catspaw1

For seasickness IMHO - don't go down below, look at the horizon, no booze, light food, ginger & bonine. Majority of people get their sea legs within 3 days. But I get sick a lot before then if in heavy waves or pounding straight into heavy winds.

We are different from most people as we are experienced live aboard blue water sailors. We lived & cruised full time for 7 years. & yes I still get seasick but after 3 days on a long passage (our longest was 15 nights with just the two of us onboard) I always get my sea legs, but am still able to get through the first three days. Of course we always had the luxury of watching the weather & would not sail if conditions were bad. We learned that after battling 40 knots of wind with higher gusts in the gulf stream on our way to Bermuda. Left because we had a full crew & everyone had schedules. Never did that again - watched weather for every passage after. The problem with the Galapagos is it seems to have a lot of confused seas- those coming from different directions. Anyway, I use bonine & ginger candies & watch what I eat on passage. Peanut butter & Raman noodles work great! Nothing greasy or heavy. Looking forward to the Galapagos but we have a number of trips before & after that. Going back to hike Great Smokey Park for 10 days at the end of April, going to CO, WY& SD for 17 nights late May & Celebrity Cruise to Bermuda in July. After the Galapagos we are going on a bear viewing trip in AK for several nights, touring AK again by car & than a cruise south. So hope we can get to the Galapagos next year. It's been on our bucket list for awhile. How did you like the cruise & did you do a TR? Would love to read it. Thanks for your helpful info. Booking cruise only was a lot cheaper than the 10 day package

On our cruise 7/8 cabins already booked for early June 2025. We chose the Xploration as we wanted a smaller ship. It was also cheaper than the Xpedition. We wanted the more personal attention of a smaller ship.

Thanks so much - I had no idea. The TA I use said a Celebrity rep told her agency that Xploration would be going out of service. No date. We are going cruise only so that could mean you are stuck with plane tickets if they cancel your cruise. We are redeeming marriot points to stay in Quito & would get a refund on that. We were going to stay 3 nights in Puerto Avoya before the cruise so will look into cancel policies. I will look into using FF points for the airfare instead through points with my sapphire reserve card. I don't think Celebrity treated those who were already booked well. They should have given them 125% FCC. Thank goodness we already purchased travel insurance also. We got a full cash refund on a Celebrity Cruise when cruise with confidence was in effect & we got COVID within 10 days of departure.

Thanks so much - I had no idea. The TA I use said a Celebrity rep told her agency that Xploration would be going out of service. No date. We are going cruise only so that could mean you are stuck with plane tickets if they cancel your cruise. We are redeeming marriot points to stay in Quito & would get a refund on that. We were going to stay 3 nights in Puerto Avoya before the cruise so will look into cancel policies. I will look into using FF points for the airfare instead through points with my sapphire reserve card. I don't think Celebrity treated those who were already booked well. They should have given them 125% FCC. Thank goodness we already purchased travel insurance also. We got a full cash refund on a Celebrity Cruise when cruise with confidence was in effect & we got COVID within 10 days of departure.

Pelican, DHS did that as normal travel is not allowed into Cuba with some exceptions- yours being one of them. They wanted to know why you were there. Once you explained, it was ok.

Fairfax county adult education. Seniors get 25% off all classes.

I hope you get it back before the cruise - please let us know.

Hi All, We booked a Galapagos cruise next year on the Xploration but the TA said Celebrity was phasing this ship out. Anyone hear of this & if so when? we booked cruise only so would like to know if they will switch us to another ship. We chose the Xploration because of it's small size.

Hi all, The Galapagos has increased their national park fee from $100 to $200 PP effective this August, 2024. We booked already for June 2025 but no one is grandfathered with the new fees so be aware. Also, final payment is 150 days before the cruise & not the normal 90 days so that makes a huge difference. We are doing the cruise only (Celebrity was a lot more expensive for the 10 day than what we can do on our own. We can stay at the Marriott redeeming points for free so didn't need their hotel portion - plus you don't get points or nightly credits for going with Celebrity. We also have use of the Concierge lounge as a lifetime titanium. The only thing Celebrity did was have the flights included in the price but we decided to just fly to Baltra early & chill for a few days before starting the cruise. Celebrity would not let us pay for the flight to Baltra only. We have a private guide a friend used a few years ago that we will use for a tour. We were not interested in the group tour or lunch as we would rather do it on our own). Anyway, the national parks fee has to be paid upon entry at the airport. Celebrity gave us a letter indicating this was already paid with our cruise but I am anticipating problems with customs on this since we are not on the Celebrity chartered flight. Has any cruise only passengers been asked to pay the national park fee at Baltra when Celebrity said it was included in our cruise price? FYI the Galapagos requires mandatory medical evacuation insurance. Costco had the best insurance prices even though we purchased the trip through a TA.

Thanks for the tip on bringing your own wetsuit. I have one but it's a shorty. Do I need a long sleeve pants & shirt wetsuit- it's one piece? I was planning on bringing my own snorkel gear. We are divers so have good equipment. I hate to use a snorkel someone else has used! I have dive booties ( we are PADI advanced divers) with flippers using the boots.

Did you send it for expedited processing paying the extra $60 fee?If within 3 months of an international trip, that would be what I would recommend. Spring is the busiest time of year for passport renewals & new passports so always needs more time to process. It could take another week after it's been mailed. I would not expect them to process it that quick. BTW on my renewal, right after the pandemic, it always said "in process" but it never changed & I still got my passport back. Government IT has a lot of issues.

Hi all, The Galapagos has increased their national park fee from $100 to $200 PP effective this August, 2024. We booked already for June 2025 but no one is grandfathered with the new fees so be aware. Also, final payment is 150 days before the cruise & not the normal 90 days so that makes a huge difference. We are doing the cruise only (Celebrity was a lot more expensive for the 10 day than what we can do on our own. We can stay at the Marriott redeeming points for free so didn't need their hotel portion - plus you don't get points or nightly credits for going with Celebrity. We also have use of the Concierge lounge as a lifetime titanium. The only thing Celebrity did was have the flights included in the price but we decided to just fly to Baltra early & chill for a few days before starting the cruise. Celebrity would not let us pay for the flight to Baltra only. We have a private guide a friend used a few years ago that we will use for a tour. We were not interested in the group tour or lunch as we would rather do it on our own). Anyway, the national parks fee has to be paid upon entry at the airport. Celebrity gave us a letter indicating this was already paid with our cruise but I am anticipating problems with customs on this since we are not on the Celebrity chartered flight. Has any cruise only passengers been asked to pay the national park fee at Baltra when Celebrity said it was included in our cruise price? FYI the Galapagos requires mandatory medical evacuation insurance. Costco had the best insurance prices even though we purchased the trip through a TA.

We booked the Xploration for June 2025. However my TA said Celebrity was going to eliminate the Xploration. I assume if they did that, they would put us on another ship. So maybe they are eliminating the other 2 ships for 2026?

If they lowered the price a lot or I had more OBC, I would do it. I am currently taking a French cooking class through adult education. 8 hours for about $130 including food costs. We always have enough to take home some also. I cook from scratch almost every day. Just made homemade tomato soup- far superior to Campbell's

Yeah me two. I loved the chocolate extravaganza midnight buffet! My favorite!

Our first cruise was in the 80's & they had lots of things for free including the midnight buffet, napkin folding, bridge & kitchen tours, vegetable & ice carving demonstrations to name a few. Cruising has changed a lot & not for the better! Everything is an upcharge & nothing for free in the daytime anymore. I miss the good old days!

Would love to go but no way at that price! If free I would attend

Jim, retired Fed here. I was at DHS when we rolled out Global Entry. No you will probably not have to go to another interview again. But sometimes they call you back to redo fingerprints. Happened to me even though I retired from the Fed, have high clearance level & used to work for DHS. CBP used to be my component & they called me for an interview many years ago even though I worked for DHS! They just needed my fingerprints again even though mine are all over the government. Also do NOT trust the State dept website on passport processing times. Pay the extra money to expedite if you need your passport back within 3 months. Add an extra week for passport delivery to any processing time. Remember spring & summer are the most popular times to renew a passport & will increase processing times. I used to work for the Government publishing office- we actually made the passports & shipped them to state dept to fill out. Did you know there are over 300 security features in your passport?

We did an independent tour with Kenai fjords for 9 hours about 30 years ago & it was one of the highlight of our 2.5 week trip in AK. I would go with major marine this time as they have NPS rangers onboard. Please be aware this trip can have very rough conditions when they transit through the ocean. The day we went the water was like a lake. They usually have black Friday specials. We are going back to AK next year but not with Celebrity. Celebrity does not have a permit to go into Glacier Bay & this was another trip highlight for us. We have booked a 3 night excursion with a bear lodge, doing independent travel & on a cruise also for AK for next year.

Going back to Glacier bay is a must for us. Loved that NPS ranger prevention we had over 30 years ago. We loved AK then! We had a really good time on HAL & that's why we wanted to return.

I never assume on any acronym! I booked 2 cruises- both with Celebrity with it. We cruised on HAL 30 years ago to AK & Carribean for 10 days once & really enjoyed both trips. We are thinking of either HAl or Princess to AK August 2 or 3 from Whitter southbound so have been lurking on the HAL site.

Costco insurance is from a third-party provider.

now I found it- cancel for any reason. It would help to spell out acronyms. Yes they had it but it was more money so we didn't get it.

CFAR?????? no idea what that is. Please clarify.