TechieTravels

Here you go!

Tried again via phone and email.  Both times response was the same.  Can't apply Mife benefits to travel agent booking.

Looks like a another undocumented rule change.

3 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Never heard about this restriction before.  Either they gave you bad info, or the rules have changed very recently.

Yeah, I have gotten the benefits through Celebrity in the past but this is my first RC cruise.  The only thing I see that could be construed as excluding is below.  However, it still doesn't seem to exclude travel agent bookings. 

"Benefits must be requested at the time of the initial booking and at least ten (10) days prior to the cruise’s departure date". 

I will probably try again tomorrow to see if I get a different answer.

Just tried to get my Mlife benefits applied.  Called number on MGM website to match, they said since I booked through a travel agent, the agent would have to call.  Called travel agent and asked them call RC to apply the benefits.  They came back and said that I am not entitled to any benefits since I booked through a travel agent. 

So it looks like booking through a travel agent excludes you from mlife status benefits even though that doesn't appear anywhere on the T&C that I can see.

Celebrity Summit - Sea Day 3

For more information and pictures visit https://www.techietravels.com/celebrity-summit-sea-day-3/

We decided to return to Blu for breakfast this morning. I had a really good parfait and Sam had an omelette that she said was better than at the buffet. We then spent the morning and afternoon relaxing by the pool.

Lunch was at the buffet again and your standard fare. The Beatles tribute band, Hard Day’s Night, did a poolside concert which was very fun and lots of people were listening and dancing. We read on the balcony for a little while and then got ready for dinner. We went to listen to some music in some various lounges before dinner, stopping for drinks along the way.

The show was called “Soundtrack” this evening. Most of the songs were from movies and had some acrobat dancers as well. It must have been brand new because it had music from “Skyfall” and “La La Land”. I thought it was very well done and was my favorite show of the trip.

Celebrity Summit - Sea Day 2

For more information and pictures visit https://www.techietravels.com/celebrity-summit-sea-day-2/

We got breakfast at the buffet today which was your standard cruise fare. They did have a poached egg station which was nice to see. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon, we lazed by the pool and swam a bit.

Later in the afternoon, we went to the coffee shop for afternoon tea. I had a specialty cappuccino and Sam had iced tea. That cappuccino was not the greatest, but Sam thought the iced tea was good. Afterwards, we went to the gym and then got ready for the evening. We went to the martini bar for a drink and then to Blu for dinner. There was a 20 minute wait, so we got some drinks in Cellar Masters.

The show this evening was “Hard Day’s Night” which was a Beatles tribute band. They were actually very good and played all the standard hits. Afterwards, we went to the Sunset bar on the back of the ship to listen to some music by a very talented guitarist/singer. She had this foot peddle device that sounded like a cajon. I had not seen anything like that before and it really added to her performance.

Celebrity Summit - Sea Day 1

For pictures and more information visit https://www.techietravels.com/celebrity-summit-sea-day-1/

We had breakfast in Blu this morning. I had the eggs benedict and Sam had an omelette. Both were good and very fresh. We then went up on deck and found a place to read and get some sun by the pool. Mid-afternoon, we came back to the room to get out of the sun and Sam took a nap while I went to the gym to work out. The gym was well appointed with many cardio machines, weight training machines, and free weights. Overall, it was a very lazy, but relaxing day.

We then went to find some music to listen to before dinner. We found a piano player in the coffee shop who was very good. I really appreciate all of the live music all over the ship and all of them were very talented. Then we went to the Martini bar to try out a few of the creations there. I had a blue wave and a very masculine appletini, both of which were very tasty.

Next up was dinner in Blu. It was “Modern Chic” night but not many people dressed up beyond a dress shirt and pants. That was not too surprising given there is only one more formal night on a 6 day cruise so packing formal clothes just is not worth it.

After dinner, we went up for Family Feud and trivia in the Sky lounge. There weren’t many people for either but we still did not win. The show this evening was “Chandelier” which featured modern music loosely tied to a story line. The story and music just were not very captivating to me. There also was late night adult comedy by the same comedian as the first night, and he was pretty good again.

Day 1 - Embarkation

For pictures and more info, visit https://www.techietravels.com/celebrity-summit-embarkation/

We drove to Loewe’s Hotel ORD for a park-sleep-fly package the night before the cruise. This is my favorite hotel to stay or park at by O’Hare. Parking is only $5 per day for an inside spot in the garage if you book in advance – Loews O’Hare Parking. In addition, the shuttle runs 24/7 every 15 minutes during the day and every 20 minutes at night. The hotel and room were in good condition. We did not explore the hotel any further than our room and the parking garage but there was not anything else especially remarkable.

In the morning, we headed over to the airport. We went through pre-check (courtesy of our Global Entry membership) and arrived at gate but there was no plane. As seems to be normal with American Airlines, it was obvious that we were going to be delayed, but no announcement was made until it was time for boarding. Cascading delays began and we started to get a little worried given that we had a cruise to catch. Eventually, we moved to a different gate and left with about a 1 hour delay.

Upon arriving at Newark, we collected our bags and hopped in an Uber to the port in Bayonne, NJ which cost about $20. At this point, it was about 11:30am and there was no wait for security, check-in, or boarding even though we arrived at what is normally prime time. We explored the ship while we were waiting for our cabin to be ready. We also got our beverage packages squared away as they did not carry over after purchasing online. As a quick aside, the Celebrity online interface is the absolute worst I have ever experienced. There are frequent logouts, past purchases do not show up sometimes, and unexplained errors. So when the drink packages did not carry over, I was not especially surprised.

About 1:00pm, they announced the cabins were ready. We were in an A1 Aqua Class cabin. Due to the uncertainty with Puerto Rico, there must have been many cancellations and difficulty selling cabins which led to massive price cuts. We were able to upgrade from an obstructed balcony to an Aqua Class guarantee and we were assigned our cabin up on the 11th deck aft. The location is absolutely perfect for this cabin. The buffet is directly below along with the pool. We did feel more vibration at this part of the ship compared with other places, but the side to side and up and down motion was better.

After coming back from muster, we went up to the top deck to watch sailaway which was beautiful out of New York. When we returned to our room, our luggage had arrived so we unpacked and got ready for dinner. In Aqua class, your assigned dining room is the Blu restaurant which they say specializes in more “Mediterranean” cuisine. I really liked the concept. It also was much smaller than the main dining room and had a lot more tables for 2.

After dinner, we went to the welcome aboard show which was not well attended. The comedian, however, was good.

This is extremely late but thought I would share my experience on here. Life got in the way and I finally got around to finishing up the review. I'll be posting a link to my blog and the text of our day-by-day adventures. You'll find additional information and pictures (including food pictures) on the blog.

For pictures and more info, visit https://www.techietravels.com/intro-celebrity-repositioning/

In October, we took a repositioning cruise on the Celebrity Summit from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Unlike most trips, we didn’t plan this cruise extremely far in advance. We booked shortly after final payment which was about 90 days before the cruise due to a good sale on cabins.

The run up to the cruise was very stressful. With hurricanes Irma and Maria destroying all of the ports we were supposed to visit, there were many questions about whether the cruise would even be sailing. To Celebrity’s credit, they announced the change to the ports of call about a month before the cruise. However, questions remained about our disembarkation of San Juan, Puerto Rico all the way up to the sail date. I was watching CruiseCritic and other news sources like a hawk trying to figure out if we needed to change flights. I figured Miami/Ft Lauderdale would have been the most likely candidates. In the end, we did end up going to Puerto Rico.

Our original itinerary was to visit St Thomas, St Maarten, and end in San Juan. It was quickly announced that we would be visiting Antigua and St Kitts instead. I had never been to Antigua so that was a welcome change. In addition, we had just been to St Kitts, but had spent all of our time on Nevis on that trip. So we figured this would be a good opportunity to explore St Kitts instead.

I ended up deciding to change our flight to leave the day of disembarkation due to much uncertainty about hotel reservations. There were many reports of people turning up to hotels only to be told that the hotel was full due to relief workers. I didn’t want to fight this battle nor take the place of a relief worker. American Airlines was allowing free changes to flights due to the hurricane. In addition, because of the fare caps to and from the island, we were able to upgrade to first class for only $6 per person which was an incredible deal. We then spent the morning and afternoon in Chicago.

Due to all the uncertainty, it seemed as though many people cancelled their cruises which meant prices dropped by about half of what we paid leading up to the date of sail. Because of this, we were able to upgrade to an Aqua class guarantee at no cost which got us an A1 cabin all the way up on one of the highest decks. I’ll have more comments about the cabin in future posts, but suffice to say, the cabin and location were excellent.

Your correct. I retired 4 years ago from the field and didn't even think to look it up.

 

However I am showing 1709211515-1709302100

 

It . If I remember correctly it was notamed today at 1515z in effect til 09/30 at 2100z

 

Subject to change always.

 

[

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks like it was corrected from when I posted. I was confused when I saw that the closure was ending on 9/30/2019 and assumed that was meant to represent "until further notice". Looks like 2019 was a typo and is corrected now. 9/30/17 at 2100z appears to be the scheduled open date/time according to the FAA. As with everything, subject to change.

Don't know how accurate this is, but now states airport closed until 5pm Saturday.

 

https://es.flightaware.com/live/airport/TJSJ

According to the FAA, the airport is closed except military and hurricane relief. The end date for the notice is 9/30/2019 which is either a typo or meant to represent "until further notice". I would tend to trust the FAA given they have authority over the airport.

Here's the raw NOTAM (notice to airmen) if you're interested.

!TJSJ 09/280 SJU AD AP CLSD EXC MIL AND HURCN RELIEF 1709211515-1909302100

According to the FAA, the airport is closed basically until further notice except for military and hurricane relief. Obviously, this is subject to revision, but it's the best, primary source rather than some 3rd party news site, blog, or twitter feed.

Here's the raw NOTAM (notice to airmen) if you're interested.

!TJSJ 09/280 (TJSJ A1758/17) SJU AD AP CLSD EXC MIL AND HURCN RELIEF 1709211515-1909302100

I have a similar situation as some have noted above with a booking made through a TA that included gratuities and some OBC. I see the "gratuities" listed below the dining time as ChucktownSteve described. Thanks for that tip.

I have OBC from both Celebrity and the TA. The OBC from Celebrity shows up online but the OBC from the TA does not. I wanted to get drink packages at the discounted rate pre-cruise. I suppose I could book one now and one once on board to get the biggest discount. I don't have any other plans for the OBC once on board.

After a bit of a break, here's the final post with a recap and final thoughts. Also has the "Log of the Cruise" for those interested. I've also got a bunch of videos that I want to edit together eventually. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for following along.

https://techietravels.com/recap-and-final-thoughts-southeast-asia-cruise/

AFTER FINAL payment is due are the normal cancellation fees. Per the photo you posted.

I think we're saying the same thing here. At 57-75 days, the cancellation fee is the deposit amount. The deposit for this promotion is $1/pp. Therefore, if you cancel at 57-75 days, you would only be charged a cancellation fee of $1/pp. I would consider that negligible.

If I'm missing something, can you point out in the passage contract where it says the cancellation fee would be higher at 57-75 days?

http://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/faq_answer_legal/Passage_Contract.pdf

Once you have made full payment the normal cancellation fees start.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

What do you mean by "normal cancellation fees"? All I see is this in the passage contract is that the cancellation fee is the deposit amount which would be $1/pp in this case. Screenshot attached.

Seems like this basically extends the cancellation period to 57 days since the penalty at 57-75 days is the cancellation fee. You'll have to pay the full balance due at final payment, but you should get it all pack minus $1/pp deposit if you cancel within the 57-75 day window. I read through the passenger contract and didn't see anything that suggests otherwise. Is this a correct line of thinking?

Last flight from Tokyo to Chicago.

https://techietravels.com/japan-airlines-b777-sky-suite-business-class-tokyo-to-chicago/

More from our journey home on Japan Airlines.

http://techietravels.com/japan-airlines-b787-sky-suite-business-class/

https://techietravels.com/japan-airlines-sakura-lounge-tokyo-narita/

IIRC the Diamond just got out of drydock for some TLC. How does she look? We'll be on her this summer.

We were on before the drydock in February. She looked great when we were on. I didn't notice any major wear and tear.

The first leg of the journey home.

https://techietravels.com/singapore-airport-kuala-lumpur-airport/

Can I ask how long we should allow for the 2 flower domes and super trees ?

 

We were going to see the super trees at night for the show ( the nights before we get on the ship)

We dock mid cruise 7 till 4 so maybe get the mrt to this area for the day ?

Is it easy to do from the port ?

I think we spent about 2 hours at Gardens by the Bay. We tend to move through things pretty quickly though. We didn't take the MRT from the port, but it seemed easy to get to. There was a covered walkway from the port to the station. We took the MRT from the airport back to the Gardens by the Bay and the station is very convenient to the gardens.

Debarkation and our last day in Southeast Asia. We explored Singapore some more.

https://techietravels.com/singapore-gardens-by-the-bay-and-singapore-flyer/

Last sea day on the Diamond Princess

https://techietravels.com/diamond-princess-sea-day-4/

Our last port of call was Ko Samui where we took a private 4x4 tour of the island.

https://techietravels.com/ko-samui/