Any Family on Summit T/A April 18-30, 2009?

[hyp121]

Have a nice trip, Michael. I have to wait until September for my vacation. We're staying for 2 days after the cruise. The cruise will come in handy after the long Canadian winter.

[rienreiter]

Hello Hugh! How nice to hear from you again. I hope you guys have a great 4th of July! Like I said, I can hold my liquor pretty well. That is unless I'm on my 10th Cosmo. HA HA This past April I was served one Cosmo on board the Celebrity Century that was so potent I only drank one for the entire night. You could barely see the cranberry juice.

 

Michael: I hope you have a GREAT vacation!

 

Henry: Don't forget to check out TripAdvisor.com for comments on any hotel that you may be interested in.

 

Juan

 

PS Everyone have a great weekend.

[spav01]

Hi all, we're back from our wonderful vacation, which means we're now one vacation closer to our cruise!

Back to the work grind for me though, and of course looking at all the info on line for our cruise!

[vivavino]

I just got my Capt Club flyer, and there's a coupon in there that applies to this trip - but ONLY for new bookings. I'm not displeased - there was an OBC credit on my booking, and I think the price on some grades of cabins has been ratcheted up, but....

 

If you're sailed Celebrity before, and joined the Capt Club, you might see if this can apply to you.

 

cheers.

David.

[rienreiter]

Welcome back Michael. Hope you guys had a grand time. Hopefully you'll have another vacation between now and then.

 

David: Do you actually receive information from Captain's Club or do you go online to view it? I have never received anything from Captain's Club.

 

Juan

[vivavino]

I get an honest-to-goodness brochure in the mail a couples times each year.

It's the same info and coupons that are online in the CaptClub section.

[spav01]

Juan: Oh yes, we do have another one planned, for late November / early December. Can't vacation just once a year...I'd go nuts!

[rienreiter]

Can't vacation just once a year...I'd go nuts!

 

I hear you! Many years ago, I would work one full year to take one single long vacation. Not any more. Now I break up my vacation time to fit in as many breaks as I can take.

[spav01]

Only 9 months until our cruise!

[wxjcupo]

Hi All --

 

Sorry for starting a new thread the other day on this same topic. Michael clued me in ... thanks!

 

My partner and I will be traveling on this cruise together as well. I have been on 7 cruises, but his first with me was last March on a Celebrity Southern Caribbean Cruise. We loved it so much together that we decided to do it again next year. This time -- a TA cruise, since neither of us have been to Spain and the ship was leaving from our home port of San Juan. It seems it's much easier these days not to deal with airlines as much as we can avoid them.

 

We are both in our early to mid 30s and are looking forward to some vacation time. Like the original poster, we, too, have some miles and points to allow for a free flight back home and a free hotel stay in Barcelona for a few days. Now, if I can get the cruise line to pay for our meals while off the ship .... :-)

 

Anyway, it's good to have found you all!

 

Cheers!

 

--Jeff

[spav01]

Looking forward to meeti9ng you and your partner!

[wxjcupo]

Hi Michael and all,

 

We look forward to meeting you and the rest of the family, too. Maybe we can all commandier a lounge or maybe take over a deck or two and live it up. haha!

 

Or just relax with a drink and something to eat on the Promenade Deck during those lazy sea days at the beginning of the trip. ;-)

[spav01]

I'm certain they will have FOD get togethers. Beyond that, there's always the marttini bar, and the outdoor bar at the back of the ship for those warm sea days.

[rienreiter]

Hello Everyone:

 

Have been gone for a few days so it is time to check back in.

 

Nine months to go Michael? Thank goodness for the cruises that I booked prior to this one or I would go bonkers.

 

Jeff, welcome to the group. Looking forward to meeting you and your partner. You will love the crossing. I did my first in 2005 and haven't stopped since. The Martini Bar will be popular.

 

Juan

[spav01]

Juan,

I agree about the nine months. But we have Australia and Hawaii in late November-early December...the perfect midway vacation!

[rienreiter]

Michael:

 

That's a GREAT vacation! Sure makes the 9 months easier to handle.

 

Juan

[spav01]

When is everyone arriving from? And are you spending any time in San Juan?

We're flying from Miami the day of the cruise. I hope the flight isn't late, because we don't arrive until 1 PM, and that is cutting it close. Ah Celebrity, how you make me nervous...

[rienreiter]

Michael:

 

Where is Biscayne Park? I'm sure that it is somewhere around Miami. I am in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

We do not have our tickets yet and may not have them for some time. As it stands today, our only options are Spirit Airlines out of FLL to SJU or American out of MIA to SJU. The plus is that FLL is about a 15 min drive from home. The down side is that Spirit has been receiving a generous amount of negative publicity due to their lack of good customer service. The down side of American is having to drive to MIA. Should that be the selected option, I am sure that we will select an earlier flight. I think that arriving at 1 PM would make me feel uncomfortable. Do you already have your tickets? American has been flying non-stop FLL-SJU but they are cancelling these routes come Sept. 2 leaving us with the 2 options previously listed.

 

Juan

[spav01]

Juan:

 

We're practically neighbors. Biscayne Park is in North Miami-Dade...the 125th street exit off I-95. We're less than 30 minutes from Ft. Lauderdale and go up regularly. We love sharing a bottle of wine at Naked Grape.

 

Officially, we do not have our air tickets yet either. We have some sort of amorphous hold, and ticketing won't take place for a while. But I have a record locator no. and all. We did our air through Celebrity, since it was only $500 when we booked our cabin. Our 3 day deviation on the return added another $200 to that, But that is still far below anything we have seen as far as scheduled air prices are concerned. The interesting thing is that the air prices differ depending on the cabin level you select.

So I am concerned about the timing of the flight to SJU, but since it is through Celebrity and includes the transfer, I have to assume we'll be ok (fingers crossed). I have never flown Spirit, but all I have heard about them is how packed in you are on their planes.

 

We fly out of Miami a lot because my partner's mother lives less than 10 minutes from the airport. We park at her place and she drops us off.

[rienreiter]

Hi Michael:

 

I know exactly where Biscayne Park is now. Would you believe I have never heard of it? And I've been through your area quite a few times on the way to Bal Harbour. I've heard of Naked Grape too.

 

Whenever I have flown Spirit, I booked what they call the Big Front Seat so I never felt crowded. However, the last time I did it, they were charging $1 for any drink including soda. Jet Blue gives you better deals but they do not fly to SJU from south Florida.

 

Juan

[spav01]

Hi Juan,

 

We're a very hidden neighborhood nestled between N. Miami and Miami Shores, so I'm not surprised you hadn't heard of our town.

 

Are the friends you're traveling with from Fort Lauderdale as well? My partner thinks we should all meet up for drinks pre-cruise, so you can meet our friends who are going as well.

[rienreiter]

Hi Michael:

 

Is Biscayne Park a neighborhood or a city? You're not kidding when you say that it is very well hidden. I've been down here since 1979 and I have never heard of it. And I think I know my way around pretty well.

 

Of the other two friends that I am traveling with, one is local from Ft. Lauderdale and the other lives in Germany (both are Germans). He will be flying in a couple of days before the cruise. We were just talking today about finalizing our flight plans. We will be taking care of that on our own.

 

Is April here yet? Thank goodness for my other travel plans before then.

 

Juan

[spav01]

Biscayne Park is a Village, with its own government and police force. We were named best hidden neighborhood in the 2008 New Times "Best of".

 

It's a truly small world. I work as a German to English translator. We were hoping for Spanish speakers to help our friend Jorge feel more comfortable, but maybe I'll get to practice some German too.

[rienreiter]

Hi Michael:

 

It is a small world after all. Both of my german friends are fluent in English but no doubt there will be a lot of switching back and forth between one language and another. Does your partner speak German also?

 

I speak Spanish so I will have no problem communicating with Jorge. Is he not the one that likes your Martinis or Cosmos?

 

Juan

[wxjcupo]

Hi Guys,

 

Thanks for the warm welcome, Juan. We look forward to meeting everyone. Since we live in San Juan, we won't be worried about the flight in, of course, but we just booked our flight today actually on AA for the return back to SJU via JFK. We will be staying for two nights in Barcelona and returning Saturday late morning (May 2). I had reward points for both the flight and the hotel and figured I would use them for the both of us. The airfares were ridiculous otherwise.

 

And yes, Michael, I was shocked when I, too, found out that airfare prices changed based upon the cabin you select/book with Celebrity. They were going to charge us $790 per person and we booked this cruise back in April. I thought that was too much for a one-way and decided to research the prices outside of the cruise line. Of course, with fuel prices the way they are, there were hardly many bargains. Using my points allowed me to save the $1700+ (with the taxes) and buy a new washer/dryer set with the savings. lol. (It was a bad week for me -- my old set died in unison!) I think that is what they call "planned obsolescence."

 

Take care!

 

--Jeff