Bill1954

On 10/18/2018 at 12:56 AM, Brummijam said:

A similar question but regarding the Explorer for the homeward bound flight from Barbados 

What happens to luggage when you put it outside of your room on the night before disembarking the ship?  Do you have to colour code label your suitcases and find them on the dockside to load into the coach for the airport transfer or are they taken straight from the ship to the airport and loaded straight into the TUI aircraft ?

 

You will get an envelope with your luggage tags the day before disembarkation. Just attach to your cases before you put them outside your cabin door

Yes we paid for extra legroom seats when we booked for february and were able to choose them straight away

Yes, it has all the usual links at the bottom re extra legroom seats, extra luggage, api, airport lounge etc but nne of them work.

I’ve emailed TUI back and await their response.

Afraid not, this is the email from them and I have tried to access the booking, I can access the booking for Feb no problem.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your email.

As you have booked through a third party agent, unfortunately you will not have access to your booking online as these types of bookings aren't supported.

I apologise for any inconvenience.

Kind Regards

Nathan

TUI Correspondence Agent

Distribution & Cruise

TUI GROUP

I’ve seen quite a few comments to the effect that other lines offer better value then Marella.

I’m still waiting for someone to show me a 14 night AI Caribbean cruise with dreamliner flights, in February, for less than the £1350pp that we paid.

We insure on booking as a yearly one doesn't work for us. I have pre existing medical conditions which tend to automatically include such things as cancellation before the holiday due to the medical condition. I am not covered if I change my mind about going if it has nothing to do with my condition, but cover is available at an extra fee of course. A large part of the premium is the medical cover while abroad on holiday particularly outside the EU as hospital costs can be huge in Asia and especially USA, Caribbean etc. We make sure that we have repatriation costs covered. On a recent cruise a passenger was airlifted by helicopter shortly after sailaway and the cost was £20,000 for that alone.

Without pre existing conditions, you pays your money and takes your choice. I personally wouldn't take insurance for a "change of mind" as for us it would not be worth it but maybe someone with heavy family commitements may want to for unforseen circumstances. As usual, shopping around can save a fortune - rarely have the same company twice as premiums roller coaster.

Hmm interesting, we both have pre existing conditions. I’ll look into that this afternoon, thanks for the info.

I’m seeing a few comments on this thread re insurance. Do you guys book your insurance at the same time as you book your cruise? And if so how does that work?

I always thought it was only valid for the length of the holiday as you have to give them your travel dates.

It’s very plain to see how the low deposit system works on the TUI site. They even set you up an account which shows the date that the second half of the deposit must be paid by.

Although I have sympathy with your circumstances, these are the terms that you signed up for.

Its just part of cruising, if you don't want to dress in a Tux just don't cruise, if you were on P&O you would not have the choice of dress in the MDR

Absolute rubbish!!!

I wouldn’t wear a tux for a pension. If they want to have a penguin night then I’m quite happy to book into a speciality restaurant.

The premium drinks included wouldn't work as on the older ships at the moment people can be in the cabins with premier service without having bought a drinks package, all the ships going AI as standard doesn't start til next summer, also the premium drinks package is £70 pp per week on the spirit

It was £50 pp pw when we were on spirit this year

Only saw as was checking the itinerary and am still happy as might be a 'lesser' cabin deck/area left. Plus if the hard promos are as the ship isnt fully booked more the better might get a sun lounger lol.

No problem,,,

All you have to do is get up at 5am ;p

I take my library with me, on my Kindle, there are ebook programs available for android tablets

While on the spirit I twice watched as the barman opened a new bottle. If the drinks are watered down they are being bought in that way, I saw no tampering at all.

I hear this from the wife all the time, she’s an avid online shopper, does it for the whole family and gets angry when prices drop below what she paid.

My response is always, if you were happy with the price you paid, don’t go back to look again

Thanks Dave, sorry for the late reply, we’ve been in Turkey with very poor internet

It is correct, from next summer there will be 3 types of packages covering Celebration/Dream, Discovery/Discovery2 and Explorer/Explorer 2

 

someone on facebook had a pdf file issued by Marella for agents etc showing the planned offerings for next year.

 

I got hold of a copy, what do you want to know?

Hi Dave, we go in February so it may have changed. If you have a .pdf is there any chance of posting it as an attachment please?

Does anyone know if the AI drinks package on Celebration is the same as the one posted for Discovery?

We’ve only cruised on Spirit and the package isn’t as comprehensive as what we have seen posted for other Marella ships.

Another question, How does checking in on-line save time or any other advantage? We still have to drop our luggage off and show our passports etc at the check in desk?

At Newcastle you have to weigh your cases on a machine which then prints the airline tags, you put them on the belt and hey ho. You already have your boarding pass so straight upstairs to security

Looks a cracking cruise, we’ll be 4 days behind you on Celebration out of Barbados but we have to fly from Manchester.

Flying from Newcastle? How did you swing that? We were only given the choice of Gatwick Manchester or Birmingham, in fact, looking at the Marella website now, Newcastle is still greyed out.

Hi Bill.

Have used a local mini cab company for years and from a passengers point of view I have always tipped the driver a couple of quid, once the drivers/ controllers know that there will be a tip paid on my trips it cuts out the “we are very busy at the moment and your car will be thirty mins” conversations into “your car is on it’s way” It’s a means to an end and I appreciate that I am getting perhaps a little bit better service because the driver knows that my trip is financially more attractive to him.

Similarly when we are a on cruise we build a rapport with the bar waiter/Waitress, room cleaners etc and they know that they will get a little something at the end of the trip. Obviously you can’t tip everyone that works on the ship but if you leave something to the ships staff fund at reception it makes you feel better that the whole crew will benefit a little. In conclusion I find that Marella staff are pretty much happy with there lot so if you do tip it’s looked on as an added bonus.

Keep well.

Hi, I agree you couldn’t tip every one of them, but as in any holiday, some of the staff stand out from others by going that extra mile. Of course we tipped our cabin stewards and our waiters in the compass rose, but I’m referring more to the deck waiters, some of whom had a happy smiling attitude the whole time whilst others just did the job. I know you’re getting the same service, but some of them just make you feel good.

TBH we just did our first cruise. We paid the asking price for it and totally ignored the tips included spiel.

As in any hotel we visit, we tipped the staff that looked after us or gave what we considered to be great service. In this age of forceful advertising where every company is trying to get one over on each other, I don’t think most people would withold a tip simply because they think they have already paid them.

I drove a taxi for a few years and there are tippers and non tippers. The drivers all knew who was which as I’m sure the crew do.

I mailed Tui about it as we have paid for the 25kg allowance. Their reply was that we are allowed up to 5 suitcases per booking so we’ll just take a 3rd case

Just did a dummy and it worked OK for me Bill - did exactly the same as you then scrolled down to 'Save Signature'. May be a blip in the system at the moment?

Possibly, I’ve tried on ipad, android tab, and PC with the same result.

Ah well, it won’t make the cruise come any earlier, and we are off to Turkey for 10 days next week 😀

Campolady, could you tell me how this countdown clock works please ?

I follow the instructions to create it, copy and paste the code into my edit signature page, and nothing happens but a warning that I’ve posted too many images whether I include an image or not

Cheers

Bill