could travel all the time

7 minutes ago, cjpj said:

That is switching a booking to a TA. I don't think it is possible to switch a self booked cruise to a PVP in the same way. I feel bad for mine, as I recently booked my own cruise (I thought I'd just put it on hold and have her pick it up) and made a mistake in my husbands year of birth. I couldn't figure out why his FCC didn't apply automatically.  As soon as I received the confirmation I saw what I did. I then contacted her to fix. Was going to add on Princess Plus through her instead of on board as a thankyou for the fix, but she said she didn't get any commission on it. I'd really like to know what PVP get commission on so I don't mess her up.

Oh sorry I missed the mentions of PVP..

So she was able to take over your booking, but she didn’t receive any commission for it?  Geez that sounds wrong, especially if an outside TA would get commission. Doesn’t make a lot of sense 👎

I was able to have my booking transferred to my agent in June

Here is a thread

 Edited to add my comments from July: 

‘My TA tried to submit the form himself but was told that I needed to 🤷🏻‍♀️
I was nervous too because I didn’t receive an acknowledgment email (and customer service didn’t have a clue 😒). 
After 2-3 days I logged in and saw my TA’s name on the booking.
Ran smoothly but it would have been nice to receive an email that the form was submitted ok 😑’

Just wanted to provide an update. I’ll try to update the spreadsheet as well.
 
This cabin worked very well for us. 
Yes, a little high (took me a while to be able to look down) but we didn’t feel any movement at all and the views were amazing 🤩 
Pretty much right between the mid and the front elevators so location worked very nicely. 
Plus we were only two flights up from the buffet 😜 so we took the stairs every time 👍

17 minutes ago, trinitygirl said:

If you have cash, they will accept USD or Euros, but we all paid with cards in GBP so I am not sure how good the exchange rate would be.  
 

Princess stopped working with the company that does the small group tours to Cinque Terre.  They still offer big bus tours but having now been on a few big Princess tours we are not keen.  The shore excursion agent told me there were five buses going on that tour.  So we decided to stick to Livorno. 
 

it is as if COVID Never happened for most passengers. There is a lot of it about - I caught it for the first time 48 hours into the cruise.  There are no precautions being taken. But if you test positive and report medical, you go into a five day isolation period in your cabin.  I had a mild case and although I was really disappointed to miss Greece and Turkey, there are definitely worse places Trobe sick. 

Oh wow 5 buses 😳. 
thanks for your feedback !! 

33 minutes ago, trinitygirl said:

Hi again.  It was GREAT.  really great.  I think it might be because I had low expectations, but this morning blew them out of the water.  We headed off the ship around 7.20am when it was still dark  and when we got outside we realised it was incredibly foggy.  We came across the taxi tours immediately outside the port but it wasn't clear how long we would have to wait so we decided to walk into town and see what happened.  However, just a couple of minutes later we came across Lester and his mini-van; he already had 4 people ready to go and with the three of us, his group was set, so we said sure.  The cost was 45 GBP ($57 USD/$90 Australian) and that included your nature reserve ticket which included all the attractions.   Because it was so foggy, he changed up the structure of the tour; we started at the lighthouse, then went to the Pillars of Hercules, then headed up the Rock where we visited with the monkeys, and then got to St Michael's Cave in time to be first in line.  We spent 20 minutes in the cave (which was fabulous and totally worth the time) and then went further up the rock to the glass viewing balcony, and then further up to the feeding platform for the monkeys.  By then it was about 10.30am and the other 4 decided to walk down to the castle; we got a ride back to town and spent about 90 minutes walking through town, checking out Marks and Spencer, eating icecream and so on.   It was a great tour, we feel like we got a good sense of what Gibraltar is like, and Lester was a great source of information.  I think it would definitely depend on your guide - we clicked with him and we were all Australian so on the same page.   

 

We got back to the ship just before midday (when the sun briefly came out so we could see the rock and it got really hot all of a sudden) and had the wake pool to ourselves for half an hour before lunch. 

Wonderful! Good you had a great day! I hope that we will be so lucky ☺️

do you know if USD or Euro are easily accepted? 

A couple of more questions please… 

Sorry if I missed but what happened with you Cinque Terre tour??! We booked it as well and I know I’d be really really disappointed if they cancel it 🥺

Also have you noticed any changes onboard regarding covid? Precautions and the like?

9 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

good morning everyone.  We are about to dock in Gibraltar - one of the ports on this cruise I have not been to before.  We haven't booked a tour, but are going to head out as soon as the gangway opens and take a taxi tour.  Our plan is to end the tour in 'town' and then walk back to the ship.  Hopefully we can do all of that before it gets too hot and then we will spend the afternoon relaxing back on the ship.   Yesterday was delightful - massage, an afternoon at the sanctuary, formal night dinner (we had our photo taken which I've never done before so that was fun) and then we went to see Starlight Bar, which I saw a fortnight ago but my friends had not seen yet - I actually enjoyed it more the second time around and my friends enjoyed it. 

 

Chrisclaire - I started cruising with Celebrity in the Caribbean and loved their style, but because they don't sail out of Melbourne I did a couple of cruises with Princess (which do) and I've now completed three with each company.  I think they both have good things going for them, but I find it harder to find a decent mid-length cruise on Celebrity and although I would love to do a NZ cruise with them, the fact that they don't do round-trips or sail from Melbourne makes their itineraries less attractive to me.  I have a back to back with Celebrity in November in the Carribean (8 days and 6 days on the Reflection) and am looking forward to it. 

 

ok, better get myself to breakfast.

Hope you enjoyed your day in Gibraltar 😊

I am interested to know how your tour went. We missed out on pre booking a tour so thought to do the same as you once at port 🤞 

Hi Keith and Anne Marie

Thought to say hi as I too am following along 😊.
We have yet to sail Crystal but were looking at sailing a few years ago then well you know…what happened happened. 
Your wonderful attitude is so positive and inspiring and I am grateful that you allow us to follow along in your travels. 

Bon voyage 

Natalie

My TA tried to submit the form himself but was told that I needed to 🤷🏻‍♀️
I was nervous too because I didn’t receive an acknowledgment email (and customer service didn’t have a clue 😒). 
After 2-3 days I logged in and saw my TA’s name on the booking.
Ran smoothly but it would have been nice to receive an email that the form was submitted ok 😑
 

6 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

yes, indeed!

It was our favorite - we went to the buffet after every MDR dinner and gorged ourselves on Nutella crepes. It was magical!
 

 

 

Thank you for posting the pics 🤩 
Maybe my memory is failing but I don’t think I remember seeing a chocolate fountain on Celebrity for a long while. 
Looking forward to it 👍

3 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Not sure they were available every night, but I have had them on Enchanted in the buffet. 

Amazing 🥳. Thank you ☺️

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I just got finished posting the below on a Celebrity thread, but thought it would be fitting to post here as well.

 

Here’s a fun fact. If you add the Princess Plus Package to any of their refundable deposit bookings, it’s a flat $60 per person per day, regardless of your loyalty level or cabin category. If you add the Celebrity All Included package and upgrade the Basic Internet package to Premium, which would make it comparable to what you get with the Princess Internet service, it’s about $95 (or $82 for AI + $13 with the elite discount) per person per day. Then for me to get Baileys and Moscato included with my Celebrity AI package, I have to also upgrade the Classic beverage package to Premium, which is another $20 pp/day making it $115 pp/day to match what we’re getting with the $60 pp/day Princess Plus package. Sorry, Celebrity’s AI prices are getting a little crazy if you stop and do the math.
 

Then there is the ridiculous $100 pp/day cost difference, at least on our July 2024 12-day Apex cruise in Norway, when booking a Celebrity NRD booking versus a RD booking, while Princess bookings are all refundable unless you choose one of the cheapest guarantee cabin categories, which we never do.
 

Don’t get me wrong, we will still continue to book cruises with Celebrity when they have an awesome itinerary like going to the Galapagos, or a cruise to Norway when they include 2 days cruising above the Arctic Circle, or a cruise that docks in New Orleans for 3 days in 2025 during Mardi Gras. But Princess also has quite the selection of way more unique 3-5 week itineraries at much more reasonable prices. 

 

So right you are!! 
And for me, the infinite balcony’s on the newer ships also made me see what else is out there. 
Going on our first Princess cruise. Both excited and a little nervous to be honest 😬
 

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Did they have a crêpe station at dinner like on the enchanted? 

Sorry what?!! They have a crepe station on the Enchanted? 
Celebrity had Bistro on Five which I believe is long gone, but had the most amazing chocolate filled crepes 😋
 

Can I look forward to having the same on the Enchanted? 🤞
 

WAvoyager, many thanks for the feedback 😊👍

On 6/4/2023 at 8:12 AM, could travel all the time said:

My TA was surprised by the new process. Princess not only wanted the form filled out, I had to email it in myself. Poor guy was on the phone two times with them. Hopefully it won’t take long to transfer. 

Trying this for a second time so hope it isn’t a dup

I just wanted to come back and let you all know that my transfer completed. It took a couple of days as others have said. I didn’t receive an acknowledgment email so was nervous that my request wasn’t received..but apparently it was 🙂👍

To be completely honest I am thrilled not to have to deal with Princess customer service. They are simply horrible. I used the chat several times and spoke to many live agents, and they are just terrible…know really nothing and extremely frustrating to deal with. Training really, really has to be stepped up in my opinion.  Sorry just a little rant. 
 

12 hours ago, Coral said:

My TA said this is no longer allowed.

My TA was surprised by the new process. Princess not only wanted the form filled out, I had to email it in myself. Poor guy was on the phone two times with them. Hopefully it won’t take long to transfer. 

Hello!

Planning our first trip since 2019!

We usually cruise Celebrity so I am trying to familiarize myself with the Princess deck plans. 
Could anyone confirm that R335 on the Enchanted is a good choice? Just worried about the skywalk and overhang but I think we are ok..right? No surprises?

Can’t seem to find anything on this cabin. 
Many thanks in advance for any insight. 

Update:

just wanted to let you know that after quite a bit of frustration I was able to swap out my perks..likely thanks to you all 😊

I wanted to speak to the vacation planner that left me a couple of voicemails. Turns out she called me in error, as she didn’t realize we had a firm booking 🙄 and she referred me to the call centre.
Regardless I asked her hypothetically if one can change the perks without any other change as I heard it was possible from what I’ve read on cruise critic 😊 ..she said yes! She then offered to pass me onto a call centre rep but would explain what I wanted before hanging up. All seemed to go smoothly until I got the new invoice and the obc that I should have received as I booked on board was removed 😞. 
 

I called back 😓 and the rep said I didn’t have any perks at all 😳😤...

I then asked to speak to a supervisor who eventually corrected everything. 
 

Long story short...the reps I’ve been talking to these days really need some training 😔...or maybe their reservations system needs a major overhaul 😕

Thanks all, I’ll double check everything when everyone opens back up after the holidays. 
 

Hi, (Merry Christmas to all celebrating today!)

What happens exactly if I miss the 60day deadline to transfer my booking to a TA?

Can I transfer the booking still, but perhaps lose the OBC that I received as I booked on-board?

Or does the booking need to be cancelled then rebooked with the TA risking losing the cabin?

(I really don’t want to transfer my booking but I am getting a little frustrated with the celebrity reps (one told me I had 90 days prior to sailing to transfer my booking!)  I am waiting to talk to a cruise planner who will hopefully straighten everything out for me)

Thanks ipeeinthepool (😏),

you’re explanation is helpful 👍

I’m then suspecting then that for those people who were able to change the perks, there was no fare change. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m the OP and Just wanted to update you all with a new development ..

I waited a few days to call back and look into swap out the two perks that I originally chose. 

I was told that I couldn’t do anything right now because the two perk option is not available with this current promo - you can only choose between 1, 3, or 4 perks. 

All I know about all of this is that it has become more confusing / complicated than it needs to be I’m sure. 😞😒

(FYI..need to stick to two perks right now, as three perk option is too much money...need to stick with refundable deposit)

Thanks ..😕..wish me luck when I try again

Ok thanks! 
I did ask the rep if she was sure and she said yes, but I’ll try again and see if I’ll get another answer 🤞🤷🏻‍♀️

Hi, I have a question please..

Can I change the perks I want without change to price?

We aren't sailing until next fall so are before final payment. 
 

The Celebrity rep said that while it is possible to change perks, it would result in a refare (and it is more expensive since the cruise price has increased)

Just thought to ask you all and see if that information is correct. 

(we had wifi and obc, but since the beverage no longer has the surcharge, I’d like to change to wifi and beverage)

Thanks again all! Great news 🥳🥳