terrydtx

Wait, I had no idea we could do that😁 Pre Covid we sailed in Standard Balcony cabins and never felt like a second class passengers. After Covid with all we saved from not cruising for 2 years we decided to try the Retreat. You will love Celebrity no matter what class of cabin you choose.

Last year we booked our flights to Rome for our Reflection cruise with FBC. American Airlines kept changing their flights and went from one stop to 2 that took an extra 10 hours to get to Rome. We were able to call FBC and change to another airline, United, for no extra cost. If we had booked directly with AA we would have been stuck with their terrible changes and itinerary.

In your case I would explore a private transport with a minivan. You may be able to also order a minivan Uber.

Not sure what you are asking about. My experience with booking with FBC is flights are cancelable without a penalty up to the final payment for a cruise which is when the airfare is paid. We currently have BC flights booked for our September Apex cruise that will be paid at final payment in June for the cruise. I can cancel the flights anytime up to then, if I find a better deal on my own. We are flying on United to Amsterdam and flying home from Athens on American Airlines. Currently both airlines want over $2000pp RT more for BC than what we booked back at last November. Also, again we are booked on two different airlines which is near impossible to do directly booking.

That is correct and I saw it on the TV show "Deadliest Catch" and there was a very limited season on the Golden King Crab which was fetching a very high price for the crab fishermen last year.

I was told if we put in the individual's name it would go to that person 100%.

Business class is running well over $11k pp for next January, way out our budget. We are paying $4400pp for the RT PE seats to Australia we just booked with FBC. United flying from Houston direct to Aus. wants over $6000pp RT for Premium Economy. Air New Zealand RT to Aus from Houston is around $5800pp for PE seats. It is not inexpensive to fly to Aus, even main cabin coach seats are over $2200pp

We had a great experience with FBC this yesterday. We are flying to Sydney in January for our B2B Edge cruise and wanted to return from Melbourne after we spend 10 days driving in Australia. We found the flights we wanted from San Antonio to Sydney on American Airlines in Premium Economy with just one stop in LAX. We also wanted to fly home from Melbourne on Air New Zealand premium economy through Auckland to Houston and home with 2 stops. Booking 2 different airlines is nearly impossible booking direct. I was able to book online with FBC the exact itinerary we wanted on both airlines. I was not able to go to AA or Air NZ website after booking to choose our seats, so I called FBC this morning and got to choose our seats on all flights that we wanted. It took about 15 minutes to get all of this done with FBC and we saved a lot of money over trying to book ourselves.

Went to guest services for a form to fill out and charge the extra tip to our ship account.

I have only seen them on Alaska and west coast cruises. At current pricing of them, I doubt they will be in Pinnacle grill without a hefty upcharge.

Gary, I am enjoying your blog, we will be on the Apex in September in Amsterdam sailing to Athens. We are in a Sky Suite and look forward to the Retreat deck and lounge. Has the Retreat deck been open for lunch on port days?

Get a Taxi or Uber to the airport, for 2 people it will cost less and be more convenient. In 2021 an Uber from port to airport was $23 and Celebrity wanted $16pp for the shuttle which drops you off in one location with a long walk to the terminal for departure.

Lots of luck getting an answer from HAL, I just sent my email for the 3rd time with no answers for the first 2.

So that equates to about 3 drinks pp per day at any time, which makes it borderline as to being worth doing.

We only book Sky Suites with Celebrity so the room service charge is not an issue for us, however I have read that you can no longer have dinner from the MDR menu delivered by room service. We are booked on 2 HAL cruises, and they have not instigated any RS charges for any class of cabin and the MDR menu is still available for RS. I can see why people in non-suites are upset about the changes with Celebrity. The $11.74 per delivery charges can add up very quickly if you use RS Mutiple times a day.

Plus 18% gratuity on the $9.95, more bad news.

However his first post stated the following which contradicts the above, all very confusing. We did upgrade the room to Club Orange in a veranda since the Bingo free cruise is the cheapest inside state room category.

I wonder from reading the OP posts, if he is thinking Club Orange means you are in a suite? What he stated in one post contradicted what he states in another.

HAL has its good and bad points, but nothing they offer in Neptune and higher suites comes close to the Retreat amenities offered by Celebrity even in their lowest level Sky Suites. HAL in their newer ships offers better values in the non-suites over the terribly conceived non suites IV cabins on Celebrity E Class ships. If you want a truly elevated suite's ship in a ship experience, Celebrity has the huge edge over HAL. Celebrity is doing their best to price most of us out of the retreat by elevating Sky Suite prices ridiculously high for future cruises.

When we cruise on HAL we choose either a SS on Vista class and Vista Suites on R Class. More space than standard Verandah and more room if you have 3 people in the cabin. More like a Mini-Suite on RCL or NCL, not really a suite just more space. The bathroom double sink and separate showers in SS are very nice too. For our Nov K'Dam cruise we decided to book an aft facing Verandah, this is our first Pinnacle class cruise.

What you said makes sense and no matter what the dress code is, there will be some who try to push the limits.

It is just baffling that HAL who wants us all to use the app can't get their act together and make this app work correctly.

If possible, I would book the SS on deck 6, this is where we always book a SS on the Vista class ships. If you are light sleepers or like to sleep in the noise can be bad from the Lido deck early in the mornings.

On the R class ships the Vista suites not only have a nice balcony but much more space than the standard OV cabins. While we have not sailed in one with 3 people, there is IMO enough room with the cough made into a sleeper bed. During the day have your cabin attendant make up the bed so you have a couch to sit on. Unlike the Signature Suites on the Vista class and up ships the Vista Suite has a very small bathroom. We only sail in Vista suites on R class ships for the balcony and more space. We have one booked next year on the Volendam.

What is special about the lunch is no other passengers booked in less than suites get a sit-down lunch in the MDR on embarkation day.