bap335i

Cruise Director is Angela Clark.  She just joined on 1/29 so will still be there in March.  She was fantastic.

When I have used FBC there is an option to pay at final payment or pay now.  Checking the box to pay later adds it to final payment.  I assume you have three parties involved now - Celebrity, TA, and airline.  The airline probably has your money, Celebrity was just the cost aggregator..  Good luck.  It is largely a good program if you book flights you would normally take, not so good if you book an unfamiliar airline with seat fees and other unexpected rules.  In this case it sounds like your TA did not choose wisely.  You can potentially unwind it if was a cancellable/refundable fare.  Fares can change daily so your cost may be different.

I booked FBC for a Greece cruise in October.  The outgoing flight was Delta and I could book seats.  The return flight was on Air Canada and I could not select seats until paid in full.  I contacted FBC and got out of that set of flights to a better option for both ends using Delta and Air France.  Both allowed me to select seats.  The primary benefit of FBC for me is it is refundable, and Delta clearly shows that.  If I see a better deal between now and next October I can cancel and book the new flight.  Think of it as price hedging.  If I could not select seats in advance I would not book the flight.  So for those keeping score at home Air Canada does not allow you to book seats in advance, Delta, Air France, and KLM do.  

We took the bus to FLL last January because we had OBC to burn.  I would not recommend.  I don't think there were actual chickens on the bus but it had that sort of 3rd world feel.  Sat for a long time, getting dropped off at the airport was chaos.  Uber or taxi is the way.

Cruise demographics are a part of this.  Hard to picture passengers on any of the Celebrity cruises I have been on willing to pay a premium for the waterpark or the adventure sports.  At 66 I was in the lower third of the age demographic on our Equinox cruise in February.  On our Harmony of the Seas cruise with my grandchildren in March I was at the upper end of the age demographics.  Almost zero kids in February, nearly half of the ship in March.   We did have a fantastic time on Coco Cay with my family.  Also had a fantastic time on Equinox.  Totally different cruises for a totally different audience.

In many cases you can now renew a passport online.  For people that travel outside of the US it is just basic blocking and tackling to renew a passport at a time when you don't need to present it and before it expires.  

I just booked tickets today through Flights by Celebrity on Delta.  Had to take the booking number and add it but it is in my account and let me choose my seats.  

Thank you for everyone who participated in this thread.  Very helpful to hear the compliments, criticism, and the 'thinking out loud' of people who cruise Celebrity and just trying to make a good decision.  Before this thread we cancelled a February 6 Edge cruise, and have a final payment due in two weeks for an April cruise.  A lot of viewpoints expressed here that will help with decision making for the next few months.  Good luck to all who participated from the ship getting home and thank you to everyone else who added their comments.  One of the most calm and rational threads I have read on Cruise Critic discussing a serious topic. 

10 minutes ago, bstrong3 said:

I will be on the Feb 19, 2021 equinox cruise to ABC and have also had an itinerary change. They switched the order we are visiting and shortened Bonaire (2-10). We where looking forward to renting a full day on the golf carts but with the change it screws us. 😠 They also said it was from port congestion.

Well shoot, that was the cruise I was going to change to.  

I talked to a Celebrity Vacation Planner today and it sounds like it is just the January 21, 2021 cruise that is affected.  Plenty of time to change.  I was looking forward to a day in a golf cart in Bonaire, but may have to rethink that with a 2:00PM arrival.  

The note said due to potential berthing issues and port congestion.  I interpreted that as too many ships for the port to handle.  I couldn't find the site I have used in the past that listed the ships and number of passengers in port, but what I could find just had one other ship on 2/4/21, the original date.  Mostly just curious, Curacao wasn't a deal breaker.  The new itinerary gets us into Bonaire at 2:00PM, leaving at 10:00PM, so hard to plan with a late start.

I am on the January 29, 2021 Equinox cruise to the ABC islands.  Celebrity sent an email today letting me know they were dropping Curacao, adding Key West and changing the arrival time for Aruba and Bonaire.  As far as I can tell there is only one other ship currently scheduled for Curacao on the original scheduled date.  Curious if this is due to proximity to Venezuela, dissatisfaction with Curacao, or an attempt to cheapen my ABC cruise to just AB?

On the Equinox a few weeks ago I used an HDMI cable I brought and a Samsung remote I had at home.  I needed to restart my Mac before it could see the output to the TV.  It was as simple as most described.  I am reasonably sure the ship equipment was using a serial interface, not HDMI.  I would expect this to be different coming out of dry dock.  

Disembarking in Miami last week was not smooth.  Next time, if I had a flight to catch, regardless of port, I would carry luggage off.  I was not in a huge hurry so it was fine, but it seemed a bit chaotic and we didn't get off the ship until 9:45.  

9 minutes ago, PelicanLvr said:

OP - You will be fine.  ...BUT the more you think about it, the more likely it will be an issue!

 

Go and enjoy your cruise!!!

This!

We booked for 2020 aboard the Equinox last week and it was a very positive experience.  I knew exactly what I could book online and took my laptop with me.  So comparing apples to apples on the same 1A Veranda cabin, booking onboard was worth an additional $150 in OBC for the 2020 cruise, a reduced deposit of $200, and a reduced rate by about $200.  This was a 55+ and a Captains Club discount rate which should have been available online but the rates were different.  I think I could have made the deposit refundable, but then my wife might cancel.  So my experience was simple and straight forward.  The deck I wanted was sold out but when I got home my first choice cabin was open.  A call to Celebrity and I was moved without any hassle.  To date, through three cruises, I have had excellent customer service from Celebrity.

Last week we had everything from 1-2 meters consistently to a little bigger - maybe 3 meters at most.  I don't think the waves caused any motion that was noticeable.  The wind, on the other hand, caused some slight rocking.  Felt more in the theater or in the Oceanview Cafe, so way low and up high.  My wife is very susceptible to motion and it has not been a problem for her.  

We were on the Equinox last week and they have the cut up cooked potatoes as their main breakfast offering and typically had the triangle hash browns that were closer to the frozen Ore-Ida version.  They were harder to find and were not in the same place each day.  I don't believe you will find the shredded potato version like you might at a good steak house, or Dennys.  As a footnote, we discovered breakfast in the main dining room this cruise and it was a much better experience than wandering around the buffet and eating cold sausage and eggs.  The typical Marriott breakfast items were on the menu, but not the unique international items in the buffet.  Like fried toast - who knew that was a thing?  Although I did like them, I wasn't sure it was a healthy choice.

We were on the Equinox last week and everybody other than Captain Kate offered to upsell us a drink package.  We already had premium but there was no discount mentioned.  The dining packages were heavily sold (Captain Kate may have tried to sell us one of those) especially Sushi on 5.  As far as I could tell there was no availability after 5:30 and before 9 for the in demand venues, so it would depend on what you would consider a normal dining time.  Other than first night dining, Sushi on 5 and Silk Harvest there was no mention of discounts.  At one point I was told that I could buy Sushi on 5 for whatever I would offer.  My wife hates sushi.  If you want a dining package and wish to eat at a reasonable time you should book well ahead of your embarkation date.

Minnesota is a non-compliant state and we can continue to use existing ID's until January, 2018. The original date was January, 2016 and the request for an extension was turned down, but the date pushed out two years. So not an official extension, just delayed enforcement I guess.