_Rick_

New email:

Jim - I look forward to following along.  We are doing a similar cruise in April except a stop in San Diego instead of one of the Mexico ports - I don't remember which one.  We have not done a west coast cruise before so I don't know much about the ports.  We booked this cruise, in a CS, mainly to get the double points offer to push us closer to Elite+.  It will be nice to get your insights on the ports of call to help us figure out what to do.   Hope you guys have a great cruise and I guess we will meet you on the Hawaii cruise in 2024.  Bon Voyage!

Saved you 8 bucks.

7 minutes ago, njpln said:

any advice is appreciated…

You can call a member of the executive team I have spoken with previously at 316-554-5080.  Hope this helps.

Thanks mac_tlc.  Booked it.

1 hour ago, Guindalf said:

YouTube TV won’t work with a VPN.

Youtube TV does work with a VPN.  And I've used it on a cruise while connected with a VPN as well.

2 minutes ago, RichYak said:

My understanding is that you will keep whatever Azamara status you've obtained from Celebrity sailings taken prior to February 2023.

Thanks for that info.  I hope that's true.  I would like to try Azamara sometime.  We were looking at a Carib cruise on Azamara Onward, which is a retrofitted Princess ship, until we read the reviews here on CC.  I guess we will wait to make sure our loyalty remains and perhaps try another cruise in the future on a different ship.

Oh well, I guess I won't be booking the Azamara cruise that I was looking at for Dec '23 now as a S2S with Beyond.  IMO, this is a mistake, because they will lose a lot of bookings from X customers who would have tried Azamara if they retained their loyalty benefits - like me.  It's just as well I suppose, the reviews of the retrofitted ship from Princess were not good.

2 hours ago, roysue said:

The FBC agent told me if I wanted flexibility in the future, I should book directly with the airline.

The more you can do to minimize your exposure of your travel plans to Celebrity's inept and inflexible 'customer service', the better.

22 hours ago, BoneDoc said:

Booked on Hawaii to Vancouver April 2024, last I heard it was delayed due to Covid.

We are booked on that same cruise into an Aqua Sky Suite.  The cabin is currently a Sky Suite.  Per CruiseDeckPlans.com, it shows the cabin changing from SS to Aqua SS as of May 3, 2023. Since X allowed me to book an Aqua SS (which are not currently available) and not a SS that was also available at the time of my booking, then I assume there will be some improvements to the cabin at some point around this date to convert it to Aqua SS.  There is a note on this site that says 'Next drydock planned for Jan 2023. Celebrity will be changing category codes for this ship.'  So it seems some upgrades are happening Jan 2023 but perhaps not the full 'revolutionization'.

1. My wife and I are planning in 2024 in fly over to Hawaii from east coast, spend a about a week island hopping staying in still to be determined resorts . Then we are taking the NCL POA cruise for a week.  Then we're going to spend four days in Honolulu and catch the Celebrity Summit for the 11 day around Hawaii and back to Vancouver and fly home from there.  The cruises are booked, still looking at where we are going to stay on land.  Really looking foward to this trip.  Will be my first time in Hawaii.

Now for this same booking, the refundable fee has dropped to $1062. LOL.

The $6128 is 49% of the cost of the suite for the 11 day cruise.  It's Hawaii on Summit in 2024.  I will never pay more for the cabin than the amount to make the deposit refundable.  It doesn't make sense to me, even at an amount that is not an obvious mistake like this.  

I had already booked this cruise a three days ago for this same suite and there was a problem then because they did not include the Retreat package in an Aqua Sky Suite.  I had to call them to get it straightened out.  Two days later they fixed the problem on the suite booking to include the Retreat package but raised the price $1100.  To their credit they gave me the lower price with the package.  But customers should not have to deal with these glitches when spending thousands on cruises.  I wonder how many other non-informed customers booked this suite expecting to get the Retreat package, as it is prominently advertised during the booking process, but then will be upset when they get onboard and have no perks they were advertised to receive.

Celebrity needs to get their act together on fixing their booking process website.

X wants me to pay $6128 more for my Sky Suite so that my $900 deposit will be refundable.  Umm.... I think I'll pass.  

We made Elite on X last year with 3 cruises in the Retreat and a few PowerUp points during the year.  Now I'm also Diamond on RCCL with only 2 cruises/14 points.

I am on the same 16th cruise and I am cancelling tomorrow.  We've been on 3 cruises in the past year, on Celebrity, and I felt very comfortable then, but not now.  There's just too many unknowns and risks right now.  Flying and airports are a risk, both for cancellation possibilities and the health risk.  Cruising right now is in my opinion is too much trouble, not to mention having to wear a mask everywhere.  I would be worried the whole time of getting sick or quarantined and that's not my idea of a vacation.  I'll take the FCC and see what happens.  If NCL goes under or jacks up the prices to intolerable levels, I'll just take the loss.  And I would never cruise NCL again if they try to take advantage of their loyal customers - and I am Platinum level with them.  To be honest, I think that is what is going to happen considering the current prices of Haven rooms now versus what we paid a year or so ago.  Bottomline, our health is more important than money and going on a cruise, so tomorrow I am cancelling.

Anyone who has talked to NCL know...

What is the minimum time in advance we are able to cancel for FCC?  24 hrs?

If we use a travel agent do we have to contact the travel agent to cancel or can we contact NCL directly?

Thanks.

Thanks for the info, Jim!  We've already purchased some chips in advance so as to get the 10% bonus but will make sure we have them in hand during the first cruise.  That is if we haven't lost them already or converted them into 'real' chips or cash.

Jim or anyone... B2B Question: 

We're doing a B2B in October.  We have a lot of extra OBC on our first cruise and was going to buy casino credit pre-cruise with a portion of it.  If we then receive those chips on the first cruise, can we still use these chips on the second cruise in the casino?  This seems like a way to convert some of the OBC from the first cruise over to the second cruise.  

5 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

What are you missing? What are you missing?? What are you missing???

 

Are you really asking this question in all seriousness???

 

You are missing the fact that X is enforcing the laws of the countries in which they are docking, as an airline will do from an airport before one boards the plane.

 

What you are missing is the fact that the fines which the state of Florida may or may not enforce YET these international ports can ban X from docking there?

 

Giving up docking ports vs a silly and vindictive state Executive Order/law, ONLY IMO, I laud them for going with the 100% vaccination route as will quite a few others here on CC or not.

 

What you are missing, ONLY IMO, is that X will now not have to try and police adults who may choose to not be vaccinated, from getting off the ship in these ports and possibly losing privileges and fines and etc... or extreme hospitalizations as a result of an un-vaccinated passengers illness, should it be required.

 

What you are missing, ONLY IMO, is that X can fill cabins, quite possibly, with fully vaccinated passengers vs trying to wrangle compliance from adults who are not.

 

What you are missing, ONLY IMO, is that there will be quite a few of us past passengers who support this move regardless of Florida law and feel much better about sailing X, even given the potential of the break through factor.

 

In health and bon voyage

Thank you!  And that is why I said I am tired of seeing these threads (and got attacked and called a troll for saying it).  Let's discuss cruising and not political policy and the like. Please.  I thought threads such as these were against the rules anyway.  Let's cruise, friends.  Discussions such as these lead down a rabbit hole that many are tired of falling down.

Finally starting to move. Slowly

Still haven’t moved. 

Line is now 3 deep wrap and we haven’t moved. Embarkation was at noon. 

Waiting for a test at embarkation. 

It's the same one as yesterday