RTLS

We have 2 days there. Currently looking at tour quotes for the second day. We are thinking of half a day out to one of the closer-in Water towns followed by an afternoon touring one area of Shanghai. Do you have any suggestions .

Thanks for the info.

We are going to be staying at the Marriott Hotel City centre and when we received our hotel confirmation. attached was a single sheet with the hotel name & address written in both English and Chinese . Very helpful I think.

Wondering whether there will be lots of taxis available at the cruise terminal to go to our hotel in Shanghai city center or whether we will have to pre book something.

Any info you have will be much appreciated along with an idea of cost.

Thanks

There are 2 sentences in the On Board booking information that have me puzzled.

Perhaps someone can clarify

" Bookings may be transferred into non-contracted groups. Individual enrollment may be converted and applied to a group booking"

I have been thinking of using a TA for a future cruise as she often organizes groups and offers a group rate. When I first read the above, I thought that meant that any perks I get for booking on board, would disappear if I transfer to this particular agent. But then the info. continues by saying that the booking may be converted and applied to a group booking.

To me these sentences seem to contradict themselves. What am I misunderstanding?

As a Canadian you actually have a choice with Celebrity... You can book in either US or Cdn Currency. As others have said the Cdn Rates are usually very good... And beneficial if you have a Cdn Credit Card that gives perks... Such as Airmiles, Other Loyalty Points, or Cash Back (a lot of Cdn Banks that have US Currency Cards don't offer any perks with them)

 

The only thing is once you select the Currency for your Deposit... So it remains. So if you then go ahead and tranfer the booking to a TA (have 60 days to do that) then the Currency mst remain the same

 

Which is why you have to have a plan on where your TA will be... Canada or the USA and pay accordingly (although as pointed out by Others sometimes you will find a US TA who will take payment with a Cdn Credit Card for a cruise booked in Cdn Dollars)

 

Also... On board everything is in US Dollars. So if you have a US Currency Credit Card from a Cdn Bank... If that is the one you want to use onbard, You have to make sure that is the one that is registered for your Onboard SeaPass Account when you check in on E-Day

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers!

Yes, thanks that does help.

I always use my Canadian CC with my US TA so I don't lose out on my loyalty points but, of course, I do have foreign transaction fees and conversion rates to deal with.

I'll have to think this through and may simply book on board and not transfer even though I do like the idea of a middleman between me and Celebrity just so that I will have someone to go to bat for me if something goes wrong.

I use a US based agent and have been very pleased with the service and knowledge she has.

I'm thinking that when we are next on board we will book a cruise and, as has been pointed out, the CAD cost is usually at a very favourable rate. But it seems to me that if I transfer my booking to my agent, I would lose that benefit as the cost would then be in US dollars.

Am I right?

Check the link I posted in post #6. It says the dining room will be created form a space near the upper level of the main dining room. I imagine they will take space from the Select dining area on the side opposite BLU on M class ships, and just one of the Select Dining wings on the S Class.

 

It is rolling out to ALL X ships except Century, which ends its career with X in April 2015, and Xpedition, for obvious reasons.

All is now clear!

Thankyou

I have just read that there is to be a dedicated suite restaurant on most ships including Millie. I don't mind that at all. In fact I'm quite pleased with the thought as, imho, suite passengers pay plenty and should get some extra perks and also, as an Aqua pax, I'll be happy as it should free up a bit more room in Blu

But I wonder where it will be located on Millie? It does not seem to have a lot of spare rooms. Will Blu be made smaller? What amenities will the remainder of the pax be giving up? Does anyone have any answers?

Thank you all.

Taxis are obviously the way to go.

Has anyone arranged transfers for a group of 6 to 8? I believe this new terminal (which is where we are scheduled to embark) is quite far away.

We will, of course, all have luggage so we might be better to take 2 or 3 taxis. Any idea of the costs of either of these options?.

the subway station you want is gwanghwamun, it is the closest to the main Tourist Info Center where the bus routes start, but you can buy tickets on the bus anywhere it stops.

 

(We live in Seoul. :) )

 

 

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Thank you for jumping in.

Much appreciated!

OK Thanks everyone. I think I'll try re registering tomorrow and, if not, I'll call Celebrity.

For the past few days, I have been trying to sign into my account without success.

Nothing saying "incorrect password" (it isn't) just a further request to "sign in".

I've tried a couple of different browsers. Anyone else having the same problem? Any ideas?

Thanks

You will have no problems in Seoul with the subway on a Sunday. There is less service, but this is a change of minutes. You will find that it may still be crowded at times, but the service is constant, and will get you anywhere in the city that you want.

Thank you for your help and for putting my mind at rest. Would you happen to know where would be best to get off the subway in order to take the Hop on/off bus?

Our cruise in 2015 arrives Incheon on a Sunday and, as we have a reasonably long day there, ( 9am to 9pm) we decided to go it alone taking a taxi to the local station and then subway into Seoul where we would first take the Hop on/off Bus.

I'm wondering whether anyone knows if subway service would be limited on a Sunday?

A while back I read a great trip report about all of this and thought I had it aced. Unfortunately I've somehow lost my notes so any additional help regarding the journey from the port to Seoul and any additional thoughts you have would be very, very appreciated.

Haha, so true, you pay either up front or at final. Had noticed that you'd cruised Celebrity before so figured you were a member...be sure to sign up after this cruise and then you'll only have to pay half deposit for the next cruise!! Have fun!!

That's not necessarily the case. The regular deposit for captain's club members is still $450.00 a person on longer cruises and it's sometimes reduced for CC members if there is a "Special". For example with the current 123 Sale

We sailed on celebrity back in 1999! For some reason, I still had a record of my DH's captain's club number - must have signed up at that time. We have not cruised Celebrity since that time, but I gave my TA the information and we are signed up as members.

The advantage to us for this upcoming cruise is that we were able to take advantage of the one catagory upgrade that is a benefit in the new Captain's club.

Because Azamara was offering a promotion of up to $1000.00 for air !

Meant to say the promotion was only good if air was booked through Choice Air!

WHy didn't you just book the flights on your own? :confused:

Because Azamara was offering a promotion of up to $1000.00 for air !

Thank you so much. Do you know if this is something I can ask my travel agent to do? i purchased the fare through them with my cruise and it was through choice air. Also, is there a fee for this? I am confused by the choice air plus option and the regular choice air

I tried to book a flight to Costa Rica through Choice Air (for an Azamara cruise but the same site as for Celebrity) and found a United flight that I liked but was not showing on the choice air site. When I finally got through by phone to Choice Air I was told that they could book the flight but the cost was $600.00 more than on the UA site! MY TA phoned and also had to wait 50 minutes before getting through only to be told the same thing.

Does Choice Air pocket the extra money! I was pretty mad and ended up cancelling the cruise.

Greetings

 

If you are using IE 11 just go to the cog wheel in the top right of the browser and click "compatibility view settings" then add the Celebrity web site. I was having similar problems with the site.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

That doesn't work for me. But using google Chrome does

Works just fine with Google Chrome. Thanks for the tip

I've noticed that some pages do not work with Internet Explorer 11. I tried the link above and got the error message as well. If I try it on another browser it works fine. I no longer have Internet Explorer version prior to 11 loaded so I can't test that but I have no issues with Firefox or Chrome.

 

Unfortunately, Celebrity has had some serious problems in the department that does their web site and has had terrible site problems the past 2 or 3 years. There has been a recent rash of severe problems as they did some back end changes that left lots of issues with their web site front end (for example many people having problems viewing or booking excursions). Now it appears that the programming they are doing seems to be incompatible with different web browsers.

I have the exact same problem and have Internet Explorer 11.1. I'm going to try with google chrome.

The offer is posted on X's website now... A clock counting down to 12:01am black friday.

I just checked the X website and don't see any count down clock, has it been deleted already?

Also I signed up for email notifications (at least it says I have on the website) but no email for me today or any day!

Yes, AQ can eat in the MDR in the Select Dining area, though arrange it in advance. Although it is "open seating", at popular times a reservation helps or you will wait or be turned away.

There is also a sea day buffet when you can eat in the MDR. You can eat with others in Blu IF they too are AQ. If not, speciality restaurants are a good choice.

 

Blu has a number of four tops, or more, if reserved in advance. As in a land restaurant, tables can be moved. Some people complain the standard tables for two are close together. I feel they are a perfect distance if you wish to talk to your neighbors or if you wish to ignore them. One week there was a Suite Patriach and his entire family down to a number of young children every night at 6pm sharp. They had a table for 12 or 14 and were done by 7:30, when it changed back to twos. If you like one waiter, arrange for that section with the Maitre'd every day. (I would book the time at breakfast) They have without exception worked magic if you have a special request and ask in advance (same with food...Blu having its own kitchen makes that possible).

 

We have only done SClass 1 week Caribbean sailings, and tuxes were more like 20%, than 80% in Blu. DH took a tux only for our 25th anniversary week. A navy blazer other weeks, mainly because ship can be cool at night. The silky polos/Hawaiin shirts were popular. For the one week cruises taken to relax and get some sun, "country club casual" look seemed most common to me.

 

As to cabin locations, AQ is far from the "worst" location on the ship. OP indicated he knew location mattered. Luckily we have Library Lady's amazing spread sheet to know which AQ are noisy (there are a few under the gym and cafe). There entire aft section is surrounded by cabins in all directions, and the amount of sun depends on route, time, etc.

Thanks for all the information. Decision still needs to be made but Aqua looks pretty good to me.