Currently on the Edge in the Retreat and being told we do not have a drinks package?

[zitsky]

56 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

Not everyone books standard fares.
 

There are casino rates, military rates, travel agent rates, resident discounted rates, Captains Club rates, etc. Each rate code is different and comes with unique features.
 

For example I booked on the phone a guarantee suite casino rate on Beyond.
Usually guarantee rates are simply sail with nothing included yet mine had A.I. 

 

It took me a long time to understand what my booking confirmation meant and I had to verify the codes several times over the phone because my online booking afterwards implied I had nothing included since I was being offered a beverage package at full price in my cruise planner.

 

It may not be confusing for a simple booking but all bookings are not simple. 

So it was calling and talking to a real person that confirmed you did have AI???  
 

I think some people are too timid.  TA said “XYZ” so it must be right.  They don’t take the time to confirm anything.

Edited February 23, 2022 by zitsky

[mfs2k]

1 minute ago, zitsky said:

So it was calling and talking to a real person that confirmed you did have AI???  

I had to call several times (and emailed too, but that got no response).  I was reassured I had AI

 

The confusion for me was as follows

1. The codes are not explicitly clear. They appeared to be reversed on my Booking confirmation so did I get them and then they took them off in error?  I wasn't 100% sure.  
2. BEVPRINGRAT9 I see BEV so I assume that's the Beverage package, and the letters PR so I guess that's Premium, but what is INGRAT9?  are they saying Im an ingrate?  Perhaps.  One can only guess what the person creating the booking code was thinking.
3. INTERNETCHG AND INTERNETSAV  Which internet package is this?  (9 night cruise)  That's $22.1111 per night.  Do they calculate internet based on 10 days?  I don't need it while in port when we disembark.  There's cell service in Fort Lauderdale.  Do I have slow medium or fast internet if I'm in a suite? 
4. Lastly, the infamous cruise planner which, after logging in and clicking on "Already Booked" offers me beverage packages implying I don't have one already.  I did use the cruise planner to reserve specialty restaurants.  Thankfully, posters on CC told me to ignore the website because it's consistently wrong for many reservations.  Do guests who are not reading cruise critic obsessively like me know the beverage and wifi screens for them are wrong but the restaurant booking screens are right?  Doubtful.
5. For those who say it's not confusing, I'm happy for you...  It took me a while to be reassured I have everything I want.

 

[RichYak]

8 hours ago, markeb said:

With AI, there are, or were, Retreat bookings that didn’t come with everything. Kind of like booking a first class flight and not getting free drinks. Kind of weird. I honestly don’t know if you can book a Retreat cabin without a Retreat package!

You can absolutely book a Retreat cabin without any perks.

[JamieLogical]

34 minutes ago, canderson said:

It might allay a few fears if the Cruise Planner didn't offer inapplicable packages and upgrades.  The piss poor inability of the existing system to create Cruise Planner offers that properly correspond to the existing booking is inexcusable.  Being offered the opportunity to purchase or upgrade to a package already covered in the booking creates a great deal of unnecessary concern.

 

Worse, it's not even a matter of tying offers to promotions.  When sailing in a RS, we are offered beverage packages, internet packages, and multi-meal specialty dining packages that are already built into the fare.  If it wouldn't likely take hours to unwind, it would be tempting to add one of these items using the Planner just to see how X deals with it.

 

I can only imagine how the full spread of offers must look to someone who isn't already 100% confident that their booking includes perks that they believe they already have.

 

I 100% agree with this. The first time I booked with Celebrity, I had AI, but the Cruise Planner utterly confused me. I didn't see an option for upgrading from Classic to Premium (that took about 10 days to show up) and even once it did show up, I still saw all the full price beverage plans as well. I was so concerned that I live chatted with Celebrity AND emailed my Celebrity Vacation Planner. As a web developer, I can't imagine why/how it would be that difficult to exclude offers that are already included in the booking.

[Bo1953]

19 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Anyone who does not do exactly you state here, is their own worst enemy.  Whether I book directly with Celebrity or my TA, I NEVER get off the phone until I have received my email confirmation, which I then review with them line by line.  Too many people it seems, do not make the time to do this, and then they end up here looking for cheese to go with their whine.

Just as long as it is a good Bordeaux or Cali Blend, then I Am fine.... LOL

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[mfs2k]

oh yeah, 

 

 

I'm booked in a suite with Luminae as my dining room, but the website says I have Traditional Dining at 8:30PM.  Wrong

As an avid cruise critic reader, I know to ignore this.  Thank you cruise critic members. 

 

Most cruise passengers are not avid cruise critic readers.  This is silly.  Celebrity has known about this problem for a long long time.  Fix it. 

 

I bet many reservation agents are wasting time answering calls for clarification.  That time would be better spent (and more profitable) taking reservations.

 

[PTC DAWG]

Just now, mfs2k said:

oh yeah, 

 

 

I'm booked in a suite with Luminae as my dining room, but the website says I have Traditional Dining at 8:30PM.  Wrong

As an avid cruise critic reader, I know to ignore this.  Thank you cruise critic members. 

 

Most cruise passengers are not avid cruise critic readers.  This is silly.  Celebrity has known about this problem for a long long time.  Fix it. 

 

I bet many reservation agents are wasting time answering calls for clarification.  That time would be better spent (and more profitable) taking reservations.

 

I would think someone would just think they show up at 8:30 and dine in the suite dining room.  Or maybe ask on board...

[mfs2k]

Just now, PTC DAWG said:

I would think someone would just think they show up at 8:30 and dine in the suite dining room.  Or maybe ask on board...

 

Is it that hard to get it right on the website?  

[zitsky]

We need to spread the message about the Cruise Planner.  Don’t book something if it doesn’t make sense.  Call your TA, call Celebrity.  Ask a question here. 

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

Is it that hard to get it right on the website?  

Is it that hard to ask a question or call if something does not make sense to you?

[mfs2k]

6 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Is it that hard to ask a question or call if something does not make sense to you?

Maybe.  What's the current on-hold time to get through for an unnecessary question?  An hour? 

[publicpersona]

3 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Is it that hard to ask a question or call if something does not make sense to you?

 

I can speak directly to this. Yes, it is very hard. I attempted to call for assistance booking a shore excursion yesterday for an upcoming cruise (the excursion time shown when trying to book was not long before all aboard time for the port). It took several minutes of navigating a phone tree from hell, all the while being chastised about "Do you know you could do this on our website?". Then after an hour and 15 minutes on hold, I gave up.

 

[RickT]

Since the OP hasn’t come back to update us I wonder if they realized they made the mistake?  I do understand that to a newbie it can be difficult to understand what you are or are not booking and some of that blame goes to Celebrity but in many cases the facts are plain to see and we just don’t see them.

 

My take away from this thread is to always double and triple check everything you book.  
 

Safe travels!

[zitsky]

2 minutes ago, publicpersona said:

 

I can speak directly to this. Yes, it is very hard. I attempted to call for assistance booking a shore excursion yesterday for an upcoming cruise (the excursion time shown when trying to book was not long before all aboard time for the port). It took several minutes of navigating a phone tree from hell, all the while being chastised about "Do you know you could do this on our website?". Then after an hour and 15 minutes on hold, I gave up.

 

 

I know hold times are long.  What makes you book directly with Celebrity instead of a TA?

 

Have you ever successfully resolved a problem by calling in?

[Bo1953]

6 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

Maybe.  What's the current on-hold time to get through for an unnecessary question?  An hour? 

For me, seven (7) minutes max...

 

bon voyage

[LGW59]

22 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

Is it that hard to get it right on the website?  

It is right and has always been for me for booking, cancelled bookings etc, just need to take a bit of time and read, it is not rocket science

[terrydtx]

24 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

oh yeah, 

 

 

I'm booked in a suite with Luminae as my dining room, but the website says I have Traditional Dining at 8:30PM.  Wrong

As an avid cruise critic reader, I know to ignore this.  Thank you cruise critic members. 

 

Most cruise passengers are not avid cruise critic readers.  This is silly.  Celebrity has known about this problem for a long long time.  Fix it. 

 

I bet many reservation agents are wasting time answering calls for clarification.  That time would be better spent (and more profitable) taking reservations.

 

Our Sky Suite confirmation shows us with Select dining. 

[publicpersona]

Celebrity marketing clearly crosses the line between sales fluff and outright lying. To say something like "The best cruise ship on the high seas!" is marketing fluff. Saying "Always included every time. It's that simple." goes out of its way to tell a lie.

 

Side note to those who are saying "Just look at your booking confirmation". You don't get a booking confirmation until you've already committed in terms of cruise details and price. It's too late then. Depending on your TA, you may never get a booking confirmation from Celebrity. The TA I have used the last couple of years sends something on their letterhead and reformatted, looking nothing like the Celebrity confirmation. Definitely no booking codes shown.

[Bo1953]

2 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

It is right and has always been for me for booking, cancelled bookings etc, just need to take a bit of time and read, it is not rocket science

L for some of us it is similar to rocket science.... LOL

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[Bugsy1966]

20 hours ago, mfs2k said:

I just want to say one more thing on this topic.

 

It should NOT be this confusing for guests.  Clearly there are MANY people commenting on this thread who are confused.  

 

Guests should NOT have to interpret booking codes. The codes should be translated into

GuestSpeak on Booking confirmations and it should be very clear what you're getting.

 

You should know if your booking includes the slow, medium or fast internet.

You should know if you are getting the soda, cheap liquor, or good liquor packages.

You should know if tips are included and who you should be tipping in addition to the included tips.

You should know if your key will open the Retreat Deck door.

You should know what is NOT included.

And Celebrity should stop marketing "Always Included" if this stuff is not always included. 

 

Thanks for listening.

 

 

 

Absolutely spot on. Well said.

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, Bugsy1966 said:

 

Absolutely spot on. Well said.

After reading how many have such serious issues with their bookings, I have decided that I must be brilliant as I have never had any.  Now I will return, I need to go complete my application for Mensa.

[Bo1953]

10 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

After reading how many have such serious issues with their bookings, I have decided that I must be brilliant as I have never had any.  Now I will return, I need to go complete my application for Mensa.

LOL, as well, I must continue My application for NASA as an engineer...

 

bon voyage

[Bugsy1966]

5 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

After reading how many have such serious issues with their bookings, I have decided that I must be brilliant as I have never had any.  Now I will return, I need to go complete my application for Mensa.

 

I'm not entirely sure why you chose to quote my post to declare your brilliance but I have never had any issues with my bookings nor did my post suggest I had. Thus you might wish to quote someone else next time or, at least, find a post to quote that bears some relevance to what you are about to type.

 

For the record, I agreed (and still do) with mfs2k's post because I believe Celebrity should make their invoices much simpler for people to understand at a glance, especially for the benefit of either less experienced cruisers or perhaps those who might find them difficult to interpret for other reasons. It's not too much to ask surely? Hardly the stuff of Mensa to issue invoices in plain English rather than internal codes. That's simply lazy and/or poor IT.

[mfs2k]

3 minutes ago, Bugsy1966 said:

I'm not entirely sure why you chose to quote my post to declare your brilliance

 

I declare my brilliance as well.  Thanks for the invitation to do so.  haha.  

I am the master of my domain. 

[Bo1953]

13 minutes ago, Bugsy1966 said:

 

I'm not entirely sure why you chose to quote my post to declare your brilliance but I have never had any issues with my bookings nor did my post suggest I had. Thus you might wish to quote someone else next time or, at least, find a post to quote that bears some relevance to what you are about to type.

 

For the record, I agreed (and still do) with mfs2k's post because I believe Celebrity should make their invoices much simpler for people to understand at a glance, especially for the benefit of either less experienced cruisers or perhaps those who might find them difficult to interpret for other reasons. It's not too much to ask surely? Hardly the stuff of Mensa to issue invoices in plain English rather than internal codes. That's simply lazy and/or poor IT.

It is apparent to me, that you have missed OR not searched for the many posts (read: rants/complaints) over the years, here on CC, about X's IT department and resultant website and invoices and etc...  LOL

 

bon voyage