Andy_P

5 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

and the choice to pick a room.

Unless you do what I did and get an upgrade to a Guaranteed Suite (Category "W") for about $500 less than picking our own.  😉  For us, the stateroom is the least of the benefits of being in a suite.

42 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Wouldn't Celebrity quote the current suite rate?  ...do you mean they will entertain your 'suggestion/bid' as payment?  I didn't think that was possible.

Sometimes it's cheaper to upgrade than make the minimum MoveUp bid.

An upgrade gives you more too - full Captains Club points, and for those in a suite, Premium Drinks and WiFi.

Likely due to challenges in hiring, and I don't care, but it's another controversy I suppose.  

3 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

The OP also bares some responsibility as well since it appears that they waited until the day before the cruise to check in. Had they checked in sooner this situation could have been avoided and maybe rectified.

It continues to astonish me how many cruisers do things absolutely last minute, or often not at all ,and arrive at the cruise port expecting some "Mommy figure" to do it for them, like they've always done.  I bet they're the same ones paged multiple times to report to their Muster Station.  I think we've all been behind that type at the cruise terminal - often not first time cruisers either.  First-time cruisers often know far more than "experienced" cruisers. 

I have found that old newspapers (e.g. if you have a subscription to newspapers.com) are a great source of info, particularly newspapers located at cruise ports such as Miami and Fort Lauderdale.  "Back in the Day" (i.e. before 2000), newspapers were a major tool for the cruislines to advertize.  For example for the 1998 cruises on Celebrity Horizon, this was in the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Sun, Sept 13, 1998:

You also pay the difference in Gratuities.

Hope it works out for you, but you're wise to have a Plan B.  Must be terribly stressful.

We were booked with Air Canada on 31 Oct and cancelled and rebooked with Porter, with whom we'll book in future.  Our last two trips were with Air Canada and every leg was either delayed or cancelled at great cost to us and they weasled out of compensation.  Some "national" carrier!

If you went from Aqua Class without "All Included" to Sunset Verandah with "All Included", and it cost more, I think you could do it, but there isn't a scenario where you get money back.  You'd want to cancel your "MoveUp" as well.

Not in our experience.  We got a $50 OBC for the B2B, but no gift.

Opinion #1 of 216

Sky Suites are in a repeating pattern of four, with the middle two having a post on the balcony, and the outside two not (as with 9213).  We like to be as close to the Retreat as possible (as in your case on Deck 10) and tucked away a bit from the elevators.

We were on Beyond for B2B in Feb 2023 and the first week was in a Sky Suite we won on a MoveUp and the second week in Aqua Class.  Ate in Luminae Week One, in Blu Week Two - both were excellent.  We are on Beyond again in Nov, another B2B - Week One is a Sky Suite we got through an Upgrade from a Sunset Verandah to Suite Guarantee for 1/3 what the MoveUp cost us last year (too good a deal to pass), and we got Premium Drinks, etc. that you don't get through a MoveUp.  Week Two we're in the Sunset Verandah from which we will eat in the four MDR's - all excellent as well (we had some lunches in Cosmopolitan and I ordered escargots and other dishes from them.  We looked at Upgrades and MoveUp to a suite in Week Two and it was too expensive.

So obviously the Retreat was worth it to us - it all came down to the cost, and we'd do it again. 

We all chuckle about the complaints about food and it's much more than just the food.

With PUP at its past rate, and "Go Green", as well as the four cruises booked this and next year, I'll move to Elite+ (and Diamond Plus) in 2025.  It would take another seven day cruise otherwise.

If it's just wine with dinner I can't imagine a better way to go than to buy a bottle every dinner or every second dinner.  There's far more choice by the bottle than for wines offered by the glass.

9 minutes ago, canderson said:

Good strategy, Andy.  Hope you score a good SS.  What would it have cost to pick your own SS, or was that an option?

We did - within an hour of booking we we assigned a great location.  Had we chosen that specific stateroom ourselves, it would have cost us several hundred more. I know there are many who "would never" do MoveUp, nor a Stateroom Guarantee, since they must choose the location themselves, but what we really wanted were the suite benefits.  Had we booked that Sky Suite when we booked the Sunset Verandah, it would have been 2X the cost.

16 minutes ago, 20165 said:

Well, we are now 63 days out from our cruise and our cabin is $1200 cheaper than what we paid.  And yes, its definitely undersold so our what have learned here is when we book another cruise and its undersold, wait as long as possible before booking, even after the final payment date.  There are no other cabins booked in the category we are in besides ours so i expect even more price drops in the coming weeks if that doesnt change.  It will be interesting to see what the lowest price on that category ends up being. Frustrating, but lesson learned. 

If that's the case, rather than do a "MoveUp" maybe the stateroom categories higher than yours have gone down too and you can do an inexpensive upgade.  I went from Sunset Verandah to Sky Suite Guarantee (category "W") for about $500.  I lost the little bit of OBC I got when I booked, but gained Premium Drinks and WiFi which I was going to use the OBC for.

MSC will, and we all know about Royal Caribbean and Silversea, but are there others outside the "Royal Family"?

Short cruises like these have a reputation of being "booze and party cruises" (we have only 3-4 days so we need to make the most of it and sleep when we get home) particularly when they also offer very low prices as seen in some older ships and on certain cruise lines - which both attracts and repels cruisers. Do these short cruises from Celebrity share that reputation? 

I think that Celebrity is seen as a bit upscale and by some as "The cruiseline that fun forgot", "stuffy and boring" and "not kid friendly", and if that keeps partiers and kids away, some of us think that's alright.  

A good point was noted above - MoveUp offer prices often fluctuate, such as certain staterooms going "on sale".

Another thing to watch is that sometimes with ships undersold, the price for an upgrade can be cheaper than MoveUp.  For instance I've seen a Suite Guarantee (Category "W") less expensive than Aqua Class and even Concierge such as on the cruise we're on - Celebrity Beyond 2 Nov 2024.  Now that it's almost full it's no longer offered, but for about two weeks that was the case.

I bought that upgrade last mid-late Nov for the Feb 2024 cruises we took.  It was about a 45% discount and it was called the "Black Friday" sale.  

If it's repeated, it will open sometime in Nov, and can be applied to cruises quite a bit into the future as I recall, as we applied it to the cruises we're taking this November.

When was Steerage permitted to post here? 😉 This is an animated pic my butler took of the "little people's" embarkation lunch on our last embarkation day.  They also included some of the famous Michelin Star Mashed Potatoes.

During many of these events, I'll admit that I have no real interest beyond acquiring the points, and barely pay attention, but late in 2023 my ears perked up when the topic was about cruises with overnight stops, which are uncommon.  As a result we booked B2B cruises  - Toyko to Singapore and Singapore to Mumbai.  We had casually discussed wanting to do Asia cruises "someday" and this pushed us into action.

So they do work in increasing sales....

We can be sure that prices will change after Final Payment just like they fluctuate before, the only difference is that who have already paid won't be able to access prices lower than what they paid.  That said, it's worth watching them, especially on undersold cruises, as after Final Payment Date I have seen stateroom categories higher than what I booked drop in price to even below what I paid, and you can "upgrade" to them and access a deal typically better than you might expect from "MoveUp".  There is a change fee (typically $200) and you could lose any special deals you might have received when you made your booking (e.g. OBC), but it's well worth a look.  For example, I upgraded from a Sunset Verandah to a Sky Suite for a few hundred dollars one week after Final Payment and I receive full Sky Suite privileges including Captains Club Points.  Now that MoveUp is being offered I would have cost 5X as much (!) and I would have received far less.

17 hours ago, catspaw1 said:

I used the cooler in Bermuda also to bring to the beach. I got a number of people asking where I got it. It saved buying $5 Cans of soda at the beach. It folds up so great for traveling.  I just brought it to SD in June- 2 of them. But our next cruise is a TA in November & we are spending 10 nights in Spain before it so probably won't bring it to decrease luggage space.

When you left the ship did they inspect the cooler?  If so, did they comment on its contents?  I'm asking because our thought is that we'd like to bring beer, soda and water that we've purchased and is has been kept in our mini-fridge off the ship to a public beach area near the port where drinking is permitted.  A related question - is the beer in the min-fridge always bottles?  I recall some areas of the ship where cans of beer are available - but they often insist on opening them before they hand them over.  I'd rather crush the empty cans and recycle them on board than place them in the local trash bin.

2 hours ago, Sunseeker7 said:

Thanks. I didn't realise the suites could be accessed without the premium drinks as part of the retreat and then premium drinks not be included - but I guess that could happen if you got an upgrade?

The only Sky Suite Guests who would not have a Premium Drink Package (and Premium WiFi) are those who acquired a Sky Suite through "MoveUp" and had not purchased either with their original booking - they might have bought "Classic" or nothing. That said, they would likely be served Premium Drinks in the Retreat Area.  When we did MoveUp from Aqua Class to a Sky Suite we maintained our Classic Drink Package, and outside of the Retreat had to pay an upcharge for any drink costing more than $10.  Our Suite Stateroom Key stated - Classic Drinks.

An "Upgrade" is not the same as "MoveUp".  With an upgrade you rebook, pay the difference from your original booking and receive all Sky Suite benefits as if you had booked a Sky Site originally - including the full Captain's Club Benefits that doesn't come with MoveUp.  We have done that as well, and our Classic Drink Package and WiFi was replaced with Premium.

We'll be in 12305 on an upcoming cruise and will see for ourselves.  Like with all opinions you'll mostly hear from those who were bothered and even then it's subjective and depends on their noise tolerance.  If you are bothered by it, complaining is the smart move - let's them know (again) that it's a problem and getting FCC helps ease the pain.