Ipeeinthepools

Just another reason I always travel with my North Face fleece jacket.

Please fix any issues in the CO on the NS before we get there in September 😉

I'm hoping the Wi-Fi is working

Really? The old folks have more rights than younger more physically active people? I do agree with you that I'm concerned about the collisions with people wandering aimlessly causing injuries to the runners. @Blackduck59 summarized it well, everyone needs to exercise common courtesy and situational awareness. Just because you are old, your description not mine, you can't wander around without regard to your surroundings.

Is there any updated info on the noro outbreak? Hopefully things are getting better.

Or maybe the response to anyone that calls about not getting an upsell offer is: "Didn't you get the e-mail? We sent the offer several times"

Maybe you should stay in Club Orange. The MDR doesn't need any additional guests.

I don't agree with many of your posts but this time you are on the money. Common courtesy and situational awareness go a long way to minimizing this concern.

I thought Holland America was founded in the Netherlands and the Rotterdam was registered in the Netherlands. Seems like a Dutch cruise line to me.

I agree for US cities as well as most of Europe and South America. Have you visited London, Tokyo or Mumbai? What was the standard there?

Seems like your next port might be in jeopardy.

How long until you get to Kona?

I'll suggest that it's not the "American Standard" but the left-hand drive standard for driving. If you visit areas that hand right-hand drive, i.e. Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, India and other areas formerly under British rule, you'll also encounter the same issue walking through the countries.

Me too. Hopefully I'll make 4* before they rework the system.

Nope. There's no room for decent chairs on the IV balconies on E-class ships much less room for foot stools. I think the fact that there's not room on the E-class ships is the reason they eliminated them from other ships. It's obvious that Celebrity doesn't feel people use traditional balconies.

We were long-time Celebrity cruisers and after a couple of trips on the Rotterdam we have made the switch to HAL. You didn't indicate if you are a smoker but if you are a non-smoker you will miss Celebrity's more restrictive smoking areas. HAL allows smoking in the Casino on the Pinnacle class ships and that often affects neighboring areas. HAL's outdoor smoking area is restricted to one side of the rear pool area but winds often move the smoke throughout the entire pool area. There's a sticky thread about smoking on HAL if you want more information. BTW, as an added bonus I'll be sailing with you and the previous sailing from Amsterdam so it can't be that bad.

That's the problem. In just a few years everyone will be a 4* and then HAL will need to water down the benefits of the program. 4* will become the new 2*

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Is it possible your husband logs onto the Navigator App with your id and that's why he has access to the detailed info on your sailing?

I also had to cancel in January and had a similar quick refund. I want to emphasize there are no covered reasons for canceling the cruise where you get 100% of your fare returned. I never read the policy closely and this was a surprise to me. The reason for the cancellation doesn't matter you get 80 or 90 percent of the fare returned quickly with no questions asked. I cancelled all of my onboard purchase before I cancelled the cruise and all of those expenses were also returned quickly. I also agree with @crystalspin on the value judgement for the additional cost of the Platinum versus the Standard plans for covering the cost of the cruise. If you are purchasing the Platinum plan I think it is because the additional trip interruption, medical or evacuation coverages are valuable to you in addition to the additional 10%. Another subtle difference is the Standard plan doesn't offer any trip interruption coverage. I'm not sure what this means if you need leave during your cruise. I hope no one else ever has to cancel and utilize the insurance coverage.

Hi @BermudaBound2014. I haven't sailed the Pacific but I was surprised to hear that it was freezing outside. Do you know the air temperature and when do you expect it to warmup? It also seems like the you have conquered your internet issues, can you do a speed test and let us know what the speeds are in your section of the pacific? Thanks

I'm glad to hear that boarding wasn't too bad, if the true holdup in San Diego are the security inspectors, then that sounds like something they could improve by adding more security screening. Of course, it's a matter of money and if San Diego really wants to improve. I'll be interested to see how all of your refunds for shore excursions are handled. Getting credit for canceled shore excursions doesn't work well for me a lot of the time. It seems like it's a two-step process and someone in accounting actually needs to process the refund. About half the time I need to make multiple trips to get the credit to show-up in my account. It's great to hear that you enjoyed the food in the MDR, but slow service on the first night seems to be common. I'm glad it works for some people, but a Vegetable of the Day will probably not be a memorable feature for me. 😉 It seems like staff are always switched to different jobs between cruises and there is a learning curve for the new jobs. Hopefully it will improve during the cruise. Enjoy your cruise.

They often pull up the music on their iPad.

The Koningsdam has entered the harbor.

Enjoy your trip, I'm looking forward to your review.