sanger727

You are getting lots of good advice about arranging it yourself.

I did that this year am so glad that I did.

Not only cost less but so worth it to have our own schedule.

 

All I can add is PLEASE book your own timed tickets for the Vatican museums (Sistine Chapel) and the Colosseum if you would like to go there. As it was our first time in Rome they were our top 2 sights and we would not have waited in the long, long lines.

 

Enjoy Rome, we did.

Second this advice. We pre-booked the colosseum and did a tour and was able to bypass the line.

We are sailing Hawaii to Vancouver in April 2018. The sailing has 5 sea days and 7 port days and we were able to choose the beverage package as free perk. Not a transatlantic sailing, but certainly repositioning.

The perks are assigned to the cabin, not the individual passengers. Which is why if you have an adult and a child in the room, if you choose the beverage package as the perk, the adult gets the alcohol package and child gets non-alcohol package. You can't pick and choose for the adult to get beverage package and the child to get OBC or something. So yes, the first two passengers in the cabin will get the perk that you choose for the cabin. You can upgrade your classic beverage package individually on board however.

Intrigued by the rave reviews, but a 2 am tour seems really extreme. For people that have done it, was it worth it? Is it that much better than seeing Haleakala at other times of day?

Not if she has two perks with the balcony.

 

 

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If she chooses the drink package as a perk, she is giving up another perk. So yes, in the balcony she could choose prepaid grats and the beverage package. But then she would have to pay for internet, which it sounds like she will either way. The point being that to take the beverage perk you are losing the potential value of another perk.

Now for us we didn't. When we booked our perk options were SDP, UBP, shore excursion credit, and internet. We will never use the shore excursion credit and would never pay for internet and don't really assign any value to it. So, all the UBP cost us was the service charge, which I thought was reasonable for what we drink. Now, if we had prepaid grats as an option, it might have changed the equation or if we could have used the 3rd and 4th sail free.

OP - perks are chosen when you booked, so your perks are already chosen. You will need to find out what perks where chosen when you booked and change them. No reason to not do it now, since it appears you have made up your mind.

I believe I have the answer, but just to make sure...

 

We are a family with 2 adults, 2 kids.

 

We will be on a cruise which starts and ends in Puerto Rico, but stops at ports in between which are foreign countries.

 

Two adults and one child have a passport. The other (a 13-year-old) does not.

 

Is it satisfactory to bring the original birth certificate for the 13-year-old?

 

We are flying in and out of Puerto Rico from the US.

I think the more important question is when is the cruise? Because you have to mail the birth certificate in to get a passport so if the cruise is within a month or two, I'd err on the side of keeping the birth certificate than to possibly have to get an emergency birth certificate replacement the week before the cruise. Also, passports for children 15 an under are only good for 5 years. Personally I think the chance of a surprise out of the country trip for a 13 year old isn't likely, and sorry, I refuse to believe that if you have an emergency that the US will refuse a US citizen from returning, it may be more leg-work though. A friend had his passport stolen in France and it was simple to get it replaced at the US embassy in France.

Do you have iphones, or do the people you wish to communicate with at home have iphones? What I love about the I products is that you can facetime and imessage with people back home over wifi. If you don't have any interest in connecting with other I products, then I agree that a kindle fire may be a good option. Def would choose a tablet (Ipads are brand of tablet) over a laptop for your purposes. Past that will just come down to what size you want, storage capacity (movies, or just books and a few games), features, etc.

Agree that Rome is easy to do yourself. We stayed there pre-cruise a couple years ago. Took the cab from the airport to the hotel. Hotels of course are easy to book online anymore. Then we mostly walked, if you enjoy walking it's a very walkable city for most of the sites if you choose your hotel centrally. There is also a hop on/hop off bus we did one day to see the Vatican and outskirts of the city. We took the train to the cruise port. Was easy and inexpensive, but you just have to watch out for the gypsy-ies (true throughout the city). For that pp price for 4 people I feel pretty confident you can book a pre-cruise stay for yourselves for quite a bit less and then you can see what you want to see on your schedule.

i'm a victim of my own research and my price just dropped 200 total on my BC. the minis are now that price. sigh

 

only a few left though and on deck 11 and i'm now on 13, short walk to buffet.

If you want a mini they very well might let you upgrade for free. worth a call.

This logic doesn't make sense-- you're only paying about $14 per day for the drink package: 1 drink (with NCL prices) pretty much covers it. I wouldn't categorize more than one drink "a ton".

I do agree that the gratuities are a great perk.

 

 

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I think its because the drink package really costs you $24 a day per person when prepaid gratuities is an option - (not getting prepaid gratuities with that perk and paying the service charge). So, $168ish pp on a 7 day cruise. We may have to define drinking "a ton", but I certainly won't spend $168 in drinks on a cruise unless I had OBC to kill or the beverage package. Not everyone has a drink every day, especially at NCL's exorbitant prices when you can drink in port for a fraction of the price.

Anytime I have had a cruise booked with a TA, the entire payments by credit card goes to the cruise line, never any charge to the TA.

 

I would be suspicious of any charges that are not going directly to the cruise line. Ask your TA why this is not happening.

In my situation the TA was offering reduced deposit. They were doing that by you paying them the deposit, and then they put up the full deposit to the cruise line. So I paid them $100, but they cruise line received $400 because they were not offering reduced deposit at the time. The TA got the balance back when I made final payment.

There are several "cruise fare monitoring sites". Google should be helpful in your search. We are not allowed to post these on Cruise Critics. It would be a bit "fishy".;) :):D:p

 

The one I use charges $1.00 (yes, one dollar) per cruise monitored. It's a WHALE of a deal!:p

HI Lobster123 or anyone who received a price drop. Besides looking at Celebritys site how do get price drops? You can email me at packerfanlarry1@gmail.com

 

Thanks so much!!

This post will get you there if you look on google. the correct website has "fish" in it and ends with .net. also has the word cruise in it.

We're very excited to be embarking on our very first cruise! As newbies to the cruising world, we have a lot of questions, many we have researched online. Hoping someone can help us give clearer answers to the following:

 

Luggage tags -

We keep checking each day on the Celebrity site to see if luggage tags are available and they are still not available yet. The cruise leaves in about one month's time so wondering when we can expect them.

 

Food -

We like to snack throughout the day and wondering whether smallish meals and snacks (such as fruit, cheese), coffee and tea can be ordered from the restaurants (not specialty) or room service at anytime of the day without extra charges? What kind of food can we expect to order outside of breakfast/lunch/dinner time?

 

Dining -

It seems we weren't asked by the travel agent our preference for select or traditional dining and we've been automatically booked into the traditional dining at 8.30. (6.00pm is unavailable on the site). Our preference is select dining (even if it might mean a bit of queuing) and wondering how we can get this changed as we can't seem to do this online. Do we have to call them or do we change it onboard? Also, with traditional or select dining, do we have to share a table or will there be tables for 2 only?

 

Also, is this 8.30 slot only specific to the Main Dining Room dining? What if we wanted to dine at the Oceanview buffet. Can we turn up at anytime?

 

Port days -

During the days at port, are we free to venture out and back on board as we please throughout the day? For example, can we go out for a walk in the morning and then come back to the boat for lunch and drinks and then head out again?

 

Thanks for everyone's insights in advance!

Not sure about the luggage tags. Reference the snacking, I am the same way. The buffet will always have food available except for late late night. You won't have any problem finding fruit, cheese, meat, crackers, bread, etc. along with whatever else they have on the buffet at any time of day. For me it's a lot easier to run to the buffet for cheese and crackers and a piece of fruit rather than trying to order from room service.

Not sure how far out your booked, but it's entirely possible your agent didn't ask about your dining preferences because late dining was the only time available. The availability of that comes and goes and you just have to know to watch for it (i.e., I have a cruise booked 18 months out, at the time of booking select wasn't available, but it became available later). Your best shot is to see the matre'd upon boarding and see if you can move to select, but if it's full, it may be full. You can still dine in the specialty restaurants and buffet anytime.

Yes on port days, free to come and go as often as you like. Just be aware of if any of the ports are tender ports. Those take longer to get on and off the ship.

I have SDP from the promo. I have 2 in my room and a 3rd person in a second room and the system allowed me to book dinners for 3 without paying a thing. Had to book for 4 for teppenyaki though (had to pick 2 or 4), will fix it on the ship, but it didn't charge me anything.

I get subpoenaed on a daily basis due to my job.

DO NOT CANCEL YOUR CRUISE.

again, and even if you had insurance.

DO NOT CANCEL YOUR CRUISE.

All you need to do is call the prosecutor on Monday, tell them you are a planned vacation and you need them to continue the case. This kind of thing happens all the time.

Senior + Tax =1046+98 tips + 225 drinks = 1369

Senior +300 OBC = 1146 +98 +225-150 = 1319

2Perks Classic + 150 OBC = 1251 +98 -150 = 1199

2Perks Premium+ 150 OBC = 1251+98+82-150 = 1281

4Perks = 1461

 

These are for one person. 98 Tips,225 Drinks estimate, 150 OBC, 82 Premium upgrade.

I would think the 4 perks is the best value?

 

$1461-$98(tips)-$82(prem drink)-$150(obc)=$1131 plus free wifi

 

Seems to me, id go with the 4 perks

for him to have a room, premium drink package, gratuities paid and $150 OBC his choices are the

1. 2 perks premium option (choose classic beg and $150 OBC)

- $1251 + 98 (grats) + 82 (prem upgrade) = $1431

2. choose 4 perk option - $1461.

So, it costs $30 more pp to do it with the 4 perks; but includes $150 OBC which OP may or may not use. If the OP thinks he would use the $150 OBC and the internet is worth $30 pp to him, agree this is a good option. Otherwise, he use the $150 to pay the grats and premium upgrade and only be out of pocket $1280 instead of $1461.

I totally disagree with you, as we went through a very similar thing with our mom who was hit by a swinging door on board the ship and she was thrown to the floor and broke her hip. The first thing the ship's Doctor did was ask if we had medical coverage, what kind it was and all the rest. To say that the treatment we received, and that mom received, from the medical center was good, is definitely not true. When we told the doctor that we wanted mom evacuated back to our home town for surgery, the doctor said Miami wouldn't allow it. We had to go to either FLL or Miami, period!!!!! We nearly begged for the med evac jet to fly her home, but it wasn't allowed, and we never did get an explanation as to why. When we got to the hospital in FLL, the emergency room doctor was appalled by the treatment, or lack thereof, mom got in he medical center. And I won't go into the whole story, but suffice it to say that once mom was in the ambulance to go to the airport, I was basically left on the dock and left to fend for myself to get to FLL on a commercial flight.

 

So don't poo-poo the OP's experience unless you've gone through something similar, like our family did.

What you are describing does sound like standard practice for ambulances/air ambulances. You have to keep in mind that the medical evacuation is an ambulance, not a privately hired service that will take you anywhere. They take the person to the closest hospital that has the ability to deal with the issue, so FLL/MIA makes sense. And they probably wouldn't let you choose which hospital in FLL or MIA, because only one hospital in each would have the right standard of care. Our local air care is run by the hospital that has the best trauma unit in the area, and if they pick you, you are going to that hospital (BTW, they are called by police or fire on scene, the family's wishes are irrelevant). It would have been nice of celebrity to allow you to use the internet for free to arrange your own flight home, but that's about the extent of what I would expect them to do.

Don't think diy in Hawaii is a bad idea at all. For sure want a general game plan, but be flexible in case it takes longer than expected to get off and get your car. I try to be back on the ship an hour early. They request 30 minutes, but want to leave buffer time for traffic. Good thing about Hawaii is unlike other areas you a. Don't need to worry about ship time vs port time, pretty sure the whole area is in the same time zone, and b. If you were to miss the ship (except for the last port), you'd only be out an island hopper plane ticket and a hotel room, then can easily meet the ship the next day.

We also just (Monday) got a $400 per person reduction and an INCREASE in onboard credit for our Sept 2016 Alaska cruise. It worked just like it has several times on Royal Caribbean... always worth checking online!

 

 

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Since sept 2016 was 2 months ago, assume u meant 2017. So still outside final payment and should be able to get price adjustments.

Yes, 2 Perks plus Premium upgrade it is. We are not fussy drinkers but I would like more choice in Beer and for DW I would be concerned that her wine with dinner choice would be too limited on Classic.

My primary issue with the classic package is that if you want a drink over the limit, you pay the entire amount, not the overage. With premium more is covered and if you go over you only pay the amount over the limit. So a $15 glass of wine would be $15 with the classic package or $2 with the premium.

To add to that, we fly in and out if FLL one time with a mid afternoon flight with delta. The line to check in was crazy long and they only let people drop off luggage 2 hours before your flight, so we ended up spending a couple hours sitting in the lobby waiting. We usually fly with carry on only so don't know if that is typical or not.

Make your reservation for the number of people in your party. When you arrive for dinner tell them you'd like to sit at a larger table with others.

Kayak shows an American Airlines flight April 1 and 9, between dtw and Miami at $400 pp

How many tickets are you getting? That can't be the per person price??

Have you looked at flying into Miami? It's 20 min from FLL and sometimes opens up different airlines/fares. Is there another airport near you to try flying out of?

If neither of you drinks much, do gratuities for both and Internet for the balcony. If one of u drinks enough to be worth more than the service fee and Internet, put that person in the balcony w the child that drinks the most soda and pick drinks as the second per. No, if one adult gets the drinks, the other adult can't use their card for drinks. Same with the kids.