tartana

I am by no means an expert, but I have had good luck booking with US cruise companies who offer better prices/perks than Celebrity itself.  It would be curious to see what you could get included and the pricing compared to Celebrity directly.  I'm not sure how to name company names as I know there are limits to what can be said on this site.   

9 hours ago, rsquirrel said:

I would like to purchase the Premium Non-Alcoholic Beverage Package. 

 

Is it better to wait until boarding or purchase now?  It's an Alaskan Cruise and we paid in CAN if that makes any difference.

 

I know last year people were saying they got a discount on the Classic Beverage Package onboard, but I'm not sure if they offer a discount on the Premium Non-Alcoholic Beverage Package. 

My daugher was in the same boat (lol) on our last cruise in the Mediterranean.  We watched faithfully for months and not once was there a discount on the premium non alcohol package - although there was on the alcohol pkg a couple months before.  So we waited thinking there would be no difference in price; however, because we were in Spanish waters, there was an extra tax that she wouldn't have had to pay if we'd have paid ahead of time....So maybe just double check that situation where you're sailing from just in case.  It should be the same but might be worth checking. 

We like the breadsticks too with the flavoured butter lol...:)  - I can also comment on having an inside Cabin although it was on Silhouette that trip.  My daughter and I actually found it extremely cosy for sleeping - so dark and "calming"..... hard to explain, but it was definitely cosy.  - And we've found we literally are only in our cabin to sleep and get ready for dinner, etc.  We didn't mind it at all. 

If it goes, I will miss it - I rarely order dessert, but I love the Creme Brulée on Celebrity ❤️

Our first night on Summit in November currently shows Tuscan Grill and Qsine at $30pp. 

My daughter and I took the local Santa Eulalia Ferry that leaves from the main waterfront in Ibiza town to the small beach village Calla Longa. It is a quaint town with a lovely, small beach about a 30-45 min. boat ride away. We loved our little half day excursion. There are set times the boat drops you off and picks you up a few times a day. Our second day we just enjoyed the old town D'alt Vila and the local shops and cuisine. We enjoyed our relaxing time in Ibiza in September.

Will be there end of June. Looking for a relaxing beach day. Any names of smaller beaches we could direct a cab to? Since we have over night at this port what should we do after the beach? Thanks

This was my question a couple of months ago, and I didn't see any answers that told me otherwise; however, check if there are VAT taxes they may have to charge onboard wherever you are. We waited to give the bartender the "bonus" of booking my daughter's non alcohol package onboard on our first day, and she had to pay an extra tax for Spain. So, double check where you are going to be if there will be an extra "tax" onboard. Also, in checking pretty well every day for months on our cruise planner, I never saw a discount on the non alcohol package - only the alcohol ones.

I got off Celebrity Silhouette in September, and I couldn't believe the overall wonderful service and friendliness on the ship using just the regular venues. Other than the masses and kind of chaos in the main buffet at breakfast, I don't think it could be beat!

Okay, methinks you missed this more 'recent' thread about VAT/Spain/Purchases ...

 

bon voyage

Nope, hadn't seen that one lol - darn

I have no experience with Chile but once, when I didn't have a package, I purchased a drink before sailaway in Florida and tax was added to my bill.

Now when we get the upgrade (all of our recent cruises have come with the Classic package) I always ask the person I'm purchasing it from (and I also try to find a favorite waiter or sommelier to get it from) if they will "hold" the ticket until we are in International waters. They always know exactly what I mean and have always done so.

this is good to know - We were happy to have purchased it from who we did - In the future, I will know this tip - thanks!

Yes, according to another site, this is correct. And I've seen the pic of the "daily" with him on it.

Yes, I said I read all the reviews...I should have said I read several reviews - and none of them touched on this. I am a very thorough researcher and perused the boards for months and didn't see that one. Too bad - hope it doesn't happen to others as well. And yes, we LOVED our cruise on Silhouette. I just felt especially bad because it was my 24 year old daughter who was buying her own package, so she had to pay the extra :( When I told her it would be the same as it had been online all along. No big deal...

My daughter purchased a premium non alcohol package for our cruise on Silhouette in September. From reading all the reviews, many people said if it didn't go on sale previously, to wait and buy it onboard from a bartender you would like to "receive" the credit for selling it (whatever percentage they get - I'm not sure). So after checking day after day for months, it never went on sale, so she waited. The price was always $207.68 including gratuity on the website. When she purchased onboard, BECAUSE we were in Spain, she had to pay an added tax for Spain totally $225. SO, the info I had gotten previously is not always correct. Just to give people a heads up. I was not impressed because I checked it on our Cruise Planner so many times and ended up waiting.....to pay more...... Just for your info - I'm not sure how many countries this applies to, but it did for Spain according to what they told us at Reception.

We just go off Silhouette in September and absolutely LOVED Sue Denning and her sense of humour - and she seemed to be so genuine and caring with every person she talked to. We even stayed at the end of the shows just to see what crazy thing she would say each night lol. I would love to sail with her again. I guess to each his own.

We recently did the Tapas tour sold on Expedia by Urban Adventures. It was not free, but I got it at a good price last winter. Alicia was the tour guide, and she was excellent! She took us to some of the out of the way tapas spots in El Raval - where mostly just the locals go. It was a great experience :) We got to sample various tapas and a beverage at each location.

We had a 2 day/1 night stay in Ibiza on our Celebrity cruise this month. I tried and tried to get info ahead of time of things to do besides water activities and parties and did not really succeed before we got there. However, I thought I would shed some light for people similar to me looking for something "calmer" to do while in Ibiza. Our first day was party sunny with some cloud but warm. We decided then we would try to find a quieter beach area. We tried to take the Ibiza Bus from the port to town but after waiting 45 minutes, we gave up and bought our ship's 2 day transfer tickets. We took the bus in to the center of town below D'alt Vila. All along the center waterfront, there are ferries and boats that go pretty steady taking people to the different areas including Fomentera. We decided to take the Santa Eulalia passenger ferry to Cala Llonga - a 45 minute ride or so. It was a calm day but the boat is still a bit rocky but we found it fun. Cala Llonga is a very quaint little cove town with a deep white sand beach. There are some nice restaurants and little shops right there. It was not too busy, and we enjoyed this very much. The same ferry also goes further to some of the other towns. It was 20 euro each. On our second day, it was very rainy in the morning, but started clearing a bit by noon. We took the shuttle back in to town and walked through and up to the top of D'alt Vila - Amazing views and lovely old buildings and shops nearer the bottom. We walked in the suggested direction, and there is a reason for this. To go the opposite direction is EXTREMELY steep and can be dangerous especially when the stones are wet when you come down. The handrails for coming down are only if you go the direction suggested which is going up to the left (on the cruise port side). We enjoyed it very much - and even with bad knees, I made it up and down without mishap. We shopped Ibiza town a bit and tried Bide Bide, a locals tapa spot for a light lunch before heading back to our ship. We enjoyed Ibiza very much - even in our calm way. Cheers!

Lol, we were there for that day - fortunately we arrived by noon and got to our hotel before the masses filled the streets. It was a very festive day. I can't begin to guess how many people were in the center of Barcelona - maybe even a million - it was crammed! Enric - thanks for all the insight on Barcelona. We stayed for 3 days, walked a large part of the city and loved every minute of it - Cheers!

What is included at the Spa Cafe for everyone? Are smoothies included only if you have a Premium beverage package? On my last cruise, it was kind of hard to tell what was actually included. Thanks!

When you check in use your own credit cards and whatever each person charges will automatically go to her own card.

That's good to know - thanks :)

I am travelling with my daughter, and I am wondering when we "checkout" and pay off our Seapass account, if it can be divided between 2 credit cards? Just curious - thanks :)

Has anyone stayed at Barcino 147 more recently? How was your experience?

**UPDATE as of 9:00pm GMT+1 - Aug 21st 2017**

 

- The Police operation has concluded earlier today, in its more visual part anyway, with the hunt for the driver of the killer van in Les Rambles, Younes Abouyaaqoub, that has been cornered and killed in Subirats, a village 25km from Barcelona, in the Penedès region, after a call from the public to the Terror Alert phone line. More details: http://www.elnacional.cat/en/news/reports-mossos-subirats-driver-attacks_184383_102.html Four days later, the 12-strong terrorist cell has now been dismantled with 8 of them being dead and 4 detained. Now the operation will continue for several weeks, if not months, trying to identify international connections, modus operandi, etc. in conjunction with the Police forces and intelligence services of allied countries. The Imam of one of the mosques of Ripoll, a town north of Catalonia, near the French border seems to have been the intellectual instigator of the attack. He has been confirmed dead in the explosion in Alcanar, last Aug. 16th. There seem to be potential connections with known extremists in Belgium, where he flew on several occasions. Also, the car used in the attempt of running down people in Cambrils the night of the 18th was also spotted earlier in the month in Paris. The plot of the story is quite more complex, those interested can follow it up in the paper linked before, the English version of a local paper which is one of the more knowledgeable sources.

 

- The provisional death toll is 15, as it was later discovered that in his escape the terrorist knifed a local driver (34) to steal his car. There are around 50 people still being treated in hospitals, but the critically injured have now decreased to 7. The IDs of the deceased have now all been confirmed and their names released: http://www.elnacional.cat/en/news/fifteen-lives-cut-short-attacks_184002_102.html Aside from locals, there have also been injured people from 34 different nationalities: German, Algerian, Argentinian, Australian, Austrian, Belgian, Moroccan, Canadian, Chinese, Colombian, Romanian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Ecuadorian, Egyptian, Spanish, US, Filipino, French, British, Greek, Dutch, Taiwanese, Honduran, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Kuwaiti, Macedonian, Mauritian, Pakistani, Peruvian, Dominican and Turkish.

 

- Several demonstrations, from Barcelonians and tourists in Les Rambles and from the Muslim Community in Catalonia wrapped by the rest of the population among other, have been celebrated yesterday and today. There's a major demonstration scheduled for next Saturday 26th at 6pm in the center of Barcelona to rally against terrorism and in remembrance of the dead and injured. This slogan has rapidly spread among Catalans and visitors: #NoTincPor (=I am not afraid):

 

- If you're visiting you'll find that life has returned to "normal" and the city is fully operational.

 

**I think this should be the last update of the series as the current threat is over**. I hope have been able to quell the thirst for information as the events were unfolding.

 

Thank you everybody for your support, and I invite you to stroll by Les Rambles next time you visit my city, Barcelona, to pay your respects -if you want- for the ones murdered in this terrorist attack on 17th August 2017 at 17:05h... 17-17-17! The whole boulevard is full of candles, flowers, and notes in remembrance of those killed: http://www.rac1.cat/r/GODO/R1/p0/WebSite/Imagenes/2017/08/21/20170818-636386920311606550_20170818223103-kzNF--5184x3456@RAC1-Web.jpg

 

With love,

Enric

Thank you again, Enric! Can't wait to visit your city soon :) We sure have appreciated the up to date info. It's hard to know how accurate the news reports we hear in our part of the world really are. Cheers!

They must see the loss of business. I am booked, fully paid, and completely checked in, but most days I can't even find the excursions on my cruise planner. Also, I can't even bring up new cruises to scout out. I've checked several times. My internet isn't the fastest - that may be why - everything is so "fancy" that it takes too long to load. I have to go to other sites that sell for Celebrity to check out new cruises. Sad, I'm sure they must be seeing a difference in their sales overall.

To those of us travelling there in the near future, this info is very helpful. Would love to hear the latest news (that's probably a lot more reliable than our Canadian/US media).

**UPDATE as of 9pm GMT+1 - Aug 17th 2017** -remember, as I said, information is fluid and changes rapidly.

 

- So far 13 deceased, 80 injured: 15 seriously, 23 less seriously and 42 minor injuries

- ISIS/DAESH has just confirmed the authorship of this attack

- 1 perpetrator in custody, 1 dead in a shoot out and 1 at large. The dead person is not clear still whether he's related to the incident. A white car has jumped a road control out of the city and after a short chase there has been a shooting between the driver and the Police resulting in the driver being killed. While it's likely to be related -guns are rare here- it could be unrelated to the terror attack.

- People confined in the restaurants and shops of the area are now starting being evacuated.

- In Carrer Llacuna there's a Crisis Center in place for friends and family of the victims and injured.

- Injured people has been transferred to the following hospitals (ER phones included): Hospital del Mar (+34 932 483 011/+34 932 483 012), Hospital Clinic (+34 932 275 400), Hospital Sant Pau (+34 935 537 600) and Hospital Vall d'Hebron (+34 932 746 100/+34 934 893 000/+34 932 746 000)

- Asking Barcelonians please DO NOT continue flooding the hospitals. No more blood is needed for the time being.

thank you, Enric, for the updates. I, too, am looking forward to sailing from Barcelona in a few weeks. Thinking so much about everyone involved and that things get cleared up quickly for everyone. It's no fun to live in fear...So excited to visit your city :) It sounds so lovely.