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Everything posted by gardenbunny
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I believe we could be “travel addicted” related. LOL. DH and I travel extensively with about 100+ countries so far. Two incredible world cruises on the beloved Pacific Princess (now belongs to Azamara as the Onward) in 2017 and 2019, one northen and one southern hemisphere. Our last cruise in January 2020 before Covid was Antartica and So America, with a 10-day land trip before cruise for Iguaza Falls (spectacular). I had no idea the travel withdrawal during Covid would be so bad. We were able to do first cruise on a Princess New Year’s Eve cruise bidding 2021 and Covid good riddance and ringing in 2022 on board. And we haven’t stopped since. LOL. We typically take a cruise once per quarter. We are booked on the new Celebriy Ascent in February. Will first on Edge class. First reports say it is beautiful. We also took the tip on the Keen shoes! They were just delivered last week. Found some good clothing sales at Columbia at Tanger Outlet before Thanksgiving. Our final pay is due Jan 13. I will have my TA get in touch with Celebrity to see what fares we can get. Appreciate the flight info you offered. Ken, another similarity we share is researching all information we can find on our trip destinations. I will be reading all these links you shared. I thrive on knowledge.
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Thanks for your reply. We also booked with the “air fare” included - we didn’t even know it was until after we made our deposit! Game changer! We are in suburb of Atlanta so Hartsfield-Jackson is our departure city. Were you able to get decent carrier and times with no extra out of pocket? Of course, who knows what air fares will be by the time we can book. We are really treating ourselves for this trip on Flora and Machu Picchu. Reading other posters on their Live report, I am so impressed by Celebrity’s attention and thoroughness on every detail of the trip.
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Been waiting for your Live report as we will be on Flora Inner Loop May 10 with Machu Picchu extension. The other Live posts have been soooo good - and now I can see our actual itinerary. I will be mostly the walks and kayaks, DH is the snorkler (been a scuba diver for years). BTW, did you use the Celebrity air program? Safe travels
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I can definitely find something to eat…best part, I don’t have to go to grocery store, cook it, and do the dishes 😂
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Live: Nov 18 2023 Xpedition Galapagos Southern Loop
gardenbunny replied to mahdnc's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Thanks for the replies. I booked this Galapagos with Machu Picchu on our Alaska cruise August 2022. They did a feature destination presentation one day and we decided to book! They had limited information due to the delay of Flora from Covid. So we visited the Future Cruise office when we did a transatlantic this year in April and they printed out for us the itinerary with some good detail. So I just wanted to be able to compare my itinerary with what you and the other poster that did a Live report. It all looks fantastic, as you said, with either route. Will be reading your posts every day. -
Live: Nov 18 2023 Xpedition Galapagos Southern Loop
gardenbunny replied to mahdnc's topic in Celebrity Cruises
May I have a clairfication of Northern - Southern please. We are doing Flora May 10, 2024 and it just says Inner Loop. Is that North South or neither? Thanks much. Love your detailed info and photos! I prefer the hikes and some kayaking. DH likes snorkleling and really appreciated your slides of the info. -
LIVE(ish) Xpedition - Quito and Galapagos November 11, 2023
gardenbunny replied to prmssk's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Thank you thank you thank you!!! We are splurging and doing the Flora Galapagos with Machu Picchu May 10-26, 2024. So excited. Very experienced travellers having done 2 World Cruises (northern and southern hemispheres), but this might be the most spectacular. I am a before travel researcher, wanting to learn about everything to see, do, what not-to-miss, etc. I have just started looking on the web to find info, and decided to check CruiseCritic. What a treat to find your incredible post!! Your pictures are NatGeo worthy! You have a gift. Has got me even more excited - 176 days to go. And we live in Atlanta so hearing about your flights was a bonus - we booked our trip on-board a Celebrity Alaska cruise August 2022. It was a deal - 20% off and included free RT air from your home city. You have answered so many of my questions. I will get my pad and pen and make numerous notes. Cannot wait to read your final summary. Continued safe travels. -
Post Covid cruising is different, no doubt, And yes they all play follow the leader on each change. Boils down to choice and your budget - are the included parts at no extra charge good enough for you to still enjoy cruising? Or do you want more options and are willing to pay for them and include those fees when you plan your overall cost? I travel for the ports so basic works for me - and if something seems really good I truely want to try, then I will pay for it. However, being a non drinker, I am sad to see they no longer have the just soda package and increased the cost for the new soda package with other drinks I don’t want.🙁
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Anyone cruised to Japan recently?
gardenbunny replied to Cathy in Boston's topic in Celebrity Cruises
We just returned 4/4 from 15 Day Intensive Japan around entire island (including Busan So. Korea) on Azamara Quest. Round trip Tokyo. Awesome trip and we were lucky with great weather and perfect timing on cherry blossoms. Highly recommend if you like small ship cruising. -
I am also furious about this and have posted about it before. Celebrity started the Zero alcohol pkg and once one line does, they all do! Celebrity even totally got rid of the soda only pkg. They are forcing passengers to buy a package deal fare which adds a lot of cost for items you may not want or need because buying the things you want a la carte is also just as pricey, especially on cruises over 10 days, it adds up quickly for 2 people.
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What's your room number? -- 2 surprises
gardenbunny replied to CaliforniaDon's topic in Princess Cruises
I call that back to the future! I have not been on Princess since New Year cruise from 2021 into 2022. Since then have sailed on Oceania, RCI, Celebrity, Holland, Azamara and I had a plastic key card. Worked great and got fantastic crew service who knew my name, face, what I usually ordered, etc! Most lines had apps for Daily events, check accout, etc. I am cruising 21 day Enchanted May 6. I am dreading the Medallion and impersonal “order delivery crew”. -
For most people wifi is number 1 amenity required. I still don’t understand why they just don’t add wifi to your options when you book your cruise and choose what you need - at the proper cost for level of service (ie, good better best) you are buying. Just like drink packages - not everybody drinks alcohol. We don’t drink, but now it is getting so expensive to just but a soda only plan. Obviously they want you to spend more money for the different fare options that has some things you absolutely will not use to get what you want.
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Are there speakers onboard discussing areas visited?
gardenbunny replied to planada's topic in Azamara
We have done 2 World Cruises and they always have great presentations. And when went to Antartica in Jan 2020 the speakers were excellent on a wide variety of topics related to that area. We cruise Cunard and they also have excellent lecturers. We board our first Azamara and board March 19 for 15 day Japan Intensive. With only 1 sea day I am not expecting there will be much time. -
Yes. Definitely. Good suggestion.
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Also interested to near from anyone on Quest. We board in Tokyo March 19. First time in Japan and on Azamara. Being port intensive no major concerns since we will be up and out on excursions every day. Just curious to hear about food, crew, etc. Thanks
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I was shocked to recently see there is no longer a soda package. I went on line last week to purchase it for our 4/23 13-day TA. My husband and I fall into the non-drinkers category and have no use whatsoever for the addl beverages offered in the Zero pkg. The cost is totally prohibitive for 2 people! We called Customer Service to see if there is no longer a just soda pkg and they said that was correct. DH told them it was a really bad decision. But the customer service said if we can carry our own drinks on that is fine. So we are going to each bring a carton with us at check in! What about families with kids - cruising will become way too expensive. We cruise Princess and have a 21 day Med on May 6. Since it seems that when a one cruise line makes a policy change, they all play “follow the leader”. So I quickly looked on my booking and saw the Zero plan - said oh no - but scrolled down and “just soda” was still there. Bought it. I understand they need to get revenue, but some things are not right. It is forcing future customers to have to pick a “fare package” and know most things they won’t use but buying what you want a la carte will cost more. Kinda like getting a low airfare but buy the time you pay for a carry on, bags, seats, etc you haven’t saved anything. Covid has really put a dent in travel budgets!
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Just checked in to our 15 day Japan for March 19 and saw that. Knowing Japan is still newly reopened, thought it probably applied. I had to input info on their digital visit site. What is rather strange we had our last booster Oct. 2021! However we had the one day symptom variety in July 2022! Probably have more natural immunity from that 😁 But we follow the rules so no big deal. Will wear our mask at check in and wherever Japan requires.
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It currently has to be very trying times for All cruise lines. Just coming off all the CDC protocols, getting all their fleet back in operation, staff and crew shortages, supply issues, fuel costs, not all ports of call are back to pre-pandemic status with staff, local excursion contractors are not completely up and running….and on and on … and then trying to meet debt obligations. Yikes - and not just one cruise line or parent company, but every single one in the industry - not just the US market. I am just thankful I can finally travel overseas again after waiting 2 full years! My first Azamara, also, leaving Tokyo March 19 on Quest Japan 15 day Intensive! DH and I were just talking about our schedule every day on board - get up, look out window to see what weather and port looks like, eat breakfast, take excursion seeing all new and different places, back to ship, have dinner, sleep and repeat 13 more days. LOL So whatever it will be, it will be all good and great!!!
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Enjoyed your posts and photos are beautiful! We will do our first ever Azamara in April on Quest to Japan. We fell in love wih the small ships after doing 2017 and 2019 World Cruises on Pacific Princess - now the Onward! Looking forward to our first visit to Japan and back onboard a small ship. Have always heard great things about Azamara and been reading many of the posts on CC. Been a tough time for all cruise lines resuming operations after the Covid pause and the new protocols. Seems that all is going well even amid a few bumps in the road.
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Princess vs. Virgin Voyages Round 1: Pre-Cruise Experience
gardenbunny replied to CineGraphic's topic in Princess Cruises
Thanks Wildcatsllamas for the detail info - especially the food venues. Great review -
Princess vs. Virgin Voyages Round 1: Pre-Cruise Experience
gardenbunny replied to CineGraphic's topic in Princess Cruises
Being Princess Elite sailing with them on lots of cruises including 2 World Cruises, I started having a little change of heart toward Princess with the introduction of the Medallion when cruising began after Covid. I tried 2 cruises (NYE and March) and was just not feeling the love as I have for the past 10 years. As a result 2022 has been the year of a variety of cruise lines - just to try something different. Oceania, Celebrity, HAL, RCI on Oasis of the Seas. Other than the learning curve of ship layout and comfort zone of how this and that works onboard, etc - we have enjoyed them all. And not a single Medallion to be found - just a cruise card! Boarding was easy. All the Apps worked great, simple and user friendly both pre cruise and on board. Service was just as good if not better in some cases. Ships were clean and well maintained. And they still had early and late dining!!!! Same table, same wait staff. We did pay for some specialty dining reservations and they were nice. There were “formal nights” but much more like party attire vs gowns and tux. Some people chose to dress up more than others, but nothing you might call bad taste. In making plans for 2023 we are continuing the trend with 2 cruises with Azamara and we will be on Virgin in February out of Miami! Excited to give them a try. My TA was invited onboard to cruise first time in February 2022. She was also hesitant wondering if she might be the oldest passenger with her age (early 60s) would fit in. She was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed it!! She said food was awesome. So we are joining her for this Feb. along with other friends and family! Still have an Enchanted Princess for 21 day Mediterranean RT Barcelona in May. It had been originally booked for 2021 but due to Covid I moved all our oversea cruises to 2023. So basically I am saying it is OK to try something new and different. Everybody has their own budgets and a list of must haves or doesn’t really matter items. I have always said when I buy something, if it was what I was looking for and a price I wanted to pay, then it was a good deal! Having traveled and/or cruised to 108 countries, I have learned that wherever you go people who cruise and travel are all flexible and easy going, having a good time enjoying and experiencing new places and meeting new people - sharing a common love of travel - and all the stories that go with the adventures! Looking forward to your reports from Virgin - Bon Voyage and safe travels.