Chef Heather

Thank you everyone for the help! I will absolutely be calling Regent today, but thought I'd seek your excellent advice while their office was closed 😃

Hi Everyone,

Might sound like a strange question, but does anyone know if Regent would allow you to leave a cruise at an earlier port instead of the final debarkation port?  We are scheduled on a cruise that would end in Istanbul, but would prefer to get off in Athens to fly home.

TIA,

Heather

3 hours ago, Wine-O said:

 

Note that there are 2 terminals in Barcelona, and they are not near each other, so if you decide to fly, make sure you check out what terminal your airline will be at.  🍷

Thanks for the reminder!  We're flying Air France, so I'll make sure to pay attention to that!

51 minutes ago, travelplus said:

 

My policy is to allow a few days before and a night after the cruise due to any delays. For instance we  plan to arrive a  few days before in Barcelona for our Royal Caribbean cruise and then until 5 PM the next night to fly back to California from Tampa after the B2B. Also I booked us on Southwest so just in case we are delayed more than the allotted time I can just rebook  and pay the fare difference.

I always plan for the worst delay possible due to customs or fog. If we arrive on time then we are the last ones off the ship. Customs processing always seems delayed. Once I left the ship in Barcelona for a 10 AM flight and I had to rush off the ship with no time for breakfast and rush to the airport. NEVER AGAIN!

 

 

While I appreciate your info, again I am NOT flying back to the US after this cruise; I am flying from Barcelona to Paris, so no passport, immigration, customs, etc is required for this.

3 hours ago, barbette165 said:

Not relevant to Heather for an intra-Schengen flight to Paris and too late for ghstudio, but if you have a flight from BCN that involves going through passport control (D and E gates), go through security straight away but not passport control until you have to. The facilities in the main departure area (for gates A-C) are far superior. For the nicotine dependent there are also outdoor patio areas where smoking is permitted.

Is there any way of knowing ahead of time for gates?  For what it's worth we would by flying Air France from to BCN to CDG on either the 10:05am or 12:20pm

8 hours ago, ghstudio said:

Off the ship at 6:40 (group2) in taxi with bags at 6:48. Arrived airport at 7:10 after fixed 39 euro fixed price cab ride....no traffic problems.  Arrived gate e77 at 7:45.   Be prepared to walk...long Disney like line to get your luggage checked but it goes quickly...then long walk from immigration to gates.  Only one food shop with long line....but we have over 2 hours to kill anyway.

Thanks gh for the update; great appreciate it!

6 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

We are in group 2 getting off today and have a 10:30 am flight.  If it’s even a little right, I’ll post back later.....

I would be so grateful if you'd update me; we're definitely leaning towards flying to Paris now,  I would really prefer to take the 10:05AM flight, but even though it's not coming back to the US, I'm still nervous that it might be cutting it too close.

Tks,

Heather

Thank you everyone.......just a point to note:

I'm NOT flying back home to the US; just either flying or training from Barcelona to Paris, so the regular international immigration etc. issues shouldn't apply here. But I do agree that cutting it close will prove stressful to me.  

Thank you for the replies........

Just took a quick look at both flights and trains:

Flight out of BCN - 10:05AM (but there is a flight at 12:20PM) - Just would really prefer the earlier

Train out of Barcelona Sants - 9:25AM (otherwise have to spend the night in Barcelona)

I guess neither the airport or train station is not that far.......but I'm nervous about cutting it close?!

If the ship docks at 6 and we can carry our own luggage off, does that mean we could walk off anytime after the ship is cleared?

Thanks again,

Heather

Hi All,

We finish our Med Cruise on Sept. 18th in Barcelona.  I'm in the process of booking either a train or flight to Paris that day.  We dock at 6AM.  Does anyone know what type of "window" I might need to use?  For instance on another cruise our docking time was 8AM but suggested not to make flight arrangements out until after 11AM.

Thanks,

Heather

That is great advice!  I'm avoiding back surgery like the plague and have been wondering the same thing; especially where I could purchase one in Amsterdam since we'll be there 5 days prior.

On a similar note:  does anyone know if some type of body pillow (or very long pillow) is available on the Reflection?  Needed as well for the back problem.  TIA, Heather

Thank you Chezmarylou!  Very helpful 👍

Thank you everyone......so let me see if I have this correct:

Canceling the cruise ahead of time and paid for excursions/dining with credit card, full refund

Canceling the cruise ahead of time and paid with OBC (from the perk) it's lost

What about if going on the cruise, but need to make changes / or cancel excursion/dining with either OBC perk or credit card?

Sorry for redundancy, just want to make sure I understand.

Thanks!

If we had to cancel a cruise scheduled in 2019 that we have a fully refundable deposit on, but already paid for a couple of excursions or specialty dining package, would that be fully refundable as well?  Or would that just be a credit with Celebrity?

Thanks,

Heather

Very good point - thank you

I know they're right near each other but 8215 has the square and triangle (I guess that's sofa bed and upper berth?) whereas 8229 has neither.

Really wasn't sure if it makes a difference; it's just DH and me. Unless someone becomes a bed hog! :D

Thanks for any insight!

Heather

Do you know how it compares to the version I gave the link to?

A friend of mine used the older version (in your link) and it saved her life for cruising (along with her marriage!) - I held out for the newer version which looks very similar to a large "fitbit" - same principle.....works great for me on curvy roads; haven't had the chance to use on ships yet

https://www.reliefband.com/collections/reliefband/products/reliefband®-2-0

definitely is more expensive; unfortunately not really sure of the difference between versions

I highly recommend this https://www.amazon.com/ReliefBand-Motion-Sickness-Device-Batteries/dp/B00VU8XXBE/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1535247833&sr=8-3&keywords=relief+band+motion+sickness&dpID=31y-C8KN2VL&preST=_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

I was once on a tour in a “pirate” boat in the swells; so sick for over an hour; finally someone noticed & gave them their band; within 5 minutes I was perfectly fine & complaining about being starving! Never leave home without it now. There is a newer version also but haven’t tried it.

Hi Kathleen, I agree, I actually do have the newer version (we go to Hawaii a lot and I've used it for the road to hana)....

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking at several cruises that on none of them is a lower deck / midship cabin available; in general, which would be better if I tend to get seasick? And yes, I use either medicine or the relief band, but trying to do prevent :D

1. Lower deck but front or aft cabin

2. Higher deck (possibly pretty high) but mid ship?

I realize this can vary from ship to ship and even possibly location, but any thoughts on the alternative? If it helps, we are looking at cruises with both Celebrity S Class and newer HAL either in the Med or Northern Europe for Sept 2019.

Many thanks,

Heather

We did a BI cruise on Infinity in 2013 as well as stopping in some BI ports on an NCL cruise in 2014. Here are my reviews with details on tours.

 

British Isles

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=221137

 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=264272

Papa, is this the tour you took in Cobh / Cork?

https://www.ecoach.ie/blarney-kinsale-bus-tour.php

One thing that bugs me is all the "just in case" other stuff we pack for each cruise -- the band aids and cough medicine and various types of potions and lotions and pills and pain relievers for all the possible things that might occur from bug bites to diarrhea to a loose crown.

 

We use very little of it on any cruise, if any at all, and end up re-packing it to bring back home, where we end up tossing a lot of it after it passes its expiration date, and then repurchasing it again.

 

It would be nice if there was some kind of communal stash of all that stuff somewhere on the ship so that we would not all need to keep carrying duplicates of the same stuff back and forth for each cruise, but I have no idea of how such a setup might work, or be kept sanitary, or if it would even be legal.

I have stopped bringing stuff that I know they regularly carry on the ship, such as hydrocortisone cream and Nyquil.

But it would be just my luck that if I should ever need it, that will be the time when they will be out of it.

OMG, this is me to a "T"!!! I'm always afraid that there will be that "One" time when I'll need something (desperately) and not be able to find it; so happy to know I'm not the only one who thinks and packs like this ;p

Yes. They will restore it to your account. :cool:

Wonderful! Thanks for letting me know :D

Highly unlikely the price of the packages will go down. If anything they could go up. If you book now and then the price drops you can cancel and rebook.

Even if I'm using OBC, can you cancel and rebook?

Just out of curiosity, we are on a 12 night cruise to the British Isles in July 2019....the specialty dining packages just became available in our cruise planner; thinking about the 4 night at $125 or maybe 5 night at $159. Since our cruise is a little over a year away, are these good prices to book now or should I wait? Thanks, Heather

Anyone know if this same type of hairdryer is on the Reflection?