Charles4515

Newer ships use NFC Seapass cards which is TAP. You have to take it out and tap. Tap is not RFID. RFID is dated tech, not secure. Your tap credit cards use NFC.

All you need is a valid unexpired passport for this itinerary. If you are stressed out by Celberity's unhelpful wording since...... it is a closed loop cruise where a birth certificate and DL are also good. Take your official Birth Certificates as back up.

Find a TA who is willing to give you a better deal. If you bok 4-6 suites on 4-5 cruises a year that should be doable. I suggest finding a TA who is in a consortium that books a large amount a group space.

You can only use a birth certificate on a closed loop cruise and yes if it is closed loop, which means round trip from a US port, you can get off in Canada with only a BC. What you can’t do if the ship calls at Skagway is take some runs of the White Pass railway that cross into Canada by land.

If you decide to go to Clearwater/Coopers from Hamilton personably I would take a taxi direct from Hamilton. Unless you want to stopover in St. George’s or the Dockyard buses and or ferries will take more time, complications and probably only save $10.

Taxi from Hamilton probably about $40.

iOS 16 is still supported. I have apps on my 15 Pro Max that is running iOS 17 that support iOS 13 and still get updates like FB. Maybe earlier as I just sampled a few apps. Celebrity is just being short sighted or lazy in my opinion. My sister and one of my nieces have iPhone 12s which are still good phones. They are like you they prefer hand me downs to new.

It is next to Alexandra Battery. You can find Alexandra Battery on maps of St. George. As I recall it is not a big trash pile of glass like the one near the Dockyard. The same as the glass beach near the Dockyard taking sea glass is not allowed.

Lifeguards are not on duty until May 1. This happened in late March. One man drowned who was a passenger on NCL Getaway trying to help a child. It is only the last few years that many cruise ships visited out of season. NCL is doing those visits. There really should be lifeguards there for those days. Since NCL is the cruise line doing most of the out of season ships perhaps they could pay for lifeguards on those port days. They do have excursions there. Or else warn passengers there no lifeguards until May. https://www.royalgazette.com/general/news/article/20240420/horseshoe-beach-rescuer-describes-scene-of-tragedy/

It is the port, Bermuda, that is searching onboard ships that are docked in their post. They are checking for narcotics. Every cruise season there are articles in Bermudas media, the Royal Gazette about them finding drugs and fining passengers. I usually post about one of the bunch every cruise season to make cruise passengers aware because some think because weed is legal in their state or that they are using it for medicinal reasons that it is okay. The article I linked to provided more detail than usual. I don’t have any idea if those caught were informed on or not. It does not really matter. The dogs have great noses and they can detect from the hallway. I don’t know if they enter cabins and do checks without some indication.

OP has an older phone, iPhone 8, but it is not a relic. (It is not on Apple’s vintage list) Celebrity does not seem to have made a tech decision but a business decision.

I beg to differ. I had her as Captain one sailing and she has charisma. It is not necessary for a Captain to have charisma but she has it.

Bermuda has fined passengers caught bringing edibles.

We have posted in the past that Bermuda authorities have drug dogs sniff cruise ships docked in Bermuda. Some have doubted this and some believe a drug dog can’t sniff a small amount of cannabis. A Joy passenger with a small amount in his cabin was detected by a sniffer dog and fined this week. https://www.royalgazette.com/court/news/article/20240419/cruise-passenger-fined-for-cannabis-in-cabin/

Just a reminder that those drug sniffing dogs can detect small amounts and cannabis. Is not legal even if it is legal in your home state. https://www.royalgazette.com/court/news/article/20240419/cruise-passenger-fined-for-cannabis-in-cabin/

I take my Drivers License. Passport Card may make you feel better but that is just an illusion. It is not better than any other government ID in a port.

They really can’t board that open loop itinerary with just a license. Better to ask if the would board with unexpired passports with less than six months left.

Yes that nonsense is another case of new Celebrity lunacy. I have an iPhone, iPad and Mac. On the iPhone, iPad and Mac in settings Mail I changed Privacy Protection to Block all remote content and Hide IP address. That stops it. An additional positive to those settings is that you will be protected from malicious code imbedded in images. The negatives are that if you want to see images you will have to click “load images” in the particular email and those settings will be for all your email not just from Celebrity. The only other alternative I know is not to open Celebrity emails. If you have Android there are possibly similar settings.

You have to go back up the same stairs you went down. There is no other exit.

That is not something that requires iOS 17. I have had apps that I make purchases in that saved credit cards and default payment or Apple Pay info for years.

I agree that is probably requirements creep. Also I don’t see why the guest wallet feature would require iOS 17 or could not be modified to work with iOS 15 and iOS 16 but maybe it makes the phone work with tap to pay or open doors?

If they don’t have their apps on automatic update, most people do, then it might keep working, for a bit. Eventually it won’t work because what they are really saying when they require iOS 17 is they don’t test their update on earlier versions. As you have noted they most likely outsource the app so they don’t likely don’t want to spend money to pay engineers to support old software or hardware.

I have read that 70% of iPhone users have updated to iOS 17 but that is still a lot being left out. What is really problematic is making a new version that only works on iOS 17. I bunch of apps I use have been updated many times yet would still work on iOS 13 according to their developer notes.

I overlooked that they might have a Canadian BC but just because they have a Canadian passport does not preclude them having a US BC. Or other documents. This all sounds complicated but it should not be since they have a valid US passport. Bermuda does not require 6 months if coming on a cruise and the US has no requirement at all except a valid passport. I personally have used a passport on a Caribbean cruise that had less than six months on it about six years ago because I had a combination of cruises and land trips so I didn’t have a six months window. No one batted an eye or said anything about the expire date.

I don't think a Canadian BC would work. The BC is to prove US citizenship.