Extend Your Stay - Fort Lauderdale

[hopeless holiday booker]

Not overly happy with this - and I have booked already but on the plus side, if I feel that it is secure it might be nice to not be carrying around too much with you and just be able to enjoy your last few hours on board rather than feeling you're just waiting to get off properly.

[CruiserMickey]

4 hours ago, twins_to_alaska said:

This is going to depend on the opinion of the Celebrity rep. The issue is that you go through Immigration and Customs in the morning before you reboard and not again when you get off the ship in the afternoon. Ours was adamant that only purse size was allowed despite a LOT of complaints and grumbling that folk weren't told when they booked... it does say no luggage and carry-ons in the letter you get the night before as someone kindly posted above. The rep also stated it wasn't Celebrity policy but Customs. End of argument.

I was not allowed a 14x9x8 soft companion piece to my 22" rolled luggage that fits under a Southwest aisle seat. Basically... ask yourself if you'd be allowed to take it into a museum.

 

One man insisted that he could NOT leave his carry-on. He did. Rest assured that your valuables are very well guarded. We went outside terminal 25 in FLL and there is an annex room with a security guard at the door. The cart with luggage was rolled into that annex - we only had 11 extend-your-stayers. Your pieces are tagged with a numbered tie on and you rip off the bottom half. To get your luggage back you need those claim receipts. We were told that the luggage would always have a person guarding it and if that person needed a break another coworker would take over. I left valuable electronics with no worry.

 

 

Thank you so much for these details. We will be prepared to leave our luggage. Hopefully the tote bag I plan to use will be allowed on with us. It will definitely be a learning experience.

[cruising princess 1964]

the cost when I booked was 95.00 

[twins_to_alaska]

I really felt that the items were extremely safe and secure where they were... no one could just have wandered into that annex room. It actually took a second return into the annex for the employee to find my smaller piece and get it back to me... but I wasn't worried it wasn't there. 🙂

We couldn't just leave the ship by ourselves at the end either... we had to be escorted off and back outside to the luggage annex. The latest time was 1:45 but there was a group of 3 that was planning on getting off at 1:00 so I went back to the Passport Bar and met that smaller group.

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by twins_to_alaska

[hopeless holiday booker]

2 hours ago, twins_to_alaska said:

I really felt that the items were extremely safe and secure where they were... no one could just have wandered into that annex room. It actually took a second return into the annex for the employee to find my smaller piece and get it back to me... but I wasn't worried it wasn't there. 🙂

We couldn't just leave the ship by ourselves at the end either... we had to be escorted off and back outside to the luggage annex. The latest time was 1:45 but there was a group of 3 that was planning on getting off at 1:00 so I went back to the Passport Bar and met that smaller group.

 

 

Do you think that was the latest time for your particular cruise.  I read it says 90 minutes before they leave so mine should be later?  Thank you for the information as been said already, it's really helpful.

[twins_to_alaska]

Equinox was leaving at 3:30 so it was a bit more than 90 minutes... 1:45 was the latest time to get off. I was expecting we'd be allowed to stay until 2.

Edited January 21, 2020 by twins_to_alaska

[CruiserMickey]

On 1/15/2020 at 9:29 AM, Jim_Iain said:

Did you happen to hear any discussion of being able to combine Luggage Valet with Extend Your Stay?   That would be my ideal solution.

 

Hi @Jim_Iain...we just disembarked Edge and there were a few people who used luggage valet in conjunction with Extend your Stay. It seemed like an ideal situation for them.

[CruiserMickey]

I just got off of Edge and had a great experience with Extend Your Stay. We met at Fine Cut at 9:15 this morning and were through customs, had checked that our luggage was stored and were back in the ship by 10:05. We spent a lovely morning in Cafe al Bacio and the Solarium, then had a beautiful lunch at Le Grand Bistro. We were prepared to pay the $20 charge for Le Grand Bistro, but were pleasantly surprised to find out that our lunch was part of EYS (this is not advertised!). We met at the Shore Excursion desk at 1:45 and were escorted off the ship promptly at 2:00. Everything went smoothly and I feel it was a good value for us (two fancy coffees each, wine with lunch, and not having to wait at the airport). I would definitely book this again if I had a late flight.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, CruiserMickey said:

 

Hi @Jim_Iain...we just disembarked Edge and there were a few people who used luggage valet in conjunction with Extend your Stay. It seemed like an ideal situation for them.

Thank you so much for letting me know.   It really seems an ideal combination.    Just walk out and grab an Uber -

[CruiserMickey]

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thank you so much for letting me know.   It really seems an ideal combination.    Just walk out and grab an Uber -

 

You’re welcome! If we had been checking baggage we would have definitely used that service. As it was, our carry-on luggage was waiting for us as soon as we’d walked off, so no extra waiting.

[Pushka]

2 hours ago, CruiserMickey said:

I just got off of Edge and had a great experience with Extend Your Stay. We met at Fine Cut at 9:15 this morning and were through customs, had checked that our luggage was stored and were back in the ship by 10:05. We spent a lovely morning in Cafe al Bacio and the Solarium, then had a beautiful lunch at Le Grand Bistro. We were prepared to pay the $20 charge for Le Grand Bistro, but were pleasantly surprised to find out that our lunch was part of EYS (this is not advertised!). We met at the Shore Excursion desk at 1:45 and were escorted off the ship promptly at 2:00. Everything went smoothly and I feel it was a good value for us (two fancy coffees each, wine with lunch, and not having to wait at the airport). I would definitely book this again if I had a late flight.

The $25 USD credit to pay for a meal is mentioned in the Australian website. Plus the beverage package. 

[CruiserMickey]

7 hours ago, Pushka said:

The $25 USD credit to pay for a meal is mentioned in the Australian website. Plus the beverage package. 

 

Is the meal credit mentioned on a North American cruise, or just European destinations? The meal credit is mentioned on my Constellation sailing to Italy, but it wasn’t for my Caribbean Edge cruise.

[Pushka]

18 minutes ago, CruiserMickey said:

 

Is the meal credit mentioned on a North American cruise, or just European destinations? The meal credit is mentioned on my Constellation sailing to Italy, but it wasn’t for my Caribbean Edge cruise.

Mine is also Europe. Maybe that’s the difference and they’ve since rectified the discrepancy. 

[CruiserMickey]

6 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Mine is also Europe. Maybe that’s the difference and they’ve since rectified the discrepancy. 

 

I don’t know if this is an official change. We were the only two of MANY Extend Your Stay passengers (including Suite guests) who asked about eating somewhere other than the Oceanview Cafe. The staff at Le Grand Bistro just quietly told us that our lunch was included in our EYS ticket price after we offered our credit card to pay.

[hopeless holiday booker]

Was wondering if anyone has recently done the extend and stay at Fort Lauderdale and can tell us how it went. Lunch, timing, bags etc

[Jim_Iain]

7 hours ago, hopeless holiday booker said:

Was wondering if anyone has recently done the extend and stay at Fort Lauderdale and can tell us how it went. Lunch, timing, bags etc

CruiseMickey in message 58 above gave a good summary.  She also confirmed that you could use it in conjunction with Luggage Valet. 

[hopeless holiday booker]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

CruiseMickey in message 58 above gave a good summary.  She also confirmed that you could use it in conjunction with Luggage Valet. 

So unlike me. I just didn’t look properly but now I have!  Thank you. 

[Jim_Iain]

9 minutes ago, hopeless holiday booker said:

So unlike me. I just didn’t look properly but now I have!  Thank you. 

I've read a couple reviews and all have had a positive experience.   I'm planning on using it myself on our next cruise.

 

[hopeless holiday booker]

Just got back from our cruise which we really enjoyed.  Unfortunately our extend your stay will get a letter of complaint.

We had to meet at 9.15 in the passport lounge.  We could tell as soon as we got there that we were going to be late off as they were only calling Luggage tag No 4 to get off the ship.  We asked about it being delayed and they said no, we'll still be on time.  We waited an hour and got off at 10.15.  Rules are very strictly kept to which isn't a problem - bags picked up taken to another storage area where you handed over your bags but were not allowed to go over a line - someone did by accident and the reaction was not good but not terrible it just seemed a bit ridiculous.  We then had to sit in a holding area and were back on the ship just before 11.  The information given if you book before you get on the ship is that you have to depart 90 minutes before the ship leaves.  This is not true.  You have to leave the ship at 1.45 at the latest.  We did not get a lunch voucher (I wasn't expecting one but some had mentioned it) but although I paid less than some - $126 for 2 it was very expensive for 2 1/2 hours back on the ship.  No special time on the ship without anybody else.  I wouldn't do it again unless it was a lot cheaper.

Edited March 10, 2020 by hopeless holiday booker