Joker54

@Jim_Iain Greetings Jim and Iain!! We are following this thread with great interest as always. We wish you both the best as you try out new cruise lines. We are looking for new horizons ourselves and hope that our paths will cross once again on a future cruise somewhere. We certainly enjoyed the last cruise that we were all on together Cheers

There is another line that shows †Included in Royal Suites and above Guess it was simpler for X to show it that way than to just spell it out, that you only get the unlimited dining in a Royal or higher. Celebrity and Sky Suites never had unlimited dining. Odd that on the Reflection Signature Suites get unlimited dining. I am to lazy to go look at that particular suite for the specifics but I suspect it would be included if you got a moveup on the Reflection Cheers

Celebrity probably takes delight in making this as confusing as possible. The moveup email I received a few weeks ago states" "When you upgrade to one of our extraordinary suites, you get access to The Retreat®, which has a private restaurant, an exclusive lounge that rivals any high-end resort, personalized butler service, a dedicated concierge, and much more." Then towards the bottom of the email it says "Once your bid is accepted, the upgrade amount paid is final and non-refundable. The upgrade does not include any additional promotions or amenities. Current promotions on the reservation will not be altered. Guests will keep the same amenities they have on their current booking." If you go to the Celebrity web page and look at the individual suites you will notice that there are "amenities" and "Services". When you moveup you get the services, and most of the amenities. At the bottom of the email in very small print is the following disclaimer. "**Not included with special fares or MoveUp upgrades from a non-suite stateroom" When reviewing both amenities and services for the suite there are only 2 items that have the double asterisk "Unlimited Premium Drink Package: Featuring award-winning portfolio of red, white, and bubbly wines representing vineyards from around the world**" and "Premium Wi-Fi package**" Given all of this if you move up from a non-suite room to a suite - you get all of the perks of the suite you move up to - except that you keep your original drink and wifi package. Cheers

Looks like the typical large corporation canned template. Something I would expect in a script that some CSR would read to you when call with a customer service related issue. Cheers

Our mug shots are tied to our Sea-Cards. Next time you order a coffee at Cafe El Bachio just watch the screen when they swipe your card. Your photo will appear. Any of the ships staff that need to see a photo of a guest can do so. Last time we were in a top end suite, cant remember if it was the EV or IC,It seemed that every time we walked into a venue I was handed a scotch without having to order it - We did see the DW's and my photo next to cash register with a list of items. It's nice to be recognized, but there are times when I just want a tea and not an adult beverage. Cheers

Your suggestion will not work since the number of Pinnacles allowed in the Retreat Lounge/Michaels club is based on space availability. If for example 30 Zeniths happen to be cruising then very few Pinnacles if any would be allowed in the club, if only 3 Zeniths were on the cruise then a higher number of Pinnacles would be allowed. This is not based on how crowded the club might be at a particular point in time, rather what the potential for the club to be crowded / full. This will never be a one size fits all Cheers

Singapore and the Maldives are 2 additional countries that you may want to consider checking with. Singapore as a web page that you can search although you need to use the actual drug name vs the manufacturers name. You can also email them with your prescriptions and get confirmation that you are good to go, or get an exception granted. Not worth getting caned over. Maldives can be fairly unforgiving too Cheers

42 days on a b3b Transpacific. Singapore to Sydney, Sydney to Hawaii and Hawaii to Vancouver. We had an amazing time. The menus were a bit repetitive but we took a page out of Jim and Iian's playbook and ordered off the kids menu a few times in Luminae. Have to say the 4 oz steak on that menu was a perfect size after eating numerous large meals. The Grilled cheese sandwiches were a nice change although they do remove the crust.....:( The only thing we would do different is to go in the other direction so we would gain an hour here and there instead of losing an hour. Would love to take a world cruise some day. The DW and I both prefer longer cruises. Cheers

Similar experience related to TBL's customer support. We had 3 tours booked as we were cruising out of Barcelona in October. We decided to bail on that cruise and switched to a cruise out of South Hampton. Logged into my TBL account and did the cancellation request and received nothing in email. Waited a few days and logged back into my TBL account and sent a message to customer support through their system. That was 11 days ago, no response. When you attempt to call in you get the recording that they are not taking customer support calls due to issues with their web page. Ended up disputing the charges to get my deposits back. Sent an email to their customer support email address today. My expectations are that I will never receive a reply. We do have 1 more tour booked through them for Oct, but if I don't hear back on my recent request I will cancel that one as well and move on. Over the years we have had some amazing tours through TBL. Not sure what has changed but I find it hard to believe that they cannot take calls due to their web page issues - does that mean that all of their customer service agents are also web designers or programmers? Cheers

Was on Solstice from Singapore to Vancouver a month ago. I too like polished shoes and was polishing them when our butler was refreshing our ice. He offered to shine my shoes at that moment and again several times throughout the remainder of the cruise. I prefer to polish them myself. Wonder if this is an inconsistency or if our butler was just offering a service no longer required…….

Yes we are on board until Vancouver. Our recommendation is to call again and speak with a different agent. This is all very new and like all things recently on X communication is lacking. Seems the decision was made to make these changes without an implementation plan. The future cruise desk can’t provide Zenith suite pricing yet. So you book your future cruise and then call the Zenith desk to have it repriced. We have spoken to other Zeniths that have had to call more than once to get corrected pricing cheers

We have a b2b starting 9 April and we received a refund for the difference in price for that and the follow-on cruise and both were paid in full. Cheers

@avp1234 very sorry to hear about your and your DH experience and hope that he is ok and doesn’t get an infection. Before anyone reads further my comments are not intended to say that the OP acted inappropriately. My comments reflect a view from 30,000 feet. I can understand some having thoughts that the lack of attention by the crew was somehow related to the op’s reaction and how she handled the situation. Most often I would agree, but this isn’t one of those situations- if my DW had a toilet erupt with feces flying everywhere and in her eyes, I would be upset and worried about her health. Honestly even if the OP was acting like the Tasmanian devil in a 10 foot hover - no one should have walked away. Regardless of how the conversation went, they should have asked the OP to accompany them to some place private and do whatever it would take to resolve the situation. That alone may have done wonders to lower the temperature. Certainly would have shown an interest in caring about the issue. Further, if there were others impacted the same way a meeting in a conference room in private away from other unaffected guests so a single conversation could happen at one time with all involved would be more efficient, lower the temp all around and make the guests and crews lives simpler and allow for the cruise to move forward in as positive an atmosphere as possible. Some member of management should have been assigned as a single point of contact to chase down solutions, answers and or paperwork. I have 2 reasons for my thoughts - first there could be serious medical consequences. Second in the current situation the OP is going to bring this up with anyone that might listen. As would others in similar situations. I know I would if I felt no one cared. The only way to keep the situation from growing legs and running away on it’s own is to work towards a solution and to own the problem. The OP may want to ask for a meeting with the manager of housekeeping. That manager may be able to sort things and escalate as necessary. At some point the OP should receive a visit from the hotel director just to check in and see how things are. Cheets

We were called about 5 days after attaining Zenith and they said our party would be on solstice when we leave Singapore. The Zenith ‘package’ is taking about 4 months to receive these days. Will post back here with an update before we get to Sydney

Indonesia has multiple visa options, some allow multiple visits, others only allow one visit. The Indonesia gov web site has a faq page that explains all of that. Bali requires their tourist tax be paid every time you enter Bali - so if you were to leave Bali and then return you would be on the hook to pay that again to enter Bali. I understand why X wants us to have our visa's in hand prior to boarding in Singapore, especially in the post pandemic world. X would be in a real bind if someone didn't have a Visa and for some reason were denied a Visa at the port of entry - then you would be illegal even though you are on the ship as the ship is in Indonesian waters. I can tell you if you were flying to Sydney the airlines would not allow you to board your flight if you didn't have your ETA approved by Australian immigration. The Op was thinking that Indonesian rules would allow them to ignore X's rules. That would be a bad idea as X can require all kinds of things and if you are not in compliance then they can deny you boarding without a refund. You could probably fly to the port beyond Bali and board there but at your own expense. I guess its the world we live in but I don't see the issue in not complying with the Visa requirement prior to boarding. It's not that difficult, if you cant get the photo in a PDF and Jpeg format go to a location that makes passport photos or go to a FedEx, UPS or Office Deport store as they have the facilities to either take the photo and save the copies needed or to take a photo that you have and convert into the appropriate files. The DW and I flew back to the US from Hong Kong one year via Shanghai, since we were just transit travelers and not staying in China more than 5 hours we did not need a visa, we did need a printed copy of our onward itinerary which we had. In China you have to clear immigration, get your luggage, check in for your future flight and clear immigration again, The first thing immigration said was "You don't have a Chinese Visa", next thing the DW and I are talking with a Chinese Soldier. The soldier was polite and when we showed our onward documents he told us the buzzword was "Transit Passenger". Quite a scary situation initially, and the same thing happened when we hit Immigration to depart China - without the soldier - the buzzword worked. The lesson we learned from that is to always read the fine print on a given countries immigration regulations and be prepared - and if X says we need our Visa's to board, I guarantee you we will have them. We never ever want to be facing a soldier from another country quizzing us on why we are in their country without a visa. YMMV Cheers

I just priced the Iconic on the Beyond for Jan 25 and it’s 34k more than what we paid for that cruise this past January. That’s crazy for an 11 night cruise. Maybe that’s how they can offer lower fares elsewhere.

If your carrier allows WiFi calling then you can put your phone in airplane mode to prevent roaming charges but you would be able to receive and make calls when connected to the ships WiFi and you have a WiFi package. If you choose this setup then it is highly recommended that you “provision” your phone when connected to your network carrier and not roaming. Meaning turn WiFi calling on when connected to your carrier. In most instances you can’t enable this feature when roaming or on a WiFi network. Hope that makes sense. cheers

I believe that more than a few are in coats/tie's/suits/ tuxedo's and military mess dress uniforms (military version of a tuxedo) for those so inclined. Even with more than a few of us who dress up we are substantially outnumbered by those who dress more business casual. The DW and I tend to dress up on many nights, just not chic. We are retired and live in a very rural area where dress clothes would be considered jeans without holes.... So this is the only opportunity we have to wear the nice clothes we have accumulated over the years. The other thing is and I think its the most important - don't worry about what anyone else thinks about how you dress! If you are comfortable and happy to be in your attire - then wear it!!! At the same time those of us who do dress up should never complain about those who choose to dress more casual. Note: The DW just stopped to read my post and wanted me to add that she always enjoys seeing men in tuxedo's or their military dress uniforms - oh and she's mine so don't even think about it:) Cheers

PH on M class is special with the room size, perks and veranda. It’s even better when going through the Panama Canal as you have a magnificent view from the stern and not have to compete for a view. was in an Iconic on Beyond end of Jan and in suite dining did include all specialty restaurants including fine cut. I really think your butler can be the difference if you get specialty restaurants or not. The higher end butler’s have the ability to work some magic when required .

Happened to me on Beyond recently, men’s facial on web shows 75 minutes, on board it was about 35 minutes. I discussed with the manager and she produced the price sheet showing all facials at 55 minutes. So after the 5 minute pre facial quiz and post facial upsell you end up with about 35 minutes of service. Prices are comparable to very upscale shore side resort spas. Massages run closer to advertised time, but are still overpriced for what you get. Back when we had decent obc, the DW and I would book some services, now with little to no obc we will stick to our fav shoreside spas. It comes to what is important to you in what you are looking for on your holiday/cruise and what your budget is. edit: if you look at the fine print on the web services description it says ‘on board times may be different’… or something to that effect. Cheers

There is a manager over the shore excursions team. We had an issue on our last cruise where the online description was way off and were able to book a meeting with him to discuss. Not a senior officer but a manager, in our instance a very nice gentleman. Didn't make any difference but pleasant discussing the issue anyway. Cheers

I can confirm that as on the Beyond end of Jan 24 the drinks that I enjoy were an upcharge in the retreat.

When did this change get implemented? cheers

It is very relevant if your not interested in an excursion where you will be spending 3 or so hours on a bus.

We have seen those cards as well. The problem is that the chair hogs complain rather loudly about having their items removed. The ship generally gives in to them and then stops enforcing that. I think the only solution is to charge for the chairs - or grow a stronger back bone and start enforcing the "no reserving" of chairs.