the penguins

Thank you. I was just trying to present a more balanced view of the whole experience. I would say the vast majority of the current passengers have accepted the decisions made and at the Q and A in the main theatre with the Captain not one person raised any criticisms. The biggest round of applause was reserved for the passenger who said that the Captain should be congratulated for keeping us safe and informed.

Sorry to be late to this thread. Captain did a great job keeping us informed including a video presentation clearly setting out the reasons for the changes - one of which was due to a medical emergency requiring a passenger to be evacuated from the ship. We have received an OBC of $100 person which Princess was not obligated to do. We have also received a refund of port fees which again Princess were not obligated to make. Every cruise is subject to change due weather, operational or other reasons as is every other type of holiday/vacation arrangement. Our onboard account now stands at zero and we have "converted" the balance of our credits into cash in the Casino. This was/is our first Princess Cruise and the Captain and Crew deserve nothing but praise for the way they have handled the whole situation. Sermon over - time to get ready for dinner and another fantastic show in the theatre.

Please stop and stick to the line that "All slanted balconies are terrible and must be avoided at all costs". Otherwise those of us that love them will have even more trouble booking one. Thank you.🤣

Why wouldn't you. Things change all the time. Better to have them and not need them rather than the other way round.

We have never found a Celebrity excursion that has met the needs of our travelling companions (other than the occasional "panoramic" tour) who use wheelchairs. I would suggest you try some of the specialist companies that provide private guides. Our choice is toursbylocals but there are others. Even then there is not a great deal of choice especially when you are booking late - we book a year ahead.

I was simply commenting on 2 earlier posts one of which said Jetmed was insurance and the other that it wasn’t it was a Club and to check out the website. As the product is underwritten by Lloyds of London to my mind at its heart it is a straight forward insurance product, Reading all the posts I am glad that in the U.K. I can buy one simple annual product (unlimited worldwide travel for upto 31 days per trip) that covers me and my wife both aged over 75 for, cancellation, baggage, medical to around $4,000,000, and medical evacuation. The policy has paid out on numerous occasions the last claim in less than a week after submitting the documents. One claim was for over $20,000.

Sorry pushed to soon. Our walker will go through all standard cabin doors unfolded unlike on our current cruise ( Sky Princess) where it has to folded everything.

Exactly why we always have bed by the balcony. Our 4 wheel rollator (walker) fits neatly between the end of the couch and the wardrobe. To create extra space we slide the oval table part way under the dressing table ( longest edge against the wall ). It leaves room to sit at the dressing table, you can still use the table for Storage and you have the whole of the cabin area free - for us a win, win, win.

Interesting as the website states that all it's services are underwritten by Lloyd's of London.

I take your point but the thread already includes suggestions for Oceania, Princess, river cruises and the Great Lakes. Hurtigruten's "normal" Norwegian sailings i.e. not those classified as "expedition" are certainly not priced higher than Celebrity and truly explore the Fjords. As Hurtigruten provide the only link all year round to many small communities there is no possibility of the service being suspended only that the propulsion systems will be changed which is already happening.

Just curious - what is Norway doing to make visiting more difficult? If you really want to see the Fjords the best way is on one of Hurtigruten's "Norwegian Coastal Voyages " which depart almost every day from Bergen. You can do South to North or North to South or ideally the full 12 night round trip. Travel at the right time and you are guaranteed to see the Northern Lights or you get a free 7 night cruise. Wonderful mix of sightseeing in ports and just relaxing in the observation lounge as the scenery passes by. At some ports you can leave the ship early morning on a day excursion rejoining the vessel further up/down the coast at a different point. Some tours are timed so participants can take pictures of the ship as it passes specific vantage points.

The USA has been charging us for years to enter - looks like Europe is just catching up.

Depends on your definition of "full" On Reflection it's still Cellar Masters (dark and generally underused) whereas on Silhouette it is now Craft Central - a full sports bar with multiple screens and new seating ( light decor and generally full).

Wow - not a risk we are prepared to take. In October I collapsed at home just as we were leaving to board the ship. Cruise cancellation was 100% all paid by our insurance. Better still most of the cruise had been paid for using FCC's and the insurance paid out in real money.

It's vital to compare apples with apples. Best prices for Expedition Cruises are to be had by booking early - we booked the day the Fram went on sail. We didn't find the evening entertainment "minimal" just very different for example. A wonderful crew show and an hilarious fashion show mainly featuring the officers including the captain, quizes based around the cruise experience. Lots of different talks from the expedition teams. All landings are included. Very few passengers stayed up late as landings often started very early. Its a once in lifetime experience go while you are fit and able, we would not be able to do the cruise now. Another huge difference is that on the big ships you are always looking down on the bergs which are more impressive when you get close and look up. We enjoyed both but the Expedition was the clear winner.

No repeats and on all our TA's extra shows in the afternoon. Same Guest Artists but entirely different shows, sometimes guest artists combining. Good example 2 lads from Liverpool have an evening show called "Just John and Paul" in the afternoon they did Everley Brother's songs.

Contact them in advance. There are chairs for Boarding and disembarking but chairs are not guaranteed to be available on the ship. The only way to guarantee a chair on board is to bring it with you or order one from one on the specialist companies. We travel with a folding 4 wheel walker. If you bring your own X will need details of its dimensions and weight. It must be stored in your cabin.

If you are UK residents this upfront payment is not unusual. Hospitals in the US also ask for this unless your insurance company has an office in the US. We both had food poisoning and were taken in separate ambulances to the Marina Del Rae Hospital on arrival we were met by a lady out in the street where we had the following conversation: Lady: do you both have medical insurance Me: yes L: do you have the policy with you? M: yes L: does the company have an office in the US? M: I don’t know L: I will allow you one free call to find out I was wheeled into to reception area (my wife was left out in the street on a gurney) to a phone on the wall. The company confirmed that they had an office in the US. L; ok you can both come in now. We only bill in the US so if your insurance company didn’t have an office here you would have had to prove you had a way to pay our bill. A valuable lesson learnt.

Great location except for at the front , port side which is under the Disco.

I assume your Shackleton reference is to where his crew waited whilst Shackleton and 2 companions set off for South Georgia. Our Antarctic adventure enabled us to land at Grytviken to see the remains of the whaling station, the preserved church and Shackleton’s grave. 100 of our fellow passengers did part of the Shackleton walk across the island and we all got to visit a colony of over 30,000 King Penguins. In case you wondering Shackleton is buried on South Georgia because his widow said “if I can’t visit him neither can his mistress”.

No real chance of Emperors but Kings in tens of thousands in South Georgia.

It was fantastic. We are currently at DFW waiting for a flight to Fort Lauderdale for a transatlantic. If you would like more info please email me: geoffanita at hotmail dot com and I will get back to you when we get home in 3 weeks time. Geoff and the boss (Anita).

We have been twice: 1 a cruise by with Celebrity the other an expedition cruise on Hurtigriten. There is no comparison the only way to do Antarctica is with landings. Look closely at X the only penguins are in the Falklands (a long excursion not included in the cost) or mainland South America also not included in the cost. Forget about fancy cabins (you will be out and about all day), book early for the best choices. If you are really into penguins (checkout our CC name )you must include South Georgia for tens of thousands of them. It’s truly a once in a lifetime experience.

We get our cabin steward to empty it on every cruise. We use it for our free Elite water and milk.