elena7seas

Hi Lois:

I just realized that I didn't reply to you. We are all well, thanks; hope you are the same.

Gerry's complaining a bit about the commute (it was 90 minutes last night....usually 45 minutes). He's really glad that we have the cruise in December to look forward to! Me too!!

Saving $1400. This cannot be a serious question

I think it's quite a serious question and one I might be asking too. To go from a C2 to an A2 (which is supposed to be a higher category), at a price drop of $700 per person, would leave me asking the question "is there a catch here that I don't know about?"

This is the OP's first Celebrity cruise, so I think coming here and asking the question is a good move on her part.

This is a fairly unusual situation for a cruise that is 10 months out (I believe).

I called Celebrity, thinking there might be an issue with losing perks from her initial reservation, but the Celebrity agent said that no, the OP would retain her perks. The promotion is apparently called FREE UPGRADE+, but I haven't seen this one advertised yet (probably because I haven't been looking :)).

Thanks Suzanne.:)

We have one of those spotlights with the 16 colours that fade from one colour to the next. The green dots are from a laser light that we use at Christmas to decorate. Gerry has given up climbing on ladders to put up Christmas lights, and the combination of 2 spotlights and 2 laser lights let him decorate outside in 5 minutes.

It was still fully light outside, so the coloured lights have much more punch when it's dark outside.

Here's the blue...

Hi A Sixth,

 

The OP's cruise is about 7-9 months away. That's why I feel they have a good chance of it happening.

And if the first person they reach at Celebrity says "no", I'd call again. And before I gave up, I would call the people at Captain's Club....1-800-760-0654.

Well, you kind of get the Hogwarts vibe!

Lets see if this is any better...

Oops....looks darker here...you can't see the details of the costume...but she is Hermione Granger. My favourite part is the wand that lights up!

Making an attempt here to upload a photo from Hallowe'en...

We live on a hill, so rarely have more than about 15 kids, and last night was no exception. Our neighbourhood is 25 years old and is fairly stable, so most children have aged out of our neighbourhood, and very few non-resident kids would choose our pair of cul de sacs. The kids that we had were very cute though. Usually we get a bunch of 12 year old boys with very limited costumes who are just in it for the candy, but we didn't get them last night. We mostly had 4 and 5 year olds, who are adorable.

Katie was our first trick-or-treater, and she had a full-on Hermione Granger costume, complete with illuminated wand that I drove to the States (Bellingham) to purchase. I couldn't find one of the illuminated Harry Potter wands here in Vancouver, The one I picked up at Barnes and Noble in Bellingham was a third of the price that I could get through Amazon.ca. I have to say, Katie was very pleased with her costume. :) I asked her if she was going to our Mall for their Halloween party, but she said, "Nana, I don't need THAT much candy!"

We decorated a bit with laser lights, coloured spotlights and candles, but didn't carve a pumpkin this year, for the first time ever.

Are you serious?

 

Two important points here - The port operates the embarkation staffing. Not the cruise lines.

 

US Customs does not clear ships in Vancouver CANADA. Canada does. This thread is crazy.

From the Port Metro Vancouver website:

http://www.portmetrovancouver.com/cruise/passenger-information/

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

As passengers embarking in Vancouver are considered to be entering U.S. jurisdiction once they board the cruise ship, you will go through U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The two times I have had issues at the Vancouver Cruise Terminal was because there were insufficient US Customs and Border Protection personnel available for the number of passengers. In both cases, there was no explanation given to the passengers as to why there were not enough US CBP agents on hand.

I know we all talk about Celebrity's web site short comings and I think this is another to add to the list.

 

When my Princess cruise was sold out, it simply showed SOLD OUT in all the columns. Same with my HAL cruises. But when both my Celebrity cruises sold out they disappeared off the web site. First time that happened I freaked out. In the end, especially with the popular Solstice Top End cruise, it just appeared and disappeared when the mood took them (or cabins suddenly became available).

 

I don't know why Celebrity cannot do the same as Princess and HAL, it couldn't be that hard.

I tend to agree with you. It would be much more straightforward if the cruise showed "sold out" instead of just having it disappear altogether. Plus, it would be a good message for Celebrity to send prospective cruisers...."don't wait until the last minute to book, if getting on a particular cruise is important to you, because it may sell out."

It certainly can be annoying when an identical stateroom is discovered to be available for less. But, take some solace that it is just the cruise line trying to sell excess capacity through lowered prices. Most retail businesses do the same thing. Buy a new TV last month and find out today that there is a sale to clear out inventory to make room for a newer model. Same with buying a car, clothing, etc. At least in this case the difference isn't too big.

The other thing to keep in mind is that cruise lines don't want empty cabins because empty cabins (a) don't pay gratuities, and (b) don't create any "on-board spend". The cruise ships certainly don't want to lower the cabin prices, but they don't really have much choice, and have to do whatever it takes to get bodies in beds. Apparently Royal Caribbean is trying not to offer last minute price drops in the Caribbean (as a trial run), and are opting instead to just take the hit, i.e.: (a) RCI guarantees a minimum wage to the tipped-out staff that normally receive 95% of their remuneration from tips (b) the loss of on-board spending revenue). Last I heard this wasn't working out too well for them, though.

So when I see a lower price after final payment, I try not to take it personally. If there isn't an upsell offer that I can take advantage of, I usually have booked at a price I can live with, and have the cabin and location that I wanted, and have had the time to make all of my arrangements in a timely way, which usually saves me a lot of money anyhow. Swings and roundabouts. :)

That really is a huge drop for an inside cabin.

While there are no refunds after final payment (even by OBC credit), I second the suggestion to call your TA, or call Celebrity yourself if not booked with a TA, and see if you can get a higher category cabin for yourselves.

What sailing are you on, and how many people will be in your cabin?

According to Arno's chart, it is just actually sold out for the last part of the month. Only 2 sailings a short and a long that month. The Feb 14-Mar 4 cruise is sold out. But the prior cruise may be open, 12 night Sydney to Perth, unless now it is sold out since he made the chart.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=47951553&postcount=68

Thanks for posting, Curt. I forgot about Arno's chart. It is so helpful. Thanks Arno, you are a ROCK STAR!

I called in to Celebrity and they told me that both cruises are "Code Red" but couldn't say if they were sold out or not, just that they aren't booking these cruises at present.

The Celebrity website isn't showing any cruises on the Solstice from February 2nd, 2016 to March 3, 2016.

Does anyone know what is happening with the Solstice during that period?

Any information would be helpful.

Thanks.

Does anyone know why Bonine was taken off the market in Canada? I have asked several Canadian pharmacists and no one knew.

Bonine works like a charm for me. Every other type of motion sickness medication I have tried has had unpleasant side effects of one sort or another. I use natural ginger, ginger tea, green apples and and/or sea bands but they only help when the motion of the sea is minor.

Hi Mariah. We won't be joining you on the constellation after all sadly. Eric had a mild heart attack on the silhouette and we are still in Rhodes and he is in the cardiac intensive care unit. I think he'll be fine but I don't see any more cruises in our immediate future! So have a drink at the Sunset bar for us!

Hi Cathy:

I am so sorry to hear about Eric's heart attack, but very relieved to hear that it is a mild one, and that you are expecting a full recovery. I will keep both of you in my thoughts and prayers.

Eileen.

I have the Jays/Royals game on, with the sound off. :)

As always, Andy, thank you so much for providing this information, and for the great service that you provide unfailingly to this community.

My hair is a tangled nightmare if I don't have good conditioner, so since Celebrity did the last change of products and removed the "Lemongrass" line, I have had to bring my own conditioner. The combination shampoo-conditioner-showergel-laundry detergent would never work for me. I would be spending an hour combing the tangles out of my hair.

Kathy, for the amount we saved booking Royal Caribbean for our Baltic cruise, and given that we were fairly pleased, we will now consider RCI when booking a cruise, which is a big change for us. I am glad you are enjoying your cruise, and that you feel that the service has improved on RCI. I am pleased to be able to have another cruise line to consider when faced with some of the pricing increases on Celebrity.

I love any kind of Asian food, so will often make that choice when it is offered.

I hope you continue to have a great time, and thank you so much for taking the time to check in here with us.

Rich, my husband is primarily a hockey fan (and player)...I might be wrong here, but I don't think of hockey as a particularly "nuanced" sport, so he probably isn't predisposed to appreciate the finer nuances of baseball. He is a golf fan though, and will watch golf on TV...honestly, talk about 15 minutes of excitement jam-packed into FOUR hours. :)

LOL Suzanne. :)

Gerry is not a great baseball fan. He says it's 15 minutes of excitement jam-packed into three hours. :)

I grew up back east in Ontario. We all played softball or baseball every day and the World Series was a big deal for everyone, so I still like baseball. It's fun to have a Canadian team still alive to cheer for, although who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Welcome back, Andy!! Very glad to hear you had a nice cruise.

I also would be interested in a comparative review. I find they are especially valuable to me when they come from someone whose perspective on Celebrity I am both familiar with, and respect.

Thank for taking the time. It is most appreciated!!

Do you wonder why Celebrity waits until the last minute to do things like cancel a port, despite the fact that they knew that there were problems in the region at least a week before? It's all because of the money. If they had cancelled the Israeli ports a week or more before the cruise was scheduled to depart, you can bet a very large number of passengers would have cancelled, especially those who had insurance that covered such things. But no, Celebrity decided to cancel the day before, so that made it impossible for people to cancel----most passengers were already making their way to Rome.

I was on the same Holy Land itinerary on the Silhouette in October 2014 and we did make the Israeli ports, but from June onward (before final payment) the situation was uncertain, and I think then, as now, almost everyone knew that there was a possibility that the Israel ports would be cancelled. Many people made the decision to cancel at final payment, but most did not. The people who did not cancel understood for the most part that Celebrity would proceed "with an abundance of caution" (as was evidenced on the Roll Call and the main Celebrity thread).

I am not as cynical as to think that Celebrity knew that they would cancel the Israeli ports, but chose not to cancel them a week or so before the cruise just to continue to book last minute cabins. I think that Celebrity knows that anyone who was still on the cruise really wanted to go to Israel, and held off cancelling as long as there was any chance that the ports could still be accessed without taking unacceptable risks. I am sure that Celebrity has access to much more current and detailed information than the rest of us as regards the advisability of sailing into any port, and I trust that Celebrity will always make the final decision with the safety of the passengers and crew at the forefront.

I understand the concerns of passengers who were not happy about the ports that were substituted, particularly if they had been to all of those ports before and I have empathy for their position. I'm not sure that Celebrity would have had a lot of options at the point that they finally have to make the decision to pull the Israeli ports.

It would be interesting to know what elements comprise the $500,000 costs to re-route the ship, as mentioned at the Captain's toast on the current sailing.

Thanks Suzanne :)....so reading between the lines, to "clear waivers" means that (a) the player has passed through the 24 hour period since he was placed on waivers, (b) was not claimed, © is now a free agent and (d) can sign with anyone that he wants to sign with. I am assuming that, during the waiver period (of 24 hours) he has to sign with whoever has claimed him. So the importance of "clearing waivers" is that he is now in charge of his own destiny. Sure hope I have that right. If not, just write me off as hopeless!! Thanks again Suzanne and Lois for trying so hard to help me out! Back to cruising business.

Hi Kathy:

I do love Quebec City....it is special...and I'm glad that there was still some colour for you.

That blue goo in the shower is pretty bad...I brought shampoo, shower gel and lotion with me as I had read about the blue goo.

The wifi on the Serenade in the Baltic was 90% non-functional, so I hope it is better for you. We bought the 24/7 packages for two devices and I think they gave us $40 per person discount. Was an entire waste of money, though as it never worked. Even if you tried to use the computers in the I-lounge, you couldn't get connected, even to the free RCi websites.

Our room steward never came to introduce himself either. Although service was good it's just a little bit better on Celebrity. But that's why I resist the small cuts they are making on Celebrity....I really want it to stay that "cut above".

How are you enjoying the MDR? We had problems with the Maitre d's, both at dinner and at breakfast, but we had great service at dinner, and the food was pretty good. The Coffee bar wasn't as good as Café al Bacio, but it was still pretty decent. Really missed the free coffees though!