Mr. Click

I bought a 4 pack a few weeks ago and used them on our current trip in the US. Now that we live in Vegas all of the time trips mean plane changes and I worry about bags not making it. On the outbound it was easy to track the bags from the time we dropped them at LAS, while we changed in DEN and as them came out in PDX, It was nice to know where they were at all times.

If you dispute the $2500 you paid at the airport to the airline the credit card company will not allow the dispute. Your dispute is with what you paid to Celebrity for the airfare at the time of booking. I would follow up with an email to the exec offices immediately to try and get it resolved with a full refund of what you are now out of pocket. If that does not get a quick response then file with your credit card company but only for the amount you paid to Celebrity. Filing a credit card dispute for the money you paid at the airport is waste of time, both yours, the credit card company's and the airline's.

Thinking about going back to sea and Celebrity just extended their Semi-annual sale, again and one of the "benefits" of the sale $500 flight credit. It sounds nice but I am still sitting on about $800 in United ETCs from past COVID cancelations and they have to be used to book before the end of 2022. So, does anyone know if I can used them with FBC??? Only thinking of doing something out of FLL in the winter so the fares are not too crazy to begin with, yet anyway. Thanks in advance to anyone who has experience with this promo.

Policies definately do get more costly as we get older because the risks are higher for both medical issues and unplanned/forced cancelations. I have not needed a policy in 3 years now because COVID has kept us close to home but I am sure with all of the risks created by COVID the cost of a policy has gone up too. It is all about the risk. When I first started buying travel insurance it was to help cover the cost of rushing home in trip to be with elderly parents. I guess I am now that elderly parent and need to think about the medical side for me and I sure was glad I could recover most of my trip costs when I had to cancel 4 days out.

Glad to hear it. It took me over 3 months to finally get paid and in the end they still refused to cover my $500 deposit because it was paid for with a gift card and I got for credit card points. " sorry we only cover things paid by cash, check or credit card".... I fully understand their need to document everything but they were beyond common sense and when they "lost" half of my documentation that was the end for me. I strongly suggested that they needed to confirm receipt when I re-sent it and then settle within the week or I would simply turn it all over to the state insurance commission and let them deal with it.

Each airline has their own seat assignment rules. Some allow you to choose your seat at booking for free, some allow it with a fee, some require payment in full, something that FBC does not always do at booking, and some only allow you to chose your seats at check in. We had an experience a while ago with FBC when I booked TA flights on American but one way it was really a BA flight as an AA code share. FBC let me choose my seats for all 4 legs while we were on the phone, gave me the record locators for both AA and BA but when I went to check my seats, no seats on BA. Turned out they wanted $250 more for pre-assigned seats. I said no thanks. We had book biz class and planned to just sleep on the Newark to Heathrow segment so if our seats were not together, no biggie and Heathrow to AMS was only an hour so no biggie there. I had better things to spend that money on.

I talked to both. Started with Squaremouth since that was the number on the policy packet to call for claims. When there were "issues" I talked to both the squaremouth and the issuer and got no help until threats of legal action were put into writing. "Oh we can't find those papers you sent in at our request a month ago" is not a reasonable excuse in my world. When I had some refund issues with Travel Guard on policies issued through the trip insurance store I emailed Steve and they got it resolved within a day. I get that there is a broker and an insurer to deal with and that squaremouth is just a broker but once you take my money I do expect some service from you when I have a problem....

I highly reccomend Steve and his staff the trip insurance store. During the pandemic we had 4 trips canceled and Steve stepped up big time getting me refunds on my policy premiums because future credit was not a good idea for me. Squaremouth??? I would avoid them like the plague. The one cruise we did have to cancel when I landed in the cardiac cath lab 4 days before departure it was a trip we had insured with Squaremouth. First phone call got a quick response, after that it was "Who are you and what is it you want again???". Lots of crickets, they lost some of the paperwork we send in at their request. Made every excuse in the book to delay paying the claim. Wanted to claim it was a pre-exisiting condition but I had NEVER even seen a cardiologist, had no history of heart problems etc. Since that mis-adventure I have relied to Steve and his staff and they have been great about finding the right policy for me and dealing with the carriers when the cancelations rolled in. Oh, yes, the window for buying a policy to cover pre-exsisting conditions runs from 7 to 21 days depending on the carrier.

We never cared for them. Better to just to to the OVC and get your own, get what appeals to your taste.

Pre-retirement I felt like I was spending half of my life on airplanes just getting to jobs, post retirement and pre-pandemic it was a of flying for cruises etc. The two things I learned in all of those miles and hours, one, stuff happens and two, always have a plan B and maybe C and D as well. I get that a lot of working people don't have the luxury of flying in a day or two ahead but I always found a way to make it work. I am much happier sitting and waiting when I know I have a buffer.

Eating late will work to your advantage. Between my Type 2 diabetes and her fish, shellfish, if it ever swam allergies it was limiting for us. Dinner much after 7pm did not work for me all all of the fish places, L'Petite Chef, Sushi on 5, The Lawn Club put real limits on us so it was easier to just cancel and do one night in the Tuscan Grill that our CC hostess made work for us.

It should not be a problem but the one time we tried a dining plan we could never get reservations for the days and times we wanted since we had to wait until we were onboard. Ended up just asking for a refund on the dining plan. Total PITA.

We had a Aqua cabin on the Summit under the pool area on our Bermuda cruise a few years ago. Yes, you could hear chairs being moved and in the morning but it was not an issue for us. We got the cabin on a free upgrade after a price cut and we were happy with it.

Check out the Albergo del Senato. It is a great hotel with a great location. Right on the Pantheon Square. Our room over looked the square and it was fun to watch the comings and goings as the began and ended. Some very nice restaurants around the square, a great Lindt gelato place 5 minutes from the square. Easy walking to many of the sights you will want to see. Do not cut your time short in Rome. There is so much to see and do 3 days barely scratches the surface.

Blu is breakfast and dinner, maybe lunch on a sea day. It is the main reason most people book in Aqua. It is all anytime dining with no reservations. Just show up and you want. If you want to go to the MDR you would need to clear it with your maitre' de but it can be done.

Code share flights can be tricky. It sounds like ITA (formerly Alitalia) is the operating carrier, not Delta the booking carrier. That means ITA's seating, baggage, etc rules apply, not Delta's rules. FBC should have provided you with record locators for both Delta, where you can find your reservation and ITA where you can actually work on your reservation. We have had these issues with Air Canada/United bookings and AA/BA bookings. Yes, it can be a pain but follow up with FBC and make sure you have the record locator for ITA as well. They are the ones who can tell you more about seating. It is beyond Delta's control.

Then I would check with Celebrity. I know the sleep sofas we have seen were double size but not a great idea for sleeping two kids.

Some rooms also have a drop down bed, pullman style. It should be marked on the deck plan too.

Always price your flights and pre/post cruise hotels both ways. Sometimes Celebrity can save you money, sometimes they can't. Be the smart shopper. When we have done cruises to or from Amsterdam we stayed at the Doubletree Centraal Station. Great location, just across from the central train station so easy access to trains, trams and canal boats. Easy walking to lots of places too. I don't know where the Edge Class ships dock but the S Class ships docked about a 10 minute walk from the Doubletree. Easy walk even with luggage. It is so close that taxis don't really want to take you.... Allow yourselves plenty of time to explore Amsterdam, there is so much to see. If you want to visit the Anne Frank be sure to book a few months ahead.

I won't second guess your husband's decision but if he needs a stent they are indeed painful BUT there is a medication they can give him to will make much less painful to go. I forget the name of it but it worked wonders for me and my stent was in for 10 days, ugh. The one draw back to the med is you pee royal blue....and that can be scary if they don't warn you about it. Make sure to ask the urologist about it. I was lucky on my last one, my son is married to the urologist's daughter so getting seen and getting treated was pretty quick and easy but there was no way I was up to travel the next day, especially across an ocean.

Kidney stores, yuck. They are truly the worst. From my own experience I would look into canceling now. 6mm is beyond what they will normally let you try and pass. My last one was 4mm, and stuck. After 2 days, because it hit on a Saturday AM they did a laser procedure to blast it but it was still 10 days before I felt well enough to do much. The thought of sitting on an airplane for a long trip is not appealing at all. This is not medical advice, just based on my own experiences. I was lucky and got seen and treated quickly but it was still 12 days start to finish for me.

Thanks for the info on Caesars, We gave bit renewed in a few years because of the pandemic. We live here so the big benefit for us is free parking when we go down to see a show etc. Great tip on alternating the renewals. Have fun when you are out here and look north towards the STRAT and then west and give me a wave....

I did not see anything about new members only in what I read but I have not been down there to try it out yet. If I do find out more I will post it here.

We live in Vegas and have had no problem using our MGM Gold that is a status march from our Celebrity Elite status for parking at any of the MGM properties. I just put one of our cards into the reader at the entry and we are good to go. Same thing going out. On another note, Caesar's is currently doing a status match with MGM and other chains. MGM Gold equals Caesar's Platinum for one year.

We were not looking to buy, just looking around. Someone in my family lost the vintage Rolex that was her mother's and I had restored. The prices were beyond stupid on the ship but at least I had some ideas about what to expect to replace the lost watch, which we later found......