mkam2821

The distillery is not far from the pier. Definitely can get a taxi. There is also a tour cmpany that includes transportation at a much loer cost, but sorry, I forgot which one. 😞

It's been hit and miss with calling Celebrity. Because I booked through a TA (Big Box) I can only speak to Celebrity Customer Service about specific things. When it was regarding specialty dining or excursions I was connected to a person pretty quickly but neither time were they able to answer the most basic of questions nor help me out and one time I had to reiterate my question 5 different times as they kept repeating it back to me incorrectly (reminded me of the call center scenes in Slum Dog Millionaire). After one hour and ten minutes I still had not resolved anything and eventually just said thank you and hung up. Working in customer service myself I see that the problem is that when new people are hired they don't receive enough thorough training before going live and therefore they don't know the answer to questions, don't know process and procedure and if working remotely, don't have anyone nearby to ask for assistance and then have to put the caller on hold while they call someone else to assist. So it winds up taking four times as long as it should and often leaves the situation unresolved or unanswered. The agent winds up feeling inadequate and the caller is frustrated and feels they wasted their time.

14 minutes ago, dateacher said:

Sorry to hijack this thread but it's related.  We just got an additional $200 credit because we moved a better cabin and the price was $200 less.  It's been four days and the credit hasn't appeared on our account. Is this something that happens at the end of the cruise or should we be asking about it now?

When my fare reduced it took a week to see the credit and then it came in 2 separate transactions

41 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Go into your Cruise Planner, to Dining.  Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of the screen, and you will see Select Dining. Go from there.  You'll have to do each night individually.  (The folks you call re specialty dining might be able to make those reservations for you, but you can certainly do it yourself in the Cruise Planner.)

 

Tip: if there are just two of you, and you want to sit at a two-top in the MDR that is not inches from another table where people are eating (or even closer), go to the starboard side of the upper level of the MDR (Deck 4), and ask for one of the physically distanced tables.  (I think they are also on the port side as well.)  You may have to ask for the Maitre d' to get one; this seemed to be a big secret on our cruise, and the host at the podium told us no such tables were available (despite Celebrity's promise on its web site of physical distancing in the MDR).  When we asked for the Maitre d', the gentleman who came over had us ushered to the back half of the MDR, where there were numerous two-tops spread out across the room, with tables blocked off between them.  Some folks were already eating here, and more came after we were seated.  I don't know why we needed to have the Maitre d' intervene, but that wasn't the only time it was necessary.  It was one of the few discordant notes of our cruise.  

THANK YOU SO MUCH, this was so helpful. I kept trying to do it on the app and nothing was happening, went to the website and did as you said (each night separately). and was able to do it. I had called the specialty dining people as I had a question about my package and when I asked if they could do my Select time they said I'd have to wait until I got on board.  So glad I asked my fellow travelers.!!

13 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Typically, when you buy a specialty dining package pre-cruise, Celebrity assigns you to a specific restaurant for your first night.  Once you board, you can make the other reservations, and also usually change that first night if it doesn't work for you, including the time.  You can't make other reservations for meals in a specialty dining package pre-cruise.   Here, it seems you booked Murano outside the package, yes?  So it's unclear what's going on for that first night in terms of your package.  In terms of changing the time for Murano pre-cruise, if there are no other times listed in your Cruise Planner, you likely can't change the time now, but perhaps you can on board.  We were on the Silhouette Dec. 3-13, and there were some bands of times that guests could not reserve for some of the specialty dining venues, because of staffing issues.   

 

In any event, you can call the Celebrity Cruise Enhancement desk, 800-722-5941, select the option for specialty dining, and see if the folks can help you out.

 

One tip:  The ship will likely have a special "Taj X" Indian tasting-menu dinner once during the cruise (for something in the range of $35-40pp, including gratuity).  It was a fabulous meal, and I highly recommend it.  It showed up in the Celebrity app a few days before the cruise, bookable on board.  If you are interested, book it as soon as you board. 

 

We've eaten at Murano often, but the dinner we had there on this cruise was THE best meal we've ever had on a cruise ship, and a rival for many great meals we've had on land.  I hope yours is just as good!  (And I hope you get Marcel as your server!)

 

Enjoy your cruise! 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH, we LOVE Indian food and would gab the opportunity to do Taj X. Yes, Murano is outside of the 3 night package. I'll call and see if we can change the time if not, worse case we'll eat early on the first night. Do you know if/how we can reserve the main dining room time pre-cruise for the nights we don't intend to do specialty?

Sailing Silhouette Jan 4-14. Have first night booked in Murano, have purchased a 3 night specialty dining package and have select dining other nights.  Can we alter our 1st night Murano time and choose our other 3 specialty nights pre-cruise and how can we make our select dining reservations pre-cruise.

Thanks in advance

Happy Holidays

My husband is diabetic. Can we request sugar free desserts at dinner or should we contact special needs prior to our cruise?
Thanks in advance and happy and SAFE holidays to all

1 hour ago, debshomespun said:

  From Celebrity's website:

Vaccinated guests can get off the ship in St. Lucia and take a private Gov't approved excursion from select vendors at the port.

Thank you for the update.. I usually book private and ahead of time  but booked through Celebrity as this is our 1st visit to this island and I don't want to go through the hassle of choosing a provider at the port

12 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

@mkam2821 We were on the Silhouette earlier this month, and one of our ports was St. Lucia, where Celebrity shorex were required.  We took one, but not one of the ones you've identified, nor do your links work, so I can't tell where they go/what you'd do.  Depending on your interests, I'd suggest one that takes you around the island so you can see as much as possible.   Just know that the roads are very winding and mountainous.  And also that there is no physical distancing on the mini-buses used for the Celebrity excursions, though masks were required and the bus was required to keep the windows open, unless it was raining. 

Thank  you, may I ask which excursion you did take?

1 hour ago, Laurab23 said:

That looks amazing.

However, as of December 15th 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in St Lucia (among other islands): 

11 minutes ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Have been to St Lucia on land vacations only. Cannot speak to tours by Celebrity but if it is any help, the island is beautiful and full of character. Whichever excursion you choose should not disappoint and hopefully X will do St Lucia justice.

Thank you. 

It will be our first time visitng the island. If you've RECENTLY been on a Celebrity excursion in St. Lucia, I'd appreciate feedback. We can't decide between The Island's Delights,  Lushan Country  Life And Pigeon Island and Panoramic St. Lucia.  and my husband is not the athletic type and beaches aren't our thing (we live in South Florida so a beach isn't a novelty).

Thanks in advance and wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday

I work in an environment where I am exposed to many people masked and unmasked on a daily basis (I wear a mask indoors in public at all times and am triple vaccinated). I test every few weeks just to be safe. We have a cruise booked for January 4th. As long as my husband and I are healthy we're going.    After being home for 2 years and homeschooling grandchildren for a good part of the time.  We have excursions booked they're cancellable if necessary. I need my Calgon take me away time. We need to get away even if it means just enjoying ourselves on the ship and we are fortunate that we are within a short driving distance of the port.

1 hour ago, sunnypalms said:

https://visitantiguabarbuda.com/travel-advisory/

 

Per the above link, the advisory only applies to those who have travelled from South Africa, Botswana, Belgium and Hong Kong within the last 14 days.

That's what I am hoping as we are on the January 4th cruise

Anybody have the menus for the main dining room and/or the daily planner for the 10 day Southern Caribbean? would be very much appreciated as it would help me plan specialty dining 

When I looked at booking this independently it specifically stated that cruises ship passengers must book this excursion through their ship (which btw costs almost double)

If you Google the individual islands covid requirements you will find that those that currently require ship excursions are because their government requires a negative PCR  test within a certain amount of time which isn't possible for most of current sailings

6 hours ago, twincheryl said:

We're in the same boat, so to speak... our cruise is January 4th.  We NEVER take cruise excursions as we really don't like the cattle herding and bus rides.  We did book one snorkeling excursion in Barbados thru Celebrity but don't want to snorkel in every port... lol

 

At this point, we are just sitting here hoping that things open up a little bit.  Always make private excursion plans in advance, but don't want to get stuck on the ship for 7 out of our 10 day cruise.  

We are literally in your same boat as we will be on the Jan 4th cruise. We too are waiting and watching

5 hours ago, nocl said:

To answer your specific question.  Do a google search for the name of the country you are interested in, covid restrictions approved excursion companies  

 

for example doing that for Antigua yields

 

https://visitantiguabarbuda.com/antigua-and-barbuda-is-open/

 

That should find the appropriate web page that lists those excursion companies that have been approve by the government to offer excursions during the pandemic

 

A search for country name covid restrictions  should bring up the site with the official government restrictions including any restrictions related to government approval of excursions.

Great, thanks

15 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

 

The website does not list 3 scenarios. It lists 2. You can tour independently or you are required to take a ship tour. If the port has the " ** " next to it, vaccinated guests can walk around the shopping area within the port OR take a Celebrity excursion. You are not left on your own to determine what is and isn't an government approved tour. 

 

Silhouette is in St. Kitts today. St. Kitts requires Celebrity excursions so that is why guests cannot tour on their own. 

One would think that with ** if it was intended to mean walk around and/or take a Celebrity excursion it would say "Celebrity" and not "government approved", just sayin'

Yet just a few minutes ago those currently on Silhouette stated on FB that they can't get off the ship without a Celebrity tour.......UGH such a lack of clear information and it seems to change from ship to ship, no consistency within the Celebrity fleet let alone between Celebrity and Royal

17 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

For most ports there are no independent excursions as COVID-19 has gotten worse in many countries and Celebrity has few ship excursionsexcept city tours because of local rules.  I found things are changing too fast to really know what you can or cannot do.  On a recent trip we figured out what was allowed by going to Tours by Locals.  They know the current rules and have always been flexible for cancellations.  They operate in dozens of countries.

It is a guessing game.  Just be sure you pay with a credit card that guarantees a refund if tour is cancelled.  Many people lost their $$ when tour operators either refused to refund or went out of business.

I do not believe that your information is current. Celebrity website currently lists those islands where one may take an independent excursions, ones you may only take Celebrity excursions and ones that state you may take tours by "government approved operators". see below. My question is how do you find out what is government approved?

Celebrity's websites states "

**Vaccinated guests only are approved to debark and tour the restricted port shopping area, as well as take a local government approved tour of the island." the question is how do we know what's a local government approved tour?

We will be cruising on Silhouette in January and currently the Health and Safety guidelines for many of the Southern Caribbean orts state that we can take independent excursions that are "Government Approved" . Does anyone have any clue how we can find out which providers are government approved?

Thanks in advance

Sailing on January 4th, can't wait. If anyone can publish MDR menus for a 10 day it would be much appreciated as it would help us plan specialty diningTIA