Wineart

I cancelled a cruise on February 23 prior to final payment date, and was due a FCC. I waited 6 weeks, then followed up with Celebrity. They had never processed the FCC, and I was told it would be done within 4-7 days. I waited another 10 days and called again. Turns out it still had not been processed, and they processed it while I was on the phone. I received it by email. So my advice is to follow up!

I cancelled a cruise on February 23 and still had not received an email with the FCC. I called Celebrity today, and they researched it and found it had not been issued. I'm now being told it should be emailed in about a week.

I'm a relatively intelligent person, but have to admit that my eyes glaze over when trying to decipher insurance information. My husband and I both have AmEx Platinum cards. Some friends have Chase Sapphire Reserve cards, and believe the travel insurance benefits of the Chase card are better than the AmEx Platinum. To confuse things further, apparently AmEx Platinum recently made some changes to their travel insurance benefits. We travel several times a year, mixed between cruises and land trips. I'd appreciate any input on the differences between the travel benefits of the two cards which would make one card better than the other. Since the annual fees seem to be comparable, if the Chase card has better benefits, I would consider cancelling one of our Platinum cards and replacing it with the Chase card.

I'm asking because depending on the itinerary, I like to fly in a week earlier. For example, I'm taking a 2-week London/Ireland/Iceland cruise in May, and am flying in a week early to spend additional time in London.

Are there any restrictions on dates, i.e. can you book flights a week ahead or after a cruise, or does it have to be within a few days of the sailing?

We went to Machu Picchu/Sacred Valley in May of 2017. My original plan had been to stay in Cusco before going to MP, but when I researched it, it was strongly recommended to go directly into the Sacred Valley to more easily acclimate to the altitude. So we flew into Cusco, stayed a couple of nights in the Sacred Valley, went to MP, then ended up in Cusco. We also took Diamox, which helped tremendously.

Thank you!

This will be our first cruise on Windstar. We're leaving out of Lisbon, and embarkation time is showing as 1pm with a departure at 5pm. What time should we arrive? On other cruiselines, we normally arrive early to get oriented to the ship, have lunch, etc., but don't know what the norms are for Windstar. Since the ship is so small, I'm guessing embarkation will be very quick!

I think you'll get more replies if you post this on the Royal Caribbean board!

I called the airline back, and by changing the flight to the same time the next day, it would only be $274 extra, which was a lot better than $1034! So DH and I will be missing an extra day of work, but at least I won't be stressing during the trip whether I would make the original flight :)

Didn't really clarify it in my previous post, but I'm wondering if we have a shot at making the 11:10am flight we're currently booked on.

Just found out it will cost us $1034 to change the tickets to a flight 2 hours later. Ouch. But if the boat docks at 9, and we're among the first to disembark with our luggage, how long do I need to allow to clear immigration in Barcelona? We've embarked in Barcelona before, but never disembarked, and I'm drawing a total blank as to what the cruise terminal is like.

I've been on at least 20 cruises, but will be on my first Windstar cruise in May. I just noticed that when we disembark in Barcelona, the cruise documents I got say "anchor", which means we'll be tendering. I've never been on a cruise before that has tendered at disembarkation. What is the disembarkation procedure like on Windstar Star Breeze? I have an 11:10am flight, and the airport is about 20 minutes by taxi from the port, so I don't know if I'll have enough time to make the flight.

I'm on the May 5 cruise, so we're not on the same date. I finally booked a Seville tour from Cadiz through Viator. Viator is not normally my preferred option since they're a consolidator, but since Spain Day Tours is booked, I couldn't find a better alternative other than taking the train.

I am on this cruise in May, and still haven't figured out what to do about Seville. We dock in Cadiz, and really would like to go to Seville since I don't know if I'll have the opportunity again in the future. The Windstar excursion does not include the Alcazar, and Spain Day Tours has told me they're fully booked. Our only option at this point seems to be to take the train to Seville since the private car offered by Windstar is way more money than I'm willing to spend!

I will be on a Windstar cruise in May, and would like to take a tour to Seville from Cadiz. The ship's tour does not include the Alcazar, which is why I don't want to book their tour. Spain Day Tours has received a lot of recommendations on various boards, but when I contacted them, they are fully booked for that day. Does anyone have any other recommendations on tours that would go from Cadiz to Seville?

I just contacted the Gibraltar Taxi Association, and was quoted 150 British pounds per hour with a 2 hour minimum for 2 people. We'll be visiting Gibraltar in May, and this price seems extremely high. Does anyone have any experience with them? Is there a price difference when you book in advance vs waiting until the same day? What other options are there in Gibraltar, except for the ship's tour?

We're on the reverse itinerary (Lisbon-Barcelona) on May 5, and no one has started a roll call for our cruise. This is our first trip on Windstar, and I've come to the same conclusion - that Windstar cruisers don't use cruise critic very much! I'm used to joining excursions using the cruise critic boards, and have noticed how quiet the Windstar board and roll call are compared to other lines. Obviously the ships are much smaller than other lines, and even though I'm looking forward to trying a new line, it's a little strange for me since I'm so used to using cruise critic to learn about various ships and lines!

We are on the Spanish Serenade, so it's the same itinerary. For Almeria, I'm planning on taking the ship tour to Granada, which is what I normally do when the point of interest is an important one for me and not close to the port. That way, there's no issue about missing the boat or last minute changes, so I'll put up with a larger group or more expense simply for the peace of mind! I checked, and no one has started a roll call for my cruise yet. I suspect roll call activity on Windstar is low because of the low number of passengers, but you never know, maybe we'll have an active group and can put together some small tour groups!

Just booked our first cruise on Windstar. We're doing a Portugal/Spain itinerary in May, 2018. Would appreciate any thoughts on Windstar's excursions. I normally book private tours or join a small group through the roll call because I haven't given high marks to ship excursions on other cruise lines. However, since this will be our first cruise on Windstar, thought I'd ask for the opinions of other cruisers who have taken Windstar excursions!

Am I missing something? I've never sailed Holland America before, but was looking at an itinerary for January 2018 that looks odd. It arrives into Havana at 2pm, and departs noon the following day. No shore excursions are listed, other than 2 that are in the evening the day of arrival (one was a night club package, don't remember the other one). Since I don't think Havana is a port that you can wander around on your own, I'm reluctant to book without more information.

It uses a small argon cartridge which is enclosed within the Coravin, which is why I'm asking if anyone has brought one on board. I'm local to the port, so don't have to fly with it, and the entire unit is very compact.

Has anyone ever brought their Coravin on board? From what I'm reading, the Celebrity by the glass wine selection isn't very good. My husband doesn't drink at all, so I'm debating whether I should buy a couple of bottles instead of ordering by the glass and bring my Coravin since I only drink at most 1-2 glasses during dinner.

We've also noticed the changes in AQ. We've sailed AQ at least 5 times, but on our last cruise in AQ last January, we were so disappointed in Blu that we ate in specialty restaurants most nights. Just booked another cruise, and opted for a regular verandah cabin because AQ just isn't worth it to us anymore.

Used it as Port Everglades in January 2016, and avoided a very long line by doing so.