bhughey

Enjoying every post! Thank you!

Quick couple of questions if you don't mind ;) - do you know how much lunch is at the Lawn Club? Also, did they show any NFL games on Sunday, by chance?

Thanks again for taking us along - we sailed in a little over two weeks!

Same thing happened with my recently booked reservation. I thought it was odd, too - but everything was confirmed and the "hold" notice went away like, 24 hours later.

There was a sticky at the top of this forum a week or so ago stating that the Summit would do shorter 4-5 night sailings out of FLL starting in 2018 I believe.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7185

I wonder if they'll move another ship to San Juan?

Score!

Maybe I will try again... make the case that since I am elite, I would be able to get a one category upgrade due to captains club status. Never hurts.

The price dropped again - so I called X and learned that even though I booked a guarantee veranda cabin (which let's call a spade a spade - guarantee in MOST cases will mean the lowest category veranda - which is 2D obstructed), I can only take advantage of the guarantee price drop if I give up the 2C which was assigned. I decided that the $100 savings is not really worth it, as we are traveling with another couple and have cabins side by side. Just thought I would share the official answer, at least that's the answer according to the rep I spoke to.

Quick question! We booked a cruise over a year ago and final payment is coming up in early September. We got a classic Bev Pkg included. I see Celebrity has 4 perks promotion out now and we got 3 perks but.. Not the premium drink pkg.

Do we have a chance of calling our Celebrity rep and saying could we get premium instead of Classic and not lose our room and no up charge. We have got other couples to cruise with us on Celebrity so in other words brought business Celebritys way. We will try to use this. We don't care about Internet but was thinking of the classic to premium upgrade a try. Not sure if anyone has used this angle to upgrade?

Help please!

I am pretty sure the answer is no. You could probably cancel and rebook at the current rate with the 4 perks though if the pricing is competitive.

Well... Lesson learned... strike while the iron is hot! I "missed the boat" (having a little cliche fun this morning ;)), and the price has gone up. The savings would have only been $49pp - though every cent counts! Today the price is $200 more pp than we paid!

If you are beyond that date no change in price you pay. Some folks have negotiated a better cabin but that is a totally different story. We are on Celebrity Silhouette 10/22/16 cruise where final payment was due first of this week. Today an Oceanview dropped by $750/person for this 14 day cruise. You can book this with any one perk you want for $96.50/person per day...this is like under $100/day for cabin, meals, and all you can drink if you choose the Bev Perk! I think Europe is soft this year.

I should clarify... this is BEFORE final payment.

Quick questions for my fellow X fans and X-perts.

If you book a guarantee stateroom and the cost for a guarantee stateroom drops, can you take advantage of that price drop? Even if your cabin has been assigned?

I am happy to hear you had a great experience and I thank you for sharing your thoughts. As a 40-ish couple with no kids, we do enjoy the more adult atmosphere of Celebrity, but I have absolutely zero issue with your bringing a baby on board or to the dining room, Blu, etc. We have friends contemplating a cruise on X (their first!) with their infant and I would hate for them to read the comments from some of the curmudgeons on this thread.

*edited to add... the only people (persons) who have ever made me shake my head due to their godawful, rude, entitled, oblivious behavior on a cruise - have always been full grown adults.

I've sailed the Summit 4 times and have never seen this offered.

I should clarify, 4 times prior to the recent addition of the terrace and new screens.

DH and I sailed the Summit 1.5 years ago, and they were showing movies under the stars then. Can't remember what the movie was, but I remember it was a new release, and yes, they had popcorn. :)

I've sailed the Summit 4 times and have never seen this offered.

How long is your cruise? For our upcoming 14 day Silhouette cruise the 5 night speciality dining is definitely available. I think the number of nights is based on the cruise length. That said, I suspect if you wait until you board more options will be available.

 

Rick

It's a 7-night cruise.

We always wait till we are on board to book our package. We don't do it at the sales table, but go to Murano and buy and book all the dinners there. They have always been very open to booking which and when.

 

Pre booking or going to the sales table they are more tow the Co line.

Same, but exploring options - is the package still offered on board and the fee for 4 still $137pp?

I don't know but The Lawn Club Grill was our favorite on the Reflection.

It's been about 3 years since we've done the LC, and incidentally, the last time we ate there, we were travelling with the same couple we will be sailing with on the Reflection... I am not sure why - but the others in my party are like "meh - I would rather do Murano twice." Personally, I like the variety. However, I do wish that X sold a 3 night package and you could pick which 3. Believe it or not, we also enjoy the dining room and would like the opportunity to experience dinner there more than just 3 nights - especially when we are in port one night of our 7 night cruise.

In researching specialty dining options for our upcoming cruise, it appears that only a 4 night option is available on board the Reflection. I assume it's because there are 4 specialty restaurants (Tuscan, Qsine, Murano and Lawn Club - excluding The Porch and Bistro on Five, or Sushi on Five, but who knows). Ideally, we really only want to do Tuscan, Qsine and Murano - does anyone know if it's possible to sub the 4th restaurant (Lawn Club in this case) for one of the other three?

We sailed the Solstice back in May and were in a celebrity suite on deck 11 port side. I didn't think our view lacked for anything! I enjoyed the views in each port, both entering and departing. There is so much beauty all around that I feel like everyone gets a great view!

Looking at booking this itinerary for next summer. Even more excited looking at your pictures! Did you need passports for any excursions?

You must have a passport to even board the ship. All foreign flagged cruise ships traveling to Alaska must make a stop in a foreign port (in this case, Victoria Canada), and therefore, you must have a passport.

Did you need a passport for any of your excursions? We are looking at this itinerary for next summer, and some that we may be traveling with don't have one. Loving your pictures!

I'm 99.99% sure, regardless of excursions, that a passport is required. All foreign registered ships, originating and returning to a US port, must call on a foreign port - and in the case of the Seattle based Solstice for Alaskan itineraries, that port is usually Victoria in Canada.

Thank you for the review. The max for premium drink has always been $13, with the exception of I believe, were some itineraries originating in the UK.

The captain has to make a decision prior to entering either arm, if you start to enter (and proceed) Tracy Arm, you cannot then decide to enter Endicott (and vice versa). It's one or the other, once you are in, you are in. We actually had dinner with the staff captain on the May 20th sailing who explained this. I am guessing that they made the decision to do Endicott instead to give passengers on the 5/27 cruise a view of the glacier... knowing that after entering and sailing Tracy Arm on 5/20 that there was too much ice to get a view of Sawyer glacier.

To summerize:

May 13 Solstice sailing - Endicott Arm, view of Dawes glacier

May 20 Solstice sailing - Tracy Arm, no view of Sawyer glacier

May 27 Solstice sailing - Endicott arm, view of Dawes glacier

Last month I booked a RS for our first Celebrity cruise, Abu Dhabi to Singapore in Jan 2018. Even though they run it back and forth repeatedly during the Asian season, Celebrity calls this a "repositioning" cruise since "it doesn't start and finish in the same port". They used this bogus definition to try and exempt the suite perks presently being offered on their site from our booking which really got me riled. After a couple of extended phone calls, and after I pointed out that several Med cruises not starting and ending in the same port weren't classified as "repositioning" cruises, they gave us OBC to cover the two perks not all ready included as RS amenities. Mr. Squeaky Wheel got greased, but the whole thing didn't pass the ethical "smell test" and it definitely wasn't the way to start a good relationship. I'll transfer the booking to my TA in the coming days to get their perks, that is if this deal gets un-stuck from my craw.

This has always annoyed me as well! The South American cruises that operate all season doing one-way sailings from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso are also exempt from the Go big, B, B promo. This makes NOOOO sense because these are expensive itineraries! And as you pointed out ... and one-way cruise is NOT the same as a "re-positioning!"

I may have it wrong, I've been wrong before [emoji13]. Maybe I interpreted what he said incorrectly. I thought we turned around but did not actually enter Tracy Arm, so I'm likely the confused one! Mike, chime in!

Like I said, not a morning person! [emoji12]

From what I have read, the 5/13 & 5/27 sailings on Solstice did Endicott Arm/Dawes glacier in lieu of Tracy Arm - the 5/20 sailing did Tracy Arm, but too much ice prevented us from getting close enough to see the Saywer glacier.

I might have been unclear in my first post, I was just pointing out that at least one Solstice sailing has in fact, made it to Tracy Arm this season. Sorry for any confusion!

By the looks of his dates, he's posting about a cruise a year ago? :confused:

I think his reference to 2015 was a typo. The Solstice did in fact sail Alaska on 5/27 - in addition, his graphic in the signature line says 2016.