mandream

There is a difference between cancelling and moving to a different sailing. If you have a non-refundable deposit and you cancel - you lose it. If you move to a different sailing, there is a $100pp change fee and the rest of the deposit can be used on the new sailing. Rules were different with cruise with confidence, so that may have been in effect when you were able to change with no added fee. Or an exception was made. Mike

If you were willing to forgo the refundable deposit, you could have switched to get the lower non-refundable rate. They will let you switch from refundable to non-refundable at any time, but not vice-versa for obvious reasons. Mike

We usually book onboard to take advantage of the reduced deposit and minimal OBC. We then transfer to a TA to get additional OBC. In my experience we never get any pressure / upsell attempts from either the onboard FC desk or Celebrity phone reps. We just tell them what we want and they book it. Simple as that. Mike

They often include it by default on new bookings, although they really should ask. If you haven't made final payment, you can call and have it removed - but as stated previously having some travel insurance is a good idea.

Agree - this thread reminds me of an episode of Three's Company. I wonder what Jack will overhear next at the Regal Beagle.

In August we started with twist off cans, then a couple days in, it switched to pop-top cans. My wife inquired at guest relations because these were really inconvenient for taking off ship since you can't close once opened. She ended up speaking to the Beverage manager who told us they were switching because people were cutting themselves on the twist off cans (don't know if the switch was temporary or permanent, just Constellation or fleetwide). As a thank you for reaching out we unexpectedly received a gift of a case of the twist off cans in our stateroom. We found it kind of silly that people were cutting themselves on these - until it happened to our son on one of our gift cans. Still used them, were just extra extra careful. Mike

Doesn't the Celebrity policy still provide Cancel for Any Reason coverage? It's not 100% and a credit instead of cash, but possibly better than nothing if still offered.

In most cases you can use the Carrier record locator they give you (which is different than the FBC record locator) to check your flights directly on the airline website. Mike

Absolutely.

There is a kids menu, but I don't believe chicken fingers / strips are on it. You can find it here: https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/camp-at-sea/kids-menu and picture here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2632219-anyone-ever-ordered-off-the-kids’-menu/#comment-56736338 and this matches my recollection from our cruise last month. That said, the dining room staff are very accommodating and can almost certainly make chicken fingers happen if your kids aren't able to find anything else they will eat. Mike

Thanks for the update. Let us know how it turns out. Mike

Does cancelling a person require re-pricing at current rates? Mike

Something similar to us happened a few months back. We originally had a connecting Flight to Europe with a comfortable layover. AA changed one of the flights giving us only 1 hour to make the connection. I called FbC to see if they could change to a direct flight given the reduced connection time. The direct flight was more expensive, so they had to check with the airline to see if they would accommodate for the same price. They did and we were very happy. This all happened before final payment, so there was never any question of the separate FbC change fee. But now I wonder (because I am about to make final payment for a Dec cruise) - if the airline changes the flight and I am not happy with the new flight and ask FbC to change again - will they charge the change fee? @Virginia100 - I assume they didn't mention a change fee to you since it isn't in your post - but was this ever discussed? Mike

@roger b Just wanted to say thank you for all your help. We just returned home this week and had a wonderful cruise - including a very nice time in Palma and Soller thanks to you. Mike

Not on the same ship, but similar times in Port. We're on the Constellation rather than the Edge. You make a good point that the real issue with our plan hinges on lunch in Soller. That actually isn't a requirement - only I saw you had recommended Cafe Soller I checked their website and seemed like a good choice for both my kids (ages 10 and 11) and my wife who is vegan. Lunch in Palma would make things easier. Soooo...... do you have any recommendations for a good restaurant in Palma that would have vegan options? Less concerned about the kids as they can be more flexible but my wife is strictly vegan. Thanks again for all your help.

Also, my flights weren't ticketed until about 3 weeks before travel date - but I've read you can call FBC and ask them to ticket them sooner (I assume, but am not sure only after payment has been made). Mike

Have you called FBC? We have a December flight on AA that I reserved seats for when I booked a month ago. I can't do it online (and did not try calling AA) but FBC was able to do it and I see the flights when I log into my AA account. Same is true for my AA flight to Barcelona that leaves this week. Made the reservations (including seats) the day flights opened up for the dates which was (I believe) 331 days before. Mike

Yeah, that sounds about right 🙄.....

Depends on the airline. I have had no problem reserving seats immediately after or at time booking with Amercian and United. Sometimes I could do it myself on the airline website, sometimes FBC needed to do it. Some airlines won't allow seat selection until flights are ticketed (or later depending on airline seat policy). Mike

Thank you very much.

We will be in Palma on July 31. We would like to do the train and have lunch at Cafe Soller but not sure our schedule will really allow. We arrive at 7:00am and the ship leaves at 4:00 pm. The earliest train would have us arrive at 11:10 and we would need to leave at 2 to arrive back at 3. Is less than 3 hours enough time to spend - including lunch? I suppose we could take the bus there earlier, and return by train correct? I believe that would be the #204 and that it takes 30min. Is the return train reliable? If we are there on time, are we guaranteed to get on it? The timing feels a little tight to to me. Would we be better off renting a car and skipping the train so we can come and go when we please? Are the views by car similar? Appreciate any advice you can offer. Thanks in advance, Mike

Wow. On our cruise at the end of the month the MINIMUM bid for moving to RS is $3,000pp. No thanks - we'll keep our corner FV (M Class). Mike

This would more likely be dictated by the policies of each country in question rather than Celebrity.

Correct - just a discount. But we saved about $200 per ticket for our family of 4 - so it was considerable savings in total. Mike

Although that is what the T&C say, that hasn't been my experience. I just used FBC to book air on several cruises both 3 weeks ago and last week - the prices were significantly lower than booking direct with the airline (as above the red strike through price matched airline pricing) and the pay later (e.g. @ final payment) option was available. I used to avoid FBC, but the recent deals (including flights I booked almost 11 months ago for a cruise that leaves this month) have been too good to pass up. Mike