kiwichick62

1 hour ago, 59impala said:

Hello.

 

We are a married couple (64 & 71) from New Zealand and are looking to choose a new destination for our next adventure. We have exclusively sailed the Mediterranean for all of our six previous cruises and feel we have probably seen it all! We love the Mediterranean and we always find it hard to go past for a cruise holiday. In saying that, we think we really should look at other itineraries which we are doing, but we are having a hard time deciding where to go.

Can any of you people let us know if there is somewhere that you really feel is a must see or was a destination that has been a total surprise to you? We have been toying with the idea of a Scandinavian cruise or the Caribbean, or Japan.....We have to choose carefully as we live such a long way down under and the flight times is very long to most places.

Thanks in anticipation. 

 

We have a 13 night Scandinavian cruise booked for May next year.  We chose very carefully bearing in mind the long flights involved too.  The ports look really interesting and there is an over night stay in Copenhagen.   Like you we have cruised the Med in the past.

After this cruise we will seriously look at Japan/South Korea for a trip.

You can always cruise close to home. We had a wonderful time on the Celebrity Solstice ship cruising from Auckland to Sydney then flying home - 14 night cruise.

Another cruise we would consider would be flying to Vancouver and cruising back to Auckland or a similar Pacific Ocean crossing.

On 11/17/2023 at 2:27 AM, someguyfl said:

This reads like a mistake to me ... Like, this is supposed to be included at $0 as part of the bundle when you buy the Celebrity Pass...

I think this is just wifi and not the rest of the Celebrity Pass benefits.

Nope.  The name has now been changed to “ Celebrity Pass Upgrade” on the website and in my purchase history.  It cost me NZ $25 pp per day.  The VIP pass without the upgrade is now listed as NZ $59 pp.  Checked just now and both the VIP pass and the pass upgrades are sold out for my cruise.  Not sure how many people the pass is limited to per cruise.

51 minutes ago, wizfourfam said:

So do I cancel the drink upgrade pkg I have already purchased and then rebook at the sale price?

Yes, that is what I did from the website.  The refund for the first upgrade was back in my bank account a few days later.

24 minutes ago, ccqueenanne said:

I was very curious about this because in the Wi-Fi section, they are selling "X Pass - Always Upgrade Basic Wi-Fi to Celebrity Pass Premium Wi-Fi for $10.99/day. And there's a blurb about Celebrity Pass and all of the extras (upgraded wi-fi for 2 devices, priority boarding, welcome lunch, waived room service fee...). And on the VIP Passes tab they are selling the X Pass/Celebrity Pass for $38.99/day. Did you get anything in your confirmation that confirms you have the whole X Pass and not just upgraded wi-fi?

The email confirmation just mentioned the name of the package I purchased.  The description mentions that since you already have the AI package they will upgrade to Premium Wi-fi.  Still not sure why it costs less than just upgrading from basic to premium for two devices - $39.27 NZD    The description implies  that it is the X Pass and all that goes with it.

The VIP pass looks to be for people who did not buy the AI package so they factored that into the price?.

29 minutes ago, Lena11033 said:

 

Celebrity math with how they are picking cruises because my Dec 2024 one  had a sale.

Well, I wanted to upgrade our Wi-fi to premium, two devices.  For half the price of the prem, two devices upgrade I got the Celebrity X-Pass.  The pass includes the wi-fi upgrade along with a few other perks. 

More Celebrity maths....  🤷‍♂️

Nothing for my May 2024 cruise.  Will check again tomorrow.

Wanted to upgrade our Wi-Fi from basic (included in our AI fare) to premium.  It was a lot cheaper to pay for the X-Pass. It includes premium Wi-Fi for two devices each plus the other benefits. 

NZ $25 = US $15.

2 hours ago, kands6191 said:

I've been checking daily for price drops on the Premium Drink Package for my 12/2/23 Summit 5 day and my 4/27/24 Apex 5 day cruises.  I went to the site tonight just in time to see the last 15 seconds of the countdown for the expiration of the current 75% off + $300 promotion.  I wondered if the prices would change.  Seems they did for some of the items in the planner.

The Prem Drink Pkg was 54.99 for both cruises.  I had paid 64.99 for one and 69.99 for the other so I saved $300!

I saw that some of the shore excursions had dropped including one that I was going to book independently but with the drop from 81.99 to 59.99 it was only a couple of bucks more than if I went to the vendor directly so I booked it.

I got the Premium Wifi on the 4/27/24 Apex for 15.99, but I'm not sure if it's a good deal since I haven't been watching it.

There was no change in the dining prices.

 

Hope you can find some good deals too!

Good job and thanks for the info!  It's great when you find a big sale on the packages and excursions you want.  😀  Off to see if my cruise qualifies for any sales.

50 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Just boarded reflection after 10 days at home since the transatlantic. The first thing my waiter said when he saw me was “the old menus are back “

Can you please post the changes you notice when you get a chance to, also can you please report on whether the quality has improved.  🙂

Have a great cruise.

Looking at the website, the "Up to 75% off 2nd Guest" sale is advertised.  I priced our 13 night cruise for May.  The base fare was pretty much the same but the discount came out to 50% off the second guest.  We got the 40% off all guests deal for $2,400 less than todays sale.  Maybe they will have a better deal for Black Friday.

I confirm that cruises booked from New Zealand have gratuities baked into the fare we pay.  Gratuities are added on to the cost of drink and dining packages.  I don't mind paying these and I like to have everything pre-paid before I cruise.  Once on board I do no further tipping.

At random times and not for all sailings.  It is possible the next sale will be for Black Friday.  If you have a classic drink package and want to upgrade many of us recently got the upgrade at 53% off.  This sale could still be running.

I recommend booking excursions early as the more popular ones can sell out.  Celebrity sometimes offers big discounts during their flash sales.  If you see excursions for less than what you paid you can cancel then rebook at the new price.  There is a slight risk that your tour sells out in between cancelling and rebooking.  (Not relevant to your question though 🙂)

I also got the 53% discount on the drinks upgrade and a good discount on excursions back in August.  Now keeping an eye out for a decent discount on speciality dining 🙂  If not for CC I would not have known about the drinks upgrade as I didn't get an email from Celebrity about it.

If you purchase a drink package the person sharing your cabin also has to purchase one.  Cocktails and Martini’s cost between $9 - $17.  There are no complimentary alcoholic drinks in the MDR.

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Easily missed as the title: “Reduction in Drinks Packages” doesn’t necessarily imply price reduction. When I clicked on the thread I expected to read about items that have been removed from the packages, thereby reducing the offerings. 

You always have something kind to say on these boards 🙂

It has gone back up again in my planner too.  

Originally - 5% off

Yesterday - 15% off (what I first paid then cancelled.)

This morning - 53.3% off (what I actually paid)

This afternoon - 33.33% off.

Fat fingers in the IT department?  🤷‍♂️

Yes, thanks so much everyone, I would not have thought to look again so soon!  I just cancelled the upgrade I booked yesterday for the even better discount and saved nearly $400.  The new price shows on the website as a 53% discount.  Very happy as I didn't think they would discount the upgrade so highly.  😁  Looking forward to the Martini bar 🍹 🧉

Seems like people are getting different discounts.  If the price drops further later on I will cancel my upgrade and re-book it.  The NZ price has the gratuities already added in.

Worked for me here in New Zealand too.  The other day the upgrade was NZ $38.50 a day being 5% off. Today it is $29.30 and is still advertised as 5% off, guess the base price has dropped.   From what I have heard the upgrade is rarely on special so I upgraded at $29.30.

8 minutes ago, sunlover33 said:

What’s port or starboard?  Thought there were only aft cabins. 

If you stand on a ship facing forward port is the left hand side of the ship, starboard the right hand side 🙂

Welcome to New Zealand!  Enjoy your time here 😀  hopefully the ship will take some of our lovely produce and meat onboard for the MDR.  Will be interested to hear where you go for dinner in Auckland.

Will try to turn on some fine weather for your arrival in Auckland.  Looks to be a high of 18c/65  and partly cloudy for most of this weekend .  🌤️

A member of my roll call mentioned that Celebrity repriced his cruise after a price drop.  I looked at the fare I booked in April 2023 for a May 2024 sailing and compared it to what was on sale for today.  Booking price in NZD was $13,000 compared to today $9,000.  I phoned Celebrity customer service. They repriced my cruise for the lower amount and sent me a new invoice.  I retained my AI conditions and the shore excursions that I got on sale and paid for by credit card. The only thing I lost was $50 on board credit. Was told that if I had of paid for anything with onboard credit I would have lost those bookings and would need to rebook at current pricing.

 Very impressed with Celebrity customer service for making it so easy and non-stressful to change to the lower fare - something they are not obliged to do.  Saved me having to cancel my booking, losing my deposit etc then rebooking.

Just priced our May 2024 cruise and the price has actually gone down a fair bit.  What we booked in April for a deluxe verandah would now get us Aqua class! Guess I can't do anything to re-book as we booked on Celebrity's website,  non-refundable fare.