Fly and Sail

Same on Rotterdam. This ticked me off, and I cancelled my drinks package mid-journey. Got a full refund for the remaining 4 days. Not dealing with this nonsense when I already overpay for drinks (I never order 15 drinks/day).

My dad suddenly had charged show up on his account and when i asked the F&B Director to produce the receipts there was one for two Heineken (same receipt) at 10:04AM - we were at breakfast during that time and the receipt said "card swiped". Makes zero sense!

11 hours ago, cccole said:

But...if your goal is to be invited into the President's Club your free or discounted cruises apparently do not qualify.  They may give star status but not President's Club status.  Cherie  

Fair enough, but there's nothing this club can give you that you can't get with a little money. I'd rather save tens of thousands of dollars by not buying cruises as a retail customer instead of getting lip service via some club membership 15-20 years down the line (IF I even live that long).

11 hours ago, Khlela said:

 

This is how I feel as well! I never understand when people want others to have less. Someone else having laundry service doesn't impact if other 4* individuals have it as well. How they earn it should be no ones business.

For others, 
Should it also be only for people who pay the highest amount? Should ALL discounts be excluded? Feel free to get upset if you don't receive the incentives you are promised, but maybe just focus on that and enjoying your cruise. The stars should be to give you perks, not something used to make yourself feel superior to others. We're all cruising to have a great time! Let's all just have a great time!

IMHO, it's simply not up to customers to dictate a company what marketing and financial strategy to follow. A company will always do what's best for their bottom line and if someone feels that peeved because another guest gets a casino comp, a free laundry or meals then be my guest and sail with Carnival. Or - since Carnival follows the same strategy - take a ferry somewhere.

On 5/6/2024 at 11:49 PM, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

You have to pay the fair to earn Mariner's days.

I assume you mean that you have to pay a base fare for Mariner status. Based on practical experience, I disagree. It might be somewhere in the rulebook, but in reality, you get your points on comps. And you definitely get them and are entitled to them if you pay any kind of upcharge to the higher cabin which will then be the base fare.

8 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

@cccole  The casinos are run by another company.  HAL benefits from onboard spending of the gamblers in the shops, bars, upscale dining venues.

 

The best * benefit is 4*, free laundry on every cruise for 4* cruisers….a goal worth achieving for many!

The casino is operated by Carnival Casino Operations (CCO) so comped cruises are initially a marketing expense. Left pocket, right pocket. At the end of the day, HAL is owned by them (Carnival).

What's even worse is that HAL allows smoking in the casinos (at least on the Rotterdam). I have played the first two days and then stopped going because my clothes now reek of smoke to the point of me getting sick. I banished them to the balcony.

On 2/27/2024 at 11:40 PM, tinawhitecar said:

Free does not mean zero dollars.  We travel with another couple that gets casino rates. In the end , they only paid slightly less than we did.  

Casino Rates aren't really something to look for. I only travel when it's totally comped and only taxes apply. Then you can add a beverage package, wifi and the Thermal Spa Pass.

That's pretty common among all cruise lines. I'm Celebrity Captains Club Elite Plus from my 13 free cruises.

Chances are these gamblers pay more for their cruise in losses than revenue passengers do paying cash.

On 1/13/2024 at 1:00 PM, dleahy4444 said:

Thank you for your response. I don't have the same offers. I wonder if it’s because we are different tiers. I suspect my account is still messed up. Any Amethyst tiers cruisers out there? What was your latest offer? 

My offers have been garbage for all of 2023, now getting a few better ones but with BCC now charging a single supplement or respectively a discounted fare for the second person in the cabin they can go to hell. Another problem is that all my offers for for cruises ex Florida - I live in Asia..

On 3/1/2024 at 4:27 AM, itsnotjustme said:

There is no such thing as a hot machine.  Each spin is independent and random from other spins.  Yes, at times more wins - or more losses - are close together, but that is just randomness, not a machine being hot or cold.

Overall, yes, but some machines that have maxed out jackpots and jackpot features keep returning better results until they cashed out that bonus and "leveled off" again.

Were you actively playing for that amount or trying to generate credit card points?

On 7/10/2023 at 9:14 PM, horseymike said:

Tier 1 - loser

Tier 2  - big loser

Tier 3 - bigger loser 

 

🤣🤣🤣

Tier 4 - ME! 😄

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

We visited the La Brea Tar Pits Museum in downtown Los Angeles.  When I went to graduate school in the Los Angeles area, I was blown away by the idea that smelly tar pits existed in a metropolitan area.

 

 

Here is a photo of one of the largest tar pits.  Although not evident in the photo, you could see a steady stream of gas bubbles rising to the surface.

 

Several pre-historic animal remains are found in the tar pits such as the mastadon:

 

Not sure how people can work with the public watching them behind a window:

 

Nice! I used to live a few blocks away, like 15 years ago, and I always enjoyed coming here.

You can assign these when you do the check-in for your sailing and again when you do the final check-in on the app on the day of departure.

This is highly superior compared to what HAL does to passengers which is pretty annoying (their app sucks too).

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

LOL.  But they are sending sand and bottom debris all over the place in a protected wildlife area.

 

A captain without any common sense?  It would not be the first time...

I would take the expertise of a Captain employed by RCCL/X over the "expertise" of people on an online messaging board any day. And common sense as well. 😄

1 hour ago, Tharkhold said:

 

Same here... gotta get to 3000 somehow 😉

 

I'm extremely surprised that celebrity rounds UP for any partial points.

 

 

The real problem with having a level as high as Zenith is that it fosters a huge expectation, but you'll eventually be let down by the reality that this status really isn't all that great. Just like Lufthansa HON Circle.

9 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

My DW won $10 on one of the machines she did not do well on last cruise.  As we were leaving a lady asked us if we had won on that machine, and I said yes.  Can’t remember the name but it’s the $0.01 machine with the dollar bills on the starboard side of the ship. 

 

 I plan to hit the Dragon Lights machine while she’s in the SPA in about an hour. 

 

 

I'm eagerly awaiting your report of the handpay. However, as far as Dragon Lights is concerned you should only play it when the number of potential free games is very high. You need to change the bet sizes a bit and see how the display changes to the most advantageous one. That's how I ended up with the $700 on our last night.

Thanks for impressions of the casino! I always take my videos and photos when the casino is closed, which makes for a much better experience as nobody hassles me. 😄

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

This is one of them?

Yes, exactly that one. Play the $1,28 or $1,76 that way you won't get into too much trouble and the payoff is pretty good. Especially this machine, a $50 mini is ripe for the picking!

The cruises up around the UK and the Nordics are more active and less dressy in general.

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

We received our disembarkation instructions and luggage tags last night and I have included the scan of that document below as well as the Celebrity Today for today.

Last year we had to go through FULL immigration at Long Beach and the line of passengers was endless. It took forever. Try to get off as soon as possible!

On 4/30/2024 at 1:09 AM, DaKahuna said:

 

 You can count on it.  The one you kept winning on never treated me well the whole cruise.  Then again, I did not fare any better on any of the others.  The roulette wheel was the only one that paid off for me. 

 

Fu Dao Le & Dragon Lights. The only paying machines on the vessel.

Has the Summit been "Revolutionized" yet? Hearing about all these maintenance issues makes me quite wary of it.

57 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Me and you both and I am a couple of days away from embarking on Millennium again. 

Going to see how your favorite slot machine treats me. 

 

If those two are still there, please go and donate a couple bucks.

Love following along, I'm missing last years voyage on the Millie already (and the casino).

Have fun!!

12 hours ago, albingirl said:

I always thought it was strange that they leave key cards outside your stateroom door.  First of all, that is your key card for drinks and other very important things that matter.  Casino isn't open but you could charge a boatload of drinks on that card.  Never mind, just thinking of mischief and mayhem.

There is plenty of security and CCTV on the ship. Not the ideal place for any kind of shenanigans.