Buyer's Choice Cruises by Big Box Store

[cruisestitch]

will try to take a picture and post, but my last bridge tour invitation (Eclipse, July 2015) read:

 

Please bring your Celebrity Sea Pass card together with a photo id

Bridge tours are highly restricted and not transferable

Please keep this personal invitation confidential

[cruisestitch]

Hope this is legible

[Gordoncruickshank]

NOTHING like this. It takes all of 15 minutes.

 

Gather in MDR, chef does a brief talk abbot how much food used, number if meals served etc. Then group walks thru the MDR kitchen, it's a U shaped tour, see the salads get plated, see the meat cooking see the dishwasher and back to the dining room. There was a glass of sparkling wine offered on arrival.

 

No lessons or food tasting.

 

I do think there MAY be a version you can pay to go on, that includes Lunch in a specialty restaurant sometimes.

 

Princess seem to do some of these things better. We have done bridge visits on both and quite frankly the Celebrity one was a waste of time. You were only allowed in a small area and the rest was roped off. On the Princess one you could walk throughout the bridge area and particularly over the window in the floor that allows them to look straight down.

 

I dont think I would go back on a Celebrity one after being disappointed with the last one.

[cle-guy]

Princess seem to do some of these things better. We have done bridge visits on both and quite frankly the Celebrity one was a waste of time. You were only allowed in a small area and the rest was roped off. On the Princess one you could walk throughout the bridge area and particularly over the window in the floor that allows them to look straight down.

 

I dont think I would go back on a Celebrity one after being disappointed with the last one.

 

I; ve stood on the glass floor on X ships, on Connie and Eclipse and Summit. Even took pictures thru the glass.

 

There were no ropes to be seen.

[cle-guy]

The invitation distinctively says not to mention it to anybody, so you had the moxie to do it anyway? Imagine if everyone did that? :rolleyes:

 

Yes I did, and the staff didn't care, didn't suggest I couldn't didn't say no, didn't take me to the brig. They simply wrote a name in a piece of paper and issued a sticker. If they were "strict" on the policy they would have simply said "Oh, I'm so sorry, this is an invitation only event we are simply unable to accommodate you". That they don't just means they are attempting to make sure the group doesn't become unmanageable, and that it has little to nothing to do with actual "security" - otherwise they are failing in instituting their own "strict security" policy.

 

 

I've had the moxie to ask for 2 bottles of water at a time when though the rules say I have to wait between drinks on a package. Same with bottled beer.

 

I often follow the "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" philosophy.

 

Fortunately the law of averages shows that everyone will never do everything, so I don't consider it anything wrong.

 

It's not like they have to do background security checks, we are all in a confined space, and have been vetted by customs and immigration already

 

I go in excess of the speed limit sometimes. And i've done "rolling stops" at stop signs.

 

I have shown up at the pier prior to my assigned boarding time, even though cruise documents say not to.

 

I have invited friends to join me in the VIP check in lines who travel with me.

 

I have sent laundry out without a coupon, had it returned with no charge, and never told the front desk to bill me for it.

 

I have shared drinks with non-elite members at captain's club events. I have shared my casino match play coupons with other guests.

 

Maybe this all makes me a terrible, bad person. feel free to pass judgement, it's OK. My conscience is fine.

 

End of the day, I'm an operations guy, I observe the operations and processes of businesses to learn best practices. In this case, they have not instituted a strict process to control access, and that's not my problem.

Edited August 3, 2015 by cle-guy

[cruisestitch]

All of that is ok for you, but probably shouldn't be the basis of advice for others. :)

 

"It's ok to do rolling stops, nobody cares":eek:

"It's ok to speed on the highway, nobody cares":eek:

[CruisingChick]

 

I often follow the "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" philosophy.

 

 

So then using your philosophy it's okay for me to enjoy sail away from the Helipad even though only suite guests are invited and we are in a lowly inside cabin.

 

Plus our favorite bar server always tells us to come up, so that's sort of an invitation, isn't' it?

[cle-guy]

So then using your philosophy it's okay for me to enjoy sail away from the Helipad even though only suite guests are invited and we are in a lowly inside cabin.

 

Plus our favorite bar server always tells us to come up, so that's sort of an invitation, isn't' it?

 

Short answer, yes.

 

I've been in a suite and not had a helipad invitation; likewise I've been in a lowly inside cabin and received a helipad invitation.

 

And yes, when invited, I have also invited friends to come. And again, Celebrity did not care.

[Gordoncruickshank]

I; ve stood on the glass floor on X ships, on Connie and Eclipse and Summit. Even took pictures thru the glass.

 

 

 

There were no ropes to be seen.

 

 

We did the bridge tour in March on the Eclipse and we were only allowed in a small area of the bridge. The left hand side looking forward was all we had access to.

[Wine-O]

So then using your philosophy it's okay for me to enjoy sail away from the Helipad even though only suite guests are invited and we are in a lowly inside cabin.

 

Plus our favorite bar server always tells us to come up, so that's sort of an invitation, isn't' it?

 

I was sailing with friends in a RS who got invited to the helipad for a sailaway. They told us to come up with them, and I declined -- it wasn't my place to invite myself to an event I wasn't invited to. ;)

[CruisingChick]

I was sailing with friends in a RS who got invited to the helipad for a sailaway. They told us to come up with them, and I declined -- it wasn't my place to invite myself to an event I wasn't invited to. ;)

 

Oh I agree. Even though one of the bar servers who we have become friendly with told us to come up, we declined. Not our place as we were not officially invited.

[Janet987]

We did the bridge tour in March on the Eclipse and we were only allowed in a small area of the bridge. The left hand side looking forward was all we had access to.

 

I have been on a number of bridge tours when my DH or DD is with me. On a rare occasion, it was offered at CC Connections; if not, I politely requested a tour at guest services, how this would "make the cruise" for them and later received invitations. We have asked the hostess at an Elite function for the Engine Room tour (see the control room, not the actual engine room) and had an interesting and quite long visit. The tours have varied widely depending which "low man on the totem pole" on the bridge that day:) is picked to lead it and how comfortable he is with English. A young American from Mass Maritime was relaxed and chatted with us who know the Cape and just described whatever we asked about; a young Norwegian engineer with perfect English spent almost all of a well-structured tour out in the wing with the glass floor, explaining every single button and switch and radar view on that secondary control panel in great detail. A few Greek engineers were not as outgoing and at ease in English, some were delightfully funny and gave great tours like the one in the Engine Room. It also depends on the captain on duty, some let us in the central main control panel area at the "wheel", some not.

We were surprised on our 25th anniversary cruise with a helipad invite, and I then requested one for another cruise with DD. Drinks are served, and the host has planned those based on invites. It would be similar to crashing any other private function on the ship and not something I would do without an invite.

Edited August 3, 2015 by Janet987

[WestLakeGirl]

We cannot imagine pushing in to events we are not invited to, nor asking others to accompany us to special events without asking permission first. Just showing up with extra people is the height of rudeness

[cadburysmom]

I vote we take Cle-guy out and beat him with a wet noodle!:p;)

 

Oh please, folks, give the guy a break...nobody here is perfect.

 

If you don't already know, Cle-guy has always been an excellent source of information here on Cruise Critic and onboard ship he kindly opens his PH suites to fellow Cruise Critic members. I know this to be true because one of my favorite memories from an Eclipse TA was his cocktail party up there.

 

Enough of the flaming...time to move along...

Edited August 3, 2015 by cadburysmom