maxsales

I currently have a military rate on two cruises which were initially booked on board. I did not lose my 2 perks when the military rate was applied.

I am guessing you have a military saving rate which is combinable with perks while a military rate normally isn't.

Is it possible to change your perks before final payment, please? I just realized we'd be better off with the $300 OBC than the internet since we have the 30% discount.

You can and should always cost out the perks. Many times on a longer cruise the pre-paid gratuities are worth more than the OBC.

My son is a professional musician. He is talented enough to have a full time well paying gig with a large Symphony Orchestra. As a parent of a performance artist, I was always aware of the difficulties and pitfalls of trying to make a living following your passion. I also have a friend that was one of my sons teachers who works as a full time performer on Cunard Ships. I see complaints about some of the performers or acts on various ships. I fully realize there can be a large range of talent from performer to performer. That said, I always try to keep in mind most of the people are working really hard and trying to earn a living for themselves and their families. (I always tip the performer in what ends up being my favorite bar or hang out)

 

Here is the article. https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a22801333/cruise-entertainers/

That's nice. Thank you!

And P&O are also saying that they will not increase the cruise fares when this is implemented hmmmmm.....

 

 

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Haha Right up there with "you can keep your doctor"!:D:D:D:D

Looking to cruise either baltic on Reflection 12 night or mediterranean on the Edge 9 night. Sailing 8/19. All perks, pricing comparable. Never cruised Europe.

 

 

Any thoughts ?

 

 

 

Thanks Marybeth

Mediterranean all day long. Been there, done both.

Perhaps a "warning" to the staff?......."Virtually Impossible to Please"?? Just Wondering :o

Ha ha.

is it a common practice for travel agents to give their customers OBC when booking a cruise? I love my travel agent but have never received anything except for a bottle of wine on a couple cruises. Just wondering.

Just wondering if your travel agent provides good service?

I'm happy that you can fill out a request for a price drop and email it to them, yet suspicious. So have you done it? Was it successful? Any pointers?

 

My request is pretty straightforward, using pricing from Celebrity's own site and no changes to extras. Do they limit how many times you can make requests for small price drops? (I'd call for a large one.) And the form seems intended to be edited on your computer - I could put in my name and such (not my email, though) - but the "click here to edit" links didn't work. Printed, scanned and attached. (Perhaps I need a PDF editing program.) Just got an automated reply.

 

Thanks in advance for any info!

I think it’s just easier to call. I wouldn’t want to wait out the delay in an email. Price could very well go up before anyone responded. Phone call is instantaneous.

Going on a Pacific Coastal cruise and I'm wondering if I can use my cell phone (Verizion is the carrier) on the ship while docked in port (U.S. ports) or do I have to get off the ship to call, text, or use Google or Facebook?

Should not be a problem. Every US port I have been in had excellent cell service.

We just picked up a significant price drop for our Dec 2018 South America cruise and a small price drop for our Nov 2019 cruise. It's definitely worth taking a look.

Celebrity is doing a holiday sale. Now is a good time for everyone to check their reservations for a price decrease. The ones I have seen aren’t huge but every little bit helps.

I see a lot of complaints on these boards, but I'd like to break that mold by highlighting a GOOD experience we had with Celebrity and ChoiceAir. We have been looking forward to our British Isles cruise on Eclipse, for our 30th anniversary, for 2 years.

 

Long story short(ish)...we missed our connections to Amsterdam, on Delta, by 15 minutes, enroute. We had splurged, paying for DeltaOne (business/first class) for this special trip. Delta customer service "offered" us two seats, in the middle and back of coach, with no refund for not getting business class, the next day, with no offer/possibility of a hotel for overnight in Detroit.

 

We called ChoiceAir...they found and paid for a hotel and to pay for transport. And, overnight, they got us DeltaOne seats that got us into Amsterdam within a few hours as we would have had if we had taken Delta's option.

 

But, that's not the end. Delta managed to lose all three of our pieces of luggage; two of which didn't show up until 6 days into our 12 day cruise, and the other 3 days before it was over (coincidentally, the same day we got our debarkation luggage tags!).

 

However, even though this was no fault of Celebrity's, when we boarded we informed them of our situation. They bent over backwards to make the best of it. They gave us some stuff to tied us over, free laundry (for our one change of clothes), attempted to get us our second week's meds (in the third bag...never do THAT again!), and took over working with Delta to get our baggage. In fact, I got chewed out, one day, by Guest Relations, for having checked the Delta/KLM web site to see what the status was: "you're on vacation. That's OUR job. Let US take care of it!".

 

And, to top it off, the Guest Relations Manager, Rodrigo Jacob, saw us, minding our own business, reading in the Sky Lounge...came up to us, and asked if he could ask us a question. We said, "of course", and he went on to introduce himself and ask if we were missing luggage. (note: the t-shirts they gave us were a dead give-away!) He knew exactly who we were (said that we were one of three on the ship) and told us what the status of our baggage was. Needless to say, we were extremely impressed that, not only would he pro-actively seek us out, but was that knowledgeable of the situation!

 

So, for all the complaints people have...this beats them all, in our books. This, along with Celebrity having great itineraries and, most of all, continuing to have knowledgeable and engaging sommeliers (Emina and Akhil), will keep us coming back! Although this is not a cruise we will "fondly" remember, Celebrity did more than their part to make the best of it for us!

Great to see a positive post!

DW and I are very excited to have booked our very first Celebrity Cruise. We have wanted to try Celebrity for a while and after falling in love with San Juan a couple of weeks ago we found a great cruise next November on the Summit.

 

We always stay in a balcony and have never stayed in anything above one. Since we have never been on Celebrity we don’t know the value for the money to move up. Concierge is about $200pp more and aqua class a little over $300pp more.

 

Thanks for all your insight!

Price is the big question. To me the concierge perks are not really worth much. On M class ships concierge cabins are maybe twenty sq ft larger. On S class not so regular Verandah abundance concierge/ Aqua are the same size.

Blue is nice but the same three hundred buys you 6,7 possibly 8 dinners in a specialty restaurant which imho would trump Blu.

Ultimately it’s your choice where you want to spend your $$.

Did Celebrity hire the same stooges from MSC? The website doesn't even work anymore. Anyone else having issues logging in?

Celebrity probably has the worst website on earth. It’s been this way for years so they must consider it a running joke and don’t want to improve it.

We have done Celebrity our last 4 cruises & have fallen in love.

That being said, we have done RCCL & Princess and would cruise them again in a heartbeat.

(also did DCL...probably not again with kids being young adults now & how expensive they are).

Looking at Xmas cruise & flights to Galveston are very reasonable, and Carnival is by far the best priced cruise.

We have found our cruises to be more alike than different...and we are pretty easy going.

Our son has said NCL is a step down from our other cruises but still good. (my thought is any cruise is a good cruise!)

Thoughts?

If you really enjoy Celebrity you most likely will be disappointed with Carnival. You usually get what you pay for.

I do not think this is the case. I see it more about an experiment: how much I can charge. Supply and demand will determines most of prices on long term, but Celebrity has many months, before to eventually correct the prices. I really hope this is just an experiment to see how much they can extort from us, and not the new definitive prices.

 

 

And we are in the edge of supply/demand price model. There is the VIP price model (on very luxury items), where higher prices give more sells (people see that as an "exclusive item"). People are not rational. Basic economics is about simple models, so rational decisions.

Sorry but supple and demand will always determine pricing if Celebrity, or any cruiseline can get X dollars for a cabin they will. If after a predetermined period too many cabins remain unsold prices will drop or perks will rise.

The management of any operation has an obligation to their stockholders to return the hugest return they can using legal methods. That’s just business 191.

DH (44) and I (41) are big fans of Celebrity and typically take one 7+ night cruise every two years or so on Solstice class ships. However, this year some friends from college have floated the idea of going on a short cruise together instead of our usual reunion in NYC. Unfortunately, due to family and work obligations, they are not able to do a 7+ day trip, so we are limited to cruise lines that do 4-5 day cruises in the winter. We've narrowed it down to a 4-night cruise on Brilliance of the Seas. This is obviously a booze cruise, with just one stop in Cozumel. While I'm fine with treating this as a four-day boozy brunch with good friends, I'm a bit worried that DH and I are going to hate the atmosphere. I know that shorter cruises always attract a party crowd, which isn't really my thing even on Celebrity, but on Royal I'm concerned it will be 1000 times worse (not to mention that I'm sure there will be tons of children aboard, which also is NOT our thing).

 

I'll cross post this on the Royal boards, but I would really appreciate input from other Celebrity fans who appreciate the more adult-focused, relaxed environment one finds aboard Solstice class ships. What's the best way to survive a trip like this? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

The good Brillance is really a beautiful cruise ship! Really imho the perfect size.

that being said short cruises do attract a different set of cruises and a Royal in general attracts a younger clientele than Celebrity. So the best advice I can offer is manage your expectations to avoid disappoint and just enjoy yourself. After all it’s still a cruise isn’t it?

Let me see if I have this right.

My BFF is supposed to meet me in Miami this weekend for the 9/3 cruise on the Equinox. I'm flying out from DFW and she from LAX. We do a cruise together once every couple of years to "catch up."

We each have insured our own portions of the trip separately since we're just friends rather than relations and have different addresses and different costs based on our ages.

She is very suddenly having a serious health problem and isn't sure if she will be cleared for travel pending results of an MRI on Thursday.

 

I plan on going on the cruise.

 

SOOO if I go and she's a no show, this shouldn't impact either my ability to sail OR cost me anything, correct? She'll go against the insurance for any reimbursements but that's up to her, correct? We got our insurance through the trip insurance store.

 

Is there anything I should be doing (besides prayer and positive thoughts for her health I mean)? I'm not sure I want to call our insurance over something that MIGHT or might not happen as I don't want to red flag anything prematurely.

No problem for you. The cruise has been fully paid for so your travel mate will have to make claim with her insurance carrier to recoup her lost costs. Enjoy your cruise and make some new friends.

I think either price is WAY TOO HIGH for and 11 night cruise. Plus add in your air fare. It’s crazy.

Supply and demand ultimately determines all pricing.

It is about time. I hope all other cruise lines follow suit. Unlike true service dogs, many emotional support dogs are not well trained.

I have to agree with you there. Seems most are just listed so the owner can bring their pet along. I love my dog but she doesn’t belong on a cruise.

anybody else have a comment here?

No, I think "package".

 

Since we never buy a beverage package, we have done the wine package several times.

 

There are several levels - rising in price as the supposed quality of the wine increases.

 

We have always been happy with the basic level (we're cheap dates :)

 

Anyway, we start with 3 because we never know, in a week, exactly how much we want to drink. When we have increased to 5 bottles, it was never a problem (except once, but that was a really weird thing that happened)….anyway, we would start on the first night picking a red and a white from the list, we'd have them open both, we'd drink what we wanted, they would seal them up for the next night...and when one or the other ran out we'd order more.

 

I can't tell you what wines were on the list because there is a LOT to choose from. But if you don't want to be over whelmed choosing the first night at dinner, you can get the menu from the wine bar on board, you can peruse that and be ready to order when you get to dinner.

 

Any other questions I'll be glad to help.

You were correct I meant package, sorry for the typo but I didn’t know how to correct.

Thanks for the info. So basically as I understand your explanation you choose the number of bottles and then select from a pre determined list based on the level you selected. So in your experience was the package savings worth based on the actual wines you were able to select vs. the price you would have paid if you just selected them ala Carter?

maxsales - try connecting through this LINK to get to the information you need. I think it may require you to input your reservation information to get to your planner. From my experience on NCL (not exactly same), but I believe it is close... you had a menu selection of wine varieties in several different price points. For example, if it was $150 for 5 bottles in the premium category, you could select which ever bottles you wanted from that category and also from the lesser categories. What I found is that certain varietals on the selection menu would be "unavailable" for that cruise I was on. I did find others that were available and to my liking when I drank them, but still disappointing to not know what would be available in advance of your cruise. I suspect you could do this once you are on the ship and are able to see what will be available to you on your specific cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Hey Walter good to here from you! Remember we sailed together on the Constellation TA?

I tried inputting my info on the cruise planner and it is basically the same info. Could not find a list of the wines offered. So how can they put a price per person if you don't know the wines or their pricing per bottle. I was hoping someone on the boards would have a list from a prior cruise.

Well it's probably no surprise but the Celebrity web site is less than informative on the wine discount program. They give you a price per person but nowhere is a list of the wine available on the program.

So who out there has purchased the program and can explain how it works and what wines are included.

Thanks in advance

We were in 9211 on Eclipse back in 2011. I would go for higher with the smoking section right below you on Deck 5. Deck 9 is in a great location for going up & down especially if you and Carol decide on using the stairs. :)

Thanks, Mike, I was interested in the balcony size difference between the two cabins. Any input on that?

Is it possible to exchange a celebrity on board booking ( for a Celeb ship) for a Royal C. cruise?

You can do that. Have done it for clients in the past.