sparks1093

You generally need to be traveling soon in order to do this (I think it's less than two weeks) and there is an expedite fee involved.

Our youngest son sent his first application off on 1/19 and received it back yesterday. I think State is back to normal for processing times. (And this was not an expedited thing.)

I am betting that first drink of the day tasted extra sweet. Thank you for posting your experience. DW and I are fortunate that we have the ability to always fly in the day before but there are many people that don't have that luxury.

Sometimes semantics matter.

I fully understand why people would be unhappy about the Antarctica thing, but what would you expect me to do? I wasn't affected at all by it since I wasn't a passenger. As for having a bus tour instead of a river cruise, I get that, too but at least in those cases it happens only when nature interferes (and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if that scenario isn't mentioned somewhere in all of the fine print). I haven't sailed NCL in years and am not really interested in river cruising so I can't even boycott the companies in question out of solidarity with those that were affected. Do I use these instances to insist on more government regulations? Um, no, not really. As pointed out that is a beast that is hard to control and hard to give any real teeth to the regulations/law. ETA- Since I had a few extra minutes I read through Viking's Passenger Ticket Contract. Summary- we might have to provide alternative transportation and lodging because of water conditions. Our obligation to the passenger if this happens- nothing. I am not a lawyer and that is only from a quick read so there may be something that I missed.

Son applied for a passport on 1/19, received it back today. 30 days.

Exactly this.

Well, the terms and conditions may be presented for people to read but very few do.

I'm sure the Dairy Industry will be glad to know that all of the "Got Milk" commercials failed. 🤣

Milk is also included.

Thanks for the review, we'll be onboard in 64ish days. Question on Bolt- how fast is it? It doesn't look like it does anything crazy and I'm not generally a rollercoaster fan, but am thinking about it so I can say I've been on one at sea (well, other than the ship I happen to be on in rough seas).

Not surprising, but of course each of those terms had a specific definition. For instance, "'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot guard themself(sic) against common physical dangers."

There is that, but something like this is so prevalent ultimately it means not doing business with anyone. In the present case not doing business with Carnival and doing business with one of their competitors ends with the same result for the consumer since the other cruise lines would likely respond similarly.

This is actually what the response would be for a lot of companies. It is a decent amount of revenue and they aren't going to forego that unless there is a law making them. Truth be told I probably wouldn't opt in even if it were an option. I generally ignore junk mail and junk email anyway.

Well, in keeping with the spirit of this particular thread we want to know when a cruise line makes a change and doesn't do right by the passengers (and of course that, too, is something that will vary- some will find what the cruise line did to be acceptable and others not so much), i.e. knowing that a cruise will not be going to a particular port and leaving the port on the itinerary until the last minute.

I had to check something in my booking and for our upcoming trip Carnival's insurance costs $218. When I tried to add it in order to get details of coverage it wouldn't let me since we are inside the final payment window.

That's one of the beautiful things about Cruise Critic if one hangs out long enough. We see how the different cruise lines handle different scenarios.

I had a little extra time this morning so I did some checking on insuremytrip.com. I'm not sure how OP is defining "last minute", so I input the details of a cruise leaving in one month, cost of the cruise $2500, no airfare, one week duration, initial deposit today. A plan from Generali was lowest at $115.50 which offered $50k medial coverage and $250k evacuation coverage. It has a lookback period of 180 days for pre-existing conditions. The first plan that offered a pre-existing condition waiver (when purchased within a certain period of time from first payment) was from John Hancock. That plan was $175, had $100k medical coverage and $500k evacuation. By way of comparison we purchased a plan in December for our upcoming April cruise. Picked a Nationwide plan that cost $150.77. Coverage is for both the cruise and flights totaling $3500. No pre-existing condition waiver, lookback 60 days. $75k for medical, $250k evacuation. To buy the same plan today (64 days before trip) would cost $18 more. (All of the above quotes are for two travelers.)

If a cruise line routinely does those things then why continue to sail with them? Vote with your dollars and cruise with another line.

It would be nice to see that applied to the entire travel industry, but after the first time exploring any trip it quickly becomes apparent that what is advertised is often far from what one pays. Some we were looking at a trip to Ireland with some friends through a website and the price was very attractive, until you got to the bottom line when it more than doubled. I doubt there are many people that look at the advertised price and book blindly from it without doing any research.

Right and I'm glad they have it. Didn't have the time to dig for it.

As Cheng pointed out it has been around but not every cruise line has adopted it. I did not find it posted on Oceania's or Seabourn's front page.

You mean something along these lines: The Members of the Cruise Lines International Association are dedicated to the comfort and care of all passengers on oceangoing cruises throughout the world. To fulfill this commitment, our Members have agreed to adopt the following set of passenger rights: The right to disembark a docked ship if essential provisions such as food, water, restroom facilities and access to medical care cannot adequately be provided onboard, subject only to the Master’s concern for passenger safety and security and customs and immigration requirements of the port. The right to a full refund for a trip that is canceled due to mechanical failures, or a partial refund for voyages that are terminated early due to those failures. The right to have available on board ships operating beyond rivers or coastal waters full-time, professional emergency medical attention, as needed until shore side medical care becomes available. The right to timely information updates as to any adjustments in the itinerary of the ship in the event of a mechanical failure or emergency, as well as timely updates of the status of efforts to address mechanical failures. The right to a ship crew that is properly trained in emergency and evacuation procedures. The right to an emergency power source in the case of a main generator failure. The right to transportation to the ship’s scheduled port of disembarkation or the passenger’s home city in the event a cruise is terminated early due to mechanical failures. The right to lodging if disembarkation and an overnight stay in an unscheduled port are required when a cruise is terminated early due to mechanical failures. The right to have included on each cruise line’s website a toll-free phone line that can be used for questions or information concerning any aspect of shipboard operations. The right to have this Cruise Line Passenger Bill of Rights published on each line’s website. The pasting removed the number lines but it is still readable so I won't take the time to add them back in. A couple of your items aren't on here, so maybe it's just a matter of having passengers contact the CLIA asking for this Bill of Rights to be modified.

We did this in San Juan and it worked out great. When the excursion was over they dropped us off at the airport and our luggage was there waiting for us. We are doing the same thing for our cruise from Port Canaveral in April (similar scenario to yours, the flight doesn't leave until almost 6 so the excursion helps to fill the time).

It takes a few days for things to catch up.