stratixman

Why worry about it? How much more difficult is it to take the passport vs taking the card? You know for certain that the passport is 100% accepted.

It would not be usual for the cruise to delay departure except for seriously extenuating circumstances. Those circumstances could include a significant number of passengers who are delayed in transit due to factors outside of their control, such as the situation described by the Canadian poster where some 500 were delayed on flights. We experienced that situation once departing out of San Juan when numerous flights were backed up due to weather by several hours. It would not make sense for any cruise to depart missing 25-50% of their passengers, if the majority of those delayed could be accommodated by waiting a few hours to leave. However, it would never make sense for the cruise to delay departure to accommodate a lone booking unless it is Donald Trump.

The other observation I would make is that I find it very difficult to believe that the OP has cruised as many times as they claimed and yet could be so ignorant of the cruise line policies for arrival and check-in, let alone the realistic possibilities for delays in travelling to get to the port on the day of departure. Something just doesn't ring genuine in the OP's post. I think they just screwed up. While we might sympathize with their plight, it was their own poor planning and nobody else's. I think its called taking personal responsibility, which the OP didn't seem to accept. The OP is really off base complaining about their situation and the refusal of Celebrity to somehow make it right. Lesson to be learned is consider realistic, worst case scenarios and then decide how much of a gamble you are willing to take in not incorporating those scenarios as part of your travel planning. And if you do gamble and lose don't show up on a public forum like Cruise Critic complaining that the cruise line dropped the ball or didn't treat you fairly. You won't get much support as is evidenced by the number or responses not taking your side of the debacle.

We've been cruising with Celebrity since 1999, and the last evening has always been very low key. The second to last evening was usually a Formal evening. Maybe that is what you remember.

I think you are correct. Last night is busy from the standpoint that all luggage needs to be packed up and set out for pickup before 11:00pm. I think the last fancy, formal night was the preceding night. No more formal nights so does it really matter anyway?

Never been offered a free specialty dining perk. But on our last cruise we were given a free, significant upgrade from an inside to veranda. No reason was provided - they didn't even tell us we were upgraded - only found out when I was printing the check in documents about a week before we cruised and noticed our room had changed.

In my opinion, you have some valid points. However have you considered that the cruise prices have increased as they increase the perks to offset each other.

 

The reason I say that is my booked cabin in a Jan 2017 cruise increased by approximately the same value of the second perk they recently added.

 

Additionally have you noticed they've added a standard (lower quality) liquor package? I expect the new perk will beome standard instead of classic thus saving X more money.

 

All I see X doing is the ole shell game so the non informed cruisers (people unfamiliar with Cruise Critic) are so confused that they make a decision more favorable to Celebrity.

Good observations.

Yes it is pretty obvious that the cost of supposed free perks - drinks, OBC, gratutities, etc. - have been built into Celebrity's cabin pricing structure. It all comes down to creativity on their part to maximize profit (realistic business objective) by increasing revenue while figuring out where thy can reduce expense/cost (another realistic business objective). The calculation they have to make is when does the combination of these two begin to disaffect their clientele. Increases in pricing, direct or indirect, coupled with diminution in quality of service can not be unlimited. There has to a point of inelasticity where potential customers will simply not bite. I'm not thinking they are that point yet, and perhaps they are still quite some way off before they might get there.

We still like their product a lot and haven't been particularly put off by changes we have seen on recent cruises, though pricing may start to become one. I do think their move to push the all-inclusive approach has pluses, but also negatives. The primary negative I see is that the move towards all-inclusive pricing has decreased transparency in the cost for basic cruising and increased the complexity for purchasers to deduce the relative values of their offerings. Like you stated, "the ole shell game so the non informed cruisers (people unfamiliar with Cruise Critic) are so confused that they make a decision more favorable to Celebrity."

Have attended two super bowl parties. Both held in main theater with games shown on huge screen. Both very well catered with plenty of super bowl foods and snacks along with bar setups. Both were fun. I will miss this year's by one day. Darn.

Bistro has always been a good choice for avoiding the mass rush in the buffet. That's where we would always head. However, at $10 per per person now (double what it was our last cruise early last year) it represents less value than it did. Will decide when we board whether we patronize for lunch that day or head to mast bar, or buffet, for no-charge fare.

So much confusion, misinformation, and stigmatizing regarding the purported change to eliminate prepaid gratuities. The only significant difference that will result, if in fact Celebrity institutes the change, will be that cruisers who pick or get assigned select dining will no longer be required to pay upfront the total amount of recommended gratuities as part of final payment. This change will not mean that gratuities will be arbitrarily left to the discretion of select diners and permit them to avoid addressing gratuities. Recommended gratuities will still be charged to accounts on a daily basis just as they would have been if select dining was not involved.

Regarding posts here that have stated that those who have had issue with the pre-paid gratuities are trying to stiff the cruise staff on tips is a bunch of hogwash and is offensive to those who have raised matter. Anyone who wanted to stiff the cruise staff, whether traditional diner or select diner, has always had the option to request that tips be taken off their account. Prepaid or post-paid has nothing to do with being a deadbeat. The matter has been about the inability of select diners to use their non-refundable OBC for paying their gratuities, not avoiding them. And since many, many cruisers over the past couple of years that have been getting sizeable Celebrity OBC perks as part of their bookings and being offered no choice except select dining at time of booking, it became apparent that this was a devise by Celebrity to reduce the effective value of the OBC, and in turn their costs, by restricting its usage for paying gratuities. Gratuities are a 100% cost item to the cruise line. Pretty much anything else that OBC can be applied to represents only a fractional marginal cost for them, ranging anywhere from low single digit % to the mid double digit % range. No wonder they would rather not have sizeable OBC perks to being used against gratuities.

So, we shall see what the future brings. My hypothesis is that if Celebrity does change the pre-paid gratuity policy for select dining that they will also reduce the the amounts on OBC offered as part of their bonus booking offerings. Up until now their offers have typically included separate choices between drink package, OBC and pre-paid gratuities. The face values of the drink package (standard) and OBC have both pretty much exceeded prepaid gratuities for a cabin of two by $100 give or take. So those have undoubtedly been the two most popular picks among the three. But... up to now Celebrity figured out a way to reduce the real value (or at least out of pocket to them cost) for the OBC by mandating a large number of cruisers (those in select dining) not be able to apply the OBC towards gratuities.

Now, if the enforced pre-payment is dropped, I would not be surprised to see Celebrity drop the amounts of unrestricted use OBC to compensate for the likelihood that many will choose to apply that OBC to their gratuities. The real question is how much they might drop the OBC amounts they offer up. I would think the amount might drop to the equivalent, or less, of what recommended gratuities are for two guests in a stateroom that qualifies for OBC.

With the state of the Canadian dollar,we will be passing on the specialty restos. We've done them all anyways. Unless of course,there is some kind of "fire" sale due to lack of interest.

LOL. With state of the American dollar I think we will be passing also. Celebrity seems to have been in a rush in the past couple of years to see how far they can push the price envelope for specialty dining. I think they may have exceeded their ambition. The only thing left will be to further degrade the MDR food to push more into paying to dine in the specialty venues.

DO NOT bring camouflage patterned clothing to the Caribbean. Civilian camo is illegal on many of the islands, so if you are wearing camo they can and probably will stop you from entering, or can even jail you and/or fine you. Same goes for camouflaged bags (suitcases, hand bags, etc.) and backpacks. Just say no to camo. These islands are pretty serious about it.

Barbados

St Lucia

Jamacia

St Vincent

Antigua

Barbuda

St Kitts

Nevis

Trinidad

Tobago

Never had embarkation problems with Celebrity out of San Juan. Will find out if anything has changed when we sail from there at the end of the month.

RCCL more likely to attract the college crowd, if in fact the college crowd is willing to spend the bucks to fly to San Juan. My suspicion is that neither cruise would likely be inundated with sprig breakers. If Celebrity is cheaper I would be inclined to go with them, but RCCL probably offers a bit more in the way of activities that would appeal to a younger crowd.

Sounds like RCCL would fit your interest a bit better, although we have enjoyed eevry Celebrity cruise we have ever taken, including one we took several years ago with our then college aged daughters.

Your biggest worry will not be getting on the tenders. It will be whether they can tender at all. It is not uncommon for winds to prevent tendering to the island. Happened several times to us. One time we actually got to tender ashore only to get recalled back to the ship a couple hours later when the winds started getting high and the Captain was concerned about not being to get everyone back aboard. Hope you don't encounter such problems.

Eclipse itinerary way better.

Forecast for the Canadian dollar gets worse for the next 2 years. Expeceted to hit $.60 of a US dollar.

No particular bargains I can see. Same old marketing ruse. Raise prices by X and then discount by Y, price still remains at original Z it began at.

"It was an open air truck bed with bench seating for 20. DH was extremely disappointed as he found it nearly impossible to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. Canopy uprights and fellow passengers obstructed the view. Where you sit is very important. Many of the ocean views, including the cruise ship were off the driver's side of the vehicle and we were on the passenger side (plan accordingly). Tour commentary provided by driver lacked relevancy or content. The road is steep with many hairpin turns."

Sounds like the same type excursion that ended up with a number of Summit passengers dead a few weeks ago - truck went off the road.

That was number of years ago when it was $5, it is two different times and also two different menu items.

That is like going to your local supermarket and saying, 'on the last shop, I bought mince for $4/kg and now your steak is $14/kg'.

2 years ago, $5 pp. Doubling the price to $10 in a period of nonexistent inflation is a bit steep. Now it sounds like it will go up another 50%. Such a deal.

Also, did you book your ship based excursions ahead of time or after boarding? Specifically, was the Virgin Gorda excursion sold out? Am interested in as much as I would prefer to book this particular excursion on board in order to deplete a sizeable OBC, but would not want to find out it is filled up before then.

Curious about your opinion regarding the value proposition of the various ship based excursions you took.

Count us in the group that thinks converting Bistro to Sushi, at added up charge, is a mistake. A $15 per person sushi menu will certainly deter us from frequenting the space. We like sushi but can get all the quality sushi we want within short distance of our home. The crepe concept in the Bistro is more unique and attractive to us, although with the recent increase to $10 per person its appeal has been somewhat diminished. Since a free sushi bar in the evenings has been provided for sometime, will this change result in the free sushi going away? Not that the free sushi has been stupendous, but hey there was no charge. I tend to doubt that the sushi for extra charge is going to be that much better. Maybe they should keep bistro just as is and dump the Gastro bar, which we have never understood the rationale for, and put the for charge sushi in that space. Also, as a general comment, maybe Celebrity should quit diminishing the quality of food offerings included in the base cruise fare while conjuring up ways to keep increasing specialty dining prices.

Fhloston Paradise

Glad to read your report on the condition of the Summit. We will be on at the end of the month and was interested to find out if they had let maintenace lapse a bit given its scheduled for dry dock iat the end of February. San Juan is one of our favorite ports to cruise from. Sorry that we will miss Capt. Kate. Been reading various posts and would have been neat to cruise with her I think.

food and drink. tour the ship. food and drink. park in a chair in the sun. food and drink. repeat.