chemmo

In the UK the cost to make a change to a booking is £75 each for guests 1 and 2. If there are more guests in the room there is no further cost. One change free if you are elite or above unless anything has changed in the last few months. Phone don’t try to cancel and rebook on line. If you have booked through a travel agency they may have an additional fee, alternatively they may be able to waiver if you were part of a group booking (they had a group booking not you personally). Hope that makes sense.

Thank you for such a clear and honest review! So agree with you that if you have an issue, raise it with the staff and give them the opportunity to put things right. Also agree with you about wanting your brandy in a brandy glass….Doesn’t taste the same in a tumbler!

Thank you for taking us on your voyage!

Definitely let the M’D know on your first visit about your hearing difficulty and they should try to ensure you get an appropriate seat… Totally agree with jelayne…Against a wall or corner if possible is much better than centre of the room.

Thank you for your review so far! Please try to get a picture of ‘Mr’ face when he enters your next room!

If you buy some wine from duty free or any port it will come to your room last evening of your first cruise then repeat on the next…Saves toting six bottles in one go!

Thank you so much for the additional information. Group size sounds ideal and with lunch (good) and dinner (so so) I guess reasonable value…I think I may look up a range of food/wine related tours by locals before deciding….

So enjoying your cruise! Thank you so much for taking us along…

For an extra fee there is Sushi. This is an a la carte menu and you can enjoy as little or as much as you like. We find it very enjoyable once or twice per cruise. Usually once per cruise Tuscan will be open for a fee lunch. This is a reduced menu compared to the evening one but usually at a lower price. The buffet on Celebrity, in addition to usual items, often is themed. Indian, Pie Day, Italian…This will be in your daily newsletter. Much as I don’t enjoy buffets every day it is nice to graze there a few days…We will often put together a salad and sandwich and take it somewhere else to eat… We have rarely been to the MDR lunches on sea days so I will let others describe. Again for a fee there is always the option of the all day room service menu. If you are shattered after a few busy sightseeing days and have a balcony this can be a really enjoyable option…

We tend to simply see the gratuities as part of the cruise fair when booking a cruise with stated daily gratuity rates as many do. Celebrity follows this model. We then budget extra for those staff that go above and beyond… I must confess I don’t know why you are saying ‘we don’t have a culture of tipping’ in the UK? We do! Restaurants, hairdressers…Perhaps it is less prescriptive (doesn’t suggest a %) but it is still there… The snag with this is twofold…firstly you won’t see directly everyone who serves you and secondly if this was generally allowed some guests may simply see removing gratuities as a way of reducing their cruising costs. Much as I know this isn’t why you are querying sadly some people would cancel their auto grats and then find excuses not to pay what staff see/expect as part of their salary. Agree, on the odd occasion we have had iffy service we have brought it to the attention of an appropriate staff member and it has been corrected. No reason to remove gratuities. I agree that the phrase ‘When in Rome’ is fairly appropriate. We choose Celebrity knowing its tipping policy and accept it as it is…

Remember you will be using the MDR or buffet for breakfast and lunch even if not for dinner. Hence it would not be reasonable to cancel dining gratuities even if you could. Remember your room attendant and others are also part of the gratuities too.

Thoroughly enjoying your review. I have been particularly interested as we are on Infinity next year. So pleased your chefs market tour went so well. Something I have always fancied doing. However, reviews seem very mixed. If possible could you give a bit more detail about the actual tour…How big was your group? How long were you in the market for? Was the food you ate in the evening eat food purchased during your visit? Thank you!

Seriously, despite the laughs, keep checking your account over the next few days just in case!

I guess I felt offended and targeted as I was one of very few who was looking at the use of the Solarium from the viewpoint of families…I totally understand and respect the reasons why some people really don’t want children in the Solarium. I expect those posters to understand that others (like myself) have a different viewpoint. I love the humour in many of your posts. I value your contributions. I expect you to value the opinions of myself and others with a different viewpoint without needing to see us as ‘bad’ or ‘thoughtless’ cruisers which is the implication I took from your comment.

Happy Birthday!

Nasty! Sincere best wishes that your treatment is soon over…

I find your remark a little offensive. I follow the dress code on Celebrity and in any venue or country I visit…I never remove gratuities or taste food at the buffet. Just because my view on this topic is different than yours why do you have to assume I am a nonconformist? I accept that others may have a range of views that differ from mine…I totally respect the views of others. This post was not about allowing children into the Solarium all the time, simply about them having access some of the time…

Firstly not all children are the same…many children and teens prefer the ambiance on board a Celebrity ship to a RC one. I speak from experience. Also many people sailing are multigenerational groups. They are looking for a cruise line to suit every family member. To be honest none of this is relevant…What is relevant is that Celebrity is not an adults only cruise line. As you have said families could move to RC they could tell you to book Virgin! I honestly simply think that it is not unreasonable to open a facility (Solarium) for families to enjoy at a time when the people who have the facility the rest of the time are rarely using it. As I said in my first post I cruise with a family at present who are all adults so I have no personal axe to grind…I simply feel that begrudging access for families at a quiet time is no big deal!

I would at times say the outdoor pool is not friendly to families…There is always the ‘serious swimmer’ who feel it is appropriate to do full lengths in a pool regardless of swiping out of the way two six year olds and a grey haired elderly lady (me). To say nothing for the clique of elderly ladies (not me) standing in one area unwilling to move even when they are blocking access to the steps… Also there is that temperature issue…There are many cruises where the outdoor pools are only for the hardy! The Mediterranean end of season, The Far East isn’t consistently hot and both TA and TP cruises can have many inclement days… All I am trying to say is that I cannot see the hardship for most adults to have the Solarium open to families for just a couple of hours a day…

No, but the Solarium is often empty so why not let families enjoy it?

Gosh, I feel a bit on my own but I think families should be allowed to use the Solarium between set times (5pm to 7pm?) daily no matter where in the world the cruise is… Most adults by then are either getting ready for dinner or already enjoying an early evening drink. It is years now since we have cruised with a child but as long as Celebrity is taking the money off families then I do feel that their needs/wishes should be taken into account….

Also looking forward to your review. We are on Infinity, also in a suite so interested to see how you find the suite experience….

Safe and pleasant journey home, thank you for a wonderful vicarious vacation!

Agree plus drink, drink, drink…anything nonalcoholic. Also agree…This is especially important if the ships doctor (unlikely but possible) suggests a quick visit to a hospital at your next port of call. Request and save taxi receipts etc as well as cost of prescriptions, scans, consultation etc. Sincere best wishes for a speedy recovery.

I’ll bet whatever suites they were in their minibars were stocked…I would also bet if any of them were in standard balcony cabins they didn’t get charged for room service… Seriously, I do hope a few people they talked to on the cruise expressed concerns about some of the recent changes. I sincerely hope that they are continuing to follow threads on CC that genuinely express concern about maintaining the standards and ambiance that has made Celebrity stand out from it’s competition….That should have been the focus of their fact finding cruise…