sailingjudy

I apologize if I offended you. I am the one who reopened this thread. It was the only thread I found specifically about tipping butler and in Luminae and my question was about that topic. To my mind, additional comments in an old thread about the topic makes more sense than starting a new thread about same topic.

Three years later -- We are on Eclipse at the moment and are in a Sunset Sky Suite. Our butler said she has responsibility for 22 suites now. She said Celebrity briefly stopped having butlers for sky suites and used a care team for the butler responsibilities. But that lasted only a month and assigned butlers were returned. I have read this entire thread and still have no idea what is an appropriate amount to tip the butler. The person who stated he tips $50 or $100 did not mention the length of the cruise for which he would tip that amount. We are sailing 12-nt cruise. We always tip stateroom attendant $10 per day; so, assumed should tip the butler at least that much and possibly $15 per day. More than that amount seems excessive, IMO, as we are not 'needy' people. I know....personal decision.

lol. Guess what! When do that, the drop down list does not include MSC Seascape. Strange.

Thank you very much for all the information and advice. I will search for Seascape and see what I can learn in this forum. We dealt with a travel agent to book this cruise -- something I never do -- and were not offered any rates that included the Easy Plus drink package and WiFi except if booked into Yacht Club. Yacht Club was 3 times the rate I booked as Fantastica and twice the rate if had booked Aurea. I tried to sign into MSC for my booking and got nowhere. Maybe I need to wait a few days; possibly the travel agent has not entered everything correctly yet; or, possibly this booking is for a cruise too far into the future for there to be any add-ons to buy. I'll try calling the TA again when have time later today. Thanks again.

I also have a few questions. Glad momofmab asked about coffee as that was one of my questions and it now have been answered. I booked Seascape yesterday for a sailing well into the future. Know nothing about MSC or this ship except that she will be sailing from my home town of Galveston beginning November 2026. My husband and I are Diamond+ with Royal Caribbean, but want to at least give MSC a try. Because drinks are not included in the Aurea class for North America sailings, I chose to book Fantastica class. Hope that was not a mistake. If we must purchase drinks separately anyway, I saw no benefit of Aurea class. Is there any space on Seascape to sit quietly and read? Other than one's room or balcony. We are spoiled using the Crown Lounge on RC ships and are in there a few hours daily. Does MSC offer a coffee card or package? What is the approximate cost of 2-device internet access for a 7-night sailing? Does MSC have daytime activities such as trivia? Anything a total newbie needs to know about sailing this line or this ship? Thanks for any advice.

There was a very long queue for the taxis. We saw taxis picking up guests while we waited in Schooner Bar to disembark. By the time we got down to the taxi area, the queue was very long; so, we chose to take the shuttle/van at $20 per person rather than stand a long time to wait for a taxi.. Also had extremely long lines waiting for Uber/Lyft. This is what I would expect when over 2,000 people disembark ship at same time. We were happy with the $20pp shuttle. Cost difference was negligible, IMO.

Jumping into this thread because could not find another that addressed my question. We hoped to book flights through Celebrity for a cruise next year. But all I can find searching on Celebrity website is United Airlines. We would be flying from IAH (Houston) to SCL (Santiago, Chile) and returning from Buenos Aires. American Airlines has great flights for this trip but Celebrity offers booking only with United. Does Celebrity not partner with American Airlines?

Yes, they do. I did transfer from EWR to Bayonne cruise port in late October. You must call RCCL to arrange transport, cannot do it online. We paid $29.50 per person for one-way transport.

After my last experience with Uber at JFK, I do not want to repeat that. Had to walk a very long way after retrieving luggage to get to the ride share pick-up location. Hoping for a better experience using shuttle at EWR. Speed is of no importance for this arrival pre-cruise.

We are using RC transport from EWR to Cape Liberty for cruise in October. Price is $29.50 pp. Must call RC to book.

Test must have worked. I received email notification of your post.

Thanks for the info. Honestly, however, none of that means anything to me except the laundry and the ability to get water & cokes to take to the room for later. No casino and no spa for us and unlikely any gelato. Someone else mentioned 90 minutes of WiFi but that also is useless to us. If cannot have internet 24/7 then we cannot cruise -- regardless of which cruise line -- because my husband works on all cruises. I have not totally ruled out Celebrity and remain interested in the Around the Horn sailing in 2024. It will be like being a cruising newbie once again if we sail Celebrity. I do like the X itineraries. Judy

Thank you! I finally found the one for 2024. Unfortunately, the dates conflict with another repo booking we already confirmed. Looks like we will be waiting until 2025 and it will be Celebrity.

We cannot do this in 2023 because already have RCCL cruises booked during the dates that X will be sailing that route. And I cannot find it for 2024. I did find same route with Azamara but not willing to pay that much. I'll check X every so often to see if the 2024 cruise becomes available. I thought possibly since Azamara is sailing that route in 2024 that did not want competition between the brands for same route.

THAT is the cruise I really want to do! Santiago or Lima around the Horn up to Buenos Aires. Or the reverse route. But I do not see it offered on the website right now. We currently have 10 bookings with RCCL, as far out as April 2024, and had hoped to work in the Round the Horn cruise in Dec2023/Jan2024 time frame. Plenty of time so I will keep checking Celebrity website to see if such a cruise pops up. Thanks for all your comments helping me understand Celebrity better.

This is something about Celebrity that appeals to us. We typically sail longer cruises with RCCL and Radiance class is our preferred size of cruise ship. Typically, the longer sailings have few kids, if any. We tend to avoid the larger ships with all the bells & whistles which attract a younger crowd and lots of kids, although do have current bookings on both Allure and Harmony which will sail during normal school months. Both the smaller ships and the itineraries offered by Celebrity are appealing. We are getting a tad tired of sailing the same routes and are looking for somewhere different. Celebrity appears to fit that niche.

You are correct. That breaks down to about the cost of a single drink per day. Looking at this as a totally new cruise line and not getting any perks for loyalty status with the other brand, the cost of the "all included" does look like the best way to book with Celebrity. Do you know if the WiFi provided with the "all included" package has 24/7 connection? And if it works well enough for Zoom meetings? I would expect some loss of signal when down in area of Antarctic. I kind of doubt the satellites provide good coverage down in that area.

The "all included" fare is $648 pp more than the basic fare for the cruise I am considering. The gratuities should be $217 pp, which means $431 pp for WiFi and drinks. For a couple who drink only a glass or 2 of wine with dinner each night and 1 Diet Coke each afternoon, that is not attractive pricing, IMO. We are going to think about this. The current promo ends June 15. It is the itinerary that is desired and we need to consider Celebrity a totally new line rather than any type of reciprocity with our usual cruise line.

No, I would book the cruise fare only and then add items as desired. We never buy a drinks package. On Royal with the free 5 drinks we end up stopping by a bar after dinner and using all remaining vouchers for bottled water and Diet Cokes to take back to the room. Not having this is a 'drop down' in my husband's opinion, even though not talking about any significant amount of cost. We do require WiFi for internet connection 24/7. I planned to purchase that separately. And we pay the standard daily gratuities on the onboard account. I stopped pre-paying grats after all the cancellations due to Covid and dealing with all the refunds. After reading the comments in this thread it appears that the reciprocity of the loyalty programs is meaningless and that sailing Celebrity must be approached as if sailing a completely new line and starting as a newbie. I would have expected better from a brand under same corporate umbrella. Thanks for all the info.

Thanks. I don't see us doing that. Discussing this with my husband and in his opinion to sail Celebrity would be a step down from what we are accustomed to with Royal. Rooms appear to be about the same. The only advantage is the itinerary. Celebrity sails South America and Antarctica and Royal does not. We are not big drinkers and 95% of the 'free' drinks we receive on Royal as D+ are consumed with dinners. We would not carry glasses of wine into restaurant so likely would forfeit the 'free' drinks on Celebrity and instead pay for wine with dinners. Certainly not a big deal but he considers this a negative. Thanks for all the info. Glad I did not click that confirm booking button earlier today. I think I need to do a lot more research about Celebrity.

So, would not be able to order wine with dinners and use the allotted free drinks. Only at bars during happy hour times, not in restaurants. Correct? Also, thank you very much for all the info. Helps a lot.

Hello. Totally new to Celebrity and more than a little confused. I am looking at booking Celebrity Eclipse for an Antarctica cruise. I see from this thread that I must enroll with whatever is the loyalty program for Celebrity in order to obtain reciprocal Elite status for my Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor D+ status. I had read elsewhere that Celebrity does not provide the 5 free drinks for Elite status that RC does for the D+ status. Is this true? As for the different categories of rooms, it appears that Veranda is like a regular balcony on RC ships. And that Concierge is like a junior suite on RC. Can anyone who has sailed both lines confirm this? Also, how is internet handled on Celebrity ships? Is it available 24/7 or do they sell only packages for limited minutes? Thanks in advance for any answers.