Jimbo59

Do on-board credits carry over? Or is it just 75% of the original fare paid?

Celebrity and RCI don't go to Glacier Bay. Something about pollution dumping years ago. Only Princess, HAL and NCL ships are allowed to go into Glacier Bay.

Glacier Bay is spectacular and a National Park.

Anyone with experience using Celebrity CruiseCare "Any Reason" Credits?

How did it work? was it easy to re-book? Could you re-book with your travel agency, or only with Celebrity?

If you have been on the older Princess ships, the Royal and Regal will be a disappointment. Royal and Regal are too crowded, no focus on the sea, rather the focus is on the inside.

Celebrity has a vegetarian menu in the MDR. Just ask for it.

 

Only you can decide if you want the extra space and pay for it.

 

I look at a cruise vacation as If I stayed at a Ritz Carlton on a beach someplace, it'd be $400 a night plus my meals and drinks, about $150-$200 pp/pd. So if I find a suite for $800 a night or so, It makes sense ($400 + $200 +$200). You're looking at $4100 or $585 per night. I'd take it.

At these prices, I would consider one of the more upscale cruise lines (Oceania, Crystal, etc.).

Does anyone know the name of the group that left the ship in Athens to fly to Israel? If so, did Celebrity offer any assistance to the group in making travel arrangements to Israel?

A friend who was on the cruise with us has just had a missed call from Celebrity regarding the letter he handed in to Guest Relations while on the cruise

 

I have not received a reply to the letter I handed in while on the cruise, nor the letter I sent on my return

 

I appreciate that Celebrity are fully aware of this thread and I will probably not receive a reply until I approach ABTA and ask for their advice, but I would like to know if anyone else on our cruise has received a reply yet

 

Many thanks

What is ABTA?

I sent an email to Celebrity while on the ship. Just yesterday I had a phone call from Celebrity. I was told that there was a corporate decision not to provide any compensation for the missed ports.

I said that I understand that the cruise contract does not obligate Celebrity to provide compensation for the missed ports; I felt that Celebrity should have provided some consideration, such as a future cruise credit, as a goodwill gesture, and to recognize loyalty of their passengers.

I was left with the impression that Celebrity did not feel the need to to provide any consideration for the passengers on the October 17, 2015 Silhouette cruise.

The staff may get credit, but if you book directly you can ask for a discount. I received 30% off at Murano and the Lawn Club Grill. Some others received 50% off. Depends on day of week and how many others have reserved.

The swim against the current pool doesn't exist on the Royal and Regal (and probably won't exist on any new Princess ship).

The lack of true 14 day Caribbean cruises. Now Princess combines two seven day cruises and calls them 14 day cruises.

November 15 taxi queue was 45 minutes. It depends on how many other ships are in port.

Many good comments above. I would prefer Princess ships (Grand Class) if they had Celebrity quality food.

One difference not mentioned is shore excursions. On Princess the descriptions tell you minute by minute where you will be, how long each stop will be,etc. Celebrity shore excursion descriptions are brief with little explanation of what you will see. Consequently, I rarely book Celebrity shore excursions, and always book the Princess excursions, especially in exotic ports.

The Captain of the Silhouette increased the speed of the ship today so that passengers would have a daylight view of the Rock of Gibraltar. Quite spectacular!

On Silhouette I measured a Decibel Level of 99 in the theater, using my iPhone decibel app.

How about tipping in the speciality restaurants? We are already paying $45-50 for dinner.

Don't know what hill you were taken to see. The place where Abraham attempted to sacrifice Issac is in Jerusalem (the Temple Mount).

Are there ATM's at the Ashdod Cruise Port? Their website only says a currency exchange is available.

Also, do Israeli taxis accept credit cards? We want to take a taxi from the port to north of Tel Aviv and I don't know how much the taxi fare will be. Paying by credit card is the easiest, or i could get cash shekels from an ATM.

In the US, porters who load your luggage onto the ship expect a tip. Does anyone know if the porters at Civitavecchia expect to be tipped?

I did not see this on another thread, so if it's a duplicate please delete. Thank you.

 

Sent to agents this evening:

 

Our popular Explore4 program is back and opens July 20 — the perfect time to invite clients to cruise with offers valued at up to US$1,700.* Explore4 features generous offers, available on all staterooms on select January 2016 through April 2017 sailings, and select 2015 holiday cruises. Explore4 offers include:

FREE SIGNATURE BEVERAGE PACKAGE up to US $1400 value*

FREE Pinnacle Grill dinner for two (US $58 value)

FREE OR REDUCED cruise fares for 3rd/4th guests *

(taxes, fees, port expenses are additional)

50% Reduced Deposit*

 

 

 

PLUS — when your clients book a suite, they’ll also receive US$300 onboard spending credit and a FREE Canaletto dinner!*

 

*Restrictions apply. Please visit hollandamerica.com/Explore4 on Monday, July 20 for full terms and conditions.

So now I will need to wait until Explore4 is over and the prices drop back to where they were to book my next HAL Cruise. I don't want unlimited drinks.

What about leaving the ship at one port and meeting the ship at the next port?

Verizon's Internet service does not work well on the ship's cellular service on the Silhouette. The voice and SMS work wonderfully, but data service is so slow and unreliable that it basically may as well not be there at all (I wasn't able to successfully ever use the connection, though I was able to get my phone to indicate I had service.)

 

The ground station location has nothing to do with anything; being on a cruise ship is international roaming no matter what. (It is not included in your plan, you will need to pay significantly extra to use it at all.)

We were able to use a yahoo acount and a gmail account, connecting via the ships WiFi. But the Verizon email account did not work on Celebrity Equinox, via WiFi. We even tried to use Verizon Webmail but it did not work. So I think it is something in the Verizon system, probably the ground station as the Celebrity tech guy told us.

Does Verizon Internet work on Silhouette? We found that Verizon Internet did nor work on Equinox in the Caribbean last February. The tech guy on Equinox told us that Celebrity Equinox used a ground station in Scotland for their satellite. Verizon only worked in the US or with a ground station in the US.

Anyone with experience using Verizon, especially in Europe, on Silhouette?

A good source for many ports:

http://www.tomsportguides.com

Don't go on the new Princess Royal or Regal ships. They did away with the outside Promenade deck on these ships. Also they did away with the "swim against the current" pools. The older Princess Ships have both of these features.

The S class Celebrity ships are beautiful, with many good features. But Celebrity also doesn't have the outside Promenade decks.