flgatorgirl

8 minutes ago, RTShaker said:

A lot depends on when you made your reservation.  There is a cut-off date after which the best price guarantee reverted to within 48 hours of booking. You can still reprice up to final but it will be at the current promotion. All your promotions you have now will be gone.

Thanks for the response.  My reservation was made in November 2022 and final payment is due tomorrow.   I thought the within 48 hours was only if booking was made after the typical final payment date? 

I copied the below language I found on Celebrity's website.  Are OBCs/promotions considered part of the prevailing cruise fare? I would think Celebrity would specify that rather than just state Celebrity will reduce cruise fare to a available prevailing cruise fare.  I would still be better off getting the price reduction (with a reduction in OBC) than keeping my current pricing, but I am not convinced they should be changing the original OBC based on the best price guarantee wording for price changes occurring before final payment date.  

For a request submitted on or before the due date of final payment, the following applies:

Request for a Lower Cruise Fare:

Celebrity will reduce cruise fare to available prevailing cruise fare. If full payment has been made, a refund will be issued.

Request to Add or Change an Added Value Offer

Celebrity will 1) apply an Added Value Offer to booking and 2) go to prevailing eligible cruise fare

NOTE: If either the new cruise fare or Added Value Offer is not combinable with any promotion associated with the existing booking, or changes are being made outside of promotional booking window, the existing promotion will be removed from the booking. No refund or exchange will be given on a promotion offer (added value)

NOTE: an Added Value Offer refers to an amenity added to your booking, such as an onboard credit, specialty dining, shore excursion, etc.

For a request submitted after the due date of final payment AND the booking is within 48 hours from creation, the following applies:

Request for a Lower Cruise Fare

Celebrity will apply an onboard credit to the booking in the amount of 100% of the difference in price.

Request to Add or Change an Added Value Offer

Celebrity will 1) apply an Added Value Offer to booking and 2) go to prevailing eligible cruise fare

NOTE: If either the new cruise fare or Added Value Offer is not combinable with any promotion associated with the existing booking, or changes are being made outside of promotional booking window, the existing promotion will be removed from the booking. No refund or exchange will be given on a promotion offer (added value)

NOTE: An Added Value Offer refers to an amenity added to your booking, such as an onboard credit, specialty dining, shore excursion, etc.

Hello,

Please help me confirm the Celebrity Best Price Guarantee.  It is right before my final payment, so I think I should receive a cruise fare reduction, rather than an OBC.

1) Does both the cruise fare and the OBC get adjusted or just the cruise fare?  For example, if the cruise fare went down by $1000, but the OBC promotion gets decreased from $700 to $50, would the OBC get decreased to $50 when my cruise fare is adjusted downward too?  It doesn't seem like it would based on the Celebrity U.S best price guarantee, but I still wonder as it seems the two may go together.

2) Does it matter if airfare is on the reservation through Flights by Celebrity?  I haven't paid airfare yet and it was just changed last week to meet new travel parameters due a port change, but payment will be due tomorrow.  Overall prices haven't changed much, but I think one of the flights is now sold out on my preferred airline.  I don't see any mention of having flights booked through flights by celebrity being a reason that the best price guarantee wouldn't apply, but I saw mention on other posts (after final pmt was due) that there were issues on their price match.   My TA keeps asking if I want to remove the airfare and I don't know why he keeps asking and he is not responding to my question of why he keeps asking.   

I feel it should be a simple price change, but I guess nothing is simple these days even if there is a written policy. 

Thank you!

2 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Thank you for checking. I am not so familiar with stretches beyond Passau, so I just do not want to rule anything out. I don't know but I really wonder if they could this better logistically? It does seem a long distance on a coach, why not do that excursion to Passau on the previous day differently? Perhaps it was just a one-off, I hope they do not do this more often.

 

You are certainly right about the high number of ships, strategically placed one could do a boatel swapping trip, a bit like a ship (pub) crawl along the Danube from port to port and Viking ship to Viking ship... or a Viking ship relay race, I mean the ships "race" from port to port.

 

(Light cough) I better get some dinner, before I get into trouble.

 

notamermaid

 

In late July, Viking did the same thing to us.  We docked in Straubing and were bussed to Grein the following day.  This made for two very long days on a motorcoach, and I was not a happy camper as we didn’t even stop in a place to tour on the way to break up the time (as they can’t get us on the next ship until 12:30 or so as rooms have to be completely cleaned for new passengers).  Instead we stopped at a rest stop off the highway for 45 minutes.  It was a rest stop with a gift shop and cafe, but we had just eaten breakfast on the ship.  This time stalling break really bothered me and many people made it known.  We also had the same after effects such as having to choose the abbey (as the ship sails on and you meet up in another port) or the scenic cruising.  After many hours on a bus, we chose the scenic cruising which was a great call.   We also had shortened time in Budapest, as I think we had to make new lock reservations.  I agree surely Viking can come up with better logistics on the ship swaps.

We did receive a small credit for another future cruise when we got back, but I am not sure we will use it.  I should look at the Rhine boards to see if and when water levels may impact that itinerary as if we do use the credit, that is where I would want to cruise. 

3 hours ago, sbjornda said:

The Scenic Jasper was supposed to be in Regensburg today, but she appears to be stuck downstream at Passau. My guess is there's a ship swap happening.

 

Sterling

 

Interesting.  I guess our captain made the right decision to dock in Straubing rather than try to get to Passau.  Tomorrow we will leave Straubing and drive to another ship docked in Grein Austria. We will then sail  on the Gulveig from Grein to our regular scheduled stop in Krems.  I think Thursday should be a normal itinerary in Vienna and then onto Budapest.  (Assuming that area doesn’t have low waters?)  I would assume that the ships departing on 7/26 are also changed since the Egil will no longer be in Budapest that day , but rather the Gulveig will be.  Fascinating how all this works, but I may stick to my normal ocean cruises for a while to avoid the hassles.   Although the Rhine seems to be a great itinerary!

Unfortunately we received news tonight that we will be doing a ship swap on Wednesday.  We left Regensburg tonight and we won’t be able to go all the way to Passau Tuesday due to low water levels , so we are supposed to dock in Straubing instead.  It sounds like we will have a long bus ride/transfer trip on Wednesday to meet our new ship somewhere in Austria, but we will know more tomorrow. 

13 minutes ago, hsack said:

We are doing Viking Danube starting July 28 (Nuremberg to Budapest) and I just received the obligatory email from Viking about low water and possible ship swap. My guess is Viking does this automatically now to ensure they don't get the complaints that we were uninformed. I'm watching your posts daily now, notamermaid. You are my source of info for sure! I'm with the others who are crossing all toes, fingers and eyes in the hopes that the river cooperates. Shall I start a group rain dance? All together now....

Interesting.. our first Viking email was a week ago (8 days prior to sailing) and we haven’t heard anything water related again except the port info for Nuremberg was sent a few days ago. Yes, Please start the group dance and prayers for rain! Stuck in Miami traffic for my overnight flight and we are supposed to start our cruise tomorrow. I’ll try to keep you all updated on any options we are given from Viking. 

Thank you for the additional insight.  Our flight leaves tonight and we haven’t heard anything additional from Viking.  At this point we are going to just proceed and hope for the best. Hopefully it will only affect a few nights. I will download some books on Germany and Austria in case I need to do some crash planning for touring on our own.

Thank you. Yes, it looks like Sybil2 had great weather and it will heat up for us.  It’s amazing how quickly levels can change.  I see many gauge indicators on wetteronline.  Are there others besides pfelling I should look at for Nuremberg to Budapest? Which website has the forecast?  Thank you!

This is our first river cruise and we leave Saturday 7/20 from Nuremberg to Budapest (romantic danube) on Viking.  We did get an alert email from Viking one week out  that ship swaps may occur.  I am okay with that (if time is limited on a bus) but I am nervous about the trip turning into a bus tour or being on a bus for hours.  I do have trip insurance and can get 75% of my money back if I cancel or the trip is interrupted.  Hopefully Viking gives us options to back out if it were to turn into a bus tour.  Has anyone sailed recently or been in a similar predicament that you can give me some reassurance? At this point it seems like we will have to fly out there and see.

I'm not sure RCL is the right cruise line for you............

 

I hear there are actually lines out there that do not allow kids. Maybe try one of them?

Yep, Some of the kids I have seen are better behaved than many of the adults! I actually won't sail on Carnival though because of too many screaming kids on my one carnival cruise 18+ years ago. Holland America may be good for the poster, or perhaps even certain Princess cruises. I once had an Alaska reservation cancelled on me as there were supposedly too many 9 years old booked . Ironically, every summer date I inquired about for a princess Alaskan cruise was filled to capacity with the desired number of kids. Seems a bit weird... my money will stay with rccl and celebrity

We have never had a suite, but I think it would be more affordable to do 2 rooms that connect. The balcony can be opened up and the door can be locked or opened at your leisure. We love the oasis class- I think the kids will have more options and the entertainment is much better on the larger ships. You don't have to walk through the casinos at all on those ships if you don't want to, as they aren't in a prominent position. Most shows and activities are included.

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We love the oasis class and I would love to try the 5 night Bermuda cruise over the next year or so. This was a good review I read on Anthem here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2410474

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You can't go wrong with any of them for that age group. We have been on all three- that class ship is our favorite. Oasis and allure are almost identical, the harmony is identical with the addition of the abyss slide and water slide. Harmony is much newer, but they still had service issues to iron out when we were on for thanksgiving. Service will likely be more consistent on the other two older ships and you can probably find better deals. That being said, now that my 10 yo has been on Harmony, she prefers it since it had the slides. They all have the zip line, but my daughter wasn't heavy enough yet. If you need to fly there, perhaps look at flights and which is more convenient- Canaveral or Ft Laud.

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LOL! I know exactly who you are talking about! I was weirdly fascinated by this person...I didn't consider it a negative, just interesting!

 

 

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The "fascination" lingo made me laugh. My husband and 9 yo daughter took a decent amount of time making up a ton of funny questions to drop in the drop box to ask the cruise director during his late night morning show more about this entertainer. I told my husband the cruise director would never read all the questions aloud during the show, and he didn't. However, he did give them a shout out for being so enthusiastic about this particular entertainer.

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So when the rep I booked with told me that they are no longer offering set seating times he was cuckoo. I'm assuming they have the same menu at all of the free venues then right? I only ask and have concerns because I have a life threatening food allergy. Traditional cruises work well for me because after the 1st day the waitstaff knows what is and isn't safe for me. They also allow me to preview the next night's menu and pre order so my meal can be made safely and away from my allergen. This new arrangement quite frankly is scary for me. It'll either go beautifully, I'll die or I'll end up with plain steak and dry baked potato every night. Anyone else have any insight to offer? I'd love to not have to cancel this trip.

My daughter has a nut allergy... I suggest you email the "guest with special needs department" as soon as possible and explain your situation, stating you would like to have the same wait staff/ time each night due to your issues. They worked with me on the harmony and it was a lot less stressful than changing it on board like I did on a previous cruise. You definitely want the same wait staff each night with allergies!

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We have always put bottles of water (maybe 5-7) in each suitcase or in the outside pockets and then checked them. We never had an issue except one cruise over spring break my husband had to physically get our luggage from a lower floor. He had to open the bag up and they shook the bottles while the crew examined them. Since it was spring break, I think they were making sure it wasn't kids smuggling vodka. All was well and we got to get the water and luggage back.

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Thanks for the info. My son is almost 9, and is an experienced theater-goer. I'm not worried about the length of the show -- Wicked was 2 1/2 hours, and it was no problem. I will continue to think about the content, though.

 

 

 

I am well aware that we won't get to everything! We have done Oasis and Allure...and still haven't done everything. Looking forward to trying some of the new stuff on Harmony!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounds like something my son would like as well. He'd be figuring out how he could build the bionic arm with his Lego :-)

 

 

 

Thanks for the info!

Hi... we were also on the Thanksgiving sailing. My daughter is almost 10 and we took her to grease. I had asked rccl ahead of time and they stated they took the really bad parts out to make it family friendly. I am pretty conservative, so there were some parts that I probably would have preferred she didn't hear; however, I think a lot of it went over her head. She seemed to enjoy it, but we were all very tired on the first night. I wish I had seen it a different day when I was more awake.

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I am not adventurous to try it, but I will tell you my husband used to surf as a teen and he has done the standup flowrider several times. He is okay at it, but not fabulous. There are always a few riders that cruise mainly for the flowrider and they will spend many hours a day there. It definitely takes practice and apparently it is more like snow boarding than surfing. I wouldn't worry about others.... many people make a fool out of themselves, but I give them credit for trying. The boogie board is definitely easier. My 9 yo daughter tried a few times... she thought people were laughing at her, but they weren't. My husband and daughter enjoyed it- you can land pretty rough though. If you are coordinated you will be fine. You likely won't ever see anybody from the cruise again, so have fun and try new things! [emoji4]

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Correct, Freedom and Indy do not currently have slides.

 

Adventure is supposed to have slides sometime in January.

 

Majesty and all the Radiance class ships have kiddie slides.

Thanks.... glad to see and hear they are gradually adding slides to the fleet. I just looked up adventure; it sails out of Puerto Rico- we live in south Florida, so although we prefer ft laud departures, I bet there are decent sales for flying to Puerto Rico and the ports would be better and different from our typ western carib.

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Hi, we recently went on the Harmony and my daughter enjoyed both the abyss dry slide and the water slides. It appears that the Liberty has water slides, but it departs from TX. It doesn't seem like the freedom or independence have the slides, but can anybody confirm this?

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I have never been on this ship... we love the oasis class but there is a Freedom Thanksgiving sailing in 2017 I may be interested in, so I am following along. I am curious about entertainment and activities. It appeared the liberty of the seas added a water slide and has Saturday night fever, but unfortunately it leaves out of Tx. We live in FL, so we prefer Port Everglades. Let us know about the shows and activities too please! Much thanks!

Enjoy your cruise!

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Is "Entertainment Place" an actually place on board the ship? (Perhaps sillly question, but I'm not used to Royal Caribbean).

It is usually in studio b, the ice skating rink on deck 4 where you can go to make reservations when you board. We were just on the harmony... I booked last minute so my show times were too late for my daughter. I was able to easily change all my shows when we boarded. Just make it a priority when you board.

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We did day 6 (whichever day we went to Cozumel). We needed 1 more min to complete it, but there was 7 of us so I think we did rather well. It was more challenging than I anticipated. FUN!

 

 

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Having only 7 people definitely makes it harder... especially since some of the items were there to purposely drive you off track. I know I got sucked into a few meaningless tasks that didn't end up being utilized. It takes lots of different skill sets, which is what helped our team I think.

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Your welcome ... now that you said that, I just realized we only had 11 people then. Bummer that your wife had a headache and missed out. She will definitely have to try an escape room one time. It was definitely fun and challenging. My husband is in the orange reddish striped golf shirt on the left and I am in the black shorts next to him.

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Sure. You can post it and I'll see if I can save it. Thanks.

 

 

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Here's a pic with time remaining!

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