camella

19 hours ago, blag said:

Thanks. I've been in touch with them.

Your review allays some of my concerns. The fact that they prefer a cash payment (or a PayPal +7% transaction) rather than payment by Credit Card is a worry. No comeback whatsoever if they fail to provide the service, but the consequences of a no-show would be much the same, irrespective of how payment is made. 

You don't pay until you get to the port though so if they don't show up then you don't pay.

On 5/25/2024 at 4:27 AM, blag said:

I checked them out. Looks good, realistic price, and the time of departure suits us.

Just two questions occur to me... 

1: the provider's blurb states there will be a meet-and-greet, but how far is the vehicle from the meeting point? 

2: what is the maximum number of passengers in the vehicle? 

We just got back from a cruise Rome to Ravenna and used sharedshuttle.it.  Our experience was wonderful.  They contacted us prior to picking us up - we were staying at the airport Hilton and they picked us up right in front of the hotel.  There was one other couple in the van but it could have accommodated four more.  The other couple was already in the van when we were picked up.  He dropped them off at their ship and then dropped us off at our ship - there were different locations within the port.  Hope this helps!  It was 80 euros for both of us and we paid cash.

On 5/1/2024 at 10:00 PM, Cruise Junky said:

I am not prepared to pay $1,500 US (add 37% for Canadians) just for drinks.  Which is what the current 35% off comes to for a 10 day cruise.  50% or no drink package. I’m happy to stock up at Barcelona duty free. 

Just FYI - not sure what you are planning on buying in Barcelona but other than two bottles of wine on embarkation day they will take anything  else you bring on board from a port.  

13 hours ago, mom says said:

Erm... it's right on the FAQs. If you want to bring it on board, you gave to hand carry it. You can't dump it with your checked luggage. 40 minutes in line -Next time bring a bungie cord.

Yep - travel agent said otherwise and since it had been years since I was on Royal I didn't check. I've always just gotten a water package and it included both but for some reason it only included still water.

13 hours ago, surfnsun said:

Here you go and have a great cruise!  The website is sharedshuttle.it

Thank you!  Thanks for your fantastic review!

As long as you aren't sailing out of Sydney you should be ok.  I recently left from there and like in the states I was going to send a packaged case of sparkling water and they literally started screaming that they would confiscate it if I sent it through the luggage.  I told them it was WATER and you could clearly see it was and they still said if you give it to us it will be confiscated!  So then we had to keep one of our roller boards so that we could balance the thing.  My husband has a herniated disk and we were forced to carry this while in a huge line for about 40 minutes!  Ridiculous.  Good luck!

On 2/13/2024 at 5:22 PM, DubiousDoc said:

I've seen better wine selections at an Applebee's.  That is downright disgraceful.

I agree and I'm afraid they are leaning towards the Royal Caribbean type wines.  Just got off a Royal ship and their wine list is disgusting.  The best they could do was Kendall Jackson which was considered a premium wine at $12 a glass!  I can buy an entire bottle of KJ for less than $10.  They did have La Crema for $19 a glass - a $4 upcharge every time and again I can buy a bottle of La Crema for $14.99 at Costco.  That's one of the reasons I quit sailing Royal is their wine list is SO BAD and since that's all I drink it doesn't make for a happy camper. Tried it again bc of a great deal but definitely won't be back and as for X if they follow suit they're going to lose me too.  Life is to short to drink bad wine!

On 4/23/2024 at 10:01 AM, surfnsun said:

Welcome aboard!!  As the saying goes, let's get jiggy with it!  We left our Rome Hotel Dei Borgognoni via our precooked online SharedShuttle reservation.  Cost was 80 EUR plus tip in a shuttle that we shared with 8 others going to our ship and picked up before us at various locations.  Uneventful ride although the shuttle was late arriving at the hotel.  Rome is crazy busy!  We left at 1100 and arrived port 1215 and through security by 1230 and sitting down for lunch at 1245.  We are in a Concierge Class Balcony cabin so we enjoyed lunch in the San Marco dining room.  I'll post a few photos to include one shot of our port of Civitavecchia with a pretty cool looking ferry, the Main Dining Room, our lunch menu along with food photos.  Beef and salmon dish and both dessert options.  I shall need another cocktail before posting stateroom and some ship photos.  Connie is in very good condition after her long spa days with face-lift.  😀

Looks yummy!  Would you mind sharing the link for the shared shuttle?  We had originally booked a train from FCO but we aren't sure we should go through with that.  We don't want to hassle with the luggage - even though we travel light the old bones aren't what they used to be and having to find room for the suitcase isn't always easy on a train.  Thanks in advance -we get on May 13.

I think your main difference is the two lines.  We usually prefer Celebrity but because my travel agent got a good deal and we had always wanted to go we decided to go on a 18 day transpacific cruise on Royal Caribbean.  I just got back home and didn't wear HALF of the things I brought because to be honest people on Royal dress like slobs.  Shorts and flip flops in the main dining room.  I have always found that Celebrity cruises, particularly those out of Europe tends to have people who are better dressed.  In fact I have never seen Celebrity allow shorts in the dining room for dinner.  That said you don't have to even bring any dresses unless you want to.  I ditched the formal wear and heels long ago but still enjoy dressing up like I would if I was going out to a nice dinner at home.  You can even wear jeans but I usually dress them up as well.

23 hours ago, markeb said:

 

No, they won't. And the $23/glass wine is in Australia with gratuities included, so $19/glass on a sailing in the rest of the world. Which the average customer will simply interpret as $2.40 extra from their premium package (or $4.00 apparently in Australia). Or $10.80 from their classic package. 

 

They're selling drink packages. The Premium Drink Package is currently on sale for 69.99/day plus gratuity (at least on some sailings). That's just over 4 $17 drinks per day. A pina colada during the day. A couple of bottles of water. Maybe a soda or a latte. A martini before dinner. Let's add that up real quick:

 

Coke $4

Bottle water: $4

Sunset Pina Colada: $15

Martini at the Martini Bar: $17

Latte: $5

Glass of wine in package: $17

 

That's $62 (Before someone jumps in, the gratuity washes out mathematically here.). Have two martinis, 2-3 bottles of water, maybe one more Pina Colada and you're well over the 69.99. Two cokes, two bottles of water, two pina coladas, two martinis, a latte and a glass of wine and you're at $102, so you've paid for a full price package. Red Bull is $7 and San Pellegrino Naturali is $6, so those add up as well. And if you really want a better wine with dinner you get a 20% discount on a bottle of much better wine (which are largely priced much better than the cheap stuff). Of maybe you just enjoy the wine that is in the package.

 

For package holders (which seemed to be the majority on my last two cruises) the absolute price is irrelevant. You've already paid for the first $17. That's a sunk cost whether you buy a glass of wine or not. It's not a $19 glass of wine, it's a $2 glass of wine (or $2.40 with gratuity). The price of the wine on land is irrelevant. It only matters whether it's in your package or you're paying extra. To the vast majority of cruisers not commenting on these threads. And looking at the various bars on the ship, there are a lot of people buying drinks other than wine. So they're happy their package is paying for what they drink. Which is a lot of rum and coke, Jack and coke, bourbon and coke, etc. And beer.

 

I'm not going to argue whether they're premium wines. They're not. They're $2.40/glass wines.

Ok didn't know they were Australia prices. That makes a difference.  I agree I like having the package because I will have the coffee and lots of water and sparkling water and my wine. The drink price for the packages was $15 for premium in October but I guess now it's $17?  The $2 upcharge isn't great but it's not awful...like I said though nickel and diming and I hate that.  I like to pay in advance and have everything taken care of and if I choose to tip more for the bartenders or cabin stewards etc then I do.  Don't like to have that big bill at the end of the cruise.  Thanks for the clarification!

18 hours ago, jelayne said:

Go to the app and select the Ascent current sailing and you can see the most recent changes.  Look at main dining for the most complete list ( very long) .  But it has Premium by the glass list. 

Sorry to be a pain but when I go on the app the only thing that comes up is my future cruise in May. I'm not the best with computers.  What am I missing?  Thanks in advance!

4 hours ago, doghog said:

Nope. We started cruising in 1991. My wife has always brought her hair dyer and curling iron. 

That's your experience and I'm just telling you mine.  I've also been cruising since the early 90s and my experience was they took it away.  So I haven't bothered to even try since.  Not worth the aggravation.  just sayin.🤷‍♀️

4 minutes ago, jelayne said:

That’s better than the premium package only Pinot noir,          Robert Mondavi, which is $7.19 buy 6 at Total and the charge for a bottle on board is $35 - that’s a premium wine🤔
Even better a bottle of Mondavi Pinot is less than a bottle of Beringer white Zinfandel which is $40 on board and $5 at Total.

You have to laugh - they are completely clueless and will lose a bunch of customers for this little trick.  I'm elite plus and will not be sailing on them past my current bookings if they don't straighten this out.  I quit sailing Royal Caribbean because of the nickel and diming with drinks and stuff and the selection they have is disgusting.  So sad to see the same happening to Celebrity.

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

Yes you can.  Perhaps you are thinking of a different cruise line?

Things must have changed then because I brought a small one years ago and they took it away from me.

On 1/13/2024 at 7:30 PM, CHEZMARYLOU said:

So with all the complaints, the $19 wines are now $23. Talk about screwing us over. 

 

I didn't associate the fact that the ship is in Australia with the higher prices.

The Mer Soleil was $15 last time we were on Celebrity which was in October - it is now $23.  A $8 increase PER GLASS is outrageous!  

On 1/14/2024 at 3:51 PM, 39august said:

If I'm reading this menu correctly it looks like La Crema chardonnay is included. I see no dollar charge. That is strange as La Crema used to be an upcharge. Sure hope this new list is on EQ next week and the week after. 

That's because it's La Crema central coast which is a cheap version of La Crema Russian River which they used to have and not nearly as good.  The difference in price for a bottle at Total wines is $9.  The central coast sells for $17.97 and the Russian river sells for $26.97

On 12/22/2023 at 2:01 PM, HMR74 said:

I think management and the tier below top management needs a whack on the side of the head to bring in common sense.

I have 2 cases (not a pun yet) in point>

 

Reisling  wine.  X has used Chateau Ste Michelle in the Classic package. I can buy it and do at 4.99 a bottle when I buy by the case.  With 5 pours a bottle the raw cost per drink is $1.

The Reisling in the Premium package is J&H Selbach and I can buy that at 15 a bottle or so by the case.

 $3 per glass.

 

Now the ceap wine in in the premium and so is the upscale wine, so I willearn for myself in 4 weeks how they handle that , in wil they charge 2 bucks more for the class of the upscale wine now that ther is a cheapep wine in the premium.

 

Similarly: but not exacltly, X for a long time now, a few yearsm has not carried Crown Royal But it had Woolford , roughly 50% more expensive, in Premium so althought I liked CR better , Woodford is a good sub.

Now both are in the premium and I suspect Woolford will be 2 bucks extra (plus the obligatory 20%).

 

I will be more than fine with Crown Royal. And I will be fine with Chateau St Michelle cheap wine.

 

But management  which is young and not as experienced as they think they are, does not get it.

When a drink is in a package , it should be part of it. No nickle and dime extra charge. The structure of the offering is set up that way.

 

If I have the premium drink package, whether I am in Retreat, Aqua, or steerage, when I buy that package whats included should be included. Period. Once of the fund things , and it was menteiodned herein, is you can leave your wallet behind  when you leave cabin and not have to worry about a ting YOur Sea Pass is coded correctly.

 

And if you planned correctly , you should be able to go thru a cruise and not have to deal with an invoice at the end or even need to spend time discussing at a desk where you wait to ask a question. It should be "clean", and that's the experience I seek.

 

They, middle and upper mgt,  make these "caca" business decisons which end up being cheap insults to their customers and encourages this negative discussion which gets to the point that it's  laughable.

 

Perhaps its a new thing with younger managers who never had mentors really teaching them the ropes.

 

PS, with all the changes I had to call and ask about mudslides, my fav afternoon topside drink. It took 15 minutes but the answer was,  "probably" I had a good laugh. Still do.

 

PPS- I know ahead of time that buying the package is not cost effective for us. However, I really do like the idea of ordering and not thinking about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are so right about the young management comment.  I guess I have truly gotten old but I think it is a generational thing.  You can't go ANYWHERE anymore without someone trying to "upsell" you something.  Not even freakin McDonalds!  Can I offer you fries with that?  Can I offer you a large soda instead of a small one?  Can I supersize your order?  Go to Starbucks same thing - would you like a pastry with that?  Would you like an extra expresso shot? and then they turn the machine around for you to tip them for ringing up your order - not making it but ringing it up. Somewhere they have taught people in business school that in order to make money you have to nickel and dime people to death and upsell everything.  It is beyond annoying and I'm with you - I like to just pay for it and be done and not stress about a huge bill after the cruise.

On 1/10/2024 at 10:15 AM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Take a purse with you at HH and fill it up , and you can be happy for the next 22 hours 🤣🍷

I have one of those!  I use it when my friends go to sports bars that only serve crappy wine - I order a glass of crappy wine and go to the bathroom dump it out and fill it with mine 🙂

Elegance is Kendall Jackson.  It's laughable that it's now considered a "premium" when you can buy an entire bottle for less than $10!  

4 hours ago, Mimiya11 said:

As others suggested, yes she will be ok but....as a heads up, Celebrity can do way better as far as choice.  Their bread selection is limited - so at dinner, while the non GF people get a lovely basket of rolls and breadsticks, the GF person (my husband) was given toast (once even raisin toast). 

When we had cheese and crackers as an afternoon snack, there are no GF crackers. 

There is GF pizza and pasta at the buffet and Cafe Bacio will have a few options re cookies.   

Don't think there are GF burger buns at the grill.  

 

I have even read that some people have brought their own GF crackers and bagels to fill the void.  Trust me she will not go hungry.  

 

That would be me!  I bring a package of the Schar breadsticks and then I don't feel so left out.  If you have your travel agent write on your reservation that you require gluten free meals and talk to the waiter the first night - he or she will get you gluten free rolls for dinner every night instead of the toast.  I love escargot and hate having to use that toast to soak up the garlic butter so it was nice when the waiter would bring me different rolls every night.

No you cannot bring your hair dryer.  Most people bring a thick rubber band to keep the button on because you have to hold it down 🙄 to keep it working.

On 12/20/2023 at 2:46 PM, Baynanno1 said:

 

Some are $8 above the Premium limit of $17.

Post #2 in this thread has photos of the Classic, Premium and Elevated (above Premium to make more money) wines :

 

 

I don't see that in post #2.  Could you repost please?

14 minutes ago, jelayne said:

The premium package limit is $17.  They recently moved some of the more popular wines to $19, and raised the price other wines that were above the package limit.  I think there were some other changes to the liquor but haven’t read much about that other than Tito’s was moved from the Classic to Premium package.  
There have been a few flash sales in the past 6 months or so where the upgrade from Classic to premium was $6.99.

if that happens again you can always cancel your upgrade and rebook at the lower price.

 

Do you by chance have the wine list with the new prices?  Thanks in advance

11 minutes ago, jelayne said:

The premium package limit is $17.  They recently moved some of the more popular wines to $19, and raised the price other wines that were above the package limit.  I think there were some other changes to the liquor but haven’t read much about that other than Tito’s was moved from the Classic to Premium package.  
There have been a few flash sales in the past 6 months or so where the upgrade from Classic to premium was $6.99.

if that happens again you can always cancel your upgrade and rebook at the lower price.

 

Yikes - I hope it's not our favorites!  We are kind of wine brats and we like what we like which is why we always upgrade to premium.  I know everyone is having a fit but it only makes sense that they would raise the prices based on our current economy🙄.  Hopefully it won't be too bad!  And thanks I will keep an eye out for those flash sales!

44 minutes ago, tcjjr said:

When I checked a few minutes ago today (Monday, Jan. 15, 5:30pm ET) for my upcoming cruises in late February, the Classic-to-Premium drink package upgrade cost for each voyage had dropped from $13.99/day before to $9.99/day now, and the Premium internet upgrade for 1 device was on sale for less than before too (now $4.99/day). I booked both. There's no indication as to whether this is a one-day sale or a longer one.

I don't know either but I went ahead and upgraded my drink package.  Didn't want to take a chance on that.  I also heard that they have recently raised the prices of the drinks so a lot of the things you used to be able to get on the premium package you now have to pay a couple dollars extra per drink because they are no longer at the $15 mark or less.  If anyone can confirm that it would be great to know in advance!