Silent Penguin

We booked Aqua for the first time last year on the Constellation. I fully expected my requested items would not be in our room, but they were. As it was, I never used any of it because the gym was never crowded when I wanted to use it, and everything I needed was there.

My Dh would say the same except for the wine, he's more of a whiskey or beer man. TA's are his happy place.

Hi. I'm jumping in here because your experience with a claim through your credit card is exactly what I'm looking for now that I've just started looking into NOT buying a policy. I also have travel insurance with my credit card. It appears the coverage with my Chase Sapphire card is comparable to the policies I've bought in the past (before I realized I had this benefit already). Thank you for sharing your experience with your wife submitting a claim through your credit card.

This is just the best trip report! I'm taking notes!

I agree. In my opinion, the same is true on other cruise lines.

We've never cruised with HAL so have never attend a religious service on their ships, but we have attended Christian worship service on Princess and Celebrity. The service on Princess was several years ago, so probably not relevant except for the fact that its arrangement was exactly the same as our more recent experience on Celebrity this past November. In both cases, a pastor on board as a guest arranged for the use of a meeting room for Sunday service. Also, in both cases, we learned of it by word of mouth because it wasn't in the daily planner or on the app. On our most recent cruise, with Celebrity, the service was posted on the LED events display next to the Guest Services desk. I'm surprised and sorry to hear that your experience with Celebrity was that of resistance. A meeting room for regular Sunday service was arranged for both Sundays we were onboard. Not only did we have the use of a meeting room and a listing on the LED events board, but when my husband approached the pastor about providing audio-visual assistance for the following Sunday, Celebrity gave us permission to use the equipment (screen, projector) in the room. Also, since no one had booked the adjoining room, and it was apparent that the second service was going to draw a bigger crowd, they opened up the partition for us and set up more chairs. Further more, the Jewish people on board also had services with a Kiddush. At least on this ship and on this sailing, Celebrity was hospitable and accommodating.

I'm glad you were able to trash pick the email. I was going to offer to forward my email to you.

On that occasion, yes. The upgrade from classic to premium was also discounted. I can't swear it was 40% but I think it was. I remember it was worth looking at! We didn't upgrade our drinks package but we did upgrade our wifi to premium.

Last year, during the Labor Day sale, we saved 50% on our laundry package and could have saved 40% on the drink package and the wifi package but we already had drinks and wifi included in our booking.

I saw that, but I'm waiting for a better sale. We don't sail until November. Memorial Day or Labor Day could be better.

Hello! Thank you for your valuable contribution as a person from a different country from me. In regards to your question, every single thing in my carry-on bag is drastically more expensive to replace if I buy it on the ship as apposed to on land. If I flew to just about anywhere in Europe, and the airline temporarily lost my luggage, I wouldn't be concerned about finding normally or even cheaply priced over-the-counter medications like pain relievers, toiletries, clothing or a phone charger once I left the airport. On the other hand, if the cruise line temporarily lost my luggage, the only place I could shop would be the ship's stores which charge nearly 2x as much for the same items. Furthermore the variety of items available onboard is small and some things are not stocked at all. Certain clothing items most ladies would want are simply not available to buy onboard, and regardless of gender, you can't buy cold medicine in the ship's store. Only the medical center has it, and it's shockingly costly.

SHIP: Constellation REVOLUTIONIZED: No CABIN #: 9065 DECK #: 9 CLASS: AQ2 AREA: BED NEAR: Bathroom QUIET?: NO BALCONY VIEW: Great, unobstructed BALCONY SIZE: standard WIND A PROBLEM?: No SOOT A PROBLEM?: No PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: The problem wasn't from above as one might expect. There's a crew access door across the hall from this room. At certain times of the day or night, the door is constantly being opened and closed. It was pretty annoying, bad enough that I will not book this room again even if it's the only Aqua class room left. The last night of the cruise was the worst for noise. I'm pretty sure every single suitcase put out in the hallway had to be individually carried through this door.

Thank you for your sharing your experience and advice, especially about recognizing the appearance of words in an alphabet I don't know. I expect that will be a good coping strategy for us when we go to Greece, probably in a couple years. I agree with you about learning to say please, thank you, and sorry in whatever country you visit. I practice my vocabulary on my family even though it kind of annoys them to hear me speak anything but English. Since last summer, my daughter has been retaliating in Portuguese.

A great read on a cold and snowy day. The pictures are so compelling. I want to go! Reluctant to drive in a country where we have no language fluency whatsoever. What's your opinion on that?

Thank you for the acknowledgement and badge. I've learned so much from the Cruise Critic community, and I am grateful for the opportunity to give something back.

Hi, Girr. Thank you for the advice. I'll look into that. I do have coverage through my credit card, but I thought I had to pick one policy - the one with my card or the one I bought- or the other. It didn't occur to me that one might pick up where the other left off.

I mentioned that I would update when my travel insurance claim was settled. I just got a check today. It didn't cover as much as I thought it would but that's on me. I misunderstood the difference between Trip Delay daily max and total max. They paid me the max for all three days. Too bad it fell short by 158.00. Good thing my delay was off-season. Another lesson learned. Possibly, next time, I will go with a policy with higher limits.

I'm with you. There was a time when the cheapest option trumped every other consideration but not anymore. For 7 of us to share a private van cost us each 32 euros. It would have been the safest way to go if we were picked up at our Airbinb or if we had taken an Uber to where the others were staying. Live and learn.

Hi, RocCruisers, I'm laughing right now because I'd be asking some of the same questions if I was reading my story. There are definitely contextual details I left out. Before answering the questions, I want to acknowledge your point about how my story would be different if we hadn't been in port city where the culture, language, and means of transportation hadn't been amicable to solo travel. And, while you didn't say it I will. There are obviously port cities where it would have been super dangerous for a solo female, even one who grew up in the big, bad city and who has traveled solo on occasion for decades. Answers to your questions I am 57, and my husband if 59. Neither of us have health issues yet. Dh and I have been married 34 years. (Yes, we have a track record) I get the impression I am respected by my family but don't have super hero status. (Thank you for the compliment though.) I have a cheap OnePlus Nord I bought at Walmart last year and T-Mobile service. I had both an already fully charged external charger and a cable. Those I always keep on me and not in my checked luggage. If, for some reason I didn't have either or both of them on me, the trip to the police station would have dropped to second on my to-do list and finding a store that sold external chargers and cords would have been first. My backpack (carry-on) was pretty much ready for action. Like most cruisers, my carry-on always contains what I think I'll need if my checked luggage goes missing for a day or two. The only change I made was to lighten the bag by dumping what I didn't need, like a bottle of wine, a swimsuit and flipflops, and some little stuff that wouldn't fit in my suitcase. Those became dh's problem. I also removed a few things that are extremely expensive or difficult to procure on a ship (in the event of lost luggage) but easy and cheap to get if I needed to buy them while I was in Rome. If there's a downside to carrying recent (6 months or less) passport photos when you leave the country, I don't see it. Personally, though, I don't think I will since most US embassies and consulates have a photo booth, and even if it's broken or the they don't have one, there's bound to be one nearby where they are sending everyone. That being said, if I or anyone in my family had mobility issues, then yes, I would bring photos. P.S. Readers of this thread, I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence with this unsolicited advice, but since it didn't occur to me, maybe it hasn't occurred to others. Before you leave your home country, at the very least, familiarize yourself with the emergency passport process. It's as easy as visiting your country's embassy website. The website will not only educate you on the procedure but will also have the downloadable forms you will need to complete.

Are you open to Airbnb as well? We stayed in an Airbnb in Monti the week before our transatlantic. Super convenient location. Everything was within walking distance. Fantastic apartment for under 200 a night. I wish I was there right now! (The body on the bed did not come with the apartment. That is my jet-lagged husband who fell asleep while I was talking to our hostess.)

I booked it on May 11, 2023. The tour was on November 3, 2023. I was just looking up the name of the tour to see if I remembered the group size right, and like you said, it's not there! I checked multiple dates for the same excursion on other sites (e.g. Viator, The Rome Guy) as well, so you must be right about the Museum revamping their offerings.

Thank you for the compliment and the comments on my post. I'm starting to think I should get permission to cross-post (which I believe is against the rules). If I could, I would include not only my story but the posts that followed. Everyone here has added valuable advice and perspective. I'm with you about France's prohibition on emergency passports. Surprised but not surprised.

We booked our small group tour (max 20) through the Vatican Museum website. We chose the tour that included an after-hours tour of the Sistine Chapel. It is my understanding that this particular tour is not offered daily, and it sells out quickly because the number of groups that can be in the chapel during this small window of time is limited. Our guide told us the maximum is 80 people. I can't say how far in advance this tour sells out. I booked early November tickets in the beginning of May and I never checked back to find out when the tour stopped being available on the website.

Space on the card! Amen. There's no denying having space on the card is a game changer. The funny thing is, when I traveled abroad as a young adult, I found myself in some tough situations due to a lack of funds, and as a result there were times I didn't eat, I hitchhiked or walked, and I slept in the cheapest hostels I could find without regard to safety or cleanliness, but though I can pretty much do whatever I want now, when this happened to me, my default mode was to walk instead of ride and to eat, sleep and fly as cheap as safely possible.

Excellent advice. On every point, I completely agree. The thing about the carabiner or safety pin, that is exactly what I was planning to do before we left our Airbnb but I foolishly gambled on the fact that we were only going to be on the train for one stop, and I could just keep a hand on my bag. Someone on the ship told me that when she and her sister were in Spain, her sister had a similar thing happened to her only it was hard pinch to back of her arm instead of a shove.