BosoxI

If there ain't a dime's worth of difference between political parties, the same goes for middle of the road cruise lines. I'm not complaining about the changes and I'm certainly not going to defend Celebrity unless they pay me to do so. But what I will do is book cruises on lines that offer the most interesting itineraries at the most attractive prices. That's what I've been doing for 30 years of cruising and it'll take more than a cappucino or a few internet minutes to get me to change my routine.

I used them for my past cruise in November and have several booked for this year with them. Takes a long time for them to call back during a sale, but best perks I've found. Just be aware they do charge a cancellation fee.

Are they in Florida?

My kids were on the Constellation B2B2B from 12/9 -12/23. The points have posted for the middle segment but not the first segment. VERY STRANGE. Will wait a week or so and then call about it - especially if the last segment's points post and still not the first segment's.

 

This is why we save ALL our old seapass cards!

Apparently not so strange. We were on a Connie/Eclipse B2B in December. The Eclipse points were posted in about one week, but the earlier cruise wasn't. I called CC, gave them the info, and the rep posted the Connie points immediately. Why is a call necessary? For that matter, when we book a new cruise, why do WE have to add the info on the Celebrity site? Isn't it in their computer?

I guess when Celebrity advertises "Third and Fourth Passengers Free" it's safe to assume kids will be in abundance.

I can't help but believe that X set up the new system with malice aforethought. Too many people had paid in full in advance of the revamp and lost a good number of points with the installatiion of the new system. DW and I have been Elite for sometime, but the two cruises we took in December would have put us within 30 points of Elite Plus and our March 2014 cruise would have put us well over 750. Elite Plus for us will have to wait until May 2014. Extra internet minutes and cappucini are not going to get us to raise a big stink, but we won't forget X's action when choosing future trips, as we are already Elite on other lines. Screw me once, shame on you; screw me twice... I surely do empathize with those who were so close to Elite (which is the most important tier to attain, I think) and now find themselves several cruises away. I guess X figures those people will stick with them, being so close to the higher tier. Maybe yes, maybe no. Time will tell.

They also had American Idol finalists as their evening shows. Not the reason we booked the cruise, but it was a great show and they even autographed CD's and did a little picture taking after... I would even consider booking an American Idol cruise in the future (sans Christmas cruise and if the timing was right).

 

ng.

I am very glad you were so lucky and enjoyed that show. On the Eclipse 12/14 sailing the AI performers were quite bad. I've never seen so many people in the audience leave a show in the middle of a performance. DW and I lasted until the second performer sang his second song. Then we, too, made for the exit. :p

Let me preface my remarks by saying that while it's fine to have fun with Santa and pretty decorations, Christmas for me is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Having said that, my experience on the Pacific Princess in 2009 and 2010 was very disappointing. Never a "Merry Christmas" from the crew, not even on December 25. Christmas "carols" were sung but they were only secular things like Jingle Bells, Chestnuts Roasting...and my all time favorite carol "A Few of my Favorite Things". I voiced my disappointment to the cruise director, the same woman on both cruises, and she looked at me like I had two heads.

Contrast that with our experience on Celebrity Eclipse the last two years. "Merry Christmases" were widely wished by staff and passengers alike. A choir of passengers performed traditional carols in the atrium. Carols were softly played in the passageways. A Protestant service was held on Christmas day and a Catholic priest celebrated Mass at midnight and on Christmas morning. To be fair, Princess had a priest on board, too. Both ships were nicely decorated but for DW and me, it seemed that the Eclipse presented a brighter, happier situation, nicely combining the religious and secular aspects of the day.

Of course our experience covered all of two ships, so it's limited, but based on these four cruises, Celebrity wins hands down.

We were promised a $70 specialty restaurant credit by our Florida agent and, indeed, in our cabin was a card saying we would get that credit. No dollar amount was shown and when I addressed the issue with Customer Relations, I was told it was included in the amount of regular OBCs. Fortunately, I had the invoice from my agent which clearly showed the restaurant credit was in addition to the OBC. The CR rep credited me the $70 but later called to say that , in fact, Celebrity had no record of the transaction. The credit stood as a courtesy. The same agent has offered the same credit on our next cruise, so I asked for clarification as I do not want to depend on the good will of a CR rep to obtain my credit. Take all notifications with you, as agency credits don't always show on Celebrity's records

There was a very strong odor of garlic ONE day in ONE section of the restaurant. I like garlic to enhance food, not to overwhelm it. So, guess what DW and I did; we moved to a place where the garlic odor was not bothersome. Lots of cuisines use garlic and smelling it in a restaurant doesn't indicate quality, good, bad or indifferent in my book

Hi DeltaBreeze,

 

We are in the exact same boat as you. Feb 8th Connie, paid extra for Conciege. Now we will not be elite after this cruise. Kind of leaves a bitter taste. We did some payback. We cancelled our 7 day Sillie March 2 (balcony but it would still leave us short). We booked the Royal Princess for March 2. In switching, we saved $500. and have a BC balcony . We are elite so we will get all the benefits.

 

Cheers,

Zip

Good for you. I love voting with my feet on those rare occasions the opportunity arises. Princess was our cruise line of choice before Celebrity lured us, but Princess' itineraries and food always appealed more to us. We find X's ships to be more appealing. So, had the X loyalty program change been to our disadvantage, we, too, would have considered scurrying back to Princess or HAL, all things being equal. As it is, it's nice being Elite on both lines. X or P, we like them both.

Q: If you pour two oz of vodka into a shaker filled with chipped ice and then shake it to make a martini served up, how many oz of drink do you pour out of the shaker?

 

A: try it...you'll be surprised by the answer

I don't know the answer, but I do know the bartenders' trick of over shaking a drink to make the ice melt. That's more common nowadays as restaurants and bars are looking to cut costs anyway they can

I recently wrote a rather sarcastic comment about a passenger on the Constellation who, I felt, was nit picking and blaming Celebrity unfairly. When I read the OP's post, however, I come away with the feeling that this was not written by a cry baby with no legitimate complaint. If half of what was written is true, it would be intolerable. DW and I were on the December 9 Connie and the December14 Eclipse cruises and encountered no trouble at all, but we were spared hoards of unsupervised children. We've done Christmas cruises the last five years on Princess and Celebrity and all was well. The children on board were well mannered and posed no problem. Were we just lucky? Parents who allow this behaviour should be keel hauled at a minimum. Celebrity should be ashamed to have allowed this. OP, be prepared for some louts to say you hate kids or are a snob for criticizing anyone who eats from the common trough with his hands. They paid for their vacation and they'll darn well act and dress as they please. :(

I am tracking 2014 Christmas cruises, all of which are outrageously expensive. This post is enough to convince me to look elsewhere, and for that I want to thank sincerely the OP for saving me a ton of money and a lot of pain. Happy New Year.

Stay away from any package that requires more than one night in Qsine. you could have fired a cannon into that place on our December cruise and not hit anybody. Try it once for the experience and you'll probably have had enough. Personally, we like Murano the best, though our meal in the Tuscan Grill was very good up until the main course. But, this was on the Eclipse; other ships may offer a different experience. Besides, tastes differ, so try each for yourself and the three meal package is probably the safest bet.

The OP asks "Why were the elevators broken in the parking garage on the last day of the trip". Indeed, Celebrity, why were they broken? And what about the smell of garlic in a restaurant, of all places? What next? The TP is only single ply?

My wife and I were on this same cruise and had a wonderful time. Using the Elite drink coupons in an extremely crowded Martini bar was about as distressing as it got, so we'd order another round and cry on each other's shoulder. Worked fine for us. How we suffered with those tiny drinks the Elites are given. Oh, and maybe being within earshot of some X loudmouths at the bar was annoying. Even so, we had a wonderful time, so much so that we booked the same cruise on the March 8 sailing and not because we need to make another trip to Cozumel, I can assure you. There are some legitimate complaints addressed in this thread, but, boy, if you look for trouble, you sure can find it and some folks excel at that. I think all the paying customers on this cruise should be given a complimentary cruise for the indignities we suffered. Once a year. For life.

I haven't read any review of the Constellation, but I was on that ship for its December 9 sailing, and I can say without reservation that it was a wonderful cruise in every respect.

We'll be aboard her again in March and I expect to be pleased once again.

Escargot was on the every day side of the MDR menu on the Summit a couple of weeks ago. They needed more garlic for me.

Just off the Eclipse where I enjoyed them every night precisely because the garlic enhanced but did not overwhelm them. ;)

Master: Captain Dimitrios Manetas

Cruse Director: Ben Powney

Captains Club Host: Graeme Kelleher

 

.

Beware of Graeme. He'll talk your ear off in a high pitched whine. Ouch

only if we include "good" and "well"!

This makes me cringe. When I inquire as to a person's health and the reply is "I'm good", I sometimes quip "That's how you get to Heaven". Then it's my wife's turn to cringe:p

My wife just stumbled upon $480 worth of TCs, buried in my drawer. Guess I'll be embarrassed when I finally cash them, if I listen to some of you :)

I've been trying to order tags for several days and have kept getting the message that they couldn't process the request. Called the number on the screen, and the helpful person at Celebrity took care of it. Thanks for the suggestion! A lot easier and less frustrating than continuing to check and not being able to do it.

 

Not so fast. Have you received them? One month ago when I was getting the error message, I called the Captain's Club and was told the tags would be mailed. I soon booked a second cruise and was unable to print those tags, either. The tags for the first cruise never arrived, so I called the CC once again, gave them both reservation numbers, and was assured I'd receive both sets. That was 50% correct; I never got the set for the original cruise. This is not a big issue, but it is indicative of Celebrity's continuing problems.

Thanks to all of you. I thought I had read on CC that there was a TW nearby, but with no need, I paid no heed. Now it's different. I don't think walking would be desirable even if I could, having seen the bus traffic.

We will be disembarking from one Celebrity ship and boarding a second Celebrity ship on the same day. How far is the nearest shop and how would I get there? (This is a very important question:p:p) If it's reasonably close, can I walk it? Thankssssh

Your preference, please

Service in Blu was first class, but I really loved the dining table being set with linen and lovely cutlery, and enjoying my breakfast in my dressing gown :D

 

Lou

In your dressing gown. I love it. That's so Sherlock Holmsian!;)

Century cruisers are entitled to an extra allotment of air to compensate for the fact that the ship does not offer gelato

Yeah. It's a scoop of ice cream; is compensation really necessary?