mahdnc

The broken ankle story is sadly amazing. First day of the cruise? And on a ship with no elevator? Even the flights from Baltra all the way home must have been trying. Whew!!! As for you, did you have a favorite memory from the trip?

Good illustration that nothing is guaranteed. For us, the naturalists told us to swim out to that rock outcropping and that we would see sharks. Now I’m sure they said “probably” or “might” see that I’m conveniently forgetting in this story. But for us, those sharks (3 in all) were right where the naturalists said they’d be—right on cue. Sounds like you guys were the super snorkelers in your group! How did you master the ladder on the zodiac?

We found the snorkeling to be quite variable in what was offered. Shore snorkeling (walk-in from the beach) and deep water dives (enter the water from the zodiac). Some of the deep water snorkeling was long and some were short. However the zodiacs provided overwatch and you could signal the zodiac driver to come pick you up if you wanted to quit early. Finally, some snorkel spots seem to favor certain sea life vs the other. For example Espanola Island had reef sharks that liked to hang around a rocky island off the batch (rocky island is in the left of the first photo below). On the other hand, there were sea turtles everywhere! If you are thinking of limiting yourself to doing snorkeling just a couple of times, it is worth talking to the naturalists and they can give you an idea of what you are likely to see and at which locations.

So I stand very much corrected!

I am glad you found the review helpful. As far as your question goes, I can see why you asked it. The truth is that I don't really know the answer because my wife and I always did the snorkeling. I know that not everyone on our cruise wanted to do snorkeling and I can tell you there was never anything said during the presentations like, "if you don't want to do deep water snorkeling then, sorry, we have nothing else for you". I am certain that there was an alternate activity for them and it likely came in the form of a zodiac ride. Perhaps @prmssk (who was on the prior Xpedition sailing before mine) or @mahasamatman (who took B2B Xpedition cruises in December) can comment.

I hope you guys don’t accidentally book a cruise (an NRD one).

I have received air fare price adjustments from FBC as long as it was before final payment.

Nice!

From my usage, I have found in general that airfare pricing through Celebrity is usually about the same as buying direct. Sometimes Celebrity will run a cruise promotion that advertises a discount on air fare which requires you to use Flights by Celebrity. In those cases the air fare though the cruise line is decidedly cheaper than booking directly with the airline. To me it is worth shopping for air fare through Celebrity and through the airline directly. If the price through Celebrity is cheap enough, I will consider using them.

@Jessejo, My wife and I took this tour when we were aboard Constellation back in Oct 2022, we thought it was worthwhile although it is not something you want to attend over and over again. Here is a link with some details and photos taken from our tour.

You won't see the balance on Celebrity's website if a travel agent has your booking. You won't get any payment confirmation emails from Celebrity either (except if you order items through your Cruise Planner such as a shorex). All that communication and balance information is handled by your travel agent. You may want to call Celebrity yourself and ask if your booking is paid in full. Your cruise payment should show up on your AMEX online statement with Celebrity Cruises listed as the payee--but I guess you want confirmation from the other end of the transaction.

My wife reminds me of that every day.

I charge my wife considerably less for her massage.

You are welcome. The link to the photo review was wrong. Here is the correct link:

Yorkey's Knob, Jan 2018 We took the GBR cruise back in Jan 2018, so my information is a bit dated. When Solstice overnighted at Yorkey's Knob (Cairns), the last tender from ashore was scheduled to leave at 10:30 pm local time. Tendering was then scheduled to resume at 7:30 am the following morning. However there were passengers like my family that had made independent arrangements at Cairns and we needed to be off the ship early in order to be there on time. So with little announcement/advertising, Celebrity arranged for a couple of very early tenders to get us off the ship. No guarantees that you will see that arrangement on your cruise, but you should inquire if this is of value to you. Hopefully for you, the tender/shuttle schedule is what Jim posted earlier. If you are interested, here is link to the folder of all the Celebrity Todays that were issued during our 12 night GBR sailing. Also I published a photo review of our cruise that has some information that may be useful for planning even though it is dated and on a different class of ship.

Good night. Have a great cruise day tomorrow!

Not to sound ridiculous, but you are right—Luggage Valet is awesome unless, in the very rare event, your bags are missing or lost. We’ve used it a couple times and it was great. I’ve read only one account on Cruise Critic where bags were lost. You won’t know of the problem until you arrive at your destination airport and because of the multiple players involved, it was an accountability nightmare. AirTags would be helpful here.

What a start. Have a great cruise! I’ll be following along but don’t look at me for accountability! Maybe take an Uber to the airport when you disembark….

I am disappointed for you.

Sorry, my attempt at humor crashed and burned.

However I know I’ve had reservations about some of the onboard entertainment in the past.

Correction: one blue footed boobie on my Xpedition key card.

Perhaps Celebrity was only interested in knowing what you wanted! Like a survey.

There were no Apple Watches for sale during our Solstice cruise in January

It might have been gray. It was a muted color. The keyholder we got on Xpedition last November was blue (and our key cards had two blue footed boobies printed on it).