bigbadandugly

I’m interested in getting the premium drink package, however my wife does not drink. Due to Celebrity’s policy requiring all adults in the room to purchase the drink package, I’m precluded from benefitting from the current 20% sale on drink packages. 
 

Given my situation, what’s my best strategy to get a discounted drink package? Or am I pooched and have to pay list on board?

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

Dude - doesn't affect me or my enjoyment of Celebrity cruises. What affects you doesn't matter to others. 

Not sure why you’re interpreting my comments as directed towards personal preferences, but I can only surmise that you did not read the two sentences that I explicitly separated from the rest of his elongate response for clarity. Let me reiterate his comments that I was specifically responding to:

“Celebrity still seems to be the same Celebrity it always has been... Still great service, food and ships.”

if you want other examples from what other members of this board have posted, I would add:

- lobster tails are small (certainly not like the monster served by Oceania a few posts up from mine) and they now charge extra for a second scrawny lobster

- drink packages have jumped over 20% 

There are many other changes as well, but it is patently wrong to say that it’s the same old Celebrity it has always been. Whether they impact your cruise experience or not is a personal matter as you state, but I did not address that at all.

On 3/21/2023 at 9:03 AM, CruisingWalter said:

 

Celebrity still seems to be the same Celebrity it always has been... Still great service, food and ships.

Dude - they cut the prime rib and other prime cuts of beef from the MDR menu for 2023.  Enough said.

On 3/20/2023 at 1:27 PM, cgolf1 said:

We apparently are too simple or something because we didn't use the extra services that were available to us. 

I just booked my wife and I on a 2024 Rio cruise on the Eclipse, and I was deciding between a Deck 8 Balcony or an Aqua Class cabin, which included the basic drink and Internet packages and dining in Bleu and a few other bells and whistles. But in the end, we decided the extras didn't have have the value to us to justify the additional cost (although I must say we made that decision before experiencing the post-COVID MDR menu, which sounds like it was substantially downgraded for 2023). The drink package is now priced for alcoholics so I'm fine going a la carte and we can do with detaching from the Internet for a week.

But all-in-all I'm in agreement with OP that Celebrity has lost its edge and we will also be opening the door to other options.

I'm not sure about the newer ships, but the older ships do not. I just booked the Eclipse and it does not, so I assume none of the Solstice-clas ship do. I requested an extension cable for the cabin, just as I had the previous cruise with Celebrity. I use it for my CPAP, and in the morning I toss it under the bed. I'm fine with that.

If you do have a CPAP, request a jug of distilled water be provided and it will be awaiting you in your cabin. At least it would have been with the pre-COVID Celebtrity. They probably charge you a daily fee for renting the extension cord and $9.95 + 20% gratuity for the distilled water.

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

Cocktails with bar liquor are in the $8-10 range.  Cocktails with better brands of liquors are $11 and up.  Add a 20% gratuity to those prices.

With the beverage packages now going for $89/day or $109/day depending on level, that's about 8-9 drinks a day on average. That's a lot of liquor. I'm sure this works for some people, but it's got to push a lot of others over the edge to skip and drink less. For some of the lower inside cabins, you're paying more for the beverages than the rest of the entire cruise. Does that make sense? Even in the past when the drink packages were $20-30 cheaper I think I would have struggled to get my money's worth. 

I just booked a cruise for spring, 2024 and decided to skip the beverage package and will just be content with water, tea, and coffee, and augment that with a nice glass of wine off the a la carte menu for dinner. Not much different than my typical beverage diet at home. This will be my first cruise skipping the drink package, and I'm perfectly fine with it. I would have ponied up $50-60/day for one of the bev packages, instead Celebrity is going to have to be content with the revenue from a single glass of wine from me.

On 2/12/2023 at 11:20 PM, Tinknock50 said:

Me too. If I am really hungry I will have steak with it. 😉

Just not a ribeye or a slab of prime rib - those are gonzo alonzo from the MDR.

I just booked a Celebrity cruise, but I suggest it will be the last for a while as the reduced food quality, ridiculously-priced drink packages, and all the other money-grab changes they've made for 2023 made the selection process particularly bothersome and enough to make the wife and I decide to look elsewhere for our next cruise experience. Usually the planning portion is a real joy for me, but reading all the price increases and quality of service cutbacks was a real downer this time around.

On 5/13/2020 at 11:47 AM, bigbadandugly said:

My daughter and her partner booked a Celebrity cruise departing San Juan April 24, including flights through the cruise line (thinking that provided additional protection). Well, now Celebrity is holding their flight refunds hostage.

 

We've been in contact with both airlines (Celebrity booked two different airlines for the two flights) and since both cancelled their flights, the two passengers were entitled to a refund. Both airlines have told us that their records show the money has been refunded prior to April 24. 

 

Multiple calls to Celebrity has led us to a runaround. They have confirmed that both airlines have refunded the tickets, but Celebrity is unable to refund the money due to its "processes". Because the tickets were purchased as nonrefundable tickets, Celebrity is claiming they have to process the refunds manually to avoid any penalties being deducted through the automated systems.

 

Frankly, I find this excuse complete bunk. Celebrity is clearly withholding their refund - and obviously the refunds of other cruisers - to shore up their liquidity crisis. I expected this behavior from the airlines, but am shocked that the airlines did the right thing and Celebrity has chosen to screw its customers. It's too bad Celebrity has chosen to screw over its customers, because we will certainly not be spending our vacation dollars with Celebrity any more.

Celebrity is clearly subscribing to the theory that "he who has the gold, is king". It has had my daughter's cash for a while and are going to hold it as long as they can to ensure its solvency. 

I did a chargeback a week or so ago to resolve the matter. The money has been returned to my credit card. I am now the King. Let's see how long it takes Celebrity to respond to the chargeback and what dribble it uses as an excuse. Hopefully others aren't getting screwed, but it seems even the chargeback method is failing for some people:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/credit-card-chargebacks-challenge-1.5577722 

I was very disheartened to see Canada's transport Minister make these comments. It's as if it's the government's position that passengers that are being screwed by the airlines are expected to provide interest-free loans (and possibly "forgivable" if the flight credit is not used by the deadline) to support the airlines. What crazy logic.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/transport-minister-airlines-survival-versus-refunds-1.5590392 

Look out for yourself, people, because no one else will.

My daughter and her partner booked a Celebrity cruise departing San Juan April 24, including flights through the cruise line (thinking that provided additional protection). Well, now Celebrity is holding their flight refunds hostage.

We've been in contact with both airlines (Celebrity booked two different airlines for the two flights) and since both cancelled their flights, the two passengers were entitled to a refund. Both airlines have told us that their records show the money has been refunded prior to April 24. 

Multiple calls to Celebrity has led us to a runaround. They have confirmed that both airlines have refunded the tickets, but Celebrity is unable to refund the money due to its "processes". Because the tickets were purchased as nonrefundable tickets, Celebrity is claiming they have to process the refunds manually to avoid any penalties being deducted through the automated systems.

Frankly, I find this excuse complete bunk. Celebrity is clearly withholding their refund - and obviously the refunds of other cruisers - to shore up their liquidity crisis. I expected this behavior from the airlines, but am shocked that the airlines did the right thing and Celebrity has chosen to screw its customers. It's too bad Celebrity has chosen to screw over its customers, because we will certainly not be spending our vacation dollars with Celebrity any more.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship has been quarantined off Japan for 14 days because a number of passengers were determined to be carrying the coronavirus. The infected parties were taken to hospital while the remaining passengers and staff remain on the ship.

A second cruise ship from Genting Cruises was quarantined off Hong Kong as well. Hong Kong-based Genting is  owner of Crystal Cruises, although this ship isn't a Crystal ship.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadians-coronavirus-cruise-ship-japan-1.5452345 

I'm sure there are a lot of pissed off cruisers being quarantined for 14 days aboard a cruise ship as undoubtedly there were some B2B cruisers onboard, not to mention many people have work and other commitments during those two weeks. I can see tempers running short pretty quickly being confined to a cruise ship for 14 days, not to mention the future passengers as the Princess Diamond is out of service for the next two weeks (as a minimum - there might be some sanitation downtime after the quarantined passengers debark).

From the article: 

Princess Cruises said the affected patients include:

• 2 from Australia.
• 3 from Japan.
• 3 from Hong Kong.
• 1 from the U.S.
• 1 from the Philippines.

They were among 273 people tested because they had a cough or fever, which are symptoms of the virus, or had close contact with a man who got off the ship in Hong Kong and was infected.

37 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

IMHO, Celebrity is making a marketing mistake by not allowing aqua passengers to even try luminae.  If it's as good as Celebrity would like us to think it is, then maybe it would sway us to book a suite.  We'll just never know. 

Isn't AQ more expensive than suites? That is probably your answer. Why tempt a top-paying customer to pay less next time in downgrading to a suite.

I wouldn't know as I sail stowage class and am satisfied with the MDR on Celebrity. It's miles ahead of Norwegian, that's for sure.

1 hour ago, WestLakeGirl said:

While better training of the MaitreD staff in Blu would perhaps lead to more consistent enforcement, you make good points and I suggest that you send a letter to corporate headquarters laying out your argument. As they are unlikely to see this comment here, that is the best way to try to influence them to effect a change 

This was my sentiment exactly. Your post was articulately written and well supported, unlike many of the bellyaching posts on this website. I would also encourage you to voice your opinion to Celebrity and hopefully things will change by the time I'm able to afford to cruise AQ!

On 10/8/2019 at 6:24 PM, kiwi57 said:

I was on that cruise... I have sailed over 30 times and have never encountered weather like that...

Now this is a post I have some faith in. Thanks for clearing up the glossed-over facts.

On 7/19/2019 at 3:03 PM, Fixit2010 said:

 

OK fine.  Though I do wonder how many people would still eat at their local restaurant on land if they  increased their cover charges by the same percentage.

That's totally irrelevant. We're talking a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean.

On 4/14/2019 at 1:07 PM, Fogfog said:

which can impact flights etc

I believe most airlines typically only allow flights to be booked up to a year in advance, the OP's departure date was beyond one year. But point taken.

On 4/14/2019 at 1:29 PM, acesneights99 said:

The routers would drop the connection every 2-3 min. Even in the iLounge! Only iLounge Macs worked because they were hardwired. The connection SPEED was OK. The WiFi was non-existent. All of the devices we had on Infinity worked for 15 days straight, no drops on Eclipse, 3 days later.

 

I could not even upload small documents because, by the time I got the upload page and was ready to click submit, the connection would be dropped.

 

Also, 8 Macs for 2200 passengers is nearly useless. Plus the iMacs wipe your session so 2-factor authentication was impossible.

Sounds like your Internet addiction makes you better suited to a land-based vacation. Try Disney World.

first , if you dont believe that smuggling is factored into prices you dont know business.

Maybe 30 yrs ago, but nowadays companies have so much historical purchase data available at their disposal to determine pricing that it wouldn’t even be a variable in their analysis. Not to mention lost sale due to smuggled alcohol is inherently built into the data.

I wouldn’t want to be the kid of the overly paranoid parent (YOU) who got the program shut down because YOU’RE uncomfortable with the way it’s run.

And learn from #Ibjen - it’s “principal”, not “principle”. This is the fourth post you made the error.

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If they paid credit card they will get a 100% refund from the credit card service. Just need to file a credit card dispute. Many grounds for a dispute including fraud. So they should not loose any money.

Most credit card policies I’ve seen have a time limit to file a dispute on a charge, usually 90 days. For something like this the deposits were probably paid much more in advance for the trip. For my daughter’s senior trip we contributed monthly over three years, automatic withdrawal I believe. Not sure that was wise either.

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That dog might sense the man’s blood sugar swings before his pump can or before he thinks to check. This is life saving, especially on a ship where quick access to a hospital isn’t there.

I’m not acutely familiar with diabetes but my comment is more general than that: it you have some precarious health issues, I’m not sure a cruise is your best vacation option. Many cruises I’ve been on spend most of the time in countries where healthcare services may not be up to your standards and ships spend a lot of time at sea. Not to mention the inconvenience you would be causing other passengers if the cruise line had to divert for a medical emergency.

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Probably wrong again, ... At least for some of the drink packages, the two "primary" occupants of the cabin need to buy the same package.

Yes, you are wrong...again.

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This has been discussed many times on the Cruise Air Forum ... one such thread:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2566756

 

Minimum check in times for flights to the States are 3 hours Aer Lingus, 4 hours Delta and American. We disembark the Eclipse on June 7th and opted to stay another night to depart June 8th to the States. We wanted to avoid the hassle and expense of a missed flight ... not a positive way to end a trip.

I'm going through the process now for the same cruise and made the same call. What hotel did you book in Dublin for the overnighter?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5600764/carnival-cruise-fight-australia-barkho-family/

 

let's hope there is a NO cruise list for the Barkho family

 

they should have have been escorted to jail rather than let go

It may have been that the melee took place in international waters and the Aussie police had no jurisdiction over the incident. Only when the boat got with Aussie waters that they were able to do something, and that was to remove them from the ship.

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”... but I can think of no reasonable excuse for a security guard to kick someone when they're already down on the ground.

I think the security were totally justified in laying the boot to the perpetrators, providing they were kicking the right combatant. If you read the news story linked posted a few posts up, guests were saying this family of 20 was making a habit of starting fights the entire cruise. The article further states that security sought it necessary to follow the around due to their fighting and harassing other guests. As another poster pointed out, security did not have the necessary equipment to deal with such a situation (tasers, stun weapons, or anything more than a notepad and pencil). They had no alternative other than enter the melee to protect other guests, and it would have been foolish for 5’2” Filipino security guards to engage in fisticuffs with those goons.

Quite frankly, though, most of the kicks were pretty wimpy. They should have launched some good authoritative kicks to the head given the size, history and combativeness of the hooligans. I hope Carnival develops some proper training programs out of this.

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How about just asking the question before booking? You can't blame Carnival for something that wasn't asked.

Maybe you should list everything one should ask the cruise booking agent before signing up. Where do you draw the line?