phoenix_dream

Traveled on cruises with my son from age 4 to adult. I won't lie and say he wouldn't have preferred Royal ships, but he always had a good time. That's a warm weather cruise so the family can enjoy the pool together. We also always brought a couple of board games with us that were easy to travel such as Yahtzee (just take the parts you need, you don't need the whole box). They sometimes have a few games onboard but I would bring my own as sometimes pieces are missing. He didn't care to go to kids clubs either. He brought books, magazines, comics, handheld video games or loaded games and movies on his laptop (that was before IPads existed!). Not that you want them staring at a screen all day, but the Starlink internet is decidedly better than what they had previously so it's usually easy to stream things. The newer ships also have a better selection of tv movies if you want to watch one as a family. That cruise does have a few sea days I imagine, so hopefully these things will fill their time.

I always ask the hostess so I know for sure. I have been told different things on different ships. The sommelier I think has always been separate. But the maitre d is sometimes included but not always, at least as I've been told by the hostesses. Best to ask to make sure.

Exactly, although I would hope the majority were honest. The person who I was discussing this with said that their butler(s) had told them they were not included in the all included tip pool. Could be anything - the butler not fully understanding the question, the butler deliberately misleading, the person not explaining it correctly or fully, or as simple as someone deliberately posting bad information on the internet, which we know can always be believed🙂(although in this case I don't think it was that based on the history or their other posts)

Once you book with a TA Celebrity will not entertain any discussion or changes to your booking itself. (meaning, for things like perhaps booking extras like specialty restaurants or similar you can do that through Celebrity, but not for the cabin booking itself)

If your abbreviation means what I think it means, then you are able to do a move-up. Some large warehouse stores do not allow it.

That is an interesting point about Royal, which I have wondered myself. At some point the limit of number of potential passengers will be reached. And Royal is soon coming out with the largest monstrosity at sea (my opinion). How do they intend to fill all their ships with all those available berths when they are attempting to move some of them to Celebrity?? I am not a CEO, president, nor marketing executive. But it seems to me that it would make common sense for Celebrity to market towards 40year old+ with grown (or older) children. That would seem a logical progression to me - bring your young kids to Royal, and when your kids are in college or older and may or may not even want to travel with you, join the Celebrity crowd. That allows those of us loyalists to still enjoy our experience and also allows Celebrity to broaden their demographic as we Boomers eventually cease being able to cruise. Win-win. But much of what they are doing (and vaping I think is the strongest example) seems to be directed towards the 20-30 year old crowd. I personally think it is a big mistake. Those of us in the 50+ group still have many, many (hopefully!!) more years to crusie and would like to continue to do so on Celebrity. Why make changes that will drive us away?!?!?

I'm anything but new to Celebrity (30 years and 75+ cruises) and my only honest answer would be it depends. They continually have one type of sale or another. I have to say it's been years since we were able to reprice and find a better deal (or at least one with enough difference to bother). Some have been luckier. In general, the next big sales would be near Labor Day, and then at the beginning of the year during what they call the wave season, when many people are getting sick of the cold and snow and are thinking about cruising. But right now many ships are sailing full, and there is a new person running the show, so it's impossible to predict for sure.

Hard to believe, but some people don't like cruising! Or maybe it was the weather - on our Panama Canal cruise outside it felt as hot as you-know-where, so maybe she just didn't like having to be outdoors.🙂

Good idea to confirm it is as stated. I always ask in Luminae who is included in the extra tip pool there as sometimes the Maitre d is, and sometimes he/she isn't. Same for the sommelier, although I think they are usually able to keep any extra tips given to them.

Thanks much to CHEZMARYLOU and thebutlerdidit. Finally a confirmed answer to my actual question!

Not disagreeing with your information, but can you share how you know this? I don't want to assume it just because the tips are higher, as they might be higher to include Retreat lounge staff, more Luminae staff, etc..

That's because the Catholic religion makes mass mandatory in most circumstances. Non-denominational is open to anyone of any religion of course. I'm not a religious expert but I think if there is not a priest onboard saying mass then a Catholic can probably meet their requirements by streaming a service online.

Someone in a place I am not allowed to name here. They also said they heard this information directly from butlers. I'm not trying to argue with them - just want to know for sure one way or another so I can tip accordingly.

I think this is just standard wording they use until they can get all the daily schedules planned.

One independent tour you can consider on Cozumel is the Bar Hop. I'm not a big drinker at all, but it was very relaxing and a lot of fun. And as has been said, Cozumel is a very large port so even if there are lots of ships in port that day you should be fine.

I appreciate the polite responses. But can anyone tell me for sure if the butler tips are included in the all included tip pool or not? I always thought they were because the tip amounts are higher for suites, but as I'm being told something else I want to try to find out for sure.

I was under the impression that the butler would share in the all included tip amounts when sailing in suites. I've been told recently that they may not be. Can anyone confirm one way or another whether they are included in the all included tip pool? And can you advise where you got your information (not doubting anyone - just want to know where that information is as I have never seen it in writing unless I missed it). Please - let's not get into tip extra or not - just want to know for sure if they are included or not so I can plan accordingly. Thank you!

I guess we'll see. Or better yet, hope the test fails and it is not implemented. I just am not sure there will be a noticeable impact if it stays. I think the younger people who are sailing more and more with Celebrity may just balance out the older and perhaps more loyal people who are deciding to go elsewhere. Unfortunately, Celebrity is not alone in allowing smoking (or in this case vaping) of some type onboard. I know there are some lines that still don't allow it in the casino, but many do. And I've heard some people talk about going to the more premium lines (which often don't allow smoking, or even have a casino) but there really is a pretty significant price difference, as well as overall experience difference so who knows how that will work.

Same here. Even when we get the emails 90% of the time or more the requests aren't handled. That said, with one recent exception we've always had great luck meeting with the butler upon embarkation who handles it all nicely.

I would sincerely hope that you are correct. I really hate the idea of vaping. But I have to tell you that the younger demo is already happening quite a bit. On all of our recent cruises (and there have been many) we have seen way more people of a younger age, and way more kids than we ever have before in our 30 years and 75+ cruises on Celebrity, in particular on the Edge class ships. I also am skeptical of how many people will actually be cancelling a cruise because of this change. There will be some of course. But its easy to say something like that on Facebook and harder to get hit with the cancellation fees of doing that. Once again, I very much hope you are right but I am skeptical.

Definitely agree. Suites are the most in demand cabins on the ships these days. If there are any open they will give them to the highest bidder on move-up, and that is almost always someone who bid considerably over minimum. Is there a tiny chance that someone cancels literally at the last minute and they might let someone pay for the suite? Yes, but agree that it will probably be higher than the upgrade bid, as well as probably considerably higher than had the person booked a suite in the first place. That's how popular they are right now. I've tried bidding several times from Aqua Class and have yet to be successful.

Just wanted to add my two cents about dates. We have sailed to Alaska multiple times both in early May at the start of cruise season as well as mid to late September, at the end. We have never had an issue getting close to the Glaciers and never saw any haze in the air in September. Maybe we just got lucky, but these were over several trips. I will confess we had more rain on our last September sailing, but haven't had that on previous trips at that time. I'll leave it to the Alaska residents to let us know if I just got lucky.

IMHO that's exactly the point. Vaping is very popular with the younger crowd. Celebrity is trying to attract a younger crowd. So do the math. Some believe (and Celebrity claims) this trial is due to requests from casino players, with no information to back that up, even on sites or posts from Blue Chip cruisers. I think it is to try to attract a younger crowd.

Summit is an old worn ship?? She was revolutionized and she is in great shape. Old, yes. Worn. Not in my opinion

Wow some of the rudest or snarky answers I’ve seen on any question lately. What’s with some people?! Please don’t think most Celebrity cruisers are like that! Basically, Celebrity tends to be a bit more quiet and relaxing and laid back than Royal. Fewer kids. Good entertainment but not quite up to the same quality overall. Excellent service. Very good food. No amusement park stuff for kids but a nice kids program.