onthebalcony

We sailed the Meridian in 1994!!! It was our 6th cruise and first with Celebrity. We are up to 37 now with 2 more booked in 2014.

Our two cruises are not eligible for share holder benefits. The Aug. one because of the 123 promotion (wave) and the Feb. because we got a reduced price.

As far as we are concerned, we will never be able to use the share holder benefits program as we always get discounted cruises within the RCCL family from TA's. Too bad it wasn't explained to us that it didn't include discounted cruise fares!!! We should have asked but were told it included all cruises with RCCL!!! I should have read the threads here first! When it seems to be too good to be true, it usually is!!

I heard from our TA. The OBC credit from the TA is fine, not an issue. We won't get the share holders credit for Aug. cruise because it is part of the "wave promotion."

Still don't know about the Feb. cruise. Hope we are not turned down on this one also!

We are still trying to get OBC from Share Holders Benefit and received this message today:

"As loyal guests and a shareholders, you are very important to us and your insight is highly valued. Please understand in order for us to continue to be a good investment for you, we need to consider how applying multiple discounts and or offers can affect our profitability, especially in these economic times. This is why we are unable to combine these benefits. We hope you can understand how, in the long run, these business decisions end up benefiting all our shareholders."

I have read the other threads about these benefits and people were getting OBC from TA's and from Share Holders Benefit. Has anyone tried this year to get the Share Holders Benefits?

We got OBC from the TA but it is less than the Share Holder OBC so we want the OBC from the Share Holder Benefit only. Will keep you updated if we get it!!!

We purchased 100 shares after reading the Wall Street Journal about RCL share holder benefits. There were no restrictions listed in the WSJ article.

Now we are trying go get these OBCs for 2 cruises this year, one with Azamara and one with Celebrity. So far, it doesn't look good because we purchased these cruises at a discount through an online agency. The agency also gave us OBC but that should not affect share holder benefits, as in their printed statement.

It appears that if you pay full price and book through the RCL family then you get the share holder benefits. Policy is not consistent after reading all these threads.

This is the statement from RCL on our Azamara cruise: The requested shareholders onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation ------ as it is confirmed with pricing (interline rates, chartered sailing, complimentary cruises, etc.) that is not combinable with the shareholders onboard credit offer.

It appears other people are having the same problem!

Thanks Happy Cruiser. I will check out Towncar T in ports of call.

Anne

TheWren,

Thank you so much for all the information on Cobh (Cork)! I saved all the websites you suggested in my favorites for the cruise.

Looking forward to visiting Ireland for the first time!!

Anne

Thanks Wirral for the information on Liverpool. That is very helpful!

Host Andy: can you provide any information from Celebrity about shuttles?

Thanks!

Anne

Thanks Elayne. I had some info in my notes but couldn't remember the details. I have been active in the roll call as well.

Happy New Year!

Anne

BI is British Isles --- sorry about that! I do visit the ports of calls but didn't see anything about shuttles. Maybe I missed it!

What ports of calls have shuttles to get into the cities and what is the price per person or are they complimentary???

Interested in: Cork, Dublin, Liverpool, Belfast, Kirkwell, Inverness

Thanks!

I still can't get in either. I get the same message every time I try: only purchased booking can register Cruise Critic party!!! Oh, well, I will just continue trying!

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year!!!

Thanks for your input on tours in Scotland. This will be our 38th cruise and we never had problems getting taxis at or near the ports. Like I said previously, many cruise passengers go this route rather than take a ship's tour. Also popular are the hop on/hop off buses!

I am sure we will enjoy your beautiful country no matter what we decide.

Hello,

Has anyone found any private tours that do not need a prepayment? It appears the BI private tours all require a down payment and then final payment before the tours. In all the tours I have planned, this has never happened before on cruises to Europe, Baltic, Caribbean or South and Central America! I am ready to just get a tour from the dock! We have done this in the past and they have worked out very well!! On our last cruise in Europe many of the passengers were doing this.

I see that Gordon Ross has been recommended from Greenock. Does he require a prepayment?

Thanks for any information!

I also am trying to register with Connections and when I just called Celebrity after waiting for a while, the person had no idea what Connections is and that I would have to contact Cruise Critic. I said that I have never had this issue before and it is a Celebrity problem not a Cruise Critic one. The message I get is "Only purchased booking can register Cruise Critic Party." I have had a booking # since Dec. 3.

I can't believe it would take this long to fix this problem. I thought I was doing something wrong!!

It appears that Celebrity doesn't want any more Connection parties. Celebrity should take a good look at this thread to see how many unhappy passengers they have already! Never had this problem with Azamara!!! And Azamara gives the BEST M&M party!! Captain, senior officers, drinks and food are always at the parties! Azamara is under the RCCL family as is Celebrity!!

We just returned from an Azamara cruise docking in Cannes. I used info@provencerivieratours.com for a tour to Antibes and Saint Paul de Vence with Philippe. He was very knowledgeable and our group of 8 had a very good 5 hr tour with him.

Glad this thread was brought up to the top again!

We are doing a b2b: Oct. 23 and Nov. 2 From the list provided we will have Capt. Carl for the Oct. 23 and TBD for Nov. 2!!!

Looking forward to seeing Capt. Carl, Richard (Ryszard) and Tony again!

Anne

I read that thread and was hoping management would know now who we would have as we are less than 3 months out!!

Thanks!

Who would be the Quest Captain, Hotel and Cruise Directors for the Oct. 23 and Nov. 2, 2013 cruises???

Thanks!

Anne

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the explanation!

We were on the last Quest cruise before dry dock. The prices in the specialty restaurants went from $25/person to $27.50. One night it was back to $25 from information in Pursuits. Is the new price $27.50??

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the update! We will finally have Captain Carl!! We are on the Oct. 27 cruise. We know Richard from previous cruises! Not sure if we ever had Russ!

Anne

Thanks Andy for the list you provided!!

We will have Captain Leif Karlsson again --- he was captain on our first Azamara cruise in S. America in 2008!!

Hi Andy,

Just wondering if you have any updates on the cruises mentioned here and who our captain, hotel and cruise directors will be.

I am interested in the Oct. 27 Quest cruise from Rome to Seville --- last cruise before dry dock!

Here are some of the other requests: Journey Sept 1,2012, Quest 10/06/2012, Quest 25 Septeber 2012, Quest 1/31/2013.

The captains we have sailed with have been wonderful as well as cruise and hotel directors!!! Only one captain was not as visible as the rest when we were on a TA in March 2009. Can't remember his name!!!

Anne

Glad you asked that Andy because I was wondering the same thing!!! You beat me to it!!!