ECCruise

Should be no problem I would think.

Yes, I remember that you had to cancel. South Africa's position on this is a real problem. Our local health Department also refused to revaccinate us and we were forced to go private.

That's all sounds well and good but South Africa won't budge. And Azamara won't let you board. Just went through all this a couple of months ago. If you want to fight the SA government, have at it. I tried, and have multiple emails from the Ministry of Health, but the fight wasn't worth it. And I wanted to be able to board.

Yes, and they are non-negotiable on it. And Azamara followed the directive. Either you had a YF vax within the last 10 years or a current exemption, you could not board the ship.

We did, but we were in the opposite direction. Since we visited The Gambia and Senegal first, South Africa required YF vax if previous jab was over 10 years ago. If you are headed north, that will not be an issue unless you enter South Africa from a country they consider a hot spot, and then you will need one.

The ports are the same. US passport holders, we did not need to secure any visas prior to sailing.

I have to agree. Old thread or not, it gets annoying people telling me "you are on vacation" when we absolutely are not. There are 6-8 month periods when we are away far longer than we are at home, and that time would look very similar to when we are home. We don't eat any more, drink any more or have that many different daily routines, except in a different part of the world. Which often include, BTW, television.

That definitely sounds like the Starlink speeds we were getting on both Quest and Pursuit in the last 6 months or so. The old antenna, which is what they used for the standard package on Pursuit (and on Quest when Starlink connectivity was spotty) was generally between 300-400kbs. And those 2-3mps speeds were enough to power Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Zoom, etc. Yes, there were spotty periods but were fine on those platforms for probably 70 days or so of the 80 days we were on those 2 ships.

Thanks for so many great pictures. We will be on Oosterdam in Ushuaia February 27 and on Quest starting March 6.

~500 days with =X= over the last 20= years. We started to migrate away (although we had 4 still booked) a couple of years ago when we felt that it no longer matched our cruising interests (E class left us ice cold). Since then we've done ~150 days on Azamara, a bit less on HAL, 1 sailing on Oceania (after 7 O cruises it will be our last) and 1 Princess down under for the itinerary and pricing (way less than =X= for a suite). We feel the Retreat prices border on the insane (and we've sailed =X= suites a number of times before the price skyrocketed. But going forward, have a good many Azamara booked (our first choice) 3 HAL (which we have a new affinity for) a Princess because of a Northern Lights itinerary, and a Swan Hellenic Antarctica expedition). We do have 1 Millennium B2B in early 2025 at a really good price (which has now more than doubled, taking it far out of what we would ever consider). We still have a very warm feeling for Celebrity after all these years, and rue that they will never be the same way again, unfortunately.

I like that. People always say "How was your vacation?" and we think (but don't say) it's not a vacation, it's just a different place to explore.

Since we don't drink any more alcohol on a cruise than we do at home, plus one cappuccino mid morning, we never get close.

Honestly, that is really the only way to handle it.

Good that it seems to be restored.

5 MPS is fine for streaming and video at least in SD and probably in HD, actually. We've done hundreds of hours of Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc. on ships (obviously on StarLink) at speeds between 4 and 5 mps. It is probably not enough for 4K, but that never was a big deal with us.

It is on that form. USD$26.95 with 2 departure times.

Because the band there has a restricted and defined play list. They cannot play what they want.

Even though our loyalty status and usual cabin class would put us at the front, we definitely do not want the Oceania program that lots of things are based on cabin class. We believe everyone should have the same shot at specialty dining.

Here is our experience(s) this year with Starlink. When it was first introduced, the $19.95 per day service was 2-3 MPS in May on Quest. Fine for streaming. When we sailed Pursuit last month, we found that they have throttled back the speed for the $19.95 per day (maybe 300-400 kbs) which is fine for normal email, browsing, etc. but not for streaming. You'll need to add the faster speed at $7.95 per day to ramp up to the 2-3 MPS speeds. With the Circle loyalty discounts (which only apply to the basic package, not the upgrade) we still think it's a pretty decent deal for acceptable access.

The upgrade process has been active for the last 6 weeks or so. If there is availability, it will be offered to you via email shortly before your embarkation date. It is a bid process, as before, with a minimum and recommended bid. Not sure whether the $$$ was too rich for most people's blood, since there were lots of suites available on our November and December sailings. And they got rid of those with bingo, spa and shops raffles.

You won't see it until you sign on the first time and it is offered as an option.

The OBC for shore excursions will likely roll over. The other benefits of an Experience More package will not roll over (e.g. Premium Drink Package).

The proof was the passport. Same last name. It was produced. End of discussion.

The proof is screaming loud and hard. Did you read the OP's post?

The Grand Voyages allow you to book the package of multiple cruises with one deposit, but really steep (anywhere from $3500 to $5000 for the first deposit + $2500 to $4000 for the second deposit) for non-suites and basically double the first deposit for suites.