Smmessineo

2 hours ago, Buckeye94 said:

I read that as "Metallica Party" and thought, "wow, Celebrity is really going after a different customer." 😂 🎵"We're off to never-never land! 🎵

Now I'll have Enter Sandman stuck  in my  head for the rest of the night. Thanks😁🙄

On the original subject though... I have a gold sequin blouse and a silver metallic dress. I'm ready !

We do. We take our drinking seriously, which is why we tip extra. 😁 

I know the drink package has the tips built in, but it feels right to give extra for the great service, well- made drinks and friendliness of the vast majority of bartenders. 

We start at  $1 per drink per person, and if after a day or so things are awesome or we are spending more time at a particular bar, we'll throw $5 in randomly. The exception is this....if after a couple of days there's a bartender who consistently stinks, we'll stop tipping  extra to that one person. That is RARE. 

17 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

@GenerationX thanks for the final review. We are in a SS on the Ascent in a couple weeks, along with @Mrs_Tiki and other CC folks. At this point I do plan on doing a “LIVE” while onboard. 
 

This will be our first SS since the myriad of changes, none of which seem good, but we will let our experience form our final opinion. Although, at the current prices, we will not be booking any Retreat experiences. We got this sailing at what now appears to be a ridiculously low price, and we snagged a very similar price for the 1/4/2026 Xcel sailings. Absent prices like that, we will sadly bid adieu to the Retreat. Too bad, we could have been very happy continuing our time on Celebrity. 
 

Hope to sail with you again, our plans are always in my signature.

 

Thanks again,

mac_tlc

We're on the January 21 cruise with you! It's the second half of a b2b . Looking forward to your live review😃

We never felt the need for Aqua or Suite cruises, but couldn't resist  those crazy deals... Aqua on Ascent and the Xcel in  a suite .  

From everything I've read lately on CC, I understand why loyal Celebrity suite fans are looking for better options. 

13 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

I’m just saying it’s odd it’s the exact same starting price of $2325 per person as the apparent pricing mistakes on a Jan 2024 Ascent cruise and a Jan 2026 Xcel cruise that were quickly pulled back. Virtually every other similar itinerary for both started at over $4000 per person. If it’s an error and not getting booked rapidly it may go unnoticed a while. 

Now I have to look at that !  I managed to grab both opening day deals :  on  the January 21 2024  Ascent and the January 4  2026 Xcel at those great prices, thanks to wonderful Cruise Critic people 😃

25 minutes ago, ymncruise said:

I’ve had that happen. Your promos dropped off. You can have them restored and it will fix the cost. 

Yes. This happened to me recently, a week or so after final payment was made  suddenly owed 1500 dollars. It was after I went online and added an event to the reservation ( celebrating an anniversary) . I had booked directly with Celebrity, and the rep quickly corrected it and confirmed that  it's a  stupid programming issue 😆 and .all "expired" promo codes sometimes drop off when you refresh a reservation by changing dining time etc  It's not even that it rebooks you at current rates , it just eliminates all promos and your reservation just shows the basic rate, no discounts.

She had restore  all those promo codes.

To the OP.....have your travel agent get on it  and explain this to them. 

1 hour ago, kittyraptors said:

Trying to plan a cruise with my cousin, brother, and friend for 2024! Looking at a Western cruise in May. 

 

2023 was a doozy of a year - my husband cheated on me and we're getting divorced.

 

I am looking forward to 2024 surrounded by family and friends who love me. Time to celebrate the end of a shitty thing and welcome in new, fun memories!

Oof. That's a tough year. I hope you get that cruise planned! You're right, making new memories will help put a crappy 2023 behind you.  And I always find the planning and anticipation that leads up to a cruise is exciting and can push away  bad thoughts.

I hope you have a great 2024.

13 hours ago, Oldnatsfan said:

I am new to the Cruise Critic community. Where can I find information so that I can reply to some of the postings and some of the replies to my questions?

Welcome to Cruise Critic. I joined back in 2003 before our first cruise.  I have learned an incredible amount of info that has definitely improved my cruise experiences. 

I've also "met" amazing people here, who share their time, knowledge, humor and joy with us. And over the years , I've missed some regulars who left CC , and even shed a few tears for people we lost who I never met in real life. 

Have fun and keep asking questions. Everything you ask helps others, too.  

And even the complainers can be fun sometimes😀

Happy New Year Bill and all my fellow CC participants!

It's a year of new cruising experiences for us ! 

The Ascent b2b later this month....our first time in Aqua Class .

HAL Rotterdam for 9 days end of March....first time on HAL in 18 years.

The Eclipse b2b2b Iceland and Canada...first time for many things.

The Equinox in December. First time on Celebrity from Port Canaveral .

My resolution for 2024 is to remember every day how lucky I am to be able to do these things. 

Bon Voyage !

3 minutes ago, peterde said:

Does the sunset bar that sell cigars provide lighters and cutters also?  I may want to partake in a cigar but I do not bring along any of my accoutrements along. 

At the Sunset bar, usually any other cigar smoker will happily share their lighters or cutter. And I have seen bartenders provide a light, but don't know if it's guaranteed. 

1 hour ago, mickey89 said:

Our opinion of the same cruise, we were B2B boarded 21st Nov. and departed 10th Dec  :-

 

• Never seen so many scooters in all my life and the size of people.....oh!
• The crew on the whole were very good.
• OVC was a place to avoid, food quality poor.
• Cafe al Bacio was Ok, not crowded most of the time.  Coffee never hot even when asked.
• Entertainment ...... worst ever. 
• Cruise Director ....loud and brash.
• Disembarkation was a nightmare outside the Terminal with little organisation.
• Classic bev..... down graded, wine choice almost non-existant.

Unfortunately we book a February 2024 cruise a year previous, not looking forward to it, so disappointing.

Definitely will be our last Celebrity Cruise, penny pinching to the extreme.

 

Sorry but I really have nothing good to say, we turned Elite plus during the first cruise so really can state that the decline of Celebrity is astonishing.   Maybe other Cruise Lines are following the same path.......

 

While your criticisms of the ship and sailing might be valid, opening your list of complaints with a mention of your fellow guests' mobility and weight makes me take the rest of what you say with a grain of salt.  

We were on the Equinox at the end of October, for us  the only weak spot was the food choices in the MDR, which seemingly has been corrected now. The buffet had more theme lunches and dinners , which made it enjoyable to go to without seeing the same stuff every day. Can't speak to wine choices, but never ran into any liquor choices being unavailable. Service was fantastic shipwide. 

Entertainment was par for the course for Celebrity. Lots of options all ok, but no performers who wowed us, 

23 minutes ago, MartiniBarhooked said:

Two areas.  Starboard side of Sunset Bar.  The starboard side above Pool Bar has nice seating with a television.  

Agreed. Over the pool bar is the best spot , good in all weather and no nonsmokers wandering through.  

The other E-Class ships have a spot outside of Eden, port side, that's nice also.  I think the Ascent has it too. You can even sit all the way aft and watch the ship's wake.

We have b2b next month on Ascent , then b2b2b on Eclipse for Iceland/Canada next summer. Then Xcel, first time  in Retreat , January 2026 . 

We have several others booked, but they aren't definite because the changes to X made us look at HAL and we have cruises booked with them also.

I am happy that the old  MDR menu is back, and a recent  Celebrity Blue Chip casino club change is promising for me, but the cat is out of the bag, and I've now discovered some awesome itineraries on HAL. That's a lot of my vacation $ that Celebrity won't see. 

I guess I appreciate them making me nervous enough to branch out 😆

3 minutes ago, Maya_C said:

Can you see what is on the children's menu if you don't have children with you?

Yes! I'm a child at heart and always ask for the children's menu. Sometimes I'll order off it if there's nothing I want on the regular menu.

And my  husband will be so happy if the 4oz filet is back!

10 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

In other news, new deployment dates will be released tomorrow.  Hopefully they remember to include the Caribbean and proof the dates.  A presentation that I heard indicated they had a glitch and needed an additional day or otherwise the announcement would have been today. 

That is such a Celebrity thing to do 😆

3 minutes ago, Shiba_Lover said:

They actually said NO cell phone conversations are permitted.  I don't think that's realistic.  I think it is much more realistic to require people to conduct conversations using headphones rather than speakerphone.  (slight difference is they said no conversations and use headphones for watching videos)

The OP said, in the header and the post, "certain areas."

I am 100% onboard with this. No pun intended . 

I have found that on all my Celebrity cruises, even recently,  the Solarium is the place to be if you want a peaceful experience.  In 14 years of enjoying time there, I can remember only 2 incidents of noisy passengers ( a family with a toddler  and a lady watching a movie on her phone. Both were spoken to by staff.)

I had actually given up gambling on Celebrity due to the unclear nature of offers. But if they are now making it a definite "this equals this" , and you get the certificate at your state room the next to last night, I'll start bringing my casino fund .  if the certificate doesn't show up , you can go to the casino host and say...I have this many points, please issue my cert.  It's logical. 

If they keep the tier levels, too, then there's two ways to earn. Sounds like an improvement😁 

Not much info on it yet, but according to cruise bloggers who have already sailed and used a new program, as well as urcomped, ( are links allowed? )  Celebrity is right now adding a similar program to Royal Caribbean, where a certain amount of points on your current cruise is guaranteed to get you a free cruise, you get the certificate right there onboard.

This is a different point system then the tiers, which is rumored to be changing in January of 2024.

The points used for an automatic free cruise are $5 in slot equal 1 point. And 1500 points gets you an inside with a list of cruises to choose from. The state room category goes up with points from there.

I am hoping this is an improvement over gamble and hope they offer you something.

6 hours ago, chemmo said:

I totally agree…

 

It concerns me at present that so many guests I ‘know’ from CC as reliable and truthful are posting less than good and no where near excellent experiences. 

I agree! I was worried enough about Celebrity that I booked some HAL cruises for 2024 and 2025,  to try another brand. Then the announcement about the mdr menu returning to normal gave me hope that management might be listening to us. But these recent complaints, coming from people on CC that I respect, has left me even more worried than I was!  I cancelled  move up bids off 2 upcoming cruises on the Ascent, figuring right now isn't the time to experience a suite for the first time. 

12 minutes ago, Boscodog said:

I have never heard of asking Celebrity to match the big box TA gift card.  We booked a cruise onboard and transferred to a big box TA that rhymes with Bosco.  Do we call our big box TA or call celebrity directly?

This is a great tip if it works. 

If you've already  transferred to the big box TA, they are giving you that $ as a gift card for their store. I book directly with Celebrity and stay with Celebrity. The Celebrity agent has to look up the deal on the websire, and then place a request to a supervisor to get the amount approved. It's usually done while I'm still on the phone making the booking. After it's approved, it doesn't show on my invoice or the website, but is shows as soon as I am onboard. 

The only situation where it won't work is if Celebrity's price is lower than the big box.

I've successfully done this 8 or 10 times and I have 7 more booked with it.

Lately, since Celebrity doesn't give you a dedication vacation planner anymore, I've had to explain it to whatever agent I get on the phone. Still works. 

For my b2b2b Iceland and Canada cruises next year, inside stateroom, we have about $1000 per cruise.  Booked onboard,  plus Celebrity offer with obc, plus shareholder credit plus Celebrity matched whatever "gift card" amount the big box TA  is offering for that sailing. ( you have to ask the Celebrity agent, I've never been denied it). 

I used a little bit to upgrade  to premium beverages at 6.99 per day. The rest will get "laundered" at the blackjack tables.  We won't use it for shore excursions because they are generally overpriced compared to doing private tours. 

Happy birthday, Jim !

And thanks for sharing your story. 

My brother and his husband have been together for 50 years.  What they have lived through, as individuals, as a couple ,  with their friends and within their community....

I have learned a lot about love and strength from them. 

Jim and Iain, A perfect match ❤

3 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Seems to be an issue with fully paid cruises. Mine is not fully paid yet (doesn’t have to be until April) so mine still shows the same amount due per my TA who I emailed yesterday to check since I had the issue with my OBC disappearing.

 

Note to self: don’t touch anything once it is PIF!!

 

Good luck to all dealing with this!!

I am thinking the same thing about my future cruises....once I've paid in full, no changes ! I've had to add "check reservations" to my daily routine now 🙄.

My biggest concern with this particular problem was if they cancelled the cruise, I'm sure they could somewhat fix it, but my state room category is now sold out so I'd miss out on Aqua. 

Thanks for your travelogue! Great information on the Royal suite, Luminae, and west coast ports. I've taken some notes. 

After around 90 minutes on hold, the Celebrity rep I reached was very helpful. She also didn't seem surprised at all and immediately knew that all the promo codes had dropped off the reservation. I'm guessing this is a common problem. She said sometimes the smallest change to a reservation causes this to happen.  So even me adding a special occasion note? She did not think bidding on an upgrade triggered it.

She passed the info onto someone who fixed it, while I stayed on hold. So a great experience with customer service but a panic  attack from their accounting software.

I think I can see where their error is.  The amount per person that shows on the website page now  is exactly the amount per person on my  pdf. But of course, there are many deductions from this amount on my real booking , which the PDF shows....such as % off for second passenger, $100 off pp from whatever sale it was, etc.

So somehow Celebrity's website or accounting,  lost all the deductions and thinks I need to pay the full cruise fare with no deductions.

If they boot my reservation, I'll lose my AQ stateroom. 

I really hope my upgrade bid didn't trigger this somehow. It's my first time trying that and I'll never do it again 😟