sylmack

Protestants also celebrate Christmas and Easter. Does Celebrity provide a minister/pastor to provide services?

If there is a minister/pastor on board who wishes to do services, Celebrity will provide a venue and post it in the daily schedule. This is identical to what they do with Catholics.

My wife had no problem connecting her Samsung S4 via wifi. There was some issues logging off at times, to 'stop the clock'.

We mostly used my Blackberry, however, as it is neither iPhone or Android, and wifi turned out to be unlimited and free.

Passports should NEVER be taken ashore unless you are planning on staying overnight onshore. If not collected by the cruise line, it should be locked in your safe. It doesn't do you any good onshore, and if stolen, leads to all sorts of inconvenience.

Cruise line personnel advise you don't take it onshore.

Your gov't advises you don't take it onshore. And since THEY own the passport, not you, maybe you should listen to them.

If you miss the ship, your passport will be waiting for you with the port agent. I have seen it a number of times.

Here are a couple but like others have said, there's nothing any of us can do about it so we either go with our plans or not. That's about it.

 

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2015/02/articles/terrorism-1/experts-isis-poses-terrorist-threat-to-cruise-ships-in-mediterranean/

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/30/world/al-qaeda-documents-future/

Thanks for the info... but :

The CNN article is almost 4 years old and talks about a discussion paper written well before 2009.

Cruise Law News also has stated in the past that the Caribbean isn't safe, South America isn't safe, Alaska isn't safe, the Baltic should be boycotted, etc. etc. etc.

But, as stated, if you're going to be fearful on your cruise, maybe it's best to stay home. That will result in cheaper prices for those of us that aren't afraid of the dark. ;)

There is much, MUCH, more security on a cruise ship than we realize.

When we cruised Europe immediately after 9/11, we had an escort vessel in the Adriatic. We tendered in instead of docking. When we stopped, a lifeboat was lowered and circled the ship at all times. There were armed guards (onshore) at the ports.

My brother-in-law (ex-RCMP) interviewed for security on HAL. He was told there were approximately 150 security-trained crew on the typical cruise ship.

Oh joy... another 'let's all be afraid' thread.

There's more chance of me getting shot heading to the port in Miami than cruising the Med.

Have common sense? Yes.

Be afraid and don't travel ? No

You are so right DYKWIA

I have been on every continent on earth and been in countries that were in civil wars, train stations that had been blown up while I was there and the fear is NOT the reason we are concerned, hell I lived in the U. S. for about 10 yrs and had neighbors shot.

The real reason for me is that this year my wife and I celebrate our 50th anniversary and had planned this b2b trip for over a year and yes it is costing us a lot of money, on top of being a Canadian with the low dollar, but I just want to know what the hell X is going to do? if they are cancelling Turkey and Israel, fine, just say so. WE wanted to go back to these 2 countries again. If they are cancelling then have the balls to say so and we will find another way to celebrate our 50th, just don't jack everyone around.

 

I agree 110%

I would rather Celebrity cancel ports before a lot of people book BECAUSE it is going to Turkey, than cancel once all the money is collected and it is too difficult to cancel.

Last year they cancelled our 3 days in Israel the day we were boarding. It became apparent later that they had no intention of going to Israel and knew it several weeks previous to our departure.

Have some balls Celebrity and cancel the ports in time for your customers to change plans if they don't like the new itinerary.

It's interesting to note that the town of Cap-Haitien is only 6 miles from Labadee, yet Royal Caribbean will not allow it's passengers to go there.

I would also remind everyone that RCCL only started delivering relief supplies for the earthquake after a firestorm of protest online regarding cruise passengers playing beach volleyball in Labadee just miles away from dying Haitiens.

Mickey Mouse is a wuss.

Obviously if a member of clergy is on board and has paid the same fare as everyone else and wants to conduct services, the cruise company should accommodate them as well as they can. I do have a serious problem if the cruise company discounts or eliminates fares for clergy of any faith including mine so that they can perform services. I also recognize that neither Celebrity or any other cruise company cares at all what I think.

Serious Problem ? It's called supply and demand.

Some passengers find value in having religious services during their cruise and it may be advantageous for a cruise line to provide that if the demand is there. My last Med cruise had daily services that were so full they had to change venues to accommodate everyone.

Not everyone's cup of tea, OI know. I've never been into the casino, but I don't expect it to be closed just because I don't go there.

A Chaplin is trained to give communion to all - christians. In fact, a Chaplin can even do a Jewish service. And, a Jewish Chaplin can do a Christian service - including communion. I have a family member who is a trained Chaplin.

 

A Chaplin can work in a hospital, ministering to the needs of those in the hospital, and on a military base.

Remember that communion to a Catholic is not the same as communion to other Christian religions.

A Chaplain cannot give Catholic communion unless :

1. He is a Catholic priest or trained as a eucharistic minister

AND

2. The host has been previously consecrated in a Catholic eucharist

AND

3. He is Catholic

I do not want to sound anti-catholic but there are lots of other religions in the world beside catholicism. Why should there just be a catholic priest on board. How about one of each religion or none at all.

 

DON

Celebrity does not employ the priest or even do anything to ensure one is on board.

Catholic priests celebrate mass everyday even when they are alone. So, if one happens to be cruising, it is not unusual for them to ask to do masses for the Catholics on board.

Celebrity does the same thing for any other religions who want services and have a pastor or Rabbi sailing. On our past sailing out of Rome, we had daily services with 3 priests, there were ecumenical services, Jewish services, and even Mosque.

We just got back from Turkey and Kusadasi in November.

No problems observed at all. It was by far the friendliest port. We did see a grand total of 3 refugee families who we spoke to at length.

There are no decks where you can see much of the bridge.

You can see the wing bridge(s) from various parts of the ship but they are uninteresting.

Try to find a bridge tour but they are not advertised.

Not the best idea. Most airlines will have you remove any other destination tags that are on the suitcases that are not related to the flight you are taking. This causes confusion for airline workers, and for scanners. The only thing that will not be removed is your luggage identification tag.

Celebrity advises cruisers to put their luggage tags on 'before you leave home'.

.....which we have done every time we cruised, and we have never been asked to remove the tags or have them torn off in transit.

I questioned Celebrity about the wisdom of putting tags on before flights and they explained it was just in case your bags get separated from you in transit. The tags won't confuse scanners as they won't register at all.

We have done this cruise on the Eclipse and for the most part we really enjoyed it.

The one thing we found (with this particular Celebrity cruise) is that things shut down pretty early in the evening and there was not much dancing to be found after 11 PM. They shut down the Martini bar at midnight several times (even though it was quite busy) Passport bar also shut down early.

Leave yourself a few days prior in Florida to get over jet lag and you will enjoy yourself even more.

I recently had an issue that was being ignored so I listed my complaint on the Celebrity Facebook page and had it resolved within 3 days. They sent me private messages and I replied in open forum. When it was finally resolved I was happy with the final outcome

Thanks for the advice, however, this event has been at the top of the Celebrity Silhouette Facebook page for quite a while.

They have not responded to any posts nor have they answered ANY emails to their 'concerns' email account, other than the 'we will get back to you within 3 business days'.

I even replied to the 'within the next 3 business days' email after several weeks, and received a ' your concerns have been escalated and you will have a reply soon ' email. That also didn't happen.

Uncaring or incompetent ? Right now I don't care as this just turns me off of Celebrity as MY cruise line.

A simple phone call.....

This is why we purchase insurance with the "cancel for any reason" clause especially if I'm going to a place that is a bit unsettled. You may have been able to cancel and rebook a cruise that interested you.

We had this insurance but weren't able to utilize it because we were informed after travel had started. Especially difficult for us because we had cancelled a Nov 30th cruise with friends in order to take this Israel and Eastern Caribbean cruise.

Frankly even a empty apology is almost acceptable . What is not acceptable is no response especially after promising one . Shameful . :mad:

Agreed.

The longer they wait to contact me, the more perturbed I get and the less likely it is that this 'Celebrity all the time' cruiser is going to re-book with them.

I forwarded their 'will contact you within 3 business days' email back to them after 10 business days, and remarked that their lack of response was confirming my suspicions about Celebrity not giving a crap about their clients. I received an almost immediate email my case was being escalated and I would receive a response at once.

......That was 6 days ago...... :mad:

Incompetent or don't care, I'm not sure which. :confused:

Afraid to travel to Europe ?

Stop watching the news. Their only goal is to make you afraid so you watch them more.

And the government is no different. They make you afraid so you forget about problems here at home and give them carte-blanche to do whatever they want.

example.... If there was a stabbing in your city, CNN would probably not carry it. Yet a stabbing in Jerusalem (other side of the world) gets continuous coverage. This gives you a distorted image of the world.

Europe is safe.

Flying is safe.

Cruising is safe.

I sent an email to Celebrity while on the ship. Just yesterday I had a phone call from Celebrity. I was told that there was a corporate decision not to provide any compensation for the missed ports.

 

I said that I understand that the cruise contract does not obligate Celebrity to provide compensation for the missed ports; I felt that Celebrity should have provided some consideration, such as a future cruise credit, as a goodwill gesture, and to recognize loyalty of their passengers.

 

I was left with the impression that Celebrity did not feel the need to to provide any consideration for the passengers on the October 17, 2015 Silhouette cruise.

I also get this impression.

I sent an email to Celebrity 10 business days ago which was supposed to get a reply within 3 business days. Still nothing.

Celebrity corporate has dug in its heels and I am not expecting even a response.

This makes my decision as to what to do for future cruises easier. It's too bad because up to now Celebrity was MY cruise line.

You would be surprised if you knew what the ship's crew is capable of. Cruise lines have been upgrading their security for quite sometime.

I agree.

There are systems/people/methods in place on most cruise ships that would make a takeover by terrorists almost impossible. Almost all are unknown to passengers.

I was on a cruise ship when 911 happened. In Europe. And even then, the amount of security they displayed almost instantly was impressive.

I do hope you contact the State Dept. for travel advisories. Today the list was longer than usual.

I am not sure what you are referring to.

There are no new travel advisories in the last week or so, and I am on both the American and Canadian contact lists.

It is unclear to me what you mean by the east. We were in Greek mainland (Athens, Peloponnese) and the islands of Sifnos, Santorini, Naxos, Paros, and Crete. Never saw one refugee. They have been landing on Kos and other islands closer to the mainland. Perhaps Rhodes is impacted, I really do not know as this was not on our destination list.

 

Do not understand why a ship would be more at risk there than anywhere else! Terrorism is international. It can strike in San Diego, New York, Boston, LA just as easily as it can strike in Paris, London or in any of the Med ports-eastern or western.

 

We do not view these ports as any less safe than an American port or American city.

I agree 100%

Just got back from an Eastern Med cruise and didn't see any problems at all. (10 ports) I remember I saw soldiers somewhere in Greece but can't remember where.

We saw 3 refugee families while in a cafe in Turkey. We talked to them and gave them money. We saw no refugees in Greece at all, I'm sure there were some there but we didn't see them.

Turkey was the most beautiful, peaceful country of all of them.

I prefer late seating and I am in my mid 60's, only because I don't like to rush when returning from a shore excursion. I like to sit on my balcony and enjoy a glass of wine prior to dinner and not feel rushed. Does anyone know if there is a theatre show after the late dining time or would we have to go before dinner? I really can't remember from my previous cruises.

The shows were before dinner. 7 PM

We always took late seating but we found on Celebrity there was very little to do on board once dinner was done. It may be the older crowd, or because of the long, port intensive itinerary, but things were shut down early. We would finish dinner, wander around a bit looking for some dancing, find none, and end up heading back to our cabin.

We didn't find this on RCCL.

Next Celebrity cruise we may choose early seating or Select.