cmaleblanc

Does AMEX do this every time? I don't have an AMEX, I have the Passport, it has no FX fees, but I also have them charge in the local currency regardless so we get the rate from the bank, instead of the rate from the teller to the US, and than our Bank from the US to Canada.

I'm not shocked so many of my fellow Newfoundlanders made it to the same ship, I was just surprised at both the response from the cruise line AND the media. Granted I wasn't on the cruise but I know a few people who had been. It was nice to see the cruise line acknowledge so many and I'm sure people would enjoy a good old kitchen party! Being here now, we can expect winter for another few weeks. In fact, the Northern Part of the Province may receive up to 25cm of snow this weekend. So lots of Newfoundlanders like to get out of the winter weather, to the point that many travel companies have a specific discount for our province to get people on boats! It was funny to see the news spread locally on Social media as friends shared pictures, only to turn on the news one night to find it being reported nationally. At least it was some fun news in an otherwise dark news cycle.

What benefits are you getting for the fees? We would transfer TA's if they started to charge us for anything. But, maybe they are offering extras. Do you get it back in OBC after booking, for example? Our TA responds the same day or within 24hrs if they aren't in the office. We've never had an issue contacting them when we needed something, and we get a reasonable OBC when booking with them for No additional costs to us. Not to mention much cheaper than booking direct with the cruise line. They would have to be offering me something way above and beyond your typical TA to justify extra costs, if they are just charging to charge, I would skip on out of that place and find myself someone new. Lots of TA's out looking for new clients and are happy to work without charging the extra charges ontop.

When we travel I ask myself, "Would I like to spend time in <<Country Names>> prison for drug trafficking, instead of being on the ship?" My answer is always No, so I bring my prescriptions in original bottles with the prescription on the bottle, and if I'm going to a new location I check local laws. As Turtles said, just because it's a common medication in your home country doesn't mean that it will be accepted in another, and it just takes one agent at a border crossing to ruin your very expensive trip, all for the sake of bringing the original bottle. If the size of the bottle is the concern. Speak with your pharmacist. In may places your Pharmacist can package a small amount in "travel blisters" or packs with your prescription neatly printed on the package. So you can take what you need, in a sealed container and only break it open once you're in the country your traveling.

I'm really happy we put in our application last September, even with the wait $50 for 5 years is a steal. The $120 announced now, may make it not worth it, but we'll have to see in 5 years what it's like. (we are still pending and haven't even got interviews yet). We travel only once or twice a year, so Nexus at $50 was good. But with that amount of travel, $120x2 is less inviting. I'll have to look around at new CC's that may cover the additional cost of the application when we go to renew, or maybe the one we have now will update to include the higher fee. The other determining factor will be how they conduct the interviews in the future. We are in Newfoundland so have to travel no matter what to do an interview. I know they offered some virtual but that was for renewals now new application, so for us we have to try and time our interview with our next trip. It's a lot of pain for something nice to have for us, and not a must...so the increase in cost and possible time requirements to renew are going to impact that. But, then again, with the wait times as they currently are, maybe a higher cost of entry will help streamline the application for people who would benefit from the program.

This is 10000% false, We really enjoy the Sunset bar, my GF does enjoy a frozen drink, but I'm a bourbon/Whisky fan, especially when I'm smoking a cigar. That's the place to do it on the E-Class ships. So, no...they don't only server frozen.

We also use the Scotia Bank Passport. We enjoy it, We had been Scene members before moving to the card, but I find the points easy to build up, no FX fees, we use a US-based TA that charges in USD, and when we travel internationally we use it for every purchase. We also use the lounge perks, the 6 passes a year are great! We are in Newfoundland, so nothing here except for MPL, but we normally have to spend 4-7hrs in Pearson or when I travel to Montreal for work, and both those locations have lounges. Because of our normal long waits in airports, I was looking for something with a good lounge access package, without the $600/yr for an Amex. The bonus of no FX was fantastic...plus the 2nd card for my partner at no additional charge! great option. I wish they offered a refund/rebate for NEXUS membership, but for the sake of the $50 every 5 years. I'm more than happy with the card. (We also have Canadia cards we use for normal points accumulation through the year, in places that don't provided bonus scene points or are charging in Canadian.)

We've accepted that gratuities, pre-paid, daily, or included, are part of our final payment to take a cruise. We prefer to use the pre-paid or included just for simplicity so we know the budget and aren't getting a surprise at the end of a cruise. But, in turn, we also expect a level of service for that. Based on how Celebrity is pricing gratuities, for things like the drink package, we assume this to be 20%. Considering 15% is a "normal" tip, we expect a service that is measurable by our standard of 20%. If we have staff (like our room attendant on our last cruise) that are amazing we will pad that with a little extra...at the end! of the cruise. The company is responsible for paying the crew, I'm not. We would never remove the gratuities on our cruise, as it impacts the crew, but we shouldn't be expected to pay more either.

If I understand it correctly it's like YYZ Express at Pearson. It also says it's not for NEXUS holders/can't be used with NEXUS. But if you read the full explanation it's because NEXUS already has the same benefits, so they don't want you to double dip. I feel like ArriveCan may be similar, if you've already paid for NEXUS, you're taking up space in ArriveCan for someone who doesn't have it. Of course, this is only a problem once many people start using ArriveCan. I also haven't used both, as I'm still waiting for my NEXUS interview. Hoping I have it all sorted out before our travel next year. (if the 12-18 month wait is to be believed). It's been very much in use we've used it for the last few years arriving back in Canada after our trips, the last time was in Feb 2024 after our cruise with Celebrity. The line was empty, and we walked past about 100 people waiting in the normal line. Waste of money? Probably, but as long as it's active I'll keep using it as long as it's faster than waiting in line the old way.

First...Shhhh...don't share our secrets the more people that use it the longer it will get! But also, 100% agree, that we've never waited using the ArriveCAN app or the CBP app if going into the US. We sailed on through both a few weeks ago on our last trip. Due to the delay in NEXUS, this has been great. I'm hoping our NEXUS comes through before too many people learn how quickly the ArriveCAN and CBP lines can be!

Just a follow-up to my post. We came back from our amazing trip on the Apex last week. We fly from Newfoundland -> Toronto -> FLL. It's just the easiest way. We flew down using Porter Ultimate Reserve. It was a great experience, and considering the savings compared to AC, and not having the option to fly WJ out of Newfoundland. It was a good experience. I'm a big boy, about 240 lbs, and made the mistake of sitting in the first row of seats on the E195. Don't do this if you're big, if you're skinny and tall it would be fine. The footroom was great. But the tray table is in the armrest and has no extension, so using it made me feel like I was trapped in a high chair. We'll try the next row back next time. I also wish the seats had been a bit wider, but over for the price I found them comfortable. (except for the tray table, we used our lap instead for the meals). Food was also....interesting. It's all cold on the E195, although this aircraft can be equipped with a galley for cooking food. Porter decided not to go this route, so all food was served cold. Admittedly I'm a very picky eater, but the food served on Porter now is way too pretentious for me, the cheese and fruit try was probably the best option for me. Compared to flying WestJet and AC with meals, even cold. I find both those other companies offer both better taste and selection. We left Newfoundland without much issue, Pearson we did get delayed by 30 minutes or so for some crew changes, but left quickly once they figured that out. Our bags also made it, I still never fly without my tile trackers in our bags, but happy to say we made it all together. I'll fly Porter again, the Ultimate Reserve option for us at least is a good price, and as long as AC continues to price the East the way they have, and WJ continues to lack flights back East, it will be our only option. But I'm not disappointed in what we received, I'd just change my seat and expectations for the next flight, maybe pack a few of my own snacks.

You have two options for wine Tasting, the Free one for CC members Select and above normally is simple, classic wines with bread sticks (same as you get for dinner), and a little talk about each wine. They also have a Wine and Cheese, a paid event, with a selection normally from the Primuim Wine category and paired with cheeses. We've done the free CC one on every cruise we've been on sense we got to select. It's a crap shoot and what type of people you get, the one we just had on Apex was nice and quick. Not a lot of questions. Last year on the reflection, guest kept asking about Box wine and the acceptability of serving it at a party. (I just enjoyed the wine and bread). It's a nice little event to attend for 30-45mins on a sea day, normally around 11. Followed by the Premium paring right after.

This site offers a calculator to help you make a decision https://www.cruzely.com/cruise-line-drink-package-calculator/ Our rule is that if you can drink between 7-9 drinks a day, including Water, Juice, Pop, and Alcohol a drink package is right for you. The difference between the Classic and the Premium comes to personal taste, if you have a specific brand that is only offered in Premium, and you can't live without it, upgrade. If you are ok with the bar brands and what's behind the counter. Stick with classic. If you aren't sure, stick with classic, and pay as you go. We also account for the ease of our trip, I don't like to stop and have to sign for drinks or worry about extra costs at the end of my vacation, and because of that, even if we don't hit our 9 drinks a day, it's worth it to us. But others are okay with spending the time tracking how many drinks they have.

We didn't go to many shows ourselves this time, mainly because they were all the same as we had on the cruise the last time. We did see the comedian again, both the normal show and the Late-night adults-only show. Both are fun, but it's the same material as a year ago. as @cw2go mentioned, the Rockumentary was a great show again, this one has a little randomness to it, as you vote for the final song. We are the Champions who won this time. They offered Crystal and Tree of Life (I believe that's the name of it), both of which we had seen before, Crystal is a nice performance, we find the "tree of life" of whatever that production is, to be too abstract for us, it's one of those shows that the technology behind the production was more interesting than the production itself. So we skipped them this time. If you've never seen them, I recommend going at least once, in our case we took the extra free time and spent time at the sunset bar, or in the solarium when it was basically empty with people doing other things. Thanks for the comment about Valentines, I did notice the balloons and I think a heart for people to take photos behind. But I was expecting more, our MDR didn't have anything special for the night. We did Specialty dining on Monday night instead, I was hoping that they would have a little more in the MDR for the special occasion.

We just got off the Apex last weekend at Port 25 in FLL, we had group 12, off the boat at 8:30am, walked out the door picked up the luggage and walked out through CBP, at the taxi for 9am ish, and were at the airport about 10mins later. 10:30am flight is possible if everything goes according to plan, and of course even better if you can walk off yourself without help. But it would be close. We normally take the 11:40am Flight with AC to Pearson and normally have lots of time to wait. I wouldn't cut it so close with a 10:30 flight.

We went through the Eastern Caribbean. Purto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maartin, and DR. All ports where great, Purto Rico was funny, because most people seemed to just get off the bus walk to the end of the dock to the Wallgreens, get a few supplied, and head back. We walked the boardwalk a bit, but it was dead, nothing was going on at all downtown that day.

I'm sure I've trad a few posts about the Apex as well but I think the majority has been on the beyond. Seeing as they are the same class, I figured I'd mention it.

Yes! Great add, we had no vows to renew so didn't attend, but heard a few people talking happy that it went great! Have to agree about disembarkation, between the app and timing we had no issues so smooth, walked off around 8:30am, bags sitting in the right spot and right past CBP. Made it to the Airport in plenty of time for our normal 11:20am home. We are! My sister is also in Nova Scotia. We are in Newfoundland. First night sleep at home, and have to go out and shovel again, I'm going to need another vacation!

Hey I may be misunderstanding the question. But I just got off the Apex today. I played in the Casino. I'm also Canadian and the exchange rate is crap, so I didn't bring cash. Instead I went to the cage at the casino and charge the cost to my stateroom, it was a 1:1 to fees, I took out $200, and $200 showed up on my account statement. I mange to win money this time, so the last night of the cruise I went and paid back the $200 and pocketed my winnings. Never paid anything more or less. I do it this way because I use a no FX card for purchase in the US, in this case I just cashed out my winnings at the cage and paid the balance st customer service. I was in a regulated veranda this time no suite and I'm only Select/Pearl on Celebrity so outside of a match play I'm not getting anything special from them.

Just finished our 3rd cruise on Celebrity. Second on Apex, and it was great! We had Cabin 8231, our first time in a IV suite, in the past we've done AQ and Concerige, but wanted to give this class a try. Good, first off noise None.. Zero... Not a creak or sound from the ship that wasn't expected out of 7 nighta we had two sea days, in both cases you had a creak that you'd expect but nothing that kept us awake, and not a on going sound just when the ship leaned to much to one side in the waves. Motion was typical for this time of year, with thr captain pushing her at night to make up time ans slowing down for meals and shows. We did on occasion hear our neighbours, but again only expected noise, like when they banged a door... Or when the washroom doors get away from you and they pull close fast. Crew was great as always. But, Celebrity is doing them a disservice. I'm not getting into a debate about tipping. That's discussed to much here, do what you want. My personal opinion is that we paid for gratuities to be included. That means I expect a 20% tip service from everyone. You do more than 20% you get extra from me. (my GF doesn't agree, but that's another story lol) because of staffing and the way that any time dinning works we never got to know anyone like we have on past cruises our room attendant Putu was Amazing! and we happily tipped him extra. Our waiters and bartenders on the other hand never got to know any of them well enough to tip them extra we went to the same bars and enjoyed drinks, and we shouted out a few in our post cruise survey, but none of them jumped out as amazing, and I think that was a result of how displaced everyone felt. Everyone was nice as always, but no one owned anything because everyone worked to many things. This of course is our perception, and other may feel different. We had two major events while on the Cruise. SuperBowl and Valentine's. SuperBowl they did a great spread on Sunday. In the theater, outdoors and a cross the ship. The theater has good food, wings, hotdogs, chips, nachos etc. With full bar service. It was nice. But the theater in the Apex isn't designed for an event, so what we found is people got stuck at the doors on 4th trying to get food, and limiting the space to move around to get places. But decorations and broadcast was flawless.. Except for the outcome 😉 Valentine's day on the other hand, the ship seemed empty no special decorations or events. They didn't even serve lobster on Valentine's day. Formal night was also on the Tuesday not Wednesday. Seemed like a bit of a miss, but none the less we enjoyed it. I didn't play much in the casino, but came out with more than I went in with witch is always nice, BJ was fun $10min table and I played craps also $10min. Had some luck on both. The Casino host was actually around and at her desk most of the cruise. It was nice to talk to her and she did attempt to explain the new BCC vs Celebrity process for awarding points. She confirmed its 5 points per $1 on slots, and of course, nothing concrete for tables. I never go to the casino expecting to win, I don't gamble enough just like to toss dice once or twice on a cruise. Food was great as always, we had no problem finding something to eat at any point in the day or night while on board. I do miss the cook to order meat station in OV, I'm not sure how pre cooking things like steaks and leaving them on a hot plate helps with waste compared to on demand cooking, but hey its an option. We had dinner at Cosmo every night except our normal Steak house date night we do every trip. It was well managed, and staff checked in on us often to make sure things are going smoothly. We normally took 1 to 1.5hrs to eat, but at no point did they rush us out. Speaking with one of our waiters he did confess that they miss set dinning, as they use to get a break between seatings. Any time dinning is random, they get no break and it's harder to get to know guest like they have in the past. A feeling we also had, as I pointed out at the beginning. Anyway if you've read this far, sorry for the poor grammer, I'm writing this on my phone while sitting at the airport waiting for my flight home to almost 4ft of snow, thinking about all the shoveling I'll have to do after spending a week in 29oC weather. If anyone has any questions while it's fresh in my mind just post I'll respond best I can as we travel. But over all we still love Celebrity, I'm not trying to silence anyone who's had a poor experience with Celebrity, just share another view. We have a Panama Cruise booked in the Beyond in 2026 and can't wait to get on board, now hopefully the weather cooperates and the canal has enough water for our transit!

@broberts, is correct OP. You'll need to read your Dec page for both policies to confirm priority. Yes, you should be able to claim on both, as long as one doesn't cover the whole loss. (You can't get back more than you paid in insurance). But in some cases they have an order that needs to be applied, In your case, the branch told you they need to be informed first. Your stand-alone may also want to be first, in that case, you'll need to find out from both who is going to own the loss. It's also important to remember, that with CC coverage in many cases, you need to pay for the whole trip on the same CC to qualify for the travel insurance. While a stand-alone policy they don't normally care for.

We leave for FLL tomorrow, Porter to Pearson, Pearson to FLL. We'll be taking AC back, Same route, FLL to Pearson, Pearson to home. I'm hoping we don't have to many problems but we are flying out a day early for the cruise just in case. It's always a pain no matter who we fly with out of Newfoundland. The staff are always great, I think the benefit of the smaller airport. But I haven't flown Porter since my University years. *Crossing my fingers* that everything goes smoothly for us. Considering it saved us almost $2500 to do this vs flying round trip with AC, and they have must shorter lay overs. I'm hoping all goes to plan.

OP, I would wait. We book about a year or two and keep an eye on deals. We also have a cruise coming up in March 2025, I picked up the Classic to Premium upgrade for $6.99/pp CDN during the big sale they had around thanksgiving/Christmas. I would hold off to get a cheaper option. As others have said, if you're worried you can always buy now, and just cancel/repurchase later if it goes cheaper. Around the holiday/big sale season I'll check, and leading up to the final payment I'll start checking weekly or at least bi-weekly. Celebrity has started targeting sales to specific users, sailing dates, and home country along side big sale periods. So you may find a great deal on your drink package that no one else is seeing. I picked up the same $6.99 deal for our cruise next week, but it showed up about a week before the March 2025 did, I only caught it because I went back in to check.

Canadian card with no FX fees, have them charge in local currency, and have your bank give you the better rate + Save the 3.5% of whatever the FX is these days. Bonus if you get a CC that gives you cash back or points on top of that, to trade in again for more things. We carry US cash around for little things like tips etc. but rarely pay for anything with it directly.

HAAHAHAHAH didn't even read the Date/time of the OP's post LOL. I just read context...LOL that's what happens when I start posting on CC too early.