MarinerAlex

1 hour ago, silkismom said:

The lawn looks rather dried out, surprised they haven't put up the "sleeping" signs.

Agree… I left the boat 2 weeks ago and it was pretty green, soft and lush. Maybe its been too cold?

Hey Jim and Lain, I was on the Nov 12 sailing and first time on the boat, and loved it. “Regular” cruise, no suite, not perks and it was great. Will be interested to hear your perspectives as you experience it over the next 2 weeks.

For me, the cruise director is top notch, and the people in the main dining / buffet were as well. Was so glad to call this home for all of 7 days.

For anyone interested, there seems to be a stackable promotion using the credit card of the platinum variety through Nov 30. Seems to get an additional $200 OBC for bookings up to 8 nights, $300 for 9 nights or more. This is stackable with the current Celebrity promotion, as well as if you book through the cruise privileges program you would get that OBC as well. For cruises through 2024 I believe.

OP here, lots of good warnings on this thread. I’m going to wait this out this the last minute, if I can go I’ll go, if not then I’ll cancel and not get on the ship. That seems to be the 2 best options based on the observations provided but this thread.

Great guidance Jim, thank you

I have a cruise coming up in November which I may need to cut short (e.g. leave the cruise midway) due to work, and have a few questions:

1. Do I need to tell Celebrity beforehand, or is this something that I would just handle once I’m on the cruise?

2. Would I still get all the CC points for the entire 7 night sailing, or just for the 3 to 4 nights I would actually be on the cruise?

What other things should I be considering?

I would prefer to still go on the cruise for a few nights, rather than cancelling this outright. 

2 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

My apologies.  Yes, it looks like the Solstice class Alcoves also have the included bottle and beers.  Not well advertised though.

Are we sure this applies to Solstice class as well? It’s not advertised at all.

Also, I’m kind of skeptical I would get all that alcohol included for my reservation during a port day of < $100. Maybe it’s just on sea days when you get free alcohol, where the alcove is around $250?

Hopefully that worked and you can see the email

Just received an email for my upcoming Nov 2022 cruise that tips increasing

$17.50 / day regular rooms

$18/day AC / Concierge

$21 / day suites

You can prepay now at today’s rate. New rates effective 10/17.

I recently came off my 1st Celebrity cruise, staying in the Retreat. The service was great, though I found it to be too much at times… passenger to crew ratio was about 1.2 to 1. I also ran into some of the same folks all the time, and not particularly the ones I wanted to see all too often. 

This is my fear with the smaller ships, meeting the same people over and over, and being “pestered” by crew all the time. Admittedly, I’m a low needs traveler and quite independent.

Seems systems cant be accessed right now, I’m worry more IT glitches can occur. I do have my invoice from the original booking, so hopefully when website is back up and running my OBC is still the same.

Thanks, mine only posted as 1x, so looks like I need to call them

All port side deck 4, 10 and 11 by the mast bar. No smoking in the casino.

Did any solo cruisers get double points off a recent sailing from the solo cruise sale? I just checked my balance from a cruise last week, and its only showing up as 1x point, and it was a cruise with no solo supplement.

Just curious what everyone’s experience has been.

I just came off a cruise on a 20 yr old ship in the Infiintiy, and she was fine. Have 2 upcoming cruises on the Solstice and not worried in the least bit.

From my recent onboard experience, there is no reason to tip for a table by the window - every time one was available/open, I would get it. That said, I only got one about 25% of the time as the dining room was quite busy during most of the times I went.

I couldn’t really figure out the dining schedule during this last cruise, what times popular, what times not. 

It was the Infinity, and one night I did ask and they lowered it to $50, though it was only me playing. I think if they would have put at $25 there would have been more interested players.

On the recent cruise on Celebrity Infinity, I had every intention to spend much of my time playing blackjack. However, there were typically only 4 tables opened on a given night - 2 with the continuous shuffler, 1 single deck, and 1 with a standard 6 or 8 deck shoe (I forget which). The prior 3 were small odds usually $5 or $10 and always busy, which is my sign to stay away due to the beginners. The latter table is usually my preferred game, but always set at $100 minimum, usually with no one playing. Needless to say, I didn’t get to play much blackjack on this cruise. I remember on Royal ships, they would have several tables of $25, with the usual odds.

Is this the typical setup for blackjack on Celebrity boats? Staffing shouldn’t have been an issue since we were about sailing about 60% full.

Thanks

4 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Luminae staff, except Sommelier, pool tips so we leave a envelop for  “Luminae Staff” with the hostess or MaitreD.  We tip the Sommelier with cash given to him.

We do a similar envelope for the Retreat Lounge Staff.  We tip the Retreat Sun Deck bartenders and the staff that bring us drinks, water, towels daily.

 

Great idea Jelayne. Good to know that they pool tips in the lounge and at Luminae. I think I’ll do this.

Do you tip the MaitreD as well? Or would they get a portion of the pooled tips?

I’m on the Celebrity Infinity now, service has been great as the ship is sailing under 70% full. Between all the crew service members I’m meeting in the suites, I’m just at a lost on who to tip extra. For example, I’m dealing with probably 5 team members in Luminae, and 3 or 4 in Michael’s on a regular basis.

What’s the best way to tip these folks? Do I need to tip everyone?

8 hours ago, Ommadawn said:

 

That is what my wife and I did on our two week cruise earlier this year. We were in London for four days before the cruise. Once we were on the ship, we had laundry that needed to be done. We sent out laundry about every other day in the little bags. We were in a Sky Suite, so they didn't charge us much and it was all good. 🙂

What's the laundry (just washing, not dry cleaning) cost / discount as part of staying in a Sky Suite? I'm in one in a few days, no status, so curious if its small then maybe I can pack less.

How are you getting additional OBC from Celebrity going from a Sky to Celebrity Suite. I thought all retreat suites got the same amount of OBC, with the variation being if you’re going on a longer cruise.

1 hour ago, letsgogogo said:

I will be on Summit October 3. I was on the fence about whether to book my apex sailing now or wait. My travel agent said to just wait because they often have better onboard credit office when you visit the future cruise desk. I was going to but didn’t wanna miss out on the state rim of my choice so I went ahead and booked with my TA. 7 night cruise and got $200:each of OBC. That beats the promotion on board now. 

My understanding is when you book onboard, you get the onboard promotion (lower deposit, plus OBC) in addition to whatever general booking promotions are current available. So in this case you would you would get more than $200 OBC is you booked onboard.

If the cruise lines are no longer requiring self testing, and I’m feeling run down prior to the cruise, i will do a self test. If I’m feeling great, than no need for a test.

I don’t want to infect anyone with a potential deadly disease for some, either knowingly or unknowingly.