sanger727

This may be the rudest thing I've ever seen. Clearly you already knew the answers to your questions and were just trying to bait a low paid customer service agent who has no authority to address the issue.

On one of the NCL cruises I went on, a bar crawl was organized in the roll call. I'm not sure who took the lead but it was a blast. Group of 20 or so and NCL had it organized ahead so that when the group got to a bar, a platter of drinks were pre-made and ready to go. And the bartenders really had fun with it and played it up. I would pay extra for that.

For me it's pretty close to a tie between the galapagos and a river cruise in Thailand/Vietnam. They were both on very small ships.

I've had the same experience as the OP. Strictly limited to 30 days. Even if the doctor is willing to write more and if you are willing to pay cash. Now, my DH did convince his doctor to write his script for 1.5 pills per day. That isn't a recommended amount per the FDA so insurance won't pay for it - but the pharmacy fills it. Think it's like $25 out of pocket.

I've found some Florida to Panama City cruises on Viking and Oceania. Look at the Viking Mars, Viking sky, or Oceania Sirena

This is a pretty broad statement. Maybe in some places they do, but certainly not all places. Alot has to do with how state laws treat pawn shops in possession of stolen goods. In Ohio, even if you can prove the items were stolen from you, they belong to the pawn shop and they can sell them. Typically the pawn shop will return the item for free or sell it for to the owner for the amount they spent on it. And in this case we do have a very good database that pawn shops report the items they buy to. It's optional, but many report to it. In Kentucky, if you can prove the items in the pawn shop were stolen, they can be seized and returned to you. Pawn shops there are much less willing to report purchases or work with the police since they are out their money if stolen items are found.

There's another way to look at this. Influencers exist only because people like to follow them and listen to what they have to say. (I personally don't, but many many people do). If you favorite influencer who, for example, is a travel blogger; you may be interested in seeing their videos and hearing their opinions about a vacation you are considering. Why should they have to pay full price for a working trip where they are producing content that benefits the cruise line and is demanded by their followers. I am pretty sure that anyone who follows or gets advise from influencers is well aware that they are influencers.

Yeah, generally speaking your current travel agent will have to authorize this and release the booking to change TAs. Since they are due a commission they may be unwilling to do that.

Yes, but again, for people who are visa-exempt - doing nothing is the easiest thing. Up until now US citizens didn't have to do any more than buy a plane ticket to go to most places in Europe. So it is a change and will be somewhat more difficult. Yes, certainly easier than a visa.

yes

And I'm sure that works great when everything works they way it's supposed to. The problem is when it doesn't. Your options are much more limited than booking direct. We booked a vacation package with hotel, flights, and insurance through a travel agency. We arrived at the airport for our flight and after sitting there for 2-3 hours it was cancelled. They couldn't get on us another flight that day; so we ended up booking a one way with another airline. We called the original airline first and asked if we could get a refund for half the ticket since they cancelled the flight. They said we could. The problem came up when we went to request our refund. Since our flight was booked through a package, we didn't have a line item for what the airfare was worth. And the airline ended up valuing the flight at much less than going rate and what we believed we paid for it. We didn't have much recourse. Luckily, the insurance stepped in and made up the difference.

Delta is really finnicky about changes. I fly with them alot because the family member I fly with has tons of miles so she gets alot of upgrades and preferential treatment. Even for her, you have to purchase certain fare classes of tickets to be able to upgrade them (which isn't immediately obvious even when booking direct- she always calls them). And it is more difficult/impossible to upgrade your ticket class when flying on a partner airline. That is probably what you are running into. Your ticket was booked as basic economy, so you couldn't pick your seats. You want to upgrade to a main cabin ticket so you can, but it's with a partner airline. We have run into this before in Europe. All you can really do is show up on the day of and see if you can upgrade/choose seats with the gate agent.

I was being sarcastic. Because the poster I quoted said that it was unclear which one is better. It was a joke.

Clearly I was being facetious

I'm not a big fan of viator or tours by locals. We prefer to research local tour companies through tripadvisor and reach out them directly to book tours. Personally, it's never left me feeling stressed about finding our tour guide. But to each their own.

If it makes you feel better- the Oceania crowd likes to shame the Celebrity cruisers for choosing such a mediocre cruise line.

I've been on a couple Celebrity cruises and can't say I've run into any more entitled people than you might find in any other location. There are always people who think they are better than others for whatever reason. There are alot of people on the celebrity forum that like to bash others for all kinds of reasons; but I don't think that translates to the environment on the ship. And for the record. Apple Iphones are better superior to other cell phone brands. Having tried both and prefering a better product doesn't make me elitist.

It's a long trip. You can set up a private taxi/transport beforehand. We took the train, it goes directly into Rome central. You can take a much cheaper taxi ride from there. I'm sure you could also book transportation with NCL to the Rome airport. Again, a taxi ride from there to your hotel will be much cheaper than from the port.

I would have said something to someone. That's disgusting. I doubt he would be fired for such a trivial thing but he should definitely be told by his manager to not do that. In alot of countries where cruise employees come from, running water in bathrooms for handwashing isn't always common. It's entirely possible that he didn't think to but having it pointed out, especially a guest noticing, would put him on notice to make sure he washes his hands.

It really depends on which cruise she booked. She can't embark or debark in Canada without one. She won't be able to get across the border. If she embarking and debarking in Seattle then she just needs photo ID and a birth certificate. I wouldn't give her any more advise without getting more information. And really, the PCC should have gone over all this with her when she booked.

You are certainly allowed to be disappointed and have your opinion. But you do sound like a picky eater and can't expect the dining room menus to cater to those specific preferences. My mom is married to a picky eater, and it can be really frustrating for her. For example, she can't order any pre-made meal kits due to them containing ingredients he won't eat. And it's hard for them to eat out at new places for the reasons you have listed, many items don't give detailed descriptions with all the ingredients so he often finds something offending on his plate. It's great that you have someone to travle with who isn't bothered by this.

The critical points here are that the trip was planned 2 years ago AND at the time, the timing wasn't an issue. If my husband and I had planned "of a lifetime" under those conditions, I would also not be ok with him missing it over work. Let alone deciding he couldn't go too close to the trip to get a refund.

OP, you have gotten plenty of good suggestions. There are two sides to every issue. One is that her customers are disappointed they have to get different sweets for Easter. The second is that her family is disappointed she misses half of a family trip. This is simply a question of priorities. While I don’t doubt the dedication she has to this seasonal business; in my mind there shouldn’t be any question about putting family first. She has ample time to make arrangements with her customers.

This assumes that she isn't better than her competitors. Your claim is that she makes the best cakes and sweets. Her customers wouldn't abandon her because she missed one holiday. And frankly, people who use small and locally owned businesses understand that they aren't big corporations that can hire people to work 24/7. It's your money. It strikes me as odd that you would have scheduled a cruise during a holiday if that's her busiest time. It makes me wonder if this business didn't exist 2 years ago when you booked it. She may be taking undue pressure on herself for what seems to be a very seasonal business.

The issue is the number of "hot hands" you might need to bring. If it's one or two packets, no big deal. If you want to bring the big sam's size box, then yes, those take up quite a bit of room. Hot water bottles have been made and used for heating for centuries, not sure why you think a brand new one from a reputable brand would leak. I've used one at home for ourselves. And stayed at a hotel once that didn't have central heat and that's all they used for heat. The one we used at home had a wider screw on lid. We liked it because you could put ice in it to make it a cold pack or hot water in to make it a hot pack.