the penguins

2 hours ago, the penguins said:

Not the way we had planned to kick off our retirement vacation. Total cost to our travel insurance was $20,000 (medical, extra hotels and new flights LA to Auckland) all settled without fuss and no increase on our next year's premium.

to put the $20,000 insurance bill in context the whole 90 day trip (flights London/LA/Auckland, Seattle/Dallas and Dallas/London), 5 x cruises, 14 nights touring in New Zealand, hotels, tours, 10 days in Dallas with family and all our spending money) came to $21,000.

7 hours ago, OrtonPark said:

Yikes! Some people’s children …

they caused no problems to anyone else and they certainly turned heads as the 8 of them arrived in the restaurant in full evening dress (men in tux's, the ladies in a variety of dresses) every night. They also added a touch of glamour in the Casino on most evenings.

4 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Yes.  Just asked.

We have a champagne bucket full of ice every night. We take of the lid and as the ice melts it helps keep the air moist - works for us.

8 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

As a former goalie that is soooooo bad 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

Better suggestions welcome. 

8 hours ago, Mike981 said:

 

As a person who has had food poisoning multiple times, I feel for you.

Not the way we had planned to kick off our retirement vacation. Total cost to our travel insurance was $20,000 (medical, extra hotels and new flights LA to Auckland) all settled without fuss and no increase on our next year's premium.

7 hours ago, miched said:

Back in 1973 we were at Disney World.  It was our 7th anniversary.  We were at the Golf Resort for  Brunch and had our 2 children with us.  One as wearing a shirt that had Downriver AYSO Soccor  on it.   There were 4 females  at another table.  They said that we must be from Michigan as they were at one time from a city in “Downriver”.  We started talking and they said that we really seemed to enjoy each other’s company.  We said it was our 7th anniversary and we were celebrating with the Champaign Brunch.  They thought it was amazing that we were married 7 years.  They were all divorced after 2 to 4 years.  We also thought it was great that we got past that 7 year itch. It seemed like a long time at that time.  Not that it was a big chore or struggle to be married, or stayed married.   It was just the time factor. 
 

Now it has been so many it is getting to be old stuff.  Pushing 60 years.   Pretty soon we can apply for SS and Medicare again based  on that time span.   🤷‍♂️.  When they ask the audience how long they have been married we never respond.  Don’t see any purpose.   It is like the person that sailed the most.  Let them have the glory for what it is worth.  
 

I also want to know how old you have to be when you now become  young?   🙄
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Anyone older than you is old.

I had POA for 2 friends who died aged 99 and 97  within 5 weeks of each other having celebrated their 74th Wedding Anniversary and not a single cruise.

On 3/6/2024 at 8:09 AM, cruisestitch said:

If you buy 100 shares of Royal Caribbean stock you can apply for the shareholder OBC.  The amount varies by the length of the cruise

A bit pricey now at $136 per share - was great when we bought at $22. Hope we live long enough for Royal to restart paying Dividends - wouldn't that be great?

3 hours ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

Don’t expect anything as most people on a cruise will say they are celebrating something . Our friends were on their honeymoon and this wasn’t recognised . You can buy a celebration package if you want to mark the occasion 

on one cruise a table of 8 near us had a Celebration almost every other night. I got talking to one of the group who explained they just liked to dress up and so dressed formally on every night. Then to make things extra special they just invented anniversaries to get the cake and the waiters singing.

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

Our first was out of Miami to Cancun on Royal Majesty, Majesty Cruise Lines  to Celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary. The ship seemed huge.

First Celebrity in 2008 - Constellation

We Celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary on Eclipse B2B from Buenos Aires to San Diego. We had an overnight in BA on our actual Anniversary and celebrated by going to an amazing Tango Show with a group from the Roll Call.

Sorry intended to include longest cruise - Solstice 5 x B2B - 3 cabin categories, inside, sea view and first balcony -  Auckland to Seattle - 60 nights. Fantastic. Oh yes and the 90 day total trip started off with days 2 and 3 with both of us in hospital in LA with food poisoning.

6 hours ago, gold1953 said:

At times there is a limit for items in the bag. I have experienced as low as 20 items .. and yes, recently. When there are too many elite and up sailing they will do this. Over half the ship on one sailing was so them the laundry becomes too busy

usually applies on cruises that are sailing in areas with water restrictions i.e. where the amount of water the ship can discharge  is restricted. One example is the Baltics.

2 hours ago, C-Dragons said:

Congratulations on your “Anniversary “ 😎

Our first was out of Miami to Cancun on Royal Majesty, Majesty Cruise Lines  to Celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary. The ship seemed huge.

First Celebrity in 2008 - Constellation

We Celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary on Eclipse B2B from Buenos Aires to San Diego. We had an overnight in BA on our actual Anniversary and celebrated by going to an amazing Tango Show with a group from the Roll Call.

1 hour ago, sofietucker said:

Everyone knows it's "teenybopper"! (Yes, I am old...but try that one for a different flavour of response, lol.)

maybe a language difference but to me that's a reference to dancing and that certainly doesn't apply to our grandson. Now if you have an American phrase/ word for a Goalie in Ice Hockey we would be happy to try that.🤣

2 hours ago, Mike981 said:

 

I was a radio announcer for many years and can tell you, when I made ANY mistake on air I was going to hear about for days.

I used to commute in and out of Liverpool Street Station, London and the delays became so frequent that the Station Announcer used a different reason for each day of the week i.e. Monday was always signals, Tuesday was always driver shortage etc. Made no difference to us and she she got a cheer from the regulars each time. The Bosses removed her from the job but not before she said good bye over the station system. 

3 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Makes you wonder how everyone else was so perfect in their jobs 😉

because I would screw up daily when I work and I still screw up daily 

and it usually the small things I screw up 

we, or at least I, have the advantage of a "Boss" to keep us in check. Inevitable it's the Posts that the Boss hasn't approved that get me in trouble. After over 50 years I am still "in training".

29 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

Celebrity is becoming known for its ineptness being the entertainment.   Hope the rest of your room was cleaned.  When material is leftover from a prior cruise one wonders if it's gross incompetence and the sheet was distributed to all guest rooms fresh, if the room has simply not been cleaned, or both. 

Not left over it came with all the leaflets, daily planner etc - just a human error we all saw the funny side off

10 hours ago, Cap_D said:

Adding to the fun - on Beyond the Retreat Welcome Letter misspells the last name of Captain Kate as "Mc Cue " with the space.  The letter presumably gets used 190x every cruise over three months or until the next cruise if they catch the typo. 

on our last Silhouette we had a special leaflet from the Excursions Dept. with 4 or 5 special offers. Unfortunately all the offers were for the previous cruise. I took the leaflet to Julie, the Guest Relations Director who is famous for her sense of humour, and she phoned the boss of the Excursions to tell him she had " two special clients who were interested in one of the excursions but what time would they need to be ready to get the flight?"  Happy memories.

As an aside never miss Julie when she is in Liars Club.

On 2/15/2024 at 8:29 AM, Bobal said:

It's actually 30 items (pair of socks count as one) , but that's a lot of laundry. Do be careful what you put in though. I had 2 items ruined on our recent cruise- pair of shorts shrunk and white top came back really grubby looking. Washing all goes in together and on a very hot wash

A quick stop at Guest Relations will get you a refund for any items damaged - Amount credited to your OBC.

On a recent cruise we had the hilarious incident of a "small" hole as follows:

Phone call from Cabin Steward: did you put a red Dress in the laundry

Me: No

CS: I will call back. Second Call " Did you put a red top in the laundry

Me: No.

CS: I will go to the laundry and call you. Third call "did you put a pair of red mens pants in the laundry.

Me: if you mean Tartan under pants yes. What's the issue.

CS: The laundry says there is small hole in the pants do you want them washed.

Me: If it's small yes.

When the laundry was returned the pants had 200 plus holes - more holes than material.

I took the pants to GR -  more amused than annoyed just to get an explanation

GR: We can only find out what happened if you make a formal complaint.

Me: OK,I wiil do that.

GR: thanks we will complete the form and call you when we get a response.

Me: Thanks.

Straight back to the cabin and the Boss (Anita) had had a phone call. The complaint couldn't be processed as I hadn't given a price for the item. She told me the pants were part of a three pack making one pair £3 ( say $4).

Back at GR

Me the pants cost $4.

GR: Sorry we don't deal in 4's c an we put $5

Me: OK.

GR: So you are agree to $5.

Me: Yds.

GR: Thanks the sum will be credited to your account tonight. Complaint closed.

That night we were credited with $10 - appears the Accounts Dept don't work in 5's.

I then packaged up the pants and took them back to GR labelled as a present for Julie the Director of Guest Relations. Anyone who knows Julie will know she has a wicked sense of humour so I knew this would come back to haunt me.

PS If you don't know Julie you have heard her as on most Celebrity ships she is the "voice in the lifts" as well as on most pre recorded announcements. Her most famous saying is " If I  can't fix it, it ain't broke". You can look her up on line - Julie Sherringham.

On one cruise another passenger gave Julie a gift of an empty box of chocolates (she can't eat chocs due to a medical issues) she responded by delivering a bottle of wine to his cabin - needles to say the bottle was also empty. 

We never did get an explanation as to what had caused the holes

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

What is a price worth paying?  My first cruise was in 1992. I didn’t have a cell phone and I had never heard of the internet. My pictures were taken on a Kodak disposable camera (some of which are in a box in the attic still waiting to be taken to Walgreens for 1 hour development) and all my memories of the trip were relayed to anyone who cared once I got back home. How ever do we manage now a days and what I wouldn’t give to go back to that simpler time. 

You can - don't log in to the WiFi, put the phone in the safe as soon as you board, take real pics and make a photo book when you get home. Leave nothing but footprints wherever you go and take memories home to share. If there was a dire emergency at home the ship can always be contacted.

2 hours ago, paulh84 said:

To be fair they do spell out the limitations clearly.....

 

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/onboard-packages/internet-and-phone-packages

 

There is an error there but it's not pertaining to the limitations. It should state Basic WiFi is not available pre-cruise. 

the wording is correct basic WIFI can only be purchased pre boarding. Once onboard you can only purchase the Premium WIFI option. 

1 minute ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

There is NEVER a charge to connect to the ship's Wifi.  That is how the app performs its functions.  Once you connect to Wifi...and IF you have purchased an internet plan, THEN you get internet service.

Surely your "splitting hairs". In my example we had paid for a package. For 3 days using that package we were unable to send any messages i.e. we could the type them, press send but the messages went nowhere. That is my definition of having no internet connection.

1 minute ago, patty1955 said:

There are actually talking about intranet vs internet. You can almost always connect to the intranet, but not always the internet

thanks - well I think it's thanks.

None of the posts refer to "intranet" only "internet". But does that mean that what I said was correct? I  do hope so.

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Have all of the Celebrity ships upgraded to Starlink?

yes I believe they have.

3 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I reiterate my statement.  YOU CAN ALWAYS CONNECT TO WIFI.  Many people just don't seem to ubderstand that the connection to Wifi is simply the "pipe" that let's you get to the internet.  Connection to the ship's Wifi IS FREE.  Yes...there are MANY places where the internet is limited...but that has nothing to do with what I posted.

Sorry you have lost me. 

What  connection to the ships WIFI is free? There is always a charge.

Or are you saying that we can connect to the ship's system but that the ship's system can't connect to the outside world?

4 hours ago, Traderboy said:

I was pleased to have a package with WiFi included. 
 Unfortunately this is another trick to take your money. 
While it does include a basic access to the Internet you find that you cannot even send a single photo to your loved ones. 
In order to share even simple photos  you have to pay another 91 dollars for 12 days.

I can understand why they might want to prohibit streaming videos or online video chats. However the banning of sharing a few photos is just a way for Celebrity to make money.

What do others think?

X is very clear on what you can expect from the basic package.  If this had met your requirements you would have been delighted. When you wanted something faster you had the option to upgrade to Premium for just over $7 a day which seems an absolute bargain.

4 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I think maybe you meant to say "a good Internet signal".  You can always connect to the ship Wifi.

not always in mid Atlantic - on out last Fort Lauderdale to Southampton (Princess) we had 3 days with no connection.  IT blamed it on a combination of the storm behind us and the route we were taking to keep ahead of said storm that resulted in major route changes.