abbydancer2003

4 hours ago, Andy_P said:

On our last cruises on the Ascent (Feb 4-18) we did the "Go Green" and got the service but not the points. We should have received 40 points each week instead of 35 (for Aqua Class), but they gave us 75 for each week!  I have decided not to point out that we didn't get our 40 points, until which time they ever correct it...

You got your Go Green, plus double points.  2*35 = 70 plus 5 = 75.  The Go Greens are not doubled.  We had the same thing with a week on \the Apex. 

5 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

I have signed up for Go Green for our January 2024 Ascent, February 2024 Beyond, August 2024 Edge and 2026 Xcel sailings. 
 

Didn't get the Ascent points, just got the Beyond points this week when the regular cruise points were credited. I called the Captains club and spoke to someone and explained the issue. He put in to get the Ascent points. That was last Saturday so I’ll give them a little time before so call back. 
 

mac_tlc
 

I was missing them for a recent cruise.  I called, they said to give it up to 2 weeks.  They did eventually show up (about a week give or take a few days).  They said sometimes it doesn't get to the ship, so now I'll check each cruise.  And I've never noticed a difference.

I will now share what my friend did in high school to make her injury sound interesting.

We were in her garage, and her mother's boyfriends motorcycle was there.  She was showing it to me by walking it around the garage, and it managed to fall on her foot, breaking a bone.

She went around school telling everyone she'd been in a motorcycle accident. 

4 hours ago, Veinless said:

On Silhouette, and no. 

I heard S class not until April.  On the other hand, a butler my sister knows said he's come back to Celebrity as a butler on the Reflection.  So, in part, that's why this thread.

I'm thinking it might be worth it for those in Sky Suites to post here when they board with a dedicated butler.  I think lots have questions on the roll out.

First, I feel for you.  It sucks to have a health issue and you can't cruise.  (I had to cancel in 2022 two days before a cruise due to covid - at least it was at the tail end of coverage, so I was able to use the FCC to move it).

That said, if you were to say that if Celebrity has your money therefore you get the points, that would change a lot of things.   DH has paid for most of our cruises, so by that logic, I should be select and he'd be pretty close to zenith at this point.  

Also, if you ever get invited for a preview cruise on a new ship, you'd get the points even though you paid nothing.  And all those people who get casino cruises?  I think (correct me if I'm wrong) they get the points for their sailings, even though they're only paying taxes I think.

Finally, what would happen if you cancel in 50% penalty?  50% of the points?

So I don't think it's fair to call this unfair.  You sail, you get points.  Doesn't matter who paid or didn't pay.  Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, but an opinion doesn't make a fact necessarily.  

I'm glad, by the way you had insurance.  And I'm so sorry you had to miss what is probably a bucket list trip.

3 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

I must admit I am confused by your  post.  Celebrity definitely knows their own port schedule.  Celebrity knows the order of the ports of call.  Jim's post (#4) referred to the Singapore to Sydney leg on a leg of what was marketed as part of a "world cruise."  His post referred to the third leg of the B2B2B we were also on.  That B2B2B series required a number of visas, and I thought that it was very clear with based on the communication with Celebrity that the responsibility rested on the passengers to obtain the necessary visas.

Sorry - didn't mean to confuse you.  I though you were saying that Celebrity would bring Indonesian officials on to help as mentioned in post #6, not Jim's post. All I was saying is that they knew well before the ship got to Darwin that they'd need to do that, but in our case, as yours (I think), Bali is the first stop, so they'd have to know by embarkation day that they'd need to do that.  

Jim's post did say that people wouldn't be allowed of the ship without the proper visa, the email we just got said they wouldn't be allowed on the ship without it.  It was very clear about that point.

2 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

Celebrity has had a long standing policy of offering to purchase flights for customs and immigration officials to board prior to a first port call at the next foreign port.  Celebrity pays for the flights, provides accommodations, food and so forth to do so.  But not every country accepts the offer.  On or Edge B2B2B last fall (Civitavecchia to Sydney) the Indian government authorities declined the offer (according to Cap. Matt the face to face Indian immigration took 7 hours for passengers at Mumbai).  In contrast the Australian Border Force had a least 5 of their staff onboard prior to our arrival at our first Australian port.  Indonesian officers will be forewarned.

 

We called at Benoa, Indonesia  on that B2B2B series.   Passengers who had not obtained their Indonesian travel documents prior to boarding had a serious problem.

That's very nice of them, but since Benoa is the first stop, and Celebrity is not requiring us to provide proof of visa before boarding, would they know to bring Indonesian officials onboard in Singapore?  I guess that was my point. 

The example of them boarding to help was Sydney to Singapore, making Benoa the last stop, not the first.

I love those rooms.  At least once a cruise, I sit in the porthole window and read.  Balcony also wraps, which was great in Alaska.

On 3/1/2024 at 1:48 PM, Baynanno1 said:

Even if not getting off the ship in Bali, you need the visa, as you are on a ship docked at an Indonesian port in Indonesian waters. Much better to have it done before boarding.

 

In spite of the fact the visa was a requirement before boarding, about half the passengers did not have their visa when boarding Sydney to Singapore last year.

 

It took about three days for them all to be processed, eventually with the help of Indonesian officials who were brought on board in Darwin. In long, slow moving queues, tempers of some passengers frayed when crew (whose job description does not include obtaining visas for passengers) took quite some time to get through all those who boarded without their visa.

And in our case, Indonesia is the first stop, so nowhere for Indonesian officials to board unless in Singapore, when presumably they wouldn't know they'd need to. 

2 hours ago, JJean said:

Yes, I did see that but on the Indonesian website it stated you could get it at the port.  I

could fill it out but then I could not convert to JPG .

I can convert your files.   You can find my email in the roll call.  Send to me and I’ll send back both jpeg and pdf.  

On 11/18/2021 at 6:12 PM, terrydtx said:

We wanted to take home our Butler but he declined, LOL

My sister actually did take a butler home. 

Safe trip home.  Thanks for this, and for the memories (Elements was great and Anna Maria and Emily were terrific)

13 hours ago, no1racefan1 said:

75 days to go!!! Things are getting real now 🙂

 

 

• Completing check-in online. I ran into a hiccup with this--I tried to enter our independently booked flights and it keeps telling me that flight number doesn't exist. Uhm....it does. So, I may just say oh well. I'm not too worked up about being 'green lane' vs. 'blue lane'. I'm confident that as long as we have a reservation and proper ID, we'll be allowed to board 😄
•  

I almost never put my flight info in, since I don't use their transfers.  I don't think that by itself would move you to blue lane.

4 minutes ago, hcat said:

Thanks for posting these additonal pics .   Did not realize the Pancake place was outdoor seating.  Food looked great but we prefer indoors..with A/C

It's covered.  I'm not a fan of outdoor seating usually, and I was Ok with it.

22 minutes ago, sofietucker said:

Thanks! we leave on the 9th for this cruise. So you only had 2 forml nights after ll, not 3? Did you have a Full Moon (white nights) party? It's never been on the full moon, but they had those on our last 3 Celeb cruises...

Two formal nights.  I think there was a Full Moon, but I didn't go, so I could be wrong.  

1 hour ago, lori-annk said:

How are you seeing pending and or expired? I can just see the bids I placed.

When I look at the bid I placed, on the far right it shows pending or expired, and by locked I just mean I can't change it.  I wasn't able to change the Celebrity Suite bid for quite a while, but I slightly bumped the Royal Suite bid a few days ago.

• Ship:  Solstice
• Length of Cruise:  13 nights
• Cruise Sail Date: 3/27/24
• Date email offer received:  I think I went to the website
• Captain’s Club Tier [“PREVIEW” = first Celebrity Cruise]: Elite Plus
• Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA:   TA
• Current Cabin:  AS (Aqua Sky)
• Bid?  Yes/No:  YEs

If YES -  Bidding Details:

• Cabin Category:  Royal Suite
• Bid Offer:   2115 per person
• Notification Date:  2/28/24
• Accepted / Rejected. Accepted

General Comments This was considered a medium bid.  Normally I bid minimum for suite upgrades and they're always rejected.  I wanted to get out from under the buffet, so I bid higher than otherwise.

We also had a 900 pp on a Celebrity Suite.  That went pending and locked a while ago, went to expired, then back to pending and locked.

2 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

Sorry I meant traveling from Vancouver to Seattle same day would be difficult. Last time we were in Seattle airport it was a very long distance between terminals - our flight was an 2.5 hours late coming into Seattle  - I literally had to find a wheel chair and run - made our connection in a knick of time. My husband tires out easily so we like the slow go approach.  Flying out of Seattle is quite a bit cheaper than Vancouver - thought we would save money and extend the cruise - well that didn't work out. LOL.  We have been to Vancouver many times - checking with the airline to see if we can move the flight to a few  days earlier  maybe take in Victoria - lessen to be learned - don't book non refundable! 

We've sailed into Vancouver and flown out of Seattle lots of times, but not the same day.  You could consider renting a car or van (don't know if that's feasible), and driving to Seattle, staying overnight and then flying home.  

7 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

The icing on the cake with all of this - on February 20th I wrote the executive office an email - that the booking process needed to be fixed. I booked online and paid in full and as soon as the credit card went thru and I added my husband on - I was informed that I owed a balance because a "glitch" removed all of the discounts. I immediately called to have this corrected. The agent was trying to trying to charge us more. I had to "hold my ground" and read them the discounts that were offered online in order to get the correct price.  The executive office knew this was a B2B from my email and this should not have been permitted to happened. I even asked for the B2B discount LOL. You think someone from the office would have called me. I miss the old Celebrity. 

They probably wouldn't have caught it on the old Celebrity either.  

I'm sorry this happened, but it's not unique to Celebrity.  I seem to recall people doing them same on Princess, and then getting a letter or a call saying they had to cancel one.

In your wanderings, did you happen to see the Synagogue?  Oldest in the Western Hemisphere.  Still active.

On 2/24/2024 at 5:41 PM, OlyWACruiser98501 said:

We have booked a cruise on the respoitions cruise in April. We have not cruised in over 30 years. I have a question about dining. There are so many options. First:

 

1) Are the specialty dining packages a good value. Honestly, we prefer to just eat at a buffet each day, and avoid a full service meal. Is there an option to dine buffet style each evening? What is the main dining room assignment we got (late) involve? Is this a fine dining restaurant.

 

2) How is breakfast and lunch done on these cruises now? For a considerable stretch or two, we are at sea for 5 days or so. Are lunch options different on in port days?

 

3) We prefer not to have the formal dress nights. We are not going on a cruise to get into formal wear. On our last cruise, we were required one formal night. What happens now, three decades later?

 

4) We do not drunk alcohol, so are the beverage packages worth it?

 

Thank you for any and all tips.

Welcome.  Come visit us on the roll call, there's lots of good info there as well.

The Solstice has 4 specialty restaurants, Le Petit Chef (fun once), Murano (fine Frenchish), Tuscan (Italian) and Sushi on 5.    Since this is a 17 day cruise, and the buffet at dinner has some closed stations, you might want to try the restaurants.  (I got dining packages on my first few cruises).  

I think the rest have been answered.

I was told a few years ago that the butler could stock things they had in their "pantry", sodas, water,  beer - but not things like hard liquor.

And that hasn't changed with the team approach - I get what I ask for.

And for those of you who still haven't heard - the dedicated butlers will be back in the next few months.  

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If anyone is on the fence trying to decide whether or not to book one of Princess’ Antarctica cruises, I’ll just say this. If you have the time and your budget can handle it, go for it! You will not be disappointed as there is no place in the world like this, even if the weather isn’t as favorable as it was for us. 
 

But I will add this. If at all possible, book an aft-facing balcony cabin if the cruise you’re considering is on a Grand-class ship. Why? The “wind factor” is pretty much eliminated when you walk out on the balcony, even if the ship is heading into a 50+ knot wind storm. Besides that, the awesome scenery you will see will be visible on either side, the sunsets can be awesome, and there is no better place to be on sail away IMHO than an aft-facing balcony cabin. But I will also mention this. You need to book it early, as they do go fast. 😁

Very sound advice.  We had an aft on the Star Princess on our first Antarctic cruise, and it was fantastic.  Not that when seeing the glaciers in the Beagle channel, we had the naturalist on, describing the glaciers and about 6 minutes later, they'd come into view.  But we could see them on both sides.

19 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Welcome to Aruba!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got off the ship a few minutes after 4, as did almost everyone else it seemed. Headed out to find the Dutch Pancake House:

 

 

 

That will be breakfast tomorrow morning!

 

 

 

Sitting here :

 

Having a couple Landsharks before heading back. There were a couple of stores on the main road we want to visit and rumor has it they may close at 6. 

mac_tlc

The Dutch Pancake House is my go-to in Aruba.  It's a great choice.