catspaw1

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.

We have costco trip insurance for our upcoming celebrity cruise. As long as you are a costco member, you can purchase it even if you don't book with them. It's 6.5% of trip costs without booking through costco travel & 5% if you booked through them. You need to buy the insurance within 21 days of purchase to get preexisting medical conditions covered. For our Bermuda cruise I checked a bunch of policies & costco was at least $75 cheaper. Good coverage also. We have a chase sapphire reserve card but get insurance coverage for cruises & international trips. Our health coverage, even though Medicare is primary, covers us for emergency medical abroad

Enjoyed reading your very informative trip report. Glad you had a good time.

stoo bush you are incorrect- you do NOT need to book your cruise with Costco to get the insurance. How do I know? I just booked two cruises through a TA & got the Costco travel insurance! Costco had better medical evac & medical premiums coverage. If you book through Costco travel cost is 5% of trip; if not 6.5%. Our TA price was less than Costco as we got better OBC & choice of cabins. Also they have a 24/7 travel number while it's hard to get through to Costco travel. Hopefully we won't need it but we always take travel insurance for cruises & international travel.

We are PADI certified advanced diving certified. There is no way I would wear a full face mask. I have problems clearing my ears & always need to press on my nose to equalize. So no way I would wear a full face mask. We also do a lot of snorkeling.

Yes it was between the Niew Amsterdam & Sapphire Princess. We have been to AK before in August & agree that it rains more than. Once the first northerly cold front comes down, it brings heavy rain & wind. We hit a gale & missed a port of call! We are Bluewater sailors so didn't get sick but the dining room was almost empty! Fortunately we are looking at either the August 2 & 3 trip. We are doing a bear adventure into the Bush July 21 for 3 nights & will explor AK before & after the bear trip waiting for the cruise. We are retired so have the time.

Thanks everyone for your very helpful comments. We went on HAL to AK 30 years ago & loved it. Returning to Glacier Bay is a must for us! I'm watching both cruises now. My TA has been out so will talk with her again when she returns. Celebrity cruises does not have park privileges to go into Glacier bay & returning there is very important to us. We are leaning to HAL again.