visiting - for example, on paper, the Netherlands (where we flew into a few weeks back for our late June cruise) requires proof of vaccination to enter, and they do not make exceptions for religious objections. However, in practice, the lines were so long and they were processing people so quickly that we walked right through customs without them asking anything...they didn't even ask to see the "mandatory" Netherlands vaccine attestation form that it said we had to print out. But they COULD have asked, and there's always the chance they do it like a random sampling thing, and if you get asked at customs, you may be turned around last-minute.

But I simply don't see these requirements lasting into 2023. A number of EU countries have actually dropped vaccination requirements (I guess it's always possible as a last resort to fly into one of those).

We just returned from a Viking cruise; they don't care right now. People can be coughing and sniffling up a storm; no one will be asked by the staff to take a test unless they specifically ask for one. And no one does because they don't want to be quarantined. It's every individual for themselves.

1 hour ago, CPT Trips said:

So as not to derail the thread where this was originally posted, I shall respond here.

Another word that can’t be played in Scrabble.

 

When I was in Germany last week I was in a bookstore and saw a version of Scabble and wondered "7 tiles must be incredibly limiting in German!!!"

Oh no! I'm betting we were on the same Budapest-Heathrow flight one day earlier. It had some mechanical issues but took off perhaps 45 minutes late. Then the "connecting flight security" at Heathrow was an absolute disaster (it was practically an exercise in "Wait in a slow moving long line for an indeterminate amount of time until you are nearly late for your flight, then get bumped to the front"). The fact that the London-Boston flight was itself delayed was the only reason we made it.

Hope your new flight gets out OK.

I have really enjoyed your summaries; we were on the Vali, which did the same tour but left one day earlier, and so it was fun reading "What we did, a day later" and seeing how the experiences matched up.

Get home safely!

We did not have much interest in the Eden restaurant, but SO MANY POEPLE told us how wonderful it was that we decided to go during our cruise last month and it did NOT disappoint. It became our new favorite specialty restaurant. Seriously, give it a shot. The venue is lovely and the presentation outstanding.

We also like Fine Cut, don't get me wrong, but Eden was special.

4 minutes ago, Heather1972 said:

Thanks! That helps me to figure out what time to reserve my car rental. Will pick a later time.  

If you tell them what time your flight is or the like they'll usually accommodate it in your disembarkation time, I've found.

2 hours ago, canderson said:

+1, TeeTick.  Something else to keep in mind ... have seen a fair number of fortunate folks who were able to bank their saved vacation budgets over the last year, and finally feeling freer to travel with the future still uncertain, planned a splurge vacation with 2X the available funds.  Wouldn't surprise me if that was happening with cruisers right now, too. 

This was us. We can't usually afford to sail in the Retreat, but with a 25% bonus FCC from cancellations and a lot of other unused vacation funds saved up, we decided to make our first vacation in over two years a special one in the Retreat on Edge. Is it something we can do often? No. Is it something we really wanted to do to treat ourselves? Absolutely.

We have a January cruise on the Apex where we'll be in an OV and I know we'll enjoy that too.
 

We were on the August 7th Edge sailing and loved it. The combination of the vaccination cards and negative test for boarding made us feel safer on the ship than honestly we are in most of our day to day lives at work etc.

Now I will say that our original plan was to get to Florida a few days early and enjoy the bars and such. We decided NOT to do that - we mostly stayed at our hotel, played board and card games, and ate at outdoor places - but we changed very little of what we wanted to do on the Edge.

I was just on the Edge and they had an origami class, a dot painting class, and a sketching class. They couldn't do some of the classes they otherwise would die to distancing requirements.

7 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

We were on a great barrier reef snorkel tour.  One or two of the older guys were winded and just could not keep up with the tour leader for an intermediate level snorkel.  They were participating in an activity that they were not fit for.  Others seemed to do just fine.  If there was an easy way to test or certify fitness that would be best.

 

I think one of the issues here is that people often don't read the descriptions of excursions, they just read the name/destination and think "Oh, I want to do that!" and book it. 
 

I was once on an excursion that included a hike up Mt. Vesuvius, and while it's not that bad, the trail is quite rocky (shocking, I know, for a volcano), a little steep at times, and can have awkward steps. It's not just a winding flat path. Anyway, they drop you off like halfway up at the entrance to the National park and you're on your own the rest of the way. On said excursion there was an older couple, one with a walker, that asked the ticket-taker at the entrance what accommodations they had to help get them to the top, and they were like, there aren't any. The couple asked about a van or the like and again it's, no, they don't have those things. They were very distraught (even trying to invoke the ADA despite being in Italy, insisting that it meant they had to be taken to the top...I didn't want to get involved but I'm pretty sure you don't get a helicopter to the top of Yosemite for free just because you can't climb it yourself...) and eventually went to the excursion guide and told them that they (or Celebrity) were responsible for getting them to the top of the mountain, which obviously the person said no, it isn't, it was called HIKE UP MT. VESUVIUS.

Celebrity refunded their money (not that they were required to, but it's good business), but the point is the description of the excursion clearly said that the path up was rocky and strenuous and they didn't even bother to read it, or if they did they figured it wouldn't matter.

On the Edge now, in the evenings there has always been a $25 blackjack table open. If it isn't getting action they open a $10 table, but no lower than that.

However, during the day on sea days, they've had a "lower limit gaming period", usually in the middle of the day when the casino is emptier - it was 2-6 PM yesterday - where they opened $5 tables for many of the games.

This seems to be the case everywhere. I know when I get my car serviced, I get email after email with surveys, and then often a separate one from the service department telling me that they need a 5 or a 10 or whatever the maximum is.

My #1 thing I do on these surveys is if people specifically are really good, I mention them by name. I've heard from many that while the 10 rating is great, getting an actual mention in the survey goes right back to them in perks. If there are specific staff that make your cruise the best, take the time to name them. 

The Edge itinerary for the 7th sailing has been changed - Costa Maya has been removed, and now there's 3 sea days instead of 2.

Oh, I know we'll enjoy ourselves. We've been waiting for this for a long time.

(My husband is worried about our Covid tests no longer being 72 hours before the ship leaves...I told him I highly doubt Celebrity is going to invalidate potentially dozens to hundreds of tests due to the delay).

I am on the 7th sailing; my embarkation time was 12:30. Earlier we got a note that the ship would be arriving at the port at 2 pm. And 5 minutes ago got another email that the ship will not arrive until 5 pm at the earliest and "updated embarkation time" and any cruise changes will come by 10 pm tonight.

There better be some OBC involved with this; we're missing a dinner and more. I hope the person is OK, given it had to be rerouted it sounds serious. I don't want to make light of their situation, we just have no place to go - our hotel checkout is 11 am, and our hotel won't hold our luggage.

Right now, I've found that the "excursion credit" just ends up being lumped into the same bucket as any other OBC. We have some OBC and some excursion credit but the celebrity website just says we have $X OBC to use on whatever.

Now, it's entirely possible that down the road they start enforcing the difference between the two - there's no guarantee that it'll always be the same bucket - but right now they don't.

14 hours ago, hiccups said:

According to X's website, that $150 OBC is only for shore excursions.

It does say that on the website, and someday they may actually enforce the whole "$150 OBC for excursion and $150 for anything else" that you get in some packages, but right now it just gets put into one big bucket that can be used for anything.

1 hour ago, cricketts said:

They did give us a L&S option.  However, we're not able to move to January 2023 because of other trip schedules.

Ah, unfortunate. Same thing happened to us, we couldn't lift and shift an August 2021 cancellation as the one next year was too late and conflicted with unavoidable work.

Can you convince them to let you lift and shift, if there's a sailing the next year? Depending on who you talk to, sometimes you can get that option even thought it isn't officially still supported.

2 hours ago, Mystictraveler said:

Sailing on Aug. 14 on the Edge. My TA contacted Celebrity on July 15th and the representative submitted the request for the additional OBC that day (supposedly). Still no response and he has followed up a couple of times. Keeps getting told it may take 14 days.

 

Just wondering about the experiences of others as far as response timing from Celebrity?

It's really all over the place. I noticed today that the price of our stateroom on our upcoming Edge cruise had gone down by $200. While was still slightly higher than when we booked it, when you include the current 10% Captain's Club sale it was lower. Just this morning I asked our TA to take a look, and a few minutes ago he said he got us an additional $275 onboard credit each and attached a new confirmation that reflected it.

Of course this is a weird situation; normally we wouldn't be able to do this so close to the sail date, but since the cruise is covered by the COVID 48-hour cancellation policy, it's in Celebrity's best interests (and way easier for everyone) to give us additional credit rather than have us cancel and rebook it at the lower rate.

However, the credit for a previous change in price that our TA requested two weeks ago is still pending. So, the one today, credited immediately, two weeks ago, still waiting.

We did it years ago. The session is free, and they took probably a hundred or more pictures, but of course actually getting them costs you, and it is not inexpensive. We ended up getting a set of the best 20 or so pictures on a memory stick and a set printed up and bound in a beautiful book. I still look at those pictures years later and smile, and the book remains on our mantle. It's expensive, but I don't regret it (even if it would have been less on land).

Just got our August cruise on the Edge repriced using this; while our cabin is more expensive now than it was when we booked, after the discount it's about $100 less, and got the OBC applied without hassle.

I miss Cellar Masters when I'm on a ship without it; one of my complaints about the Edge when I sailed on her early after launch was there wasn't any of the bars/lounges that had a decent selection of wines. I've heard that Eden has since take on that role, with a much expanded wine list. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

8 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

With the changes to the packages Surf will not support WiFi calling. I was on Edge last week and it definitely will not work. The package included in the old 3 perk deals would. 

Due to a lift and shift I have a booking in January that was booked with the old perk deals. Which Internet do we get?

Thank you for posting this! One of my biggest complaints about the Edge when I sailed on her was the lack of a chill bar on the ship that had a good selection of wine. Some of the Solstice and Millennium class ships have Cellar Masters, where my husband and I would often spend a lot of time. Even those ships that have replaced it with the gastropub, that also would have an OK selection. Edge it was mostly house wines or extremely limited selections in most of the bars.