New Online Check-In XPRESS PASS available now

[SheilaNC]

I was able to complete the documentation (although it seems unnecessarily complicated to me) but when I go to the end, the message was that the Xpress Pass was Unavailable. As I understand it, they will let us know via email when it is available. Since we're not sailing until October, I'll check back in a couple of months to see if they've worked out the bugs (unless, of course, I hear from them first). Truthfully, the last two cruises, embarkation was a breeze just because we filled out all of the other info. online in advance, so I'm not concerned. I've always thought that Celebrity did a great job of embarkation - especially amazing on the Xpedition where we never saw our luggage after it left the hotel until it showed up in our cabin....

[Susan-M]

I couldn't get it to work on my iMac using Safari, but was successful with an IBM using Internet Explorer. With the Mac, I couldn't get past Step 3 (contract agreement).

 

For those using non-U.S. Credit cards, be sure to put a check mark beside:

"Check here if you do not wish Celebrity Cruises to convert your charges to the currency of your card's billing as described above." Celebrity adds a hefty currency conversion fee, so better to let them bill in U.S. dollars, and let your credit card company do the conversion.

[starsjohn]

Thanks for the heads up. I printed out the Express Pass for our B2B on the Summit at the end of August.

 

John

[madforcruising]

I couldn't get it to work on my iMac using Safari, but was successful with an IBM using Internet Explorer. With the Mac, I couldn't get past Step 3 (contract agreement).

 

For those using non-U.S. Credit cards, be sure to put a check mark beside:

"Check here if you do not wish Celebrity Cruises to convert your charges to the currency of your card's billing as described above." Celebrity adds a hefty currency conversion fee, so better to let them bill in U.S. dollars, and let your credit card company do the conversion.

 

That´s an interesting information. Do you know how much Celebrity charges for this service. This is my first X cruise and on RCCL they had the same wording in the contract (of course as they are sister companies) but at the end they never added any charge for it and I was able to save the conversion fee of my credit card. So I´m really interested in any experiences with the added fee from Celebrity.

[madforcruising]

Anybody with experiences with the XPRESS PASS already?

 

 

I´m also curious if the priority check-in for Captains Club and Suite guests has also an additional line for XPRESS PASS or if this special check-in line can´t be used with XPRESS PASS.

[davis0056]

I was able to complete the documentation (although it seems unnecessarily complicated to me) but when I go to the end, the message was that the Xpress Pass was Unavailable. As I understand it, they will let us know via email when it is available. Since we're not sailing until October, I'll check back in a couple of months to see if they've worked out the bugs (unless, of course, I hear from them first). Truthfully, the last two cruises, embarkation was a breeze just because we filled out all of the other info. online in advance, so I'm not concerned. I've always thought that Celebrity did a great job of embarkation - especially amazing on the Xpedition where we never saw our luggage after it left the hotel until it showed up in our cabin....

 

We completed the process last night and agree that it seems unneccessarilly complicated. We had done online documentation weeks ago and the only we we could figure out how to get to get to Xpress pass was 'paging thru the process again. After all that, we got a message that we would be notified when it was available. We've never had a problem checking in on a cruise and we aren't convinced yet that its worth the effort we did last night.

 

Dave and Elaine

[CaptData]

When I booked on there was a tab for it. Did it in a matter of moments. Can't print it as it is not available yet for me. I think it will be available as soon as I make final payment in Oct.

[Susan-M]

That´s an interesting information. Do you know how much Celebrity charges for this service.

 

Madfor: When I was on Zenith in May, my statement of onboard expenses printed at the end of the cruise showed what the conversion rates would be if Celebrity converted from U.S. to other currencies. I knew that on my mastercard, I could expect to pay $1.29 CAD for $1 U.S. Celebrity wanted $1.46 CAD, so I was glad that I had checked the box to have them bill in U.S. $$. If I spend $500 U.S. and Celebrity converts it to CAD, I can expect to be out of pocket an extra ~$85. CAD.

 

Here's the fine print on the Express Pass: "If you use a MasterCard or Visa Card issued outside of the U.S. and one which is billed to any of the following currencies (11 currencies listed) the full amount of the charge will be converted to the currency of the card by our conversion agent at the exchange rate in effect at the time the amounts are charged to your account and a currency conversion charge will be billed to your account."

 

It's the "currency conversion charge" that gets you, but perhaps it doesn't apply to cards other than Mastercard & Visa?

[Susan-M]

We completed the process last night and agree that it seems unneccessarilly complicated. We had done online documentation weeks ago and the only we we could figure out how to get to get to Xpress pass was 'paging thru the process again.

Dave and Elaine

 

If your forms are partially completed, you can quickly access the other parts by clicking on "View Details" as opposed to "Start Check-in Process". (This is the screen after the one where you have entered your Reservation #, sailing date, etc.)

 

I was able to print my pass today, but my final payment has been made so maybe that is why?

[phtktz3]

Just printed mine out in a few minutes...didn't take much at all. I am on the Summit for the 09-09-05 sailing with final payment made. I am sure that would be the difference in why some can not get it, as well as some having their cruises a bit too far off to get it yet.

 

I would also love to hear from anyone who has used it.

[carolann1]

We're on the Sept. 3 cruise and we just made our final payment about two weeks ago. I printed our express boarding passes last night. I found I had to print the contract after step 2 before I could continue. It's three pages, and I hope it's worth it. I guess we'll find out when we get some replies from people who use it.

We've never really had to wait very long, anyway. But, I heard the port at San Francisco is not very passenger friendly. So, if this helps it will be great.

Carol

[SheilaNC]

Of course! It didn't even register that we hadn't made our final payment yet. It's not due until next month....so it'll be interesting to see if we automatically get our Xpress Passes after payment. Certainly makes sense to me. Since we're sailing out of Venice and will need to figure out how to get from our little hotel to the ship in a foreign country, this should make the process easier.

[madforcruising]

Madfor: When I was on Zenith in May, my statement of onboard expenses printed at the end of the cruise showed what the conversion rates would be if Celebrity converted from U.S. to other currencies. I knew that on my mastercard, I could expect to pay $1.29 CAD for $1 U.S. Celebrity wanted $1.46 CAD, so I was glad that I had checked the box to have them bill in U.S. $$. If I spend $500 U.S. and Celebrity converts it to CAD, I can expect to be out of pocket an extra ~$85. CAD.

 

Here's the fine print on the Express Pass: "If you use a MasterCard or Visa Card issued outside of the U.S. and one which is billed to any of the following currencies (11 currencies listed) the full amount of the charge will be converted to the currency of the card by our conversion agent at the exchange rate in effect at the time the amounts are charged to your account and a currency conversion charge will be billed to your account."

 

It's the "currency conversion charge" that gets you, but perhaps it doesn't apply to cards other than Mastercard & Visa?

 

Thanks Susan,

 

If I get your post right you are saying that it was the bad conversion rate and not an added fee ontop you experienced.

I´m aware of a possibly bad exchange rate but from the fine print I read that they could put a fee for the service on top if they wish.

It´s the same fine print on RCCL and they didn´t charge something on top. So I was curious about the Celebrity practice. I know the exchange rate is not the actually one the CC company will use. On RCCL I had different experience with this as it was one time even better than the actual one. Another time it was a little more expensive for me, but stil less than paying the 1% conversion fee from my Credit Card.

 

It looks to me that it´s a gamble what to do as llong as the cruise line does not clearly state upfront what the charge will be and what conversion rates they will use. They should be more clearly with this upfront.

[madforcruising]

We completed the process last night and agree that it seems unneccessarilly complicated. We had done online documentation weeks ago and the only we we could figure out how to get to get to Xpress pass was 'paging thru the process again. After all that, we got a message that we would be notified when it was available. We've never had a problem checking in on a cruise and we aren't convinced yet that its worth the effort we did last night.

 

Dave and Elaine

 

I´m surprised that some of you find the process complicated.

I thought it was pretty easy and worth the try if it speeds up an already fast check-in process even more.

 

I had already filled out the online documentation before. I usually do that short after booking. When reading the press release about the new XPRESS PASS I logged into my booking on the Celebrity website and the new feature was there on the spot. It already had all the previous entered information from my online documentation available and just a few more information had to be given. For me it was just a few minutes to complete and I was able to print the XPRESS PASS.

 

Happy cruising to all of you and hope to hear soon from cruisers coming bacl and having used it.

[jwattle]

I had filled out our online documentation right after making our reservation last year for September. After reading all of the hubub on the boards about the express pass, I was somewhat concerned, but it took about five minutes max, and I was holding one boarding pass for us in my hot little hand, to be gazed upon fondly! I did note that there is only one pass to cover both of us...

[cechase]

Like many others, we fill out our documentation on the Celebrity website very shortly after we have received our confirmation number.

 

So I went back to their site, and in about three minutes or less, had an XPRESS PASS for myself and my DW in hand for our 10 night cruise on Galaxy embarking in Rome on 10/07/2005.

 

Now, what about the luggage tags???

 

Also, we are not worried about expedited embarkation, because we always book a RS, and on each ocassion, the process has been very swift. I do like the idea of not having to fill out their little contract form which used to be included in the booklet.:D

[Loracpin2]

We also just prined our EXPRESS PASSES for our October 8 Mercury cruise. I had the same question about luggage tags, so I called the Captain's Club Desk earlier this afternoon. The Service Rep. informed me that we would still receive the cruise doc booklet along with our luggage tags. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Something tells me that we'll be filling out our luggage tags at the pier.

[carolmacey]

Having just read the press release provided by the OP, it appears this service is only available on the Zenith for now, and they hope to extend the service to the rest of the fleet by the end of September.

 

I haven't read all the posts yet, but I just got 4 passes for ourselves and in-laws for our B2B on Galaxy in October. No problem! Maybe they have been working out the bugs this week. Good luck to all, I hope this makes a difference checking in.

Carol

[AFT_LOVER]

but we also need our transfer forms to board the buses or whatever we are doing to get to the ship.

 

We also just prined our EXPRESS PASSES for our October 8 Mercury cruise. I had the same question about luggage tags, so I called the Captain's Club Desk earlier this afternoon. The Service Rep. informed me that we would still receive the cruise doc booklet along with our luggage tags. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Something tells me that we'll be filling out our luggage tags at the pier.

[madforcruising]

From the press release I never would have even thought that the EXPRESS PASS will eliminate the cruise docs and I doubt that this will happen.

 

I think that we will receive our cruise docs as before, be it the booklet or the edocs. I doubt that the XPRESS PASS will ahve influence on this one.

 

I for one already know I will receive edocs like on my previous cruises as my TA uses edcos. This is fine for me and I like them much better than the booklet.

 

However I never stand at the pier filling out luggage tags. I just print them off from my edocs, laminate them and attach them to my luggage.

Just works fine for me and no delay in luggage delivery. Even had my luggage delivered already on my last cruise when I got to my cabin at 01:00pm.

[MortgageChick]

Just printed the xpress pass for sept 16 cruise on Summit. Very easy, did not have to to print the contract either. We are disembarking from Vancouver, so hopefully will make things faster for us.

[Greselda]

Madforcruising:

 

OK, before I take this and throw it out the window, I thought I would ask you because it seemed to work for you. We are completely paid for this trip, we have all the docs filled out properly, and we got to what we thought was the end of #2, clicked on a highlighted accept and continue, and viola! it sends us to a page showing that we have not accepted....BUT WE DID, OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!!!

No matter what I have tried, ie, internet explorer as the browser on a pc, (we normally only use Opera), it still has us in a loop.

 

My question now is, since we have done the online docs, and we are in CC class, could this be overkill for embarkation or should I give them a call??

 

thanks mooooochly,

Greselda :)

[dmellis]

You need to scroll down through the terms and conditions or contract(not sure what it's called) so the computer thinks you have read this part. Atleast i think this is the problem.

[moai]

I did my online docs a long time ago, and I already have my docs for my 8/6 cruise.

But after reading this thread and learning about this new feature, I went back to my reservation to print the Xpress pass. But before I could do that, I had to enter the credit card info that I hadn't done yet and accept the terms and conditions for everyone (4) on my reservation.

We sail in two weeks; I will let you know if this Xpress pass makes any difference in the check in process. :)

[madforcruising]

Madforcruising:

 

OK, before I take this and throw it out the window, I thought I would ask you because it seemed to work for you. We are completely paid for this trip, we have all the docs filled out properly, and we got to what we thought was the end of #2, clicked on a highlighted accept and continue, and viola! it sends us to a page showing that we have not accepted....BUT WE DID, OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!!!

No matter what I have tried, ie, internet explorer as the browser on a pc, (we normally only use Opera), it still has us in a loop.

 

My question now is, since we have done the online docs, and we are in CC class, could this be overkill for embarkation or should I give them a call??

 

thanks mooooochly,

Greselda :)

 

 

Well I have paid in full too, am in a CC class too and had done the online documentation before too.

 

So I don´t think that´s the problem. You have to scroll to the end of the contract, so the accept button will highlight (I use Internet Explorer). You also have to check the boxes in front of the Names you will accept the cruise contract for.