New to Celebrity

[Purples]

We have just booked a Celebrity cruise - previously cruised Princess. Keen to experience the differences. On booking they have added the service charge tips - is there a choice in this? Princess add them daily. Also have not been offered the choice of a possible upgrade - is that a feature they offer somewhere?

It is the Century we are going on - any hints or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[rkmw]

We have just booked a Celebrity cruise - previously cruised Princess. Keen to experience the differences. On booking they have added the service charge tips - is there a choice in this? Princess add them daily. Also have not been offered the choice of a possible upgrade - is that a feature they offer somewhere?

It is the Century we are going on - any hints or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

if you wish to receive a possible upgrade you would have to contact your booking agent and they would have to tick the box but remember an upgrade can give you a lousy location so if you dont care where you sleep go for it

 

princess australia include the tips in with the fare if booking with a local agent but the US ships are extra....its to help the crew with their wages

[MicCanberra]

Welcome to Cruise Critic and welcome to Celebrity. I am sure you will notice some differences between the two lines. Some things you will like and others not, but they are more similar than different.

 

Join the rollcall (if any) and start reading the forums to collect info. If you have any queries, either ask here or in the Celebrity forum. Good luck and enjoy.:D

[The_Big_M]

Aside from the above, upgrades are rare on Celebrity. They do happen - but it's very rare. Best chance is if you have a guarantee, but there aren't many currently available on Century (they only sell those in certain situations).

 

Best recommendation is to find a cabin you like, without expectations, or if you want to try your luck find a sailing with guarantees open and book one of them.

 

Also, by pre-paying tips you are able to book MyTime Dining. You don't have that option if you haven't prepaid, so there may not be fixed times left on your sailing.

[MicCanberra]

I prefer to dine Select which means prepaid gratuities, however, even if I was dining Traditional, I would still prepay. I find it easier to pay for things earlier than on the last day of the cruise.:D

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

We've cruised on Celebrity Century before. Nice ship, quite understated, not glitsy and colourful but elegant. Very intimate feeling about the ship. Dining is excellent on board on all Celebrity ships.

Go to the Celebrity website and you should be able to access your booking if you have your reservation number. You may have to sign up to Celebrity first if you haven't alread done so. There a huge amount of information about the ship and your cruise and cabin in your reservation.

Don't forget to join their Captains Club once you're on board, their sister company is Royal Caribbean and you can transfer your loyalty across when you book a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Jill :)

Edited June 20, 2014 by Gold Coast Cruisers

[lizzy77]

We love Celebrity:) We were Princess cruisers and I have to say Celebrity in our opinion outdoes Princess. We love having a couch compared to a chair on Princess and we have loved the food and service. Just booked another Celebrity cruise for next March and when they throw in the drink package it saves us heaps:D

[MicCanberra]

We love Celebrity:) We were Princess cruisers and I have to say Celebrity in our opinion outdoes Princess. We love having a couch compared to a chair on Princess and we have loved the food and service. Just booked another Celebrity cruise for next March and when they throw in the drink package it saves us heaps:D

 

It is great having a choice between the two lines, let the competition for my custom begin.:D

[cruisin-m]

We have just booked a Celebrity cruise - previously cruised Princess. Keen to experience the differences. On booking they have added the service charge tips - is there a choice in this? Princess add them daily. Also have not been offered the choice of a possible upgrade - is that a feature they offer somewhere?

It is the Century we are going on - any hints or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

On Celebrity the tipping is an essential part of the cruise... it is expected and even if you opt out of the prepaid tipping $12US gets added to your account every day and to get this removed you would have to go to guest relations and explain who was giving you bad service and why you want to take it away from them.

 

Basically just factor the tips into the total of the cruise and in that regard I find prepaid is best because you can forget about having to worry about tipping people and it's done for you:)

 

Both of these lines are similar but different :p You will notice things you like better on each line but best advice is not to compare them because Celebrity does some things better than Princess that if you get caught up comparing it to Princess you probably won't notice! :rolleyes: