neilrr

I have a question... I heard that when Celebrity recently stopped the additional $14 PP PD gratuity -- you were supposedly automatically upgraded to the Premium package from the Classic Package (which we always buy anyway).  We are on the Edge in March and we were charged for the $14 PP PD gratuity, but got it back from our TA as a SBC.  Has anyone had this situation? Were you automatically upgraded to the Premium package? 

Thank you... 😁

Make sure you are in GOOD shape -- The city is beautiful BUT it is all hills and mountains... My Partner and I are in good shape and it was tough... We also noticed there were no older people -- we joked that they all croaked from the walking...😁 Good luck!!!

21 hours ago, 39august said:

Wow, surf and turf. I also love lamb chops. Sounds like an extensive menu for $30. We will be sure to look out for this. 

Also, if you have the drink package they had lovely wines at lunch too... We came there right after the morning wine tasting...  I need to do that at work too.. Ha!!!😁🍾 Enjoy!!!

Don't forget the Goose... Quack Quack 😁🍸 -- Grey Goose of course.. Yum...

On 1/23/2020 at 11:35 AM, 39august said:

If you have been recently ( since she returned from Europe)  on RF, can you tell me if Murano offered lunch one day on your longer cruise(over 7 days) and if so, which day, please?

39august - Hi there!!! We were on for a week at Christmas and they had it one day... The price varies (whatever the market will bear).😊 I believe it was $30.  It was only that one day and we really enjoyed it.  We ordered surf and turf with Rack of Lamb.  They also had a musician. We had lunch there before . We really like Reflection - great staff and food. Enjoy!! 

16 minutes ago, njsweetie said:

I requested mine online about the 45 day mark and they were mailed to me quickly. On the subject of luggage tags, how important is It to buy the plastic tag holders I see sold on Amazon? Or are the tags themselves sturdy enough?

You don't need it for Celebrity. They have the tags that stick together - no issues and work fine. I would not suggest putting them on until you are heading the port.

On Princess, they provide you a paper version and I print them out and laminate them or some people use the holders.

Happy Sailing!!🛳️ 

Only 6 months to Sail Away... This cruise is really filling up due to the interesting itinerary. Still hoping for a viking.. LOL

See you all soon...

Just checking to see if the New Year is bringing some new visitors to the Edge for a Spring Break Cruise.. Hope to see you all soon...

Thank you for your responses.  We have a pretty large group, so it sounds like the Sunset bar will do...👍

2 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Sunset Bar or Magic Carpet....

 

Find out where members of your RC will be, that will add to the enjoyment.

 

Ours was at SB and it was fun, crowded, but fun!

 

bon voyage

Thank you for your reply... What is RC??? We are considering the two areas... It looks like the Magic Carpet is an even smaller area...

Hi All!!!

We will be travelling on the Edge for the first time in March and would like to know where Cruise Critic members have held their Sail Away parties on this ship.

We have been looking at the Deck Plans and we have narrowed it down to the Magic Carpet, Sunset or Pool Bars..  On the Solstice class ships, we have always held Sail Away parties at the Mast Bar, which was a perfect location.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you and have a Happy New Year...🎈

All Aboard!!!!! Two days until Sail Away!!! 🛳️🍸🎅

I was unhappy to hear that they got rid of the beautiful picture window in the sauna on Millennium too..

Hi Everyone!!!  All Aboard!!!

Hard to believe  it is 25 Days until Sail Away!!!  There must be one other gay person on this sold-out cruise other than me and my husband... LOL 😊 Look forward to meeting other avid cruisers....

Take care and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!! 🦃 Gobble.. Gobble... 

2 hours ago, Miaminice said:

As already mentioned above, Celebrity have changed the policy for cruises booked after June 1st, 2019 and it is now more flexible/combinable.

 

That being said, IMHO buying shares of a company should be an investment decision above all and not a tool to receive some OBC. And in terms of investment, Royal Caribbean shares beat the others by far.

I was lucky enough to buy (way more than 100 shares) many years ago and as of today the plus is almost 500%

 

 

Miaminice - I do agree -- I buy investments for appreciation too, but in this case it was a fun investment... I did make money and sold both Carnival (a while ago on the bad news) and RCCL at a significant profit.  You are a very lucky person to have attained a 500% increase - but I do not look at everything as totally transactional, as others do...  

Hi all... When we want to book a cruise -- we lurk in the shadows until the "price is right..." We also have our TA make changes to the reservation, as pricing changes (usually prior to final payment and we avoid losing perks).  We are going to Dublin/Iceland in July on Reflection.  We got a GREAT deal... We have a 1A Balcony (on the hump - big balcony), Air from Palm Beach, Transfers,  Drink Package, Gratuities, SBC, Internet (we get due to status) and it is running us $3,950 PP.  We are staying at the new Hyatt in Dublin $200 per night additional. You have to work those deals baby.... 😁😊

Happy Sailing!!!!

We love Celebrity -- but their non-combine policy is why we dumped RCCL stock and bought Carnival years ago, as we really enjoyed the SBC Carnival perk (on any of their lines) ranging from $100 -$250 depending on length of trip. We did better with the SBC's from Carnival on Princess/HAL than the stock appreciation or the dividend given. LOL😁  

The MDR on Celebrity ships' food are always very good.  We have been travelling with them for years. We always have late seating and check out our tables.  We know many of the Maitre'D's and we once heard (in jest of course) "oh no not those two again." We had a good laugh with the Maitre'D. When we first started travelling on Celebrity they had Michel Roux as their head chef -- the food was unbelievable and fabulous in the MDR and the Specialty Restaurants were amazing...  

IMHO specialty restaurants should be for a special dinner -- not to be forced to eat there to get decent meal i.e. NCL (don't even get me started on NCL). We do not discuss NCL, Costa, MSC in our home.. As for RCCL they could do a bit of work on their food as well -  as it is average at best. 

Celebrity, Princess and Holland America (though Holland tends to cater to an older crowd) tend to be the top of the mass market lines before the big jump to Azamara, Crystal, Oceania, etc.. 

Happy Sailing!!!😊

Hi there!!!  Re: the Classic package which I currently have, but we always upgrade to Premium 🍸-- as previously mentioned, it depends on the liquor(s) you drink.  I also recently read that the bartenders will not be making the mini-martinis at the Martini Bar any longer for Classic Package drinkers. You will have to pay the up-charge and tip for the larger ones. Celebrity also recently added the gratuity of $14 PDPP, if your received the Classic Package as a perk -- but we were reimbursed by our TA as a SBC. 

Cruise lines are always looking to generate new revenue sources... I hope they don't kill the golden goose that is making the cruise lines a fortune... You know what happens when you get greedy. 😢

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

The pool butlers were putting out little tags about removing towels if not occupied for 30 minutes.   They were also enforcing this rule.

Hi there!!!  Good  -- glad to hear it... Need to go after the "chair hogs..." We were on one cruise where one women was trying to hold on to 10 lounge chairs for family members. I called one of the pool butlers and he said she can only hold a second chair for a short period.. Needless to say she was not a happy camper... She then started arguing with him... Oh Well...😁

Hi All!!! I (as a Colonist 😊) will throw in my 2 1/2 cents (pence or tuppins too)... When this $14 PPPD gratuity charge came up on packages that were included as a perk in the U.S. -- our travel agent charged us the $14 PPPD, but then gave it back to us as a SBC. Problem solved (for the moment)...

The  cruise lines have been really making out like bandits with these drink packages (as they get the liquor quite cheaply) and now they are getting a bit greedier... If they keep up the good work -- they will kill the golden goose...🐦

Happy Sailing!!!🛳️

I will throw in my 2 1/2 cents...😊  We are going to Iceland in July and we have used Celebrity Air before. There are two benefits of booking through Celebrity.  One is that you can wait to pay until final payment and can change flights before final payment; the other is Celebrity Insurance covers you from when you leave home until you return on their air.

Now with that said --the staff at Celebrity were very helpful, but my problem is with the Celebrity Air (CA) system itself. It is not a "Live" system and the prices they are showing on-line were not what the airline is showing.  It was $500 - $1000 more when they gave me a "Live" quote.  Ultimately, after much work with CA we finally nailed down a RT fare to Dublin from Palm Beach for $908 PP which was good (in Main cabin, but you can use miles to upgrade this fare - once final payment is made). The flight are fine, but the CA system showed a flight we really preferred at approx. $800 PP RT, but Delta was showing it at $1,300 PP on the "live system.

I was also told Celebrity Air does not use the lower tiers of Economy only Main Cabin and above. As someone previously mentioned, when you start dealing with foreign airlines in the mix -- it gets even crazier as their idea of Economy could be far different.

Also, a word about the Lisbon airport, as we have been through there many times -- First - Everyone goes through customs there even if you are making a connection;  second - the lines are set up like Disney and can be 18 lines around;  third - they do not have a PA system and yell at people with a little PA horn to get people through customs and onto their flight. Give yourself enough time to avoid stress... 

Happy Travels...🍸 

Hi Everybody: My partner and I are avid cruisers. Hope to see others joining us for Spring Break on the Edge.  We just booked it yesterday, as our on-line TA and Celebrity were doing a really good promotion. See you all soon...😊🍸

23 hours ago, keithm said:

Hey, guys! Yes, you're not alone about NCL. I don't know if you heard, but Richard got an e-mail from Princess about a trip to Hawaii next Jan. Well, he dug in his heels about always going to the Caribbean. So now I ended up cancelling the trip on Oceania & we'll be on the Star Princess. Sure going to miss the food on Oceania. I booked a Club Class Mini-suite (really just a larger balcony room)for the perks. Price wise, it was not much cheaper than Oceania. I did prefer Celebrity to Princess. At least the Royal class was pretty equal. I do have to say I never saw so many drunk pax as we did on the Regal. I did like the fact that Princess does a better job of having LGBT meetings than either Celebrity or Oceania. I posted an inquiry on the Gay cruise section about the Hawaii trip. No responses so far. Like on Celebrity/Oceania, we'll see other same sex cruisers, I'm sure.

Hey Keith: Sorry we won't see you down here in S. FL  Hope you have a great trip to Hawaii. It sounds wonderful and you will have a great time...It is nice to do something different. I am sure you will meet others on-board. We are looking forward to our Christmas cruise on Celebrity Reflection... Take care and be well...

Hi All:  We I will throw in my 2 1/2 cents...😁

My Partner and I have logged over 40 cruises.  We primarily cruise with Celebrity and Princess, though we have been on the other lines a couple of times and they were not our cup of tea.  We do not even discuss NCL as an option (after one cruise) in our home - but that is for another conversation. We did enjoy two of our three cruises on Oceania - but that is a totally different market segment. 

My Partner prefers Princess; I personally prefer Celebrity.  We are at the top tier on Princess and Elite on Celebrity.  Celebrity by far has much better perks then Princess - though we we now get a free Mini Bar on Princess vs. free 2 hour Happy Hour daily on Celebrity. We enjoy free laundry on both - but did check to see if a pair of socks counted as one or two pieces of clothing..😊 It only counts as one--thank goodness.  We always seem to know the bartenders and waiters on the ships along with a couple of Officers and we are always treated respectfully on both lines as a gay couple - though do not emphasize it in a public forum (Don't ask; Don't tell).😊 

I personally think they do nickel and dime you a bit more on Princess, but Celebrity on-board prices have increased quite a bit, as of late, as they are attempting to compete with the higher-end rather than the mass market lines...  Another issue  -- we are late seating diners and Celebrity has many of the shows "pre-dinner" which my Partner was not too happy about.  We do prefer the shows after dinner which Princess does do. We did not get to see one show on the last cruise on Celebrity, as we do not like to rush on vacation - especially when finishing up the two hour Happy Hour.🎈🍸 

We actually have two trips planned on Celebrity for Christmas in the Caribbean and to Iceland in the summer of 2020, but it looks like Princess for Spring Break 2020. It is a tough life but someone has to do it... LOL😁

Happy Sailing to All!!!