Algebralovr

Agree with above posters, the expired passports won't work for customs. Use the BCs.

The expired passports are good for getting new passports, however.

Another concern is that the US team is claiming that a resident of the USVI cant be helped, and that the USVI is reading as international. Last I checked, USVI was still US soil.

I recommend you call back, put the phone on speaker and do something while waiting, and when they finally answer insist that they accept your final payment.

Keep requesting a supervisor. Make sure you get the name and operator number first thing of the person who answers the phone, and if they can't help you and refuse to turn you over to a supervisor, include that in your ContactMichael follow up call and email. If you cannot get is squared away today, maybe you can tomorrow once the Captains Club and Resolutions department is open.

I would still insist that you are a US resident, just not of the mainland US. After all, the USVI do use At&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc! You don't need a passport to fly to the US!

If you really want a specific room, I wonder if your TA could place a hold on a room, then release it as you board, allowing you to book that exact room while on board? The problem is that 3 weeks is a long time.

If need be, can your friend either get you to an airport (either MIA or FLL) would work for a shared ride shuttle service. If they can't get you to either, maybe they can get you to the tri-rail station, which can get you to FLL or MIA for that shuttle.

My DH decided he likes the larger and fluffier towels, the fruit in the room, and the polishing of the shoes. I like the foot stools. If the cost isn't much more (like under $100 per person) I'll go ahead and book the CC class while I chase points toward Elite (particularly since the change!)

Once we hit Elite, we'll re-evaluate our choices. I agree, however, that a cruise in an inside beats no cruise any day!

We recently booked a second week (to give us a B2B) on Reflection next year. The CC room provided $250 OBC, which was about $100 more than the 1A room next door, meaning the cost difference for the week was really only about $50 total.

You can make a reservation and book the table you want or every evening, no problem.

If you need to be done by a certain time, just tell your winter. They should be able to speed up your dinner to get you out in time. You can also skip the soup/salad course, or the dessert course and have dessert from the sweets at the cafe, etc.

Interesting.... Free pressing but not discounted laundering. :(

I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that a washing discount appears before next February.

The issue is not the PVSA, it is that it becomes a non-closed loop cruise, and additional paperwork will be needed for Customs.

They consider weather/act of God different from a planned delay in joining.

Thanks!

On the Classic, the laundry discount was 10%. I can't quite make out the thumbnail. Can one of you tell me what the discount is for laundry on Select?

Appreciate the help!

Call Celebrity and ask. They may or may not allow it.

When weather delays happen, they generally do, but there is nothing certain.

Coordination of benefits is kind of a fact of life.

Unless something major happens, often there is no benefit to coordinate with.

I find MCI very easy to fly from, even though we usually fly from STL due to distance. Often, MCI is also significantly less expensive for some reason. It might be less to fly to PBi, but might result in transferring flights instead of direct. What are you willing to pay for?

We could have flown in and out of PBI and saved $250, but would have had to change planes in Atlanta both ways. We decided non-stop to FLL was worth it. That said, if you don't mind changing planes and don't mind renting a car once you arrive, you might find really good prices doing that.

FYI - For the lurkers who love to read about our Service/Working Dogs but don't write in. There are behaviors that our dogs are trained and the expectation that the dog will follow through even if we don't remind them all the time.

 

For the blind, the expectation that the dog will lay on the floor, under the table, or under a chair is correct behavior. The same is true for the deaf or hard of hearing SD, although it may be easier for the latter to catch the dog exhibiting a bad behavior, the expectations for good behavior are very high!

 

Princess requests that we sign a contract before boarding with our SD that states that the dog will remain on the floor and will NOT sit on couches or chairs; the dog will not be fed or watered in a restaurant or public area and we are responsible for bringing all food onboard with us.

 

 

 

Some SD's alert their humans in such a way that they have to climb onto the couch or chair and MUST be in bed with them while sleeping. There are always exceptions to rules and, the public isn't always aware of the how's and why's.

Thank you for that info, Roz. We may be starting slowly down the SD road at my daughter's home. Her food allergies are getting worse and worse, and she is starting to get nervous about it. Her solution may just end up being a SD. She and I have been doing tons and tons of reading, and she just became the "parent" of an Australian Shepherd. DD decided more Allegra was better than using her Epi-pen.

She got it at 7 weeks, it is almost 10 weeks now. So far, they seem to have Xena trained to let them know when to take her out to do her business, to sit when told, and to lay down when told. She is also doing well sleeping and traveling in a crate. They have her signed up for puppy obedience classes once she is old enough, and are reading like crazy how to train the puppy to detect certain smells. Right now, it is enough to teach her not to jump on people and to let her run the puppy energy off, but to still mind. The wait time and expense for an allergen alert dog that we could find is so high, my DD decided to see what she could do herself. If nothing else, she does have a wonderful fur baby now.

I have learned so much by reading this thread!

Your drink package should show up as a line item on your booking confirmation-guest copy. Under the Booking Charges on the first page, it should list BEV123GO

If the OBC is from Celebrity, it will be a little further down the page under Onboard Credits -Currency

If the OBC is from your TA, they should state the amount they are giving you in an email, but it will not appear until you board the ship. We've always received a card in the room that we have a gift of OBC and how much and who it is from. It might not appear on the account for a couple of days. If you don't get either of those, contact your TA before the ship sails.

They did last May, but it was all arranged in advance.

As a side note, we had breakfast with a couple who did this. They said it was the most relaxed disembarkation they had ever had, since they didn't have to rush to be off early in the morning,

Does anyone have an image or list of the current Select coupon page? We will be Select for our June cruise and want to know what we'll get and what discounts we'll get exactly.

The coupons we used on our last cruise as Classic were laundry discount, free gelato, Internet discount. We would have used the bottle of wine discount but both had drink packages from 123GO that we upgraded and were satisfied with the wine choices. We will not have those drink packages in June.

I'm guessing that we will order a bottle a night in June, since there will be 6 of us and I know the one Classic member will receive a coupon for 10% off one bottle. Will Select receive the same or a better coupon?

We probably won't bring on wine, since we mostly just want it with dinner, and it is easier to just buy in the MDR from their stock. We were perfectly happy with their by the glass selection.

I assume you are going to be on the Silluette? If your flight is delayed/canceled due to weather and you miss sail-away due to it, they do have a history of allowing you to fly to San Juan and board there. We'll all keep our fingers crossed that your flight to FLL goes well and your worry is unnecessary.

Meanwhile, keep an eye on the weather. I assume your flight is on Saturday for the Sunday sailing. With the weather reports being what they are, can you fly on Friday if the forecast shows the need? Oftentimes the airlines will allow you to change flights to one ahead of the storm at no cost. Watch the airline web site to see if they believe their airport will be impacted. You might also give them a call to ask.

If you are unable to fly out on Saturday or early Sunday and will miss sail-away, please call Celebrity Customer service right away so that they can assist you in being allowed to join the ship in San Juan. Also call your travel insurance company to find out about your trip delay rights.

Personally, I would try to fly ahead of the storm. I think I would sleep on a bench at the airport or on the beach if I couldn't get a room to avoid missing my cruise.

OP, I'm in the US, so I cannot be specific, but there must be a way. We just cruised with a couple from the UK who spend 8 weeks in Florida every winter. I can't believe they don't insure while they are gone, but I don't know what they do.

Your best bet might be a house-sitter or property management company. I would speak with your normal insurance agent and ask what they recommend. Perhaps there is a company in your area that provides this service?

The best thing to do is to call your carrier and ask them. In my case, I had to have my account opened to international use, then it is $0.50 to send a text and $0.05 to receive.

Another option is to get a Google Voice number. You can then send and receive text messages from a web page using the URL voice.google.com. It might be possible to send and receive them without even getting a number from that web page, since your DH already uses Google services for his Galaxy S3. Try it by having him sign into his gmail address and going to voice.google.com and using that to send your phone a text message. See if you receive it and can answer.

On the ship, you can log into the Internet for $0.75 a minute or purchase a package at a reduced rate. 38 minutes is $24.95 and was enough for me to use to keep in tough with my kids for an 11-nighter on Equinox.

Otherwise, enjoy your vacation from your daughter! It is a short cruise, and you can always contact them before you pull away, then from Señor Frogs in Cozumel, then from Key West, then again when you pull into US service area. That is only two days with no word. If you use google voice, you can probably use 10 minutes or fewer.

I'm so sorry to hear your tour in Grenada was so poorly done. As a history buff myself, I really feel that part.

I'm also extremely disappointed in the way the Shore Excursion man blew off your feedback. They are not supposed to do that! I recommend you email the ContactMichael address with that piece of feedback. Particularly that while many passengers were on nice motor coaches, you were on an old van for the same tour.

The prices on the iOS products on the Equinox 2/10/2014 cruise were slightly above US MSRP. The one that on the apple.com site is $499 cost $530 on board. I thought it was a bit strange. I didn't bother to ask why, I just took note. I knew the price it should be off the top of my head because of ordering them frequently at work for other people.

I second the idea of making a purchase in your home country, preferably at a store that will help you set it up and get started using it.

Please be aware that the smoking areas on deck 5 get closed when there are high winds and sometimes when in port. There were a couple of times last week when some people complained about that.

I just got an email that we can get complimentary gelato as Captain Club member- so no spending obc there.

 

So as I figured- if I cash in $25 obc at casino, I lose $1.25. If I use $20 for two trips to Bistro on 5 (which I would do anyway) that just leaves $5.00. So if I just cash in $5.00 at casino, then I just lose 25 cents. Well, maybe then I will just do that (hey, I'll keep the $1.00 difference anytime!)

Thanks for the information. Anita

As a Captain's Club member, you get ONE free gelato via a coupon for the entire cruise. We decided that just be scoop each for the entire cruise wasn't enough. I look at that free gelato as the 'free sample' some drug dealers reportedly offer potential clients. Sigh...

Don't plan on it.

On my latest cruise, our cabin attendant had quite a lot to do and there is no way she would have had time. In fact, when she greeted us and saw that we had the PALL, she asked us specifically if we wants the mi I-bar left locked since our package didn't cover drinks from the mini-bar. We didn't need the cooler, so went ahead and had her lock it so that there was no question that we'd not used anything.

DH and I took the 'see how it's done' tour on the Eclipse. We loved it!

Keep in mind, we both have an engineering background. Most of the rest of the people on the tour were men, many of them with a Navy background,

We spent nearly 5 hours climbing up and down stairs behind the scenes. We ended with a special lunch in the MDR, but it did include wine and a special menu. The menu was not filet or lobster, though.

We are hoping it is offered in June in the Med as we think our kids, at least the boy, would have a blast. DS is about to start his engineering courses, so has some context. Not sure DD would get as much, being a BioChem major, np but she might