Cirdan

11 minutes ago, hiccups said:

I think it's pretty clear from the documentation that upgrading a beverage package is not a change to a reservation.  But if you were able to do it with OBC already, it's one thing you can cross off the list.

 

But this depends on which countries. In Europe when you pay, you have an agreeded contract, and only if both parts agree to make changes, such changes are valid. No contractual rule could inhibit this (and it is not valid).

And it is also the reason of some more transparency (but more expensive) fares in Europe and the final payment is just one month before cruise (e.g.compared 3 months): cruise lines have some extra risk, which cannot offload.

Just tech? It is all Celebrity websites. Incorrect or old (sometime very very obsolete) information, which has nothing to do with tech, just content and some love.

The tech part (redirect between country websites, missing pages, wrong links, etc.) are just normal for most of industries, and this is sad, especially for a premium line.

Luckily we have this board, and Celebrity knows how to create good cruises (on board).

It is a different story. Celebrity Apex is not the first on his class, so there is a lot less uncertainty.

I do not know the cause of the delay on the Yacht, but there can be many integration problems, which easily delay things. (Apex is not the first of the class), but also the ship is not just steal, there is much about internal design and furniture. This can easily cause delay, from project to prototypes, and seeing problems, and so new iteration. Then from new items to delivery and integration.

Celebrity ships are not 100% new: many cabins are similar to existing ships, so with well know manufacturer and procedures (and so a lot more how-know). Celebrity is known also to test new cabins in existing ships (e.g. the infinite veranda), this reduces uncertainty.

The Ritz Carlton Yacht seems to be a very "different" ship, and I assume they tried hard to be different. but this means that it is much more complex to project and to build.

From my experience, it is random. On some port you dock on port side, and on some other ports on the starboard. Also on the first / last port (which has much more traffic, e.g. for all beverages, food, and supplies).

Veranda is a good start. (on deck 2 and 3 you may have obstructed view in some port). I would just not choose the first serving on MDR, if you like to see departures (e.g. until pilot leave).

Personally, I go often to deck 4 to see operations, so I can switch sides (e.g. after departure), and go to the best places (forward, aft). There are also few chairs. You can also wave to the very late arrivals 😈.

I never got minibar charges.  Some people asks to empty the minibar, I think mostly to use it for "own" drinks, and not for such charges, but for next time, this could be a useful trick.

On the other hand, sometime I had error on statements (bar which charged drinks on drink packages), but this is easier, because we can check it before disembarking, and so solve it onboard.

As far I know CelebrityCruises already complies with the rules, and already cruises docks on cruise terminal (and not in the city center).

So this should not be a problem.

Shore excursion: you may cancel them anytime (usually until few days, but it the journey is multi-day, or with a flight or train).

On my experience, the shore excursion do not full up so quickly (they still have a lot of time to increase capacity).

In any case, I would check also later, for eventually change of program or additional shore excursion. As I wrote at beginning, you can always cancel (without fee), and rebook them, and as @Marelainewrote, if there are discounts, you can request them (or just cancel and book with new prices).

For me entertainment doesn't matter much. It could be negative if it annoy regular passengers (e.g. using all relaxing places, moving from one venue to the other).

Fot the second point: Celebrity (and other cuises) are very happy to hire goot entertainment staff. There are companies specialized on such task. But do you think there is so many good (and so with experience) people who want to stay 6 months on a very small cabin, far from the family? To work as crew on a ship is not so easy choice, especially for people from rich countries.  If you have good people, tell them to apply (just googling Celebrity Cruises Jobs).

To me, it seems a problem on your credit card provider. If you have the credit, and after verifying, the credit card cannot remove the hold, it seems thay have a bad service (cheap workforce, so with many automated restrictions [but possibly badly implemented].

I would ask again the credit card for a reason, and what you should do next time.  Prepare to change credit card.

5 hours ago, brigantiner said:

Chapter 11?

 

 

The very recent trimester financial report was so fine, that I'm worrying. For next year they have much more booking then this year, People booked more in advance, and Edge was very well booked.

So: we will must forget cheap prices (I do not think this will be the announcement), and probably they could and would announce cruises for additional years.

I do not fully understand.

Rationality is simple business: people will pay the supplement, so why charge less? This is a general rule, not only on Celebrity Cruise. Cars, food, beers, ..

Tip: not really: on MDR a waiter will serve much more people (in parallel, and more shifts). On specialty restaurant a waiter has less guesses, so if you do not pay more on tip, it will be worse (for a waiter) to serve in specialty restaurant, so you will have the worse waiters, but than this will be again having more people paying more on specialty restaurant.

Note: sometime private windows is not enough. It seems that Celebrity looks also the IP (so the place of the computer) and automatically redirect to UK site (which sucks, because it contains not all information, and some links to the US site there also will not work).

I think Celebrity want you take a cruise with Internet package, so that you can use the main website, to have information to further cruises 😉

10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

OP had the answer, but didn't recognize it.  Zenith had 1,828 passengers.  No Celebrity ship is anywhere near that small nowaways. (...)

Are you sure? Celebrity cruises as 4 a lot smaller ships. People tend to forget the Xpedition, Xperiance, Xploration, and Flora. And M-Class has not so much more passengers. I think they started with 1980, and incremented at every renovation.

But for sure actual ships are not so "special" like Chandris ships (but I think I found one stair in M-Class nearly on that type). I loved the metallic very steeply stairs, and the lot of short cuts.

On Constellation, on a future cruise, So5 opens 11:30am to 2:30pm and from 6pm to 10:30pm on embarkation day. [From the CelebrityCruises app, which still works with just few ships].

Probably Celebrity is hoping (or expecting) that some suite passengers will do a paying upgrade. If none, you get the upgrade for free (because of "guarantee"), on the worst case, one person upgrades (and celebrity will receive more money), and you get his old suite.

So because Celebrity could make more money, they will not get you your stateroom number, but this it the rule of the game (for "guarantee"), so do not worry.

Not trying to start a "steamer war", but Celebrity is inconsistent with calling out steamers by name.

https://www.celebritycruises.com/company/customer-support/help-and-faqs/pre-cruise/all-pre-cruise-faqs

 

On my recent cruise, I decided to face this one head on. So I put a handheld steamer in my carry on and proceeded through security. Not surprisingly, port security did not flag it - after all they work for the port and not the cruise line. So, my next stop was a Celebrity rep. I showed the steamer to them and asked if it was allowed on board. The answer was "yes, that steamer is allowed on board". The wording did catch me a little off guard because there was a clear emphasis on "that steamer". I did not ask for any further clarification and simply moved on to check in.

Do you have a photo of that steamer?

You wouldn’t expect them to mail something All the way across the Atlantic would you??? I mean, gosh, it might cost 10cents more!

It is not question of costs, but of time. :D It seems that Celebrity uses "swimming mail". One Celebrity Brochure took 6 months to go across Atlantic. Our Captain Club mails arrives just one week before end of deal (and the letter is dated few months earlier).

Celebrity ships seem more speedy, and also the food seems fresh. I think they have just some issues with the post office. ;p

Please provide your source for your comments in red. :confused: Not all muster stations are small, overcrowded and uncomfortable. Not all cruise lines do the muster drill inside.

One of the problem is that rules changed, I'm not an expert, but an observer: On older time we had to find our cabin, to find our life vest and then going outside at muster station, and after sail away. I do not remember so detailed if it was cruise line specific or not, but to me it now seems more a time (so rule) related.

The "fire/inside" part I do not know, and as other corrected, the SOLAS allow (and recommend) outside muster station. So disregard that part. Maybe it is just to be more weather independent (remember than now we may not have our baggage ready at muster drill time).

It isn't the rules that have changed, it is the ships. Outdoor muster, as close to the lifeboat as possible is still the preferred muster location per SOLAS. What has changed is that the ships are designing more revenue generating space (interior) at the expense of non-revenue space (promenade deck), so that the promenade deck no longer has the space to accommodate the muster.

 

And you are somewhat correct that the muster is a drill for the crew as well, though there typically aren't any "surprises", it is just that this is the only time the crew can actually learn how to "herd cats" (the unruly and uncooperative passengers).

Ok. But M-class ship are old (and previously muster drill were done outside and now inside, on the same ship (Celebrity Infinity). So if there were not changes, I do not understand why they cannot do both (half inside, on larger venues, half outside).

The "surprised". I was expecting (I do not remember from where, maybe also not on cruises) that few officers put some unexpected item (staging a person passed out, blocking some fire doors, ...).

What pitfalls ? Please explain.

There aren't any unless you call exchange rate fluctuation a negative, that can be a positive.

Good travel insurance cover everything else.

There are much less consumer protection, e.g. cancelling cruise short after booking, or celebrity cancel cruises, or if celebrity go out of business for your cruise in 2020. You may think most are not problems, but they are thing that happens, also mayor airlines had "grounding".

Also as European, we know better how to interpret brochures and prices from a European provider (and a US person from a US provider), e.g. we will never expect added taxes (sales, but also ports and fuel supplements, and other charges): it is task of the provider to know and doing math. Brochures are checked with lawyers, so a US person know a lot better how to interpret the US version (and US version tend to be more generic, just to be safe and not to be sued).

The bank system is a lot simpler in Europe. Everybody here is able to do payments without troubles (and maybe without credit card).

American are more chatty (and it seems to us less efficient): all stuffs should be done inefficiently at phone (and BTW at US timezones).

And in case of problems, having to handle local people (and local justice) is a lot simpler.

So it really depends on how one is used to work with US, and to factor advantages and disadvantages.

Booking an Asian cruise of an African cruise company (RCCI is incorporated in Liberia) in America from an European passengers... it is very international :D [Australians maybe could change it: Australian passenger on an European [Malta] flagged ship]

Looks like there wont be any more 4 FREE perks offered in future.

Remember that there were never FREE perks. Just perks and price adjustments.

One of the problem is that rules changed, but not the ships. On my first cruise on M-class, the muster drill were outside, on Deck 4. You can imagine the crowd there. I think it was already without life-jacket (I remember on older time, all near "own" lifeboat, with life-jackets.

Now it seems that fire is more relevant than sinking (or maybe they will decide which side later), so people are required to be inside on muster station. As you noticed, there is not enough space to be comfortable. On the other hand, the ship was (I think) designed for old outdoor muster drill. And with addition of more cabins, things are worse. But finally no more life-jacket.

Note: the drill is also for crew. Crew checks all ships and I think they will get few (fake) "surprises" to check readiness and training. So it is not completely useless. (but I think it is slow for such reason, that drill finished only when the green light is given. Passengers: please get in time to muster drill, so we have a shorter one.

In any case, I think Celebrity could improve. It seems that MC and gallery are the very bad muster stations.

My parents booked a cruise with celebrity but I forgot to tell the agent my C&A number. Would celebrity automatically recognise me as one of their C&A members or would I still have to personally inform them?

Because of similar names (and people moves), I do not think they automatically check: they will find just few cases, and so it create more angry on other cases.

You need a CC number (which is given to you automatically, with C&A). You may check it online on RCCI site.

You can add the number yourself online, or contact Celebrity.

Only number (so person) is required on booking, for the free "upgrade". As far I know, all other perks are given onboard, so you may get the correct level onboard, at captain's club desk (but this could requires few queues: one on CC desk, and one on hotel desk to get the new seepass printed), and you may loose few perks on first day. So: not big deal, but it is better to let Celebrity to know your number in advance).

. By the time we got back to port it was at least half an hour after departure so didn't bother going as my wife said she would cry if she saw the ship pulling away.

In general, one should go to the pier (or contact celebrity). A representative of Celebrity should be there. He could carry the passports of missing people, e.g. to allow passenger to return home (think about incident or other problems), or it could be required to stay in a hotel (or to reach next port). Your case were easier (same country, and not so strict rules). But so, it is better to let Celebrity to know your intention (answering the original post, I do not think your intention were to miss the train), so that they will not try to "help" you disembarking some of your stuffs.

Muster station are nearly the relevant lifeboat, and lifeboat are mainly in the middle of ship, so many have unfortunate and crowed muster station.

From my experience on Infinity, if you have a forward cabin, you will be in first lifeboat and so on theater. I tend to be on forward part of ship (to be farther from MDR/OVC and relative elevators/stairs). But maybe this is an other reason to choose forward (of aft) of a ship.

This is my impression, but could someone confirm that muster station are linked to the position of the cabin on ship (and not on bridge or other factors)? [Note: a cabin has own muster station, written on the back of cabin door].