terrydtx

Our AON policy had a $1000pp or $2000 per couple cap on hotels charges, our 4 nights in Venice was $1457 total so they paid the whole amount. HAL had us staying at a Sheraton 4 Points in the Maestre industrial area of Venice, which was relatively inexpensive. The downside of the hotel was no food service for lunches and dinner wasn't available until 7:30pm at night. We found a local delivery service called Deliveroo that brought us some very tasty meals from local restaurants. When I signed up for Deliveroo online the first 14 days were offered without any delivery charges. The hotel did have a very nice complimentary breakfast that they delivered to our rooms. The only charges not paid by AON was the $40 for cough syrup on the ship, and the $18 for 3 at home covid tests from the local pharmacy, they told us we had to go through our health insurance for that reimbursement first. Medicare doesn't cover anything outside to US, so I am just going to let that one go.

On our Oosterdam cruise in August we were in anytime dining and a couple of nights when we arrived for dinner between 6:30 and 7pm, we were taken to tables in the fixed dining MDR upstairs because so many tables were empty in fixed dining and the staff needed the work. Not once in the 14 nights did, we have to wait for a table, and we not once prebooked a time. The cruise was at about 1400 passengers so not near capacity as well.

Because that is what HAL told us they would do, our travel insurance had nothing to do with HAL and was purchased independently outside of HAL. Our travel insurance was coverage for the entire 34 days we were in Italy and Greece and covered our HAL and Celebrity cruises and 10 land days. Just like HAL told us the quarantine hotel rooms in Venice they booked for us were prepaid by them before we got off the ship, when we got to the hotel, we were told that HAL DID NOT prepay the hotel and we had to pay with a credit card. Again, in over two months since the cruise not one word of correspondence from HAL about any of what they promised us on the ship.

I agree, we both got Covid on our Oosterdam cruise in August, but we refuse to give into this madness and lose any more of our prime retired travel years. We already lost 2020 and 2021. We have 4 cruises booked over the next two years. Reality is Covid will be with us forever just like the flu.

My wife tested positive on our August Oosterdam cruise; we were in a Signature Suite, but she was moved to an obstructed balcony cabin for the last 5 days of the cruise. I didn't test positive until the day after we got off the ship in Venice. We had travel insurance with AON, thankfully. HAL told us we would be reimbursed with an FCC for the 5 days of the cruise my wife was in quarantine, but nothing from them so far. Also HAL told us they would prepay for the 3 nights of hotel and meals while in isolation in Venice, I had to pay with our CC when we checked out. Last Friday we received our settlement letter from AON and they are reimbursing us both for the last 5 days of the cruise and our hotel room costs in Venice. They are mailing us checks for over $5400 this week, I do not care if we ever get the FCC from HAL since I doubt, I would ever use it.

There have been some CC posts in the last couple of weeks that HAL is dropping fixed dining options and going all anytime. One post I remember was from someone on the Rotterdam.

However, the Club Orange dining rooms are only available on HAL's newest 3 Pinnacle class ships. All other HAL ships have a roped off section of the MDR for CO.

My experience is Delta, United, Iberia, KLM and Lufthansa will allow you to get seats online in their websites. American and British airlines will not, but you can call FBC to get this done.

The butter comment by the poster had nothing to do with what they serve with your meals, it was that they supposedly are not using butter in their pastries. For lactose intolerant people, using real butter in pastries means they cannot eat the pastry. My dear granddaughter is so lactose intolerant, on a scale of 1 to 10, she is a 12 and she cannot safely eat most breads and pastries. When she travels with us it is real challenging to find what she can eat.

These sales are probably for those who don't care what they pay as long as they get a "discount", LOL. Years ago, I had a customer who wouldn't buy anything from me unless I gave him at least a 10% discount, so I added 10% to my price and he bought every time.

These endless so called "Sales" are all so fake and misleading. I looked at all 4 of our future booked cruises and in every case this "sale" would cost more than what I'm already booked. For example, my two, January 2024, cruises of Australia and NZ, this "sale" is over $2000 more for each cruise in cost. We are booked on all cruises in the Retreat, so we already get the extra OBC, and this "sale" adds no more to what we already get. I love Celebrity but these sale offerings are misleading and never real sales.

For some people who are lactose intolerant not using butter is preferable.

If this is true, I would think there are many good margarines that would be just fine.

It was good and passable on the Reflection in August.

Only for guests in the Retreat, post Covid.

Sushi on 5 is all ala carte with no cover charge, we love it for lunch on sea days. You will spend between $20 and $30pp for lunch.

Try a short Everglades tour, they are available on Viator.

I wouldn't use Frontier to fly my worst enemy on. They are absolutely the worst airline in the US.

I looked at FBC for our flights today to FLL in June and was surprised to see Southwest as an option on the website. That was from San Antonio to FLL.

I saw that on many nights on our Oosterdam cruise last August. Like I have said before it is what's common now on cruises, so get used to it and not let it bother you or ruin your trip.

We also had a great travel insurance policy purchased through our TA that covered all our expenses 100%. The CruiseLine wanted to give us a future cruise credit for the last 5 days of the cruise we were in quarantine after testing positive. The insurance company paid us in cash for the missed 5 days. It was a monkey wrench but everything worked out in the end. My DW and I never had symptoms any worse than a mild cold and a cough for a couple of days. I have come home from cruises in Europe with way worse cases of bronchitis and one that developed into pneumonia over the last 15 years.

When we booked online yesterday with FBC, I received a confirmation email with the record locator numbers for all the airlines involved. Made getting seats very easy online.

While on the phone with FBC Friday, I was notified that Celebrity now requires all cruises departing from Amsterdam must arrive no later than the day before departure for all air booked with FBC. This wasn't a problem for us as we intend to arrive 3 days early. This change was due to all the delay problems this past summer in Amsterdam and the huge backlog of rebooking flights and getting delayed passengers to the next port to get on the ship. I wouldn't be surprised if this new policy isn't extended to other Europe departure ports.

It saved us $1000's when we had to miss our flights in Business class home earlier this year because of testing positive for covid and having to quarantine in Italy for 3 days after our cruise ended. FBC rebooked us 4 days later in BC all the way home from Italy at no extra charge to us. Had we booked direct with the airline we would have paid $5000 to fly home BC after missing our flights.

We used FBC yesterday online to book our flights for next September. We are going from San Antonio to Amsterdam and back from Athens. We are booked in Business class on all flights. We are on United to Amsterdam and on American Airlines from Athens. The price we booked is about $1000pp less than I could find on my own. We have used FBC in the past very successfully. Our advantages by using FBC: No payment until final payment in June 2023 Can cancel or change flights anytime up to final payment with no penalty, if we find cheaper flights on our own or with FBC. Able to book multiple airlines to get best price. When booking you can add airline loyalty accounts for miles rewards. After booking we went online to the airlines websites to choose seats Disadvantages: No ability to cancel or change flights online, we have to call FBC to make changes, but in past the waits for calling have been much less than calling US airlines. No way to book seats online, you have to go to the airline websites to do this. You cannot mix cabin categories, for example fly one way business class and the other in lower class like premium economy. I would like to add that we have also used HAL's flights for booking and they have a much better online portal for booking and changing flights. On their site you can book seats when booking and go back online anytime to cancel or change flights without having to call them. I wish FBC had these same features.