Joker54

my experience has been both in this past year where I get a ticket to sign and then I don't. Haven't figured out why that is, but some would still tip extra. It has happened a lot when we were in an all inclusive suite where the specialty dinner didn't cost us anything but we received a check to sign. Though we didn't get a check to sign on our last cruise when we were in the PH. Now the question is - who gets that 18% that is tacked onto the bill?

I just don't see how its possible for 8 or 10 different individuals to learn the things we enjoy on day one or if at all the same way a dedicated butler did. My expectation is that any tips are pooled amongst the group similar to that of the associates that work in Luminae. If we receive service worthy of tipping, we will tip the group via one person and not 10 individual associates. This reminds me of something else that Celebrity does that I find truly annoying. When dining at a specialty restaurant there is a place on the check for a tip. Many believe that tip to be treated the same as at any restaurant in the world where it goes to the waiter or pooled amongst associates in that restaurant. I have been told many times by waiters not to leave an extra tip on that check as they never see it, the tip goes into the general tip fund. Unless this is incorrect then having that tip divided up in the general tip fund is another bait and switch. Leaving a tip is supposed to make the associate feel better and have a little financial recognition for excellent service. In this case the tip is there to make us feel good - thinking we have done something nice for that waiter. I understand its possible that I don't have the correct story, I have asked many managers in all of the ships about it and have received a variety of answers and explanations. Cheers

The post-pandemic vacation craze will also come to an end from both financial and availability to go on holiday. My thoughts are we have about one more year and then some folks will have moved on or no longer be able to go on holiday for a variety of reasons. Then some cruise lines may find they have more capacity than travelers.

There was no research, it’s just a buzzword that goes with the kool aid. years ago right after USAirways bought American all of the travelers with status received an email that said they conducted a survey and found that first class travelers preferred to work on their flights rather than have meal and that they were cutting meal service. Same stuff…. Research. That lasted about a month and all of a sudden meals were back. I was a biz traveler in those days on planes every week of the year……

Called the Retreat Desk and the agent had no idea about this change and had to read through what ever documentation they have available. She did see where this is happening on the Silhouette starting 15 Aug. She read that the butlers are being replaced by a "Retreat team". I asked about this "Retreat Team" whether or not that was a new team of associates or would it be the 2 or 3 Retreat Hosts. She said it would be a team different from the Retreat Hosts. Sounds like they haven't done a good job of preparing the agents about this change. So its not just the customers - and this information is a bit different from what others have mentioned they were told. We are back to back in SS this October so I guess we will see then. Cheers

A bit off topic but I couldn't resist making this post. We also book into EV, IC along with all of the other suites classes. Our last experience in a Edge Villa was interesting and not in a good way. We will never book one on a Transatlantic again. Ship hit some moderate seas and the heavy sliding glass door to the bath room was sliding back and forth with a lot of force and no way for us to stop it, I seriously thought it was going to break. It finally jammed in the open position and to be sure it didnt move again the crew's solutions was: Take 2 bathrobe belts, tie them together, and then tie the door handle to the faucet in the sink so the door would no longer move. That said its a bad design and not the crews fault for that, but the temporary solution was both hysterical and sad at the same time. Cheers

Agreed. We have been very lucky. The VP we used for 6 years was promoted recently, but she was able to hand pick a replacement and set us up with a new VP which is as good as the she was. We were just spoiled and very luck for those last 6 years:)

These types of issues are why we use a celebrity vacation planner and always the same vacation planner. We know a lot of folks prefer outside T/A's. Celebrity doesn't assign a specific vacation planner (VP), we just refuse to make a booking with anyone else. When we find a cruise online, we put it on hold then contact our "VP" to make the booking. When these issues pop-up we just send our planner an email with a brief description and the planner is all over it - she as access to managers and has been very diligent. She has resolved every issue we sent her way - so we don't spend anytime on hold, or talking with a variety of CSA's. We don't experience the frustration that goes with dealing with CSA's that can't resolve an issue. This works for us - but Celebrity needs to train their CSA's better and not have customers waiting on to speak with someone that most often cannot resolve the issue. Cheers

We boarded the Apex for a transatlantic on the 22nd, they were only allowing 2 bottles of wine per cabin and were confiscating the excess at the security screening shore side, meaning you would not get it back at the end of the cruise. First time we have been questioned about how many bottles of wine we had Cheers - now back to cruising:)

Greetings, we have sailed the Edge and the Apex. We enjoyed both but prefer the Apex since X tweaked the design a bit. We are also on this sailing, staying 5 days in Amsterdam then flying to London and taking the 12 day Scandinavian cruise on the Silhouette. We are looking forward to seeing your report on the train from Rotterdam into Amsterdam. We thought about that but lucked out that one of our tour guides from Tours by Locals is headed to Amsterdam that morning and is providing transport for us (for a small fee of course). Hoping our paths will cross on the TA Cheers Steve

Ship: Apex Length of Cruise:15 Cruise Sail Date: 22 April 2023 Date email offer received:last week Captain’s Club Tier Elite-Plus Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: Direct Current Cabin: EV Bid? Yes/No: No General Comments (offer details, etc.) Minimum bid for Iconic $5600 pp Minimum bid for Penthouse 2000 pp For those who are wondering if bid prices are reduced closer to sailing times - they are. The above prices are 20% lower than what the initial offer showed. Still too much money to move up from an EV

Sorry for the late reply but I just saw this We were in 12101 on the Edge the first year she went in service. We never heard anything from Luminae, actually never heard any noise from outside the suite! It was a great experience for our family Cheers

Since most of us in the world have differing tastes, interests along with those things we value enough to spend big bucks on. markb provided the best answer and that is - "it's unanswerable" We have been in a variety of suites on all 3 classes of ships as well as AC rooms. We prefer the S class over E for a variety of reasons Pay restaurants that we enjoy - Murano, Lawn club, the Porch, Tuscan We prefer Michaels club over the retreat - the retreat is to much library like for us on the Edge and Apex- and have yet to sail on Beyond. Honestly we like the old u-shaped bar in Michaels that has been replaced by small bars on some S class ships. We do enjoy the brighter colors and lighting. On E the Martini bar is central to everything and everyone with not nearly enough seating and the noise level impacts the Fine Cut steak house and Raw on 5. The retreat on the bow is fun, not enough shade. It's great for us in suites. Not so great for our friends not in suites. The S class may not have the same retreat deck but everyone can enjoy the observation lounge. For those of us who enjoy the Sunset bar, its unbearable on a sunny day on the Edge and the Apex, the pictures of the Beyond's Sunset Bar look pretty awesome. We doubt that you will ever see a breakeven between a suite and an AC room even with the perks. Your paying for the special treatment, the space, Butler etc. There is 1 perk that is worth mentioning - Dining times in specialty restaurants. When in a Royal or higher all dining times are pretty much available. They always reserve the better times for the upper level suites. Cheers Steve

In our 3 previous spring transatlantic's the pools were always in use with good crowds. The Solarium is always pleasant if not too warm occasionally. Always good to have a wind breaker or the ability to layer a little. We did have dinner at the lawnclub 1 night on a transatlantic and it was freezing. With the wind (blowing a gale at that moment) and a low outdoor temp the cooks were warming their hands over the grill. They provided blankets and glasses with warm water to help keep our hands warm. There were a couple of other folks dining the their that night. We found it to be a pleasant evening despite the wind and cold. Most of the other days the weather was nice enough to not need jackets. Everyone has a different threshold for hot/cold. What might be pleasant for us might be very uncomfortable for others. Hope others offer some of their experiences as the weather can be different. Not sure where the second cruises is off too after the ship arrives in Rotterdam, might be worth a jacket for that cruise? Cheers Steve

Greetings George We were in the Penthouse on the Edge a few weeks back and had another couple join us since our kids bailed on us. Curious what your thoughts were on the second bedroom? The couple with us pretty much lived out of their suitcases do to a lack of shelves and small closet. There were some other odd things about that room but no need to discuss here. Overall we had a grand time and so our friends. Thought I would add a note about the Iconic since it was mentioned earlier. Our 'all grown up' kids did join us for a cruise and we were in the Iconic on the Edge. It's a lot of money but for us we saw it as a one time event and absolutely loved it. There is 1 issue with that suite - with all there is in the veranda and in the suite we didn't venture out and about much on the ship. We have sailed in AC, and other suites. We enjoyed them all and always have had a great cruises and made some really awesome friends! Cheers Steve

Thanks for the reply, that is what I also had to do. I still get feedback from my original contact but it really doesn't seem the issue received the attention that I had hoped for Cheers

Did your account ever end up displaying properly? They are still working on my issue. My wife's account was good yesterday, as of of today she is now showing zero points. I know they are working on it as I get updates....fingers crossed Cheers

Thought I would post one more follow-up to the issues I am having. I was quite surprised when I received a call this afternoon, a Sunday and less than 24 hours after I emailed Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. I never expected to be contacted this quick. They are still working to correct the issue where our Captains Club account shows zero points. They have made an appointment to follow-up with me in a few more days. I am ecstatic that someone is looking at the problem and that I wont have to spend 2 more hours on hold listening to the repeating 90 second marketing recording:) Cheers

Yes and no. After I was transferred to the Captains Club # and and after another 100 minutes of being on hold the Celebrity phone system disconnected me. So I sent a note to Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. I did log out of the app and back in and that resolved the issue of getting my Xpass into my IOS wallet. And now I only see one cruise greyed out in the app. Will be interesting to see how long before or even if I get a reply. I logged in this morning and its still showing zero points. We have cruises in Feb, March and a Transatlantic in April. We have seen a few threads relating to reduced service on Celebrity. We know from our cruise last month that the menu in Raw on Five has been dumbed way down. The quality in Fine Cut wasn't as good as in previous cruises. We are thinking about starting to cruise on Regent, will see how these next 3 cruises go. Cheers

I am having the same issues as others in that the online account shows no points, it does show my 13 upcoming cruises and the 18 past cruises. We tried to load our Xpass's into the celebrity App and found that several of our upcoming cruises were grayed out and listed at the bottom, some were still showing in white. We couldn't do a thing with our cruise in the app. I was lucky that I only waited for 20 minutes to speak with an agent. for the next 25 minutes I continued to have to repeat the issues as the agent couldn't understand the problem. She contacted IT who suggested we remove and reinstall the app. That may have some impact but it wouldn't resolve the issue of the online account which showed zero points when we have 2023. The agent said we only had 900 points. Crazy so after realizing I wasn't going away without a solution she transferred me to the Captains Club. (still on hold) I originally called the web support number. I realize the call center folks are not computer professionals but wow! Will add follow-up comments if I happen to succeed in getting this resolved short of having to email Lisa Lutoff-Perlo Cheers