EmperorCorey

Press through to the new reservations line. They'll answer in 32 seconds, not minutes, and will be happy to assist IME. The existing reservations line is a joke.

My wife and I did a double decker bus tour after disembarking an RCL cruise in Fort Lauderdale a few years ago. We rate it highly. A great way to kill time if you have a late flight.

Our luggage was stored at the bus depot, not on the bus. There are multiple routes with many stops and multiple buses along each route. There are routes through Miami and Fort Lauderdale. You can get off the bus at any stop and catch another bus later. You can switch routes at certain stops.

As your flight time approaches, you need to loop back to the bus depot to grab your luggage and catch a shuttle to the airport. I don't remember the intervals between shuttles leaving the depot but there were several throughout the day going to both MIA and FLL.

Although we booked this excursion on the ship, the was a rep for the bus company selling tickets in port. The tickets were several tens of dollars cheaper per person off the boat versus on the boat.

I beg to differ.

I know that there is a major issue with the website.

But, I have always been able to communicate via telephone without a problem.

In fact, I have found the telephone reps to be very friendly and helpful !

I agree that the reps are very friendly and helpful. My wish is that they would stop understaffing the existing bookings line.

I know, I know. I'm beating a dead horse here. But Celebrity's website is so bad they deserve to have a thread about it on the front page at all times. It seems that some of it is purposeful.

1. When I went to book my cruise a few weeks ago, they were advertising two free perks. Nice! Unfortunately, when you go to pick your perk, free wifi is selected by default and it is very, very difficult to deselect it. Eventually I figured it out, but it took some quick clicking. If Celebrity doesn't want people to select more valuable perks, then it doesn't need to offer them. No need to booby trap the website.

2. Sometimes I can change my stateroom online, and sometimes I can't. A few days after booking, a better cabin opened up and I changed it online on the "Manage My Reservation" page. A few days later, an even better cabin opened up and I went to change it again. The link to change the cabin had disappeared. A mystery!

3. I cant buy anything online. I can't add specialty dining, upgrade my beverage package, or buy shore excursions. When I select "add to cart," it says I'm "not eligible" to make the purchase. Oh well!

4. When I exit Cruise Planner, the system automatically logs me out and locks my account. Frustrating!

5. When I got locked out, I called the customer service line. Unfortunately, the line for existing bookings is unstaffed. I waited on hold for 30 minutes and hung up. The robot said they were "experiencing higher than normal call volume." Haha, good one! I called back and pressed through to the new reservations line. A rep answered almost immediately. What a way to make your existing customers feels like dog dirt!

In sum - Celebrity, your customer support for existing customers is pathetic. Shame on you!

Wife and I met with our obstetrician this afternoon and she said the cruise would pose no risk to the baby as long as we took common sense precautions. She recommended we wear insect repellent with DEET and avoid heavily vegetated areas. Therefore, we will not be canceling our cruise.

I bet if emperorcorey were pregnant they would have a different opinion.

My wife is in fact pregnant and we are booked on a Caribbean cruise sailing in March. No, we have not canceled because three out of four ports have reported no incidents of the disease and we will stay on the ship or take precautions in the fourth. We may cancel if the other ports begin to see cases. Thankfully, my wife is a rational person who can objectively assess risk and does not engage in histrionics.

As an aside, we are from an area of the country that sees hundreds of cases of West Nile Virus every year, which has caused dozens of deaths. Believe it or not we still leave our house.

The World Health Organization says this epidemic has already been mishandled and we could be facing a pandemic.

 

Who would even think of exposing their child (fetus) to the horrific consequences of your cruise???

 

The odds of winning the billion dollar lottery were in the multi-millions but THREE people beat those odds. What if a mosquito were to beat those odds with a pregnant passenger?

So 1 in 292 million (the odds of winning the powerball) are unacceptable odds to you? Do you ever leave your house?

Sure, and there is only a 17% chance a revolver would go Boom if you play Russian roulette. But why risk it? In the rare event a mosquito finds and bites a pregnant woman on the ship, it is the unborn that will have to pay the ultimate price and suffer for life. Can one live with this regret as a future mom?

Straw man. Who said anything about Russian roulette? If she asked about Russian roulette, I would have strongly advised against it.

Why would she risk going on a cruise? Because, as addressed in my previous post, there is essentially no risk if she stays on the ship, and expectant mothers should not be expected to be agoraphobes throughout the entirety of their pregnancy.

No, she probably will not contract Zika if she stays on the ship. I say "probably" because you can never totally eliminate all risk. She probably will not fall overboard and probably will not fall on a slippery deck and crack her head open. The risk of either of these events are likely similar to her risk of contracting Zika--near zero.

I have never seen a mosquito on a cruise ship. In port, the ship docks hundreds of yards away from a mosquito's habitat. Is it possible that a mosquito could hitch a ride on a cruise ship? Yes, but the odds that a mosquito gets on the ship and carries Zika and bites your sister are so outrageously low its not worth stressing over.

In fact, she's probably decreasing her overall risk to the baby by staying on the ship and eliminating the risk of getting hit by a car, kidnapped, murdered, or contracting some other tropical disease.

My wife and I are booked on a cruise leaving 3/5 with visits to PR and St. Maarten. She will be 22+ weeks pregnant. At this point, with only only two confirmed cases out of a total population of ~3.6 million, the risk of contracting Zika, even for a resident, is very, very slim. For cruise passengers who visit these ports for a few hours during the day while mosquitoes are largely inactive, the odds are slimmer. And for those who exercise precautions like wearing bug spray and long sleeves/pants, the odds are slimmer still.

Obviously things can change drastically between now and March. We will have tough decisions to make if additional infections are reported. However, at this point I would be more worried about getting hit by a car in port than contracting Zika.