JoieNsk

I really didn't know how much I should tip such people as concierge etc.

So it was always a tricky guess.

It's just once the Concierge on one of the Disney ships told me that they don't get any other pay more than guest tips (?!). I was amazed. But I don't see the reason why he would not tell the truth.

So I always feel like I should tip them more now.

I really hate all those tipping games.

1 hour ago, SusieAV8R said:

 

Were gratuities included with your stateroom booking?  If yes...

Yes.

They charged standard gratuities to our account - as it is supposed to be.

But I was able to go to the guest relations and add extra tips for certain people to my on-board charges.

It was much easier in that way, as like I mentioned the extra gratuity amount comes up to 400-500 total, including concierge etc. I really don't feel like paying all this in cash. I never carry cash in such amounts.  In our digital day-and-age.
 

They gave me a copy of the receipt of those charges, I cut it by the lines and I stuck the copy for each person I tipped in the separate envelope with thank you etc. So they can claim the tip, if somehow they would not get it automatically.

I do give some tips in cash - like when they bring room service, or to the bartender in the lounge etc. But these are small amounts. So it is not difficult. I give cash tip with every room service, as the waiters varied.

But the main amount of those "extra tips" - I really like to pay by credit card.

I just hope it works for the crew. But the guest relations told me it would. It was Royal Caribbean and Disney.

2 hours ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

...for some time we have used obc to do a transfer to the Luminae as the do pool all tips there...

Thank you for the response!

I feel a bit better now :)))

I have a question too. We used to tip in cash. But on the last couple cruises - with various cruise lines - I was able to add extra tip to my account, and it was charged to our credit card in the end of the cruise.

I really like this way, as we were in the suites, and the tips came to 400, even more. As I felt like we needed to tip the concierge etc.

I hate to bring so much in cash with me. Especially on the European cruise where we have to tip in Euros - as I understand.

What I did last time for the room attendant - I put the receipt for the "non-cash" tip into the envelope - with a $20 in cash. I put the note of excuse as I broke one of the glasses the evening before - too. But I could not catch her personally, so I just left the envelope in the room.

I hope she was happy with it? What do you think?

I felt like being in such a big cabin - we should give her more of a tip. Though we mostly expected from her not to disturb us, instead of doing stuff for us. But it also deserves a tip, for respecting our privacy. Also I felt she is not guilty we didn't need anything, and she probably relies on the tip money.

But I always wonder if what I do is O'K? Or I should have done something else?

I hate all this tipping uneasiness. Never know if I do what is expected from me. And it kind of ruins my last day of the cruise :)))

Thank you SO MUCH to everybody - for all very helpful advice in this topic!!!

1 minute ago, canderson said:

Have you received other communications from Celebrity to your email account?  I wonder if your 'big box' has properly communicated your email address to Celebrity.  That would be something to check.

 

I have phone numbers for only two of the shoreside teams since the restart - they're working Constellation and Reflection.  Are you on one of those ships?  Apart from that, I don't know of a 'generic' shoreside concierge number, so the alternative would be to call the general number and ask for the appropriate shoreside concierge number or ask to be transferred.

I did receive some general communication - like about "use your on-board credit" - at least I think I did.

That's a great point about e-mail address lost in communication. I should check if I received anything for this particular cruise at all.

We are on Edge. 

But thank you for the tip on calling Celebrity and asking for the Concierge phone number. I think that would be the best option!

Not the same question - but a bit related.

With a drink package you get with Retreat type cabin - do they have a max price for the drinks you can get?

I assume they would, but we usually don't drink much, so all these details about the drinks don't stay in my head for long.

Normally we never buy drink package, as it doesn't worth it for us. But I remember we got something like this once - on other cruise line, where the alcohol was included. And they only would give you certain wines, but not the others.

22 hours ago, canderson said:

For at least some sailings, it's long before 1-3 weeks now!  I was surprised to receive an email earlier this week and a followup phone call from shoreside for a cruise scheduled 2 months from now.

 

@JoieNsk

One of the nicer features of the email you will receive will be menus for the various dining venues.  They will include all 3 of the LPC menus, but until boarding, you will probably not know which menu is being served on which night, making planning a bit more difficult if one of the menus is preferred over the others.

Thank you for the tips on the menus!

As to communication from a concierge - we haven't received any communication from the cruise line so far, and our cruise starts on October 14th, so not much time left.

Granted we are booked through the big warehouse travel agency. But I would think for this particular subject it should not matter though: I already received communication for the Disney Cruise which is not till January 2023.

Maybe because Edge has a lot of retreat eligible rooms - they are behind?

I could have contacted them myself (if I find the e-mail etc). But honestly I don't worry too much about dining reservations on a port intensive cruise with interesting ports. I am sure we will not stay hungry :)))) I care much more about what we will do in ports.

If I would not be able to book Eden, I will not cry. Like I said - we will just go to the buffet, or get the room service. We got such a great deal on the cabin, so I am not worried if we will "eat" enough to make the money worth :)))

Though it is nice not to worry about paying for the drinks and wifi!

11 hours ago, chemmo said:

Draft an email ready about a month before your cruise listing your preferred dining times and venues. Also list your bar set up preferences, pillow preferences and anything else you want ready in your room on boarding...

Wow! Thank you so much for taking your time to respond to me with such great details! I really appreciate it!

Thank you for great tips about e-mail draft and print-out, and double checking the reservations. I would not have thought of that myself.

I know that we have pretty much everything included. And I wish we could try everything - the ship looks beautiful, and we like to eat 🙂 

But I also know how we are: when we cruise in Europe, we do a lot of stuff in the ports, often on our own. So on the port days we do just go to the buffet or get the room service - for dinner, - exactly the way you suggested. And from our only previous Celebrity cruise - I remember, the food in the buffet was really good, indeed! I recall my husband said it was the best cruise buffet from any cruise line we tried 🙂

So I am not counting on us making to many sit-down dinners. That's why I picked up the ones I am interested, and hope we will make at least them. I definitely will make it to the Petit Chef :))) Hope my husband will too :))

But I still am trying to plan at least some things. I made my own spa reservations already, because I wanted them on port days and at certain times. And from my experience concierge can not help too much with the spa - if it is booked up. There are only so many spots, and that "so many" is not really "many".

If we have concierge type service, we rarely ask for something. I am the type that I try to book everything myself - to be in control. But with the earlier time for Eden show - the concierge might be helpful - hopefully.

24 minutes ago, jelayne said:

If you are in a Royal Suite or above then you will be contacted by a Shoreside Concierge within 1-3 weeks before your sailing.  They will ask about any specialty dining reservations you want, the liquors you want in your suite, time you plan to board,  any special occasions, etc.  You don’t need to make reservations yourself.  

Thank you!!!

Sorry, it this question was asked already (I am sure it was at some point).

But we only sailed Celebrity once. And at that time retreat didn't exist yet, things were much more simple. So I figured - maybe I can get some quick answer without much digging.

We will have Celebrity cabin, eligible for included specialty dining, this October. 

Last time we sailed with Celebrity they didn't have Petit Chef experience. I am a big Disney fan, and love cartoons and fairy tales (sorry :)) in my 50+). So I really want to do Petit Chef :))) Not surprising 🙂

As it was important to me, - I made a reservation and paid for it. To make sure I have a date and time comfortable for us. I read somewhere in these boards - that once on board, if talking to Retreat concierge - you can get the charge reimbursed as ship credit? If somebody had  personal experience with something like this?

Also I figured I would also like to do Eden (we are going to be on Edge). But I figured too late:  the earlier times on sea days are all taken already. And it is a European port intensive cruise, where visiting the ports is really important for us - as early as possible, so we have maximum time in the ports. My husband is a big sleeper. So early dining is so important, that basically if we can't dine early - we would not go at all.

Does Concierge keep some reservations for Retreat crowd? So maybe it is possible to get 6pm time through the concierge?

Can I contact them in advance about that? Or can we do it while on the ship?

Thanks in advance!

On 6/29/2022 at 3:46 PM, Airportlimbo said:

OP you can opt in to limited service in exchange for an extra CC point per day using the form below. 
 

https://pages.email.celebritycruises.com/GoGreen

 

Thank you very much for the very useful post!

We keep DND sign on our door in the hotels and on the cruises almost all the time anyway. And just ask if we need something. So at least we will get some points for that :)))

We don't get our house cleaned every single day, so we don't feel the need for the daily cleaning in the hotel or on the ship etc.

And it's not related to COVID, or anything like that. We just don't want to be disturbed - as the sign says.

And, yes, we do tip. For respecting our privacy - specially. 

Thank you, everybody!

It was an amazing deal even on Infinity! 

I hope this all will actually happen - considering how things are nowadays for cruise lines.

But we did several trips already (one of them was a cruise this January on Royal) - which we were expecting to fall apart every moment before we actually had to go. 

And the travel seem to be getting back as we all learn how to live with Covid. So - fingers crossed!

I am not sure about the question of the topic.

But I wanted to add to the topic of luxury suites cost.

We are booked into Penthouse Suite on the Edge right now for 10 nights in Europe. But we are paying only the price of the Sky Suite on the Infinity for 8 days :)))

I guess there was some error on Celebrity web-site at the time I booked Infinity Penthouse suite for an amount just smidge higher than the cost of the Sky Suite. I am positive it was! I could not believe my eyes when I saw the price, and I was sure it would not work if I try to book it. But it actually worked! It is a non-refundable deposit deal - which I normally never do. But for THIS price - for THIS room - I didn't hesitate :)))) 

When the Infinity got cancelled out of Europe, we were able to rebook to the Edge instead - for the same price. And Celebrity did follow their pledge and gave us the only Penthouse Suite which was left at the moment on the Edge. We will see if all this is going to happen - with all the financial troubles etc. I hope it will, as this would be the only chance for us to be in this type of a room :))))) I would never consider to book something like this for a "normal" price they charge.

The Edge suite has two bedrooms, and we are only two of us. I asked how much would it cost to add extra people. But was told that the price would go to a normal level if I do. So here we are - booked at the luxury suite :)))) And if the cruise will actually happen, people also would think of us as some crazy reach people :)))))

We are lucky to celebrate my birthday and my husband retirement on this cruise. So if all this happens - we are going to be pretty lucky people indeed!

On 1/20/2022 at 7:15 AM, mahdnc said:

 

If and when Lift and Shift sailings are offered for this cancelled cruise, it should appear on this page: link

Thank you to everybody for the info!!!

It helped a lot to get prepared for a call so we could switch. I finally was able to call today. When I tried to call yesterday, by the time I came from work, ate etc - I was on hold for ah hour, and had to hang up after that as I was getting past the closing time, so there was no way I could have spoken to anybody anymore.

But I finally was able to switch our booking today.

Out original cruise on Infinity was an 8-nighter Best of Spain & Portugal with Gibraltar etc. - on October 12th 2022. We were looking forward to it, especially as we were cancelled off from similar itinerary once already before - with different cruise line, when the Covid just started. So we really can't make it there :)))

But it is what it is. We switched to  Edge on October 14th 2022 - France and Italy. And we even can save the airline ticket coming to Europe (we already bought the tickets unfortunately with Iberia through Madrid). We have to figure out new ticket back to US, and hopefully save the value of the ticket we have to cancel. But that's another task.

Just wanted to point out that in the spreadsheet posted here it was indicated that October 12th could have switched to one of the four sailings. In fact we were told that only three sailings were available for our date:

1) 10/07/2022 on the Reflection 10-nighter Italy, Croatia and Montenegro.

2) 10/13/2022 on the Constellation 9-nighter Venice, Portofino and Florence. 

3) 10/14/2022 on the Edge 10-nighter Italy and France.

The date of 10/03/2022 on Constellation for 10 nights appeared to be not available for switch from 10/12/2022.

7 hours ago, WorkerBee74 said:

 

Ah, thank you.  I was thinking it would be the same cruise options for everyone but obviously that doesn't make any sense.  Our sailing was actually the Oct 31st... Lisbon to Barcelona.  Will be calling tomorrow and will report back!  Thanks again.

We have a similar itinerary, just 8 days, also in October.

I would not be able to call till the evening tomorrow, as I work in a hospital and unable to call during my work hours. 

If you would get some info earlier tomorrow about what itineraries are offered - can you please post it here? I would really appreciate that. I assume our options are going to be similar to yours.

Maybe I will have a minute at work to at least look at the itineraries, so I can be somewhat prepared when I call them.

We can't switch to spring or summer, as my husband retires in September, and he doesn't have any vacation days left in 2022 anymore. So we have to book after he retires.

Walgreens opens the dates for test appointments 7 days in advance.

I checked that before scheduling. And I made sure I went on their web-site at 12.30 am on January 3d to make my appointment on January 10th. Even though I needed to get up for work at 4 am already. There was any possible time available. 

I need the appointment in the morning, as I have a flight on the same day in the afternoon.

So if people plan accordingly, the appointments are available, and bookable. Just don't leave it for the last moment in those days. 

13 minutes ago, long4acruise said:

But how quickly are these canceled appointments put back in the system for someone else to book online?  When we went for our tests several weeks ago, the pharmacy tech thanked us for showing up!  I asked her to elaborate and she said that 5 had canceled that morning with minimum notice and at least 3 others were no-shows; thus 8 slots someone else could have booked as appts were hard to find!

At least with Walgreens they go to the system right away. As when I was looking to schedule my appointment, I first scheduled one with Walgreens. Then I found more reliable option with different organization - as Walgreens was not lightning fast before, and probably even less so nowadays. Once I booked another one, I cancelled the Walgreens one. I was looking also for Rapid test, so I checked Walgreens again - as still was not sure PCR would be ready on time for the cruise.  I noticed "my" appointment was back already, as it was the only one available in our location.

I am sorry but I am not going to take any risks, and better have a back up appointment, than end up with no test ready for the cruise.

I am sure when people look for appointment - they check availability not once, at least that's what I do. So somebody can book at the last moment - if they are looking.

If the first appointment works, second appointment is getting cancelled. And it is again available to whoever needs it. No problem.

2 hours ago, Sam.Seattle said:

I agree with the Audome78.  You are taking up extra spaces that right now are very limited.  Respectfully, your attempt to justify your actions does not really make much sense.

 I think the opposite - back up appointment makes ton of sense.

I just read an article about how the traveler had to cancel the expensive and long planned trip because her test appointment she made didn't go through: her and ton of other people showed up for their appointments, but the test site appeared to be closed, and nobody was there to do their tests.

She was scrambling then trying to do the test as she had to do PCR - that was the requirement of the country she was going to. And she didn't make it. 

"You will never guess what I encountered when I arrived at my preflight PCR test appointment: nothing. There was nothing and nobody there. Well, technically there were also about 30 other confused denizens of my town with appointments of their own milling about the parking lot of the supposed testing site. (I would call myself unlucky, but my sister Monica encountered a similar kind of nothingness elsewhere in Northern California during the same week. Maybe it’s genetic.)"

Here is the full article:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/sfo-failed-airport-covid-testing-experience/

Me and my friend are supposed to board Adventure on January 12, and we are going - if everything else goes.

I also work in Healthcare, and honestly my risk of getting Covid at work is muuuuch higher than on the cruise. So far I have been lucky, hope to be lucky this time too. I am vaccinated and boosted, and it doesn't bother me too much to wear mask - I wear it at work for 8 hours straight every shift.

I fly, but my ticket is really cheap, I used the coupon I won from AA. My friend drives, and we meet in Texas, and then drive together.

I understand that I might test positive tomorrow, and I will not know till I will be in Texas already (I am doing PCR test), and I am morally prepared for that. I agree it would really suck to contract Covid on board and get quarantined. 

But I am going forward with no doubts. I got a great deal for the suite, probably will never book this type of room at regular price. And I don't care much about the shows etc. I want the sea, the cabin and my friend company, we haven't seen each other for more than a year.

Fingers crossed! :))))

10 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

FYI we asked for the beds in the 2bd to be split as well. Although Jennie requested that, when we got to the suite they were not split. If that is the case for you just talk to your room steward and he/she will take care of it quickly. Enjoy your cruise! 

Thank you! We are of course somewhat worried about all those cancellation and Covid stuff happening right now.  But once we are on the ship - we will enjoy it very much! 🙂

The concierge responded right away, and answered all my questions. So thank you very much again  for the contact info!

47 minutes ago, DCPIV said:

 Howdy!

 

I don't have the contact email for the Concierge on Adventure.  Someone else might chime in (or may have already--I haven't read the rest of the thread).

 

I wouldn't worry about the beds, though.  I believe all suites have beds that can be separated.  If they aren't separated when you show up, you can let your Room Steward know (even just leave a note if you need to).  You also could let the Concierge know, of course.  You might even have an option on the website.

Thank you!!!

Just now, HBCcruiser said:

Here is the email. If it is still Jennie she is a GEM! She goes above and beyond. Staff change, though, so it might not be her. 
ad_concierge@rccl.com

Thank you SO MUCH!!!

14 hours ago, DCPIV said:

One benefit that hasn't been mentioned is access to the Suite Concierge.  The Suite Concierge can do make reservations for you (even before you board) and can do many things that Guest Services or the excursions desk can do.  If something goes sideways on board, it's very nice to have the Concierge around to help get it righted.  A good Concierge can make a tremendous impact (and has on a number of our cruises).  We're getting ready to sail in a GS, and our Concierge already has made our nightly dinner reservations with UDP and even provided us with copies of the Cruise Compass from the present sailing.  

Sorry for off-top.

Do you have a contact for the Concierge by any chance? 

We are supposed to get on Adventure of the Seas on January 12 (fingers crossed).

So far nobody contacted us. And I have a question about beds etc. We would like to ask for split beds, as it's me and my friend. We can sleep on the same bed if there is no choice. But would be great if we didn't need to 🙂

Thanks in advance!