BBsails

On another thread, someone recommended taking a phone photo of the port agent's information that is posted in the daily. Should you need it, you'll have the information with you without toting the daily.

Betsy

Interesting thread. We were B2B2B a couple of years ago on the Solstice from Sydney to Seattle, and there was nothing planned for the change over days. Also on a B2B last year on the Equinox from Barcelona to Greece, back to Barcelona and on the TA to Ft. L. Again, nothing planned by =X= for the change over day. We have another B2B planned for this year, and it'll be interesting to see if there's lunch or something planned for the change over day.

Hmmm...there've been a couple of price drops on each of our two currently booked cruises. In each case, we've retained our perks. Redoing the perks was never even mentioned by our TA. I suggest you go ahead and contact your TA to find out whether your perks would be impacted by the price drop. Please come back here and let us know how it turns out.

Betsy

Seems as if you were posting as I was composing, rich. Great minds....

I'm not sure if this is correct, so maybe someone can confirm: If you've booked your tours through Celebrity you may be able to cancel and rebook using your OBC when you board the ship. If you can do that, it'll use up a chunk of your non-refundable OBC.

This is a link to the West Coast Departures board. I realize you're not departing from LA, but there will be posts here that relate to LA. Type Los Angeles into the search box.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=413

Bon voyage

Thanks, Baron! Just the information I was looking for. How many nights was your cruise?

Is Excelerate available on the Eclipse? Waiting for Andy to update us, but has anyone else experienced it on the Eclipse?

Thanks, WestLakeGirl and Northern Aurora. We, too, have a lot of OBC and may, for the first time, book an excursion on the ship.

Betsy

I should know the answer to this but don't think I've ever run across the following information. Is there a price reduction for Captain's Club members who book excursions on board? Thanks for your replies.

Betsy

Hi,

The four of us need transfer from Southampton to London Heathrow Airport on April 30th after our ship Celebrity Eclipse arrives. Can you suggest a good way to do it?

 

Fat Lady

To meet your fellow cruisers, join the roll call at:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2133195

You can probably "buddy up" with others and do a private transfer.

Betsy

We used it after alighting from the Solstice in Seattle. I was a little anxious about ever seeing our bags again, but everything worked fine. Will definitely use the service whenever/wherever it's provided.

Bon voyage

Betsy

In the light of recent events, the following are covered by Chase Sapphire.

Covered Loss means one of the following events that occur when you or an Immediate Family Member is insured under the policy and the event causes cancellation of the travel arrangements:

• Accidental Bodily Injury, Loss of Life, or Sickness experienced by you, a Traveling Companion, or an Immediate Family Member of you or a Traveling Companion

• Severe weather, which prevents a reasonable and prudent person from beginning or continuing on a Covered Trip

• Change in military orders for you, your Spouse, or your Domestic Partner

• A terrorist action or hijacking

• A call to jury duty or receiving a subpoena from the courts, neither of which can be postponed or waived

• Finding your or your Traveling Companion’s dwelling to be uninhabitable

• Quarantine imposed by a Physician for health reasons

• Financial insolvency of the Travel Agency, Tour Operator, or Travel Supplier whose services you booked

Score! Just received the shareholder credit for our April transatlantic booked with the military discount plus OBC from the travel agent. With the exact scenario two years ago, we were denied the shareholder credit. Go figure.

suzyed, I don't think the shareholder credit ever combines with any of the GO specials.

Betsy

You are so lucky to live in FL where you can hop on a short cruise at the last minute to get the points to take you to Elite. We are 12 points short of Elite+ and are booked on a B2B transatlantic followed by a cruise in Europe. We'll reach Elite+ after the TA. We're in CA, and I looked very hard for a short, relatively inexpensive, cruise from anywhere on the west coast, but nothing was offered. Considering the benefits for Elite+ aren't that much greater than for Elite, we'll be satisfied with the Elite+ benefits on the second part of the B2B.

Bon voyage.

Quick input: If you aren't able to take the cruise you have booked you may be able to slide your insurance over to whichever cruise you end up booking. Good luck.

You can check your credit card travel benefits on line, no need to phone. Just google your credit card name. Be sure to read the fine print very very carefully to be sure you understand every provision. Some cards require you to pay for your entire trip using the card, others don't.

Bon voyage

That would be the Silhouette departing Port Everglades on April 10 destined for Southampton, not the Eclipse. I do hope that the OP has the right ship.

Me too, fouremco. We're on the Eclipse TA and I was pretty certain of the date and port. However, I did pull up the invoice to be sure. :p

OneMoreTime, are you sure you're leaving Ft. Lauderdale on April 10 on the Eclipse? I understand the Eclipse transatlantic leaves Miami to Southampton on April 17 2016.

We love transatlantics! We're doing our seventh this spring, plus we've done one transpacific and have another scheduled for 2017. Totally love the long luscious days at sea. You can participate in the many offered activities or not.

If you're worried about being far from land, here's a quote from Garry Larsen, then captain of the Constellation: The deeper the ocean, the better she floats."

We'll be on the Eclipse later this spring. Could you find out if there's a server aboard by the name of Wilmar? Or "Willy from the Philli" as he calls himself. Best waiter (among many) in the fleet, IMHO. Thanks!

I understand that OBC granted from =X= due to 123Go, etc isn't refundable. What about the OBC granted by your TA? Is that also no longer refundable?

Betsy

We go to Sydney as often as we can get there, which isn't often enough (from CA). We always buy a 3-day public transportation pass which covers trains, buses, and ferries; there's a senior discount too. The senior discount seems to be offered only to Australian pensioners, but when we bought ours at Wynyard Station, the agent asked us if we were seniors and issued us the senior rate. However, this may be different now because of the Opal option.

No need to take a cruise to Manly, just hop on a ferry at Circular Quai, hop off in Manly, walk to the beach on the pedestrian street that goes straight from the ferry to the beach. We like the Manly Fish Cafe for seafood, but there are other choices as well.

Bon voyage

I wouldn't want to be concerned about or worry about making the flight. To me, that's no way to end a peaceful, restorative cruise. Could you stay overnight in Sydney? It's easy to take the train from Circular Quay, where the ship docks, to the airport, but there are a lot of hoops to jump through such as customs and (maybe) immigration before you even get to the train.

Bon voyage

Here's a tip: Bring along some duct tape, so if the bag rips (and it probably will) you can hold it together with the tape. They don't seem to be too particular about how much is stuffed in there and secured with duct tape. Want to guess how I know this?:D

On a trip of over five weeks, I'd be tempted to do laundry on land on a port day if there's a port you're not so interested in exploring--I'm aware there're people who will disagree about "wasting" a port day. We've met some very interesting people in foreign laundromats. For example, in Bayeux in France, I needed to get a haircut and struck up a conversation (limited only by my fractured French) with a local woman who was doing her laundry. She took me by the hand and walked me to her hair stylist, Patricia, where I got a fantastic haircut.

Bon voyage

Betsy