mahdnc

I would also advise that you join the roll call for your sailing. Here it is: These people will be on your cruise and will be happy to answer all of your questions.

Check out this roll call where the Vietnam e-visa was discussed.

We (American citizens) are going on the Singapore to Hong Kong 12 night cruise in less than 2 weeks. We successfully applied for our e-Visa using the 3rd link in the list at the bottom of your post. It took about 4 business days to get our e-Visa (download from the website). What failure did you experience?

Now THAT would be a problem, I would agree. I guess you will be rebooking your cancelled shorex? Hopefully it wasn't on sale back then for a price you can't get now.

For us, this increase with the cancellation window does not make Celebrity shore excursions less attractive. We usually book independently anyway but will get one through Celebrity on occasion.

Very nice. Enjoy your tour. If you think of it, ask your Quito guide how many Flora passengers are taking today’s tour. Assuming that your sailing is full (99 passengers), I’m curious as to how many passengers booked “cruise only”. During our Xpedition sailing, I estimate that 15 passengers out of 47 booked just the cruise (32%). I was surprised that the figure was that high.

I have only gone the one time and that was last month. My impression of the way the land tour was conducted (transfers, tour, meals, etc) was that Celebrity had this down to a science. It was as if they made an effort to tweak and continually improve the experience over the years to the point where it is now a well oiled machine with every detail addressed. The Celebrity logo was proudly displayed throughout the land tour--on the buses, the guide's lapel pins, the dinner menu at La Gloria, even the cups on the airplane. And the service was there to match. At no point during the land tour did I feel like I was handed over to a 3rd party contractor. Because we came in a day early and were the only ones to be picked up at UIO, I was surprised we got the full ground transportation treatment--driver, guide, van, water, and introductory education to Ecuador as we rode into town. Like you, I was very impressed. What I experienced could not happen by accident.

Welcome back to Ecuador.

The Beagle Grill served two purposes for my wife and me--getting a snack after each shorex and having a couple dinners at night. Each time we got back on board Xpedition after doing a shorex, the Beagle Grill was set up with refreshments for the passengers. So it was a very nice place to crash with a cold drink and sharing what you just experienced with the other passengers. Oddly enough, my wife and I chose not to eat any of our meals out there except for the two dinners that the ship scheduled to be done al fresco at the Beagle Grill. The first outdoor dinner, was billed "Dinner Under The Stars" and was conducted on the 3rd evening of the cruise. It was a very nice night and we had an enjoyable dinner. The second outdoor dinner was held on the final night of the cruise and it featured large lobster tails. Unfortunately it began raining as soon as we were seated with our food. Half the passengers who had tables under the overhanging cover near the grill were fine. The rest of us took our plates down to Darwin's Restaurant to finish the meal.

Your memory may be quite correct. I am only showing two examples that suggest at a minimum that the disclosure is hit or miss.

For our upcoming cruise, there is no cancellation language for our Halong Bay overnight trip. None in the tour description for uber expensive Bangkok Overnight trip either.

I agree that they it may not be rigorously enforced--perhaps they are reserving the right to do this in certain situations. We have an overnight shorex to Halong Bay set for Dec 31 and I still have the cancellation button active for the booking. Of course this is subject to the current policy and I don't know what the specific cancellation wording is for this shorex that is not covered by the current 24 hr rule.

Although this isn't your point, there is a good chance that Celebrity would cancel anyway because of bad weather and political unrest. I realize that you would prefer to make that decision for yourself.

It is somewhat understandable since Celebrity may be financially committed for something that can be pretty expensive--again for things like special trips set up through Private Journeys, etc.

"30 days prior to sailing" according to the post-Jan 1 T&Cs from the link in the letter.

I have a Celebrity shorex purchased for Dec 24 (Ko Samui) and Dec 31 (Ha Long Bay) for our Solstice cruise later this month so it is covered under the current policy. Although we didn't buy any, our same cruise has shorex's scheduled for Jan 1. I wonder if the new policy would be in effect for those Jan 1 shorex's. You would think it should be consistent for the entire sailing.

Yes, I am answering what the "old" policy was. Some thought 24 hrs, some thought that it was already 48.

Very good advice from someone who really knows what they are talking about (she basically lives back there). You won't be sorry. Having the public deck above the Deck 9 aft cabins is a drawback and is remedied by going to Deck 8 (which is were we are for this coming April's transit).

The current policy is 24 hours. This is the fine print language found at the bottom of a shorex sales flyer (2021): "Shore Excursion can be cancelled or modified up to 24 hours prior to scheduled tour departure for a full refund. Excludes tours involving flights, trains, special events, overnight stays, hotel stays, Signature Events, Multi-day Adventures and Private Journeys"

The fact that Xpedition is half full is great for passengers and crew. There is something like 62 crew for a ship licensed to carry up to 48 passengers. So the passengers benefit from a crew to passenger ratio of better than 1:1. Captain Nathaly told me that the officers are housed in the Deck 3 cabins which lightens the load in the remaining officer and crew quarters. So more space for the crew makes for happier crew. Everybody wins!

Congratulations. I am sure you will enjoy your cruise.

Xpedition was outfitted with Starlink and the resulting speeds were excellent when it came to posting on Cruise Critic including uploading photos. It sounds like you discovered how to AirDrop between your Apple devices!

Have a nice trip, Ken. I look forward to your posts.

A tour of Darwin's Restaurant. All the pictures hanging on the walls of the restaurant are landscape photo consisting of: Kicker Rock, Daphne Major, and Bartolome Island. I maybe forgetting one. Because Xpedition is currently licensed to carry only 48 passengers which is half of her carrying capacity, the restaurant is spacious. There are several tables always empty during dinner. All meals were open seating. On several occasions I saw the Captain and her staff dining together at Darwin's Restaurant--ordering from the same menu that we had (well at least the cover of the menu looked the same). Here is a photo of them during one of their dinners: link There was always sea food to be had every meal. Shrimp was on the menu every night. There was universal agreement by virtually all the passengers that the beef dishes were almost always not very good.. There was an omelette station always available for breakfast. For dinner the station was set up differently for different nights (pasta, ceviche, paella, etc). Here is an example of "etc": During dinner I often entertained myself by watching the ship's tilt from looking at my wine glass: Breakfast and lunch were buffets with table side service for drinks. Dinners had full table service. Two of the dinners were held al fresco at the Beagle Grille area. Service in general was very good and unhurried. It was less formal than on a normal Celebrity ship. The dining room staff always relished an opportunity to wish their passengers a happy birthday or anniversary. Their joyful singing was accompanied by great guitar play, maracas, and howling, of course. Here is a folder with the dinner and dessert menus in it: link All tables sat a minimum of 4 people. Many sat 6. There were a couple of tables that could seat large groups. There was a multi-generational family (9 people? including a toddler) that sat at one of the large tables. If you wanted a table just for two, there were several empty ones that could be commandeered at the back of the dining room.