DonahCBrown

4 hours ago, jagoffee said:

 

Aloha,

 

if I researched correctly your cruise in the Royal Suite should be over.  I know your original booking did not include the Premium Drink package or the Streaming Internet.  
I am just curious if you cruised in a Royal Suite without those items?  At one time they used to be standard features of a Royal Suite.

 

Did you  enjoy your cruise?

No drinks package or streaming internet. Not sure that the streaming internet would have helped in Alaska, as there was barely even regular internet except in ports, where my iPhone hotspot worked just fine.  However, free access to all the specialty restaurants, which we took full advantage of, was an outstanding benefit - it almost offset the cost of the move up!  Was expecting at least 1 free laundry - as it turned out, not so.  I should have checked at guest services but the lines were so long and the cost was pretty minimal, so let it go.  Overall, enjoyed it, but, honestly, the service we got (largely due to our Retreat Host, Jamal) in the Sky Suite on the preceding cruise was better.  Did really enjoy the extra space, but other than the specialty restaurants and the bar set up, probably would be happy enough to stick with the Sky Suite, as that got us into Michael's, and the concierge services which we did use.  The jacuzzi on the balcony sounded good in theory, but Alaska in the spring was not conducive to trying it out in fact.  Cruise had other issues (barnacles, slow speed, reduced time in ports, cancelled excursions, etc. as well as a lot of Covid infections that were unacknowledged officially) so we stayed pretty low key, keeping our masks on, using public areas in 'off hours', eating early or late,  staying back in the theaters and away from folks as much as possible, passing on overfilled elevators.  We were disturbed that the ship never mandated masks when we were hearing about a lot of quarantined folks and hearing and seeing a lot of coughing etc. We'll test in a couple more days to see if we picked it up either on the cruise or elsewhere on our return travels.  Tested negative on last day of the cruise, at least. 

You folks are great!  Thanks for all the help to a Celebrity newbie.  Much appreciated - or as we say here in the islands, Mahalo Nut Loa!

Okay.  Got the official email and we got upgraded to a Royal Suite, from an original Suite guarantee booking.  Very happy, of course, but more questions.  I know we don’t get some of the goodies like extra credits for the cruise, and I think someone mentioned no premium drinks package which is no big deal to us, but there are a bunch of other perks for the Royal category like free laundry twice during our cruise and some kind of upgrade on the internet package, welcome champagne, etc.  Do we get those?

1 hour ago, mikewomb said:

I agree on the strong bid. I put mine in very early. I wanted a celebrity suite, and got one. Still total cost was 1/2 price of  what it would have been had I booked it to start with. 

As best I recall, for the Royal Suite on the Inside Passage, it was in the lower quartile of the yellow (fair) zone.  Certainly wasn't in the green zones. On the other hand, my bids on the upcoming one, the May 4 repositioning, where I really do want to move up to the suite category, my Sky Suite bid is mid-way in the light green (strong) zone, and for the Celebrity Suite, it is just over the line in the light green, but also in the strong zone.  Neither of those has been responded to at all - everything still showing pending.  Quite a mysterious process...

Okay - Celebrity newbie here.  Having reviewed a good bit of this thread, I'm pretty sure that I have a Move-Up on Eclipse for our Inside Passage on May 15.  I booked a suite guarantee, got assigned a Sky, bid on Celebrity and Royal suites, Celebrity suite is now showing 'expired' and Royal is 'pending' and nothing can be changed or adjusted.  Tried a mock bid on Penthouse and it said 'not eligible' - so if I am reading the tea leaves correctly, eventually I will be notified that I have an upgrade to Royal Suite.  

However, this is the second of a back to back on Eclipse, the first of which is May 4, Honolulu to Vancouver on a repositioning.  I have an Aqua booked, and bids on Sky, Celebrity, and Royal, all still marked pending and all can be adjusted, cancelled, etc.  

My question is this:  Is it weird for upgrades to be handled for the same ship 'out of order' of sail date?  Someone on the move up tracker is on the Inside Passage AFTER ours and has already indicated that their bid was accepted and they'd gotten notice and new cabin assignment.  This seems really odd to my rather linear mind, but may be normal??

I confess I haven't looked through all 23 pages, so if this has come up before, please forgive me, but I'm also a Celebrity newbie and have  question.  We're currently booked in Aqua cabin and have put in a bid for a move up to any of the suites available.  I understand that we will keep the promotional package we booked, which is great, but if we do get the suite upgrade bid, do we also get to keep the Blu and Persian Garden access that we originally booked with the Aqua cabin?

Just heard about massive earthquake in Aleutians and tsunami warning for Alaska.  You folks okay?

Yes they do. I think that coffee is better than the pod coffee.

Oh good. I will use the in-room for my first cup in the AM, as it will be easier than juggling two cups of coffee down the hall and then down the stairs, but I enjoy their lattes and cappuccinos, and the fact that I can make decaf ones too. I was afraid they'd eliminate the Lounge coffee if they were offering in room options.

They put coffeemakers in the Neptune Suites on Oosterdam at the end of January. They are "Mocoffee" machines. It's a pod system, but not the same pod as a K-cup. I don't think it's the same pod shape as a Nespresso, either.

 

There are three kinds of pods--a regular coffee, a decaf, and an espresso. We had two of each, replenished when the room was serviced.

 

We didn't bother with the espresso. The others were OK, but not fabulous.

Do they still have the coffee machine in the Neptune Lounge??

Thanks for that info .... now I know what stores to look for. Am boarding the Emerald in Barcelona for a T/A to FLL in a few months and staying at the Montecarlo Hotel pre-cruise. I was hoping there would be a place to buy wine somewhere near the hotel.

We really loved that hotel - been a few years, but the staff were so nice and the location is really great. In re: wine, there's also a little wine shop in the big market which is something you should go to see anyway, and it isn't that far from the Hotel Montecarlo. Might also want to ask at the desk for their suggestions. We found the concierge very helpful in finding good inexpensive local restaurants, ATMs, etc. and I'm sure they would be equally helpful in identifying a good local wine shop.

Great live! We're doing this one in March so are hanging on your every word! Hope they'll have the post-drydock issues resolved by then.

Thanks for stopping by - glad you found it worthwhile!:D

Hi all,

I've started a mostly travel oriented blog that will cover our upcoming cruises, some previous cruises, general travel planning information, and lots of stuff about living in Hawaii. Come on by and have a look and feel free to comment and/or ask questions:

http://www.fromhawaiitotheworld.com

E Komo Mai and Mahalo for stopping by.

Enjoy your last day! Can't wait to see how you like the next one. We'll probably have to play catchup after we get home, as we'll be paying for our minutes on the Rotterdam while you are on the Ocean Princess, but we'll be thinking about you!

so as not to mix some of the finite scenery/props. ???

I think your spell check was making some edits in your text?:D Hey- at least you know I'm reading and hanging on your every word!

Pia - I updated the cruise director thread for you. Save your minutes;)

May the Duck continue to be with you! ;)

Have a wonderful time and tell Mike to take it easy!

Y'all have fun - home for a few days before the next one - Bon Voyage Tina and Ken! So jealous! Still have a few months before we get to go to sea again.:(

Free internet for suites actually ended with bookings dated July 2012.:(

 

Instead Princess included a free dinner at one of the specialty restaurants on the first evening.

 

Mike:)

Bummer. Haven't kept up. Remodeling house instead of cruising....:eek:

Hope you are enjoying the Suite Life - we're enjoying your live, as always. Been too long since we've been to sea and too long before we go again - am in serious cruise envy!! Do suites still have unlimited internet or have they cut that out as well?

Well, I totally missed the last live, so glad to catch you early for this one. Have a great time! Keep working on you know who about 'The East' - we'd sure love the company.

We will be in port next May and are looking for a tour guide to take us to delft and the Keukenhof flower gardens. I am having issues with the ones I have found as they all want payment up front and they will not refund money if ship misses this port. Anyone know any that are more cruise oriented and know that we have no control when we miss a port?

We too will be in Rotterdam in May 2014 - we're staying a few days pre-cruise and also have a port call day on May 17. I'm looking into Tours by Locals for an alternative for our time in Rotterdam. We haven't used any of the guides for Rotterdam (it will be our first stay there) but we have used TBL often in many other ports and have had very good experiences for the most part. The company, and the guides, seem to be attuned to cruisers, and they also offer a very reasonable insurance program. They do require pre-payment, but are very good with refunds in the event that ports are missed.

Thanks for the webcam posts - quite a reasonable time of day here to be watching Royal pull in to the dock. Massive ship!! Welcome home everyone, safe travels to where ever you are headed next and thanks for taking us all along, good, bad, indifferent and all. Mahalo nui loa and aloha.:D

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