Ginger Pop

With 1700 captain’s club points, I too would like to see a break at 1500,2000, and 2500 points. I see the same cruisers get flowers on cruises for 137 cruises etc. , but there are are many more of us who are loyal and will never in our lifetime get to zenith. Extra OBC at intervals nice, more menu varieties, and a perk of our choice added at different levels. 

There Is a sale on some select cruises for internet. We are elite plus and on our Nov.8 cruise we called Captain’s club and got 35% off a package for 1 device. Internet pretty good now. Sometimes poor depending where you are on ship.

Hello!

 

My name is Frank and I have been cruising with Celebrity regularly for the previous eight years, usually in November/December. My wife and I are from Germany and we have mostly cruised on S-class ships. We usually went for SV or C1 cabins because of their pretty decent price-performance ratio. Celebrity used to offer 14-day-cruises to the Caribbean in winter time. The 14-day-cruise on the Reflection this upcoming December seems to be the last cruise of this length. In addition, prices have increased significantly so we will be looking for alternatives.

 

Because we are Elite with Celebrity I already got Diamond with Royal. So it makes sense to check their cruises as well. For winter 2019 I found interesting 9/10-days-itineraries on the Explorer and the Serenade of the Seas.

 

But are these ships serious alternatives to S-class ships at all? Or could somebody give me other, maybe better alternatives?

 

Frank

We also enjoyed the 14 day Caribbean on Celebrity and are elit plus. We have 30 cruises with Celebrity and found several cruises that are b2b as our 9 night western car. and a 11 night eastern and stay in same room. They are definitely getting more expensive due to the new remodeling program underway. I am interested in responses to see if Royal is cheaper but with the quality i’m happy with on Celebrity.

We are travelling on the Eclipse in Nobember.

I have just logged on to our cruise personaliser and they are offering a 30% discount on dining at Murano and Tuscan grill for our first night.

 

Which one would you pick?

Is this worth it?

 

We were thinking of treating ourselves to one of the speciality restaurants just not on the first night!

 

Thanks

Murano definitely. We are doing that on the Solstice in November on our b2b Australia/NZ 2018 trip. A special treat.

Booked on Constellation next May and were given drinks package in deal. Has anyone managed to get a deal on premium drinks upgrade or does it generally go for full price. Many thanks

There is a 20% sale now on packages, internet etc. that I found for our March cruise.

Hi -- We don't enjoy seven night cruises and often look for longer cruises. However, it seems a lot of the cruises to the Caribbean are for seven nights. There are longer cruises, but we really wanted at least 14 days. We are thinking of doing a B2B, however, we have never done that before and I was wondering about the pros and cons of the voyage.

We love b2b especially when we do 10 day med and back it with a trans. We are doing this in a month on the Solstice flying to Sydney and doing Great Barrier R for 10 days and staying in same room and doing 12 night NZ. Don’t care about duplicate food or shows. There’s a lot to see on excursions and great meeting world wide travelers.

Looking at a couple of expensive excursions and wondering if I should buy them now and avoid missing out or wait and see if there is a sale? Granted I have never seen one but maybe I haven't looked at the right time?

 

Thanks in advance.

They have one right now for Oct.29, and Nov.8 Great Barrier Reef and NZ. We got sales 2 months before our Celebrity Fiords May 2018 cruise.

Some advice from a foodie:

 

If you want the best waffles/pancakes, go to buffet and wait for ones that come directly from the waffle maker or griddle....do not take the ones sitting on a serving dish. Ditto if you want eggs...find the station where they are making omelettes and ask them to give you a plain omelette or eggs the way you like them....don't take them from the serving pan. Hamburgers from the mast grill (or whatever it's called on your ship)...ask them to make you one from scratch, don't let them give you an already cooked one that's been sitting there. If you make a salad for lunch, you can find additional things to add by the pizza station or sometimes by the mexican station. I'm sure it's been mentioned, but the best pastries are free at cafe B'acchio. Try the every day creme Brulee and onion soup at dinner (both are excellent (skip the onion soup if you don't like salty). If you see gravlox, try it; the smoked salmon at breakfast is always excellent...unfortunately the bagels aren't. Breadsticks are excellent..but if the ones on your table are not crisp, ask the waiter for fresh ones which are crispy and delicious. If you like anchovies on your Caesar salad, ask for them. You can generally ask for a bowl of berries for dessert (not on the menu). Best coffee is at cafe B'accio but it's not free. Check out the aqua spa cafe for breakfast/lunch...limited items, but good...free...and available to anyone, not just aqua passengers.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

I request room service breakfast fresh berries in my room though not on menu and yes for dessert also.

Thanks to all.

 

It's 60 days 'til the second leg, so well within check-in time, and I HAVE checked in. The website just won't let me print the pass.

 

 

We'll be in Sydney, so I plan to pop across to the Opera House on changeover day. It's good to know I shoiuldn't have a problem with that.

 

 

I've emailed Celebrity for their take on why I can't print the second Xpress pass, but I won't hold my breath for a response.

We have done back to back and had to change rooms. We are on the October 29th b2b Nov. 8 cruise staying in same room. Starting in Sydney early Oct.25 to see that area and enjoy the ship when b2 b starts for NZ. They give you that move morning to go to a lounge and get new cards, they move your hanging closet clothes and suitcases packed with everything else that day. Hope it helps.

Ginger Pop, if you are over 65 and have Medicare whether an advantage plan, aPPO or just plain Medicare you need to take a plan where the insurance is the PRIMARY PAYER. It is no more expensive than any others but you will not have to submit to Medicare first and have them turn you down.

Under regular trip insurance you must submit to your own insurance company first before the trip insurance pays. Get one that is a Primary Payer. They change every year but the plans are always offered from reputable companies like John Hancock, travelers ect. I even for get who ours is for our upcoming trip to Greece. We got it through Insuremytrip.

Thanks.

We always take the cruise line ins for whatever it covers...but that's not complete enough for us now that we have Medicare which does not cover med care outside of the US ..We get a pvt policy with increased med coverage and evac up to a million. Costs are very resonable.. we book it late so it does not cover pre existing conditions and the one we get is not cancel for any reason...keeps price down.

 

Prior to being on Medicare for anything with pvt airfare and private excursions we bought pvt ins.. It came in handy the one time we had to cancel a very big trip just after final payment....we had pre paid pvt excursions, airfare and a cruise.

 

You can get specifics on the Ins Forum as suggested, but definitely get some pvt ins coverage..

Thank you. Did go to insurance forum, did go to Insuremytrip.com and travelinsurance store web sites. We have the ships insurance for out B2B in Sydney in October and also my private insurance that I found out covers medical, too. We booked last year on ship so I know pre-existing and trip cancellation is not in, but I'm trying to get medical evacuation and trip cancellation or trip lay over etc. I have to call Celebrity and find out exact numbers, then the 2 companies. Thank you everyone. When on Medicare, booking early, and Australia and NZ distance is hard when no TA.

here is my feedback

https://www.archinsurancesolutions.com/coverage/Celebrity

 

Travel insurance benefits underwritten by Arch Insurance Company

 

 

• Trip Interruption: up to total trip cost if you can't start or finish your cruise vacation because you're sick or hurt, there's a death in the family or another covered reason
  
• Trip Delay: up to $500 for catch-up expenses
  
• Accident Medical: up to $10,000 if you get hurt on your cruise vacation
  
• Sickness Medical: up to $10,000 if you get sick on your cruise vacation
  
• Emergency Medical Evacuation: up to $25,000 if you need emergency medical transportation
  
• Baggage Protection: up to $1,500 if your bags are lost, stolen, or damaged
  
• Bag Delay: up to $500 to buy necessary personal items if your bags are delayed
  

24/7 Worldwide Emergency Assistance, non-insurance services provided by On Call International

 

 

 

No mention of Pre-Existing conditions coverage

$10,000 Medical coverage

$25,000 Medical Evac coverage

* Does include Cancel For Any Reason

 

 

My Opinion Only

 

 

What you are proposing (Purchasing 2 different policies) is just going to complicate any matters concerning any claims and costing more in the long run. Can you imagine the fun you would have should a claim be required and Policy 1 says you have to submit to policy 2 first. Policy 2 says you have to get denial from policy 1 and Medicare, then Policy 2 denies so then you get to go back to policy1

The medical and evacuation coverages are too low, especially if your cruise is in Asia.

Trip Interruption is too low

Trip Delay is too low

 

 

I would recommend that you consider covering the entire trip to included Pre-Existing conditions under 1 3rd party policy.

You do have to cover ALL non refundable costs, however, you don't have to pay all the money up front.

You can pay to cover the deposit now,, then as you add hotel for pre-cruise, pay to cover that, then as you add air fare, pay to cover that. Just so long as it's all paid before you depart.

 

 

Consider looking at these brokers. Nice to have a broker you can work with should you have questions or need help filing a claim.

 

 

www.tripinsurancestore.com

www.insuremytrip.com

Problem with this is that once you put down a deposit on Celebrity or any cruise line you have to get within 20 days of that booking with some policies and 180 days to cover pre-existing. This coverage through Celebrity is minimal if anything happens far from home. I'm going for more medical and evacuation even though I have the Celebrity Cruise Care. Never know.

Also note that credit card insurance is generally only in effect if at least part of the trip was charged to that card and you mentioned you never use it.

I have been reading everyone's responses to the insurance questions and thank you everyone. We booked a Celebrity Cruise April 4, 2017 while on the ship and I now find that every one of the pre-existing condition requirements and the cancel for any reason clause does not apply due to the time periods of the 20 days even 180 on some of the policies. I have the Cruise Care through Celebrity but it really doesn't cover a lot due to our b2b to Australia and NZ coming up in Oct. Hard to decide, what coverage is needed. but I plan on next contacting insuremytrip and trip insurance store to see what they think. We also did the flights using ff for first class going and 1/2 trip back which complicates things. With cruises being offered on the ship, the lesson is take out insurance for cancel for any reason and pre-existing right after putting a deposit down for a cruise on the ship.

Just bought a policy via: https://tripinsurancestore.com/ which is a search engine for many insurance policy sites and similar to the site suggested by another poster in this thread (which is also great.) I just liked the comparison chart on this site better.

 

There was no difference in price for buying our policy via the link from this search site or going directly through the insurance company, I checked. These search sites are basically like an insurance agent so they likely get a commission on the policy you buy via a link from their site. They do have live people you can call if you have questions which is pretty helpful if it's your first time and are not sure what you need.

 

We wanted a lot of (admittedly prob over) coverage, extra med-evac coverage, an A or better rated insurance company and we wanted to be absolutely certain the policy we were buying would be the primary policy in the event that anything happened vs. having to file w/ our US based health insurance first which for us would mean paying the claim ourselves and then having to personally file with our insurance company privately. Some policies only offer 'primary' coverage if purchased w/ in a certain time frame from when you make your first payment on a trip - this varies by policy.

 

Most policies will cover pre-x conditions but ONLY if you purchase w/ in a couple weeks of paying your downpayment. This time frame varies by policy - just fyi.

 

As someone above suggested, there is section on CC that is completely devoted to insurance questions/experiences/etc and there's amazing info and tons of posts available to read and learn from, I found it super helpful.

 

Good Luck and have a great trip!

Re-read your post and I thank you for all the information.

We always take the cruise line ins for whatever it covers...but that's not complete enough for us now that we have Medicare which does not cover med care outside of the US ..We get a pvt policy with increased med coverage and evac up to a million. Costs are very resonable.. we book it late so it does not cover pre existing conditions and the one we get is not cancel for any reason...keeps price down.

 

Prior to being on Medicare for anything with pvt airfare and private excursions we bought pvt ins.. It came in handy the one time we had to cancel a very big trip just after final payment....we had pre paid pvt excursions, airfare and a cruise.

 

You can get specifics on the Ins Forum as suggested, but definitely get some pvt ins coverage..

We are in same boat. I am going to get it for extra medical and extra evacuation due to purchasing the first down payment a year and half ago on a Celebrity ship and it won't cover pre-existing or trip total cancellation. Do you mind me asking which company you bought it from? We are in our 70's and have done lots of b2b but not this far from home or as expensive. A bucket it for me.

Traveling on ff points from New England to Sydney and back and doing b2b cruises with Celebrity in Oct. Being that it a very expensive trip with lots of shore excursions planned, has anyone ever purchased trip insurance that would cover the entire trip? We have planned this for years and have the cruise care insurance for cruises, but wondering about the hotels before and after cruise and the rest.

Sorry to ask yet another insurance question but, I've looked thru a bunch of threads and have yet to find this one...

I'm looking into purchasing travel insurance for our upcoming cruise vacation. In order to get estimates online thru InsureMyTrip.com, I have to be able to enter what my trip is going to cost (from the time I leave my front door until I return!) We're purchasing many of our pre- and post-cruise items (i.e. rental cars, hotels, and flights to/from our home airport to Atlanta) with our accumulated travel points. In fact, about 25% of our total vacation cost will be paid with points.

 

I'm sure the premiums quoted will depend largely on the "trip cost" that I enter. So, if insurance companies will NOT reimburse the value of lost points, then there is no point in including the items purchased via points in my vacation valuation. If insurance does reimburse for lost points, do they value them at the amount we would have had to pay in $$ for the same service if we hadn't had the points to use? Or do they use some other valuation?

 

I'm sure someone out there has experience![/quote

I am in the same boat. I have ff points for flights, pre-cruise hotel and post. Have cruise care with Celebrity but wondered about the other stuff.

Just received an email offering 20% off pre booked trips, how do the online prices compare to booking onboard?

 

Is it really a saving?

Yes it is. We did a few for our up coming Oct.29 Sydney Great Barrier Reef cruise and Nov. 8 btob NZ. Seems like the were even higher once on ship.

What is Celebrity's policy in regards to canceling shore excursions? I am sure it is on the website somewhere but I cannot find it. Not sure if I will be taking one of the shore excursions booked.

They will refund if 24 hours ahead EXCEPT if it is not a train or plane excursion. They have to be cancelled 30 days ahead of time.

I am concerned about all the comments on vibrations on this ship as we are going on it in October. We are in cabin 7344 towards stern. Usually we go forward to keep away from engine and prop shafts as they are known sources of vibration. We chanced this booking on basis that as this ship has azimuth pod drive, prop vib would not be a problem. Also our cabin is well astern of the main engines. I am a very bad sleeper and need real silence to get a good nights sleep. I would appreciate the latest comments on the vibrations/noise, particularly in relation to the cabin location.

We were on the Eclipse March 18th, 2018 and May 20th, 2018 on 9th floor nearer the back and vibrations were awful. Even sitting on the chair near window or couch near window was bad. I had 3 different people come up and check and couldn;t sleep at night. Many people on 9th have complained and they said it's nothing. I won't go on it again.

Does anyone know if the price of ship excursions is more onboard than if you book online beforehand?

 

Also how often do Celebrity have flash sales for pre-paid excursions booked via cruise planner? Are they likely to be offered close to sail date?

Some time they are sold out before you cruise and we have found on our last Fiords Cruise that when we booked on a sale shore excursions, several were $100 or less doing it before hand.

TXRed,

We spent 16 nights on Solstice recently in Aus and NZ. You will love the ship and the crew. Most on this board have sailed S-Class Celebrity ships so there are no hidden secrets to them. But if it is your first Celebrity cruise everything about Celebrity and the ship will be new to you so please enjoy and report back here to us! Just explore! And read this Celebrity board or join your roll call to get more informed prior to your cruise. It is great to be excited!

We are on the Solstice Oct 29 SYD 10 days to Great Barrier Reef and Nov.9NZ on it. Any suggestions about weather or any good shore excursions you took?

Looking at a couple of expensive excursions and wondering if I should buy them now and avoid missing out or wait and see if there is a sale? Granted I have never seen one but maybe I haven't looked at the right time?

 

Thanks in advance.

We are on Solstice Oct29 and Nov.9 back to back cruises. Several months ago I got an email from Celebrity that had selected shore excursions 20% off which we did several. On the Solstice they often have 10% off future shore excursions. One lady booked a future cruise and all the shore excursions with the discount. Said it was cheaper doing it ahead of time, wanted specific ones that she didn’t want to miss and we found on our Fiords cruise, excursions were either sold out or prices way higher than purchased before cruise.

We are doing same thing Oct.29th2018 Sostice 10 night and back to back Solstice Nov. 8 from SYD to AUK. We saved enough from over years to go BOS to SYD and AUK to BOS first class to celebrate 45th anniversary a bit late. We are flying in to SYD 4 days early Staying at 4 seasons and doing a 3 day Sydney city tour with Celebrity before the 2 cruises. We booked our first seats and dates based on the City tour deal. Celebrity suggested The Grace Hotel which we were thinking of before we booked City Tour package and didn’t want to change hotels. Couldn’t do this trip without the ff points for first class and even then worried about long time on plane.

Thanks, Vulcan, for this info and the link. It appears he's in Sydney in October for the NZ/Aus transition but he's also back in California and Oregon for separate events. Wonder how much he's actually on the ship down under. Maybe someone on one of those itineraries posts a daily and I can see what to expect.

We are on the Oct.29 Solstice for 10 day Great Barrier Reef and Back to back Nov. 8-20 to New Zealand cruise from NH. Is this gentleman on our cruises? My husband loves lectures of nature. 30 Celebrity cruises so far.