judatt

Could it be the number of suites on deck 10?

We often book suite gty but not regular cabins. I suppose we figure no such thing as a bad suite 😎. We often get a junior suite but we have had some really good suites as well. 

16 hours ago, Bradison said:

The fact that these folks have to question what perks they are going to receive and have to rely on an internet message board for info says a whole lot about the utter failure that is RCI communication.

It has been this way for a long time and the leadership of RCI allows it to continue.  There are so many things to love about RCI but this is a glaring weakness that is just inexcusable.

Billions and billions of dollars have been and will be spent on technology and infrastructure and yet one of the building blocks of business execution is continually ignored.

Changing policies and procedures are inevitable with any business of this size but how hard is it to communicate in a timely and consistent manner.  With computers and with multiple avenues for communicating it really isn't that hard.  It just isn't a priority.

Exiting the soap box.  Sorry I didn't add anything other than the noise of complaining.

I don’t disagree with anything you say - in fact wholeheartedly agree. However, when rccl ships depart week after week and time after time they are booked to capacity, it’s hard for corporate to get too enthused about changing things. Regrettable but I’m afraid true. 

Is the only difference between a suite lounge and a concierge lounge that pinnacles can go in a concierge lounge?   

We are elite on Celebrity and received reciprocal diamond status on our first cruise on rccl. We are now approaching diamond plus on rccl. We still sail both lines - it’s very much dependent on the itinerary and price. 

On 11/12/2019 at 11:40 PM, tb4 said:

I stay at Four Seasons. Horribly expensive but an awesome hotel right at Circular Quay. Easy walk to ship at Overseas Passenger Terminal and all Sydney attractions.

We also stayed at the Four Seasons. Had an Opera House view and were almost directly across the street from The pier. We sailed on rccl from Seattle to Sydney and then Celebrity around New Zealand. Great trip. 

We are on the FOS week of December 1. All of our documentation from our travel agent shows Senior next to our name so I’m assuming we used a senior rate. I don’t know how much discount we received but received a great rate. 

As someone earlier said, we found that the first week of December had great prices. Flying into San Juan on thanksgiving day and obtained great airfare. We think someone must have cancelled because we were able to get the Royal Suite for a great price - And only booked a couple of weeks ago. 

We have used the Hampton Inn - booked 3 rooms and left 3 cars. Transport to and from the port was excellent. 

16 minutes ago, George C said:

If your in a grand suite or higher concierge should be sending you a email about 5 days before 

Thanks. We are. I’ll look forward to the email in a few days - were on the December 1 sailing. 

Greetings everyone. Is it possible to contact the concierge on a ship prior to boarding?  If so, does anyone know the email address for the Freedom of the Seas concierge. Thank you. 

As others have said, to each his own. For me, I never buy currency in the USA. Before I retired at the end of 2015 I traveled overseas extensively. I never sold currency back when I was leaving a country so I usually had a few of the local currency in my stockpile but usually it wasn't enough to get me much more than a sandwich or a cup of coffee. There are ATMs everywhere including virtually every airport. I also keep a few $100 bills in my wallet so if worse comes to worse I go to a currency exchange kiosk and buy a $100 worth of local currency. Virtually never end up doing that. ATMs are everywhere - use them.

The shuttle does not go up the the Cavalieri. I did a little digging and found this from the hotel for where the Rome shuttle stop is at:

 

"Via del Teatro Marcello n. 42 (opposite "Antico Caffé del Teatro Marcello"), very near to Piazza Venezia. The service runs every 2 hours, first departure from the Hotel is at 8: 00 am and then every two hours. Last service to the City center is at 10:00 pm. From Rome to the Hotel, first departure is at 9:00 am and then every two hours with last departure from the City center at 11:00 pm."

 

Depending, you could take a cab from the Cavalieri to one of the train stations and go to Civi from there.

I bit the bullet and paid for a private car from the airport to the hotel. Not cheap, but hey, I had free nights ;) I rented a car at the hotel and drove myself out, going to Florence.

You probably already know, but go over to the flyertalk.com HHonors forum and look at the latest scoop on the Cavalieri.

I took a quick look at flyertalk but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Am I missing something? Thanks.

If you've got the free night at ANY Hilton-family hotel, I'd definitely go for the Rome Cavalieri. It's a Waldorf=Astoria hotel. I stayed there 5 nights (I won a contest as an employee where I could stay 5 nights at any hotel). It's luxurious! First time I ever saw a "pillow menu" where I could choose from many different types of pillows!!! It is on top of the highest of Rome's hills. It has a great patio where you can sit out at night, enjoy a glass of wine and look out on the Rome cityscape. It has a very, very nice buffet breakfast, making it easy to get a filling meal before heading out to walk Rome. It provides shuttle service down the hill to Piazza Barberini where there is a Metro station, lots of HoHo busses, and also an easy walk to the Centro Storico. I did a combination of the shuttle sometimes and a taxi sometimes.

There is also the Hilton Claridge. I haven't stayed there. Go onto the flyertalker.com website, onto the Hilton forum and search for comments/reviews about it.

I've stayed out at the Hilton FCO airport and I do like it for my last night hotel if I have an early flight. There is a free shuttle into Rome, but I never used it.

I am a very loyal Hilton guy. Retired a year ago and have LOTS of points. Im diamond and will be for one more year. Do you have any idea of where the Hilton Airport free transport goes in Rome? I was thinking since the hotel is connected to the airport I might just walk over and take their transport into town. We are going to stay at the Cavalieri. Does it go there by chance? Also, when we go to the port ( I think we are on the same cruise as Len) would it be advantageous to take hiltons transport back to the airport and book transport to go to the port or just bite the bullet and book transport from the Cavalieri to the port? Thanks for all the good info. You are a wealth of knowledge and we appreciate your sharing it. David.

3 years ago we did a med cruise and Rome was one of the stops. I organized a tour with Rome Cabs for 8 people. Worked out to 125 Euro per person and we had a driver/guide for the day and a nine passenger Mercedes van. We told the company in advance what we wanted our itinerary to be and the driver picked us up ship side and headed out and we did just what we wanted and he dropped us off ship side. It was great.

Just off Celebrity Summit on Sunday. We also had not sailed Celebrity in quite a while. We were not at all impressed with Celebrity or that ship which I believe is the same class as Constellation. Diamond Plus is also Elite level on Celebrity. I'm sorry I spent the money for that sailing. In contrast, I love RCCL Voyager Class ships. JMHO

Greetings everyone. This is a good example of why we are all different people and have different tastes and that is a good thing - it keeps the world from being a boring place. The Summit is our favorite ship that we have ever been on. We've sailed her 3 times - once to Bermuda and twice out of San Juan. While we don't go to the cocktail receptions even though we are elite, I would say that the officers of this ship are often seen throughout the ship and throughout the day. It is not unusual for the Captain and senior crew to be in the buffet area having lunch.

We do RCCL on occasion and are grateful they gave us reciprocal Diamond status. In fact we are going on the Navigator next week and looking forward to it. We have also been on Freedom and enjoyed it greatly.

Everyone should do what they want to do! Some like these features and some like other features. That's what makes the world go round! David

Thay cannot do anything at check-in. Once you board, go to Guest Services and get extra keys for the guests that are changing rooms. Your TA is correct, this is done all the time.

Thanks, Bob. I was confident he knew what he was talking about. I told him I guessed it was ok as long as no one from our churches found out about our room arrangements! Thanks again.

Greetings everyone. My wife and I and another couple are going on a cruise together in a few days. My wife and I are Diamond (reciprocal status as we are Elite on Celebrity). Our friends have never been on a cruise.

When we booked our travel agent said it was his job to get us the best fare possible - sounds great, right? And he did. Since my wife and I are both diamond he put each of us in separate cabins. My friend is a volunteer firefighter so he got a discount and I'm a veteran so I got a discount. Long story short, our best combination was to put my wife and our man friend in one cabin and to put me and our lady friend in the other cabin.

I was very clear we didn't want to do anything unethical and this is where he assured me it was done all the time and that it was his job to get us the best possible fare. He instructed us to go to guest services once we are on board and they would straighten it all out.

I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to try and straighten it all out when we are checking in? If this is "done all the time" as our TA tells us then someone out there must have some experience with this. I know when we cruise with our kids and grandkids it is not unusual for each parent to be booked in with a child and when we get on board they go to guest services and get the keys arranged correctly.

Looking for advice and know our cruise critic community will have some! Thanks.

Holland America = old people. Nothing wrong with that, if it's the type of atmosphere you're looking for.

Greetings from Richmond, VA. Noticed in your signature you will be in Monaco for the F1 race in May. I was privileged to attend the race back in the late 70's. Mario Andretti won the race and won the F1 championship that year as well. The atmosphere in Monaco is electric that whole week.

Have a great time!

If you go early enough in April I'd suggest a sister ship to RCCL - Celebrity Summit out of San Juan. It is a very nice ship and midsize - I think about 2,200 passengers. It is port intensive with 5 ports and only 1 sea day per cruise. You can do a b2b and hit 9 ports - St Thomas is on both itineraries. We have done both - not a b2b but one each December for a couple of years. Highly recommend this option!

What you are saying is part of this saga .;)

 

Today August 25th the market showed a top gain of DOW 441 points ;but ended down 205 points .:o

 

There are market pros like Mark Faber who feels this US market can still drop 20 to 40 % due to US & Global slow downs & bubles,especially China.If that takes hold many people will loose a lot of money ;which will heavily impact the US economy & thus ,the cruise industry . More recession would hurt the cruise industry & imo lower prices:eek:

Those that are saying they got out of the market at the highs are very lucky. Unfortunately when you try and time the market you have at least two decisions to make - when to get out and when to get back in. I know a couple of people who got out in 2008 before the crash but have never gotten back in. They are much worse off than if they had never gotten out. Personally, I might tweak my asset allocation percentages but I never am totally out of the market.

As for Mark Faber he is a very knowledgeable and thoughtful investor. However, he has been saying since 2009 the sky is falling, the sky is falling. At some point he may be correct but he's already lost credibility over the number of times he's been so wrong.

Since we fly to every cruise embarkation port we almost always do B2B or B2B2B cruises. Just seems a more efficient use of the air fare.

 

The lowest number of B2B passengers between legs we've experienced as been 12 with the maximum number last spring on a B2B2B series when over 500 passengers were on both the second and third legs of that series.

 

While the procedures on turnaround day can vary greatly we've never had a difficult experience. When you receive your turnaround day instruction letter just contact Guest Relations if there are any questions. And remember that each cruise is separate for accounting purposes, so such items as unused internet minutes will not carry over to the next leg.

Your comment about internet minutes triggered a thought that I think I know the answer to but wanted to check. Since we are elite and normally get a "sack" of laundry each cruise, I'm assuming on the second leg we'll get a second "sack" each. This would be very helpful. Thanks!

We have booked our first B2B - sailing on the Solstice next year. We leave Singapore and sail to Sydney. Then staying on for a cruise around New Zealand ending up back in Sydney. We did book the same cabin and were told we wouldn't need to do anything with our "stuff" but there would be some procedures we would need to go through when the cruise changed over in Sydney. Looking forward to being on the ship for almost a month!

First, I'll admit to being a Celebrity loyalist. Having said that, we have been on 2 Carnival cruises and enjoyed them both - nothing at all to do with Carnival but the fact that we were with kids and grandkids. We can be on about any cruise line and have fun when we are with our family.

We have been on several Celebrity, getting ready to go on our 2d RCCL, just went on a Princess for a little variety and have been on one NCL many years ago.

Yes our preference is Celebrity. One reason that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread and maybe it is not that important but to me it is. On Celebrity you get one announcement a day. Either at noon or as you are leaving port after a day of touring. One! That's it! On Carnival it was every few minutes. One sequence I remember in particular - Bingo will be in 15 minutes and a few other inane comments by the CD. Five minutes later - Bingo will be in 10 minutes - make your way to the theater. Five minutes later - Bingo will begin in 5 minutes - you have to get your cards now to be ready. 4 1/2 minutes later - Bingo is about to start - you still have time to get your cards.

And it was on and on and on. It seemed like there were 25 or 30 announcements a day.

For what it's worth, the food was good on Carnival. The entertainment was good. But it was crowded!

Lots of reasons we like Celebrity, but just wanted to chime in as to the killer for us with Carnival.

I am looking at an excursion that includes the blue hole...but one question....do you have to jump in? I am not a swimmer and do not mind just hanging out but if being the deeper water is a must then I can't book this tour for the group.

Thanks

I went on this tour with my son-in-law and 3 grandchildren. They all jumped in all the places and had a great time. I did not jump and had a great time watching them have a great time!