Travelling2Some

These are well-traveled adults. They are not helpless children and cruise lines are not babysitters. Most of the general public knows zero about cruising and the media is capitalizing on that to sensationalize the story.

Gee, kind of like the way they will confiscate liquor so they can sell it to you for only $59 a day per person;) Try that at a hotel on land!

Of course, but it is not possible to discuss future procedures. We can only report experiences in the recent past. 911 was horrific for those of us in Manhattan that morning.

This. We were given a separate piece of paper to keep in our passports during our time in Israel. We were told not to loose it as we would need to present it on departure. This was to avoid having our passports stamped.

Yup, my kids taught me that kind of thing. I would be writing it down but they are so used to doing everything on their phones and say to just take a picture of it. Very handy . . . now if I can just figure out where the phone stored that dang photo . . .

Well, you've got those pants taken care of by Lands End. Maybe consider a pair of steel toed shoes in case the "fancy dancers" incident repeats. Things I have refused to do since I turned 50: Homework, jogging, cheap wine, weird health food, uncomfortable clothing.

I have the same attitude. You have to use your judgement, understand how far away from the port you are going, how reliable the tour operator is and how easy or difficult it would be for you to get to the next port should you need to. I'm not going 2 or 3 hours away from the ship with a newbie tour guide in a developing nation when the port stop is followed by several sea days. You just have to have some common sense.

Ha ha, now you'd have to pay for a suite to get the bathtub, lol. Imagine your room steward's surprise.

Hey, if the drink package prices keep going up some enterprising types might start bringing stills. Not me, of course . . .

Yes, the woman was a quilter and going on a cruise with a lot of sea days. They do make mini sewing machines that are very portable. I wonder if it was confiscated or not.

I am not making this up (in spite of the date): There was a thread on CC about a year ago on people renting recliners. It is apparently a "thing" as some folks have some disability that makes it difficult for them to sleep laying flat. It was discussed for several pages. I am still trying to think of a reason someone would bring lawn sprinklers. Maybe they are on the snowbird cruise from Canada to Florida and they have a beach house in Florida? Maybe some strange items are gifts for people they are visiting? Who knows.

Our family is part Asian and I will never forget the face one of my daughters made the first time she tasted Minute Rice. She also announced that whatever that stuff is they serve at school is NOT rice after a few days of Kindergarten. My dad was born in Ireland and he could look over a holiday table laden with 35 different dishes and immediately complain that there were no potatoes. Essentials vary from one person to another for sure.

I think you've hit on part of the explanation for odd or cooking items here. People may be bringing things they intend to use in hotels on a land extension of their trip. Also, many first time cruisers just have no idea of what is not allowed and/or what they will have no use for on a ship. My neighbor just told us he is going on his first cruise and, believe me, he did not read anything, never mind the fine print. He's a very nice guy but tends to be a bit out to lunch in general. I don't think there is any shortage of that, lol.

Exactly this. We go on two different kinds of cruises. We could care less about Caribbean ports but will sometimes book a mid-winter break from the New York weather. BUT a cruise in Europe or Asia is a whole different thing. These trips are much more expensive and involve extensive planning so, yes, we do care a great deal about the ports in those cases. We have adopted the same way of dealing with NCL. We only book our less important cruises with them now because they have been too unreliable on our last three cruises with them.

That's great! Same thing happened to us a few years ago. We were upgraded at the last minute from an inside to an Aqua suite. It was an itinerary that included ports in Israel. I think because they had lots of church groups who likely didn't want to be separated. So I'm guessing they moved some of the "independents" around to accommodate them.

Thanks, everyone. I will give it a go.

We have not sailed Celebrity for a few years and do not remember the specifics. We were in Aqua last time and this time are just in a regular cabin. We have the flexible dining but would like to make some dinner reservations (at all different times, not a single time every night). Is this possible? Will it help to avoid waits or is it unnecessary? We are on the Constellation in Europe in May. Thank you.

Very true. BUT sometimes you are deciding between several options and the choice of entertainment will factor into which ship/line you will book. And if you decided on a particular ship and perhaps even paid more for it as opposed to other choices you considered, you might just be a teeny bit peeved.

Yup, just like when they told us that they were ditching Costa Rica and substituting Alcapulco (Level 4 - do NOT travel per the State Department) "for our safety". They obviously think the passengers are idiots.

We were on a land trip, not a cruise, but we saw cruise ships tied up in this exact place, which is ideally located adjacent to Mallory Square. Really couldn't ask for a better location!

That first day is rough. You keep looking for the buffet and hoping someone will wait on you or at least bring you a drink 😞

Great! Cruise/restaurant food is salty so some of the gain is water. I've had very good results from intermittent fasting combined with Keto. Keto drastically reduces appetite after the first few days, which makes it very easy not to eat. Although I suspect it will not work for emotional eaters because they will eat when they are not hungry. BTW, I was very happy to see how small the portions are on Celebrity. I like to try things but I don't want the calories or the waste if I don't like it.

I have friends that want to know too!

Only had what you are describing happen once maybe 4 years ago and I cannot recall the airline. I thought it was ridiculous and just re-booked a non-stop. We almost always fly Delta. Maybe this is more common on AA.

Based on your remarks, I think you will like NCL. It hits the nice middle ground between stuffy and crazy and steers clear of redneck, lol.