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guitarboy53

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    Booking a future cruise onboard

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Good evening. I’ve never booked a future cruise while on a cruise but the onboard credit seems appealing. My question is, if we choose the book later option and have up to 90 days to choose a future cruise and don’t end up doing so, what happens to the $100 per person deposit that we paid onboard? Thank you!

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    Travel Agent charge for Group Booking

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    This recently happened to me. I found a really great rate on a weekly travel email that I receive and it directed me to an online travel agency. After booking and paying in full, a couple days later I was charged $198 as a booking fee. I immediately emailed my contact at the company and she promised to get this refunded. I guess the lesson here is get everything in writing and be cautious of companies that you haven't worked with before. 

    • Like 1

    Would you book a Club Balcony room on the Sun?

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    We booked a last minute cruise on the Sun for next week and we received our cabin assignment for an inside room yesterday. While I am perfectly content with the inside cabin that has been assigned, I am wondering if should bid the minimum to see if I can get a Club Balcony on the Sun. If I don't end up winning the bid, I would be happy sailing in the inside cabin (I love to sleep in and the dark rooms are appealing). 


    Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Sun's Club Balcony cabins.

    Celebrity MoveUp Offer Tracker - Please Do Not Post Questions Here!

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    • Ship:  Millennium
    • Length of Cruise: 7 nights
    • Cruise Sail Date: September 3, 2021
    • Date email offer received: I didn’t receive an email. I went to the moveup website. 
    • Captain’s Club Tier [“PREVIEW” = first Celebrity Cruise]: Classic
    • Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: TA
    • Current Cabin: Inside on deck 3 
    • Bid?  Yes/No: Yes

    If YES -  Bidding Details:

    • Cabin Category: place winning category, if accepted (all category offers, can be mentioned in comments) I won a bid for aqua class
    • Bid Offer: $350 per person
    • Notification Date: August 30, 2021
    • Accepted / Rejected Accepted

    General Comments (offer details, etc.) I bid the absolute minimum for regular veranda 150pp, family veranda 200pp and aqua class350pp. I skipped concierge class because I don’t see the value in that. I feel like we got a good deal with this upgrade as we paid nearly half of what celebrity is advertising current aqua class rates online. 

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

    What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Ship: NCL Spirit

    Sail Date: Jan. 24, 2018

    Original room: Inside Guarantee

    Bid for: Oceanview

    Bid amount: $50.00 Per Person

    RESULT: ACCEPTED!

    Now in Mid-ship ocean view

     

     

    I was quite happy with the bidding process. I bid the minimum for both ocean view and balcony and the ocean view was accepted. By utilizing the bidding process, we saved a total of around $500 compared to booking the mid-ship ocean view cabin from the beginning.

     

     

    My bid was actually accepted but I received an email seconds later saying there was a problem with my credit card. I called my bank to resolve the problem, replied to their email and within hours, received confirmation that it went through.

    Pride of America issues 12/23-12/30 2017

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    As with all cruise ships, the amount of water that a ship can make depends on the length of time in port or at slow steaming speed, compared to the time at sea. Ships cannot make water in port, or within 12 miles of shore. Also, most of the water made onboard uses waste heat from the engines, so if the ship is going slow between ports, there is less heat from the engines, so less water can be made. The POA is only "at sea" about 60 hours during the week, so there is little time to make water, but it is necessary to make water at capacity at all times to keep up with demand.

     

    Now, yes, with the large amount of time in port for the POA, you would think that she could load all the water needed in port. However, even with 2-3 hoses in Honolulu, and one hose in each of the other ports (that's all the hydrants available, IIRC), the municipal water pressure is so low, that you really cannot take on sufficient water to make the trip without making water underway. And yes, the Hawaiian water meets the FDA requirements (POA does not fall under USPH since it does not visit foreign ports, but under the FDA's ship sanitation program). The other problem with loading water in port is that it has to be tested for coliform bacteria (even though the hydrant has been tested within the last month, as is required), and this test requires 18-24 hours to complete. Until the test is complete, and the result is negative, the water must be segregated from any other onboard water, and not used. So this can require a lot of juggling of water tankage to ensure there is enough available and tested to get through until the current tanks being bunkered can be tested, and this can in some cases limit the amount of water taken in a port, due to not being able to intermingle the water being bunkered with other tanks.

     

    A ship the size of POA will use about 1000 metric tons of water a day (260,000 USG), or about 120 gallons/day/person. Compare this with the average US household consumption of 80-100 gal/person/day. Now, compare the house toilet using 1.6 gal/flush with the vacuum toilet using 0.25 gal/flush, compare the house dishwasher that uses 6-16 gal/cycle with the shipboard dishwashers that use the same water all day long, compare your handwashing of dishes that takes 8-27 gal/meal with the shipboard pulper system where all the dishes are rinsed into that recycles the water all day long, and finally look at the second largest consumer of water in a US household, showers. Using a 2 gal/minute water saver shower head, a relatively short 10 minute shower by all passengers is 43,000 gal/day, or 16% of the ship's consumption. So, showering is a major consumer of water onboard, but I won't comment on the HD's "joke".

     

    How do I know this, I operated the Pride of Aloha, a similar sized vessel for NCL for 4 years in Hawaii, so I am very familiar with the water supply in the ports and the consumption onboard the ship. It was always a priority to get the water hoses out and connected as quickly as possible once docked, and leave them until the last possible moment, and water quantity was always a concern.

     

    I won't go into guest services aspects of this, as I never do, except to say that it should have been handled better.

     

    As for drydocking, repairs to either the evaporators or RO units don't require drydocking or even shipyard, and was probably being worked on during the cruise cited. It would appear that the problem was cumulative over the cruise (because they couldn't make enough water, the reserve kept getting lower and lower), rather than "leaving it too late". Since taking the ship completely out of service for what is a relatively low cost repair (likely less than $100k) would not be economically sound, what they should do is remove cabins from inventory, to lessen the water consumption, and the cost of reimbursing maybe 20% of a couple of cruise's worth of passengers for rescheduling their cruise would be more cost effective.

     

    Wow! What an informative read...Thanks!

    Singapore customs and dfs at cruise centre

    in Asia

    Posted

    I have a question...I enjoy smoking Cafe Creme mini cigars. I was planning on bringing 3 or 4 packs (10 cigars per pack) into Singapore for our cruise. Would I have to pay duty on these cigars? If so, maybe I can just find them in Singapore. Does anyone know if you can find Cafe Creme cigars in Singapore?

     

    Thanks so much!

    Anyone remember Celebrity Mercury?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    The Mercury will always hold a special spot in my heart. My mom and I went on a PNW cruise in 2005 and met my (would be) wife while she was working on the ship. She was from Istanbul and I was from Seattle. We hit it off when she was serving us as our assistant waitress at our dinner table...Good times :)

    EU VAT charges

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    I'm not sure how it works on NCL in Europe, but when we were on the Noordam last summer from Barcelona, we were charged VAT on all items while in Barcelona only. Once we left Barcelona, there was no VAT charged.

     

    We're doing a cruise on NCL Spirit in January from Barcelona to Morocco and the Canary islands--I hope we're not charged VAT for onboard purchases the whole cruise! :D

    Crew life working on cruise ships...

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    I'm super excited about my upcoming cruise on NCL Spirit. While browsing Spirit videos on Youtube, I came across the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67d_P3TCKPs

     

    It's a bit long and boring at parts, but I think it provides a unique glimpse of the crew while working on board cruise ships. I believe the video was made by a crew member working for Royal Caribbean.

     

    Back in 2005, I actually met my (now) wife on a Celebrity ship. She survived one cruise contract and the rest is history. You wouldn't believe some of the stories I've heard from her over the years.

     

    Anyway, check out the video if you have a half hour to kill :)

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