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debshomespun
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Posts posted by debshomespun
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9 hours ago, Justalone said:
Thank you for the review.
Once you were dropped off from the bus parking lot, how much time did you have in Paris before returning to the bus parking lot for return back to the ship?
On the “On Your Own” Princess shore excursion do you think there would be time enough to take a guided tour of the Louvre? And /Or time to stroll Luxembourg Gardens? And/Or time to go up to the observation deck at the Eiffel Tower? Do all three?Nice photos btw.
If you were to go inside the Louvre for a guided tour, that is about all you could do, IMHO. We had 4 hours...maybe 10-15 minutes more, basically 4 hours to see Paris.
Our British Isles cruise was almost last minute and we didn't plan for more than the cruise. In hindsight, we should have stayed a few extra days and gone to Paris for more time to explore the city. We loved our time there and will now need to plan to go back for more time to see all we missed!
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We did the Princess shore excursion to Paris on our own option on 9/9/19. It's about a 3 hr ride each way with a stop about half way. There are alot of buses at the stop, but the lines move very quickly. (Women were using the men's room too 😊)
We planned our day before we went. In the excursion description in the cruise planner, it tells where you get dropped off. We walk alot, and decided we would walk our route. We got off the bus and made our way (followed along the river) to the Princess Diana memorial, about 10 minute walk. Next was to the Eiffel tower, about 15 minutes to walk there, walked around the back and took photos, shopped in the gift shop for 5 minutes and bought from one of the vendors in the sidewalk.
Next we walked back along the river to just past the buses to The Louvre, took many pictures. Turned around and back towards the buses through the park and took lots of photos of the statutes. Got a crepe from the vendor in middle of the park. Proceeded to the shopping area, but was all high end, very difficult to find souvenirs. Went back to the bus.
You get a map on the bus and we had looked at our route before we went so we had a good idea of where we were.
We had plenty of time to do this, we had over 20,000 steps within our 4 hours in Paris.
Would definitely do this again. And it was our Anniversary, so I can say DH took me to Paris for our Anniversary! 💞
A few pictures from our day.
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13 minutes ago, ppcox said:
Having received an email yesterday cancelling this cruise with a 100% refund I have just had an email with an invoice for our refund. Its for a fraction of our outlay its just for tax’s , prepaid grats and excursions.
It hasn’t included the actual cruise fare tell me this is an Admin error. Today has been the first stress free day I have had for a couple of weeks until this happened!
Those are your prepaids that are refundable immediately. They should refund your cruise fare in the next 3-4 weeks.🙄
They take your money immediately, then take forever to process refunds! 😠
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Very well said AstoriaPreppy.
We are on the 2/27 sailing and in "my NCL" our itinerary of 20 days says 'sea day' including our embarkment and debarking ports. Upon calling NCL, were told it was a computer glitch. How convenient. NCL is scrambling to see what ports will accept the Jade on the repo cruise. How long will they have a computer glitch??
IMHO, the Jade has been exposed over the last sailing by allowing guests that had been in Hong Kong to board on 2/6, then kicking them off 4 days later in Bangkok (105 of them) so they would be allowed entry to Vietnam. They were still denied entry.
NCL only cancelled the 2/17 sailing because there were not any ports that would accept them.
Guess they better hope Singapore will allow them to port on 2/17 so they can get all their passengers off and figure out what they can do for the 2/27 sailing.
In the meantime, we play the waiting game to see if the 2/27 cruise will sail and if so, with what port stops??
Most all the other cruise lines have cancelled Sailings in Asia for the next few weeks!
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28 minutes ago, ed01106 said:
Japanese companies absolutely would not fire someone for this.
And of the others, most are either retired or are upper level employees. This cruise is outside the price range (when adding in air) for a shift supervisor at a department store.
This is certainly a discriminitory statement! There could be employees that are shift supervisors at a department store that have saved for this once in a lifetime cruise. So yes, their job could be on the line.
Not everyone on the Diamond Princess is retired! There are passengers that have regular jobs.
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38 minutes ago, blcruising said:
You are correct. Scheduled arrival to Ho Chi Minh in about 3 hours. Agree, appears to be off-course.
Marinetraffic still shows it moored in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, which is wrong.
And, no, I have not seen updates from anyone onboard, unfortunately.
Looks to be on schedule. . . Not in Cambodia.
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Bangkok is refusing entry to the HAL Westerdam. . . . They just passed the Jade.
NCL needs to take note!!
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Tip of the Iceberg . . .
Very interesting article here:
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6 minutes ago, AliciaandMark said:
My dilemma remains - cancel and loose it all ($10,000+) but have piece of mind; or travel and risk getting caught up in the crisis of the virus including the possibility of extended quarantine issues and the slim but real chance that if I were to get sick I’d potentially be out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars (being conservative here) in international medical costs and new flights home! It’s a no win scenario at this stage of the game. Also have to consider the impact of both those choices on my family (we have kids at home not travelling with us on this occasion).
NCL, I accept this isn’t your dilemma it’s mine, but what harm could have come to your multi-million dollar empire by simply offering to transfer our already paid cruise fare to a future cruise?!
Lots of us are in the same boat!
We always get insurance through Allianz for protection. Never would have imagined this hellish nightmare could happen!!
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2 minutes ago, nomad098 said:
Coming from the UK we are constantly told about the need for travel insurance even for holidays in the UK and how the onus is on us as customers.
In my experience companies who put their profits completely before their customers tend to suffer an image problem.
Especially when this is proven to the general public.
Can you imagine what would happen to NCL if passengers caught coronavirus on the 17th Feb sailing on the Jade and/ or was quarantined. This may not be NCL's fault but the public perception would be that NCL put their profit margin before customer safety and are not a company to be trusted. This could have long term effects for NCL.
At the moment there probably no legal or financial reason for NCL to change the 17th Feb cruise but with such a fluid situation this could change very quickly and the odds are not in NCL's favour.
Is NCL going to guarantee us that no one on the Jade 2/6, 2/17, 2/27 will come down with the Virus??
We are know that's impossible. Maybe NCL top executives should join the Jade to show how much faith they have in the best interest for their passengers!
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NCL is definitely not looking out for their crew and guests.
1 hour ago, Atgatsea said:For the 2/6 Jade sailing:
1. Unless NCL completely switched out the crew, some of them had recently been in Hong Kong,
2. This crew has been in contact with other crew members and all passengers on the Jade.
3. We know by the number of people who were removed that the entire staff was not removed and that the majority of crew members remain,4. How many cruisers were removed? How many were not removed who have been in contact with crew members who have recently been to HK?
Am I missing something or should the 2/6 sailing be shut down per NCL’s policies?
This states it all right here. We are booked on the 2/27 sailing which was booked way before the Coronavirus hit. NCL has cancelled the Spirit due to the Coronavirus for months down the road could care less about their passengers booked on the Jade right in the middle of this mess. This situation is prejudicial for all the passengers currently on the Jade or booked on the Jade 2/17 or 2/27 Sailings.
They could at the very least offer us an FCC, they still keep our money . . .
Yes, we have insurance, but we all know it doesn't pay out in this situation with a pandemic.
Under normal circumstances, I'd be elated to be going on my dream cruise. Now, not so much, there's way to much anxiety with the possibility of being exposed either on the ship or at one of the port stops. Having our temperature taken a couple times a day and if it's slightly elevated, getting the boot at the next port to try to figure out how to get home then possible quarantine for 14 days!!
Doesn't sound like a dream vacation, rather the nightmare from Hell! All because NCL refuses to do the right thing for their passengers and are more concerned with their bottom dollar.
Obviously other cruise lines are doing this for their passengers.
Come on Norwegian Cruise LIES, actions speak louder than words!! Let's see you stand up and really do what's right for your passengers!!
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15 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:
Exactly and at least some crew would have disembarked in Hong Kong.
Is the Jade kicking off their crew that went out in Hong Kong??
Again, Do as we say, Not as we do!!
Surely all these crew and passengers have been in close quarters mingling around the ship for 3-14 days...
Do we REALLY know if any of them are showing signs of sickness and will the be tested for Coronavirus or just state it's a head cold or the flu??
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46 minutes ago, pol1953 said:
If they are denying boarding to anyone who has been in Hong Kong in the last 30 days, they should be quarantining the ship itself! It was last there 24-25th January.
From NCL:
Do as we say, NOT as we do
NCL Jade should be in quarantine. They are kicking off 100-200 people that were in Hong Kong tomorrow do the ship can port in Vietnam. This was reported on FB.
Shame on NCL. Do they think this ship will escape the virus??😷
Look at all the other ships currently in Asia and all their problems. Jade just hadn't gotten "caught" yet. 🙄
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16 minutes ago, luvseadays said:
Anyone know what happened to the gentleman from the U.K. who was posting a video yesterday? He originally posted about his concern for his diabetes, but then he was getting requests from all over the world for interviews from journalists. I can’t find the thread anywhere
He is on Facebook
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The only reason NCL changed the sailings for the NCL Jade is because Hong Kong closed the cruise port. This forced NCL to change the itinerary for the Jade.
It's not going to be easy for people to make changes to their travel plans. Many probably have non refundable hotel stays in Hong Kong. And last minute air fare is very expensive.
Definitely turning into a big mess.
Just because they are taking temperatures in Airports and Cruise Terminals doesn't mean they are controlling the spread of the virus. Just a mask until possible symptoms can appear up to 14 days.
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57 minutes ago, Tom O. said:
I have the Allianz Worldwide Travel Protection Plan, that I purchased from my TA, but you can also purchase it directly from Allianz online.
It more than covers any medical situation. There is no specific mention of any particular disease, so the new virus would not be handled any different.
If a cruise is canceled because of a pandemic, then any losses you would suffer would also be covered.
How much it costs depends on your age, the length of your vacation, the total cost of your trip, and (I think) where you are going.
There are other insurance companies out there that are probably cheaper, but Allianz has been around a long time and is the largest insurance company in the world.
This is NOT TRUE. If there is a pandemic, such as the Coronavirus, and you do not want to go on your cruise, you are NOT covered with Allianz Worldwide Travel Protection Plan. If you have Cancel for Any Reason, from what I am understanding from others that have been posting on these boards, again, it is not covered.
HOWEVER, if you do go on your cruise, and you get the Coronavirus, your medical care would be covered. I am booked on the NCL Jade 2/27/20 sailing out of Singapore, and I have been following all this talk about the Coronavirus, along with what cruisers are saying about their Travel Insurance Coverages.
Pandemics are not a covered item, along with Terrorism. Best to call each Insurance directly and ask just what is and isn't covered, especially with the new Coronavirus going around.
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We are cruising on the Jade 2/27/20 and it's 20 night from Singapore to Dubai. We are staying in Dubai, but the Jade then does a 22 night sailing from Dubai to Rome. Those 42 days cover alot of port stops. Many passengers are doing B2B2B....
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23 hours ago, mking8288 said:
If your booking was done via T/A, then - yes, ask your T/A to call NCL on your behalf ... and be clear on your offered amount / maximum in finding out, if a direct upgrade is possible. NCL might say flat out say no. If you/TA don't ask, well ... definitely, no deals.
I called NCL (I'm my own TA) to negotiate an upgrade. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and they told me they do not negotiate prices. Either I pay for an upgrade, or make a bid...
Will call again tomorrow to see if I can get a different supervisor with maybe a different answer.
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What dates are you in St. Lucia and St. Kitts? Almost always, there is space for the ships to dock rather than tender. Even with docking, it can take 15-30 minutes for the ship to clear immigration. If your pick up time in 60 minutes after your original docking time, you should be safe. Your tour operator should be outside and would know when guests start getting off the ship.
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Was there a charge to ride the shuttle busses into town? How long did it take? TIA
“Live” Trip Report – Celebrity Equinox May 13-23, 2020
in Celebrity Cruises
Posted · Edited by debshomespun
We will also be joining you on the 5/13/20 Equinox. Will be our 2nd time on her. Can't wait to board and set sail!!
Looking forward to your "Live" trip report, including all your planning!!
Be prepared to get "hooked" on cruising. We sure did!!