johhnnyt

IMO, domestically there is no real advantage that I am aware of to using the cruise line to book air. We always book air separately and independently.

 

Internationally it is often the opposite and advantageous to book air through the cruise line for schedules and pricing.

I've found the same true. Generally European/Asian/Oceania round trip trip and single leg trips can save some good money in both coach and business classes (for example I just booked a one way to from Miami to Chile in 1st class for $1200 for 2019, and booked a one way first class from Rome to NY for $1050, and in both cases the price was 3x that through the airlines).

Occasionally I'll find a better deal on Air by Celebrity for domestic flights , but it's rare to find anything much better than you'll find on your own through one of the major online agencies

I’m a vegetarian and have sailed on a number of cruise lines including all of the Celebrity ships. Celebrity ALWAYS has a vegetarian menu available in the main dinning rooms, Luminae, and Blu.

 

But, sometimes the vegetarian menu has “token veggie” items that are not very pleasant. I always ask our butler (or cabin steward) for a copy of all the Luminae, Main Dinning Room, and vegetarian menus the first night after boarding. That way we can preview the menus and decide which nights we eat in Luminae, OceanView vs specialty restaurants. Sometimes we have asked the Onshore Concierge to have the butler pull the menus together and have them ready for us when we board.

 

And ... if you are in a higher level suite, the head chef will also accommodate special requests. On one cruise, we made up our own menu each night for a party of eight (four suites) and had them serve it in our suite (Penthouse). It was outstanding. We had custom made selections of Indian food, soups, appetizers, pizza, stir fry, etc, etc. Always plenty of vegetarian options. The head chef really had fun with us.

 

Special requests really depend on the chef. Some will be excited about cooking something different, and some will just be too busy to accommodate. I asked for a “veggie burger” one time for lunch in Luminae... the waiter said they didn’t have any, but went and asked the chef. His response was amazing !!! He was soooo excited to be able to make something different. The chef asked us what we liked and didn’t like and made us by far the BEST veggie burgers we have ever had ... all from scratch. While on a cruise in New Zealand one time, the head chef heard that we liked authentic vegetarian Indian food and made us a selection of special dishes every night in addition to our regular orders. The crew was great and kept coming by the see what he had made for us. I was curious and asked one of the waiters ... he said that they LOVE it when the chef does special requests ... because he always makes a very big batch and they get to eat the extras later. It was a lot of fun for us vegetarians AND the crew !!

 

We have also asked for special olive bread and cheese breads. Sometimes they really get into it and love the special requests ... sometimes not so much.

 

It never hurts to ask the head chef !! They get tired of the same old menus and look forward to cook something different for appreciative and pleasant guests.

 

Don —-

 

 

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This might help, it was part of an interview I did with the Reflection Restaurant Operation Manager in April 2018, he's overall responsible for all 12 dining venues on board

Like an airline you must find it challenging, to provide specialty meals (for instance vegan, gluten free, low salt), how is that handled? Is it kind of playit by ear on the individual chefs part, or is there a grand cookbook or done by the chefs internally? We do have a special order kitchen, a small isolated space where cross contamination is prevented, and all these special things are considered. It may be religious,it may be allergy, diet, it might be a preference or lifestyle. First option is the main menu, it’s good for vegetarians but might not be good for vegans, but if we are notified 24 hours in advance it can be modified. Then we have guests that prefer vegan food, but don’t really want to think about it in advance. In that case the chef that does special orders can step out of the kitchen, and they ask the questions what they like. It can be difficult sometimes because sometimes the guests aren’t sure what they want, so then we try and narrow it down Do you prefer Indian, Do You prefer Asian, Do you prefer Mediterranean? Do you like it spicy, mild? This helps us narrow it down. Then since we have a variety of chefs we can have them create something nice and tasty that meets the guests taste

2200-2300 guests, most of the request are simple ones like low sodium, no dairy, no nuts, or salt

So how often does that happen say in the Main Dining Room(MDR)? . Most just preorder, we show them the menu for the next day,they preorder and it’s ready the next day when they arrive.

What percentage come in with request/needs that require the complete special orders then? At the moment I think we have a very small number. Only two vegan in te MDR, two in Luminae. and they’ll be taken care of well. Usually though it is a very small number on these special special orders.

What about gluten free? Lately that has been more popular so in that case we took other steps that helped us much. We started offering items on the menu labeled as gluten free, or no dairy, etc and that’s helped us greatly. They don’t have to preorder, and make sit easier for us and them. Dressings we make gluten free, soups we make gluten free, sauces for the dishes we make them all gluten free.

How many chefs in main MDR kitchen during dinner?52 in the execution of themeals

Glad you enjoyed, I'll try and get the ones with the Staff Captain and Engineer done this week

Of course I want people's issues to be resolved but sometimes you have to have patience. Most companies take a while to respond if you use email because of the sheer volume they receive. I like the advice that consumer advocate Christopher Elliott gives, which is to wait a minimum of a week for a response before escalating to the next level. Not everything rises to the level of involving the CEO's office, especially if there are already people working on a resolution for you.

 

There are also free ways to call Celebrity in the UK that I've seen posted...perhaps someone can provide those phone numbers again.

 

http://www.elliott.org/frequently-asked-questions-about-resolving-a-consumer-dispute/

People on here have no patience...........

If they can't find a deck chair at 11AM on a sunny day, they want the CEO to respond, and dang nab it they want to be compensated

How busy can the CEO be anyway????:D:D

I'm curious. Does Celebrity ever upgrade for free? I ask because a cruise I'm on in late June has 5 of the 8 royals still available. Would they, say, give a free upgrade from a lesser suite? Would the process then trickle down to the lower room categories?

Free Upgrades on suites. Never that I have seen. I know twice I booked a suite guarantee and once had a free upgrade to a CS, and another time an offer of an upgrade to a CS for $800. Normally what they'll do is off an upsell from people that have paid higher prices for a CS, then offer the vacated CS's to SS1 occupants

You might see an a free up grade on guarantee rate. Say an inside guarantee getting a oceanview, or a verandah getting a concierge class, but as far as I've seen that's about as far as a free upgrade will go.

When was this interview held?

 

"now Qsine is launched here first" – Qsine is old hat, being replaced.

It was done in April of 2018

Yes, that's what he is talking about the replacement of the old Qsine with the new Le Petit Chef

This was one of a series of interviews I did for a friends publication of cruise travel. Just thought I would share for all that might be interested in the background and day to day life and responsibilities of these amazing Celebrity team members

1. Where are you from? Background? I am originally from Macedonia. I went to a technology high school, started college in the food technology area and after 2 years of college, I started as a shift manager at a small chain of fast food restaurants. That chain grew to four restaurants, four bars, and one nightclub, so I became a manager of all these venues. I was managing 185 employees during the high season, but then the economy wasn’t doing so well and the business growth was slower. There were no weekends, holidays or days off, which I didn’t mind, but I felt like I could do more. I wanted a bigger challenge. There were no more opportunities for growth in the company so I started to look around.

2. How did you find your career with Celebrity? One of my friends was working on another cruise line and told me about his experiences. He explained that everyone started at the bottom, and they wouldn’t hire people as managers as they needed to learn all the parts of the business. This was about 1998, so I applied, they called back a few months later, said they would be visiting from the Miami office.

3. How did the interview go? It was like a 5-minute interview because 350 people showed up for one or two positions. All yes or no questions, as he had to be very efficient. He explained that working on a ship wasn’t easy, you would work hard, always had to be well-groomed, always had to be on time, you had to be good with people.So after he finished explaining, I said, ‘Stop searching, you have one in front of you. I like to work hard, I’m always on time and well-groomed, and I’m good with people.’ He laughed.

4. So you got the job? He said, ‘When can you go to the ship? I said, ‘I don’t know, give me a couple of hours and I can be ready (laughs). I’m ready, I can go anytime you like.’ He said I got the job, and two weeks later, I was on the ships.

5. Which ship did you start on? I started on Galaxy, she was one year old,and I started as Assistant Waiter. You shuffled between the Main Dining Room and Ocean View café, since back in those days there were no specialty dining venues.

6. How many people did you have in the dining/restaurantroom staff on Galaxy? If I remember right, about 130.

7. How many people you have on Reflection dining/restaurantroom staff? 286 people in total in my department.

8. It seems like Reflection (RF) is used as test platform for many new culinary ideas? It’s the flagship still, and has more venues than the other ones, so it’s the pilot for many things that happen. Sushi was launched here first, burgers were launched here first, now Qsine is launched here first. I’m proud and honored to be on RF the last two-and-a-half years, so I consider it my ship. Some think it’s the hardest ship to be on, with the most guests and venues, but I don’t think about working on other ships, as maybe it might be boring, I think.

9. Do you think people expect more because RF is the flagship? I think 50 percent of the people are happy right away when they enter the ship just to come onboard and see the beauty of Reflection.Then it’s up to us, and our staff, to complete the whole experience for them.

10. One of the Hotel Directors on the Millennium(ML) Class told me he prefers the ML class ships because he likes the challenge, since the ML class ships might not have all the dining venues and bells and whistles the Solstice (SO) class ships might have. His team needs to try harder than if they were on a SO class. Do you agree?Millennium Class ships don’t have all the things we might have, but they have their own soul, and their staff has to work hard to make an impression that will make their guests happy, and they do.

11. How many restaurants onboard RF? 12 in total.

12. If you had to trade jobs with anyone on board, who would it be and why? Whose joblooks pretty good on here? Mine(laughs). I really enjoy my work.

13. Favorite meal in the rotation? Right here in Murano, and I’m a meat person so the Chateaubriand would probably be my choice.

14. How many crew restaurants onboard RF, and do you oversee their operation as well? Yes, it’s one of the 12 on board.We also take care of the Aquaspa, guest room service, Oceanview Café, all the specialty dining, Luminae and Blue.

15. So how is the crew restaurant set up? it must be a challenge since many of the crew are on for many months at a time, instead of just a few weeks like the guests?Yes. I would like to say more about the crew mess: It functions as three restaurants matching almost what we have for the guests. We even named them that way. The first section is Qsine International, where we serve popular international food, curries, Asian food,food popular with our crew mixture. Then the second part is the bistro on I-95(major crew highway onboard on deck 2), hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, French fries, easy convenient food which always seem to be popular with the younger people, then we have the last section, which is Blue. We call it Blue Healthy:steamed vegetables, wheat pasta in tomato sauce, lighter fare like tuna and salad bar, and as things change it becomes more and more popular.

16. How often do you change up the crew menu? Well,like with everything on Celebrity we take feedback from our guests, but we also take feedback from the crew and we follow up on it.

17. So the crew is your best critic? Yes,we have our crew welfare meetings with representatives from different departments where we just discuss what the crew thinks about the food. They bring issues up, tell us what they want more or less of, and we follow up onit. Of course you can’t do miracles, but if it’s in the range of possibility to happen, we try our best to make it happen. It helps a lot that people know their voices are heard, and acted on.

18. Somefriends from home are visiting RF next week. What venue do you tell them is theone dining venue they should try? I knowit’s a hard question since all the RF dining venues are so good. The way we are designed, with the contents we have, they are made to fit everyone’s taste, especially in our Main Dining Room (MDR). Right now though I would tell them to try Qsine. Even I am sending my friends the videos (laughs), and my friends in the business are even saying ‘I’ve never seen anything like that before,’ so I would definitely tell them to try Qsine. It’s only the third restaurant like this in the world, which is no small thing.

19. I guess you get the question, “What’s the best restaurant onboard, and what should I order?” as much as the Captain gets asked, “Who’s driving the ship?” It’s always is a difficult question when the guests ask me, as there is no right or wrong and simply a personal choice. My answer is always the same.‘They are all great, they are not comparable to each other, but the best thing is to try them all and you decide.

20. What’sthe best part of your job? The thing that makes you happy and motivates you to excellence? Which one keeps me going? Knowing from the feedback from the guests that we are making them happy. No guest should ever leave any of our restaurants unhappy. That is one thing that I feel has to happen with every guest we serve. I can’t say this is impossible, but we try our very best to make sure it never happens.

21. What else helps motivate you in your work? To me what makes me happy and proud is, like I mentioned, I work with 286 men and women in my department. Out of them, 22 are supervisors. Looking at the young people growing up into their careers. Training people, giving and getting promotions around me, that really makes me feel good. You remember when they came on the ship with that lost look, and then 3 or 4 years later you see that same person is now your assistant and has everything in control and knows what he is doing. Seeing people grow and help mentoring them makes me really,really proud.

22. What’s a typical day like for you? In ports, breakfast is the most important meal as everyone is in a rush to eat and get off the ship, so I need to be there and the day starts really early,visiting all the open venues to make sure that they are all open on time, that the people and food are all there, then I walk the closed venues afterward as we leave nothing to chance, not a formal inspection but a check to make sure all the venues are ready. Passing through the crew’s mess is also mandatory in my walks to make sure everything is good there.

23. Then after breakfast? After the rush is over then it goes to meetings, e-mails, follow-ups, checking comments from the previous day, what happened? The rest of day goes fast, and I basically go through the same thing at lunch in all the venues that are open. Port day/sea day all have slight differences, but I try and visit each one for each meal, and before long you have dinner to execute. In between, you might have tactics discussions to help fill up a dining venue. Find a way to help that restaurant be discovered by our guests.

24. Cooking on land, cooking at sea? What are the differences? None, really. It’s all planned out and provisioned well, during seven-day at sea embarkation, everything stays well.

25. Like an airline, you must find it challenging to provide specialty meals (for instance vegan, gluten free, low salt). How is that handled? Is it kind of play-it-by-ear on the individual chef’s part, or is there a grand cookbook or done by the chefs internally? We do have a special-order kitchen -- a small isolated space where cross contamination is prevented -- and all these special things are considered. It may be religious,it may be allergy, diet, it might be a preference or lifestyle. First option is the main menu. It’s good for vegetarians but might not be good for vegans, but if we are notified 24 hours in advance it can be modified. Then we have guests that prefer vegan food, but don’t really want to think about it in advance.

In that case, the chef who does special orders can step out of the kitchen, and they ask the questions [about] what they like. It can be difficult sometimes, because sometimes the guests aren’t sure what they want, so then we try and narrow it down. ‘Do you prefer Indian?Do you prefer Asian? Do you prefer Mediterranean? Do you like it spicy? Mild?This helps us narrow it down. Then, since we have a variety of chefs we can have them create something nice and tasty that meets the guest’s taste.

26. So how often does that happen, say, in the Main Dining Room (MDR)? So on an average night of 2,200-2,300 guests, most of the requests are simple ones like low sodium, no dairy, no nuts, or salt free. These are easy to modify using the same recipes on the existing menu. Most just pre-order, we show them the menu for the next day,they pre-order and it’s ready the next day when they arrive.

27. What percentage come in with requests/needs that require the complete special orders then? At the moment, I think we have a very small number.Only two vegans in the MDR, and they’ll be taken care of well. Usually though,it is a very small number on these special, special orders.

28. What about gluten free? Lately that has been more popular, so in that case we took other steps that helped us much. We started offering items on the menu labeled as gluten free, or no dairy, etc., and that’s helped us greatly. They don’t have to pre-order, and makes it easier for us and them. Dressings we make gluten free, soups we make gluten free, sauces for the dishes, we make them all gluten free.

29. Howmany chefs are in the main MDR kitchen during dinner? 52 in the execution of the meals. We have black scarves, red scarves, blue scarves, and yellow scarves.

30. Whatdo the different color of scarves mean? Black scarves are the Sous Chefs, Executive Sous Chefs, and Executive Chefs, those men and women are basically the supervisors. Then you have the blue scarves, who would own a station (a fish station,beef station), then we have red scarves, which are 1st and 2nd cooks, and the yellow scarves, which are the 3rd and 4th cooks. Starting position is 4th cook.We have Executive Sous Chefs in the Main Dining Room, and Executive Sous Chef Specialty, and the Executive Sous Chef Oceanview Café. Then I have three headwaiters: One in Crew Restaurant, one in Room Service, and one in Oceanview Café.

31. What seem to be the hands-down favorite in crews dining room? Really depends on the nationality of the crew mix. Right now, the three main nationalities are Asian, Filipino,and Indian. So regional favorites from those countries are more popular.

32. Do you find larger groups or charters any different with dining needs? Not necessarily, because the charter rents the whole cruise, but they get the whole offer we have including the food.

33. What’s your favorite port that you’ve visited? My favorite port, that’s a tough one, I’ve been lucky and traveled to so many in the world. One of my favorites would be Singapore. It really left an impression on me, it’s an amazing place

34. Your favorite port you want to visit? There are actually three places in the world that I want to visit that I haven’t made it to yet: Australia, Hawaii, and India. I almost made it to all three but plans changed at the last minute, so they are all on my bucket list.

Thank you, sir.

The Steiner name came to me a few hours after my post. I did like the few Elemis products I purchased. But, I have to say that Canyon Ranch never tried to sell me anything. Lately we've been doing our spa thing before the cruise for a lot less $.

I agree, the one thing with when they were under Steiner management, the did push selling their $$$ branded lotions and potions. When they were under Steiner I would always tell the massage therapist at the start , PLEASE do not suggest or recommend to me any products to buy as I have no interest whatsoever in purchasing any.

It was always bad enough paying ~$160 for a 50 minute massage then having them trying to sell you 50 mls of moisturizer for $80, that you could by for $10 at home containing the same (or better) ingredients.

I just spoke with someone at Celebrity and was advised that LPC can't be included in any dining packages, and its "currently not intended" for it to be discounted. So, $55US is the price, at least for now. I will check it out on our June Reflection sailing. At $55 we will certainly pass.

I don't think the intention for any of the restaurants to be discounted, but they all are depending on how they are selling. Every single day on every single ship, the restaurant operations managers meets with the asst maitre'd of all the venues to try an entice people into trying specialty dining.

Some people are resistant to try new things, other embrace them. I'm always excited to at least see them trying new things. Qsine wasn't selling, so hopefully this might do better, if not they'll try something else. I'll be curious with what they do with Sushi on 5, Bistro at 5 was always empty, Sushi at 5 not much better, so I imagine that will be the next one they tackle.

It would seem that those of us who have actually seen it see it as good fun and pretty good food! Those who haven’t don’t like the menu and see it as tacky....

 

I must say for a fixed menu with two set dining times I do think $55 is over the top, however.

You just never know till you try

We met a couple onboard that had dinner every night in Murano at 830 (same table) and boasted that they rarely tried anything there other than their two favorites items on the menu, and they generally didn't like to leave the ship in port (even in some of the exotic ports in Oceania, SA and Asia). Perfectly mobile, healthy folks.

They hadn't tried any of the other specialty venues in ~5 years, nor even visited luminae during the same period. When I asked, why not, he said "Why bother, we know what we like"

I remember when I was a kid My grandmother would say "The more you get set up walls in your own world, the smaller that world becomes.”

I remember vaguely that there was a legal case in the UK with a ferry company, whereby the solution implemented was just to not label a toilet as 'ladies' and 'gentlemen' and instead just use the universal symbols, so I think Celebrity just uses only the symbols already

It appears from the other posts that Qsine will only change to Le Petit Chef on certain nights only.

I don't think that is true. My understanding is although it's only being implemented on RF currently, plan is to phase out Qsine in its former format, and replace it with Qsine-Le Petit Chef since the former Qsine-Ipad version wasn't really generating the return visits/revenue that they had hoped

Have have not been following along with the Edge build, but will there be a Qsine on Edge?

Yes, they are using the RF to test the concept. I'm sure on Edge it will be called something different, but will use the same virtual mapping 3d technology to showcase the meal

Major thumbs up for the new concept

 

We got to enjoy at the new intro price and were quite impressed

 

They also indicated that there may be new shows in the future

 

All said we would even try it again on our December cruise

I felt the same way Tom. Tried it twice on out TA and enjoyed it both times. The 3d visual mapping of the meal is a unique concept. At first I thought it would be to gimmicky, but really in essence it gives them the ability to change the venue into any type of dining they want, and as others expressed it would keep it fresh.

Would I pay $55 for it, prob not. Generally though you can get a minimum of 25% off specialty dining just for asking, so for $35-40 well worth it, as long as the show is fresh and so is the menu

jt - looks great, happy to hear and know it was enjoyable... in fact so much so that you did it twice!

 

Quick question, which you may not be able to answer, do you know if they can/will cater to vegan/vegetarian foods, if asked in advance??

 

Thank you again for the review and bon voyage

Hi Bo,

Good question. I assume they will. I think at this point they are just beta testing the concept. From my understanding this was only the second full cruise they tried it on. So I think once they get the mechanics of it down pat, they can easily add on extra menus, and adapt to anything. To me the beauty of it is that it's a clean palette, and they can make it any theme or design, just by changing the show elements and menu.

I really enjoyed the 3D visual mapping of the meal and learning from Le Petit Chef what ingredients went into each course. Like I said, I'm sure some people will complain "its just a movie" (usually without trying it), but thought it was well done.

Celebrity Reflection April 13th voyage TA

Qsine is now Le Petit Chef and we tried it twice.....and LOVED IT both times we tried it.

What is is and how is different?

The restaurant darkens, then your dining table and your dinner plate become the stage for @celebritycruises “Le Petit Chef”. He’s a quirky chef that’s determined to hunt down and deliver your meal. Five courses, each seemingly prepared before your eyes by the driven little guy and his wit and resources. In between each 2 or 3 minute show, the room brightens and his proud wait staff has your next course tableside to eat. Excellent concept and execution, and don’t let the fun and performance fool you, the food was terrific, original, and flavorful #LePetitChef #celebrityreflection #FiveCourseFun #CulinaryMunchkin #PocketGourmet #foodiefest #dinnerdelight

What I really liked about it? It's fun and actually enhances the experience rather than delays you getting your food. The "show" is done between courses. When normally you might be waiting for the next course, in this venue you're being entertained between courses. Also the audio of the show is low enough to allow the guests to still talk about the nuances of the show and point out the tiny details to each other that might of missed.

Is it better than Qsine? In my opinion yes. For me Qsine was fun once or twice, but always annoyed me that you used Ipads then the waiter would take your REAL order on a pad of paper. With Le Petit Chef they add new menus and variables to the show, and customize each experience

Will it sell? Who knows, a good portion of Celebrity passengers are resistant to any changes (I still remember people complaining about the introduction of the Solstice class), but I think a good portion also like to see fresh ideas tried

Celebrity's/RCCL system won't allow you to do that anymore. You can book an early arrival up to a few months ahead, but wont allow you to book the return trip that happens before the cruise ends

They are always tied toa cruise, cancel the cruise, the choice air (Air by Celebrity) is automatically cancelled. Wish that weren't the case since you ca get some great deals in air with them

Here is my mini car recap of the cruise before I start posting Rome items.

 

In general every cruise is great. We always enjoy it. We always make the best of any situation even if it’s not the most desirable. I realize in cruising, as in anything in life, there are simply things you cannot control. You can only control how you react to them. So even if there are some negative aspects we will take them in stride.

 

This cruise, however, there was no need for me to worry about taking anything in stride. This cruise, in my opinion, was one of the best we’ve experienced. The crew on this ship I thought was probably some of the best as a whole we’ve ever encountered. Everyone worked extremely well together and we found any small hiccups that came up was dealt with very quickly and professionally.

 

I was especially impressed by all the crew you’d run into in cabin corridors, on stairways, or in random common areas. They always took time to say hello and always had a smile. I’ve always found the crew on celebrity to be well polished in this area but this crew seemed to be much more so than ever before. I found myself feeling like I was on my first cruise again where I was impressed at every turn.

 

The cleanliness of the ship was as impeccable as ever. There was only one or two small areas that I noticed a little bit of residue from salt or dirt. The bathrooms were always spotless.

 

We definitely enjoyed our Captain. He was a lot of fun. I didn’t do a lot of shows so my experience with Rich was limited but what I did see if him I really liked and I’m glad I finally got to meet him. He’s a great CD. Valentina the activities director was fantastic. She was very lively, extremely social. She really seems to enjoy her job and always had lots of energy. And I’m not just saying that because her father is following this blog!

 

 

 

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I don't think anyone writes a better play by play of a cruise voyage than you do Paul. You just have a wonderful 360 degree field of vision of what's going on around you rather than 90 degrees that most people see. That bigger picture perception really adds a grand element to your mixture. I agree about Rich Spacey, as only sad that I met him late on the cruise, great energy and talent. Captain extraordinary, he played a great joke on the the Hotel Director one day, and he was so proud of it.

Today really flew by. But as the old saying goes, time does fly when you’re having fun...or drinking...or napping.

 

Tomorrow we plan to head towards the Vatican and Trestevere. Again, been there and done that but I’m looking forward to seeing St. Peter’s Square again.

 

If you’re following my Instagram you’ll see some videos posted tonight / tomorrow. Otherwise just keep an eye out on Monday and Tuesday and I’ll have videos compiled together on YouTube.

 

 

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Seeing all those pictures today gave me additional reasons not to cook today, Italian pizza may be good, but NOTHING tops a New York Pizza, so I'll have one in yours and Edwards honor tonight

Apparently this pair of Cartagena-ian neer-do-wells slipped past security and boarded the ship. They looked like pirates to me, so I insisted they be made to walk the plank......after their evening cocktails

Also I forgot who asked but there has only been one production show so far and that was Broken Strings. Tonight is Elysium.

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As always , yours are my top tier reviewer status. Glad you mentioned that about only one production show, I usually try and see one per cruise and thought it odd that there didn't seem to be much action going on with the dancers/singers this cruise

What people have heard onboard other Celebrity ships about who will be on the Edge (not verified):

 

Masters: Costas Nestoroudis, Dimitrios Kafetzis

Staff Captain: Matt Karandreas

Cruise Director: Maarten Bruels

Hotel Director: Niyazi Korkmaz

Guest Relations Manager: Julie Sherrington

Food & Beverage: Clint Kelu

Executive Chef:

Captain's Club Host: Kirsty Sparks

Suite Manager: Bogdan, Maja (both have been reported)

Retreat Lounge Host:

Luminae Host: Katya

Looks like it will be great group of folks onboard

We are booked in an OV on a cruise next month through an online TA.

 

We usually book verandah cabins, but if we are docked certain ways in Bermuda they are useless the three days and two nights there. I was not willing to gamble the $500 when we booked.

 

Now my online TA shows concierge guarantees for $19 per person more than our OV. They supposedly have "live pricing". I called, hoping to pay to upgrade. She called Celebrity and they quoted $255 per person.

I did a dummy booking online on the X site and it shows it would cost me exactly $300 more than what I paid--over $200 less than what they quoted to my TA. I'm wondering if she was given correct information.

It would make sense to me to let me pay the $19 difference per person. They have made me a happy customer and they can sell my OV to someone else.

We have done this before though on a different line.

 

 

Do I just let it go and trust my TA was given correct info or who would I contact? I know X cannot talk to me and I don't want to bother TA again if her info was correct. Sadly though, too often three calls to X get three different answers. Would an email to Captain's Club get me correct info?

 

Thanks.

Ran into same issue when tried to upgrade on our RF April 2018 TA

As others mentioned it turned out the lower price when I tried a dummy booking was $300 lower than what TA was quoted

Dummy booking was only good for new bookings (not upgrades), so realistically what I found was the TA's offer was best deal I could get. Glad I grabbed it when I did, 24 hours later, no longer available when a friend tried to get his TA to get it for him

Perks stayed the same

Who is board of Reflection? Sailing in 9 days

thanks

Did see this two weeks ago in regard to RF

Very grateful that they have the meetings every day. I don't think there has been a cruise I was on where I didn't meet some good people at those Friends of Bill meetings. Been to ones on Celebrity where there was only one or two of us and others where there were 25+

I had booked my first cruise with Celebrity in early 1997 well before I got sober in 1998, and I think I was one month sober when I boarded the Mercury in 1998. Thank goodness for the nice people that reached out to me on the Friends of Bill meeting, and watched over and were there for me when I needed it.

All complete strangers, helping someone and showing compassion for each other and especially reaching out to me in a pretty fragile point. Truly some beautiful people in this world.