dreams_of_travel

This whole solo scheme has put me completely off sailing with Celebrity.   I have no idea when I will go back.  I refuse to book them even when sailing with a roommate b/c their pricing in general has gotten out of hand, along with that ridiculous removal of gratuities from the all included price.  I am taking longer cruises for less money on another comparable line, and currently have about 5 cruises booked.  I am sad that Celebrity has gone this direction, but hope they will re-adjust pricing overall in the future. 

1 hour ago, kamelia said:

@Thrak mentioned the same virtual credit card and I am hoping he will weigh in with his experience if he's had a chance to check it out already.

Ah, I must have missed that comment.  I have been reading a page or two here and there, that makes sense I hadn't seen it.  I'll see if he posts an update at some point.

After reading many of the posts in this thread, I am not inclined to DL the new app. 🤣   But the comments regarding the shoreside transactions and credit card info going to a third party have made me curious.  I wonder how they would handle a virtual acct number?  I have a CitiBank card that allows for a virtual number creation that you can assign a specific use for that number.  For example, I have a couple of virtual numbers that are only used for Amazon purchases, or other online shopping.  Main purpose is to be able to track exactly who used the virtual number, and not my regular/actual card information.  I don't have another cruise for a few months, so I'm not going to mess with the new app until I have to. Hopefully the bugs will be worked out in the new year.

I had forgotten about this issue entirely.  My most recent cruise was on the Grand in an interior cabin, and it did not have any of the motion sensor lights.  I will have to remember my painters tape for future cruises that have that "feature" installed.  🤦🏻‍♀️

18 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

 

Applying the credit (using the card # and PIN) on Princess' web site was also sort of a PITA.  It really didn't like the card info being cut-and-pasted.  It kept rejecting it until I typed the numbers in myself.  In the end, it works.  🤷‍♂️

 

Whatever.  Free $40 for the trouble. Gonna rinse-and-repeat.

I've never been able to copy/paste the numbers into the Princess web site.  It is tedious to do each time, but saving some money is worth it.  YMMV

2 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

I tried it again this morning and is now offering me the $100 pp deposit.  Thanks for talking me down

You're welcome. Glad it finally worked for you.  If you (or anyone) isn't familiar with what the website SHOULD look like it is not very user friendly.  I have been on the website so often lately that I've noticed there are a lot of bugs with pages not rendering properly.  I still have the stupid "can't log in, wrong password/user name" issue for weeks.  I just keep hitting the submit button until it logs me in. 🙄

Fun fact (at least for me):  it seems the Princess site works better for the Safari browser vs. Google Chrome on my MacBook.  YMMV

4 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

I was in the system this morning and the only payment option available was pay it all up front.

 

This has to be a mistake doesn’t it ?

I had that issue yesterday, and accidentally paid the whole thing.  I had to call Princess to get it fixed to the $100/person deposit.  The call agent did a great job in fixing it for me.  The second cruise I booked yesterday did properly show the screen to select the deposit payment vs. the pay in full options.  In general the Princess website is still quite a mess at times.  The log in is especially touchy! Good luck. 

I did end up doing this trip after my cruise, and it went really well.  We took the train up to Katoomba per the write up I posted.  We caught the HoHo bus we had already booked.  We did not do Scenic World as their website mentioned a few things were closed.  We got off the HoHo at stop 6, hiked along the trails, all the way to Scenic World where we hopped back onto the HoHo.  We rode the bus into Leura, and walked about the cute little town and shopped.  We caught the train back to Sydney from Leura.  Not counting the train to Katoomba, and the little bit of time on the first part of the HoHo, we spent a several hours hiking along the trails, taking pics, and me trying to "recover" from the heat.   My companion was good to allow me to rest as needed.  It was a full day, and I'm glad we did the hike in the end.

As for the previous poster, I am not sure I would hike from Scenic World to Leura.  It is partially residential, and not really a hiking area.  The trails from SW back to Honeymoon Lookout, Three Sisters, and Prince Henry Cliff walk is a better walk and view.  I mean you can walk to Leura but it isn't what I think of as a hike.  YMMV

2 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

P.S.  I am more disturbed by some posts here that advocate attacking rudeness with EVEN MORE RUDENESS. 🤐

Oops.  FWIW I'm only "fight fire with fire" after I have politely asked them to be less loud, or to use headphones.  

2 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I’ve been known to join in the conversations of any loudmouths on the phone near me…

Same!  Or I find the most obnoxious music on my phone, and blast it.  When the other person asks me to be quiet, I reply that I couldn't hear MY music over their loud conversation. 😛 

45 minutes ago, Shiba_Lover said:

I think you are suggesting the wrong solution.  The solution should not be to ban phones, but to require people to use them on mute when playing games/watching videos or to use headphones when using them as a phone or placing video calls.  This problem is not unique to cruise ships.  It happens in doctor's offices, grocery stores, offices, restaurants, on and on and on.

Recently I've heard announcements on airlines that include to please USE your headphones so as not to disturb your fellow passengers.  I am not sure why this even needs to be said! and yet here we are. 😞 

My last few cruises in Aqua class, and dining in Blu were meh! at best.  Once I discovered I could order off of the MDR menu, or even the kids menu, I was much happier about my food options.  I didn't hate everything, but some of their creative choices were not appealing to me.  To answer the main OP's question:  No, I would not pay for Blu,  and unless the pricing was superior to Concierge I probably wouldn't book Aqua class again.  YMMV

On 11/16/2023 at 5:38 AM, BINDY31 said:

Once you get to Katoomba you will find the Blue Mountains Explorer bus…. Our very own Hop on, Hop off bus….  I live in the Blue Mountains.

 

Explorerbus.com.au has all the info regarding costs, timetable, and a useful map of the route.

 

scenicworld is worth exploring…. If you get the train down into the valley there is a great boardwalk around a loop down there…we even saw a lyrebird once!!

you then can either go back up on the train or use the gondola to go back up the top. 
there is also a cable car…called the Skyway over the valley 

 

the train trip from Sydney will take you through busy inner city suburbs… to suburban suburbs… over the Nepean River that separates the plains from the mountains… through the beautiful bushland areas up the mountain to Katoomba. Well worth the 2 hours it takes.

 

there is also a hop on hop off bus that takes in the sights of Sydney.

 

enjoy!!!

 

cheers

Belinda

 

I just did this trip to the Blue Mountains last month.  It was lovely.  We did not get the Scenic World pass or visit due to some things being closed/temp out of service.  But we did use the HoHo Bus Explorer, and hiked a good bit along the trails for views of the Three Sisters, waterfalls, and other vistas.  It was peaceful hiking,  Leura was lovely with all the little shops.  We did not explore Katoomba on arrival by train but jumped straight away onto the HoHo.  I would go back to explore Katoomba, especially the street art area, and galleries.  YMMV

Thank you @possum52 for that info.  I obviously need to do some more research.

@beatleman  Good info.  I had no idea about getting to that location.  Will have to work out the details. Or go with another tour plan instead of this subject.

@PerfectlyPerth I think I had found that about the horse touring, but I'm not sure that would work for me.  Love horses, but not as fit as I used to be.  I will see if they offer another tour option. But of course as mentioned above getting to Mansfield could be an issue.

I posted the question, and got great info back.  Now to keep researching.  Thank you!

I'm doing some research for a tentative cruise in 2025.  The cruise ends in Melbourne, and part of our planning discussion was about trying to see the area/s from the movie The Man from Snowy River.  Has anyone done a similar day trip or a few days trip based on this?  I have found (via google) at least one company that does something along these lines.  One was a horse adventure, another a long day trip.  I appreciate any info the lovely Aussies in this forum could pass along. 

I was able to buy 3 cards today, but had weirdness with it letting me submit the order.  Somehow the page had not properly loaded, and would not process/submit it.  I ended up backing out to previous page, (checking card info, and order amount), and then going forward again before the purchase finally started going through.  

Be aware that sometimes Princess is a PITA if you don't book the hotel through them, and hope to get on their shuttle.  I've had issues catching a cruise out of LA using their shuttle when I booked my own hotel using points.  I ended up having to Uber to the port instead b/c "there wasn't room for independent bookings" 🙄   YMMV

9 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

You should not let them pressure you into spending money on benefits you won’t fully use. Like you, we don’t find the plus or premier packages cost effective based on our onboard patterns and prefer to pay as we go for the services we are using. We would certainly pay more with the package so it just doesn’t make sense for us. 
 

In terms of specialty dining, you absolutely DO NOT need the package to make reservations with your friends. You can pay for your meal separately and there is no issue there. They will happily make a reservation for your entire group. 
 

I would just nicely, but firmly let them know you do not plan to purchase the package but are very much looking forward to having a great cruise sharing their company. 

Excellent advice.  I am not a fan of others pressuring me (or anyone) to get the package/s.  It is very personal, and one has to make the choice based on their own.  I was very pro package purchase before the changes.  Three of my upcoming cruises were booked under the old system, and one next fall is cruise only.  I am just fine with pay as I go now, mostly b/c it is a whole lot cheaper than paying for things I would not use (hello fitness classes on a cruise LOL!).  YMMV

The upside to having applied for a ETA Visa last October definitely made applying again this October a breeze.  My passport info was the same, so all I had to do was update the arrival address, and answer the questions.  I did not have to scan in my passport again, which was a pita last year.  I certainly did not plan my trips down under very well, so I get to apply again next year. 🤦🏻‍♀️  I'm missing that window by 3 weeks.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

24 minutes ago, dreams_of_travel said:

I took a Dunedin Wildlife Harbour cruise in January.  I did enjoy it, and we did see a bit of wildlife, plus I love being out on the water on a smaller ship.  It was not a long excursion, not expensive either (under $100).  It allowed me time to go into town after the harbour trip, and enjoy walking a bit on my own. 

The correct name of the excursion:  Otago Harbour Wildlife Cruise

I took a Dunedin Wildlife Harbour cruise in January.  I did enjoy it, and we did see a bit of wildlife, plus I love being out on the water on a smaller ship.  It was not a long excursion, not expensive either (under $100).  It allowed me time to go into town after the harbour trip, and enjoy walking a bit on my own. 

1 minute ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did it include a meal service?

Yes, two times out of the three there was a meal.  Once it was champagne brunch, the other was a lovely dinner.  

I've been fortunate to have gotten to go the Magic Castle 3 times.  It is truly an experience that can't be described.   The close up magic room is amazing, and you really cannot see how they do their tricks even sitting at the table.  This sounds like it would be a fun experience on a cruise, but nothing can match the atmosphere of the old Victorian mansion.  YMMV

Hope by the time the ship gets to Melbourne that the Lotus pool will be open. 

Did anyone else notice the very low volume music being played through the whole webinar?  I found it annoying b/c who needs background music during a discussion.  Perhaps they thought it made it seem like they were more accessible/regular people just having a nice chat.  LOL! 

Overall it was very polished, and did address some of the concerns I've seen on this forum.  What I thought was a bit nuts was them trying to sell the All Included as people only want drinks, and wifi.  As if you don't have to pay gratuities at some point, or what? One of the reasons I have avoided HAL is how they don't ever (that I've seen recently) include gratuities in their All Included pricing. FWIW Princess has changed their All Included too, and for one cruise next year, I booked cruise only b/c of their new pricing, and my roommate does not drink, so both people having to get the All Included is just dumb.  Oh well, I have no Celebrity cruises on my horizon, so their new strategy is moot for me now.  YMMV

3 hours ago, possum52 said:

Sorry, I only know as much as has been written on the thread you started. Do you have a link to the article? Did you have to have an ImmiAccount to do your ETA? If so, log in and see what it says.

Here's a link I found that doesn't have a paywall:

https://hawaiinews.online/boynton-area-couples-travel-nightmare-thanks-to-australias-new-rule/

I had no idea that was a thing, but it is of note for future travel.  I do have to wonder why Australia wouldn't require sufficient travel insurance to help offset any health care costs for those over 75.  I understand that health care may be a limited resource for residents, and visitors could impact that, but something to fund that issue could work.  I would like to see the statistics on how many over 75 visitors need health care on their trips based on the year.