Bruin Steve

...and today, we got assigned a cabin...AND Celebrity posted a Concierge class Guarantee...at the same $429 pp price cruise only. BUT, the AI price is $1756!!!

I know many here are curious as to when Celebrity assigns cabins on "Guarantee" bookings. From my experience, there's no hard and fast rule--it likely depends on how many cabins they have available in different categories and how marketing is doing. That said, I'll report on this one. We booked a December 1, 2023 cruise on Eclipse (San Diego and Cabo 6 nights) this immediately past Sunday afternoon (July 30)--so, just over 4 months out....and less than 48 hours ago. We booked a "Veranda Guarantee" rate, cruise only, knowing that we could have been assigned the worst Veranda cabin on the ship--and there are a large number of "obstructed view" veranda cabins, mostly on Deck 6, though, at the time of booking, very few of them appeared to be unassigned. My thought was they want to keep at least one or two that way so they can continue to market a "choose your cabin" obstructed view at a lower rate. Well, early this morning--within 40 hours or so of booking the cruise--I checked my account on the Celebrity website and it no longer said "Guarantee". That has been replaced with a cabin number--#8320, a "V2" veranda (formerly 1C) on Deck 8, unobstructed though fairly close to the aft of the ship, Starboard side...other passenger cabins both above and below. Overall, not a bad cabin assignment. My first instinct was to see about getting it moved to another open V2 closer to midship (though the cabins AT midship are V1 and the other available V2 cabins closer to midship are eithe adjoining cabins, sleep 3 or 4 with a sofa bed--and aren't that much clser to midship, maybe 6-7 cabins closer...or a move down to Deck 7-which is closer to the lifeboats-just a deck below)...so I think I've decided not to mess with it...We'll just do a little more walking onboard--which is probably good for us. In any event, by booking the guarantee we saved $780 ($429 vs, $819 pp) off the price of booking the same category with choice of cabins--and, as noted, the choices would not have been that much better. So, for that $780 discount, we "suffered" through about a day and a half of concern over getting stuck with an obstructed view...and, frankly, had we been assigned an obstructed view, for $780, I'd find a way to make the best of it. Heck the Veranda Guarantee rate was $226 less per person than choosing your own inside cabin!

5 Star City Center Hotel | Le Méridien Barcelona (marriott.com)

Yeah...It's a Veranda Guarantee for a cruise only base of $429...6 nights with only two ports--Cabo and San Diego, so taxes low, price with taxes and fees around $1200 for two. No idea what eventual assignmeb=nt could be...could be obstructed though, right now, only one obstructed cabin left unassigned,

It's not just guarantee bookings...I've seen others that are way out of whack as well... For me, it becomes VERY hard to book AI even when the pricing is at a slight advantage. As Ken pointed out, Princess charges about $60 per day. When you factor out the gratuities...and figure they allow drinks up to $14 or $15, it's like paying for three drinks a day and getting the fourth and after free and free wifi. And since we don't otherwise get any free "loyalty" drinks on Princess, their AI really makes sense. We've done all of our recent Princess cruises we've done the AI--no brainer. But, for me, with Celebrity, that $70.99 per day drink package price and $10 drink limit, it means my wife and I each have to consume SEVEN drinks per day BEYOND what we get for free anyway as Elite Plus (5:00-7:00 pm). The WiFi is near worthless on this one...We only go to San Diego and Cabo and AT&T covers us in both...and we get the Elite Plus complimentary 240 minutes each... So, even at a "discounted" amount--like that $519 pp (absurdly booking the one bad obstructed cabin by paying $342 per person more on the base rate), I'd do this math: It's $519 minus the $108 in gratuities--So, really $411 pp for drinks/wifi...or about $68.50 per person per day... For that, we get drinks after 7 and the right to waste a lot of extra time on the internet (past the 80 free minutes per day we have between us and all the free access while in port or docked)...So, we'd need to STILL have to drink about 7 drinks each EVERY night after 7 pm just to break even. IT IS STILL NOT A GOOD DEAL.

Actually, it's stranger than that... Obstructed view where you get to choose that one remaining cabin is $771 cruise only, $1290 AI... Unobstructed is $819/$1338!!!

I just booked a cruise on Eclipse for December... Now, when they first started offering "all-inclusive", there wasn't a "cruise only" choice. We really didn't know how much we were paying for drinks, tips and wifi since it was just packaged into the price. Mostly because of this, every Celebrity cruise we've done since the pandemic has been all-inclusive. But, now, there's an option. So, when booking this December cruise, I noticed the best price seemed to be a veranda guarantee. It's a short cruise, I'll take my chances...it won't be the worst thing to get a lifeboat in front of our balcony...but not a bad gamble as they only have one unassigned obstructed view cabin showing right now...and lots of unobstructed. So, we go to the next step--the "cruise only" vs. "all-included" choice...and here's what comes up: Cruise-Only Enjoy dining, entertainment, daily activities and more; tailor your add-ons later. /content/dam/celebrity/new-images/promotions/banners/upgrade_best_price.png $429 USD* avg per person CONFIRM & CONTINUE All Included Get our most popular amenities—drinks, Wi-Fi, and tips—prepackaged when you add All Included. Save $200-$800, only when you complete your booking now.Learn More /content/dam/celebrity/new-images/promotions/banners/upgrade_best_value_orange.png $1,449 USD* avg per person CONTINUE WITH ALL INCLUDED Okay--$1020 per person for the "perks"...Remember, it's a SIX-night cruise. Gratuities are $18 per day--$108 pp for the cruise...Right now, they are selling the classic drink package for $70.99 per person per day...add 20% gratuity, that's $511.08 per person for the cruise (at least that's the math they use on the X app). Wifi--$23.99 per day per person. So, $143.94. Okay, forgetting that, for us, we're Diamond Plus, so buying these seperately, we have discounts as well...but, lets ignore those for now... $108 PLUS $511.08 PLUS $143.94...Equals...$763.02!!! Celebrity wants to sell us All Inclusive...because we'd be paying them $2,040 for $1526 in extras!!! You give them an extra $514...WHY??? And I am sure lots of people are paying that....

Tonight, I am not able to sign onto my account on Celebrity's website or app...or Royal Caribbean's website or app... Enter email and password and websites just go back to sign in page...On the apps, I get a message "Sorry, we hit a snag"... I tried three different devices--PC, iPad, iPhone...problem same on all three. Anyone else? Ordinary maintenance? Servers down?? Or am I doing something wrong?

No. But it's not all that complicated. If you are flying in for a cruise, you can use Uber, Lyft, a taxi or a shuttle service to get from the airport to a hotel...and again from your hotel to the ship (unless you are staying at the port in a hotel from which you can walk or which has their own port shuttle. and you can do the same to get back to the airport. And just book your hotel through the hotel websites or through a hotel booking site if you want. I am not sure why there's a real need for someone to "package" hotel and shuttle in most places.

Does any of this have any effect on getting an Uber or Lyft? We originally booked an airport hotel and, for other reasons, ended up moving the reservation to the Fairfield Inn in Downtown (Seattle Center area). Our plan now is to grab an Uber/Lyft from Airport to hotel (arriving Sunday, August 20, 11:00 am--Alaska Airlines), then, Monday morning, grabbing a quick Uber/Lyft for the short 2.9 mile ride to Pier 91 ... Is it easy enough, under current conditions, to get a rideshare from Alaska airlines arrivals? If not, what alternatives would you suggest?

H10 Catalunya Plaza definitely has it...it's a 37 room boutique hotel right on the Placa. The 1898 has it as well. I wholly recommend both of these hotels. Most of the hotels you will find along Las Ramblas or in the Barri Gotic will be fairly charming--it's the older area of Barcelona and it's not like anyone's torn down historic buildings to build modern skyscrapers in those areas. The Eixample District is the more "modern" section-- largely built in the 19th/early 20th centuries...but it has a considerable amount of charm. Of course that is a little hit and miss. One trip we stayed at the Gran Havana in the Eixample and, though we liked the hotel, it was definitely more of a "modern" hotel. Getting out of this area, we one time stayed at the Hilton on the Diagonal (Financial District) and that was like a Hilton anywhere else in the world. Barcelona itself is fairly charming, but, for you, I highly recommend staying near Las Ramblas. Read reviews and look at the photos on hotel websites.

Yes, the Maya and Residence Inn are across the channel--in a mostly industrial area--BUT very close to the Queen Mary and to the Carnival facility. But here is the good part--The City of Long Beach provides a FREE shuttle (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) called the "Passport" that does a loop around the downtown area--including the "other" side of the channel! Passport | ridelbt.com Long Beach Transit Especially with kids, I would encourage you to come in early if you can, stay in Long Beach...Use the free Passport shuttle to take you everywhere--including the Aquarium of the Pacific (great for kids), to all sorts of shopping and to a large choice of restaurants. It would be like adding an extra day to your vacations...and much nicer than stressing out at the airport.

We've got ALMOST the same situation as the OP...We're cruising on the Millennium March 28-April 21...Also arriving at Haneda...and also staying at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku. But, at the end of our B2B cruises, we are departing from Haneda. I took a look at that limousine bus link...and, indeed, it says ¥1,300 pp for the ride from Haneda to the Keio Plaza--at present, less than $10 each...So, it clearly beats the price of a taxi. Questions, though-- 1) Do we need to pre-book and pre-pay (appears so from the website)? 2) If so, it looks like one has to pick a time--but, of course, the concern is a) we don't know if flight will be on time, b) we don't know how long it might take to retrieve our luggage and c) we don't know how long it will take to clear passport control/immigration...So, how difficult is it to deal with changes in schedule? 3) The video showed luggage racks above the seats--which, obviously, will not work for the large 50 lb/23 kg suitcases we will be traveling with. Is there also "under the bus" luggage storage available? 4) Is it easy to find the bus from baggage claim at Haneda? For our trip from the Keio Plaza to the ship in Yokohama, there will be four of us (another couple is joining us for the first leg of the B2B only but arriving Haneda a different day), what is the best way to get four people plus lots of luggage from the Keio Plaza to the cruise port? For our return, we have a tour that will get us from the ship to Haneda... Also, is Uber a "thing" in Tokyo as an alternative to taxi? What is the custom of tipping taxi drivers/bus drivers in Japan? Thanks...

Friday night and the cruise leaves Saturday? How late Friday? Assuming it's an arrival well after dinner time (There is little in the way of restaurants near LAX)... The only "free" shuttles you will find will be LAX area hotels--from LAX, maybe some in El Segundo (just south of LAX) as well. LAX is not an attractive location--except if you have a very early flight out or, perhaps, like you, a very late flight in. My personal preference would be to head immediately to Downtown Long Beach--just to get the longer ride out of the way. I'd especially head down to Long Beach if I arrived earlier in the day since there is so much more to do, more restaurants, etc....as well as to have a less stressful embarkation morning. Of course, for you, you may find a less expensive hotel choice near LAX. If there, stay in the area immediately east of LAX along Century Blvd., but stay west of the 405...Or, stay in El Segundo if you can find a good price and shuttle. If you want to head straight to Long Beach, take a good look at the Maya Doubletree or the Residence Inn Downtown--they are on the same side of the channel as the Carnival terminal. Do not venture to other locations in Long Beach other than this or just across the channel--Hyatt Regency, Hyatt at the Pike, Renaissance, Westin, Hilton. Long Beach is a big city--some parts are not good. A compromise is to stay in Torrance (about halfway to the port from LAX), taking an Uber LAX-hotel and hotel-port...if you can find a better hotel price there (I assume from your post that budget is a concern). I've never Ubered Long Beach to LAX...I have done San Pedro (slightly closer to LAX) to LAX--around $50 plus tip...but, beware, if a lot of people get off the ship and all call Uber at once, surge pricing pops up. Keep both the Uber app and the Lyft app handy to see who's got the best price.

Yes. Dam Square is, basically, the center of downtown Amsterdam. When we last went and chose the Kimpton DeWitt, it was largely due to the proximity to the cruise port, the train station, boat tours and the main sights of Downtown Amsterdam. The short walk between there and Dam Square was pretty nice. But...short story, "Dam Square " brings this back for me: First time I ever visited Amsterdam was in 1975, when I spent the summer in Europe while in college. A buddy and I stayed in a small hotel (and I use that term loosely here...place was a dive) not far from there...and every time we ventured out, we passed through Dam Square. And, constantly, in Dam Square, with us being a couple of long-haired college kids (yes, in those days, we all were), we kept getting approached by "pushers" offering to sell us every type of drug imaginable. I think every drug dealer in Amsterdam in those days (prior to the 1976 legalization of "soft" drugs) seemed to hang out at Dam Square. One morning, a long haired guy comes up to us and asks "Do you want to buy a bug?" My friend and I looked at each other puzzled. We thought we knew every slang term for every drug available...but we had no idea what a "bug" was. We looked at the guy and said "A bug? Ummmm....What's that?" He looks back, slightly annoyed and says "A BUG. A VW. A Volkswagen. I'm trying to sell my car". So, I guess the drug business has moved on to legal "coffee shops". I wonder if the used car market is still alive and kicking in Dam Square?

I love last minute schedule changes...Many years ago, before we ever brought cell phones anywhere and had no email to check, we had a Princess cruise out of Copenhagen on the OLD Crown Princess (the one they aquired in the Sitmar merger)...We had flown into Copenhagen 4 nights early and, on embarkation day, we checked out of our hotel and headed to the ship thinking we had plenty of time. We barely made it. Princess had changed departure time, moving it something like 4 or 5 hours early for some inane reason. We DID make it, but many didn't. We "asked" about it...and they said "We notified you". I asked "How?" and "When? And they told us BY TELEPHONE (in those days, that meant our home land line)...and when? "Yesterday". Now you also need to realize that, "yesterday" in Los Angeles, even had we not flown early to Copenhagen, would have been a day taken up by an hour drive to LAX, a couple of hours for check-in, etc., 12+ hours of flight time plus at least a couple of hours changing planes at Heathrow or elsewhere...compounded by a 9-hour time zone change. IOW, even had we flown in just in time for the cruise, we still would not have had a "yesterday". We were just LUCKY that we always plan on getting to the ship early. Princess, of course, was unapologetic...

Nope. Not exactly. We are booked on yhe Serenade of the Seas "World Cruise" for a couple of segments...and we are scheduled to leave the ship IN AMSTERDAM on AUGUST 19, 2024. For us, it's not a matter of simply flying into Amsterdam and getting a taxi or train to Rotterdam or vice versa. We will have been traveling over a month and will have a lot of luggage. The plan is to stay a couple of nights and enjoy Amsterdam...after a quick Uber or taxi from the ship, then a quick Uber or taxi to the airport. Keep it simple. Back in 2019, we did B2B on Reflection in and out of Amsterdam...and we loved the ease of doing it--rather than ports like Southmpton, Dover, Civitavecchia, etc. where you fly in to an airport a considerable distance away. Last time, pre- and post-cruise, we stayed at the Kimpton DeWitt Amsterdam--and it was so convenient.

Assuming you are talking about the weekend of April 19/20...That is the "Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach"... https://www.gplb.com/ Even if you had booked a hotel early, the prices would have been highly inflated...and even this far ahead of the event, hotels are typically sold out. So, assuming your cruise dates are cut in stone, don't worry about it. Stay somewhere else in the area and, unless you are going to the race, just stay out of Long Beach until it's time to get on your ship. Where you stay depends on what you want to do, what airport you are using...and how much time you have. If you are just, say, flying into LAX the day before, killing time relaxing withourt need to do any sightseeing and just heading to your ship Monday morning...and you are concerned with transportation costs and logistics, I wouldn't bother passing Long Beach to head to Seal Beach or Huntington Beach and backtracking by Uber... I'd stay in between LAX and Long Beach--Look at El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance (Collectively, "the South Bay")...Plenty of hotels, areas are safe, restaurant choices, etc. and you are doing no extra mileage by Uber or anything, just splitting your ride in two... I'd consider Seal Beach/Huntington Beach only if I were flying into SNA or LGB...and, if one of those and just relaxing, I'd consider staying near those airports (though normally, I'd highly recommend NOT and staying in Downtown Long Beach. Your weekend, you simply don't have that choice. And even LGB hotels are bound to fill fast for that weekend!)

We are headed to Seattle next month for a cruise on Quantum of the Seas. Originally, we booked a hotel near the airport--Wingate by Wyndham...Got a fairly cheap price and it included breakfast. Our original plan was hotel shuttle airport to hotel, Uber to the ship at Pier 91. Then stuff started getting screwy. The hotel changed its afilliation from Wyndham to Marriott and we had a difficult time confirming our reservation. Marriott finally confirmed--but our included breakfast seemed to drop from the deal and there was now an extra charge. I actually had a few soon-to-expire Marriott points, but could not apply them to this reservation without a major bump to "current" pricing... Then, someone suggested NOT staying near the airport. That pre-cruise Uber might be difficult, take a long timewith traffic and encounter surge pricing--The Quantum leaves on a Monday! We looked around for alternatives. Ended up canceling the airport hotel and booking the Fairfield Inn Downtown (a Marriott product, 7th and John, near the Space Needle). Overall rates were not much higher than the airport options--and we were able to pay in part with those expiring Marriott points to bring our cost LOWER than what we would have spent at the airport. And the Fairfield INCLUDES breakfast. We'll get an Uber from the airport when we arrive on Sunday morning. We can wander around Downtown for the afternoon and have dinner at a number of choices near the hotel (The airport hotel we had booked had very few restaurants in walking distance and we would likely have ended up taking a shuttle to the mall for a restaurant). And, Monday morning, when we check out, it's only a 2.9 mile Uber ride to Pier 91!!!

I've done it...so it can't be too difficult...But, being lazy, I've taken the shuttle as well... It's flat...all sidewalks...You go about a block East from the CP to Harbor Blvd. (The only major street you have to cross)...Cross Harbor Blvd. and just follow the walkway past the USS Iowa and to either Berth 92 or 93, depending on which berth your ship is at.

YES. This hotel: https://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/us/en/san-pedro/laxpv/hoteldetail Located about three blocks from the cruise terminal. Several good restaurant choices within about a two block radius. Along with the Doubletree in San Pedro (a little more tranquil location but a little more out-of-the-way), the only two hotels in San Pedro I'd recommend.

Ubers of all types are extremely plentiful in the LA area. The only times I've ever had a problem in getting one is when arriving late at nignt at LAX when a number of planes had just arrived...and then it wasn't a matter of getting one, just that I've experienced some "surge" pricing...To be on the safe side, download the apps for BOTH Uber and Lyft. You can log into both and check prices and availability. And, if Uber XL is not easy, just grab two UberXs--sometimes it works out just as well. I would never use a solution requiring me to get a hotel shuttle back to LAX then find a cruise line transfer...definitely not worth the hassle.

Okay...here's the fun part: What you want to visit is my old neighborhood...where I grew up. Seriously, growing up, even before they built the Getty Villa, J. Paul Getty was my neighbor. His actual residence (well, his California residence, he also had homes in London and New York) was right next to the house I grew up in. All I had to do was to climb under the fence along our back yard and I was looking at Getty's house--which is actually behind the "Villa". My parents were really not very happy with them building the Villa (nor were many of their neighbors). The property was zoned "single family residential" and they pulled a few strings with City Hall and somehow bypassed a lot of the public hearing requirements. When they opened, it caused a lot of unnecessary traffic and parking issues in the neighborhood. The eventual compromise was that no one would be allowed to walk into the Villa property--visitors could only park ON the property...and parking reservations were required. Anyway, back to your question. The Villa is actually located in Pacific Palisades (though they often call it Malibu...The city of Malibu actually starts just a little up the PCH across Topanga Canyon Blvd. There really aren't any hotels in Pacific Palisades and nothing that close-by in the Eastern end of Malibu. Closest are for hotels would actually be Santa Monica--which is, for many reasons, a great place to stay--lots to do in walking distance if one is there without a car. I would use Uber to get from the cruise port to a hotel in Santa Monica and use Uber to the Getty Villa and back. The oldest and most "historic" hotel (though little in the area is all that ancient) in Santa Monica is the Fairmont Miramar--sort of the "grande dame" of Santa Monica hotels...and very well located near the Third Street Promenade and Palisades Park. For a smaller hotel nearby, the Huntley is across the street (My daughter once stayed there and liked it). Another very interesting choice--a litte closer to Getty but a little more out-of the-way for other things--would be the Channel Road Inn. From Santa Monica, there are a few typical tourist sites: Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach Boardwalk, a stroll along Palisades Park at sunset, shopping and people-watching on the Promenade. If you've done all of those and are looking for the unusual, in Pacific Palisades there's this one: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=626 A couple of long blocks down the beach from the Getty Villa (at PCH and Sunset Blvd.) is California's top grossing restaurant--Gladstone's...but there are lots of other restaurant choices in Santa Monica.

Exactly!!! I really WISH they had a person or a team of people sitting around looking at the many guaranteed bookings on the 40+ ships on the RCI-owned cruise lines for 52 weeks of cruises each year and looking at the individual cruising resumes of everyone booked into those guarantees and assigning cabins and categories based on the cruising credentials of those passengers. I am well into Diamond Plus on Royal and even farter up the board on Elite Plus on Celebrity. I would book a guarantee every time...because I'd be virtually guaranteed that rare upgrade. BUT that is NOT how they do it. It's all computer driven...and the Computer programs are really not that complex. They book a certain number of guarantees in certain categories because they either have cabins reserved or know, from experience, that a given number of cabins will come back to them over time due to cancelations and such. The guarantee bookings allow them a certain amount of flexibility in how they market remaining unsold cabins and allows them to market cruises even in categories where they no longer have unassifgned cabins at any specific time. Which specific cabins eventually become availableis a completely unpredictable variable. People may cancel a booking in a well-located cabin...or in one in the extreme aft or forward. And at times, the cabins that come available may not be in the predicted categories--leaving them the ability to move people around. Throw in the RoyalUp thing and cabins and categories get moved around...but all for the convenience of cruise line marketing The actual assignments are done by the computer...and it is the simplest program they can put together. WHY? Because who they assign where really doesn't matter to them...and it isn't worth the time or complexity to deal with otherwise. So, when you book a guarantee, your booking goes into the list of guarantee bookings at that level...and the computer randomly assigns it to one of the available cabins--whichever and wherever that may be. Don't imagine any additional motive or complex array of considerations.

I'm not so sure about that... I am Diamond Plus...As I reported earlier, I've rarely seen any bump. I've been in roll call threads where I've been given a guarantee assignment in the lowest category of my guarantee while newbie first time cruisers have reported some sizable upgrades. I believe it's simply luck of the draw.