Jeremiah1212

56 minutes ago, hcat said:

so no personal tel no to call?   if one has  no cell phone or access to the app.. no chat?

It never says they are eliminating telephones. But yes, if you do not have access to the app you would have problem using the chat feature. 

There are a few changes buried here:

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/05_23_24_CAM_Update_Retreat_Creative-Consumer.pdf

It will be interesting to see how the Butler Chat works. That has been something mentioned for years and years. 

20 hours ago, RickT said:

I often consider booking a guarantee cabin if there is a sufficient discount.   Just priced out a 10 night Italy/Croatia cruise at a very reasonable price of $2,595 CDN for a Verandah Guarantee.  I was shocked to see that the price jumped up to $5,186 CDN if I wanted All Included pricing (a whopping $2,591 or approx $250 per day). 
Seemed horribly wrong to me so I repriced the cruise using an Obstructed Verandah.  As expected the price of the cruise went from $2,595 to $3,332 CDN but only increased to $4,453 CDN with all included.  
 

I wonder if this is a website issue or Celebrity simply not properly pricing out this cruise when combining a guarantee with the All Included.  

 

 

This is not an error. It's something that is posted fairly often. If the cruise you are looking at is on the Exciting Deals list, the rate you are seeing is the discounted cruise only rate. The All Included rate is not discounted so there can be a substantial price difference between going All Included or Cruise Only for that particular category. 

7 hours ago, Maclet said:

Thanks for all the replies.  I was originally booked on United, called back to the gate and cancelled due to technical issue, ended up on Air Canada.  It was a Canada to USA flight.  

 

FBC didn't say anything about contacting the airline(s).  Just asked for the details, any receipts and my cruise booking number.  I was very grateful to have made the cruise at all so for now will wait to see what they offer.

Some airlines like AA will automatically reimburse the difference in fare but I would follow up with the airline myself. Who knows if someone at FBC is actually following through. I would have my doubts. The second obstacle is the airline will want to reimburse whoever paid for the ticket which is Celebrity rather than yourself. 

FBC will have to work with the airline to determine the appropriate comp. It’s ultimately up to the airline to determine what is due. FBC doesn’t have any influence in this situation. 

I've been on many 7 night cruises were after midnight the late night spot was either Sky Lounge or The Club and there are less than 20 people there. I haven't done a 3-4 nighter in probably 6 years but despite people here calling them booze cruises, I doubt they are that much different. 

In my experience if your request is something extremely specific or outside of the scope of the initial email they typically don’t respond to general communication. 

5 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Never trust the app.  

It’s correct (as it usually is). It says times 8am-8pm which is when it is staffed and snacks 12pm-2pm which is the snack/lunch menu. Not that difficult to decipher. 

The Magic Carpet is never used along side a dock. Gangways or ramps are setup using the Gateway area. 

6 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Just wondering do these sources generally pass through as refundable OBC?   I know with my current TA there have been cases where part of what comes from him has been some sort of joint marketing so a portion was OBCN and some OBR.

Generally, no. There are too many variables though. You may have 3 sources and 1 is refundable and 2 are not. I wouldn't even expect many agents to be able to definitively tell you which was which. 

42 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

I think you would need to confirm this with your TA.  In my case I cancelled 2 days prior to departure due to death of my father.  The TA OBC was not given to me, I assume it either hadn't been processed yet or was returned to the TA.   One of several reasons I moved away from that TA that many use.

 

Edit: So in my case the TA received full commission plus the additional $400 they were supposed to provide me as OBC.   My current TA reduces my final payment by the OBC amount.

Not to derail the topic, but there are a lot of avenues that an agency can grant OBC. There are early booking bonuses, gap points, promotions, etc. that a customer never sees or knows of. Most of what you read on here concerning how OBC is granted is not accurate. I understand people are attempting to be helpful, but more often than not they are wrong. Agencies don't just "keep" OBC if a cruise is canceled within the penalty period. 

You get your taxes and fees refunded to you.

https://www.celebritycruises.com/faqs/cancellation-policy

What is Celebrity's cruise or Cruisetour cancellation and refund policy?

In the event of a cancellation of a Cruise or CruiseTour, any applicable Taxes/Fees or Fuel Supplement charges shall be refunded. For bookings made outside of the United States and Canada, a different cancellation policy may apply. Contact your local office or travel agency for details.

CC'ers love them. My own opinion is they are highly overrated. Like you mentioned, can be noisy, smelly, soot on furniture, incredibly hot and have an inconvenient location. I've done them on S and E class and would not book either again. 

November at the very earliest. More likely by mid-December. 

2 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

I am not interested in booking it -- I am curious as to what group it is!

It’s one of the jazz cruises. 
 

https://reservations.jazzcruisesllc.com/Booking/Reservation/Start?tripID=8571

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

how does one go about buying an extra seat (e.g. middle seat) to keep it empty?

You have to call Delta and have the name on the second seat adjusted. The seat has to be on the same ticket so you aren’t holding two reservations.

55 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

Thanks. Do you know if I'll be able to purchase a seat upgrade on the Celebrity-booked flights before they've been ticketed? Or can I do it after they book and then wait to pay until final payment is due (which is in a month, so not a huge deal to pay now). I just want to make sure that I'll be able to upgrade before giving up my current reservation, which I booked in Comfort+ going over and an exit row with lots of leg room coming back.  DL is currently showing C+ sold out on that first flight, but the exit rows are available so I could just get those instead.

I don’t use FBC (nor do I recommend them) but if your reservation needs to be ticketed in order to open that option on Delta, you can call and ask them to ticket the itinerary. You would have to pay at that time. I wouldn’t expect to get a straight answer from FBC or Delta on this. The fare class Celebrity is selling could even impact your upgrade availability if it’s basic econ or something else odd. 

25 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

Looking for information from someone who actually knows the answer to this question. I have flights booked on Delta that are cancellable (I paid extra for that). I just called Celebrity and can get the non-cancellable fare through them (their website had not been showing availability). If I have them book the flights for me without cancelling my Delta reservation how soon before Delta cancels the duplicates?  I want to be able to verify that I can buy seat upgrades on their reservation (exit row or Comfort+) before cancelling my existing reservation.

 

The Celebrity agent said that there have been cases where both reservations get cancelled, which is why I'm concerned.

You probably have 24hrs at most. They don’t publish a timeframe and there is also no guarantee which ticket they will cancel. Same name on same flight would likely be an automated cancelation. It does not matter if the itinerary is ticketed or not. 

I'm not seeing at all what you are describing. Are you looking at Hotels by Celebrity (which is just rebranded Priceline) or at a CityStay?

13 hours ago, -The-True-North- said:

Any way to know that TAs have group rates?

 

I used I VERY large well known TA online, and they were 100$ cheaper than the website, but no freebies only OBC.

You’ll need to ask around or shop a few TA’s. 
 

12 hours ago, rinshin said:

What change or changes causing this?  I am returning to Celebrity after considerable absence and accepted the fact that it is no longer the Celebrity of pre-2010 I am familiar with.  

The only real change is if you don’t use the certificate within 12 months, they keep the deposit rather than automatically refund. It’s really not a big deal if you plan on actually booking a cruise within 6 months. You already lost the OBC benefit after letting it sit for 6 months. 

30 minutes ago, cbfb said:

Thank you!!!! Is the 30 days to transfer once you book the trip or once you purchase the certificate? 

The window to transfer to a travel agent is 30 days from the certificate purchase date. Dropping the form in the box on the last day of the cruise is the best way to do it. 

Easy solution is find a travel agent with group rates and you won’t have to pay a premium for the refundable deposit - and you’ll get tips and WiFi. 
 

48 minutes ago, cruizingOmi said:

FCC is only available Onboard and is not transferable

Sorta. Two caveats. You can book a Future Cruise for someone else who is not onboard. You can also change any names as many times as you want on a Book Later Certificate up until you select a cruise. 

I'm not up to speed on the casino aspect at all, but I would call Celebrity directly and see who (or if) they have an agency on record to verify the Blue Chip rep isn't wrong. It wouldn't be totally unheard of for Blue Chip to use Expedia to service casino bookings either.

3 hours ago, ito717 said:

Managed to change all of tomorrow’s plans to today (minus 4 hours since we arrived at noon today vs the original 8am tomorrow) and had a great day in Hilo. Lots more chatter about this, including from our Uber driver and a tour guide today. 
 

I’m looking at the NOAA charts that are publicly available for the Island of Kauai and I can’t find any restrictions or markings off the Na Pali coast about the 50 passenger/3000 yard zone. Now I’m curious. Does anyone know where this restriction comes from (State of Hawaii? Kauai County? NOAA?) and how it is communicated to mariners? 

This law dated 1988 outlines the restrictions. The actual exhibit (the diagram depicting the area) is a poor scanned copy of a copy, but it outlines the area. 

https://casetext.com/regulation/hawaii-administrative-rules/title-13-department-of-land-and-natural-resources/subtitle-11-ocean-recreation-and-coastal-areas/part-3-ocean-waters-navigable-streams-and-beaches/chapter-256-ocean-recreation-management-rules-and-areas/subchapter-2-north-shore-kauai-ocean-recreation-management-area/section-13-256-41-na-pali-coast-ocean-waters-general-restrictions

My little 19 foot boat doesn't make me a marine navigation expert, but short of some technical malfunction which is pretty obvious did not happen, negligence isn't an 'out'. You still bear responsibility.

10 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission applies here? 
 

what was harmed? 

Despite being illegal, Hawaiians are very serious about protecting their environment. That area is full of fringing reef with all sorts of marine life. 

18 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Poster was referring to this link to the deals where the format has changed to be much harder to read.

 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/Exciting_Deals/CEL_Exciting_Deals.pdf

That format has always been available to travel agents (who it is intended for). For the public the sailings are easily identified through the link in the email or on the website. However you can't easily identify which stateroom categories qualify. 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/promo-controller?contentPromotionId=promotion-217.