garyl62

If I read your comment correctly it sounds like there won't be any departures in 23/24, but they will start up again for 24/25. I realize you may have more information based on your work relationship so I assume you've seen some information with these details outlined.

Kathynorth, see point 2 in wrk2cruise statement.

If everything happens as usual you will have no problem, leave the ship between 7:30 and 8:00, get to FLL and check in, (international travelers go through the same process as domestic) and walk to your gate. You'll probably be there an hour or more before your flight time. Now if any of these "one time I had....." events happen it could through off your schedule. @Jim_Iain said it best, "know your risks and have a backup plan". That backup plan could be as simple as talk to a ticket agent and rebook for the next day. Having a backup plan doesn't always mean things turn out the same, it just means you know what you'll do if you need to and you'll be ok with those results, maybe not as happy, but it will be ok.

I've brought a bottle of wine and a funnel onboard with me, then after we drink the wine on the first or second day, I get two glasses (one with my card and one with DW's card) two different times in the afternoon, use the funnel to pour them into the empty bottle, recork it and save it until that evening. Can't say we always drink all of it, but it's nice to have a bottle of wine in the cabin if we want something and don't want to head back out.

We took the Celebrity transfer the first time we flew into San Juan, also the same day as day as departure. From what I recall, Celebrity had someone at luggage claim with hand held signs who we all gathered around and when when it seemed no one else was coming (assuming they had some idea of this based on scheduled arrivals and the fact baggage claim was now empty) they paraded us past the taxi stand and over to a waiting van. Then in typical fashion, we all boarded and sat there another 30 minutes until other people arrived and the van filled up after which we left. I doubt the transfer time is a hard time as you asked. Since that trip we've still flown in on day of departure, but just took the taxi ourselves. Taxi's are very regulated in PR and rates are set by zones. I think the rate to the pier is about $20. It simple to just claim your luggage, walk outside, tell the person managing the taxi stand where you are going and he will write you a ticket which shows the fare, he'll walk you to the cab, you give the ticket to the driver and off you go. I'd suggest saving the money Celerity charges and take the taxi yourself. As a side note, after the cruise we usually have a mid afternoon flight and we get a taxi from the port around 8:30 AM, have him take us to Baccachina Restaurant in Old San Juan where you can store your luggage. (We arrange for the same driver to come pick us back up from there at the proper time to take us to the airport) Then we spend a couple hours walking around Old San Juan, come back to the restaurant for lunch, pick up our bags and meet the taxi to head off to SJU.

Can anyone comment about experience you may have had with the Talkeetna Air Taxi Flightseeing tours, or specifically the Summit Tour? Also, if someone did a tour with a Glacier Landing. Typically that adds $100 PP, but only 30 minutes which they say is 15 minutes to land & take off, and 15 minutes on the glacier. Their website looks great, and the summit tour seems like you are above the clouds and have a chance for some great views. HOME - Talkeetna Air Taxi

Check out this thread currently active in the "Florida Departures" thread. Mainly focused on Marriott properties, but may be interesting to you based on your previous stays https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2879799-marriott-in-ft-lauderdale/

This past March we stayed at the "Marriott Fort Lauderdale Airport" which is newer property with shuttle service from the airport (I know you mentioned a car so that info is more for others) and was convenient to both the port and airport. We are Bonvoy Titanium so have M Club access all the time and this club is open 24/7 which was nice for a late arrival. Overall the hotel was nice, dining room with breakfast was spacious with a good menu and buffet with cook to order options, the M Club had the typical fare. We'd go back again. This March however we booked the "AC Fort Lauderdale Beach" which is also billed as a new hotel. We opted to use a redemption for this stay and have a reservation for an ocean view corner room for only 25,000 points which is within your annual award level. We've been at AC Hotels before and they are nothing special, but for one night we decided to take a chance and see how it is since it's across the street from the beach.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think of this as "Goop"? Every time I see a goop thread or comment I can't help but wonder why they named it that, and how they got around the trademark of this.

Congratulations Jim & Iain! Since you shared both your total cruises and CC points, I'm wondering if they award the Top Cruiser based on cruises or Captain's club points?

Had to laugh at your description of Dimir. He was our host in the PS on Reflection this past March. Was very good at taking care of things for us, did anything we asked for and set up a nice in-suite gathering with plenty of food and drinks (a lot more drinks than we asked for!) but he was on the quiet side so I can see your comment about a rock. We did have a couple conversations with him where a dry sense of humor came through, but he was very much business and got things done. That said, I'd be happy to have him as a host anytime, glad to hear where he landed as he was just a few weeks from the end of his contract when we sailed with him.

They let you do a lot and help keep it going the right way. It's a one on one activity so no real class. Here is DW working on her creation.

Looks like @Covepointcruiserbeat me by a couple seconds!

Only option will be for you to send things to laundry and have them pressed for a fee. Or, bring a spray bottle of wrinkle release and hang them up

Enjoyed following along with you the entire time! Have a great last night and safe travels tomorrow

Thanks again to everyone for the replies and suggestions. While we don't need to make a final decision until we purchase airfare or make final payment to Celebrity, we're leaning toward the Med trip. We know it will be hot, but July or August are the only months we can go for some time and with the road going deep into Denali being closed until probably 2024, it could make sense to wait to go to AK. With everyone's suggestions about doing the land portion on our own, we'll look more into that also. Thanks again for the feedback!

@megr1125 is right, harbour cam shows she is moving now

Could be. Only going on my experience and I've always been told by my Butler any time we want in-suite dining to let him know and he'll get us dinner from Luminae and bring it course by course. Didn't matter if we were in a Sky Suite or PH. Only time it was discouraged was when it was Lobster night and we were in a Sky Suite, but our butler told us about that on embarkation day when he said he'd "do it anytime, except....." Regardless, my guess is for a special occasion and being in a RS that would be accommodated, but @JFontaine has a good idea too. It would be nice to get up and move around like that as well as the added surprise for dessert.

Unless his birthday is the day your board, or maybe the next day, just discuss everything with your Butler after you are onboard. They will handle everything for you and most likely you will not see any charges. Provide him/her with an extra tip when you make the plans as it is an extra request you are having and I'm sure it will be a night to remember. As far as meals, just go with the flow, tell him/her which night you'd like to do it, and ask if you could see the menu from Luminae that that evening. Ask if you could order from there and if it could be served in courses. Both those requests are normal options so I'd assume you can do that easily and probably not be charged anything. If you are, charged for your guests in the end, it's just as if you brought them to Luminae but you've had a private dinner in your suite instead. Enjoy!

Thanks everyone. As we knew when we booked it, and most of you say, August would be hot in the Med so our debate is really do we wait until we could go in a better month (which is the 5 year comment I made) or just do it now. Lot's of good points from @chemmo @cruisemom42 and @Northern Aurora I also appreciate the feedback about doing the land portion on our own, that will be something else to consider. We currently have both trips booked and have booked many shore excursions so we have time to evaluate things more without losing our opportunity for things. If we cancel everything is refundable at this point. I didn't make it very clear in my OP since we can do AK anytime it could be we do the Med now, and then in a year or 2 we go to AK.

I was primarily thinking about the potential of more teens or late teens as part of family sailings. Happy to see them getting exposed to cruising and enjoying their vacations, but sometimes I'm looking for things that are different than they are. Never had issues before (we've sailed many Spring Break time Caribbean or even 4 day cruises), so probably not something to be to concerned with, but was a thought we had

I realize this is a personal preference and only we can ultimately decide what is more important to us, but it's always nice to read other people's ideas and viewpoints so here goes. The options/details are: Italy, Turkey & Greek Islands on Beyond sailing August 7, 2023. Sunset aft Veranda, AI package (prem drinks & WIFI), 11 nights total, plus 3 nights pre-cruise on our own in Rome Southbound Alaska Glacier on Millennium with Land Tour 10B. Tour starts July 22, 2023 for 6 nights, cruise is 7 nights in Sunset Aqua (with standard 3 perks), total 13 nights plus 1 or 2 nights post cruise in Vancouver on our own. Cost is only $40 different, but after differences in OBC, days on our own, airfare and other things AK ends up being about $1,000 less which isn't a big factor to us. We have never been to either, we need to plan our sailing around educational calendars for the next 5 years as DW is a teacher. Debates for us are crowds and heat in August in the Mediterranean vs temperature and passenger demographic of AK sailing. New ship with more dining options vs renovated M-Class ship, although Blu makes us for some of the dining drawbacks on Millennium. We expect Mediterranean to be more of an active trip while AK would be more relaxing. We can pick AK any summer, if we don't do Mediterranean in 2023 we'd probably would wait 5 years and go in September. Interested to hear some feedback and ideas!

We regularly book while onboard. Deposits are only $100PP for Sky Suite or less, extra OBC (last time it was double the usual amount so we ended up with $700) and then when we return home we also transfer to a TA and get additional OBC from him. If the price drops you can get a price adjustment or OBC if after final payment. We were only "burned" one time which was when the Edge first came out. We waited to book until we were onboard and by that time the price had gone up significantly from when we first started looking. So if you're tracking something and the price drops book it when you see it, otherwise booking onboard can be a good option.

I've read other social media posts from people saying there are a high number of teens or young adults on board and the pool has been very crowded and people have been partaking in disruptive activities there during the day. Additional comments were posted about how things were getting out of hand in the lounges or bars in the evenings. Are you seeing anything like that or is it just a few people complaining and blowing things out of proportion? Thanks for your reply.

I agree, separate bedroom is nice, large living room, tub isn't an issue for us but could be for others, balcony is ok, enough room to sit and relax but no room for lounger, wall of windows is fabulous! Would pick over a Royal almost every time for this class of ship due to limited specialty dining choices that are included with Royal and we like the open feeling the living room provides.