mandream

Fine Cut is an unknown as the Edge has not yet sailed, but, in my experience, I have found that you can get multiple appetizers and desserts, but are limited to one main course.

 

Steve

As others have stated, in my experience I've not been limited to one main course.

The cabin you have should already be concierge class unless you have obstructed view.

Only some of the angled humps are C2. The rest I believe are all 1A.

Mike

If it were me I would definitely keep the larger balcony in that case.

Mike

Take the upgrade! Concierge hump cabins on Solstice class ships are the largest short of a suite cabin.

Concierge cabins on S class are the same size as any other standard cabin. Concierge cabins on M class are larger.

I was offered a free upgrade to Concierge Classfrom a hump cabin and i need help deciding because i have never been on Celebrity before.

Well - concierge class has "hump" cabins as well. It depends on your specific current cabin vs the new one.

IMO there is nothing special about being ON the hump. The most desirable cabins are on the angles leading to and from the hump - these have larger balconies. 1st and 3rd from the hump will be the largest. 2nd and 4th will be the next largest.

Mike

I have found the same thing. It used to work like a charm, I saved a number of times by using their alerts. I have three cruises registered - have not received a single alert. However, the tools to track seem to still be working.

I still get alerts, but they seem to be random and delayed. They also no longer differentiate within a category (e.g. C1, C2, C3). I think the later has more to do with the changes to the Celebrity website as it no longer shows that category information on the booking pages either.

It's really a shame.

Mike

Ah, ok , thanks .

 

 

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Was on the Silhouette a month ago out of Southampton and the show times were different the first night. It is up to the CD and since it is still Eddie my guess is it will be the same for you. However, no guarantees.

Mike

Does that include a gratuity to the driver?

How much if any is the norm?

I have been told people don’t tip in the UK.

Although I have been to London many times, I am often still confused by whom to tip and how much. So I can't really say what the norm is. I will say that unlike at home, with all the drivers (including airport transfers) the drivers always seem to "move on quickly" as opposed to any pause waiting for a tip. I think I gave them about 5 pounds there and about the same in euros on the way back. That was more because it was all I had on me in cash each time. In both cases - they seemed genuinely pleased that I offered anything - perhaps they were simply being polite. At home I would have been extremely embarrassed with those amounts.

Mike

For those of you that book cruises not months but years out, how do you track the pricing?

You only get the lower price if you call when it is advertised, if it drops and you don't check you could lose the savings if the price climbs up again. Checking every day will be time consuming...is there an automated way to do this?

There is a site that will track prices and alert you when it goes down. Unfortunately we can't name it here - however - it is not nearly as reliable as it used to be, and I don't really recommend it anymore.

Honestly - I just check every day (ok - sometimes I miss a day). Time consuming - maybe if you add up the 2 minutes I spend each day together - in aggregate it is a lot of time. But I don't consider it time consuming at all. I actually find it kind of fun 'cause it make me think about my cruise(s) each day.

Mike

Yes, always have your CC card convert AND use a card that does not charge foreign transaction fees (if you have one).

Some people (not saying anyone on this thread) think foreign transaction fees have something to do with the currency - it doesn't. You could have the provider (in this case Celebrity) do the conversion to your card's currency (which you shouldn't as recommended by many above) and still get hit with a foreign transaction fee. This would be a double whammy!!

Mike

correction from above . . .

 

 

 

 

Vegan is not the same as vegetarian.

 

We know a family of three strict vegans and one not so strict. On a recent cruise, the strict vegans had a very hard time. nearly all of The cakes, pastries, breads, etc contained milk, eggs and/or butter; therfore, not acceptable to a strict vegan. Pizza dough is fine, but not the cheese (vegan cheese exists and might be available if prearranged). Those terrific Indian dishes at the buffet? Nearly all contain ghee which is not acceptable to a strict vegan. Chicken or beef broth was in the soups.

 

Like I said - the guy who was flexible was fine. He ate mostly a lacto -vegetarian diet, just as he does at business luncheons. The other three were pretty miserable, eating cheeseless vegetable pizza, salads with oil/vinegar dressing, fruit, vegetables prepared without butter and some stuff from the area with yogurt add ons (nuts, etc).

My wife is Vegan - strict. When we would have lunch at the buffet, she would have a Chef walk around and show her every dish that was vegan as you can't tell from looking at it. Some of the pasta at the pasta bar is vegan - some is not.

We love Celebrity but meals have always been a real challenge. We do the ordering the night before with the Maitre' D but so much depends on who you get. Often they act as no more that order takers. And as you say, dessert has been almost non-existent (other than sorbet).

We had a completely different experience a couple weeks ago on the Silhouette. Our Maitre' D Regan went above and beyond. When there was nothing appealing on the regular vegetarian menu that could be made vegan - he worked with the chef and made up his own dishes. Almost every one was a hit.

The other thing he promised on night one was that she would get a real dessert every night of our 14 night cruise - and boy did he deliver! In fact, a couple nights our table neighbors (with whom we became friendly) asked if there was any more of the vegan dessert as it looked so good.

It was her best Celebrity food experience - by far - as the bar had previously been set very low. The only problem now is whether we'll be able to reach that bar again....

Just goes to show you how much of a difference your Maitre' D can make - if they are willing to.

Mike

Our cellphone provider (t-mobile) provides free data in most other counties. International texts are free. If we MUST make a phone call, we use WhatsApp or find a Wi-Fi connection.

 

I haven't bought a SIM card in 10 years.

We too have T-Mobile. Just used it on our Baltics cruise and we had free data in every country we visited (albeit slow). Phone calls to US were on average .20 per minute (that is even less than when I used to buy SIM cards in Europe).

I do recommend that you sign up for T-Mobile "Plus" for an extra $10 / month if you plan to use data in Europe. That will double the speed - but only to about 3G. It was slow, but we used it for maps navigation everywhere - walking and driving.

It worked out so well. Might be a more expensive option since you are not already with T mobile but just wanted to mention how well it worked for us.

Mike

We just did this a month ago - also for 4 people. We used Smith's. They were great to work with and very prompt. Highly recommended.

It was 130GBP each way, plus an additional 50 GBP for the stop at Stonehenge.

Mike

My June cruise is showing for around $200 less than what I paid. I sent my travel agent an email at the beginning of the weekend but no response. I called and left a voicemail yesterday and no response. Normally, I wouldn’t bother to call on a holiday weekend except this sale is over in 10 hours. I called Celebrity to see if I could change it, but they said there’s nothing they can do about it. My travel agent is the only one who can touch the reservation. I’m a bit miffed to say the least. Any suggestions from anyone about what can be done?

Don't know what your cancellation policy is on your original reservation, but you could always do a courtesy hold on the new reservation. Hopefully your TA will be back before the sale (and / or the hold) expires. If the TA doesn't return, cancel that reservation (if no fees / penalty) and just go with the new (and transfer to a different TA!).

Make sure the perks are equivalent. Also, if the TA is giving additional perks, those could be affected by a price reduction as well.

Mike

Yes. Kept an eye on the ‘fishy’ website but that usually doesn’t show until reductions there for a while . Otherwise fake booking on TA or Celebrity site and compare with your invoice.

 

 

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I still use the site, mainly because I had leftover credits. Used to be fantastic for years - but in my experience has become VERY unreliable. Don't believe it is still being maintained. I've now gotten into the habit of checking everyday and found drops that it did not alert me to. Don't think I will buy any more credits.

Thank you - years ago there was a little software called Cruise Shark. It would automatically keep monitoring your cruise and would notify you of a price drop. It was wonderful

As mentioned above - there is still a site (not sure if it is the same one you are thinking of) but IMO not really worth using anymore. Then again, for just a buck per cruise - maybe....

Mike

Mike

 

Usb stick on Royal only now. Yes you download still with Celebrity! We will be on the edge in December, maybe a jump drive then. Sorry for the misinformation. But I highly recommend the all inclusive package on Royal or Celebrity!

Ah, ok. We'll be on Royal for 5 days starting new year's eve. Was just looking at the photo package. $160 for 5 nights:o. Still worth it, but a bit of sticker shock. We just paid $200 for our 14 night cruise on Celebrity. Apparently no Diamond discount on the package like we get on Celebrity either.....

Mike

The package is well worth it. Typically we get 200 /300 plus photos. The all inclusive package now is available on a jump drive. You get all and when home we decide which pictures we want to print or put in a picture book from an on line vendor like———-fly. If you figure the cost of each picture averages $25 dollars a real no brainer. You can include other family members in some pictures from other staterooms, as long as a person from the stateroom that purchased the photo package is in the picture. We have also had attached staterooms for our grandchildren and they took individual pictures. The package which is typically on sale before your cruise is a bargain The jump drive is so much better then carrying the hard copies home

We get the full package on every cruise. I've never seen a jump drive on Celebrity. We used to get a CD on the last night of the cruise with all the pictures. Just got off the Silhouette 2 weeks ago and now we get an email with a link to download the pictures.

When did you get the usb stick?

Mike

Do you try to do a fake booking to see the price?

Yes.

Celebrity is doing a holiday sale. Now is a good time for everyone to check their reservations for a price decrease. The ones I have seen aren’t huge but every little bit helps.

When aren't they having a sale? That's why I check prices every day. Often the biggest drops have nothing to do with a "sale".

Mike

I've sometimes had 5 or 6 price drops on a single cruise. No limit - but as others have said, you need to understand the impact on perks, if any.

Mike

She just got back and said , No. The point about guarantee allocation is that you have to take what you are given ! Same for all cruise lines apparently. If price of 2A drops to what I paid for guarantee I could change.

 

 

 

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Not true. Many of us have done this before. My guess is she may not be all that familiar with Celebrity and if the person she spoke to gave her an incorrect answer at first (unfortunately happens a lot) she may not have known to press. The comment "Same for all cruise lines apparently" makes it sound like this is how its always been which is most certainly not the case.

Not sure how much further you will be able to press it with her though....

Mike

Is that a photo from the Constellation A1?

Can't be the Constellation since the bed is by the Balcony. Must be an S class ship.

Mike

I tried to book an FV for our cruise and was told that you have to have five names on the booking before Celebrity will allow you to reserve one of these cabins.

 

 

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Not true once they open them to general booking.

I would take the FV now and keep watching. If a corner one should become available you can always switch.

Mike

No self service laundry on any Celebrity ship.

The one concern I have about people just saying to get insurance is the stories of those who have purchased 'cancel for any reason' insurance only to find out that their specific case then doesn't get covered. Just in this thread I have seen a few specific examples called out.

I have not seen any cases where "cancel for any reason" insurance was not honored. Cancel for any reason is exactly that - ANY reason. It applies when one of the more specific reason (usually with a higher reimbursement) does not apply.

Typically when you purchase insurance, there is an additional premium for Cancel for Any Reason coverage. Also, they only reimburse a portion - usually 75% of what you paid.

There was a poster who complained that they were reimbursed with a FCC instead of cash when cancelling for any reason. This is true when you buy the insurance offered from the cruise line. This is spelled out in the coverage. Cruise line insurance is relatively inexpensive, and IMO not very good coverage.

Just like anything else - you need to do your homework. If you buy insurance from the cruise line or anywhere else, you need to understand the policy - what it covers and how it reimburses.

Mike