thon

2 hours ago, Fouremco said:

With our March 2022 sailing, that's great news.

 

Just out of curiosity, what cruise are you on them?  We’re on the March 28 Silhouette one.

34 minutes ago, hancogran said:

Same for me... I guess we were both posting at the same time!

You’ll need an appointment at Service Ontario.  I had one the day after so was pretty quick.  Both my wife’s had expired as well but she was able to renew both online - why I couldn’t I have no idea.

2 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

I went to take a picture of my license and health card to save in favs , figure it easier than getting the wallet 

notice both were expired for months😱

I guess the Ontario government no longer sends out renewals 🙄

renewed everything online in 5 mins 

I drove out to Calgary and back earlier this year with both expired licence and health card.  Thank god nothing happened!  I was able to renew my licence online but had to go to a ServiceOntario site for a new health card.

Pre-Covid it was always best (and usually cheaper) to book flights well in advance. I am loathe to do that now as Canadian airlines are cancelling or re-scheduling flights all over the place.  My upcoming cruise is in late March; returning in early April.  On my travel days there is currently no direct AC flights YOW-FLL either way.  What there is is a lot of flights using both Montreal and Toronto.  I cannot for a moment believe that AC will actually operate so many flights each day between FLL and either of those 2 airports.  I think what they’ve done is “schedule” a bunch of options to see which ones get the most “traction”.  Then cancel the other ones.  So if you’re one of the unlucky passengers, you either get out on a different flight (earlier or later) or even the following day.  That’s why I’m not booking flights yet even if I end up having to pay more by waiting.  Not an ideal situation.

We have stayed at the Rodeway Inn & Suites airport/cruise port a number of times. Both pre-cruise and a day room post-cruise when we had a late flight home.  Not the fanciest place but we’ve never had any concerns there.  Will probably stay there again pre-cruise in late March.  Breakfast is included and there is a restaurant attached to the hotel that often has live music.  Our flight usually arrives in early evening and if we need food the restaurant has been fine for us.  We don’t need anything fancy.  There is a free airport and port shuttle.  Obviously a favourite of cruisers as the both the lobby and breakfast room are busy, busy during cruise season.

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

DW and I originally obtained our NEXUS cards in 2013 and renewed them online in 2018 using the webpage you cite in your post. While some people have reported being required to attend an interview for the renewal, the webpage made it clear than this was not an across the board requirement. In our case, no interview.

 

This is just a guess, but going by the April 2020 date of your conditional renewal and numerous posts by US NEXUS holders that I've read, I suspect that with the impact of the pandemic, the DHS decided to give everyone with an expiring card a conditional 2 year renewal. 

Possible.  But ours were due to expire this year (mine in May 2021) so we renewed them before the month they expired. Renewal was for 5 years. So goodness knows what they’re doing.  But it sure is nice to have the card, even for travel within Canada as you get VIP treatment at the CATSA security screening too.

5 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

We were unable to get a direct flight to Ottawa from Fort Lauderdale following our upcoming cruise and have to connect in Toronto. The more I read about the zoo there, the more I'm tempted to spend debarkation night in Fort Lauderdale and take a direct flight which is available the following day.

I have always avoided Toronto whenever possible, preferring to connect through Montreal. Our next cruise is in late March and if no direct flights at that time I will find something through Montreal.  Under normal circumstances I would likely have already booked my flights but with Canadian airlines cancelling and changing flights constantly as they ramp up after the pandemic I am not willing to take chances yet.

My wife and I renewed our NEXUS cards earlier this year. They are now valid until 2026 and there is nothing “conditional” about them.  Was all done online; no new interview so not sure what others are referring to about theirs being conditional..

5 hours ago, Magicat said:

Did CBSA ratify their contract?

It was ratified Sept 23 but has not been signed yet.  My daughter works at CBSA (in HQ) and is covered by this agreement.

18 hours ago, ByThePond said:

iOS 15.1 (currently in beta) allows you to scan the Ontario QR code and store it in Apple Wallet. 

But the Ontario QR code is a PDF file and I didn’t think you could scan a PDF to the wallet.  I’m no techie so maybe I’m wrong.  Oops I’m wrong - I was thinking if locking something in my “notes”. Like I said, I’m no techie

Just to be clear - this is a a US Congressman who says that the US Govt will reopen the border next month.  He offers no other details and it is not an official announcement.  We can all hope he’s right though.

I would not chance the morning flight.  Too many variables out of your control and just because the ship is scheduled to dock at 7 does not mean it will be exactly that  timeand then it would be awhile before passengers can disembark.

20 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

So you are saying now that both your wife and daughters are more adept at mastering e-devices? 😇

 

 

Absolutely - but don’t  tell them I said that!  However, I am still master of the tv remote😀

I had no problem downloading from the Ont site and and then adding it to my wallet.  But when I then scanned it with my wife’s iPhone all I got was a big red X instead of the nice green check mark.  3 times!  Now when the province comes out with their QR code in October I’ll let my wife add it to my phone.

My wife was able to get everything done on my phone.  I have no idea why the 3 times I tried at our cottage on the weekend didn’t work.  Worked great!

Well I give up.  Managed to download the Ont. file without difficulty (at least 3 times!) and followed all the prompts.  Added it to my Wallet from both iPhone and iCloud but neither QR code can be read by my wife’s iPhone.  Just get a big X.  Guess I’ll wait until Monday night when my 2 daughters come for dinner- their phones are permanently affixed to the ends of their arms so hopefully they’ll figure it out.

As I said in post #59 above I got through to Captain’s Club almost immediately and spoke to a very pleasant woman who did all she could to help me.  Sad to see so many others are not having the same experience.

I just called Captains Club and got through in minutes - called about 9:15 a.m. EST. While she wasn’t able to get me a reduction on my March 2022 cruise fare (as I already had a bunch of reductions and the 20% would have resulted in a slightly higher fare) she was able to save my in-laws a total of $252 CDN on their fare.

Rodeway has day rooms.  We’ve stayed there twice before our flight.  Check in is at 10 a.m. for day rooms and check out is at 5 if I recall correctly.  Price was $70 a couple of years ago.

My refund arrived today, also in 4 amounts.  But they add up to the total paid so I am more than happy.

1 hour ago, Gmell said:

Today, April 29 - Our refund has been posted to our CC.  Complete refund in four transactions.  Our sailing was March 27 Silhouette.  Refund request was submitted March 14 after their cancellation. 

Same cruise for me and I just got my refund today as well.  Cancelled March 13 - within hours of getting the email cancelling the cruise.  Booked directly with Celebrity.  Refund came in 4 amounts, but they all added up to my total paid.  Refunds were posted to my CC March 25 and showed up today.  

1 hour ago, Welland said:

I know life isn't fair sometimes.   Truly don't know how they are being sorted.....is it by ship or by sailing date?   Not sure when your cruise was scheduled for so cannot determine if this is the cash.

 

Look at the positive....you've called them once a week and have spent about 8 minutes on line waiting for an agent.  Cannot complain about that.

I was on the 27 March-5 April Silhouette.  And you’re right, we really have no idea how they are sorting out the order for refunds but I’m sure they have some sort of a process.  And you’re right again, I certainly cannot complain about the length of time I’ve been on hold.  And the agents I’ve spoken to (at least the last few) have been very friendly and seem to be trying to help - but they have no control over Celebrity’s system; they are not the decision-makers.

4 minutes ago, Welland said:

Cruise refund was requested on March 20.  Amounts deposited to credit card today, April 24.  To entries; one for deposit and one for cruise, port charges and taxes.

Well that’s not fair😀.  I requested my refund 13 March.  Just got off the phone with Celebrity.  My refund is apparently in stage 2 of a 3 stage process. She says the 3rd and final stage is “disbursement”. And she quoted the 45 business day drivel they’ve been instructed to say.  She also said that she’s waiting for a refund as well and didn’t seem too worried about hers. Apparently I should have refund to my CC by 2 or 4 May.  We’ll see.

I’ve called them I think about 4 times now (once a week) and have never spent more than maybe 8 minutes waiting.

On 4/13/2020 at 4:49 PM, thon said:

I asked for a full refund immediately upon receiving their 13 March email cancelling my cruise.  Still nothing.

Still nothing.  But I did call Celebrity on Friday and the agent transferred me to their ‘resolutions’ department.  I was then told that my refund request was still in the 1st of a 3 step process (whatever that means) and she would try to expedite things.  She also told me that I needn’t call back again after I told her I had already called 3 times, being given different answers each time.  She seemed to indicate that my refund was imminent.  But for me, if nothing by Friday I will call again.

I asked for a full refund immediately upon receiving their 13 March email cancelling my cruise.  Still nothing.

5 minutes ago, vkb2751 said:

 

What was your sailing date? We cancelled thru the link in their email on March 13 for silhouette sailing on 3/27/20 and have received nothing yet. I called yesterday and was told they would process the refund on 4/13 and we will see on our cc 10 days after that!

Hey vkb2751 - we would have been on the same cruise as you!  Maybe we’ll meet some other time.  Seems like everyone gets different answers.