terrydtx

We are on the Equinox in a Sky Suite for the June 4 sailing, this will be our second Equinox SS. We already received earlier this month our email from shore services about any special requests. Our 2021 Equinox Retreat cruise sold us on only booking suites with Celebrity. The food, drinks and service was so much better than our pre Covid Aqua Class cruises. The only disappointment was the Retreat sun deck with little to no shade and it was so hot up there in August.

This is who we used last year and he was awesome. He also can do a private tour in Venice area if you want. Venice Private Cars, Van & Transfers | GoWithGuide

And I will buy the first round, as long as it is in my PDP price.😇

Naw, we go to the Luminae early and do not have to worry about any non suite pax beating us there,😁🍷😁

Suites can board anytime, but it upsets me that a non-suite pax can board before I can get to the terminal to enjoy and eat up the fun early. Now I want more OBC!!!

We did the Greek cruise last year from Trieste on the Oosterdam and we used a private transfer for our group of 4. No way we wanted to spend 2 hours in a crowded bus with 30 or more strangers.

Not sure, I do not gamble on the ship.

We are doing an Edge B2B in January in Sydney, we have the same SS cabin so I hope this is the same procedure in Sydney. We are thinking about not getting off the ship as we will be spending 3 days in Sydney prior to our first cruise.

I got hooked on them during our many trips to Italy and when it's hot outside they are a very refreshing drink.

And Suites passengers pay a small fortune for the suites only dining options.

Plus HAL unlike other lines will not let you use the OBC before you embark for things like shore excursions, spa treatments and Specialty restaurants.

Your invoice from HAL under Guest Information should have something that looks like this:

We buy our travel insurance through my TA's parent company and in most cases it is less than what the cruise lines charge. Plus, if we have to make a claim my TA handles the claim and does all of the filing. Last year we had a sizable claim because of Covid interrupted travel and my TA took care of all the paperwork and got our claim paid is a reasonable time. It is also my understanding that Celebrity insurance will not cover independent 3rd party shore excursions if you cancel for a covered reason.

That is why we only buy insurance from 3rd party providers and the air is covered if we buy from FBC or direct with the airlines.

Exactly why I would never book direct with any cruise line. The cruise lines salespeople work for the cruise line and they have no incentive to advocate for the customers when there is a problem like the OP has. My TA works for ME and she knows if she doesn't deal with problems she will lose my business.

Absolutely, we walked all over Venice, Rome. Florence and other Italian cities and never once feel unsafe. I feel much safer in Italy than walking around most US cities.

Many airlines like Delta and United will let you go to their online sites to pick and or change seats once you book and have a record locator number. Some like AA, British Air and Air New Zealand require that FBC assign the seats. In these cases I called FBC and told them what seats I wanted and they booked them for me.

Celebrity has raised their entry level sky suites 30-40% in the last year and it makes a Concierge Level verandah on O very competitive. We booked an A3 Concierge cabin for 18 days on the Marina in March 2025 for $200pp less than a Sky Suite on the Equinox for only 14 days. This itinerary is from Santiago to Buenso Aires. Our Edge Sky Suite next January to cruise New Zealand has gone up $2200pp in cost since we booked it in January 2022.

The MDR food on Celebrity has even gotten worse post covid with cost reductions and add on costs. That was why we have booked only suites to have access to Luminae, but even Luminae has gone down in quality.

That was the service we got in Sky Suites on the Equinox and Reflection in 2022. Instead of beer our butlers kept the min fridge stocked with 1/2 bottles of red wine and bottles of Evian bottled water at no charge. On the Reflection last August in Rome the mini fridge was empty when we boarded and the butler asked us on the embarkation day what we wanted it stocked with, and he took great care of us.

BTW if you want a drink in your cabin, you can call your butler and have him/her bring it to your cabin and it is included in your PDP. I found out about this on our first Retreat Sky Suite in 2021, when we were bringing drinks to our cabin from the pool bar and our butler saw us, he said next time we wanted a drink to call him and he would bring it to us in the cabin.

I forgot to add when FE rebooked us it did not cost us anything more. Because of the time difference from Venice to Seattle, when I called the FE emergency line, the agent I talked to told me it was 2am his time and that FE provides 24/7 emergency service.

Very simple, can be done online in your account or call Flight Ease and have them cancel the flights. Note, if you do cancel the cruise the flights are automatically cancelled too. We prefer to book with FE when we find a good deal on a fare and itinerary and make changes with them online if we find better deals. Then before final payment, if we find a better deal that we can't get with FE, we cancel FE and book directly with airline. Here is our story from last year on the Oosterdam from Venice and why we believe in using FE when possible. We had booked business class seats with FE for our cruise. When my wife got Covid before the end of the cruise, we had to spend 3 days in quarantine in Venice and missed our return flights home. I called FE and they canceled our flights home and told me to call back when we were cleared to fly home. On the day she tested negative, I called FE and they got us booked home the next day in BC on the original itinerary we missed earlier in the week. I was very impressed with their customer service.

That ship has already sailed, LOL

Thank you so much for your help. We will have to look into these recommendations. Have a great cruise this year.