The_Big_M

More proof of them 'discounting' cruises as much as they did in Australia - yet that was used as the excuse by some as to why they had to leave Australia.

Each time I've been there, there have been local activity operators selling options straight after you get off the tender, just as you enter the island. Not sure how big the ship is, but being tenders it may take some time for you to get off the ship, in which case the more 'popular' tours may be gone by the time you get there. e.g. Often the dune buggy tours are sold out. So I'd say you very will likely have some tour options on the island. But if you are selective/have a strong preference what you want to do, you are best off getting off as early as you can for the best selection.

They don't mind if you bid or not, but they're not going to second guess you and exclude you from bidding on higher categories - there's nothing to gain, and of course possibility of loss for them if you had have been interested but were falsely excluded. So as long as you qualify, you get the offer. Many others who had booked your cabin would be fine to upgrade. So even though your situation prefers having the extra bedroom, it's an option for those who don't - without them guessing as to who might not want it.

For the deposit you should contact them. If you booked direct you should be able to get it fairly quickly, but if you went through a TA then it will take longer, and may involve fun and games with them as some of them make refunds difficult. (They shouldn't - but some do.) As for the travel insurance, contact your insurer - they may likely be able to transfer it to another cruise when you explain the situation.

Yes, coffee and alcoholic drinks are reasonable. As said, it's just the juices/non-alcoholic drinks which are ridiculously overpriced.

Maybe to pay for the overpriced juices, or coffees/teas?

Then that says more about corporate ethics than whether it's the right thing to do. We're all adults - in fact, they make it that way by not accepting children - so how about treating us like that and being upfront with us instead of lying, so you never know what's true or not?

Others have a more traditional base -most started before apps existed, so keep more of the old methods. Whereas Virgin is a very new cruise line, and came up with new ways to do things, without ever adopting the old ways. Hence, others still have more traditional methods instead of only the new app way. I see where VV was going, and it makes sense - but there are some big flaws. Unfortunately on the very first day of my cruise with VV, there was some server failure - so you couldn't even see the bookings I'd made for that day - but other days appeared. And I wasn't 100% sure of the time of my restaurant booking - and they don't send you any confirmations or any other records when you make a booking (unlike other lines). So there was no way to see what booking I had - it appeared I had none, so though it had been accidentally deleted. But I knew all restaurants were completely booked out, and they also told you if you weren't there in 15 minutes then tough, your reservation was gone. So there was a bit of a panic. So I called guest services. They couldn't help either. But they said go to the maitre d in Razzle dazzle. So I went there - they'd closed (early), and said they also couldn't help. But said "there'd been some reports of problems - just go and see how you go". Great - aside from wasting the time and giving a lot of stress, there was no resolution. Anyway, I went to the restaurant and time I thought I had booked - slightly earlier to be a bit safe. The maitre d' there could see the booking and said all was fine... But it's not a great way to run things.

Not only the above, but also the fitness classes have to be booked through it. Plus it's where you get primary visibilty of the schedule since they don't distribute them directly either. They do have printed copies in a few locations, but you'd have to make a trip there to get them. So yes, it is a pain, and is glitchy - but the cruise operations are based around it, so without it you will have a tough time.

It could be added, just as Azamara used to be. Much simpler than the speculation about having a single program for all.

Which then means one cruise on Silversea and you're immediate Diamond on RCL. As said previously, the question as asked was silly as they already have that loyalty transfer between programs. And trying to broaden it to a unified scheme makes no sense for multiple reasons, and doesn't have any signficant benefit.

No need to go back to the hotel. Check out when you prefer, take your bags to the terminal and just before the entrance is the place to drop them off. It will be open when you arrive and they will take them then. Then, if you're too early you can spend time around Circular Quay and the Rocks while you wait, but you should be able to board from 11-11:30, dependent on successful clearance of the arriving passengers.

Virgin voyages: "We just want somebody's credit card we can charge."

Not defending the situation, or Celebrity's handling of the process. However, the reason given still is possible and potentially plausible. It doesn't have to be that it was a Penthouse Guarantee, but they may have sold any intermediate grades between Celebrity and a Penthouse as well, as a guarantee. e.g. a Royal Suite guarantee. In this case, they still couldn't assign that passenger booking to your Celebrity suite, so the only 'spare' one may be the Penthouse. It may even be that there had been an additional Royal suite when booked, but it became unserviceable for whatever reason. That would also do away with the speculation about them being a VIP - anyone could have booked that.

Their bidding is to maximise revenue. They seem to place minimum bids based on similar amounts to the cost of the cabin. This is likely as they are sailing full on most sailings so there aren't a lot of empty cabins to fill in any case, and so the few if any available can be sold to those who have had a change of circumstances .e.g had a subsequent bonus, or extra cash now available for upgrade, or just the psychological separation between the upfront cost and the upsell (e.g. it's only x more, disregarding costs alread paid) or just availability when they booked i.e. they want that cabin type but it wasn't available when booked.