SHIP TRAVELER

Good Luck, Let me know when you see me on board. Phyllis

We got our rejections (2) last night for the December 11th Solstice. No move up for us this time around.

Thanks for the great live report Jim. I have really enjoyed cruising along with you. I hope to see you at the roll call slot pull on the second leg December 12th. Phyllis

You are very lucky, you should head to the closet Casino ASAP. I got frustrated yesterday and called #1 just to see if it was answered quicker than #2, after two hours on hold I got the answer that I would have to talk to the Casino Manager after I boarded the ship. Hopefully it will all work our for the slot pull as planned. I think many who want a new booking will be giving up if service does not improve.

Thanks for the replies. I will try again. I was advised by a semi famous CC Slot Pool host and CC group entertainer that it was wise to contact the Casino in advance. He set up our recent Slot Pull on the Summit. Some of us do not continue checking in with the Roll Call after boarding and we did not ask for cabin numbers on the sign up sheet so changing the planned time and date might be tough. This was a sort of last minute idea and I wanted to make sure there was enough interest before proceeding so that is why I am under a time crunch. This is my first time as the planner of a slot pull but I have often participated. We just wanted a little event to meet the roll call members and mingle for some fun on board.

I have been trying to call the Blue Chip Club (1-866-461-7170) for several days and the wait has always been way over an hour with no answer. They also don't seem to respond to E Mails. I have been trying to get confirmation on a time for a Roll Call Slot pull with no success. The cruise is 9 days away on the Solstice. It is very frustrating because I have other things to do prior to this cruise. I booked a discounted cruise NET 60 through them a couple of weeks ago with almost no wait time but when it was posted to the X site the amount owed was wrong. That cruise is some time out but if I were leaving soon that would be a problem that I would need some help with right away. I wonder what is going on with them. Does anyone else have the same problem or any ideas about contacting them?

I think the status is a "what have you done lately" system based on our action on your most recent cruises. I am talking about Blue Chip offers and discounts, not the marketing balcony give away to non gamblers that is currently going.

When you sign in on your X account one sure way to see OBC is to attempt to (dummy) book a shore excursion. The OBC available will usually pop right us...spend me, spend me. This always works, the page keeps changing with prompts in different places but this works.

Not the Solstice but we got double points under the promotion on an Oct. Summit cruise. The points were posted in about one week along with the base points. I started looking right away because of an expected move up to E+. Good Luck

Not about whale watching but we enjoyed Loreto a lot. We walked to the old town area from the ship and had a great fish taco and margarita at a shady little hole in the wall. Very friendly people but not so touristy. In fact we almost missed the city because we turned the wrong way. Walk past the LORETO photo op sign a few blocks and turn right to walk to the church. There was not TI booth and no taxis at the pier so we were mystified. It is a DIY kind of place in our opinion.

You will get free drinks from a limited menu from 5 to7PM everyday (except embarkation day) at multiple bars with Elite status. You also get specialty coffees and some drinks (Mimosas, Bellinis and maybe Bloody Marys) at Elite Coffee house from 8 to 10 am everyday. Look at the list in your cabin for all Elite perks.

I know on the Solstice our regular balcony just had a fixed shower head but Solstice Aqua has a wand. If you go to videos you might be able to see photos. I use c------deck-----s.com for photos. We were in a standard balcony on the Eclipse before the shut down but I can't remember the shower.

We sailed on the Solstice to Alaska in August on a lift and shifted veranda cabin with no perks. We were Elite at that time. We expected to buy several bottles of classic wine with the Elite bottle discount in the MDR and a few beers to supplement the 5-7 Happy Hour. We got our Cappuccino at the Tuscan Coffee house. We ended up buying two beers and 1 bottle of wine all on the first day when there was no Elite Happy Hour. We did bring two bottles of wine on board but we do that even with the package for the convenience of a drink on the balcony. One unexpected opportunity was the free drinks for players in the casino. We play some each day after the show and with a tip the waiter will spot you on a nightly basis. This was our night cap outside of 5-7 drinks. We also attended all of the Captains club events where drinks were provided but we usually attend these events any way for the social aspect. The truth was we did not need the package and we felt never deprived. Right now we have four other cruises booked with X but all were with on line TA group deals and all have the Classic package. We made Elite + on our last cruise so we now have Cafe El Bacio to add to the mix. We have not tried our D+ yet under the new RCL program but we have two RCL cruises next year so we will see how that goes. The WiFi does not matter to us. We unplug while traveling and seldom use the base free minutes. We would definitely book "cruise only" if it saved us any money. Usually the paid tips make a difference in our price calculation of $$ to $$.

The invoice info I received from Blue Chip for a discounted cruise shows the code Casino net 60. This is supposed to mean that I have classic drinks, tips, and basic WIFI free with my reservation. I am in a balcony, not a suite. I have an email in to the engagement center asking for better clarification of my perks but it has been a week with no response.

Thanks for this information.

The Elite happy hour is not held on the night of embarkation so if you don't have a drink package you might want to bring on board some wine (two bottles per person allowed) to have that first evening. Now that the drink packages are not built into all fares, I am seeing more people walking into the dining room with full glasses of wine. Celebrity does not serve the elite happy hour drinks in the dining venues. There are sometimes free drinks served to players in the non-smoking casino. These are some differences I notice between the two lines.

Celebrity has started giving free drinks in the casino to players. They check to see if you have a drink package but if you don't the "classic" level drinks are free. They seem totally unconcerned about your casino level, they don't look at your card but do ask for your room number. I will try for a free drink while playing on RCL to see how it goes. All they can say is NO, then I will use one of my D vouchers. Always worth a try, I certainly donate enough $$ to deserve a cheap free drink.

We have not cruised RCL since the vouchers were started but I asked a friend just off the Wonder TA how they worked out. He said they were great but his tip was that you need to keep track of what drinks are used for each card. This guy is a real Gentleman and often picks up his and his wife's drinks at the bar while she is seated at a table. She is also Diamond and sometimes goes to the cabin after the show when he goes to Casino. I can see how disappointing it would be for the left over drinks to be on her card in the cabin when he wants a night cap in the casino. I am reading that a slip is now printed out for the "free" drinks which might help us keep track. We are looking forward to our 5 (D+)drinks in February on the Allure after string of cruises on Celebrity.

Was there a Captains Club welcome event on the first sea day, if so what time? I am trying to find a good time to host a slot pull on a December cruise and want to avoid conflicting events in the morning on the first sea day. Thanks you so much for taking questions.

The rules on the ship are not the same as for Las Vegas casino mini tourneys where textbook (Wong) strategy helps. We no longer play in the ships tourneys because it is more a go for it max bet, all in, free for all. You are either lucky, or you are broke in the first few hands. This is just my observation. If you are trying to use OBC, I would advise you buy the promo chips and play regular black jack or Ultimate Texas Holdum at the tables. If you buy promo chips before sailing you get a 10% bonus. Good Luck if you decide to invest in the Tourney, you will need it.

Just an up date on US passport delivery. I sent my Passport renewal package by Priority mail on Oct. 27. The new passport was delivered by USPS yesterday November 12. This was a two week turnaround. It went from Texas to Philadelphia for processing. We did pay for the expedited service (around $60 I think) because of some on the delays we had read about here. I can't tell you how glad I was to get the Passport back so promptly. We were trying to hit a gap between trips and ended up with a month to spare.

We love the M class ships, we especially like the Rendezvous lounge for a before dinner drink. It is much more comfortable than the Passport bar, which is our before dinner option with music on S class. On a recent Summit cruise, we had a tour of the Penthouse and OMG it was beyond anything I had imagined with the giant deck and big view tub in the master bath. What a WOW. My only slight negative was the Tuscan Location. We love the Aft sea views from the Tuscan on the S class ships. We also had a less than stellar experience at the Elite Coffee event in the Summit Tuscan. We came in about 20 minutes prior to closing. No one wanted to serve us, they were all setting up tables very busily trying to wait each other out. Finally the Captains Club hostess saw we had not be served and directed a server to us. Then it was, "'we have no Espresso machine so we have to go upstairs to get Cappuccino"?? Hard to believe that this Tuscan doesn't have an Espresso machine and even harder to believe that the Elite Coffee was held in a venue event without an Espresso machine. The cold items we ordered was warm room temp and dried out like it had been sitting on the counter for hours. Even the smoothie was melted. There must have not been a cold prep area in this Tuscan either. Anyway this was the only instance of weird service we experienced the entire cruise, the crew in every other venue seemed eager to serve and friendly. This may have been a one off (with hidden issues but it looked like there was plenty of staff) but we did not go back to another Elite Coffee house the entire 12 day cruise. We loved going to the Elite coffee on our Reflection Trans Atlantic in the spring but it was a different venue and a different experience altogether.

It is a question for the ages.....but evidently not of age either. Thanks for your response. Maybe if I keep picking up pieces of the puzzle I will figure it out. My DH says to "forget about it, it is not going to be offered to YOU" so who cares......

Go figure. Everything I can think of that may be a targeting factor gets shot down. If X has a strategy for the free cruise give away I can't figure it out. I have no idea about how to determine the age groups that are receiving the free cruises so that one I can't trace. Oh well like I said envy....

Thanks so much for your live review. We have friends sailing back to Florida along with your and I think I know more about what is going on with the cruise than they do at this time. He is a Poker player so if you meet someone from Texas in a ball cap at a cash game, ask him if he knows Phyllis? I am enjoying your writing style very much and hope you will keep sailing with RCCL in the future.