Silent Penguin

23 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

We got our PUP emails today...24 hours after watching the video lol.

Same. Those 3 points were just enough to move us to the next level, although I don't know why I even care.  It's still early days for us with sailing Celebrity, so it's not like going up a level nets us any significant perks.  

On 9/13/2024 at 2:51 PM, abbydancer2003 said:

A little closer to Power Up.  Does anyone know if you can request Go Green points for Galapagos?

Did you ever get your answer about Go Green.  Here's a link. If you don't need it anymore, maybe someone else will.  

 https://cloud.na.celebritycruises.com/GOGREEN_OPTIN

Just now, lola2013 said:

Amazingly 😵‍💫, I think her overuse of that word is considerable less than in previous webinars.  

You could be right, I always wind up muting the audio.  

5 hours ago, TraderSam said:

 

📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢New PUP opportunity. 

Hope this link works for  you all. 

 

 

 

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2447635371116238426?ecid=em_cel_gbr_13008544&rid=1210004139&emsc=UKCELNWSLOTHCAPCVALLOWHOTYESBKBKLCADFULL&empf=&emct=S&lnkid=REGISTER_NOW_CTA&utm_campaign=OTH&utm_content=&utm_source=13008544&utm_medium=email&consumer_id=121293373&rcid=121293373

Thank you!  I haven't received the email yet, and I appreciate not having to wait. 🙂   I'm watching now but it's really painful to listen to.  Maybe it's just me, but does she know any other adjectives besides "amazing". 

Celebrity, that offer is sooo lame!  That's all I got to say.  

10 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

 The whole scene was mystifying and a complete diversion from any gambling experience I’ve ever had. Feeling no attachment to Timberwolf and having no desire to escalate the situation, we cashed out and moved on. I observed the lady plunk herself down and begin to play. I have no idea how she fared the rest of the day but as far as we could tell, she remained at that machine well into the evening. 

 Mystifying for sure. You got to wonder, is this an unhealthy case of entitlement or just plain mental illness. The world must disappoint and frustrate her all the time.  Congratulations on the win!!

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.  

On 3/31/2024 at 11:59 AM, wine-wine-wine said:

I have a very intense, stressful job in Silicon Valley. What I love about TA’s is the chance to unwind, simply enjoy a good book, endless glasses of wine and the incredible, ever changing view.

 

 

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.  

On 6/4/2024 at 6:27 AM, clarku said:

OP update 

Luckily, my wife thought of applying for a claim through our credit card company, which offers travel insurance automatically on travel purchases, and they agreed that my claim was valid and paid us our lost cruise fare.

 

So, be aware of which company you’re purchasing your policy from and remember to take a look at your credit card insurance benefits, you may be pleasantly surprised.

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. 

On 5/28/2024 at 12:01 PM, BuckeyeMark said:

We went to every little town and village you can think of! We told our guide all we had on our "must see" list was that famous line of thatched roof houses in Bibury and the Tolkien Tree Door. He took care of the rest - giving us the flavor of the Cotswolds in a wonderful tour. We went to Lower Slaughter, Tetbury (saw King Charles' shop!), Bourton on the Water, Broadway (saw Broadway Tower), Stow on the Wold and so many more that I can't recall them all. Some we just drove through or got a coffee but we saw so much. It was really magical.  The guide service was not cheap but there are many one-lane roads and back-routes that he knew to take that got us everywhere easily and quickly. It was a great day and well worth it. Our guide is at www.cotswoldtoursandtravel.com

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

On 5/27/2024 at 12:40 PM, KKB said:

 

Regarding Celebrity desserts--yep, the look lovely but have always been lacking in flavor, 

 

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. 

8 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

I didn’t think I got the email, but remembered I had an email yesterday from X about the Galapagos.  I get lots of cruise line emails and delete unread if I am not currently interested in that line or itinerary.  So I went back to the trash pile and sure enough, it was the webinar invite.  EM

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

4 hours ago, KellyCz said:

Do the discounts also apply to upgrading from the basic to the premium drinks package?

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. 

1 minute ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Good luck. 20% is the best I found doing a Cruise Critic search

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.  

4 hours ago, yellowhat said:

Has anyone posted about  Hey! 25% off drink packages.  I believe it vanishes at midnight. 

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.  

On 1/23/2024 at 3:55 PM, alserrod said:

 

I have taken note of some things you say as practices so some questions have arisen.
For example, what do you carry that you say is always more expensive on the boat?

 

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. 

2 hours ago, ddaley822 said:

We found it easy but I did learn Greek before we went. My husband didn’t, and as our driver, he was still able to read the signage when I told him what exits we were looking for. They use the same road symbols, and the signage that lists exits should be easy to parse even without knowing the language. 

 

If you’re looking for an exit at Πλοκαμιανά you should be able to discern by way of matching the letter forms, that you shouldn’t turn instead at Κεφάλι, you know what I mean? 

 

I will say that when I learned Greek, it was all in sentence case. However, when we got there and I was reading all the signage, EVERYTHING is in all caps. I did learn my capital letters back in my sorority days but trying to actually read a sign in all caps when you’re used to sentence case was tricky for me. Again, if you’re just trying to determine exits and street names, you should have no problem matching up the letters on signs to what’s on your map. 

 

I will suggest making note of Greek for please (phonetically - parakalo), thanks (efcharisto) and sorry (signomi) before you go! People loved when I spoke just a bit in their language. 

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?

18 hours ago, Host Bonjour said:

Thanks so much for sharing your passport loss and recovery story. Not only is it a helpful account of the steps to take after the theft of a passport, each step was well described from start to finish.

 

Most helpful of all was that by acknowledging that yes, this is unpleasant, you were then able to move on to problem solving. Part of being able to take the necessary steps comes from being prepared before we arrive (pre-travel stage): read about what, where, how to do stuff when things do go wrong.

 

Trip insurance can help with unexpected costs or losses, but that's gotten even more complicated in recent years, especially post–pandemic, policies/terms have changed. Cruise Critic brings in Trip Insurance experts from time to time to help untangle some of the complexity through Q&As on our forum.

 

So so happy that this had the best possible outcome, but it was largely down to your exceptional efforts! And again, it's not easy to trouble shoot in a country/language that's not your own, I've done it, many of us have, to varying degrees of success for any given reason (especially these days when ID is so critical). 

 

Please accept our thanks for sharing your account and update, along with a fancy Cruise Critic badge for your member profile! 🎉 

 

 

 

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. 

1 hour ago, Girr said:

Have you checked your credit card coverage?  If you paid for your cruise and/or flight with a card many offer coverage which could make up the balance.

 

I'm so sorry you had to go thru this "adventure", but so thankful you shared with us, and in turn, I'm sharing your story with many more.  Hopefully, your first-hand account will save others from experiencing this situation.

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.  

15 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

 

Heading back to Rome for a cruise in Sept and we planned on taking the train from Rome to the port as it's the cheapest way to go but maybe it's not the best option when you realize the risk you could be taking.  Maybe private transport, while more expensive is the way to go? We'll all have a carry-on AND a suitcase and maybe a backpack too....we don't travel light.  lol

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. 

9 hours ago, RocCruisers said:

@Silent Penguin Thank you so much for sharing your story.  Im thinking what a different situation it would have been in a city without the transportation and embassy nearby.  
Oh the questions I have…. 

Without going through your posts, about how old are you and dh?  How long have you been married to trust this plan?  Does your family know what kind of super hero you are?

What kind of phone and what service do you have? 
Did you have an external charger or at least a cable?

Maybe I missed this point, but did you have a carry on with a change of clothes and/or essentials?  
So, you recommend an extra set of Passport photos, just in case?

And, who is going to play you in the movie version?

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.