johngalt181

Thanks! Will try on next cruise.

I don't know. Has anyone tried that?

I just returned from a Cruise on Silhouette. I had basic package. Speed was not bad for email and reading online local newspaper. BUT they deliberately blocked pictures (eg. jpg) and files such as word. They are not queued, but BLOCKED. I checked with internet lounge and that was confirmed. I wish they had stated that up front.

The layover interval at CLT for what they wanted to give us was 48 minutes (minus however much earlier they close the doors.) At CLT that is hard on old people, especially if you land in the portable stair part of the end of terminal E, and have to get to another terminal. I spent an hour on the phone with FBC on Sunday, and 24 hours later got confirmation of a new acceptable combination (different seats) at the same price. I hope this holds. The reason given for the first change was that AA had eliminted or sold out of the price class (Coach) we had originally booked. The reason for installments was as a work-around for a low credit limit on a 3% rebate card I like to use. BOTTOM LINE: I will avoid FBC in the future because I lost control and could not deal with AA directly and rapidly. The only exception is if it saved $250 or more.

A few weeks we booked Savannah - London RT through FBC for an upcoming July 1, 2023 Scandinavia cruise. The savings were $5 pp vs booking directly with American Airlines. I belived their fluff and booked FBC. We got the flights and seats we wanted. I have now paid for 2/3 of cruise + air and must pay the rest in a few days. This morning we got an email from FBC saying that (without my permission) our outgoing flights had changed. Upon checking, the layover at CLT was now (from experience) far too short. Our original flights were still available accodring to AA, BUT we could not get back to them without going through FBC. FBC now says they have made the request but it may take 3 weeks to confirm. We are long term planners. We are now in a situation where we will, by Monday, have paid 100% of ship + air costs, yet have no idea if we will have convenient flights!!! LESSON LEARNED: When you book via FBC you lose control of your flight planning, in our case for $5 pp savings! Never again unless there are meaningful savings.