waterbug123

Refundable tickets are generally always going to be sky high. Even if your plans change, keep in mind that many airlines will issue a travel credit if you cancel a non-refundable flight. This gets you the cheaper non-refundable rate, and you still get your money back, just not as a credit on your credit card. Yes, you'd have to use that travel credit within a year usually but if you travel a lot that might not be difficult. Just something to consider.

In the hypothetical scenario I'm envisioning, it's one in which the airport is closed for an extended period of time. So even pax who plan to arrive a few days or even a week prior to the cruise wouldn't be able to get there etc. But I'm not going to argue with you so let's just pretend you're right and the ship would sail no matter what because cruise lines never cancel cruises last minute for any reason whatsoever.

If a big weather/eruption situation caused the airport to be closed and no inbound flights, you really think the ship is going to sail with no passengers?

If the airport closes and all flights to it are canceled, Celebrity cannot magically open the airport or reinstate a flight. Probably the best they can do is change the itinerary so that it departs from the UK, or issue a full refund.

Keep in mind that those around departure gates may well have been put there for passengers coming in on the next flight arriving at that gate who requested assistance; the pushers will show up when the plane arrives.

Nope, not unless the poster I was responding to tries again to compare cruise ship dining to a 5 star restaurant.

Cruise ship dining is NOT 5-star dining, not even the specialty restaurants. Far from it.

Note: At this time, Diamond/Elite is the highest level of reciprocity between the two. i.e. If you get to Diamond Plus on Royal, you will still only get reciprocal benefits of Elite on Celebrity, not Elite Plus. A recent survey indicated they may be thinking of extending reciprocity, but at this point it still caps out at Diamond/Elite.

And generally speaking, in most of Europe (including Italy specifically) customs is a non-issue. If you have nothing to declare you simply exit through the green door, no waiting. It's up to you to notify them/go through the red door if you have something to declare. Immigration however, is where your passport is checked and will almost always involve waiting in a line of some length.

Absolutely. We often book this type of ride with a company called welcomepickups.com but if that won’t work, we’ll absolutely talk to hotel upon Check-in.

We are not at the Marriott, we are staying at the Hilton but about the same distance from the airport. Planning on arranging a car at 4am. It is what it is

Thanks for the tip, we'll keep that in mind!

Thank you, I don't know why I was thinking it was more difficult than that!

We booked round trip flights on Avianca for $371 per person. That was for "L" class tickets, which allowed us to change the flight if necessary, as well as choose seats in advance and have a bit more luggage allowance. Heading to Baltra, the flight leaves Quito at 7:51am and arrives in Baltra at 10:48am. I believe it makes a stop in Guayaquil on the way. It's going to mean a VERY early wake up that morning since we have to transfer to the airport, then get the tourist cards, do the luggage inspection thing, and then actually check in and get through security. Returning to Quito, it leaves Baltra at 11:33am and arrives in Quito at 4:15pm, and again, I believe it makes a stop in Guayaquil on the way.

We have Diamox we plan to take for altitude sickness. We’ve been at altitude many times, snow skiing and gorilla trekking in Rwanda. It’s never bothered me but I’m taking the Diamox anyway, just in case. My husband has occasionally been affected so he’s taking it as well!