cmaleblanc

Does AMEX do this every time? I don't have an AMEX, I have the Passport, it has no FX fees, but I also have them charge in the local currency regardless so we get the rate from the bank, instead of the rate from the teller to the US, and than our Bank from the US to Canada.

I'm not shocked so many of my fellow Newfoundlanders made it to the same ship, I was just surprised at both the response from the cruise line AND the media. Granted I wasn't on the cruise but I know a few people who had been. It was nice to see the cruise line acknowledge so many and I'm sure people would enjoy a good old kitchen party! Being here now, we can expect winter for another few weeks. In fact, the Northern Part of the Province may receive up to 25cm of snow this weekend. So lots of Newfoundlanders like to get out of the winter weather, to the point that many travel companies have a specific discount for our province to get people on boats! It was funny to see the news spread locally on Social media as friends shared pictures, only to turn on the news one night to find it being reported nationally. At least it was some fun news in an otherwise dark news cycle.

What benefits are you getting for the fees? We would transfer TA's if they started to charge us for anything. But, maybe they are offering extras. Do you get it back in OBC after booking, for example? Our TA responds the same day or within 24hrs if they aren't in the office. We've never had an issue contacting them when we needed something, and we get a reasonable OBC when booking with them for No additional costs to us. Not to mention much cheaper than booking direct with the cruise line. They would have to be offering me something way above and beyond your typical TA to justify extra costs, if they are just charging to charge, I would skip on out of that place and find myself someone new. Lots of TA's out looking for new clients and are happy to work without charging the extra charges ontop.

When we travel I ask myself, "Would I like to spend time in <<Country Names>> prison for drug trafficking, instead of being on the ship?" My answer is always No, so I bring my prescriptions in original bottles with the prescription on the bottle, and if I'm going to a new location I check local laws. As Turtles said, just because it's a common medication in your home country doesn't mean that it will be accepted in another, and it just takes one agent at a border crossing to ruin your very expensive trip, all for the sake of bringing the original bottle. If the size of the bottle is the concern. Speak with your pharmacist. In may places your Pharmacist can package a small amount in "travel blisters" or packs with your prescription neatly printed on the package. So you can take what you need, in a sealed container and only break it open once you're in the country your traveling.

I'm really happy we put in our application last September, even with the wait $50 for 5 years is a steal. The $120 announced now, may make it not worth it, but we'll have to see in 5 years what it's like. (we are still pending and haven't even got interviews yet). We travel only once or twice a year, so Nexus at $50 was good. But with that amount of travel, $120x2 is less inviting. I'll have to look around at new CC's that may cover the additional cost of the application when we go to renew, or maybe the one we have now will update to include the higher fee. The other determining factor will be how they conduct the interviews in the future. We are in Newfoundland so have to travel no matter what to do an interview. I know they offered some virtual but that was for renewals now new application, so for us we have to try and time our interview with our next trip. It's a lot of pain for something nice to have for us, and not a must...so the increase in cost and possible time requirements to renew are going to impact that. But, then again, with the wait times as they currently are, maybe a higher cost of entry will help streamline the application for people who would benefit from the program.

This is 10000% false, We really enjoy the Sunset bar, my GF does enjoy a frozen drink, but I'm a bourbon/Whisky fan, especially when I'm smoking a cigar. That's the place to do it on the E-Class ships. So, no...they don't only server frozen.

We also use the Scotia Bank Passport. We enjoy it, We had been Scene members before moving to the card, but I find the points easy to build up, no FX fees, we use a US-based TA that charges in USD, and when we travel internationally we use it for every purchase. We also use the lounge perks, the 6 passes a year are great! We are in Newfoundland, so nothing here except for MPL, but we normally have to spend 4-7hrs in Pearson or when I travel to Montreal for work, and both those locations have lounges. Because of our normal long waits in airports, I was looking for something with a good lounge access package, without the $600/yr for an Amex. The bonus of no FX was fantastic...plus the 2nd card for my partner at no additional charge! great option. I wish they offered a refund/rebate for NEXUS membership, but for the sake of the $50 every 5 years. I'm more than happy with the card. (We also have Canadia cards we use for normal points accumulation through the year, in places that don't provided bonus scene points or are charging in Canadian.)

We've accepted that gratuities, pre-paid, daily, or included, are part of our final payment to take a cruise. We prefer to use the pre-paid or included just for simplicity so we know the budget and aren't getting a surprise at the end of a cruise. But, in turn, we also expect a level of service for that. Based on how Celebrity is pricing gratuities, for things like the drink package, we assume this to be 20%. Considering 15% is a "normal" tip, we expect a service that is measurable by our standard of 20%. If we have staff (like our room attendant on our last cruise) that are amazing we will pad that with a little extra...at the end! of the cruise. The company is responsible for paying the crew, I'm not. We would never remove the gratuities on our cruise, as it impacts the crew, but we shouldn't be expected to pay more either.

If I understand it correctly it's like YYZ Express at Pearson. It also says it's not for NEXUS holders/can't be used with NEXUS. But if you read the full explanation it's because NEXUS already has the same benefits, so they don't want you to double dip. I feel like ArriveCan may be similar, if you've already paid for NEXUS, you're taking up space in ArriveCan for someone who doesn't have it. Of course, this is only a problem once many people start using ArriveCan. I also haven't used both, as I'm still waiting for my NEXUS interview. Hoping I have it all sorted out before our travel next year. (if the 12-18 month wait is to be believed). It's been very much in use we've used it for the last few years arriving back in Canada after our trips, the last time was in Feb 2024 after our cruise with Celebrity. The line was empty, and we walked past about 100 people waiting in the normal line. Waste of money? Probably, but as long as it's active I'll keep using it as long as it's faster than waiting in line the old way.

First...Shhhh...don't share our secrets the more people that use it the longer it will get! But also, 100% agree, that we've never waited using the ArriveCAN app or the CBP app if going into the US. We sailed on through both a few weeks ago on our last trip. Due to the delay in NEXUS, this has been great. I'm hoping our NEXUS comes through before too many people learn how quickly the ArriveCAN and CBP lines can be!

Just a follow-up to my post. We came back from our amazing trip on the Apex last week. We fly from Newfoundland -> Toronto -> FLL. It's just the easiest way. We flew down using Porter Ultimate Reserve. It was a great experience, and considering the savings compared to AC, and not having the option to fly WJ out of Newfoundland. It was a good experience. I'm a big boy, about 240 lbs, and made the mistake of sitting in the first row of seats on the E195. Don't do this if you're big, if you're skinny and tall it would be fine. The footroom was great. But the tray table is in the armrest and has no extension, so using it made me feel like I was trapped in a high chair. We'll try the next row back next time. I also wish the seats had been a bit wider, but over for the price I found them comfortable. (except for the tray table, we used our lap instead for the meals). Food was also....interesting. It's all cold on the E195, although this aircraft can be equipped with a galley for cooking food. Porter decided not to go this route, so all food was served cold. Admittedly I'm a very picky eater, but the food served on Porter now is way too pretentious for me, the cheese and fruit try was probably the best option for me. Compared to flying WestJet and AC with meals, even cold. I find both those other companies offer both better taste and selection. We left Newfoundland without much issue, Pearson we did get delayed by 30 minutes or so for some crew changes, but left quickly once they figured that out. Our bags also made it, I still never fly without my tile trackers in our bags, but happy to say we made it all together. I'll fly Porter again, the Ultimate Reserve option for us at least is a good price, and as long as AC continues to price the East the way they have, and WJ continues to lack flights back East, it will be our only option. But I'm not disappointed in what we received, I'd just change my seat and expectations for the next flight, maybe pack a few of my own snacks.

You have two options for wine Tasting, the Free one for CC members Select and above normally is simple, classic wines with bread sticks (same as you get for dinner), and a little talk about each wine. They also have a Wine and Cheese, a paid event, with a selection normally from the Primuim Wine category and paired with cheeses. We've done the free CC one on every cruise we've been on sense we got to select. It's a crap shoot and what type of people you get, the one we just had on Apex was nice and quick. Not a lot of questions. Last year on the reflection, guest kept asking about Box wine and the acceptability of serving it at a party. (I just enjoyed the wine and bread). It's a nice little event to attend for 30-45mins on a sea day, normally around 11. Followed by the Premium paring right after.

This site offers a calculator to help you make a decision https://www.cruzely.com/cruise-line-drink-package-calculator/ Our rule is that if you can drink between 7-9 drinks a day, including Water, Juice, Pop, and Alcohol a drink package is right for you. The difference between the Classic and the Premium comes to personal taste, if you have a specific brand that is only offered in Premium, and you can't live without it, upgrade. If you are ok with the bar brands and what's behind the counter. Stick with classic. If you aren't sure, stick with classic, and pay as you go. We also account for the ease of our trip, I don't like to stop and have to sign for drinks or worry about extra costs at the end of my vacation, and because of that, even if we don't hit our 9 drinks a day, it's worth it to us. But others are okay with spending the time tracking how many drinks they have.

We didn't go to many shows ourselves this time, mainly because they were all the same as we had on the cruise the last time. We did see the comedian again, both the normal show and the Late-night adults-only show. Both are fun, but it's the same material as a year ago. as @cw2go mentioned, the Rockumentary was a great show again, this one has a little randomness to it, as you vote for the final song. We are the Champions who won this time. They offered Crystal and Tree of Life (I believe that's the name of it), both of which we had seen before, Crystal is a nice performance, we find the "tree of life" of whatever that production is, to be too abstract for us, it's one of those shows that the technology behind the production was more interesting than the production itself. So we skipped them this time. If you've never seen them, I recommend going at least once, in our case we took the extra free time and spent time at the sunset bar, or in the solarium when it was basically empty with people doing other things. Thanks for the comment about Valentines, I did notice the balloons and I think a heart for people to take photos behind. But I was expecting more, our MDR didn't have anything special for the night. We did Specialty dining on Monday night instead, I was hoping that they would have a little more in the MDR for the special occasion.

We just got off the Apex last weekend at Port 25 in FLL, we had group 12, off the boat at 8:30am, walked out the door picked up the luggage and walked out through CBP, at the taxi for 9am ish, and were at the airport about 10mins later. 10:30am flight is possible if everything goes according to plan, and of course even better if you can walk off yourself without help. But it would be close. We normally take the 11:40am Flight with AC to Pearson and normally have lots of time to wait. I wouldn't cut it so close with a 10:30 flight.