NCmom

Same for me-a bit frustrating.

I am new to Celebrity.  I just booked a Bermuda cruise on the summit that included tips, wifi and classic drinks package.  When I got my written confirmation, the price was much higher than what I remember seeing as I was booking, (by about $1200).  I had clicked that I did want insurance, but confirmation says insurance declined.  I also don't see anywhere on the confirmation that I have wifi, tips or drinks package, but there is a place on my manage account that says "click here to pre-pay tips."  I see it says allot some time for amenities to show up.   Am I being too impatient?  Should I give it time? 

We did the four night Liberty in October. There was no white night or 70s theme night for the entire ship. I know some of the bars did a 70-80s thing. We loved the piano bar, as did a lot of people on the ship. It was packed every night. I used the carnival hub so I didn't keep my fun times. I really enjoyed this trip. Nice for a quick get away.

Wow, that's AWESOME! Thank you so much for posting bc entire party of 5 had purchased the CHEERS package and we leave a week from Monday. So it's really nice to know exactly how we can use these.

 

Real quick, when you say speciality coffees, do you mean coffees like after dinner in the dining room if I ordered cappuccino or do you mean like from the specialty coffee shop? And can you use the CHEERS package to order a bottle water and a margarita at the same time or do I still have to order one drink at a time regardless of whether it's alcoholic or not?

 

It also includes the coffee drinks at the specialty coffee shop. I found on our trip that most of the time, I was not allowed to order two drinks at a time, whether alcoholic or non alcoholic. That part was a bit annoying. Also, we never found that tipping in the beginning got us waited on any quicker. Maybe we are just not memorable?

I bought the Cheers package for our last cruise (4 nights) on the Liberty, to try it out, using discount gift cards, and a free gift card, so my actual cost was probably about $300. For us, I would not buy it again. My husband is not a big drinker and was not willing to stand in line just to maximize it. I found myself trying very hard to justify it. I would wait in line for coffee drinks to try, I made additional trips to get milkshakes, i got water when I could. I felt like I spent more time waiting to get my drinks that I normally would. In addition, I always lose weight on cruises, but this one I gained, I'm sure due to milkshakes and drinks. We will pay as we go, bring on our wine, and sodas, remember to drink the free water that we get as a perk, and go to the steakhouse the first night for our free bottle.

We were on the ship just before you and noticed a smell ever so often. The last night, or sink bubbled and gurgled for a few hours. I really expected to see some smelly residue in the sink but it never went that far

My Short review:

 

FTTF: would totally buy again. Easiest embarkation and debarkation, ever. Almost walk-on. And it was walk off. Guest service line was wonderful, compared to regular line. Luggage in cabin by 3. Not having to haul our carry-ons around at lunch was great.

 

Steakhouse: Yes, a thousand times, yes. Delicious

 

Green eggs and Ham Breakfast: worth being the only adults not attached to children at an 8 am breakfast on a Sea Day, just for the Filet. As good as the one I paid $35 for in the Steakhouse.

 

Cheers: Not for us. The drinks were delicious, and not wimpy, but we just didn't maximize it. Will pay out of pocket next cruise.

 

Staff was super-friendly and went out of their way to provide service. Never met our steward. We weren't asked which service we wanted, so we ended with morning. I missed having both services.

 

Loved the piano sing a long with Marvin; and all the comedians. Lukewarm on Flick, and just didn't attend the other shows. Trivia was great fun.

 

Not a casino person, or picture person, or a smoker, so I really wish they could relocate the picture taking activities off of Deck 5 Promenade, and I would love it if the Casino could be moved to some where away, so the smell of cigarettes would be lessened.

On our 4 night Liberty cruise, they danced the last three nights. We didn't eat in the dining room first night, so I'm not sure if they danced then. I'm lukewarm on the dancing. One of our waiters looked like he didn't enjoy it, but put a smile on his face while doing it; the other really seemed to enjoy it.

Just back from Princess Cays. The tenders were very efficient. On our sailing, there was no need to get tender tickets and wait to be called. We were told to go forward, only to be sent back to midship as the forward tender was full. Nice white sand, but water shoes are a must if you want to get in the water. The walk into the water is sandy, then shells and small rocks, followed by large boulders with slimy seaweed on them. If you walk out about 25 feet from shore, you will find nice sandy bottom. There was an area for snorkeling. Shade is at a premium. We took our time getting to the island, so we had to scout out a shade tree, as all the loungers were taken under the pavilions scattered about. Tendering back was also easy. There are stone pathways, and the sand was also walkable. We went left as we got off the tenders and walked almost to the dining pavilion before finding a shade tree.

Can you explain your comment "we saved at least 300.00"?

If you paid $300 in advance to purchase your gift cards, do you mean by prepurchasing you saved a $300 bill at the end of your cruise?

 

I expect that she purchased gift cards from Verizon or AARP, etc with a 10% discount, so if the total cost for the cruise was $3000, she saved $300.

I've booked it for our upcoming cruise, because it is a four night cruise to Nassau, so I know we will be spending most of our time on board. I paid for the cheers package all with discounted gift cards, so my cost per day is 51.60. I debated getting the package because it is more than I usually spend on drinks on a cruise, but I want to try some of the things I would otherwise be too cheap to try, like the coffees. I see my husband enjoying the milkshakes too. I think it will be fun to try to maximize the benefits, and try out new things.

EBFURR, we're on the cruise with you. Can't wait. We cruised on the Liberty 9 years ago when it sailed from Miami to Puerto Rico, St Thomas, etc.

I brought a few mini bottles of wine that totaled 750ml and they pulled each one out of my bag at Charleston. I found however, that they scrutinized my sealed 12 pack of diet mountain dew in cans far more than they did my wine.

I would never have known to look at AARP or verizon rewards for Carnival Gift cards with these boards. I realized last week that I had an old Chase Freedom credit card that had ultimate rewards, which I had never used. They have Carnival gift cards as an option for redeeming points, so I was able to get a gift card.

 

The Carnival cards don't come up if you filter by "travel". You have to view all gift cards and scroll through.

 

With that and the visa card I got from my unused BOA credit card points, Cheers for me is paid for!

So I'm still unsure of the answer.

Let's say a cruise costs $1500 under ES with the standard deposit of $500 for 2 people.

If the cruise is cancelled before the final payment date, will the $1000 be refunded, and then future cruise credits of $200 ($250 deposit - $50 fee) be issued to each person?

 

That's how it worked when I cancelled last year. The refund was promptly made to my credit card.

I'm also cruising the Liberty in October. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your review.

I'm booked on the Liberty in October, with a final payment due in August. I want to make payments along from my checking, but when I just tried to do that, it would only allow me to select "pay the full amount" There was a block for "pay other", but it would not do anything when I clicked on it. Is this normal or is the website having issues? Also, it looks like the only options allowed for payment are gift cards, credit card, and paypal. Can they pull directly from a checking account (with no debit card), or am I going to have to go through paypal?

I forgot to add that Disney also refunded us 40% of the cruise fare.

 

I've forgotten how to edit on here.

Like a PP, we were scheduled to sail out of PC on the Disney Magic when it was interrupted by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. We were supposed to sail on Saturday. Our flight was Friday, and we had a room booked on Disney property for that night. Prior to our flight on Friday, we were told that the cruise would be delayed until Monday. We scrambled to find a room to ride out the storm (stayed at Nick Suites. They did an awesome job with the storm). We made it through the Cat 1, then found out that PC was closed due to too much sand in the channels. Disney bused us from the airport to Fort Lauderdale on Monday. Embarkation was a disaster, but they were doing the best they could. We had a shortened cruise, and many changed ports. Disney offered us $300 per person OBC, and a percentage (can't remember amount since I didn't use it) off a future sailing.

 

The people coming off the extended Jeanne cruise said they did run out of some things like fresh fruits, but that they had plenty of food and alcohol.

It looks delicious (not NC barbecue, but tasty, nonetheless), but if I'm reading the hours correctly, it will only be open for 5 hours my entire 7 day cruise (noon to 2:30 on sea days). Husband would love it, but I expect long lines when it is open. We'll see in September.

 

It seems like a large investment for that small use.

This is awesome! Thanks!

My Hilton AmEx doesn't offer it either, too bad.

I'm tempted to purchase these to use towards the price of my cruise, applying the gift card to the balance as I go along. If something unexpected came up and I decided to cancel my cruise, does the refunded money go back on each individual gift card, or could I direct it to be refunded to a credit card?

Thanks for posting about these cards. I bought one for my sister for a gift.

Did you have a good time - best - worse times?

 

That's a hard one to answer. I probably will not sail this ship out of this port again.

 

The good stuff: the staff and food in the Celebration dining room were top-notch. The price we paid for the food, room, etc was good.

 

Not so good: It's very hard to find a place to relax on this ship that isn't in the sun or wind during the day. Every time we were settled down to talk on the promenade area near the casino, we were asked to move to allow space for the photographers to set up backdrops.

 

Bad: the noise level was awful. I wasn't able to enjoy a single music venue because the amplification was over the top. Really, no one on this ship needed any amplification, let alone the volume used. The entertainment options are very limited, not timed reasonably. The layout of the ship is confusing, and the elevators seem to have problems. Not all go to all floors, at least two were stuck on luggage mode the entire trip and were not accessible. One elevator said "going down" when it was going up. The ship is old, and not the best planned. The smoke in and around the casino was unpleasant.

 

Truly ugly: embarkation took over 2.25 hours; disembarkation took over 2 hours. This was not all Carnival's fault. The port personnel and layout was also an issue.

 

This is a perfect cruise to get away, if you love to sunbathe, gamble (and don't mind the smell of smoke) and eat. It was not a good cruise for relaxing while inside or trying to enjoy the view of the waves. I wouldn't recommend this cruise for the winter months since it doesn't appear to have heat, and it can get chilly. I'm glad we did it, and I enjoyed my family time.

we definitely felt more motion than in other ships but it was not a problem. We were very forward (only one cabin in front of us). On docking days we heard lots of noise from the thrusters. It didn't both me since I'm an early riser. Other than that, the cabins were very quiet with almost no foot traffic and hallway noise.