jagoffee

Going to leave us hanging? What was the price per day on the offer?

Great point. I just do not think it is Celebrity being dishonest. Perhaps a poorly trained phone rep? Or an honest mistake? Obviously when they give you a price they should always state “plus gratuity”. That fact is certainly stated everywhere on their website and it is well known. IMO, given your explanation, most people would not be pleased. Worst case, they lied. Best case they misunderstood the question. It is hard to imagine that they would not know about the “plus gratuity” for the drink package, the drink package upgrade, or the difference in cost when you purchase a drink over the limit. let’s just hope it was a new hire that was not trained properly.

Perhaps, since you seem to be offended. I was just explaining the relevance.

You really did not know that all drink package quotes say plus gratuity? I am not defending the change that Celebrity has made to the Speciality Dining prices. I certainly remember that days when Celebrity implied the charge was the gratuity or at least it included the gratuity. Everyone has the option of skipping the Speciality restaurants, plenty of dining elsewhere.

Defines that they dined in Luminae or at least that was my interpretation.

Obviously it was not Celebrity, because you said it was another line. What cruise line and which Loyalty benefit was denied, just because you used a TA instead of booking direct? we don’t have to worry about it with Celebrity. Was it Crystal? I am just guessing, because if a cruise line was doing this, I would think they would soon be out of business. Never a good idea to undercut the Travel Agents.

Thank you for sharing this information. Has anyone else had this kind of experience. Do you think it is possible that the notice was some kind of Spam? Did you go back to your original bid email, when you increased you bid for the Aqua Suite or did you do it via the outbid email? Very interesting. It would be good to know if this is happening to others. You might want to go back directly to the Celebrity bid site and resubmit you AQ suite bid at a comfortable amount and ignore the request to bid a higher amount. (Just in case it is not legit or misleading) Best of Luck.

Celebrity puts the MDR menus (all menus) on their AP in advance of the cruise. I have observed the menus are more accurate the closer you are to your cruise date. I have full daily menus for my 11/3 and 11/7 cruise dates. I have always assumed that the menus are subject to change and it has never been a “disaster”. The menus are sometimes slightly different even a day or two before a certain day. I just use them for rough planning, mostly to help pick out dates for Specialty dining. I do not read a lot of complaint about the adjustments. IMO Princess has a pretty good idea of the menus in advance. I have yet to experience a Medallion cruise with the newer Princess AP. I am scheduled for 1/2023, then I can truly compare.

I received my invitation for a January 17 cruise this week.

Just curious. What was the minimum bid amount for the mini compared to the same $750 total? thanks

Yes, it is a specialty restaurant with an extra charge. on the Apex there was a cafe in Eden’s that was no extra charge for a light breakfast and lunch.

I would think that Celebrity would know that the person was not cruising solo, thus they would not allow a guest. That policy is intended for Solo passengers. I think you are misunderstanding the Blu policy.

I am glad to hear the Beyond has a WCB. As you know from last year, the Apex does not. The Eden’s bar was a poor replacement (drinks available) We do not have anything booked on the Beyond. We are back to the Silhouette next week for 14 days.

We have had the same experience in the WCB.

I suspect you may be correct. The TA may be doing a poor job explaining the difference. Converting a Cruise Only rate to a group booking with an AI seems like a stretch. But I do not have experience with such a major benefit. My TA shared commission situation is more in the 8-10% OBC range.

Or at least based on you current category of cabin.

Have you ever ordered one of the unique WCB drinks in the Retreat lounge? I would be surprised if they had the WCB special ingredients. Perhaps something close? My wife and I really enjoy some of the WCB special cocktails. It is usually not very crowded.

Are you looking at the shore excursions after signing into your booking on the Celebrity website? You should be able to see all that information. Normally you can cancel any excursion for a full refund yesterday. All the information should be available at the six month window. Trip Advisor is a good place to get information about certain stops.

If you plan on booking with a refundable deposit, you can always rebook once on board. (And then cancel the other one). One of the odd things ((IMO) about Celebrity is that you can actually have two bookings for the same cruise at the same time.

It does sound like HAL does not start boarding before all cabins are ready. I have only cruised on HAL once and I do recall that they did not require you to vacate your cabin until you were ready. Impressive for sure.

Do not start boarding until all cabins are ready?

Does not sound right to me. I would be inclined to just cancel the cruise and take the $100 a person hit. (You will have the rest in a FCC). You stated that you did exactly as your TA suggested, I would not want the TA to receive any commission on the deal. If they will not let you rebook the deal that they initially offered, I would book with another TA or just book direct. I am a little suspicious that they misquoted you initially. Good luck.

Perhaps No one bid on that particular category? They want to have some bids in case there is a last minute cancellation? Just my guess.

Celebrity does as well, but I am not sure about other cruise lines.

From my AP.