Joker54

not sure if you meant you are not connected to vpn or something else so just in case………. When you are using vpn, the local network is not normally visible to your device. That is why you get the error that your not on ships WiFi. Anytime you need to do anything on the ships network you will need to disable vpn and then reenable it when you are done. Should your vpn have split tunneling then you should be able to see the ship’s network without disabling vpn…. cheers

Congratulations- we hope you have an awesome cruise!

Beyond to Panama Canal with friends end of January b2b2b Singapore to Vancouver with the DW, celebrating 48 wonderful years together hoping for 48 more. life is great, really great, even better, with that one person who lights up your life! Happy New Year to all

Oh your quite welcome

Good for you please define travel neatly…..are you referring to those who can afford a 60K suite vs those who can only afford say 6k……. I can’t wait to see your reply, after which I will put you on ignore so I no longer have to read your humble posts………

Or those who continue to read a thread they think should no longer exist………..

Actually LHB responded to an email inquiry stating that the new butler system was working very well and that if it needed to be tweaked that I had her commitment to do so…….. of course she could have been reading a script from the CEO……

I was thinking of a different thread that I have been posting, I edited it the same time you quoted me, my edited response is now accurate

If you are indicating that you haven’t received moveup offers, there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason why some get those notes and some do not. you can go to the moveup site and enter booking details and if your eligible you should be able to make a bid - it is the Solstice

I emailed the Exec office Wed about the price structure changes and received a call yesterday. The agent spent 30 minutes with me on the phone working through questions/concerns. He indicated that they (exec office team) had received an email from above stating that there would not be any up charges in the Retreat. I didn’t ask about the Retreat Deck as our next 3 cruises are on Solstice. I mentioned that not being up charged didn’t mean that we would still have the same drink options in the Retreat as we did 3 months ago. He agreed and did not have an answer for me. He went on that this is a hot topic with a lot of negative feedback - mostly from people like myself who were asking due to what we have read online. I mentioned that with the current track record of surprising guests rather than being proactive in notifying guests of upcoming changes - that we didn’t have a lot of choice other than taking what we see online as possibly being correct. He understood and elaborated that a lot of meetings are being held on the drink price issue. He took notes and said he would contact me after some decision is made. I will post back with whatever response I receive I felt he was being honest in his responses, they may not be anymore informed than we are. It can be tough facing the customer when they are not the ones making decisions. cheers

We moved up to a PH from a SS over a year ago and the perks/amenities were the same as if we had booked the PH originally. The only thing we didn’t get was the points for a PH. I can’t find the note now, but I recently received something indicating that “amenities may or may not be offered on move up”. I would call and ask but lately information given on the phone hasn’t been accurate. Anyway just brainstorming a little here. We are taking the money we would have used for a move up to try a Seabourne cruise. Thanks to all for providing the their thoughts. Cheers

Just received a moveup offer for a 13 night cruise from Singapore to Australia. With all the recent changes going on at X I decided to dive into the terms and conditions and there is one sentence indicates to me that you would get nothing extra other than the room in a move up. Here is a direct quote "Any promotions associated with the original booking will remain in effect. The Upgrade will not be eligible to receive any promotions or benefits that are applicable to the stateroom had it been originally booked at that stateroom category." Seems to me that if you don't receive any benefits related to the new room that you would not get unlimited free dining in pay restaurants etc..... The move up bid from a Sunset SS to the PH is reasonable, but we are not going to bid. Curious how others read this Cheers

Watches are like rooms on cruise ships. For some an inside room is perfect, for others the PH or IC is a must have. Same for watches, some like Rolex others like Invicta. I see some calling out Invicta as cheap….. not every one has 60k for an Iconic or 20k for a Rolex. The OP should get the watch that makes the OP happy. The only way to know if your getting a deal is to price what you like on board then go to Amazon or other online sites a get a price comparison at that moment in time. A few minutes online and you will know if it’s a deal or not. Cheers

Not defending the OP but your comparison isn’t remotely applicable. Definitely no where near apples to apples. Changes related to the safety and well being of the pax, crew and ship are not close to making changes to perks

I’m not sure this is 100% accurate. Posts I have read where those who didn’t use their butlers are typically the ones saying the change is not a big deal. Some have had great experiences. We do use our butler (not abuse) and our recent b2b in a SS failed to even remotely provide the service as advertised when booked and paid for in full. X also failed to come close to providing the service described by the executive office when we called pre-cruise inquiring about both the change and lack of notice. X did provide the DW and myself with a 1k FCC each. The FCC made the crew happier than it did for us. Compensation is great for some, it fails to address the real issue and we would prefer X improved communication to set proper expectations. The OP has a better chance of winning powerball tonight than even getting on a docket before any litigation is dismissed with prejudice. X getting the case dismissed doesn’t mean they are truly right, just means they have a great legal team good at fine print and the cruising industry has case history on their side. Legally right and being good to your customer is not the same. The offer of FCC was a good attempt, it would be better if X had sent a notices in advance describing the change and not gaslight us with the service we supposedly will receive. X has the infrastructure to send out notices so no excuse to keep it a secret. We are usually in higher end suites but do cruise in SS here and there, at least we used too. Cheers

Besides generating more revenue for X by changing the drink/price/package structure they may also be reducing their employee costs with the additional 20%.

We were in the PH last year on the Equinox. We didn’t realize that the maitre‘ d was saving a window table for us. We dine in both pay venues and Luminae. We also had the same wait staff every time we dined in Luminae. We never asked for a window table nor to have one reserved for us, it just happened. Once we figured out that they were saving a table for us we had our butler keep them informed as to our dining plans for each day. We didn’t want that table reserved if we were not dining there. Besides having our photos so they can address us by name, they also have access to our points level, status and I’m pretty sure annual spend. Yes some people in upper suites make a lot of demands, at the same time there are others like us that don’t ask for or demand a reserved table. Disclaimer: we do expect all of the perks advertised for that suite, reserved tables are not an advertised perk for any suite. cheers

Celebrity these days is simply RCL with different lipstick:)

Merry Christmas Jim and Lain. We really enjoyed the “ virtual cruise” thanks to your many wonderful photos and keeping the blog going, it was as close to being there as one can get. You took a lot of your vacation time sharing with us and as others have said- it is greatly appreciated. Cheers on a separate note the DW and I both prefer Michaels club and look forward to being on Solstice March and April.

Troll often?

Well thinking we will look at Silver Sea that looks amazing

Sixpackeddie the EV is an amazing suite, which ship were you on? We had an EV on the Apex last April on a TA and the service was as expected. since you posted a pick of the cheese and cracker plate the DW and I felt the need to share a pic of the cheese and cracker plate we got while in an SS on the Equinox this past October. Huge difference and somehow LBH thinks the Retreat Team concept is working well……. At least that is what she told me via email not long ago.

We were on b2b in SS on the Equinox last Oct. Never met or heard from the head butler. They had his picture in the Retreat lounge…. I did ask if he was real or if it was just some photo to make us think there was a head butler…..they just ignored that comment.

If you can get to Rotorua you could try Zorbing, I did it about 12 years ago and it was wild. https://zorb.com/

Extremely outrageous. $60.00 for a bottle of Grant Burge Shiraz when you can get a case of 6 from the winery for $119. The DW says she will enjoy more beer when we are there next year. Thinking I will just enjoy more scotch I expect they will find a reason to increase prices by the time we get there in April