LabGuy64

The real problem is that you only booked an 8 day cruise!....:D

I booked an 8 day Holiday cruise on the Silhouette about a month ago. I booked a veranda guarantee and all in the fare was $2590.66, which included 2 perks (Classic Beverage and $300 on board spending). So if you take the $2590.66 and add tips of $216.00 which I will pay. We would be at $2806.66. The promo running now is veranda guarantee with the Go Best (all perks) would be $2840.24. so basically (in my mind) by paying the extra $40.00 I would get the premium beverage package and internet because the we would still get the $300 on board credit and tips.

 

I called and talked to a rep and she insisted that it would not be a better deal for me. I tried to explain where I was coming from and she was like no no that does not work out. I asked if it was possible to upgrade to the go best and she said yes (we are past the final payment). I ran out of time arguing with her because I had an appointment, but am I crazy?

Let's not pay to much attention to any of this...they are just marketing catch phrases and do not really mean anything....

'Sailing Beyond Borders' is OK , why not . It doesn't actually say or mean anything but it is perfectly adequate

sort of like Celebrity has become . I guess Modern Luxury no longer fit as OP posted, "for those not in suites" .

Hello,

I noticed your location says calabasas....is it the one in the SF Valley? if so we are neighbors. I am in Woodland Hills.

I walked around parts of Dutch Harbor today and the surrounding mountains are greener than I expected-quite lovely and imho worth the wait to get on the bus to the drop off point at the Safeway market.I saw two seal (sea lions in this area?) heads pop up -adorable :) I was told if I walked down past a rocky beach in the distance that whales tend to congregate in the shallows there but I didn't want to test the time it would take to get back to one of the last buses before 2 went off to pick up school children and thus increase the wait time to catch it back to the ship, so I didn't get to see any whales.

Food really has been quite good.I see no need to pay for the premium restaurants if one is on a tight budget as I am.

My inside solo stateroom is quite roomy.My only wish is that these non luxury lines had shower bathtub combos instead of just showers.

IMcontinue to have issues with the remote control, and had to call them once again to get the interactive part working again.I could not get my room service order to go through today and wish it was a. Little more user friendly.Sail away in about an hour. I have not used the jacuzzis or pools yet as they have been too crowded most days.I will have to go late afternoon until just before my. Late seating at 830pm , as most people are choosing to eat at the early seating 6pm

 

 

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Why would the woman just approach your group and offer advice?

I know most of the Zenith Level cruisers and unless their points or number of cruises are announced at the Captain's Club Party they don't discuss their numbers. I will respond if someone asks, but will not initiate a conversation about numbers. That's my personal view and appears to be shared by the vast majority of " seriously addicted" cruisers. I will confess that I behaved badly on one cruise when a woman approached the group I was sitting with and announced that she had been on more than 20 cruises and would be glad to give us advice. I told her that she was a "rookie" since the group, other than me was comprised of people who had more than 100 Celebrity cruises each. I regretted making the remark, but the others found it appropriate.

What was it about the experiance you did not care for?...We are considering doing the chefs table and would appreciate your input

We didn't really enjoy our Chef's Table dinner on Reflection but this "progressive dinner" sounds interesting...would love to hear more about it from anyone who has done one....

When does the concierge usually contact you for pre cruise requests etc.?

You know ....everyone raves about breakfast at Sabatini's but I was underwhelmed by it......the food was not bad not exceptional but, found the service slow. and it took them more than 15 minutes to bring me a Latte ....no WOW factor to any of it....but not bad.

Interesting question. The differences on the ships are no so great as to over ride the importance of itinerary. We have trouble finding acceptable itineraries on Celebrity so we travel mostly on Princess. But we always look at Calebrity first. Princess has nothing to compare with Michaels Club, Luminae and Butlers. Except for breakfast in Sabatini's.

Thanks everyone for responding there were some very useful comments and I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond...

I think it will be a great trip too.....a long time coming. I booked it the day it opened up so...almost 2 years ago. I never booked that far in advance before.

Yes to all the above. In addition, if you have any non-alcoholic beverage preferences (Diet soda, tonic, seltzer, etc) let them know to stock your fridge with that too. I totally agree with the special occasion notification - they will make something special happen for you.

 

You are going to love Luminae if it is anything like it was on our most recent cruise. Fantastic staff, wonderful food and a much more intimate environment. I don't know what you usually book, but you may have difficult time going back! LOL! ENJOY!!!

Good call on the bubbly....we don't drink it however, my wife loves chardonnay.

Already good info

Thanks

I usually request 2 feather pillow for myself and 2 isotonic pillows for my partner.

 

I also generally ask to swap out the bubbly for a bottle of Chardonnay and the two bottles of booze to the booze of our choice.

 

If we have a special date to celebrate I ask for reservations to Murano's.

We went all out for our next cruise coming in November...Penthouse suite...and I was wondering if there might be some precruise requests that I haven't thought of that can make the experiance even better. Does anyone recall anything they asked for that was a real plus....or looking back anything you wished you had asked for?

Thanks!

I think it too bad that you had the issue with the door.....but, thank your lucky stars you live where you do if a malfunctioning card reader can reach your breaking point and send you into a cyring jag.......god help you if you ever encounter real misfortune

I am sharing this experience to inform potential Celebrity cruisers - if you have a major problem on the ship, do not think the shoreside (corporate office) cares! I took it as far as both the CEO and President's Office.

 

We sailed on the Celebrity Millennium (Alaskan Northbound) on May 27, 2016. I was so excited about the cruise because I was able to finally convince my DH to go. He prefers warm-weather places and thinks Alaska is below 50 degrees 365 days a year. :)

 

I sent a detailed email to Celebrity president's office with of issues from this cruise. I received a call from someone in that department (not sure I am allowed to post names here) - not an ounce of empathy. There was no accountability or responsibility accepted by Celebrity. For some reason, Celebrity believes that because I did get a cabin on the ship, regardless if the cabin did not have a properly functioning door 6 out of 7 cruise days, that it is the same as a cabin with a properly functioning door, so therefore I am not entitled any portion of the fare back. More details below.

 

All I know is that the conversation with the person this morning has turned me off of Celebrity. My first time on Celebrity and last. So maybe that is why they do not care. We have 2 more bookings with RCCL to finish up and then will go back to Princess, which we left because we thought RCCL ever since our DD was born.

 

*********************************************

 

Here are a few of the issues:

Minor Issues:

1. Apparently on Celebrity, status does not mean anything. This was our 1st Celebrity cruise. But because of the relationship between RCCL and Celebrity, we were given Elite status on Celebrity. But Elite status is the same as no status. We had no priority boarding, which is a really nice benefit.

Moderate Issues:

1. It is obvious Guest Services and Captains Club staff can treat passengers as such because they know corporate would not care. That was very apparent in my conversation with the Celebrity representative who made zero apology. I provided very specific examples of "training opportunities", but those fell on deaf ears.

 

Captain Club staff arguing with me for about 5 min. I asked for the paper that showed where the activities were for Elite members. Rather than just providing me a copy, the person and I spent 5 min bantering:

 

CC staff: I gave you a copy of it already.

me: No you didn't.

CC staff: Yes I am sure I did. I always give that to passengers when they first come up to the table.

me: I still don't have the paperwork. Can I get another one?

cc staff: well what happened to the one I gave you?

me: I didn't get one.

...on and on and on. This should have been a 5 second conversation with her giving me another copy.

 

2. Celebrity needs to be very explicit with the passengers that the spa is a separate entity, and the cruise line cannot help with any issues. I had always assumed (and you know what happens when one assumes) the cruise line will assist when an issue arise.

 

3. For the major issue I had on the ship, NOT one officer at Guest Services or Engineering apologized or reached out to me while onboard.

 

Major Issue:

 

I thought only I saw it as such until I spoke with fellow passengers. Everyone of them said it was ridiculous what I had to deal with.

 

I became an unwilling participant in the blame/finger-pointin game between maintenance and guest services.

 

I had a cabin where the door would not open whenever I put the key card in. For the first 3 days of the cruise, I made many many trips to Guest Services to get new keys - all times of the day. None of them worked. Imagine how many times one goes in and out of your cabin - that is how many times I had to visit Guest Services to get a new card. Even one occurrence resulted in multiple trips for a key card because the new card (just given to me) did not work. There were times I was fortunate to find a cabin steward to let me in, eliminating a trek to Guest Services.

 

Day 4: Maintenance replaced the key card reader. Everything was functioning as expected until Day 6.

 

Day 6: Key card reader failure. Up to this point, I have been very patience, respectful and nice to all staff. But when the reader failed, I ended up just crying. I have been pushed to my breaking point.

 

It was discovered on Day 6 that I have a bad door mechanism. So maintenance spent a few hours replacing the entire door mechanism.

 

*********************************************.

To add insult to injury, the person from the executive office who called me:

1. Offered reimbursement of $67 - the balance on my onboard account. No consideration that I had to spend part of my onboard credits for something I did not want, but did because of the ship.

2. Told me that Guest Services credited back over $500 to my onboard account. I had to do the persons work and explain:

a. Bar credit was due to an error. We were charged for a drink even though we had the drink package!

b. Internet credit. There was a mix up in our status. When I checked in online, the system correctly reflected our Elite status. But when we checked in at the terminal, we were given Select status. The internet credit was for the free internet minutes for Elite members.

c. Specialty dining credits. Guest services insisted over and over for me to go to the Specialty Dining because I was crying and maintenance needed the room to fix the door!

3. The only apology given during the phone call, which was made later in the call instead of right at the start, was a generic scripted apology!

I had a similar experiance with a steward that put happy birthday and balloons on our door on a Princess ship.....I told the steward that I appreciated the effort but, to please remove them.....he also looked crushed. it was unfourtunate that he was less than stellar at doing the things we actually asked him to do.

Same here, so I decided a few cruises back, to let the steward know that he didn't have to bother with towel animals. He looked at me like I had just shot his puppy. I tried to explain that we didn't want him to have to take the time and he said he liked to do the towel animals. After that, I've never mentioned it to another steward. I'm not sure why they wouldn't appreciate you telling them that they don't have to do them. Now when they make one and I see them in the hall afterwards, I tell them how adorable it was and for the rest of the cruise, I have to move it around carefully. :(

Sometimes it is amusing to watch the suckers that bid on this stuff.....

But not surprising. Amazes us when we see anyone with more than one cruise under their belt attending an art auction.

Personally I don't think that use of smaller ships is a real sign you are on a luxury line.....there are many limitations on smaller ships an, i don't feel that they offer better service. They certainly do not offer better entertainment options. The only thing you can say about them is you can get into destinations with shallower ports. This does not make for a luxury distinction. Smaller ship...smaller cabins, smaller entertainment venues and smaller casinos. Food and personal service depend on the line....not the ship size

I agree as well if we make the classification clear. Celebrity is a notch higher than mainstream family cruise lines like its sister company RCCL, NCL, Princess etc. Their food quality, especially the buffet, is slightly higher.

 

I don't even eat in the buffet anymore in both NCL and RCCL but Celebrity is still passable.

 

Drink wise Celebrity have more drink types and brands to choose. For example, you can't find ginger bear is almost all RCCL and NCL ships to make Moscow Mule, but they are widely available in Celebrity. You can't also find premium bars in either RCCL and NCL in the mold of Martini Bar or the former Molecular Bar.

 

But Celebrity is not a 6 star, all inclusive line, utilizing smaller ships like Azama, Oceania, Crystal, Silversea etc. Except for Celebrity Xpedition and the 2 other newly acquired ships sailing the Galapagos.

 

With this, there are only 2 popular cruise lines in the premium market segment. Celebrity and HAL.

 

I have sailed HAL and if you compare Celebrity vs HAL. Celebrity is much better. So with not much competitors around in the premium line segment, Celebrity takes the title.

 

Btw, just also found out that Disney consider themselves as a mainstream family line competing directly with RCCL and NCL, not a premium cruise line as I earlier taught. Disney has been winning so many awards lately no wonder it is not affecting celebrity as they are in the different market segment.

Hmmmm.....I think I am going to have a problem.... am 6'8

They must shrink when they get put together! :-)

Or they're really narrow twins...

Regular mattresses twin size is half a king, not half a queen.

 

Width regular mattresses

Twin 39"

Queen 60"

King 76"

Not sure I agree they are bedbug bites....not saying for certain they are not.

Appreciate the warning........Have you had experiences with them before?

We cruised Venice/Koper/Zadar/Split/Dubrovnik etc, all cities and towns so one wouldn't expect sand fleas/flies.

Bedbugs are secretive critters that can squeeze into teeny weeny crevices so hardly likely to be spotted easily unless you are searching specifically for them. They lurk behind headboards and such.

 

Anyway, as long as people are aware and can check their cabins then I will at least have done some a favour by posting this thread.

 

Nothing more to add but thanks guys for looking in and reading my warning.

Of course if they DID use slaves......the cost of a cruise would go down significantly....hmmmmm

Lets clear up some of the myths (not sure why its often a UK-based person who raises these issues). The crew are not slaves! We repeat, the crew are not slaves! In fact, they have to compete to get their jobs. They are paid according to the terms of their contracts, and some of the crew also share in the tipping pool (plus any direct tips). If any member of the crew is unhappy with their pay or working conditions they can quit at any time (in which case they have to pay their own way home) or they can simply wait until the end of their contract (varies from 3-9 months) and just not accept any future contracts. We should also mention that quite a few of the staff on cruise ships do not even work for the cruise line. On most lines, the staff in the shops, photographers, shore excursion staff, spa staff, etc. actually work for third party contractors (who pay their salary).

 

As to days off, it is true that most of the crew do not get off days during their contract. We would also mention that the Captain never gets a day off :). The crew do routinely get a few hours off in some ports, and you will often see them rushing ashore. Most of our crew friends take advantage of shore time to find free internet or do some shopping. If they are on a cruise where they get an overnight in a port, quite a few will go ashore after work and party (we have seen more then a few red eyes in the morning following overnights in places like Lisbon and Istanbul.

 

The truth about crew income is that many work on ships because they can make a lot more money then they can in their home countries.

 

Hank

Yes....there are many near slaves serving in board....it is horrible!!! you should cancel your cruise immediately.....ummm what was the cabin number you had booked?

Jut returned from Eclipse Baltics ( it was great) but heard a nasty rumour that some of the staff do not get ANY wages at all, only bed,board and some tips...can this really be true and is it even legal !! I am horrified if that is the case and may well cancel the next cruise we have booked to the Fjords. Can anyone help with a definitive and true answer please ?:mad:

Arrrrr....I long for the good old days when, being short of crew...you could just sail into a port get a few men drunk and haul them aboard your ship....then bye the time they wake you are far out to sea....and ....instant crew.

Jut returned from Eclipse Baltics ( it was great) but heard a nasty rumour that some of the staff do not get ANY wages at all, only bed,board and some tips...can this really be true and is it even legal !! I am horrified if that is the case and may well cancel the next cruise we have booked to the Fjords. Can anyone help with a definitive and true answer please ?:mad:

As to the "disabled " toilet.....they are not. what they are is toilets designed to be large enough to handle such things as a wheelchair and make it easier for a person that is disabled. having said that....it is not a reserved toilet strictly for the disabled. Anyone can and should use it. How stupid would it be to leave it unused for the few times that a disabled person needed to use is.....again..they are handicapped "accessible" facilities. not exclusive, as parking spaces are.

I do use either crutches, a walker (how I cringe at having to use "an old person's aid) or as on my last cruise a scooter. The first 2 I need, the 3rd just enables me to have some energy or less pain for when I want to move under my own steam.

I have increasingly noticed "sneering" looks when I use the scooter and believe you me I would far rather not be using it..... The thing that does upset me though is when perfectly able bodied people use disabled facilities. They see an unused disabled toilet and think that it just won't matter if they "pop" in and use it. The trouble is.... I might have misjudged the distance and time needed to walk to that disabled toilet, I might be in increasing need to sit..... never mind the use its purpose aspect of it. Every moment I have to wait to use it matters.....

 

At home - I swim at a hotel gym and spa pool. There is a small poolside disabled room. The hotel also permits use of it by a parent with 2 older different gendered children i.e. they might find it difficult to take them into a genre specific changing room (Though I should at this stage say I could tie my own shoe laces at 4 and the modern generation of children do seem too precious and rather too cosseted imho!) Anyway..... the whole world and its aunt now use this disabled changing room; mothers with babies, parents with one child of any age,swimming lesson children, spa visitors,young couples (!) and they leave the floor soaking wet often (which means my clothes get soaked when I have to sit to dress) and...to cap it all they lift the long cord alarm and wrap it over a top rail so it is out of the way. It would also be completely out of the way should a disabled person slip and fall onto the floor! I have completely lost patience with the hotel management as they seem incapable of enforcing their own policy relating to the use of this room.It seems that it is all important that all those folk aforementioned are too precious to have to walk an additional 20m or so to use the very large changing rooms.

 

Don't even get me started on the people going to exercise at the gym who park in the (only 2) disabled spaces. Oh the irony!!

 

To the OP...... you go girl! Use what is provided when it is necessary and you NEED it and blithely ignore other people's incorrect judgements and frowns. You do not have to prove your disability ...it is enough that you know it exists and that you are coping with it the best way you know how.

I would pick south africa, madagascar,the seychelles,tanzania and kenya

Take a deep breath.......You said it was the firs time in 10 cruises?....You obviously like the product so don't make a decision for spite. Just know that in the future you will have to ask if there would be an issue getting your share holder credit with future bookings. Chalk it up to experience since you are going to take this cruise....have a great time......and just ask next time so this never happens again.

Celebrity, Royal Carribbean Inc., denied my request for shareholder credit for my B2B2B cruises in February. This was first denial in 10 cruises. I had no idea that my cruise rate was one of their "special" rates which was not combinable with the credit. It frankly was not that special and certainly was not a bargain. I complained to a number of departments and they said too bad! At the least it should be clearer which rates they consider not combinable but also be sure to ask your travel agent what the rate is called so you can check. This was worth $750 to me and I am now a totally disgruntled customer who will not be sailing with these lines in the future. Not that they care at all!!!!! I was already booked so I am now stuck.

I would not risk it.......

Stay in Civitavecchia, the last time we were in Italy we took the train from Florence to Sienna...on the way back we were delayed for hours. It is not worth missing the ship for an extra few hours. You will find that thous few hours will not make that much difference in what you can see. And, you will want to come back anyhow as you could spend months in and around just Rome ad not really see it all.

Aloha everyone!

 

My husband and I are a couple in our 30's who will be traveling from Oahu to Europe for our honeymoon in September. We are both savvy independent travelers, having done Europe, US, and Asia solo or with family, almost never with tour groups. However, we are Celebrity and cruise newbies, so there is a lot for us to learn (very grateful to the forum and Rick Steve's cruise guide book).

 

We have a planning dilemma and would love your advice! We will be on the 10-day Italy & Greek Isles cruise on the Reflection leaving from Rome on 9/30. Our dilemma is if we should:

 

a) take an early train on the day of cruise from Florence to Civitavecchia

 

OR

 

b) leave Florence late afternoon on 9/29 and stay overnight in Civitavecchia?

 

I know the general recommendation is to get to Rome or near the port the night before the cruise to reduce the likelihood of missing the cruise. I'm aware that the port is about 90 minutes from Rome Termini station, and the train between Rome and Florence is about 1 hr 45 mins.

 

The reason for this dilemma is b/c we want to maximize our time pre-cruise in Venice, Florence, and Tuscany (we have only 4 days). There is nothing in Civitavecchia that we want to see, and we ideally don't want to stay in Rome for one night pre-cruise since we will have 3 days post-cruise to enjoy Rome.

 

However, I also worry that we will miss the cruise b/c we will not have sufficient time on the day of the cruise (a Friday) to travel from Florence to Rome, then Rome to Civitavecchia. We plan to rely on public transportation and will not use a private shuttle or taxi to minimize on costs. Total travel time on train is about 4 hours, and if I factor in buying tickets, getting lost in Station Termini, travel time from Civitavecchia train station to the actual port, I estimate that this will be a 6-hr adventure. Therefore, if we can catch an 8 AM train leaving Florence, the latest estimated time we get to Port is 2 PM. Is that accurate? Per Celebrity website, the cruise leaves at 5 PM, but I am not sure if we arrive at 4:30 or 4:45 pm, will they still let us on (our plan is to get there well before 4 but you never know with public transit)? We do not need to get on the ship as soon as it is ready for us, but we also don't want to cut it too close that it leaves w/o us!

 

Have folks done this before and made it on time for departure? What are other obstacles that I am not aware of, other than the possibility of strikes? I have never been to Italy before, and the last time DH was in Rome, his family planned everything.

 

Any advice/tips would be GREATLY appreciated!!!! I posted this question on here as opposed to the Italy forum b/c I would like to hear how other Celebrity cruisers have handled this, since there may be unique checking in and boarding procedures that I am not aware of that are unique to Celebrity.

 

Thank you!

Very true........not that it will stop anyone from giving their opinion.

Not enough information for anyone on this board to make an educated reply.