Joker54

Doing a bit of searching the internet on this topic I found this site that is supposedly from the ministry of tourism https://www.indonesia.travel/cruise/en/laws-and-regulations On that page they show this paragraph related to visa free entry. Unfortunately the web page inst dated I have no idea of this is true or not but worth looking into a little more Passport Passports must be valid for more than 6 (six) months since the date of entry. 1. Visa Free (up to 30 days) Nationals of 169 countries *) are eligible for a visa-free visit of up to 30 days, with condition as follows: it is not extendable, you must leave after 30 days is up. it is not granted for the journalist/media to do coverage in Indonesia. no working or study is allowed Cheers

There is a difference in how a minibar is stocked. If you are in an all inclusive suite (signature suite or above) only contains the items you request such as vitamin water, beers, etc. those suites are also stocked with 2 full sized bottles of liquor that you select pre cruise. We have sailed in every suite class other than a CS. When in a high end suite our minibar has never had snacks. The butler brings those upon request. I admit that when we have been in an SS we didn’t look in the minibar as we knew it was not included and had no plans to use any of the contents, and never asked our butler to do anything special related to the SS mini bar, so those may have had snacks and mini liquors.

Just took this screen shot of the amenities for a royal suite. Beer water and soda stocked daily. That’s the minibar so it’s still included

The rule we live by is that no one can say yes if you don’t ask, and if the answer happens to be no it’s not the end of the world and the word no isn’t painful cheers

Unless there has been a recent change, signature suites and above have the free mini-bar

Just to be clear, you read 8 pages of boring posts????

I hope it works out well for you and your family. I noticed you are looking to X to have cruises with less children. X of course has recently shortened a few cruises and has more cruises at 7 days or less for the future. X says those changes were made to accommodate more families. Which may mean more children cheers

They are and it's evident that they went with designers that haven't a clue about ships. I could add a lot more but this is off topic and I don't want to hijack the thread any more than I have

I'm not sure you could check in with a name of TBD, I know they want the passengers name to match their passports. My question is why wouldnt you want the correct name of that passenger on the booking?

We did the TA this past April on an EV on the Apex. The perks were typical of the high end suites and we had no complaints - service was excellent - except for 2 things there is a sliding shelf in the bathroom the slides left or right allowing an opening to see out from the bathroom, nice touch, however there isnt anyway to "lock it in place" so if you get in any weather it will slide in both directions with a rather loud noise when it hits the end of the track. We just shoved wash clothes into the grove to hold it in place. Also the glass door to the bathroom, is very heavy and held in place by magnets. The magnets are not strong enough to hold it in place - bad design. Since the EV is forward and high any ship motion is amplified. If the she heads into a sea then that door will open and close, in our experience on the TA it did so rather violently until it jambed in the open position. That said we would book that suite again just not on a TA

Im thinking that with only one question to be asked, mine would be "all of the recent cutbacks and changes to Celebrity seem designed to boost revenue and make Celebrity more like RCC, if that is the case why not let the Celebrity executive go and merge the lines and save more money and get the nickel and diming over with!" Of course that would never get mentioned and would only make me feel better for a few seconds after submitting it:)

Yes they have that right still doesn't prevent them from notifying their customers of changes - of course it would be easier if their IT department had a clue, they cant even figure out whether to email me, my wife, my daughter or my nephew. My daughter and nephew are not on any of the now 9 cruises that we have booked, but they still get emails about the booked cruises....... I think its called public relations......... Cheers

I have been a bit puzzled at the targeted age group, yes I am at the high end of the 60's and have many more vacation years left. My issue is why not target those in the 50's - no need to go to a younger crowd. We also prefer longer cruises which seems to be going away. We are considering going back to flying to destinations and staying at B&B's or upscale hotels which is how we traveled when we were in our 40's and 50's. We were also on the Equinox in Jan of 25 and it was a bucket list cruise, then we just read where a Nola cruise was shortened from 12 to 8 days to accommodate families. Add up charging for some items in Luminae, vaping in casinos', where will it end........

Thought I would toss out a few additional items not related to the main topic but reflect recent price increases and customer service changes. Apologies to the Mods if this inst appropriate We were booked on the Equinox for an Antarctic cruise in Jan 2025, that cruise is being canceled due to the home port changing for the Equinox. The "Express" notification had the usual corporate koolaide about not wanting to impact our vacation. The email said that all deposits would be refunded within 30 days and if you rebooked another cruise you would get an extra 200 obc for a non suite and 400 obc for a suite. What they didn't tell us is that they are about to mass cancel those bookings and while you get your deposit refunded if you book after its canceled you have to pay the now current deposit. Our cruise was a future cruise with a 200 deposit. So if we dont rebook before it gets canceled we would be on the hook for a 900 nonrefundable deposit and the "booked on board" perks will drop off and not be reinstated. As for price increases - we are in the Iconic on the Beyond Jan 24, there is only 1 room left on that cruise and its a Penthouse - which if you booked it today you would pay more for that PH than we paid for the Iconic............ Its a popular cruise so the price might be justified but just seems a bit high for a PH with zip for a balcony... Cheers

We were in an Edge Villa this mast March on the Apex and in the Penthouse on the Equinox last Nov. The breakfast menu for both of those suites was much different from the breakfast menu's we had recently in junior suites. I have no idea what restaurant the food came from, but in the EV or PH you could get steak & eggs etc at no charge. When we were in a SS the breakfast menu was from Luminae and had about half the items as the menu in the EV or PH

I received my call as well last night. Surprised as I didn't expect to receive one. I wasn't given a number to call, but was told to bring it to management on the ship if I wasn't happy. Unless a member of the team is really out of line, I don't see me complaining to management as its not the teams fault that they were put into that position. I would complain about the change to the team concept, just not the person. I was very polite on the call, poor gal isn't a decision maker. She took copies notes on her computer as I was talking, she had me pause here and there so she could take down accurate notes. That gives me the impression that someone is interested in what we are saying. I asked about Butlers being caught up in a RIF and she said no that all of the existing butlers still have jobs, those that were not kept in a butler role was absorbed into a different department. I do hope that is true.

We will be Zenith in November if we keep that cruise. We still book shore excursions a lot, shop here and there. We don't do excursions in the Caribbean as have been to those islands so many times. So we admittedly enjoy the "yacht" while everyone else is ashore. And we take 10 to 12 cruises a year. You would probably have a heart attack if you knew how much money we give X every year.

Thank you for answering my question. I worked in the telecom engineering field for the same contracting company for 22 years. I have 2.6 million miles on just one airline, doesn't count all the others I flew. I was in the first group of Diamond-for-life members with Hilton. I retired 2 years ago after working my way to the C suite. Not only do I understand the hospitality business, I also understand how demanding customers can be in the business world. All of the above said, I still disagree with you. You wont find any post from me complaining about the food. You will find one post where I complained about the noise in Luminae on an E-Class ship since it affects my hearing aids in a really bad way. Cheers

Thank you, amazing how some things work out. We have yet to try the MDR but plan to give it a go in October

Thank you! No one can say YES if you dont ask. That question will be on my list of questions for my vacation planner Cheers

Your expectations and ours are different. And yes I may have rebooked on principle. We are not fans of the E-class ships and these days spend very little time in the retreat lounge. We also hardly ever ever dine in Luminae (E-Class), tending to eat more in specialty restaurants. My military career ruined my hearing and my hearing aids do a great job but not in really noisy environments. The noise is loud enough in Luminae on the Apex that is painful. I also do not find the prime rib dinner example to be a relevant comparison. I am curious what industry you work in?

Can we get along without a dedicated butler, of course. Like others have said, I expect some sort of communication after they make a perk change after I have paid in full. The change isn't the problem its how it was/is being done. We could have booked in an aqua class room and been just as happy for less money, but that option isn't available since the cruise is paid in full.

Thank You - it was very interesting and I enjoyed a few of his other videos. You have saved us a cruise we probably would not have enjoyed. We are both retired and our kids are in their 40's. We have no problem with children and are happy many cruise lines cater to families. Also happy a few cater to those of us who prefer a more quite cruise experience. Hope that isn't offensive to anyone. Just wish Regent hard larger suites - oh well. For the money a high end suite costs, one could get 2 biz class airline tickets to most anywhere in the world, spend 2 weeks in a 5 star hotel like the Conrad, dine in some amazing restaurants and still have money left over. Which is how we traveled for years and to many far away destinations. We only started cruising in 2016 enjoying the "we only have to unpack once" vacation. There are pros and cons to both types of vacations - cruising or flying to a destination Cheers

"May" being key here. Not knowing the ratio of guests to team members its a huge swag. And I'm fine with the team concept if they throw some onboard credit my way (nothing huge, it's the gesture that would make me happy) for reducing the service after I paid in full. Getting a notification would also be a huge help. As others have said - I am concerned for the butlers being let go. I am hoping that the butlers I know and have had are safe with the company as long as they wish to be. I am thinking I have hit the max on posts on this thread. I will grab my bag of popcorn now and just lurk:) May everyone have Fair Winds and Following Sea's

They are, but they work long hours and I have yet to find a need to call them after 8pm or so. When they are on break they have one other butler that will take their calls. Not quite the same service as your own but the system works well - at least that is our experience