tupper10

Hello from beautiful Vancouver. We are on the same cruise as @SusieKIslandGirl. It is our 4th time to Alaska and hoping that the weather is not all rain and freezing cold. Sending healing thoughts to all who need it. @rafinmd I hope you don't miss your cruise. My 2 cents - if you are really feeling sick then I would not go, but if you are just tired then I think being served and pampered is the way to go. Hoping everyone has safe travels. Thank you to all who keep this thread going. I read it every day.

It depends on the airline if you can pick your seats right away by booking with FE. We booked for Europe next year on Delta through FE and we were able to pick our seats right away. We also used them for Alaska (here now) and again we could book our seats right away and see our trip on the Delta site even before final payment.

@mcrcruiser That happened to me and I spoke with a supervisor. At first she claimed I couldn't get it, but like you I had booked two cruises and both were in 2025 - one I had the credit one not- so she couldn't claim that they weren't offering it on 2025 cruises - she had to add it manually and then re sent my confirmation.

I had to call HAL and the agent booked everything for me and I only was on hold for about 1 minute.

We hope for the same thing - really want to do this cruise but it is a long way away. We love Turkey and I am thinking we will just fly home from Istanbul, we like it more than Athens.

@CNSJ thank you for posting this. Booked our 2025 Europe cruise to Egypt and Istanbul with two overnights with the $2.00 deposit.

@StLouisCruisers one day, if you have time, when you drive south stop for dinner and we can meet, there are some nice restaurants right off of 95 before you hit FLL. Also FYI some of the hotels in Palm Beach county are way cheaper than FLL hotels and you are only 45 minutes away from the port.

Sandy you can say that again - also the cruises m @StLouisCruisers you can say that again - along with booking the actual cruise and figuring out which one they will consent to go on. My DH has told me no long flights any more which really limits our ability to travel. Next year we have a one way flight to Europe and I guess that is it and like @summer slope we will be driving to FLL which for us is only 45 minutes away.

@smitty34877 So sorry to hear about Lou, my thoughts are with you and your family at this difficult time. Healing thoughts for Baby Murphy and @rafinmd hope you have a mild case of Covid and that you are feeling better quickly. I hope all who are away and traveling have safe and fun travels.

Many new airlines are doing the transatlantic route. Jetblue for one has started service; also to London non stop from Miami there is Norse Atlantic which you would have to book yourself. You should compare the flightease cost vs refundable fare on the airline's web site and book whichever is cheaper. You can check the 2024 fares now but my guess is they will go up not down so figure that in to your equation.

@PSR you should join the roll call for this cruise. There is an organized meet and greet. Looking forward to this cruise.

If HAL doesn't give you a refund I would contact elliott.org to see if he can help. As others have said this is totally unacceptable. Your room was not habitable due to a non working toilet and I would use these words in an email to HAL as well as emails to all the executives at HAL. The emails are listed on the Elliot web site. Good luck and please keep us posted as to what, if any, resolution HAL gives to you.

@cruising sister So sorry to hear about baby Murphy. My thoughts are with you and her family. @JazzyV sorry to hear about your back. I hope your doctors can figure out what is wrong and give you some relief. @Seasick SailorCongratulations on Olivers adoption and I am glad @kazu that Ivan is doing much better. I hope everyone is feeling better soon and those on cruises are having a great time.

@marshhawk so sorry to hear this but may I make a suggestion. Given all the different advice you are getting I would see if you could get an appointment at a major cancer center for your husband, MD Anderson or Sloan Kettering. Though there are good doctors everywhere these centers are on a totally different level. The doctors exclusively treat the hardest cancers and they usually only do one type of cancer vs treating multiple kinds. They also have access to the latest studies and protocols. It is so upsetting to hear this news and I wish you the best.

For anyone interested in a good new novel about the founding of Singapore I would suggest Rachel Heng's The Great Reclamation. I realized that I knew nothing about this area of the world and she weaves a fascinating tale with a fairly accurate history. It would make some great reading for a long cruise. I hope we hear how everyone is doing - I was hoping to see some updates posted today. @dfish The gardens look beautiful. We signed up to do a TA next year and I think @StLouisCruisers is on it as well. My husband is getting to the point where he doesn't want to fly at all - this was the only way I could get him to Europe since we only have to fly one way. I wish VOV would do some more Norway ports then we would just do a RT but it is one area I really want to see so we are doing a Norway cruise before the TA. I hope everyone has a great day. We haven't been outside in days here way too hot to do anything.

I do not think travel insurance will pay if you only cancel 1/2 of this cruise even if HAL lets you do this. You say that you booked this as one cruise, not 2. All outside travel insurance policies require you to give the dates of travel and the cost. I assume you purchased travel insurance for the 14 day cruise not two separate policies for two separate cruises. The doctor's certificate required for all claims will have to state the medical reason your wife cannot travel and also the dates that travel is restricted. The date will include the dates w/in the 14 day cruise. You can't say she can travel for the 1st half and then not be able to travel for the 2nd 1/2. I also assume that given it is one policy you have to make a choice -either forego any claim at all or cancel and get a refund for the entire trip. I would suggest you confirm this with you travel insurance agent/company in writing and spend some time reading the terms of your policy - not the one page cover sheet. So sorry that you have to deal with this we all look so forward to these trips. Perhaps something closer to home may work for you? Whatever you decide good luck to you and glad to hear your wife did so well with her surgery.

@marshhawk A comment on Pompeii - it is very large and hard to walk it all. If it were me I would tour Herculaneum which is much smaller and doable and you get the entire experience of seeing this smaller city that was totally covered by ash. In Greece it is a long walk up to the Acropolis but it is wheelchair accessible as is the museum so my suggestion for this trip is to rent a wheelchair for your husband and then use it at places like this one where he can access what he wants to see. Sagetraveling.com is a site that is for disabled travelers in Europe it gives you load of information and tours for those who have mobility issues. I hope this helps. You can get information port by port.

@JazzyV so sorry to hear about your friend. It is so hard to lose cherished friends. @rafinmd Loved your Sandy story. We lost power for 2 weeks and had multiple trees down in our area of LI - out by Stony Brook. Almost all of our roads were not passable. Glad you had a great travel agent who managed to get you on your cruise. Sending healing thoughts to so many on the daily who need them.

We were wait listed and received an email that we could book the excursion if we wished to - which I did on the same day.

@luvteachingmy thoughts are with you at this difficult time. @smitty34877glad to hear the surgery went well. Hope your husband has a room by now. @dfishhope your sister just slept in vs a migraine. They are horrible headaches. Thinking of everyone today. Have to say my back surgery was a success. I am at Universal in Orlando with my daughter and grandkids and I’ve been walking 4 miles a day. Hot as the blazes and not many rides that I can do but helping out. I couldn’t have done this pre surgery.

So sorry to hear this. So hard to lose our beloved pets.

Wow. I guess we booked early enough so the fare was reasonable at that time. It seems to have gone way up in price.

@friendswithdaveYou say you have been to Alaska multiple times - so what is it you would like to see again or for the first time. We have also been multiple times both a land only trip and cruises with land extensions. We decided to do the 14 day HAL trip that is offered only in the Spring and Fall which does some different ports. It is one of the few cruises that actually goes to Valdez, Kodiak and Anchorage so it may interest you.

@bennybear Asian doesn't work for me due to my many food allergies, but thank you.

I would contact their corporate offices. Primary Contact Mark Ewing Director, Customer Relations 1 Skyview Drive Fort Worth, TX 76155 Markus.Ewing@aa.com Secondary Contact Caroline Truelove Vice President – Reservations and Customer Relations 1 Skyview Drive Fort Worth, TX 76155 Caroline.Truelove@aa.com Chief Executive Robert Isom CEO 1 Skyview Drive Fort Worth, TX 76155 robert.isom@aa.com