ipeeinthepool

Ok, what is the best way to get the discount applied to an internet upgrade?

13 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

We sail tomorrow as well. Right now we are sitting poolside at our hotel fortifying ourselves with alcohol. Our plan in the morning is to bring water and wear sunscreen and hats. We will carefully monitor email, as much as I want that Luminae lunch,  also don’t want an ER visit for heat stroke! We were fortunate enough to be able to get PCR tested yesterday afternoon, and I have fingers crossed that things will be organized well enough tomorrow that they will accept our test. Right now it does not meet the letter of the last email we got, but is consistent with requirements for the later sailings.

 

I am APPALLED by the people standing in line unmasked. I know staying masked for that length of time would be nearly impossible, but they may as well just go out past the shipping lane and sail to Nassau and back, it will be a super spreader event on board. It just made me nauseous. As I do at home right now with our fast rising rate, I will assess each place and mask up when I feel uncomfortable. Depending on what I see tomorrow I ma feel uncomfortable!

Also if the reports of persons fainting or having to be taken to an ambulance are true, my heart goes out to them.

 

As a physician who doesn’t want to see anyone sick or thrown off the ship - follow the emails, bring water and a hat and wear your mask or stay 6 feet away from those not in your party!

 

I hope you have a great cruise.

On 7/29/2021 at 1:34 PM, Stockjock said:

I know that it's against most of the advice here, and generally I do agree with and appreciate that advice, but I did book the non-stop Air Canada that arrives in Vancouver at 9 am the day of the cruise.

My logic was:

1. It gets there very early.

2. Only a 3 hour flight.

3. Because it's a non-stop flight, no chance having a problem with connecting flights.

 

4. Same time zone, so we shouldn’t have any jet lag to recover from.

5. It's an early morning flight (6 am), which means that, due to the San Diego curfew, the plane will have already arrived the night before.  I'd know if it's not there.

6. Celebrity will make other arrangements if there's a problem with that flight, probably at their expense, if we don't blow it.

7. There are other flights that would still get us to Vancouver in time if this one can't go for some reason.  This flight arrives at 9 am or so.  Most of the others arrive 11 am to 11:30 am and some arrive around 1 pm, but I suspect that any of those would get us there on time.

8. As mentioned, we have a much longer cruise out of Denmark planned 3.5 months from the Celebrity cruise, and the fewer days the GF can take off for this trip, the better.  The number of days she can request off is limited.

9. I can skip the hotel.

10. The Celebrity flights are a bit cheaper than if I booked directly through the airline.

11. Celebrity flights have better change/cancellation provisions before final payment.  After that, they get worse due to the $200 per ticket penalty.

12. No payment due until final payment.

13. I also like those little regional jets, which have no more than 2 seats in an aisle.  We don't have to worry about being too close to a 3rd unknown passenger.

 

14. The cruise terminal is relatively close to the airport, only about 8 miles away.

After reading through you list, I sense you left off #15 which is probably the most important reason.  

15.  My GF insisted we fly in the day of the cruise.

Now I understand and support your logic.

Enjoy your cruise.

2 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

I think that’s for the later sailings, my email only mentions antigen testing and someone posted it in entirety, just above, ,post 81. I would guess they left it out either an oversight or because they assumed no one could get a PCR back that fast - it helps when you are the Med Director of the lab…

Negative tests and Delta upgrades in hand, we are leaving tomorrow!

Enjoy your cruise.  Please send some trip reports if you get a chance.

21 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

Ok so I have a different problem. I can get a test - waiting for my results as I type - but I can only get a PCR this fast - will a PCR right at 48 hours work?

I would think so.  Here's the requirement:

"This test may be taken as either a PCR test or an Antigen test, conducted within 72 hours of embarkation. "

7 minutes ago, Airbalancer said:

The better result would if all countries would recognize mixing of vaccine ,

to many people need to vaccine  before the people get their third dose 

because another variant could be developed that these vaccines cannot stop

The CDC has already indicated that people who have a mixture of AZ and Pfizer or Moderna can be given a third dose of either Pfizer or Moderna and then those people will be considered fully vaccinated.  I glad that some parts of Canada seem to be recognizing the problem for international travel and are working to solve the problem.

Have the affected people been evacuated from the ship?

4 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Yes.  Even if you are on time, aren't you waiting in a line with everyone who came early?

That may be, people who arrive early don't comprehend that they are the problem.  Hopefully they can maintain a couple of lines.  One for people who are on time and a stand-by line for people who arrive early.

On 7/13/2021 at 10:41 AM, NutsAboutGolf said:

Straight from my cruise contract, so regardless of anyone's opinion, X makes it clear embarkment windows are a "recommendation" and not a "rule".

 

Please stop confusing people with the facts.  Some people just believe they can do what they want with no consequences and it must be someone else's fault.  Sure the suites are told they can arrive when they want but the fact is that there is a limited amount of staff available to handle them when they arrive.  It is interesting when people arrive before their arrival time and then complain because other people got to the port even earlier.  In all of the complaints about waiting in line, I've never seen anyone ask if everyone in line was supposed to be there because of an earlier boarding time.  Everyone that arrives early could be slowing down the process for people that arrive on time.  Assigned boarding times are an improvement, it will probably take a while before some people will learn.

10 hours ago, Atocha Shipwreck Gal said:

Hi - I see that there are no steps going down into the main part of the pool. Looks like 3 ladders. Can you tell us how those work for older people or heavier people? Just cannot believe there is not a set of steps but I am told there is not. 

 

Haven't you seen all of the pictures in Celebrity's advertisements?  There aren't any older or heavier people in the pictures.  No need for steps. 😉

18 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I appreciate all of the comments.  I concede that there are definitely risks that come from flying the day of the cruise.  As I mentioned previously, my GF once forgot her full passport and had we not gone up early, pretty sure we would have missed the cruise.

Still not sure what we'll do, but leaning towards getting there one day early.  Unfortunately, I can't find any evening/night flights, but I certainly wouldn't want to arrive late.  That said, I do feel the Air Canada non-stop that arrives day of at 9 am is probably a "pretty safe" bet as long as we didn't screw things up.

I hope it works for you.  But please remember,     

Hope is not a plan.

Celebrity Sales VP confirmed during a TA webinar this afternoon that mixtures of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the only acceptable combinations in the US.

1 minute ago, graphicguy said:

Not sure I know what an official fixed price is.  But no, they weren't using the meter.  And yes, it was $20 each way, fixed price.  That's what both Taxi drivers told me.

 

I guess one of those bus services might be cheaper?  But, once you get around $20, I'm reluctant to turn down a ride in the hopes of finding another cheaper one.

Thanks.   My question wasn't about finding a cheaper ride but trying to avoid  a very expensive ride.  I'm always a bit nervous when the driver doesn't want to use the meter.  I can't find anything on the Taxi websites about a fixed price to or from the airport.

12 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

July 10th EDGE sailing.  Taxi from FLL to Celebrity's terminal was fixed price.....$20 (and that was even with the waiting around during the airport bomb scare.  About a 10-15 minute ride to Celebrity's terminal.  

 

Same route in reverse from Celebrity Terminal to FLL.  Same fixed price.

 

Not sure about UBER.  They've been doing all sorts of funky add on fees for stuff the last few times I've used them (not at FLL, though). Also, the last 2 Ubers I scheduled didn't even show.  

Was this an official fixed price or were the Taxi drivers just not using the meter?

24 minutes ago, MrCoachRentz said:

I'm in Aqua leaving this Saturday and all of my notifications from Celebrity has been to show up at my time.

Arriving outside of your assigned boarding time will only slow the process for you and others.  The port does not have the staff to handle people arriving when ever they want without the possibility of a long wait.  If there are lines when you arrive, please check to confirm you are in the proper line for your boarding time.  Other CC members have been shocked to find that they had to wait in lines when they arrived before their boarding time.  They described the situation as terrible when they found lines were caused by people arriving before boarding even started.

1 minute ago, m8zenblue said:

I just got off Edge, 3/10/21.

I waited for hotel shuttle to pick us up but they had difficulties getting to cruise port.

There were a lot of taxis, so we took one, it cost $25 to get back to hotel, near airport, about 10 minutes away.

Why did they have difficulty getting to the cruise port?  Is there road construction around the port?

33 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

We've got an Alaska cruise booked for next year.  I found an inexpensive return option from Anchorage and booked that.

Our plan was to arrive the day before and get a hotel in Vancouver.  But, Celebrity Air has a guarantee that if there's a problem with your flight, they'll get you there in time for your cruise.  There's a non-stop that only takes about 3.5 hours and should get me in Vancouver about 9 am.  A 1-stop is slightly cheaper and gets me there 11 am.  I think the ship departs at 4 pm.  Leaning towards the non-stop because it's faster and seems less likely to have a problem.  Plus, they're offering reduced fair tickets, which doesn't make sense on the 1-stop (booking direct is cheaper), but seems legit on the non-stop (Celebrity Air is cheaper than I can book directly through the airline).

To me, with their guarantees and the minor discount, plus free cancellation up until final payment, arriving day of seems like a safe bet and seems smarter to book though them then go it on my own without that guarantee.  Do you agree and let me know if I'm missing anything.

I don't care what they say the guarantees are, you know all of the options and they aren't good.  Do what's smart, fly in the day before your cruise.

Here's a section of a letter that Celebrity just sent to me regarding my August 15 sailing on the Equinox.

I thought guests over 16 or 12 did not have to be vaccinated as long as the 5% threshold wasn't exceeded but there were extra restrictions and costs.  Is this saying the 5% threshold was met with children?

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

I'll get unruly if I don't get my one drink.  🙂

Careful, we don't want you to end up on the no-fly list.  😉

5 hours ago, cangelmd said:

I still get the change emails from Delta, but we book direct. Even pre-Covid, Delta would change our flights 75% of the time, but almost always only by a few minutes. One time about 3 years ago they a flight out of FLL by 2 hours. They changed it for us, even though we didn’t notice for about a month.

They do the adjustment about6-8weeks out?

I'm always skeptical about the changes that Delta makes about 6 - 8 weeks before departure, particularly when they involve large time changes but this issue may be more of an issue for people that fly out of Delta's hub cities.  We usually book several months ahead of time and often book departures that are earlier in the day.  It's not uncommon for Delta to move us from an early flight to a later flight to allow more seats for passengers with connecting flights that may have fewer connecting flight options.  This is more of an issue with returning flights.  We are usually able to get back on our original flight if we act fast enough but it is an annoyance.  

7 minutes ago, stinkyenglishteacher said:

1:00. We were a little late because my my husband needed a nice shirt. 😬 Shopping detour. 

Excellent, I'm glad it worked out well for you.  It sounds like the system works well when everyone arrives at their scheduled times so there aren't any lines.  

2 hours ago, betsypv said:

I'm curious about timing exiting the ship in Ft Lauderdale.  I have an early FLL flight home @10am, and worried that it will be tough to make, even with TSA Precheck. Do you recall what time the first people exited the ship and whether customs was an issue? thanks

The back-up at the airport and delays getting a taxi will depend on how many ships are in port.  If there are 5 or 6 ships in port it will be a much different experience from what people getting off the Edge encountered today.

Just now, terrydtx said:

Email from Celebrity Air, nothing from Delta yet.

Thanks, I would hope that you would have heard from them.  Glad it worked out for you.

4 minutes ago, ExArkie said:

I'm not involved in this Delta schedule change, but have been in many before. Several years ago, they would send me an e-mail about every schedule change when it occurred, even if a flight time moved by only a few minutes and more than once when the only thing that changed was the flight number. At some point, they started just letting me know about major shifts in timing (30+ minutes) and ignoring the smaller ones. Recently, I've not been getting e-mail notifications on any discernable pattern. Not sure how it works for everyone else, but maybe they think I ought to have it figured out by now (roughly 3 million miles accumulated on Delta...in addition to about a million on United, perhaps I may have flown too much when I was working full time).

 

Delta is not the only airline that does this, but they are maybe the one with the most frequent changes. For future reference, Delta typically adjusts their schedules on Saturday, occasionally and infrequently on other days of the week. For years, my approach has been to spend a little time every Sunday morning reviewing flight schedules for booked tickets. Kind of a pain, but I'm rarely surprised by schedule changes these days.

 

For the record, Delta has always been great about accommodating what I want when the schedule changes. Often, one can adjust the flights on their Web page (the app sometimes doesn't handle this well), but you may have to call to fix it. 

 

 

Flying out of Detroit I'm  very familiar with Delta schedule and equipment changes and I agree with you they have always been very accommodating in making adjustments.  I've never dealt with Celebrity Air and I was wondering how good they were in identifying changes.  In this case Celebrity air is the TA and I would hope they would notify you about any changes.

Nope.  Schedule a later flight.  Sorry if you can't use your miles.