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maggipie

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About Me

  • Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
  • Interests
    Wishing I didn't have to work
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Celebrity . . . it's all about the food

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. We won't be on Solstice until March, but already received an email last month from: Zora Breazeale ConciergeZora@celebrity.com 1.877.RETREAT (Prompt #3) And re gelato, on our Summit cruise in June, it was hit and miss, but no big deal, we signed when asked to, and stellar retreat concierges Mar & Penelope were on the lookout to take care of the (many 😁) charges that appeared.
  2. Thank you all for your helpful comments! I agree that it didn't seem consumer friendly for the warranty to have expired well before the computer even saw the light of day, but she was very insistent so I slunk away. Buoyed by everyone's advice, I returned today (the Apple Store is only 10 minutes away), and spoke with a manager who could not confirm that Celebrity was an authorized reseller (😖) and told me again the MacBook Pro I bought was showing originally purchased 1/15/2020 in their system, so definitely out of warranty, despite my physical receipt showing purchase date this June. But, you all are right, it's painful to be dinged $700 for a 3 year old MacBook, so thanks graphicguy, I called Apple Support and discovered the folks on the phone were much more knowledgeable than those in the store (guess face to face is not always better); they did not question Celebrity's reseller status, and updated the purchase date after reviewing a picture of my receipt. So now the repair should be under warranty, which is much easier than going after Celebrity (and I had definitely intended to do that!). My NR OBC was a several thousand dollar windfall; there was a significant fare decrease just after final payment along with a fortuitous cancellation in the cabin category we booked, so I feel this was truly a gratis laptop, a reward for me checking that one lucky day. (And I have a same year MacBook Air, thought I'd try out a bigger screen.) So warranty info relayed to me at the Apple Store was indeed wrong, thanks everyone for that correction, though probably still wiser to spend NR OBC elsewhere, unless the hassle of possibly needing to have an older device repaired doesn't faze you!
  3. This is my PSA for those of you with lots of non refundable OBC thinking you can get an Apple something ... probably you shouldn't, especially if it's old stock. (If you do, be sure to open it up and check it out before you disembark so you can return it if it's a dud!) I am just off Summit, had a lot of OBC thanks to Best Offer Guarantee, so bought a (2019) 16 inch MacBook Pro for $2199 (saved $200 with their "sale.") Reading up here on CC, I saw if available, Apple stock was mostly older products being sold, and also saw riredsox's Feb post of the drained battery on a MacBook Pro purchased on Constellation. Sure enough, the one I got refused to turn on and refused to charge. After some online research, I figured the battery can be replaced for $200 which is less than what tax would have been if I bought it at an Apple Store at home. I took it into an Apple Store today and turns out it's not a simple battery replacement; after some manipulation in the store trying to reset it, it was determined it was utterly dead. Seems the drained battery was out so long that internal damage occurred, and it now needs to be repaired ... for $678. The person helping me thought I was a huge dummy to spend that much money on an older MacBook Pro when the newer/2022 MacBook Pro with a better chip was only $300 more than what I paid; my dummy status changed only a little when I told her Apple Store doesn't take OBC. Also, I learned that the one year warranty for Apple products bought onboard works this way: the clock starts when Celebrity buys it from Apple. This MacBook Pro was purchased from Apple Jan 2020, so its warranty expired Jan 2021, regardless of that fact that Celebrity is an "authorized reseller." So my Celebrity receipt stating "Manufacture warranty valid one year from date of purchase" is erroneous, since this applies only to Celebrity's date of purchase, not my date, and the link for more info on that receipt gives specific details only for products purchased from an Apple Store, not an authorized reseller. Hope this helps those of you with NR OBC trying to decide between specialty dining, excursions, spa or MacBook Pro ...
  4. I used princess.com/refund-request, which redirects to https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/customerCare.page?type=refund&topic=1
  5. I was also surprised the nurse didn't test them. When I spoke to her on the phone, I told her we were a family of 4, but she came up with one test, just for me. She really didn't ask us many (medical) questions either, maybe because we were (relatively) younger. I am guessing our better experience on Majestic was because there were a fewer number of passengers/crew in isolation, compared to some of the other experiences detailed.
  6. I'd rather we not have been sent there, but it wasn't as scary as some of the other threads I read!
  7. Thanks everyone for your well wishes! We're both doing fine, mainly congestion and some coughing. DH and DS remain asymptomatic, and tomorrow they'll both get a PCR test, 5 days from our drive up (we all wore N95's for the drive). My best to those of you heading out soon, I sincerely hope you are spared the Catch-Covid-on-your-Cruise experience!
  8. My daughter got kicked out of the kids' programs a couple years ago but she's still my little girl 😍 We were being SO very Covid anti social; in fact, DS still qualifies for the kids program but he did not go.
  9. Yes, our guest services liaison said save all receipts, so on that online form (thanks again Cruise Raider!), I submitted receipts for car rental, gas and lunch, which is probably minuscule compared to what it would cost to keep our family of 4 down in LA until we could fly back on Wednesday!
  10. 1. No, we were not tested again, and for the positive test that was our ticket to the quarantine cabin, the nurse did a cursory glance at our antigen test that was sitting on the desk and remarked "That is positive all right!" Guess she thought it would be nuts for anyone to fib their way into isolation. Since we returned home, we've both had a PCR test for official confirmation, should we need it the next 90 days. 2. No, we're still good with Princess! If Eclipse had sailed, Covid could've snuck up on us there too. Plus Port of SF is just 25 miles north ... much closer than any of our prior Celebrity ports.
  11. Cruise Raider posted a letter addressed to guests (post #6), under "Caribbean Princess cruise from San Francisco to Vancouver for tomorrow cancelled"
  12. The only one required to quarantine was my daughter, but she looked so very sad there was absolutely no way I would have let her go alone! A word on testing, when I called down to report DD's positive test, the nurse I spoke to asked me to test myself too, but I figured Princess had a lot more antigen tests than the few we brought, so I requested she test me, which she did, but after my negative test, she did not offer to test DH and DS (all three of us were asymptomatic). The negative testing for both was with our antigen test stash. She also did not give clear instructions on what DH & DS could/could not do, so they just followed the current CDC recommendations for close contacts.
  13. Follow up, FWIW- returned from our cruise .... with Covid 😞 and ironically, our quarantine cabin was a deluxe balcony with a couch (even adjoining, but Covid spared DH and DS) ... this is the epitome of a "be careful what you wish for" lesson. For those who have found this thread because you are using CC for research as I often do, here are my takeaways from Princess vs Celebrity (with consideration to post pandemic having some influence on certain aspects). More alike than different, staff everywhere always friendly and helpful. We found food to be better on Celebrity, though we did appreciate the pizza in Alfredo's Pizzeria. Our only SD was Crown Grill, we could not do Bistro Sur La Mer because of quarantine (though you can actually order from specialty restaurants to your room with your app ... retrospectively, guess I should have), and Harmony didn't have anything super appealing. No cold towels in the gym (are they still there post pandemic?). Shower curtains do not cling (whew!) Balconies small (for our BB category anyway, though opening up the divider made for a nice long balcony). Self laundry turned out to be a big plus even though this was a short 7 day cruise. On Celebrity, we have 5 free bags of laundry amongst us, soon 6 when DS turns 18, but it was very nice to have everything back in ~2 hours, if you are a clean clothes freak like me (since this was a staycation cruise, I wasn't missing much to make that trip to the laundromat). All other points in prior posts are more or less true; capacity on our cruise was ~1850, so theater wasn't crazy crowded, no fistfights! MUTS wasn't fun because it was too cold (timing!), even bundled up in blankets. Vines was great, enjoyed some nice tapas there. 24 hour IC wasn't utilized; DS just ordered burgers and fries with the app when he got hungry after dinner. And thanks to you CC folks, it wasn't often, since when he was really hungry, he knew to ask the waiter for double entrees at dinner ($10 charge only in SD). The medallion IS nice to unlock your cabin door as you approach but I think the biggest plus about Princess is being able to order food and drinks with the Medallion app, delivered to wherever you are, most appreciated when DD and I were stuck in quarantine the last 2 days of the cruise (but it was also handy when my drink was forgotten at dinner earlier in the cruise, I just ordered another on my app). Thanks again to chamima for your special drink recipe, and I was happy to discover both the Flamingo and French Martini, consoling especially after our family was split up. My appreciation again to all fellow Celebrity cruisers who contributed your 2 cents on Princess faves! (As now we've got FCC for the next Princess cruise ... )
  14. Hi all, sharing our experience since reading about others' on CC was so helpful. We are long time Celebrity cruisers, and when Eclipse was cancelled, we decided to change our staycation itinerary/first cruise since pandemic over to Majestic. We're a family of 4, all vaccinated and boosted, and knew the risks going in, but we (okay, really, I) missed cruising and thought for sure we would not be a casualty. We were meticulously careful, wearing our KN95's everywhere (many other cruisers did not), except when we sat down to eat, so just goes to show, nothing is 100%. We boarded Saturday 3/26 and were enjoying exploring a new ship/line; Thursday DD said she had a sore throat, so I tested her with an antigen test we brought along. Uh oh, positive. I called down to Medical and the nurse came up to test me, I was negative, and DH and DS were negative as well. I didn't want DD to quarantine alone, so accompanied her to our new Dolphin cabin (deluxe balcony/cat DB, for those wondering). So the good news is that we did feel well taken care of. We were able to order food and drink from the Medallion app, including from specialty dining, and at meal times, you can call room service to order off the MDR menu. The two times we did not order (lunch Friday and breakfast morning of disembarkation), a meal just showed up. We had a specific guest services person to talk to, to help arrange our travel home. We did not want to quarantine in an LA area hotel for another 3 days, preferring to rent a car to drive home, and they offered complimentary phone calls to help arrange that, but I was able to reserve online. We've been booking air with the cruise lines since the pandemic (3 cancelled cruises, last 2 cancelling air was so easy with Celebrity just cancelling for us), and this one, super easy too, Princess cancelled the return flight for us. They also arranged private transportation (at their expense) to the car rental agency (which was by LAX). Disembarkation was a bit disorganized, we were told we'd be escorted down at 9 am, and would meet DH and DS just outside the ship. But no one came for us until close to 9:30, then we were asked to walk out to the very rear of the ship, towards the USS Iowa (ship personnel handed us off to a port person, who had no idea where the other half of our family was), where our car was supposed to be waiting (it wasn't) and we had to tell DH and DS to walk towards us. The driver apparently was waiting there for an hour before leaving, but eventually did return for us, and the person escorting us waited with us (vs abandoning us!). I was told to save all receipts and call the 800 Princess number to follow up for reimbursement, but as many of you know, that call is a time suck nightmare, and the two people I eventually talked to, could not help me, instead, both sent me to "Customer Solutions" where I was on hold so long I had to give up. I appreciated Cruise Raider's post with princess.com/refund-request link (helped me decide to give up on holding), which I used to submit our info. They are obviously extremely busy, because it took multiple attempts before it was accepted (I kept getting a message saying "Service request cannot be created at this time, please try again later"), and I received an email saying standard processing time is 4 to 6 weeks. Hope this helps those of you with cruises planned, as I am sure, just like us, no one is expecting to be part of the dreaded Covid positive cruise ship statistics. (As of now, just me and DD, and it's like a head cold, so we're okay.)
  15. Eclipse California Coastal cancelled, so our family of 4, cruising Celebrity almost exclusively the last ~2 decades, after considering the additional $2K+ airfare (hmm ... where are the "$299 flights" 🤔) for a redeye to board Reflection for a same date Caribbean itinerary, decided to keep with our original staycation plans, and now will be boarding Majestic Princess instead. Very disappointed initially since we were so eager for our first restart cruise post Covid (with the lucky coincidental kids' spring break 2022 this year), but now we are looking forward to this relaxing/non port intensive itinerary to introduce us to a new line. We're easy to please and open to anything. Any recommendations from fellow cruisers who love both Celebrity and Princess, on what your favorite unique-to-Princess things are? I already have MUTS as #1, and #2, a Toasted Almond Martini, delivered, via the Medallion app 😊 TIA!
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