3CanadianBears

We did exactly this in March, when West Jet strike was pending. Yes, our money was tied up with Porter, booking fully refundable flights however when we cancelled the money was refunded within 3 business days. As others have mentioned the 48 hour re-booking (in the even of a strike) would not have worked for us - we would have missed our cruise.

Thanks, @Fouremco, I see that now. On AC Rouge.

I feel your pain! Direct flights from Ottawa to MIA or FLL are I think almost non existent. We have flown from Montreal to FLL (simply to fly direct); it seems Air Canada has a direct flight on both Friday and Saturday in November (?). We have driven to Montreal airport, parked there and taken a flight, also have stayed overnight at the airport attached to the airport for an early morning flight. Not ideal, but gives you a direct flight option. Would that be less stressful for your group? WestJet used to have direct from Ottawa options, but since they changed their focus to Western Canada, that no longer is the case. Amazing you can fly non-stop from Ottawa to Paris, but not to Miami or Fort Lauderdale! Good luck with your plans - I'll be curious to know what you decide.

@Daisi thank you. I guess I can do a mock booking to see the cost of the gratuities, seems it may bring the cruise cost higher than other lines. So much research to do!! we have a ton of points that will cover air, I think I’d rather be in control of flight times etc but appreciate the heads up.

Thank you - we do usually use a TA for our cruise bookings, haven't contacted her yet as I'm still doing some research. I'll check with her for sure. @TMLAalum glad you enjoyed your brief visit to Ottawa. The smoke is something "unique" this year, hopefully the fires are under control soon.

We are considering our first river cruise for 2024. Gratuities have been included on ocean cruises we have taken and I realize they are not included on Avalon cruises. How is this handled? Is it possible to pre-pay gratuities? How would I find out how much that would be? I like the idea of having it all taken care of up front. Thanks for the help!

Keeping mine for now. We have family in Alberta and will take advantage of the $119.00 companion fare annually. Used the 2022 voucher for our flight to Vancouver in May (still a direct flight from Ottawa), great to fly at that price.

In my experience, WestJet does not overbook. In fact they have a policy that they do not overbook. Not sure about Porter - but I'm hearing a lot of good things about them and may give them a try.

Air Canada is notorious for over-booking, in our experience. In fact, our son is currently on a long haul AC flight (booked by his employer), and 3 people were put on standby for the next flight due to overbooking. If you book/pay for a premium seat I do believe that would guarantee you a seat and if flying AC, I would certainly pay to have the guarantee of a seat.

We have flown to both FLL and MIA for Miami cruise departures. We've chosen airport based on price and time of flights. At least once, we flew in to FLL and then out of MIA with the same airline; just booked it as multi-city and no more expensive. Again, this was based on flight times. For transfers from FLL to MIA and also MIA to downtown Miami hotel we have used Larry's Limo Larrys Limo Services and would recommend them. They have always been on time, super clean car, polite driver etc. We even splurged the last few times and had the driver meet us at the luggage area. Again, on time, clearly holding a sign with our names and then took our luggage for us. A real treat. We've also used them to pick us up at the cruise terminal. We have stayed in both Fort Lauderdale and Miami, though prefer Miami and being so close to the port on departure day, so can't help with your hotel question.

We were on the Eclipse week of May 21st to Alaska, in Aqua class so our dining experience was primarily in Blu. We have cruised previously on NCL and once on Celebrity. We chose Celebrity based on the itinerary. You mention Al Bacio - it was most often very crowded, but if you are able to get a seat the coffee is lovely as are the pastries. Of course you can always do take out. Food - so subjective, but we enjoyed Blu. We ordered from both the main dining room menu and the Blu menu and found the food to be good. Gourmet? no, but good. We had one meal in Tuscan Grill. The food was fine, not sure I'd spend the $$ to go there, but we used OBC so it was OK. I find Celebrity annoying for lunch. If you don't want to sit in the main dining room, you are at the buffet or the Mast Grill for burgers. Both venues are difficult to find seating, but again the food was fine. Bars - we never had a problem getting served anywhere, or even getting a seat at the martini bar before dinner. The staff overall were outstanding. Each person we encountered simply could not do enough for you. They certainly made for an enjoyable experience. With our experience only with two cruise lines, I would not say Celebrity is a luxury line or even above NCL. So, with reasonable expectations I am sure you will have an enjoyable trip. And Alaska is amazing! Enjoy.

Agree with this! I actually gave feedback to the airline on a survey that they should be measuring all carry on luggage (using the airline's provided device for measuring bags at the gate). Passengers boarded our flights with clearly oversize luggage, multiple "personal items".

We did carry on only for our recent cruise to Alaska, and enjoyed not having to worry about lost luggage, no waiting at a luggage carousel and most importantly being able to easily handle our bags. Saw so many people struggling with loads of luggage coming out of the airport, walking to shuttles, getting on to public transportation etc. More than just the chance of having luggage lost to consider - be sure you can easily manage lifting, moving your own bags.

We flew WJ on May 20th to Vancouver for our May 21st cruise. About 3 weeks before the departure date, I booked fully refundable tickets with Porter as back up, as we were unsure if WJ would be on strike or not. They were expensive, but gave us peace of mind. As it turned out, WJ settled the day before we left, so we cancelled the Porter tickets and had our money refunded in about 5 days. I think booking a back up as soon as there is any hint of job action at AC (or maybe before) is a good plan.

We did choose a check in time on the app, and specifically chose a time that we thought was a bit later. (11:30am) I had read here that you can certainly show up later than your assigned time. In fact, no one checked times once we entered Canada Place. Our hotel had a noon check out time, so we waiting 'till almost noon to check out, and walked across the street to Canada Place. The only long line we saw was to drop off luggage. We had intended to do that, but as we had only carry-ons we decided to not wait in the long line. There were lines, yes, but they moved very quickly. I'm not sure we actually stopped walking - maybe a few minutes wait at the security scanner and a few minutes again at customs. There were a lot of very helpful employees along the way to answer questions, remind you to have documents ready etc. As you mention senior parents - be aware that there was a lot of walking. We laughed and said I think we covered the entire building on two levels during the check in process! Enjoy your cruise!