sanger727

To me, this wouldn't be an issue. she offers a product for sale. Taking sales and not fulfilling them would disappoint her customers. Advising her customers many months ahead that she will be unavailable for Easter orders might be a little disappointing but would certainly give them time to make other arrangements. But it seems to be an issue to your wife and you seem to be ok with that. So the only thing left is to reschedule the cruise.

This is still several months away. Why not take on an assistant in the meantime that she can teach the recipes to? If this business is so important to her that she would rather miss a cruise than disappoint her customers, having someone to assist if there is an illness or injury would be a good investment.

You also don't have to pre-plan this if you are looking for transportation only. When you get off the ship there are a number of local boat/tour companies where you can purchase transportation. As stated, they ferry you by boat to a different port where the buses can pick you up. They drive you to Oia. You are on your own, and then they have a pickup point with buses that take you back to Thira. You then have to take the donkey or cable car back down.

When we cruised from Hawaii to Vancouver on Celebrity there were several "classes" that took multiple days. So for example, a Hula class that met several days in a row to learn a longer hula dance. One of the classes that a friend of mine did was a watercolor painting class. Same thing, met every day at a certain time to continue working on their painting. I am pretty positive that was free. But I could see them charging for something like that in the future.

I know. I was just pointing out that a "real ID" actually can require more documentation than an "enhanced driver's license"

I've never found a cruise ship mattress so hard that I needed to bring my own topper. And the cruise line might provide them upon request. For the heating, I would bring a hot water bottle. It would be easy to pack and there should be hot water available in the buffet.

We don't offer "Enhanced drivers license" in Ohio; but the "Real ID" actually required more documentation than a passport. In additional to proving identity and citizenship, we had to provide current bills to prove residence in Ohio.

This is definitely an IT glitch, not intended design. So you MAY be able to, but don't count on it. The internet plan will allow e-mail and imessaging to other iphones. You won't be able to "text" non-iphones like your normally would. That uses cell service only, not internet. You could use whatsapp or facebook messenger instead.

We did a 2 or 3 day stay in Tokyo on our own ahead of a group tour. There are plenty of hotel rooms and options to book local tours on your own. We also got a Japan guidebook and got around our own using the subway system there. It's a little intimidating at first, but its easy to use.

I side with using your driver's license and birth certificate. As others have stated, if there is only one stop in Canada, the chances of having to leave the ship their and fly home are very remote.

Wasn't trying to offend. the question asked was how to know if it was daytime. That seemed equally obvious. It seems that people are attached to the idea of the sun waking them up. I've worked on and off nights during my career so would keep windows completely covered up so I can sleep during the day. Letting the sun wake you up isn't that big of a deal to leave the TV on all night.

I don't think this is as much of an issue as you are making it out to be. We sail in inside rooms often. You will eventually wake up, whether light is coming into the room or not. A quick glance at your phone or a clock will tell if you if its daytime or not. If you need to be up by a certain time, just set an alarm.

The economics of spa products are completely different than alcohol. Alcohol is purchase in bulk, relatively cheaply, and resold at a huge profit. And even then, you are talking about $60-$70 per day to allow for unlimited drinks that are most likely $10-$15. The spa uses products and hog an hour or more of employee time and a spa room. They would have to charge much more of a premium to allow unlimited use. Even if you were to use a similar price increase to an alcohol package, you would be looking at $600-$700 a day.

Also keep in mind that consumer protection laws vary by country as well. In the US we have very poor consumer protection laws. Essentially, you are on your own to protect your vacation investment with travel insurance. There were numerous times during the COVID cancellations and travel agencies going out of business that it was brought up that UK customers were protected and guaranteed refunds. That doesn't exist in the US. US customers were at the mercy of what the cruise line offered, and if a compnay went out of business they were out of luck.

I hope you called Expedia before you did this. The last time I booked a cruise through them there was a fee if you cancelled - not from the cruise line but from them. They had it buried deep in their fine print. Of all the ways to book a cruise, Expedia is not one that I would suggest.

Exactly. If you "fall off" a cruise ship you were either drunk or trying to hurt yourself. Either way, you won't have a sharp enough mind/survival instinct to keep "tips" in mind.

Prepaid gratuities are something that you ask for and pay for before the cruise. If you were to order them and not pay them, the cruise line could interpret that as an unpaid balance and cancel your cruise. I’ve heard of that happening on one cruise line specifically over transfers. if you want to use OBC, don’t ask for prepay. They will charge daily gratuities to your account onboard and your OBC will go towards it.

I really can't see why anyone would find it fun to win a game like this through cheating.

My point of view of this is from working in law enforcement. It is common when accidents happen for someone to stop and "help" and then stay until the situation is resolved. Whether they feel a sense of responsibility for witnessing it or curiosity. I've never walked up to someone who was on-scene before me and say that they could/should leave (assuming they aren't being disruptive). We get there and handle the response, if the person chooses to stay, that's on them. That was how I read OP's post. Less that no one from NCL's crew took over and handled the response. More that she expected someone to take over what she was doing and tell her to be on her way. I certainly could have misinterpreted it.

This strikes me as a highly personal thing. To physically hold someone and try to comfort them. Alot of people might appreciate that. Many would also not, me being one. I personally would be taken aback by a stranger whether guest or crew, touching me outside of providing medical assistance. I'm not sure that expecting crew to "relieve" you in this duty is reasonable. They could be accused of groping or taking advantage of the person while injured.

It really can be amazing how differently two people experience packing. I agree with @Silkroad. @cw2go's list doesn't sound that different than mine. But in mine it weights 40 pounds and takes up a large suitcase. A friend I travel with always appears to me to pack more than I do, but hers is 20 pounds and fits in a large carry on. Not sure how the physics on that work. Now, I can probably fill half of your under the seat bag with medications between the daily prescriptions I take (in a weekly pill box, but you still need multiple weeks for a long trip) and every over the counter known to man. I've tried shopping for OTCs in a foreign country where you can't speak the language and its a little scary.

Except anecdotal advice is often the worst kind of advice. "I could do you it, so you should be able to also" completed ignores all relevant facts.

Charging the same for two guests as one is standard. Occasionally they have sales to reduce the rate of a single, but if the cruise is selling well, there's really no reason to. It's not that they don't want singles. They just want to sell every berth. Outside of single cabins, every cabin can hold at least two berths, so why give that away for a lower price.

I think this is the core of the negative comments. Not that the OPs son doesn't have a legitimate medical condition that requires these items. But she expects carnival to source them even if their current contracts don't offer it. She specifically said that she expected that the items to be available upon boarding and that on other cruise lines they were in their cabin upon boarding. So clearly, not brought with them. Dietary restrictions/allergies are typically based around what you don't eat - meat, fish, dairy, etc; and offering alternatives. This would be akin to saying that you are lactose intolerant, but will drink nothing except vanilla flavored almond milk made by a specific company. Then claiming they can't accommodate you because they offer regular almond milk. Not dictating what you do eat to a single flavor of a single brand that Carnival may not be able to get from their providers. Expecting them to source a new supplier for a single cruiser is unreasonable. Offering to bring their own food and expecting Carnival to allow it on and help them to store is safely is.

Are you doing a viking river or ocean cruise? We did a river cruise (not on viking) and our experience was that the ship's services really revolved around the port times. Some people stayed on the ship during a couple excursions but it was really just to take a nap in their room or relax on the sundeck. There wasn't any thing "to do" during those times. Even on an ocean cruise, very few activities are scheduled in the middle of the day while the ship is in port. We have found that between a sea day or two, plus evenings on the ship; we have more than enough time to enjoy the ship amenities and prefer to spend most of the port days in port.