catspaw1

Ken, I'm reading your TR on the Galapagos now & it's awesome. I really appreciate reading all your indepth reports! We usually go more budget- OV- as we take 4-6 trips a year. We are also going to Shenandoah park near where we leave for probably 5 nights & KY over the summer. & I'm currently in Rochester NY now staying at another Marriott as my husband is lifetime Titanium. I love your TR & will read all of them. Thanks for taking the time to post!

Ken, I'm going to read your trip reports. We have wanted to go to Antarctica after going to AK 30 years ago. We also booked to go on the Celebrity Xploration to the Galapagos next year. We chose the Xploration even though its a smaller ship for more personalized experience with only 16 passengers & we are blue water sailors having logged around 15,000 blue water miles. We sailed full time for 7 years. The Flora looked great but was almost 9G higher. We are going back to AK next year- going into the bush to stay at a lodge for bear watching in Lake Clarke NP. Will also rent car & drive around AK again before we get on the cruise. We are going back to Great Smokey Park for 10 days late May, going to SD, WY & CO for 17 days late May & then Celebrity back to Bermuda in July. In late fall, back to Europe. We are very independent travelers & although we have cruised, my husband prefers when I do all the independent travel planning & he just comes along!!! Thanks for doing all the TR. I'm a big poster on TripAdvisor

We travel to Europe also but don't believe in the Rick Steves view of carryon baggage only. We do just fine with our Eagle Creek bags, PacSafe backpacks & bags. Has worked fine for us for years. Not changing anything. I always carry a change of clothes also after the airlines lost our baggage in Cuzco Peru for 5 days!

I understand- that's why I looked to see what the price would be for me to upgrade to retreat. It was double the cost we paid for our balcony so we are just keeping what we have. I would have liked an upgrade! Something we are used to at the Marriott as my husband is lifetime Titanium. One day.....

On our July 7 sailing, the suite is 6G- considerably much more expensive than our balcony. I'll keep watching though. Most other category is guarantee. We have a fixed cabin number.

Finally got through to celebrity after they hung up once & then on hold for over 30 minutes. Our request for early dining came in. We much prefer that as when we had select dining pre covid, & had a reservation, we still wound up waiting. They always wanted to fill a table for 8 & if you waited a table for two, you waited awhile & your table was physically almost on top of the people next to you.

I booked the upgrade premium pkg at $11 pp per day plus 20%. Today it's $2 pp per day plus Gratuities so an extra almost $35 for 2 people for the week.

I checked our cruise July 7 & no fares at that price! Our cruise seems to be almost sold out - guarantee only available & a lot higher than what we paid. What cruise date was the sale for? Also the upgrade to premium beverage pkg increased by $2 PP Per day! I booked when it was lower.

The Eclipse & they let us preselect dining times. They did the same on the summit pre covid & it worked out great.

Hi all Celebrity just canceled all our select dining reservations. We had wait listed for early dining. What does the canceled reservations mean? We were 2 couples - linked reservations . Thanks

I hope not!!

As a long time LIRR on Babylon branch, no way I want to schlep bags on LIRR & carry bags up steps when elevator at Penn don't work. Plus there's some parts you just need to use the escalator & that's hard with Luggage Also Driving easier although parking $30 day. It's the luggage that makes the schlepping harder!

We got $250 in OBC from our TA for a cruise to Bermuda this year. The TA offered a $700 rebate on our Galapagos cruise but when I told them the big box store gave $875 they matched it. That was around the same amount we paid for trip insurance also.

We also have a chase sapphire reserve card. So lots of insurance.

Yes I already saw what they covered & they even included cancel for any reasons- I think it was 50% off. If I have a problem with the carrier, you can bet I will go back to Costco. I have been a Costco member for over 30 years & I trust (& hope) they will do the right thing if there's a problem. I ahve had them intervene with vendors before. i don't need medical as much. Yes I have medicare- it is always primary, but my secondary is Kaiser Permanente & they cover international medical emergencies. I want it for medical evac & trip cancellation.

BW their quotes were significantly less than most other providers.

Costco has travel insurance for members- even if you haven't purchased your cruise through them. Has anyone used them? Any experiences filing a claim? Thanks!

We sailed full time in the Caribbean for 7 years. We love Bonaire- you can easily snorkel off the beach. Walk north from the cruise ship dock & before the marina. Be careful around the sailboats as you need to watch for dinghies in transit. You can easily hear their motor. Diving is great but not as good as it used to be due to coral bleaching with climate change and higher temps.

I just compared prices for an OV selecting a cabin & HAl was $500 cheaper.

I posted this on the Princess site also & everyone said go Princess over HAL. Interesting.

Thanks for the helpful hints. We went to AK before the TV show northern exposure which Talkeetna is based. Loved it then. We also went to Denali & Seward before we went on a week HAL cruise. Wish HAL still sailed our of Seward! We may just take all of your advice so a big thank you. We do like a smaller ship- we don't need bells & whistles!

Thanks. I don't mind kids but it's the ones I have seen running crazy creaming around the ship I dislike. I didn't know Princess has a kids program & that's great. That's a lot better then. I guess we will try for either or- whoever has the best deals!

yes both have similar ports & the same number of hours in each port. fares about the same- Princess gives more with their all inclusive package. My parents did their 50th wedding anniversary trip to AK on Princess & really liked it but that was 15 years ago.

Thanks for the response. Yes I agree that HA seems to have an older crowd- mostly in 70's & 80's. We normally go to bed around 10pm but will stay up to 11pm on cruises. We do like the martini bar that Celebrity has!!! We usually travel off season so are concerned with having lots of kids onboard for early August. Our TA mentioned that's why she thought we might like HAL better. Any thoughts about lots of kids in August? We don't want to cruise with lots of misbehaving kids!