blackshirt

Meets are quite subjective. You get what you get. Sometimes quite good, sometimes not.

7 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Thanks. Does Uber actually enter LAX to pick up customers? I thought I read somewhere they could not, so you were required to take a shuttle or something where Uber (et al) you would meet Uber, etc.

 

Doug

There is an Uber/Lift pickup point next to terminal 1. Since we flew into terminal 1, it was an easy walk.

Celebrity does offer a transfer but like all their transfers, you wait until a bus is full before you depart. We did not take their transfer so can’t offer any other tidbit. We used Uber for both LAX to our cruise hotel and cruise port to LAX. No problem either way and I’m quite sure we paid less than Celebrity’s transfer.

1 hour ago, artvlay said:

Question, we are Diamond Plus with 365 points.  We are going on Celebrity where we are Elite and have 448 points. Are there any levels of the basic Elite that correlates to the Diamond levels?

Not sure I understand the question. There are no levels of Elite. What exactly do you mean by Diamond levels? The next level on Celebrity is Elite+ which you must earn yourself by accumulating enough points. There is no status match to Elite+. 

19 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Taxi is faster but more expensive.

No, it’s not more expensive as the post after yours shows. Taxi or Uber/Lyft usually run $15-$20 total. Celebrity transfer is $20-$25 per person, so actually much more expensive. 

5 hours ago, JAT0303 said:

If you have US Global Entry be sure to look for that lane in the immigration area.  It saves a lot of time if the lines are long!

There is no immigration or customs at embarkation. 

1 hour ago, TMLAalum said:

The all-included minutes are slow so use your Captain's Club perk first.

In fact, you need to use the Captain’s Club minutes first, if you want to use them. If you select the all included minutes first, there is no option to switch to the free minutes. 

51 minutes ago, westscot said:

Is it too late for my partner to create a Captain’s Club account and link it to the booking so she can also earn the 50 points?

No, it’s not too late and there is no requirement to create a Captain’s Club account before the cruise. Your partner could create their account after the cruise and still get the points.

That depends on the source of the OBC. You should not lose the OBC for booking onboard but if the cruise you booked also had an OBC promotion, you get whatever promotion exists when you re-price. If there is no OBC offered on the lower price, then you lose it.

2 hours ago, tcmagnum said:

Wondering if one of you could also go into a little more detail on what is included with a Sky Suite? 

I know premium wi-fi and alcohol package and tips are included...

But what about any spa extras?  Specialty restaurants (we really enjoyed Tuscan Grille on our last cruise)?

As noted already, not included but your retreat reservation should include a significant amount of OBC which, of course, can be used for specialty dining or the spa.

13 hours ago, sunlover5 said:

I was also charged by my carrier.  Is this normal if you have free wifi?

That all depends on your phone settings. If you connect to a cell tower whether at a port or on the ship, you may get charges from your carrier whether you are also on WiFi or not. As noted, put your phone in airplane mode. That prevents connecting to a cell tower.

Because of how often they do authorizations during the week, you may need to have a balance large enough to cover double your onboard charges. What you might want to consider is use a regular credit card for those authorizations during the week but go to guest services the last night and use the prepaid card to settle the charges.

A charge to your onboard account for airfare? Never heard of such a thing. As you already noted, you can’t fly if not ticketed and you aren’t ticketed until paid for. Are you sure the charge is for airfare?

Prices don’t really change from one promotion to another. Supply and demand is what really dictates pricing, not the promotion. If you see a price you like, you should book now. If the price does go down before final payment, you can get the lower price. 

You should have plenty of time. You can probably walk off by 8:30. I’ve only debarked there once but I had no issue getting an Uber. 

We were in Ensenada in December. We did a ship excursion that ended in a Cantina in town and elected to walk back to the ship from there. We felt perfectly safe. I would have no issue doing a walking tour there.

30 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I don't believe they have refunded anything for missed ports since the restart.

Well, they should. I saw a video the other day from one of the cruise youtubers saying NCL now required passengers to request port fees back for missed ports, they aren’t automatic. Perhaps Celebrity has followed suit. I haven’t had a missed port since the restart but I always got port fees refunded for missed ports prior to the restart.

19 minutes ago, finstotheleft said:

my cynical mind is pointing in the direction of docking fees and a quick way to avoid them.

You do realize you pay port fees and if a port is skipped or in your case shortened, you should get a corresponding refund. Shortening the port stay won’t save Celebrity anything. Whatever fees they are avoiding will be returned to the passengers.

Until someone on board a ship confirms reservations are required, I’m inclined to believe it’s just wrong in the app for those seeing that. 

11 minutes ago, Banana15 said:

Do you recall if they sent a more detailed itinerary as you got closer to sailing?

I don’t really recall getting anything more detailed. We did the land portion staring from Anchorage. I knew that the train from Anchorage to Takeetna was included, I knew the tour through Denali National Park was included, I believe I also got information on what hotel we had at each stop. I did not know what extra excursions were available at each stop until we got to the first hotel where the land portion tour guide provided that information.

Your land portion includes hotel, not meals. There may be excursions included (like Denali National Park) and there may be additional excursions available at each land stop. Transportation from the airport may or may not be included but if not, should be available as an extra. I did an Alaska land tour on Royal, I presume Celebrity is the same. 

That depends on the ship. You may be able to charge directly to your account at a machine or you might need to go the cashier for a voucher. Identify what ship you are on and I’m sure someone will know or search the forum for similar threads, there are several. That’s how I found out how to use OBC in the casino on Solstice.

We just did that itinerary last month, we thought it was worth it. The only real difference in amenities was no Retreat sundeck. Otherwise Luminae and Michael’s Club (they still call it that on Solstice) were every bit as nice as on Silhouette, our previous Retreat experience.

5 minutes ago, cruisinfly said:

I just booked a celebrity cruise and they highlighted their best price guarantee. Not sure why this wouldn't apply to you. https://www.celebritycruises.com/company/customer-support/best-price-guarantee

Of course it applies but read the conditions for requests after the final payment due date. 

4 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Not being able to order from MDR’s when dining in Luminae is not an opinion, it’s fact.

Perhaps it’s a fact on some ships, not all. We ordered from the MDR menu in Luminae on both Solstice and Silhouette.