sollan

Thanks for the suggestion. Have tried in chrome, IE and Firefox. Also on the ipad, Mac, and multiple PCs. Still no dice.

Oh no...! They are having big problems with their IT department.... Get screen dumps of the problem and mail it to them. I have heard several times Before that they don't understand the problems so I have learned to have proofs.

Hope they solve your problem!

Don't know if this will be any help... But try with an other web browser. Sometime it doesn't work with IE but will on Google Chrome. When I try IE now it doesn't work but it do with Chrome...:confused:

Cabin tips are a fixed amount per day. You can just Google "Celebrity Cruises gratuities" (or whatever cruise line you need) and a few links will pop up that should list them. They vary slightly from cruise line to cruise line but all the major ones are pretty similar. Celebrity's are currently US$12 per person per night for standard cabins (slightly more for the high end suites). US websites commonly do not include those in the listed price, so factor that in. While you technically can dispute the fixed gratuity costs if you felt you got bad service, they are customary and most people just consider them part of the cost.

 

Port fees/taxes are another additional cost (required). Usually the best way to find those is to start into a reservation on any online booking site. Typically they will appear on a screen early in the process, before you have to enter the passenger names and other identifying information. Just back out or close that window after you see the port fees/taxes (and of course the cruise fare itself, which can vary from site to site).

 

Cruise fare + port fees/taxes + gratuities gives you the total cost of the base cruise itself (not including optional items you may choose to purchase onboard).

 

Unless you happen to live near the city of the departure port, you'll need to factor in the cost of airfare and transportation to/from the port. Other common extras are a beverage package (unless you're happy drinking water/coffee/tea most of the time), and excursions (or private tours booked on your own).

 

Promotional deals found on various websites may include any of the items above (except port fees/taxes, which are an absolute). Some will discount the base cruise fare; some will offer prepaid gratuities; some will give OBC (onboard credit); some will offer airfare credit if flights are booked through them; some will throw in a complete beverage package.

 

I think that covers most of the basics in terms of comparing one deal to another.

Thanks a lot! Now I "just" have to find a good TA amongst the myriads that are out there...;)

After the poster erroneously said that 10,000 people were interested in this thread, thus there must be a problem with the loudness of music. I took the time (actually I’m wasting time before I have to pick up my dog at the groomers) and researched how many people on this thread actually complained about their experience with loud music on a ship. This does not include those that had no problems with it, were disappointed that they might encounter loud music (which BTW were quite a number), didn’t like loud music in general (but no mention of it being on a ship), offered opinions as to ways to solve the problem, told us that we all will be deaf soon because of it, and of course, the attacks on other posters, etc.

 

Now I could be off one or two, but that would be in the advantage of the 29, because many of us did multiple posts, I might have counted someone twice.

 

There were 101 different posters for 260 some posts and out of that 29 complained about their experience of loud music on a ship.

 

Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't consider 29 people out of 101 as a majority or that they are speaking for everyone or even most of Celebrity’s passengers. And it is not even close to 1% of the 9,445 views that one poster feels are each separate people weighing in on the issue.

 

Again, I'm not saying either side is right or wrong, just that there seems to be a difference of opinion on the issue and just wanted to see if the majority of the posters that posted on this thread had bad experiences on a ship.

How many of the posters have actually said that a high music level is OK?

Us too... It's criminal the total price difference between booking in the uk & America!!

 

I know some will say your not ABTA protected by using a US agent the same as you are by booking in the uk but the chances are slim of ever getting caught out Vs the huge savings that can be made by using a US agent every time!

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ABTA...? Whats that?

And only a couple dozen or so are so concerned about the loudness as to speak up and say something here in these threads.

 

That should say a lot....

Actually I'm one of them, but so many things have been said so I don't feel the need of posting my thoughts regarding the noice levels here. :cool:

The problem is that when a few people profess to speak for everyone, it turns people off without them having the experience themselves and possibly that is what they want to do to get their way.

I'm not sure if I understand you.... Are you actually saying that it's possible that people are posting their experiences (good or bad depending on what side they are on) with the intention to scare away customers?

I hope that I have misunderstood you.

I have checked some US internet agents. I find it very difficult to compare prices... If I look at "my" Celebriyt site it shows the total price, tips, taxes everything. The TA sites often excludes taxes and gratitues and I haven't a clue how much that will be on a certain cruise. I suppose it's different due to length and so on.

I know I can email but I do really want to do some research before.

Are there anyone that can help me with a "how-to-do-it" list. :)

Thanks for your information it's much appreciated!

It seems that UK customers can do the update and I wonder where the UK department is? In UK or Amsterdam?

Is it really possible that a move from Germany, Norway and so on to Amsterdam should have such impact on their systems that they can't handle a upgrade? Is there anyone that have (not) been able to update after their departments have been moved to Amsterdam?

I have sent a mail to Captain's Club a couple of days ago but haven't heard anything yet.

That is awful, I wonder how many people do not notice and just pay it?:eek: it also means you need to write rates down before you do anything.

I have learned to do a print out of my reservation every time any changes has been done. In that case I can prove my case if necessary. I also check the reservation quite often to be sure that the famous system haven't changed anything. I do not trust it....

Do you honestly think a CEO of a corporation this large would actually allow such a misguided selection? Do you not think the Board of Directors or shareholders would oust him for making such a choice in firms?

 

Or is this just more rhetoric.....

 

I do not know wheat firm (if any) they've hired, but I do continue to point to the general upward rise of the share price in the last 5 years time. So whatever consultants they do have on board, seem to be providing sound guidance overall.

As a CEO I would think twice - at least when it comes to the IT department....:rolleyes:

You keep saying almost everyone thinks it is too loud. Does this mean you personally spoke with over 2,000 passengers to come to this conclusion? Or are you just counting those here on cruise critic who are complaining? Because there is a big difference between the two.

 

So, I guess compromise is out of the question as far as you are concerned.

All of us doesn't feel that we have to add to what already has been said...:rolleyes:

Don't think it will change the strong feelings regarding the subject.

I have just this minute upgraded from Classic to Premium by phoning Celebrity here in the UK. Extremely easy process and paid by card over the phone. The guy that I spoke to even told me that I had saved money by doing now as I would have paid in US dollars onboard and this would have worked out more.

Did the better price something to do with the exchange rate or is the update rate set in pounds?

My TA has been in contact with Celebrity and have been told that they can't handle a update to the Premium package due to their systems... ?

Hmmmm....can this be true?

It should be a concern for a word wide company that they can't handle their business due to a system which isn't working properly.

To be continued...

We had a port side cabin (Valparaiso-Buenos Aires). On seadays the ship are quite far out from the coast so you will just see the coastline in a distance. We also had an ocean wiev as the weather wasn't very varm. But I can't of course say anything about the starboard cabins. Anyway the portside was fine for us. :)

Celebrity do, sometimes, allow you to take advantage of a price drop and amend your booking, it depends on the country and the type of offer. It can't hurt to check back with them and see if they will reduce your price.

If you mean the "Best Price Guarante" is that for US/Canadians only.... But you never know, if you find the right person on Celebrity it might work...

I contacted my TA and was told that since only I wanted the upgrade (my friend did not) it could not be done before boarding.

 

I then called X direct and after a lot of runaround I was able to upgrade my package. Between hold time and getting shuffled around to 3 different people it took 1 hr and 21 minutes but I did get things taken care of.

 

 

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My (maybe yours) TA haven gotten the wrong information from the Celebrity agent. I hope that they will straiten this out and if not -I will let out "the grumpy old lady"... :D

I will post when this is solved.

I have now been in touch with my TA that will make an other try. The thing is that they have recently moved the Nordic based business from Norway to Amsterdam and they have lost their normal agent due to this. So they have to start from the beginning themselves. I have been very clear that I won't accept a "no" for an answer in this case so I do really hope that my poor and very helpful TA will find the right agent to talk with...:D

So I will wait and see what will happen.

Thank again for your postings!

I am aware that you can't upgrade pre cruise if it's to close to sail away. But this is a cruise in October....

I will get in contact with the TA asap and I can of course contact Celebrity myself. But I'm quite sure that they will just tell me to get in contact with my TA. Time will show....

I love the cruise experience but every time I have to deal with Celebrity pre cruise regarding problems that has to be solved I get more and more... lets say frustrated to put it in a polite way...:rolleyes:

I'm very thankful for your postings and will appreciate more of your experiencees if any. I'm preparing my self before contacting Celebrity. It's easier to prove your point if you have as much information as possible :)

I can't see any explanation other than that the Celebrity reps don't have a clue what they are doing... It feels like they make up things as they go. If you are lucky you will get someone that know the rules but I believe the odds are very low... Frustrating to say the least.

Sorry to have to ask this again, it has probably been up for discussion earlier but I can't find the postings.

We have booked an Asia cruise in October 2014 via a TA in Sweden. Included is the Classic package as a benefit of the 123 Go promo.

I have now asked my TA to contact Celebrity and upgrade our packages to the premium packages. The Celebrity agent in Amsterdam that are the TA's contact bluntly refuse to upgrade and say it only can be done onboard. Have gotten a copy of the mail from Celebrity so I know that the TA is telling me the truth.

We don't get specials here like OBC's and we want to pay as much as possible before the cruise. We know the price for upgrading now and want to do it right away - won't surprice me if the costs will be higher before we get onboard...

Has anybody been refused to upgrade pre cruise and if so - have you gotten any explanation to why it isn't possible. I cant find anything at Celebritys website that says it's not allowed to upgrade before a cruise.

Of course I will get in contact with my TA first thing tomorrow but I'm not really sure that they can handle Celebrity.

I'm a bit upset over this and hope that you can feed me with your experience regarding this.

Thanks in advance

I would assume that the agent having finished their previous call, walked away from their station for a break or someting, but, no one answered.

If an operator in a contact system are about to take a break or isn't able to respond, they are supposed to switch their status to "unavalible" which means that the system connect the call to the next avalible operator. If that isn't done the system will try to connect and of course nobody will answer. It can easily be forgotten but if it's happening often... not very good...

I have been following different treads regrding the new(?) problems with getting throuht to customer service.

I have earlier been involved with setting up new contact centers and one of the most important things was (at least then) to make sure the waiting time was as short as possible. A customer that has to wait to long can be a lost customer = lost money.

Sure enough there are all kind of problems that will happen, non working technogly, unforseen problems, ongoing offers that causes extra telephone calls and so on. This is known to happen and there have to be emergency plans how to deal with them. One of the things you as a company could do is to let the incoming callers know of the problems if any. That means active monitering of the status of incoming calls and making a decision when to put the extra information at work.

Modern systems are capable of continuously telling how many that are standing in line and also the estimated time you have to wait. If you feel that you can wait for that time it’s OK otherwise choose the call back function or call back later.

IMHO the main problem actually is the lack of information. To wait for a long time in a line, whithout or with wrong information about how long it will take to get through is frustrating. I think many could accept longer waitingtimes if they are informed why.

As you all probably understand it’s not funny to sit in a customer center and have to deal with persons that have gotten frusterated due to long waiting times. And on top of that – not beeing able to help the person.

:(

Same in Germany, we call a German number and have to go through the choices.

 

I believe that Royal / Celebrity joined all European call centers to a single one in the Netherlands which handles all calls from European (maybe not UK) clients. Since then the waiting times skyrocketed.

 

A few years back I had literally no waiting time when calling, the agents were German native speakers (they are not anymore now and you can hear other agents talking in different languages in the background) and emails were answered within hours (now: about a week or no answer at all).

 

It is all to save money (legitimate). At least profits should rise and so should the stock :D

The Nordic sales are now placed in Norway and they handle their incoming calls quite fast. But I have heard that they are going to close down there and move to the Netherlands. Not sure if it's true but if it is so I suppose that we will have the same problems that others have....:(

It's really a shame that the companies nowadays doesn't seems to value good customer service anymore. It's a cost of course, but I'm convinced that in the long run it will show to be well invested money. It's a matter of quality. A happy, well treated customer will spread the good word.