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floridatravelersforlife

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Everything posted by floridatravelersforlife

  1. And they do so at at their own risk. They may not be aware of the guy that the terrorists rolled off the Achille Lauro in a wheelchair into the sea back in 1985.
  2. Frankly I don't wish to see another Achille Lauro episode off the Egyptian Coast. That was the PLA. They were benign compared to the Shiite factions today. No armed guards will prevent a missile attack We cancelled our Dubai to Haifa cruise May 2024 for these reasons back in the Fall
  3. It is certainly interesting..We took the InterIslander from Picton to Wellington. The ferry was 220m long at 50000T. There was a typhoon 500 mi away and we hit huge waves similar to the ones we encountered in the Drake Passage on the Infinity. The bow on the ferry was flooded and the bow spray was shooting over the top of the highest mast on the ferry. The crew and the locals onboard viewed this as a non event
  4. My DW and I spent one month in NZ on a 1500 mile land trip by car, back in 2006 . We visited Stewart Island , South Island and North Island. We always reminisce about how NZ has the best of what the States have to offer in a small country.. The mountains, vineyards, beaches, remote forests, and all of the seasons of the year are all outstanding..
  5. Late in the game here. We dropped Celebrity due to growing dissatisfaction which culminated in an unacceptable experience on the Infinity in 2016. After covid we tried Retreat and have sailed several Celebrity ships. So far so good, but If the experience suffers we'll be gone again. The few new destinations we desire to visit are mired in war or chaos, so our options are limited. Larend tours may be in our future
  6. Welcome back cruisers. Was just watching the Osanbashi Web Cam and saw the first pax rolling their luggage down the ramp from the terminal towards the metro. We really enjoyed the photos. My DW and I were packing for this cruise, but on Oct 8, I had a fall and broke my nose. Had to cancel due to Doctors orders. At least I saw some of the sights I had planned to visit.
  7. We had this problem on the Infinity in 2015 ' It was so bad that one could smell a smoky odor emanating from the mirror. We asked the front desk to do something about it. Nothing happened, so we then reapproached the front desk and advised we would report the hazard to the US coast guard of a safety violation.. Within two hours a maintenance guy came by and pulled the wire. By the way that Infinity cruise was bad enough we stopped cruising with Celebrity for 6 years. Food quality down, service down, maintenance down, and they lost 15 pieces of laundry for which they offered a pittance of future cruise credit. From what I read on CC it's beconing a rinse and repeat. We cruise with Celebrity today in the suites which are still acceptable.
  8. We are doing a transatlantic. No issues air MIA to LIS. Then ship back to Pt Canaveral. I would be concerned about intermediate stops on the way to Embarkation to NZ or AUS.
  9. With the MidEast issue, I can't fathom any cruise line would sail 50 miles through the Straits of Hormuz, with the Iranian shoreline 15 miles off Starboard Side. I would be extremely concerned even with a US Navy escort.
  10. It's not all bad. Our offshore contact is an ex Celebrity ship concierge and future bookings veteran. She lives in France.she communicates well,is efficient and works till 6 PM EDT.
  11. We know no tipping in Japan, but what about the baggage handlers at Osanbashi embarkation? We usually tip to avoid mysterious departing luggage!
  12. Anyone care to advise if the Oceania Suites on the Deck 12 of the Vista are noisy? The Horizon Lounge and Culinary Class are on the above deck and we are concerned about bands and footsteps.
  13. We vote with our wallet. We left C (ElitePlus) after the C downgrades due to the Great Recession. We did several Oceania cruises which were a step above. We returned to C after Covid due to the extraordinary service. Now C is spiraling down again. So is Oceania. We cancelled an O Mideast itinerary because of the cutbacks. O cut back time in port, allowing pitifully short time to visit sites that were the main reason we took the destination cruise. So now we are planning an air/land tour which encompasses most of the desired sites. Except for a Japan cruise, our cruising will probably be limited to Caribbean cruises with family until something changes again.
  14. Thanks for the answers. Orderly process are the key words. At the end of the last few cruises, getting a taxi was a chaotic and long process for us. Hopefully Japan is better, as has been suggested here
  15. If you read between the lines, the Filet is graded as Premium, not a USDA grade such as Prime or Choice. The Dessert menu is sparse. Not trying to be negative but actual reviews will be the final determination. Nevertheless, I am concerned about our next Celebrity Cruise
  16. We will need a taxi after we debark the ship in October. Are taxis readily available or will there be a long line? We could prebook a taxi but it is expensive.
  17. We are cruising with Celebrity the second time around. After many disappointments, we left Celebrity(15 years Elite Plus) for Oceania before Covid and had some great Oceania cruises. After Covid we returned to Celebrity and enjoyed cruises so far. We wanted to try another Oceania cruise, but had to cancel. One of the reasons was Oceania continually tightened time in port as we got closer to final payment. We realized time available, on the ground for the sites (one site being Petra) was ridiculously short. We are exploring an air/land trip to accomplish 50% of the same itinerary for one fifth of the cruise cost! I think our days of destination cruising may be over unless the cruise lines get their act together
  18. We were on the Summit cruise that you were on, and both me and my wife had Covid, the day after we got off at Reyklavik. Also, there were three really sick people on stretchers hauled off before first debarkation. Our waiter in Luminae did not look good during the cruise, and the last two days he was gone from Luminae. It was definitely rampant in the crew population. s
  19. We will be arriving on a Monday at 5:30 PM after most of the Int'l flights have arrived. Given a 1.5 hour processing time through the airport, what are the taxi ques like and how long are the wait times?
  20. The OP doesn't specify what brand of TV. We see a lot of Samsung TV's used on ships. We happen to have Samsung at home so we bring the remote and change the source and done. Dont forget your HDMI cord. They run out on the ships
  21. Distance is not an issue for us, but the superboring, same ole, same ole ports of call have no interest to us. We will still drive to Miami or Ft Lauderdale to find some more attractive (to us) ports.
  22. I decided to use a pocket wifi instead of esim. I can connect all my devices - 3 cell phones, an ipad and a windows laptop. Any communication with home or the States will be before 8 AM or after 8 PM Japan time. My data needs will serviced by pocket wifi during the daytime in Japan without restricted speed. Night time calls home will be either pocket wifi or Celebrity wifi, depending whether or not we are in port. We get free premium wifi on the Millenium. so for sea days and out of range, we will use Celebrity.. We use Verizon wifi calling. This avoids managing the settings on the phones which has caused me hurdles in the past
  23. The electronic process asks for doctor's Rx. I am bringing my 20 days supply in the pill bottles and my printed list of scripts.
  24. I wanted to follow up with this thread. I went through the arduous process of applying with 15 Rx drugs for the certification on line via cell phone. After all that here is what they sent me by email. I deleted the personal data below.i plan to bring each RX drug in its pill container and a copy of what I sent. i'M DONE I "【補正内容】・We do NOT issue this certificate for your medications within 30-day supply (ex. 30 pills or 30 tablets), so please make an application only for the medications whose supplies are beyond 30-day and delete medications within 30-day supply Kanto-Shinetsu Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare"
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