prmssk

I think it is luck and weather may play a part (which they don't always know until moments before the excursion). Our worst snorkeling experience was a day where the waves were choppy and it was overcast. That day they had to move our snorkeling excursion to their secondary location because of weather. And yes, we had 2 opportunities each day for land/zodiac excursions and 1-2 opportunities for snorkeling/kayaking excursions each day. The only exception was the day that was spent in town and in the highlands with the giant tortoises.

I have seen some social media posts that the DJ and much of the party from the Oasis pool moved to Hideaway Beach. I don't know if that is what to expect every time but it did make me a little less likely to be interested in Hideaway Beach. I've been waiting to see more reviews though since it is still a very new area.

cruisedeckplans has a great tool that shows you exactly what is above and below a cabin. It's called the Cabin Check tool. We have been above restaurants and shops and had no issues. So far we have avoided being above bars with music and places like the galley for the reasons others have stated.

On the Northern Loop (which I think is also true for the Southern Loop), the deep water snorkeling was always scheduled between the morning and afternoon excursions. There was not another option at that time. You are still anchored at either the morning or afternoon location and so the zodiac and land excursions either already happened before or are scheduled for after the snorkeling excursion. When my husband stayed back on the ship, he enjoyed the chance to catch his breath. It is a very intensive schedule. I did 4 excursions one day (2 deep water snorkels plus the morning and afternoon excursions) and felt like I never stopped moving that day until we were unwinding for bed. If I could have known ahead of time which snorkeling excursions would have been better than the others, I would have skipped a couple to give myself that chance to breathe as well but you can't know that ahead of time.

Outside of the beach club and I believe the new hideaway beach, all the rest of the beaches and the large pool are free with loungers. There are also food shacks and food buffets around the island, most of which are included at no extra charge. Royal Caribbean's drink package worked on land so I expect Celebrity's does as well but I have not been there on a Celebrity ship yet. If you want to do water sports, go to the water park, do the balloon ride, or rent a cabana or beach bed, those come with cost and you can see all those costs in your cruise planner. Personally, we don't spend money when we visit the island. I'm happy just enjoying the beaches.

I think the forensic dissection of the website only came up because OP brought up the lack of clarity on the website (see post 59), I think to justify why they weren't aware of the deposit policy.

Thank you for the screen shots. That was the one button I didn't click on (I'm usually looking for the ultimate total not the subtotal) as I tried to figure out how someone skipped a step that to me, is such an integral part of how I price or book any cruise. Back to OP's original post, we made a booking decision about a cruise last year that in hindsight I realized cost us a fair amount of money. We were using a TA for that cruise. I have to admit it really left a bad taste in my mouth about that TA because to me, one of the benefits of using one is for their expertise to help me make the best booking decisions. I expect a good TA to be that second eye to catch things I don't. But I also felt an immense amount of guilt because she was acting on my instructions and it was something I should have done more research on. I feel it is my responsibility to know what I'm booking.

These screenshots look like from a mobile device. I was using the desktop version of the website. Maybe that's the difference.

Maybe a difference in browser? I used Safari and couldn’t bypass that step by using the banner.

When I tried a mock booking the top banner option to Review and Pay was greyed out. You had to scroll and click the button on the bottom and click “Review & Pay” and then a check mark appears next to step 2 in the banner to show you did that step. If you hit the back button to go back and review that customize page, it no longer is greyed out so at that point you could use the top banner, but not on your first click through.

It's a verandah stateroom with some extra amenities (and little more space on the smallest class of ships). We like the embarkation day lunch in the dining room but don't make use of a lot of the other amenities. Here is Celebrity's page which describes concierge class and the amenities. https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/staterooms/concierge-class-stateroom

And? The compensation model with gratuities established by the cruise line fairly closely matches tipping expectations in the United States. When I travel, I try to learn the tipping culture of where I visit (in this case the cruise ship) to match expectations in that place. If cruise lines ever change their compensation structure to more closely match different tipping standards such as those of parts of Europe where there isn’t much of a tipping culture, I will adjust what I do when I cruise.

When I have the luggage space, I take my formal gown and just enjoy dressing up without worrying too much about what others are wearing. There are always a few others that do the same so I’m not completely alone in attire.

To me the auto-gratuities are just a cost of cruising. If that auto-gratuity system was abolished, they would raise cruise fares to make up the difference so you would still pay them, just in a different form. And regardless of the compensation system they use for their employees, we, the consumers are paying employee wages. Some CEO isn't out of the kindness of his own pocketbook paying the employees. They are being paid out of our cruise fares and the gratuities we pay. Do I wish tipping would go away? Absolutely. It puts consumers in a role of deciding compensation which I don't think is appropriate. But would eliminating tipping systems change how much I ultimately pay? No. So to me, I don't understand the rationale behind trying to go around the system in place by removing auto gratuities and only tipping who you want to tip. It just hurts the workers you miss and I'm not sure what it actually accomplishes.

I don't know about the Eclipse specifically but they have not added the self-serve beverage cooler to all of the Michael's Clubs. On the Constellation for example, any drinks you want, you need to ask for from a bartender, and although the bar is staffed a lot of hours throughout the day it isn't 24/7.

You can either pre-pay them in your cruise planner (or with your TA if you booked through one) or they will be added to your account daily. It is possible to ask them to be removed and pay in cash but the way gratuities are distributed these days, they include many behind the scenes people that you won't have contact with to hand an envelope. We leave them on for that reason.

I just did a mock booking and at least from my computer, you have to scroll through all the options on this page, with the last selection related to whether you want a refundable deposit, before you can click "Review & Pay".

The options on the customize page are not options you can choose on the ship (early/late/anytime dining, insurance, or refundable deposit). Insurance is one you should be thinking about as soon as you put even your deposit down. Early/late/anytime dining spots fill up so even 6 months before your cruise, you may not have the option available you want. Anyone who wants flexibility to pick their dining times later, needs to book the anytime option at booking. And the choice about a refundable or nonrefundable deposit needs to be made at the time of booking. So all three of the things on that page are things you should be thinking about at the time you book.

I don’t ever put a deposit down on anything big like a trip without making sure I know the deposit and cancellation policy. To me, that seems like a common sense thing to ask about (or look for the terms).

In the past, there has usually been a delay in her social media posts so I wouldn't assume that January 19 is actually the day she filmed that first video.

When is your cruise? Has check-in opened yet for your cruise? It usually happens 45 days before. Assuming you are within that window, are using the app or the website? Have you tried both?

It is my understanding that you cannot switch from a non-refundable fare to a refundable fare. Otherwise, I imagine people would just use that workaround for non-refundable fares. And in this case the cruise has already been cancelled so it is too late to even move it. The agent messed up here in not discussing options before going through with the cancellation. It sounds like they also should have been a lot clearer in the beginning that it was a non-refundable fare they were booking for their client.

I don’t know why they don’t do a better job catching it at the time of booking, but the itinerary you currently have booked is indeed a violation of the Passenger Vessel Service Act which doesn’t allow two different US ports to be your starting and ending points without what is considered a distant foreign port. None of your foreign ports on those two cruises are considered distant foreign ports.

Captain’s Club points towards your next loyalty level.

It doesn't matter how long the cruise is. It's just one night worth of points. So a veranda gets you 3 extra points if you sign up for Go Green.