Jeremiah1212

1 hour ago, Tyler414 said:

Day 4   St, Marten.   My sister and I did our own thing to Orient Beach, we got a taxi with two other folks and where charged $20pp for round trip. On Orient beach we went to Contiki Beach Club, the beach, loungers, food, drinks, everything was great.  We ordered a light lunch of sushi and fries. Everything at Contiki was great, clean restrooms, shower, staff all great.  After about 4.5 hours it was time to pay the bill and head back for some Philipsburg shopping.  The final bill for the two of us was $150 plus tip.  That included padded loungers, umbrella, whos knows how many drinks and food.  When we finished shopping, we took the water taxi back to the port area, if I remember correct it was $7 for a one way ticket each.

Tonight for dinner we all dined at Eden, this was at least the sixth time I've eaten at Eden and again everything was excellent. 10/10

Tonight was the "Shine the Night" pool deck party that I was looking forward to and bought a special shirt for the party.   I went back to the cabin pretty tired and ended up falling asleep and missed it the whole party and the casino.  lol   A reason to do another cruise now. (not that I needed an excuse)

 

Good call on the French vs Dutch side. Such a better vibe if you can handle the wind. If you ever go back, La Playa Resort a few spots down from Contiki has excellent food and drinks. A vast improvement over the tourist food (and prices) you typically find on the Dutch side around Philipsburg. 

Celebrity does publish what is basically a weekly base fare that TA’s can see. A significant portion of rates did decrease this week compared to last week. 

1 minute ago, Red G said:

I've noticed that Celebrity has no scheduled ships visiting the Caribbean out of Ft. Lauderdale next summer.  When the new Caribbean schedule was announced months ago, I recall something about Reflection cruises for 2025-26 being released in February.  Any idea when or what can be expected in this regard?

They delayed them a few months and are now planned to be released next week. They have it listed as short Caribbean and the date range isn't quite accurate so I'm not sure what the ultimate plan is. We'll see soon.

2 hours ago, TourDeCruise said:

Labadee is still on our December Apex itinerary. We booked a Celebrity excursion for Amiga Island. Any thoughts on this? Are we better off to stay on Labadee instead of going to Amiga island or even just stay on the ship? 

Celebrity is not scheduled to call on Labadee until November. The only gauge you can get is to watch what Royal Caribbean does this fall. 

3 hours ago, dleahy4444 said:

I hadn’t thought of that. The cruise is very port intensive (12 days, 6 ports, one overnight) and it’s on Celebrity so I thought there may not be that many kids. But it is the summer in Europe so there probably will be lots of families. Certainly something to consider, thanks 

Prime summer vacation season for people all over the world. Royal Caribbean has done this same thing for years. It's not as prevalent on Celebrity but if they think they can fill the ship with 3's and 4's in the cabins the are willing to try. At some unannounced time the unsold triple and quads will become available to doubles. 

If you booked after Oct 3, 2023 you don't have tips included. You may if you booked with a travel agent but that's unlikely. Before that date gratuities were included. In a Sky Suite the only way you would have any laundry included is if your Captain's Club status is Elite or higher. 

I'd put money on a lot of the photos looking like this. If the photo is from this angle, more background than face, bad lighting, focus is on the chins and nostrils and eyes appear closed, they will not use it. 

If you're wanting Aqua on that Eclipse sailing I would book soon. There are only a handful of cabins left. I wouldn't anticipate any significant number to open up. 

Before 48 pages of discussion, fashion police and anti-fashion police......yes. 

You have All Included and like it says, it may take up to 10 days to show in the Cruise Planner. At that point you should see the options to upgrade instead of purchase packages outright. 

I would not gamble the expense or Retreat spend solely on Santorini. If there are multiple ships in Santorini and yours is not the very first to start tendering, it doesn't matter when you get off. You will be waiting potentially for a long time. Unless your plans avoid the cable car or you are willing to walk up, you may be a little shocked at the sheer number of people ahead of you. Do not expect a leisurely tender ride, hopping on the cable car and being in Fira within a few minutes unless you wait until late morning to early afternoon. 

2 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

What that says to me is there's a structural limitation in the design of the E-Class ships that limits the amount of traditional balcony cabins vs the IV cabins. 

I can't speak to that however there are 30 more suites (with traditional balconies) on Xcel  compared to Beyond and Ascent. 

11 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Will Xcel have any balconies in CC or AQ?

Nope. All are IV. There are four new verandas which are not CC, AQ or Suite that have a traditional balcony classed as prime veranda V1. 

Reflection is the only S class ship that has the two sunken seating areas off to either side. Reflection is also the only ship that does not have the curved stairs down to the buffet outdoor area, instead the stairs are located where the bar sits on the other 4 ships. The other four S class ships have the stairs with the small seating area or landing before you go down a deck to the buffet. 

I would say only Beyond and Ascent are truly 'tiered' but the are in no way similar to S class Sunset bars. 

What people received in the past from Celebrity doesn't really matter as of today. The current sale runs through April 7th.

There is no OBC offered and hasn't been since December. The current offer is pretty straight forward. You get a $75-$200 discount depending on the day you book and the cabin category. Just don't book on Thursdays because you will get nothing. 

Friday to Monday

$100 Per Inside or Ocean View Stateroom
$200 Per Veranda Stateroom and above (CC, AQ, Retreat)

Tuesday and Wednesday

$75 Per Inside or Ocean View Stateroom
$150 Per Veranda Stateroom and above (CC, AQ, Retreat)

Thursday

No additional savings 

OBC from TA's can be issued a number of different ways. That's a whole separate set of criteria and promotions geared to TA's that a general customer can't see. 

1 hour ago, Mimiya11 said:

Interestingly enough, we docked next to a RCI ship which also had IV's and I noticed that their chairs looked way more comfy and they had normal height side tables (not dinky tiny low ones).  

 

The chairs in the IV cabins on Icon are nearly identical to the chairs on Beyond and Ascent. Icon does have a slightly higher table, although it's far from proper dining height, which would make it uncomfortable to use as a footrest (gross) but many people use it that way. 

Pushing a decade and 5 ships later............

Xcel does have less IV's and more traditional balconies but they are mostly suites. 

There are overall 21 less IV cabins than Beyond/Ascent 

30 more suites than Beyond/Ascent 

52 more suites than Edge/Apex 

Overall cabin count is 4 less that Beyond/Ascent.

2026 is supposed to be released some time next week. 

35 minutes ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Ok great...What did you book exactly, if you don't mind??  Veranda, Aqua, Concierge, Suite?   And did you receive any other perks?? 

You should be able to get 8-10% of the cruise fare (pre tax/fees) as a starting point. Some smaller agencies will give none. Shop around and know what to ask for. 

TA Group rates will come with a refundable deposit (mostly), classic drinks and basic WiFi. There are a few more ways for TA's to give additional OBC on top of that - however both are getting a little more restrictive. 

I've never really understood why anyone would buy this to be honest. For example:

Day 1 is as Vatican tour that is simple to book yourself. 

Day 2 is a walking tour of the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon (no entry) and Piazza Navona. All of this is essentially free and the timing suggests the tour is finished before lunch. 

Day 3 is nothing. 

On the next cruise I have it available two nights plus hotel breakfast is approximately $840 dollars to book on your own.  Figure another $250 for tours if necessary. Celebrity's price is $2,500. 

24 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

The ship may not *really* be sold out.  Travel agents can hold a block of cabins until very late in the hopes that they will sell.  Once these cabins are released (assuming they are not sold) then the mad scramble of cabin upgrades starts.

Common misconception, but no. TA's hold inventory, not specific cabins, and the inventory they have that is not sold is returned to Celebrity at minimum of four months before the cruise sails. 

It's a win win for Celebrity. They have a full ship, and if there is a need to fill any cabins, they have MoveUp bids locked in with guaranteed revenue. However no one at all is guaranteed to win a MoveUp but they are there if necessary. It also only takes 1 move to set off a chain reaction of subsequent moves. 

13 minutes ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

Thanks, it's worth a try!

Just a warning before you are more frustrated with longstanding policies. That form will do nothing for you. You aren’t before final payment and your booking wasn’t made within the past 48hrs. 

1 minute ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Jeez...Elite Plus and we can't pry a nickel out of them at this time...

OBC for Celebrity has been offered in the past as part of the “fake sales” people like to refer to. Since the current offer for Wave season has been in place since December there has not been any offered. Instead it’s given as an actual discount other fare. 

14 minutes ago, zitsky said:

What I plan to do for our next cruise, maybe in Aqua on a Japan cruise, is get a quote from TA before getting on board, then get a quote while on the ship, which we have never done.  And compare which has the better price and which has better OBC.  If not a big difference, I could see a benefit to keeping the booking with Celebrity.

 

I could see us checking out other cruise lines if they include OBC, maybe Princess?  I don't see us doing Regent or Oceania or Azamara right now as even though some of them are all included, we don't always book suites.  

It’s easy. The TA could do the same prevailing rate or better if they have a group rate. They don’t offer special rates onboard. Your onboard booking OBC would carry over if you transfer to the TA.