johhnnyt

No, just ongoing IT issues. For our March 18 cruise, some roll call members have been successful, others not. We're in the latter group. Apparently one can just show up if unsuccessful in registering.

Yes, that's always been the case, anyone can just up, don't need to reserve a spot, can ask the CC host/hostess (deck 3 by guest relations) if you don't see details or get invitation

Recently had same issue with upgrade from CC2 to SS here in US. The SS rate was only available for new bookings, and wasn't available for an upgrade after final payment for the difference in cost. A few days later a new rate code popped up that allowed me to grab the upgrade, although it was $200 more than the original price.

I agree that people should not be able to take pets to places only service animals are allowed! Unfortunately, many people can justify anything in their own minds. “My sweet little Fluffykins won’t bother anyone, and I really, really need her with me so she won’t need to stay in that scary kennel with all those brutes.” They don’t recognize or admit that Fluffykins is an untrained, uncivilized (and whose fault is that?) yapping, nipping, nasty menace. Nor do they recognize or admit that what they do is disrespectful, and ultimately harmful, to those who truly need service animals.

 

Incidentally it’s not only people who suffer from seizures who have “invisible” reasons for needing service animals. I’ve met several vets with PTSD who - at first glance- display no visible need for a service animal.

That's what I like about the Delta policy change. All it is saying is since Emotional Support Animals (ESA) are NOT covered by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), extra steps are necessary to mitigate the inherent risk to other passengers safety (asthma, allergies, biting, germs, etc). You need to be able to show that the animal is safe to have onboard, and you have some type of documentation (medical or psychological) showing the animal is needed.

Go DELTA Go Delta Go Delta- Good start in the right direction

Delta flies 250,000 service animals a year. Now the rules are changing

All passengers attempting to board with a service animal will have to show "proof," 48 hours before flying, that the animal is in good health and has been vaccinated. Passengers with emotional support animals must sign a form that the animal is well behaved and won't act aggressively. In addition they have to present a letter prepared and signed by a doctor or licensed mental health professional that certifies they need a comfort pet.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/19/news/companies/delta-service-animals/index.html

I'd be interested to know this info as well, being somewhat of a fare geek!

 

Last year I purchased Premium Economy on BA from AMS-SFO (via LHR) for $600 through Choice Air. At that time there were no reasonable Business Class fares available. A few weeks later, Business Class for $850 popped up AMS-SFO nonstop via KLM and we switched to that. So I'm curious how it all happens.

 

Johnny, it may also benefit to post this on the Cruise Air forum as there a number of educated air fare geeks that hang out over there!

This is a 10 year old thread but actually explains it really well

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

 

Thread is old but very informative. Especially to your question.

Thanks, That's explains it pretty well.

I know there are some wise people on here, and was hoping your collective intelligence might help

About a year or so ago someone explained the mechanics of how choice air (RCCL,Celebrity, Azamara) works. How it's NOT simply charter fares, but instead how the algorithms it uses work (the calculations it uses compared to normal fares you might find elsewhere). I tried searching through a dozen threads but couldn't find it.

I know how to book it, use it, and it's pluses and minuses. I know they get limited blocks of seats and a certain percentage discount on those, but was wondering if anyone could explain it further.

Any info from one of you who really understand the mechanics of airfare would be greatly appreciated

I'd be interested to know this info as well, being somewhat of a fare geek!

 

Last year I purchased Premium Economy on BA from AMS-SFO (via LHR) for $600 through Choice Air. At that time there were no reasonable Business Class fares available. A few weeks later, Business Class for $850 popped up AMS-SFO nonstop via KLM and we switched to that. So I'm curious how it all happens.

 

Johnny, it may also benefit to post this on the Cruise Air forum as there a number of educated air fare geeks that hang out over there!

That's a good idea to post over on Cruise Air forum, I'll do that. I'd like to understand it better as well. I know I watched for a good fare on a one way Rome---->New York for a TA , and played around with the major airports in the NYC area and dates, found average price of about $2000 in biz class, then one day it popped up $1100 so I grabbed it

Hi JohnnyNT

 

Not sure of the algorithms that are used by ChoiceAir or whether there are any. I can tell you from personal experience that they are not fixed and vary from week to week and from Air Line to Air Line.

 

 

As an example I purchase Business Class Flights from Venice to San Jose, CA in October for $1,072 pp on Delta. At the time they had fares listed by different airlines between $1,072 (1 Stop) to over 5,000 (United). I just checked and the lowest fare for the same date $1,399 (2 Stops) and the same flight I booked on Delta is now $2,511 (1 Stop).

The fares are generally limited to a certain number of seats and the prices raise as the capacity is filled. I usually try to book right after the flights become bookable (11 months in advance).

 

 

I would recommend that you also check air fares on other sources first. Once good source is Google Flights where you can set up a alert to monitor the air fares daily.

 

 

Last week I was booking a flight from San Francisco to Anchorage and found that the rates were substantially cheaper booking directly with Delta than through Choice Air.

Thanks Jim, I know that's a big part of it "fares are generally limited to a certain number of seats and the prices raise as the capacity is filled", but I remember somone went into more details on it (which in hindsight, I should of saved) that gavefurther details on how to take advantage of the Choice Air setup

I know there are some wise people on here, and was hoping the collective intelligence might help

About a year or so ago someone explained the mechanics of how choice air works. How it's NOT simply charter fares, but instead how the algorithms it uses work (the calculations it uses compared to normal fares you might find elsewhere). I tried searching through a dozen threads but couldn't find it.

I know how to book it, use it, and the pluses and minuses

Any info from one of you who really understand the mechanics of airfare would be greatly appreciated

Just wondering, how would a serious (unexpected) medical issue be handled on a TA once we had set off on the days at sea. On our last cruise, one companion had a heart attack (he is OK now:)) but he had to leave the ship early, it was not a TA. We buy medical insurance, including evacuation, but I'm thinking that would not happen in the middle of the Atlantic. I know from reading these boards, issues happen, but never have read of one on a TA.

At least on a ship you have two doctors, some nurses and a medical clinic. So better off staying there I would think until they could get you to an airport.

It's said the farthest place from anywhere is Point Nemo in the Pacific , it's about 1000miles from ANYTHING. Point Nemo is located over 1,000 miles equidistantly from the coasts of three far-flung islands. Ducie Island (one of the Pitcairn islands) is to the north, Motu Nui (of the Easter Island chain) is to the north-east and Maher Island (off the coast of Antarctica) is to the south

It's a good question as on some cruises it will only give you the option of purchasing a few nights specialty dining, while others it will allow purchase of all the nights of the cruise. I tried different browsers, different computers, etc with same results.

Ended up good though, I waited till they ran one of their 20% sales a few months ago, called up and bought three 6 packs of specialty dining (18 total meals, 12 for an upcoming Infinity SA trip, and 6 for a Reflection TA), and worked out to $21/meal.

Excellent thread on why surge supressors/protectors are not allowed and can be dangerous to the user onboard here

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2447145 Thread #5

910 rooms onboard have the Infinite balconies, no suites have them from what it shows

Always difficult to hear a complaint when you only have one party to the story, maybe the dissatisfaction is warranted, maybe not. No one here will ever know. Hopefully this forum gave him some venting space.

Odds are great those that love Celebrity still will, and those that loathe will continue to do so. When I read a post like this, I try and figure what I can learn from it. In this case and others like it I've seen on different cruise line posts (doesn't matter the cruise line, the issues raised are universal).

1. When I have a celebration planned, I always tell the TA/Cruiseline beforehand, but also VERIFY once onboard that they received the message (time is one luxury you have plant of onboard)

2. If I am expecting something extra like a cash advance for the casino, I shouldn't be surprised that like the ATM in the casino, I'll pay a premium for that service

3. You usually give what you receive at guest relations 9/10 times. If you go there filled with anger & fire, odds are you'll accomplish nothing other than moving your blood pressure up. If you go down there with a summation of the problem, what they did wrong, and what is the fair thing to do to correct it, you'll usually get results

All the details are here

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2552409&highlight=alcove

Only one I ever experienced any rough seas on was a TA we did in December. Last one we did in October was awesome, smooth seas and great weather. The Captain mentioned it was one of the reasons they try to avoid scheduling TA's in late November/December, as seas and weather were more of an issue on those trips.

It's funny that I saw your post as I just booked the Edge TA for the November 1, 2019 sailing a week or so ago

We have spent weeks trying to book excursions on the Celebrity website which as we all know is now fairly useless. We have never in many cruises had a problem. We tried Chrome, Firefox and Edge. We tried emptying caches. We tried everything suggested on cruise critic and a lot more. I rang Celebrity which was useless for advice. In fact, we have rung Celebrity several times regarding this booking for various things which we have never had to do before. As I was ringing Celebrity, dialing 1 for this and 2 for that and finally got to the part where they tell you via recorded message that you can book your tours online, I decided to try one more time. Instead of signing in using our email and password which had worked for everything else, I used our reservation ID. Finally success! We have finally booked our shore excursions! Do not give up! But remember, one wrong keystroke and they will lock you out for 20 minutes.:D

Did the same Bonapart5, Tried Chrome, Firefox and Edge. emptying caches. Two different computers none worked. Quite pleasantly surprised to find your trick (logging in with reservation ID vice Celebrity ID) worked fine. THANK YOU SO MUCH:D

Ultimately I think all accidents involving a ship (whether Navy or maritime) seem to use the " master’s failure to plan, monitor, and execute a ...."

Had he to do again, and the wind speed hadn't gone from 21 to 43 knots, and the Staff Captain wasn't t doing the maneuver, and..., and..... . Monday morning quarterbacking is always the easy part in post accident analysis

No one on these pages was there, or experienced what happened, other than reading the report. I would agree with Chen that it appears from the report that " it appears that the Staff point the Captain took over the conn", and that might have led to the collision, or maybe it was the fluke windCaptain was conning the ship during docking (as that I imagine is how they gain experience), and at some, or the lack of tugs, or just Murphys law.

To my mind, and from the factors mentioned in the report, it seems like the combination of 6 or 7 coincidental factors led to the collision, and just glad it was minor physical damage and no one was hurt.

So sorry Sam for the loss of your Andy and his wife Jody. I know from talking with your cousin Mike, your family has endured a great deal of pain and suffering and all of you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Glad to know that RCCL/Celebrity cared, and reached out to provide help and comfort after the accident, and helped navigate you through the repatriation of your family's remains.

I appreciate you sharing the story, as it could have easily have been any of us in the same shoes that Andy and Jody stood in. A true reminder how fragile all our lives are, and that we take so much for granted, and it can be gone in an instant.

I hope over time the pleasant memories you shared with your brother will overtake the sadness and loss you are feeling now.

My brother and his wife were on the excursion. I’ve called the ship and they tell me that he is not on the ship at this time and that he was impacted by this incident, but they have no information about his condition. I’ve been in contact with Royal shore side, but they have no information to share yet. I’ve sent text and phone messages to them directly but have not heard from them yet. Please pray.

 

 

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So sorry for you and your family Sam. I know your cousin Mike here in NY, and my sympathies and prayers go out to you and your family

Sorry for the little bit of a break in the final review. I think I've covered lots of the main items but the one area I did not cover was the suite experience.

 

We have stayed in Sky Suites before but this is the first time we have ever stayed in a Royal Suite. When we first booked this cruise we booked a concierge room and then upgraded to aqua. After final payment we jumped on a Sky Suite and then we saw a nice price drop on the Royal Suite and jumped on that. Talk about a big shift! It came with a big price tag, but the cost per night was the cheapest we've ever seen a Royal Suite advertised on any S class ship.

 

We were specifically in room 1118. Alfred was our butler.

 

The Room

 

Lets be honest; the extra space was fantastic. Having a separate living area from the bed area was great in the morning. We had our butler come in the morning and deliver breakfast on half the days or at least coffee. We would never hear him come in. It was fantastic to open the bedroom door and see breakfast sitting there.

 

I loved the bathroom. Having a stand up shower and not having to step in over the tub like the sky suites was great. The additional drawer storage in the bathroom was nice, but we've always had great storage in the bathrooms even in the Verandah cabins. The double sinks were a nice plus and we enjoyed having that extra space. We don't spend a lot of time in the cabin, but on this cruise we felt like we were spending just a little extra time. Instead of napping on deck for an hour we'd do so in our room or on the balcony. It felt much more like a home versus a cabin.

 

The extra half bath was nice. We could take our time getting ready in the morning or in the shower and not having to worry about one of us "needing to get in" to the bathroom. We didn't use the guest bath much, but it was nice to have it there when we did.

 

The bathtub on the balcony was cool, but not that practical. We used it once. Well, I used it once. Edward didn't use it. It's not really suited for two people as its a rectangle (just like a bathtub) and you really "fall into" the tub. Unlike a hot tub where you feel like you can sit up and have a drink. Aesthetically they look great. In practice, a round shaped hot tub or even a round shaped regular tub would work better. But oh well, this is truly a first world problem isn't it?

 

We did have an extra lounger brought out to the balcony. Personally I thought this crowded the balcony. I wouldn't do it again. I'd be happy with the table, two chairs, lounger, and the tub.

 

Overall we found the room to be in very good shape. Furniture was in great shape, bathrooms were very clean. The grout, caulking around the shower, etc. was in excellent shape. The only negative from a maintenance standpoint was the balcony. The salt was prevalent on the balcony and there was some decent wear on the railing. A little rust on one of the handles by the tub, but besides that no other rust. It's a small item to note, but something worth mentioning.

 

The layout was great, but the layout of the bedroom / closet area was a bit challenging for two people getting ready. If we were getting dressed around the same time we kept finding us bumping into each other. Unlike in the sky suite where it's quite wide near the closet area it is easy to walk around each other. In the bedroom here it was a tight squeeze.

 

Butler Alfred

 

We did not use our butler for much, but he was very good. Alfred was extremely professional and was not an amateur. He handled at least one of the penthouse suites as well. He carried himself extremely well. Very well polished. He gave us the space we knew we wanted but he still made sure to make himself present so we knew he was there. We had him deliver breakfast about 8 times. We had him shine our shoes a few times. Each time our shoes were returned within a few hours. We had laundry completed twice including some pressing and dry cleaning. Both times the turnaround was less than 24hrs. He kept our bar area stocked with Pellegrino and ginger ale per request. We had some beers stocked but we never drank them. On the last night we needed some tape to tape up a bottle of liquor we opened (Remy) and he fetched it right away. He brought a very heavy duty packing tape and it did the job. Sometimes we left the do not disturb on and he suspected that. We found out he knew we frequented the pool bar each morning so he'd call the pool bar to make sure we were there so he could tend to our room. Little things like that, he did well and he did secretly. In my opinion that is all I want and need from a butler. Others are different and I firmly believe that if you were one that wanted a lot more attention he would sense that and you'd definitely get all the attention you need.

 

Did the Royal Suite spoil us?

 

When we first walked in we LOVED all the space. We still LOVE all the space. I was worried going in that after staying in a Royal we'd cut back and cruise only once a year so we could do so in a Royal or Penthouse. But after 14 days in the Royal, while I did love the space, I realized I don't NEED it. I am shocked I'm actually saying that to be honest, but it's the truth. Now don't get me wrong, if money were no object I'd of course book it each time. But we'd be very happy with just a sky suite. While I think all suites get great perks and great treatment, I think the biggest perk is the understanding from the staff that you're in a "royal or penthouse" suite. That to me is the benefit I will truly miss when not in a royal suite.

 

Michael's Club

 

We barely used Michael's Club but it was to know it was there. We had one drink in there. We did get to know Sara the MCC quite well and I have to say she was fantastic. Extremely talkative and she made a point to come out and find us whether we were at the bars or at dinner she'd make a point to stop by and check on us. She took care of our luggage valet and handled some printing we needed with regard to that. She scheduled the bridge tour (I made a point to ask her about this as I was excited about it) and she made sure we had good tables in our specialty dining reservations. We really liked Sara and hope to see her on a future cruise.

 

Luminae

 

I already touched on this before. We had great service and always had an excellent table. They seemed to be OVERLY concerned about the quality of table we received. I'm not sure if that is because we were in a royal or because we knew Nenad from previous cruises, but we always had a nice window table or offered a private table or even a table for 4 so we'd have some privacy.

 

So those are my thoughts on the Royal Suite. We loved it. But at the end of the day I'm just happy to be on the cruise. For the price we paid, we would definitely pay it again. I know some people don't like talking about price, but I don't mind. For the 14nt cruise we paid $12,200 for the Royal Suite after taxes, port fees, etc. This included $450 OBC from Celebrity plus a very generous OBC (which we took in the from of a rebate check) from our TA. For 14nights on the Eclipse I thought it was a wonderful price.

 

Our next cruise we're booked in a regular Verandah and then a Sky Suite after that. At the end of the day put me on a Celebrity ship and a drink in my hand and you'll have me smiling.

 

I'll have a few more videos uploaded shortly as well as all the menus I promised in downloadable format. As always, any questions at all please feel free to continue to ask!

Good write up Paul. While I never stayed in a Royal Suite (2 Celebrity Suites and 6 Sky Suites), the extra room never seemed needed, nor the extra closet space. Michaels Club I never really found appealing. Only big plus of suite life is Luminae and the shower in the RS more than anything else.

Similiar to your plans I have a CC3 next, then a CC2, then a ES on Edge in December. Hoping a suite deal (a W guarantee), comes along on one or more, but certainly won't fret if it doesn't.

Entirely up to the company that's chartering the vessel. I've done 3 or 4 charters and never remembered getting perks on any of them. I think its one of the reasons Cruise Line companies like charters, as they take a little less upfront with a discounted per passenger rate, but make it up on drinks, internet, and all the extras.

Really enjoyed every word of the review Paul. I love that you have the gift of looking at both sides of a coin instead of just one.

Many times the reviews on CC and elsewhere are too individual (and less systematic) to really be helpful to a larger group (.........they didn't offer my favorite salad dressing one night......I couldn't find a deck chair at 11AM on a sea day.... they wouldn't let me use my waffle iron in my room).

You highlights the pluses and hit the negatives when they pop up, but also try and see if their is any corporate/business reasoning behind them and ask questions before you give them a strike, and being a fellow cruiser I really appreciate that. As I know how easy it is to get caught up in our own individual voyages rather than the voyage in the bigger picture sense.

Plus I think you've done enough cruises that you know what is poor, fair, good, and excellent performance, that sometimes things happen and don't go according to plan, and interesting to watch how it plays out depending on the team onboard.

I know I'm always amazed by the strong crew members that can turn any situation, no matter how seemingly volatile at first into a positive customer experience one. Again thanks for sharing your insights and wisdom, and look forward to seeing you and Edward soon.

Friend on Eclipse was just denied using it by airline (Delta). Met all the requirements (Domestic flight, was after 5PM, MIA airport, etc). She said it was odd as people a few doors down, and many other she met also flying with Delta were able to use it, while she and her husband Delta were told no. Final say is the airline, Celebrity just submits the data to them for approval.