Any Perks for booking a B2B

[canderson]

Sorry.  I thought when specifically mentioned your B2B that you were asking about the B2B specific case of testing positive between legs.

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

37 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

@LuvCruzn4Evr  Did Celebrity assist with your travel?   I know if you test positive they provide travel home.  I'm on a B2B in a couple of weeks and am aware this situation can and has happened so I am wondering how it was handled.  May impact if I fly or drive to the port as well.

Yes, the concierge rearranged our flight home. With that being said, we could have easily done it ourselves and not had to haggle with trading seats on the plane in order to sit together as it took them longer to do it than it would have taken us.

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

20 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

@canderson

 

I'm aware but they explicitly state it "if you test positive".    In this case they were close contacts, tested negative with 2 tests but were still asked to leave the ship prematurely.   

 

Other cases I've read about, close contacts were confined to their stateroom until their negative test was completed then they were allowed to freely complete their cruise with no restrictions or even a disembarkation test to confirm they are not positive before traveling home.

 

Just doesn't seem like consistent policy to me.  Hoping they were treated well.

Their policy is very inconsistent and a big learning curve it seems. We were not treated well. They told  me on 8/13 if his 2nd test was negative, our subsequent sailing would be okay, and told me the same again in the morning of 8/14 when I asked again.. They called us at 2:30pm on 8/14 and told us no, we could not stay on due to being a close contact. They called awakening us at 11:32pm on 8/14 saying we could . They called again awakening us at 6:30am on 8/15 saying we could not stay on due to being a close contact and that they had made a mistake last evening. I am very, very upset to say the least.  

Edited August 21, 2021 by LuvCruzn4Evr
typo

[canderson]

11 minutes ago, LuvCruzn4Evr said:

Yes, the concierge rearranged our flight home. With that being said, we could have easily done it ourselves and not had to haggle with trading seats on the plane in order to sit together as it took them longer to do it than it would have taken us.

Did they explain why disembarkation vs. a couple of days quarantine?

[fstuff1]

On 8/19/2021 at 1:30 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Pre-Covid they use to also have a raffle at the B2B meeting and gave away Laundry Bag Coupons,  Specialty Dinner, Internet and Bottles of wine .    This isn't done on all ships nor all of the time.

 

We won the Murano's dinner for 2.  

 

dont remember this being done for my b2b on Silhouette in Nov 2019. 😞

 

[fstuff1]

On 8/19/2021 at 10:28 PM, miched said:

The perks are if you are in the same cabin for both cruises you don’t have to pack up the night before and no rush the next morn to have breakfast.

 

The biggest perk is you get to attend 2 YES  2 Muster Drills 🤗

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

lucked out that the sunset veranda for my 12day sept 2021 cruise was still available for the cruise before it.

it was the only Sunset veranda left. 😮

 

i booked it last week.

a higher power was telling me to do a b2b 🙂

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by fstuff1

[wrk2cruise]

23 minutes ago, LuvCruzn4Evr said:

Their policy is very inconsistent and a big learning curve it seems. We were not treated well. They told  me on 8/13 if his 2nd test was negative, our subsequent sailing would be okay, and told me the same again in the morning of 8/14 when I asked again.. They called us at 2:30pm on 8/14 and told us no, we could not stay on due to being a close contact. They called awakening us at 11:32pm on 8/14 saying we could . They called again awakening us at 6:30am on 8/15 saying we could not stay on due to being a close contact and that they had made a mistake last evening. I am very, very upset to say the least.  

 

I hope you are in contact with higher ups at Celebrity.   It certainly sounds like this wasn't handled well at all.  Hopefully they do something to make it up to you.

 

To me it's troubling that they didn't find it safe enough to allow you to stay aboard yet plenty safe to put you on public transport (airplane) home.

 

I do appreciate your response to me here as I like to be an informed traveler.

[OnTheJourney]

Can't speak for "perks", but...it sure is fun! You get to watch some of the sad faces leaving the ship after the first leg of the B2B. Makes looking forward to the second (or more?) week(s) even more enjoyable. 

[davekathy]

We've always had an invitation for a TAD lunch. Most of the time in the MDR. We usually book our future cruises (which include B2B cruises) while on board. We do this as soon as the future cruise desk(s) open up. When doing this early we have always received a bottle of wine(your choice of red or white) for booking which is sent to our stateroom with a thank you note from the FCC and the invoices for our future cruises. Also the B2B discounts. When we book future RC cruises while on our Celebrity cruise no wine or B2B discounts passed along from RC but receive OBCs from RC. $100.00 OBC per leg for booking early. I always tell the FCC do not transfer our bookings to the TA of record. Keep them with Celerity or RC. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by davekathy

[davekathy]

8 hours ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

I noticed that all the posters that included their location are in the US.

 

Is the B2B benefit we are discussing for US pax only? There are some 'benefits' that are universal and some not. If this benefit is also due to UK passengers then I am owed thousands - and so unlikely to get it I am not even going to raise it. New bookings going forward I would raise it but in my opinion the GSAs for the UK are least trained and tend to 'make things up' as they go along.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

Ask. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

2 hours ago, canderson said:

Did they explain why disembarkation vs. a couple of days quarantine?

No. They said due to the questions on the health survey, we could not stay on because he'd have to answer 'yes' that he was a close contact within the last 14 days.

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

2 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

I hope you are in contact with higher ups at Celebrity.   It certainly sounds like this wasn't handled well at all.  Hopefully they do something to make it up to you.

 

To me it's troubling that they didn't find it safe enough to allow you to stay aboard yet plenty safe to put you on public transport (airplane) home.

 

I do appreciate your response to me here as I like to be an informed traveler.

I want all of you who are able to do b2b sailings to stay safe. In hindsight we never should have allowed Celebrity to put us into a situation that was going to keep us from sailing on a subsequent sailing. We should have left the dining room immediately when other guests were seated too close for our comfort. And yes, it is troubling they didn't find it safe enough to allow us to stay aboard yet plenty safe to for us to fly home as hubby could have been (possibly can be still as can take 14 days) asymptomatic. He is not showing any signs and we are thankful and blessed for that.

 

I know this is not what this topic was intended to be about but I felt it necessary to say something about our situation. I say to everyone who has b2b sailings, please be careful, stay safe and do your upmost best to not be within 6ft of anyone for 15 mins or longer. It could end up being a big nightmare and totally ruin your vacation.    

[jg51]

21 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

... We have never had the B2B discount applied to the reservation a week later. 

 

If you book onboard with a future cruise sales person the discount is applied immediately (before the booking is transferred to a preferred TA).  

 

If you book with a Celebrity vacation planner the discount again is applied immediately.  [emphasis added by jg51]

 

And if book directly with your TA it is applied immediately, although some TAs may need to be reminded about the discount.  And the legs do not have to be booked at the same time for the discount to apply.

 

8 hours ago, Glendakayself said:

In our experience, the B2B discounts have to be requested. When we booked our 2022 B2B and requested the discount, the booking agent had to ask his supervisor if there was a B2B discount. At that time, we were told that it would not appear for 30 days. [emphasis added by jg51]

My old-fashioned OCD brain likes to have everything confirmed in print, so after 30 days I called and received an updated invoices showing the discount. 

.

Thank you, "Glendakayself," for confirming what we stated earlier in this thread -- namely, that, when working with a Vacation Planner, there is usually a delay in the posting of a back-to-back discount (after which a new "edition" of the invoices is made available to us).

 

In six of our seven Celebrity back-to-backs, there was this kind of delay in the application of the discounts.  The only time there was no delay was when we booked consecutive cruises,  less than three weeks before the first embarkation day.  In that case, the Celebrity Vacation Planner [VP] was authorized to deduct the applicable discounts (100 + 50) immediately, because we were in the midst of immediately paying, in full, for both cruises, over the phone.  [Even then, however, the first (and only) edition of the invoices showed balances due of 100 and 50, respectively -- which the VP (correctly) assured us would vanish after the accountants would work on the case in the near future.]

Edited August 21, 2021 by jg51

[Northern Aurora]

4 minutes ago, jg51 said:

 

.

....

 

In six of our seven Celebrity back-to-backs, there was this kind of delay in the application of the discounts.  ...

 

 

My husband and I have done many more than seven B2B cruises on Celebrity, and we have never had a delay in receiving the B2B discount.

[Gen X Life]

On 8/19/2021 at 11:44 AM, canderson said:

Amount of B2B discount varies with length of each leg.  Would have to look at a recent invoice to be sure of the exact time/$.  Here's a post with $ information, but from more than a year ago: https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2508500-b2b-discount/?do=findComment&comment=59973660  If you don't see that discount on your invoice, be sure to ask X or your TA to be sure it is included.

 

Not sure if they're still doing it, but they also used to provide a special lunch (away from the crowds) lunch for their B2B guests.

 

B2B guests have also traditionally met together early the morning of the turn, been escorted through the re-boarding procedure, and back to the ship.  The B2B group will be the first ones aboard.  Has traditionally taken 10-20 minutes, and then you're back to your cabin.

 

You should receive instructions left in your cabin beforehand that will provide the meeting and other information.

 

Best perk... sitting out on deck and watching those suitcases roll away only to realize that you're just beginning leg #2!

 

 

 

Thank you for this info!

 

[jg51]

9 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

My husband and I have done many more than seven B2B cruises on Celebrity, and we have never had a delay in receiving the B2B discount.

.

As already explained three times (by two people), when one is working with a Celebrity Certified Vacation Planner [CCVP] prior to the "final-payment date" [90 days before E-Day?], there most certainly will be a delay in the official posting of the back-to-back discounts.

 

If someone "never had a delay," then he/she/they never booked a cruise by working with a CCVP prior to final-payment date. 

 

It follows logically that, if someone claims to have worked with a CCVP prior to final-payment date, then he/she/they did experience a delay, but somehow did not become aware of it (or does not now recall events accurately).

.

Edited August 21, 2021 by jg51

[phoenix_dream]

Financially the perks are a small discount on each cruise, which I've always had to ask for.

 

I have been on some B2B where they did raffle off a specialty dinner and/or bottle of wine - and others nothing.

 

I have been on some B2B where they invited us to a nice luncheon, and on others where it was not mentioned but when i asked they said yes (which I thought was pretty confusing).

 

Whether you need to disembark or not depends on the regulations of the country from which you are sailing - not Celebrity's decision.  It is really not that big a deal at all.  You have the option to go ashore in which case you will have a specific process to follow.

 

The biggest perk is relaxing the night before knowing you have another week (or more?) of your vacation!!

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

My husband and I have done many more than seven B2B cruises on Celebrity, and we have never had a delay in receiving the B2B discount.

Agree. Ours B2B discounts have always been applied to the bookings the moment we booked the cruises. 

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, jg51 said:

.

As already explained three times (by two people), when one is working with a Celebrity Certified Vacation Planner [CCVP] prior to the "final-payment date" [90 days before E-Day?], there most certainly will be a delay in the official posting of the back-to-back discounts.

 

If someone "never had a delay," then he/she/they never booked a cruise by working with a CCVP prior to final-payment date. 

 

It follows logically that, if someone claims to have worked with a CCVP prior to final-payment date, then he/she/they did experience a delay, but somehow did not become aware of it (or does not now recall events accurately).

.

Disagree. I have in the past and currently have and the B2B discounts were applied immediately.

Invoices have always showed it. Plus I have a fantastic memory and my claim is 100%accurate. 

 

Are you speaking from own personal experiences? If so, bummer. 

 

 

 

 

[phoenix_dream]

27 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Agree. Ours B2B discounts have always been applied to the bookings the moment we booked the cruises. 

Not ours. We use a TA and we’ve always had to remind them to do it. Maybe booking direct is different.

[LGW59]

37 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Disagree. I have in the past and currently have and the B2B discounts were applied immediately.

Invoices have always showed it. Plus I have a fantastic memory and my claim is 100%accurate. 

 

Are you speaking from own personal experiences? If so, bummer. 

 

 

 

 

Yes mine was also applied immediately at time of me direct booking with Celebrity.  Just went back and checked my confirmation from last year, it’s there.  Glad I could “recall “ correctly.

 

[davekathy]

45 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Not ours. We use a TA and we’ve always had to remind them to do it. Maybe booking direct is different.

When first booking or what is posted in #41(delayed)?  My comment was in regards to B2B discount being delayed. Never had that happen with a TA (brick and mortar or online TA) or directly with Celebrity or RC.  As soon as I get the invoices that shows the balance owed the B2B  discounts always shows for both legs. 

Edited August 22, 2021 by davekathy

[Birdnutty]

In Jan 2021, I booked a B2B (7 days each) on the Apex for Feb 2022 with one of those huge popular TA's. It's got a brick & mortar address, but I think only reserves over the internet. They had a good sale going on, and decent perks on top of Celebrity's.  But I was not aware of any B2B discount, so I didn't know to ask for any.  On your invoice, is there a special code signifying that it's a B2B discount, or is it just listed as a discount?  And, it's a reduction of cruise fare, not OBC, correct?

 

Once I have my facts in a row I'll have to call on Monday and try to get it fixed.  

Edited August 22, 2021 by Birdnutty
clarification

[wrk2cruise]

It is listed as a discount on the cruise fare taken off of 1 passenger.

[davekathy]

@Birdnuttyalso the B2B discounts are for each leg of the B2B bookings. Not just one leg of the B2B bookings.  

Edited August 22, 2021 by davekathy