espmass

2 hours ago, HappyTvlr said:

I noticed that the excursions disappeared yesterday as well.  I never received notification of cancellation, and my account showed the deduction of my OBC for the fishing trip. I called and the Regent rep confirmed that the excursion has not been cancelled.  He also confirmed what we all know about the web site being less than perfect.  BTW, the excursions are back on the website.  I am interested in a golf excursion.  I'll keep an eye out, but it isn't ideal to have to keep checking. 

Thanks.

On 4/15/2024 at 12:24 PM, HappyTvlr said:

Thanks! I never heard back from Regent so I really appreciate you letting me know.  I signed up for deep sea fishing.  Great way to start NYE!

I never booked an excursion for Charlestown because I was hoping they would add some more.  Specifically some sort of golf excursion.  Now this morning when I checked the site shows no excursions for Charlestown.  Have you received any notification that yours was cancelled?  Perhaps they are noiw adding more than the original four.  

On 4/11/2024 at 11:25 PM, HappyTvlr said:

I'm considering a Regent cruise that is scheduled to be in Charlestown on 31 Dec (NYE).  Regent's site said there are currently no shore excursions available.  I wondered if it was because of the holiday, and called to get more info.The rep said he had no idea but would try to find out and get back to me.  I looked around for the stop on other itineraries with Regent and couldn't find any excursions for the port.  I've never been to St. Kitts & Nevis, but it seems most of the excursions are out of St. Kitts Basseterre.  Would love info on what is going on with the stop in Charlestown.  Thanks!

As of yesterday, the excursions were posted.  Only 4 posted and all are for Nevis.  Perhaps others will be posted at a later date?  

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I would double check and make sure that email is really from Celebrity.  Check the original email in the header and look at the "reply to" address.  I would also do a search for the phone number they ask you to call.  I cannot remember ever getting an offer of this nature from Celebrity.

 

Yes, it was from Celebrity.  I did call and the rates are the same as online except that theCaptains Club offers the 25% discount.  Basically the "special" wasn't a special.

Another different WIFI question if you don't mind.  I received an email today with an offer for a spcial price to purchase one of the premium WiFi packages for our October Ascent cruise.  States the offer is only available by phone and not online.  I'll call later today but in the meantime, does anyone know anything about this offer and the prices?  Thanks.

We have this itinerary on the Ascent booked for October.  Maybe this is the one you are considering?  It wasn't my choice since I have not traveled extensively in this area but in doing research there seems to be plenty of interesting things to see.  We rarely, if ever, book excursions through the cruise line.  I have booked a few private tours with guides at some of the stops.  We are starting with 2 days in Barcelona.  When we get off in Rome, we have a rental car to take us to Tuscany for three days where we will see Florence and Pisa and then back to Rome for 3 days before flying home from Rome.

21 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

I think the difference is primarily convenience, it takes almost no effort to use a car service, just more money.

 

The bus is the easiest public transportation option, in my opinion, as the depot where the bus starts the run is located less than a half mile on foot from the cruise port.

Thanks and maybe you can offer some more advice.  I suppose we should simply book a private tour at Pompeii and take the bus from the port area to Pompei.  We are docked on a Sunday from 7AM to 6PM so we figure on an early morning tour at 9 which is a 3 hour tour and then back to Naples for a quick look and some pizza before going back onboard.  I am having a little trouble reading the bus schedule to get to Pompeii.  Does it run on Sunday?  

On a different cruise than the author and we plan to book a private guided our of Pompeii through one of the tour companies.  I see there are several that include private transport from the port to Pompeii and, of course, those are pricier.  I understand it is fairly simple to take the bus or train to Pompeii.  My question is whether or not using private transport really offers a big enough convenience of time and effort to make the price worthwhile?  I'm not saying the money doesn't matter but I'd like to know that there is a good reason to spend the extra.  Thanks for any answers.

1 minute ago, LB_NJ said:

Pompei can be very interesting IF you have a good tour guide.

Yes, we are really hoping to find a somewhat affordable private tour.  Checking through various sites like Viator and Get Your Guide.

When Celebrity lists a "Small Group" shore excursion, how many passengers do they usually mean?  Or does it depend on the particular excursion?  I am specifically looking at their Small Group Tour of Pompei while in Naples.  Could not find anything on the port board.  Thanks.

I viewed a youtube review of the seafood buffet on the Ascent labed as a preview sailing.  It does not  specify if this is a routine buffet or special event  just for the preview.  Looks fantastic.  This is the link and hopefully this works.  

The Back Home Laundry Bag description shows  "Allow our stateroom attendants to attend to your laundry while you enjoy your vacation. Fill up to three bags of laundry during your cruise...".  Does that mean we get 3 of the usual smaller bags to leave at same or different times or does it mean one big bag that we can leave out 3 times?  Thanks for any clarification.    

With the Flash Sale on the Drink Packages, do they give the Captain's Club discount on top of the Flash Sale price?  Most likely not but I figured I'd ask.

Without the drink package, what is the price of a simple bottle of water?

Best thing we ever did in Bonaire was to rent a golf cart through Bonaire Cruisers (https://www.bonairecruisers.com/) and drive all over the island and tour by ourselves.  We have done it twice.  Visited the Donkey Refuge, the Flamingo Preserve, the salt flats, several beaches, etc.  Very easy and very safe.

1 hour ago, NEW 2 CRUISIN said:

That's a fair question!   We keep getting emails about our cruise for NEXT September that make it sound like urgent action is needed now!  

Thanks.  Also, since they keep emailing me that I can now make reservations for the specialty restaurants and for excursions, I probably naturally assumed I could do the check in too.  Guess it wasn't such a silly question then.

I realize this might be a silly question, but my cruise is booked for October 5 2024 and the site shows check in starts August 21.  Does that mean today or does it mean August 21, 2024?  Thanks. 

Thanks.  Yes, I know they use Anytime dining.  We haven't been on Celebrity in a few years and thought we'd try it again.  It used to be such a headache waiting so long at Anytime without a reservation which is why we thought we'd make reservations.  Maybe they have worked out the bugs and the waits are shorter?

I changed my reservation on the Ascent to Select Dining so that I could make reservations at 7ish each night rather than early or late standard times.  The system is allowing me to select each of the dining rooms.  However, on the summary,  the days I selected the Cosmopolitan it shows that but the days I selected one of the other dining rooms there is no room assigned.  I thought all four are available for reservations.  Am I missing something?  Thanks. 

1 hour ago, Boatharbour said:

i checked my order confirmation emails for the MDR’s and the bookings were made on 27 December 2022 for 19 July 2023 sailing. 

Thanks so much for checking that.  Guess I have a long wait since it's over a year off.

Just now, Boatharbour said:

We made all our dinner reservations online several months ago. Each night on board we have been taken to our table as soon as we checked in with the maitre d. We dine around 7-7.30. 
I think the problem the other night may have been with the drop ins. We saw two incidents where guests behaved badly because they were told to come back later (an hour later). The maître d was polite but held firm to her credit. 

How far ahead were the dining reservations available?  I booked The Ascent for October 2024 with Anytime Dining.  The Specialty Dining reservations are already available but the Anytime reservations are not yet available.

Got it.  Thanks all.  Guess I'll be buying the Premium. 

Sorry if this is a dumb question.  Booked on Ascent for 2024 and I see I can purchase the upgraded Premium Wifi package.  However, I cannot find where I can purchase the Basic Wifi package and I did not take the All Inclusive so it is not included.  Am I missing it?  Thanks.

8 minutes ago, m8zenblue said:

On our last X cruise in November 2022, we had Select dining but made reservations prior to sailing for each night of 10 night cruise.

Reservations were confirmed on app and by notice in our cabin for 6pm nightly.

Unfortunately, there was wait sometimes up to a 45 minute wait to be seated on most nights.

My advice is to be flexible, especially if you want to attend shows.

 

 

OK, so it is possible to make a reservation.  Interesting to have confirmed reservations and still have that long of a wait. 

I haven't been on Celebrity in a few years and just booked the Ascent for Fall 2024.  I can see on my booking that I can already make Specialty Restaurant reservations.  I cannot access the link for Select Dining reservations because we took late assigned dining.  If I switch to Select (I am able to), am I correct in assuming we will be able to also make dining room reservations now too?  Last time I was on Celebrity that could not be done and the line at the Select dining rooms were always long.  Thanks in advance.