sea_loving_couple

the only issue I have ever had was pickup from port miami, I got like 5 lifts and none of them could "find" me. The port was dead that day no idea why. Had to get a regular cab which there are plenty of.

should not be a problem, ride share is cheaper and I enjoy lyft when travelling

curious what is average cost from FLL to Miami port? I can't just be 15 a person can it? I usually fly directly to MIA but it has been costly this time.

stay with celebrity. We did 2 cruises with celebrity then tired NCL, entertainment was good, food was horrible, drinks were good, flooding in our room was really bad. THey did not comp us anything did not help we were stuck in a moldy room whole time and I missed 1/2 day excurssion because they misplaced my wallet while trying to save their furnature. Celebrity would have handled this better by far. I did not feel like anyone cared there. Will never do again.

Thanks for the info! I also booked a snokeling excursion in Paradise Cove Grand Bahama, it's supposed to be a great natural reef so excited for that too. Was on the fense about booking an excusion at Stirrip Cay, maybe for us that will be a "beach day"

Hi all of you that have been to Great Stirrup Cay. Do you need to book a snorkling excursion to go snorkeling at the private island. We were looking at the sculpture reef and it says its open to all without the excision. We have our own snorkel gear and were wondering if there were any accessible spots that we need to pay for. If not that's fine we will book the excision just looking for clarification on what you can do there without booking an official excision!

So of we stayed in the bricknell area would wd be in the action so to speak? Looking for a genuine miami expirience lol.

Want to stay a little closer to port this time we stayed in southbeach last time and first time was in coral gables but boh a bit far from the ports.

Hey all, in a month we will be staying in MIA for 3rd time. The first two times are hit and miss for us. We found a great little hotel in south beach last time, but we want something closer to the cruise ports. One time we stayed on the highway and it sucked. I'm not looking for anything expensive. We are looking to stay in Miami for two days, 1 day before cruise and 1 day after cruise. Any suggestions on a great moderately priced hotel? I want something close to the ports as last time cab fare was expensive going across town. But we like miami and want to be in the action. Any ideas?

OMG I posted wrong board thanks!

Hey all, in a month we will be staying in MIA for 3rd time. The first two times are hit and miss for us. We found a great little hotel in south beach last time, but we want something closer to the cruise ports. One time we stayed on the highway and it sucked. I'm not looking for anything expensive. We are looking to stay in Miami for two days, 1 day before cruise and 1 day after cruise. Any suggestions on a great moderately priced hotel? I want something close to the ports as last time cab fare was expensive going across town. But we like miami and want to be in the action. Any ideas?

DH was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, he has 30 mets on liver.

Sorry to hear that. Having gone through this just last January with a family member with liver and pancreatic cancer. If you want to go, go now, don't wait pack up and go. Have them pick the location. Things will get in the way if you don't go early and your loved one may not go.

After having to cancel our Celebrity cruise over the Holiday we just booked our first NCL cruise for Jan.15. A 5 nighter to the Bahamas. Seemed relatively cheap and excited to see what the NCL sky has to offer.

Thanks for the great infomation. It seems I had a discount applyed when I booked the conceige class room. It seems that we had a cash discount on previous cruise but not this one. all other perks carried over. The agent over phone was useless. I am going to a TA this weekend. If the ship is running a Book on board promotion at the time, would the cash discount carry over? I am going to go through my documentation and see, I believe I have the flyer stating this.

I am a litle miffed, as I have 3 more cruises booked with great discounts, this starts hurting my loyalty

why not? I would doubt they would turn you away with a T shirt, I see people with hawaiian shirts and golf shirts all the time in the restaurants. Maybe Blu or a specialty may but I doubt they would turn any guest away. I wouldn't sweat it.

does anyone know what line item: YHH3-GBE FREE FCR is, this seems to be the only line item missing? My OBC carried over just it seems the savings from booking on board did not.

Hi all,

I have a dilema. I booked an Eastern Carribean cruise with a sailing date of Dec 2017 last year (dec 2016) while on our yearly cruise. as we have done previously. The payment came do over last weekend. Unfortunately due to the hurricanes we felt like we wanted to forgo travelling this year and move our booking to 2018. Originally when we booked on board this was not an issue and we would retain all perks etc. I called in during a power outage locally so didn't have my notes but was told that this was indeed the case and they moved my booking out a year. Which seemed fine at the time. They informed me that there is a price difference between the two bookings and I would have to pay the difference. Fine they are two itineraries I get that. I could keep the same room even so that's a plus.

When I recieved the paperwork email the next day I was shocked to find out there was a huge price variation between the bookings.

My orignial booking had

Fare

Savings category of 252.00CAD

YHH3-GBE FREE FCR -780CAD

450CAD OBC

promotions:

OB- Sale 6t09N

GO better BEVOBC

SAVINGS

New booking now has:

FARE

450CAD OBC

promotions:

OB- Sale 6t09N

GO better BEVOBC

here is the kicker. The newer cruse has a lower base fare, butt I am missing the YHH30GBE FREE FCR and savings line items making the cruise way more expensive. Should this be intact or can they remove certain promotions when you move bookings in this way? I was not informed this at time I changed my itinerary. I am confused and I feel misled because if I knew these line items would save me almost 1000CAD I would have kept the original cruise.

How should I go about handling this? I have another booking for an Australian cruise at same time and this would be a 3rd time return customer. Do i have any standing to complain and see if they can make it right or was I confused and should expect to have these items removed? It just seemed counter to what I have been told by celebrity in past although never actually changed a booking before.

Any help would be appreciated, planning on phoning soon to complain.

Actually vendors wern't too bad. When you go with Celebrity they have great tour operators.

When we went to Chacchoben Ruins + Dzibanche there were vendors in front of park, they would ask nicely if you wanted anything. Nothing pushy, the guide would push them off. The tour guides did try to sell some items to you, but you could politely say no. Nothing too intrusive.These are national parks, I would assume most vendors have to be tourist friendly to set up shop there.

When we went to Tulum in Cozumel, there were vendors dressed up in costumes wanting to take photos, that was it. Unfortunately, the trip involves a 40 minute ferrie ride where there were multiple vendors on boat. Celebrity can't control this it was a public boat. But it wasn't horrible and vendors were polite.

Hi There,

We have been to Cozumel twice and Costa Maya ports once in our travels. My gf is a Anthropologist specializing in the Maya so she likes to visit the ruins every chance she gets.

Costa Maya is a small port and not much action. They do have incredible sites for ruins and the jungle is beautiful. We opted not to do Chichen Itza and from other travellers I have spoken to they have agreed. Its 7.5 drive and 30 minutes to see this site. I would rather spend much of a day there, this one is still on our list.

Instead, We opted for Chacchoben Ruins + Dzibanche Ruins excursion they are truly spectacular as part of an excursion. The temple of the masks is wonderful. they allow you to climb the structures which are several stories high and its fantastic. There are noticibly less people there and if you do any ruins these are a must in costa maya.

In Cozumel, a year later, Dec 2016, its more of a tourist port, We did check out Tulum since it is the only site on a cliff. There were lots of structures, and a huge crowd of people. I was a bit disappointed as this seemed way more busy then costa maya. The views are spectacular but for me there were too many people there to enjoy it fully. Although I would still recommend you check it out it is spectacular.

Definately recommend Costa Maya sites we visited. amazing.

.

Hi everyone, I grandchild (30) would like to maybe take my grandfather who is a spry 80 year old who loves people and nature out on a cruise next year and i am having trouble finding something he would enjoy.

Long story short is he has been taking care of my grandmother for many years and she is at end stage alsheimers. He has been a shut in for a few years and does not leave her. She is probably going to a long term facility soon and he will need a vacation as I fear he may be severly depressed.

He needs this, and I want to find a great itinerary where he can actually do some low impact activities at some of the ports. I was thinking New england cruise but he has seen all of the east coast. I'm thinking maybe a nice river cruise or something. He loves nature, gambling, and horse racing. He can walk but he can't hike long distances and he needs to take breaks fairly often. But he is pretty spry for 80 and does not need assistance with much.

Any suggestions? Would really apreciate it. I think we are going to be me, gf, my mom and him. My dad does not like water so he wont go. So 4 seems to be a magic number for cruising anyway.

Book now, most booking policies are flexible and you can opt out before a certian time. I would get a good room now, vs later. If you decide not to go then just cancel, no questions asked.

Congrats! Celebrity is awesome. We went on our first cruise and "LOVED IT" we are going again in 30 days.

My advise, dont worry about much until you get there, everything works out.

You will have fun. Yes, make it well known you are on your honey moon. They will make your days extra special!

Also did you know, that if you go to their travel people they can arrange private shore excursions? anyway I digress.

Dining:

With your fare, the dining is included in main room. Depending on your class its either the main dining room or blu specialty room. You can reserve a specific time or go ad hock. We always due the casual dining as we never know when we are on the ship.

Food is awsome and I love the dining room. You do have to share tables sometimes but its fun to have table mates.

The dining room is fine dining and menu changes every day or night. I usually get breakfast there and some dinners.

To be honest, I like a lot of different food, and I have some food concerns.The best place for us is the buffet which is stunning on constellation class ships. Food is same as in their restaurants and you get a variety of stuff and its a bit faster if in a hurry. We tend to eat at off hours when the buffet is empty.

Specialty dinining:

Specialty restaurants cost money but you can buy a package. The food is amazing there and you can 100% walk in anywhere. The food is great. We at at the bistro one night and it was a 5 course meal and absolutely wonderful. If your a foodie get the package.

Drink packages:

This is an interesting subject and there is a science to this according to some poeple. All lines are are unclear on website. I was scared on my first cruise but pricing isnt that bad. If you dont get a drink package you basically get tap water. Not recommended.

You can buy onboard. They have sheets explaining what is what very clearly when you arrive. We usually do as they have sales sometimes. You can buy per day if you want. However you should state that you only want x amount of days before hand its assumed you buy for the cruise duration.

Really for us there are a few options that work. We are not HUGE alcohol concourses and I am more of a Hineken/corona guy. We are going to opt twice for the "classic" package. it seems to give us what we want for best price.

The reason we did this is becuase it gives us access to many mixed drinks, a fine selection or beer for me and gives us a lot of non-alcholoic options including specialty (starbucks style) coffee from coffee bar. (important to me) .

My expireince with this package, you can get basically any drink you want with a decent quality of alcholol. No One ever told me no you cant have that. Mind you if you only require kettle one or expensive alcohol go premium and enjoy.

Here is a comparision of the alchohol you get with classic vs premium.

https://secure.celebritycruises.com/celebrity/media/celebrity/shared_assets/pdf/Classic-Premium-Bev-Pckgs.pdf

Be careful though as the preimum may lack some options like specialty coffee, read fine print.

There is also wine specific packages available.

Hope this helps, and enjoy your Celebrity Cruise

Oh you will have fun! I booked my first cruise last year and now I am addicted. Enjoy yourselves and you will probably be booking another one next year!

Coming from another couple in thieir 20's and I who absolutely need to get the best service and encounter I have for everything. I booked Celebrity last year and never looked back.

I was very nervous about the price but the food, service, and quality of the people working there was 11 out of 10. Absolutly wonderful. The cabins were also quiet at night and there were parties on the deck every night if you were interested.

I would highly recommend checking out Celebrity for first cruise. Even if it means slightly shorter you get more for your money.

You dont want to have a bad expirience for your first cruise.

I believe there are shuttles available probably at low cost. I stayed overnight in a hotel last year and they had a free shuttle. Taxi are fairly expensive but you can get to the port for 20-30 dollars.

Well, this whole stress was caused by a glitch I think with the choiceair flights. a few flights were removed for a few days but the flight that I wanted came back and I was able to book it. I think price difference was like 50$ more then what I previously saw. I get to go out of TO instead of BUF as well which is a bonus.

Is it normal for flights to disappear from choice air? I am stuck getting a different flight as the flight I looked at two weeks ago that seemed perfect and worked best for us disappeared and I now only have 1 flight option out of a previous 6.

I am assuming 5 flights didn't book up is it normal for flights to get cancelled? There is a massive price difference now from what I previously looked at. Our last cruise we booked a week before the cruise and it wasn't that expensive.

Flying out of TO to Ft Lauderdale in Dec.

What is your strategy for booking flights. It seemed everything got drastically more expensive once final payment went in. But I did not want to book a non-refundable flight before my cruise final payment and now I feel like I have been penalized for it.