yoj13

Your welcome!

We had no idea you could do that!

Our bar tender told us that.

Denise

 

I was just looking for info on a happy hour promotion and came across your very welcome information. Do you recall what time the half price offer is please?

I'm thinking you are right Laura! They are not seasoned cruisers and when they first mentioned it I thought it could be another way of selling 'speciality dining'. Thank you for your input.

Our friends are sailing to Alaska with NCL. They have been contacted by NCL asking if they would be interested in a $166 'food upgrade' Has anyone heard of this please and if so, what does it entail.

This is the case with a group I often travel with. Our group has reserved the entire MDR ate seating for our cruise, even though they have not yet sold all their inventory for a November cruise.

 

 

Must be a very large group!!!!!!!!

I am the original poster. Lots of interesting theories have surfaced. Of course, we'll never know what's what until things happen. Interestingly, my TA has just phoned me, he was at an TA's meeting last night and was able to speak to a Celebrity representative whereby he was able to outline the scenario.

They said they would speak with someone higher up the pecking order!

Call it co-incidence if you wish, but today he has been able to choose traditional dining. After continuing with the booking he then receives a message saying:- 'oops there has been an error' and he needs to speak to the support desk at Celebrity. He is ringing tomorrow with any updates.

Ah I'm not sure about that. We booked a Jan 2016 in June while on board the Summit. As with everyone else fixed times were booked. As such we had to pay the grats along with the deposit at that time. There was no option to pay them at final payment.

 

What's going on with this fixed dining being booked so far in advance? Has anyone out there been able to select one of the two times for recent bookings. How far out were you?

 

Your post is really interesting and I have just seen it after posting my experience today. We have tried to book a cruise 15 months before the sail date and both early & late dining options have no availability. There are hundreds of cabins available on the cruise we were interested in, but something is just not right. If Celebrity are playing with fire, they might just get their fingers burnt.

Today, I have made enquiries regarding booking a cruise in October /November 2016. (15 months in advance) All details were taken and just before I was about to give my payment details for the deposit, my Agent had forgotten to ask me which dining option I preferred. I chose the early dining option and then he said it was full and the late alternative is also full so that only left anytime dining.

There are literally hundreds of cabins available on this cruise and its not that I don't believe the agent, he can only go by information on his screen, but I don't believe Celebrity. There is no wait list either. Could this be a ploy on Celebrity's behalf to ensure that pre paid grats is the only booking option - time will tell!!

I disagree, respectfully.

 

We've done exactly that many, many times. There is a port shuttle that will take you to an area in Civitavecchia outside of the port gates. You can then walk to the train station (~15 minutes) and take the train to Termini in Rome where you can spend 5 or 6 hours exploring the city, then reverse the process and be back in plenty of time for all aboard.

 

Or, you can rent a car (Europcar is at the shuttle drop off, Hertz is at the train station) and do, for example, a trip to Tarquinia.

 

Being that close to both Rome and many areas in its environs, we wouldn't spend all day on the ship, and we've been there probably a dozen times and will be there 3 times in the next year.

 

I guess we just like that part of Italy. :)

Hi,

This is an update regarding the new drop off point. The Port shuttle no longer goes to the port gates. The Civitavecchian authorities have been spending some money re-constructing the castle building just inside the port gates where you used to get picked up and dropped off. It is now a 'tourist attraction'. They have built a coach terminus much further along from the port gates (opposite way to the train station). It is not half as convenient as the port gates pick-up point used to be. If you are amongst the first passengers disembarking, the first shuttle bus does not leave for the railway station until 7.45-8.00 am, so it then becomes an even longer walk to try and catch one of the earlier trains.

Personally, I think the authorities could have done a lot better with the planning of this, but sadly it is what it is. It takes nearer 30 minutes now to walk from the bus terminus to the railway station and we are relatively fit.

Leave the animals at home!! Or even better just stay home with them!!!

 

 

Well said!!!!

I am very grateful to everyone who have taken the time to reply. Thank you

Thank you so much for your very quick and informative answer - much appreciated. The OBC has originated from HAL so it looks like we may be out of luck but thank you once again.

Its a possibility we may struggle to use all our OBC on our next HAL cruise. Having never been in this situation before, is it a case of 'use it or lose it' or is it refunded back onto the card registered at embarkation. Thank you

I have just had quite a long conversation with HAL (UK) regarding a potential booking. She mentioned the Shore Excursion $200 PP and then, without any prompting, went on to say the offer was in fact OBC and could be used for any purchase on board but cannot be used towards gratuities.

Its just reading some of the posts makes one doubtful but who knows

We have just disembarked Constellation and were disappointed with Blu so used the MDR most nights and oceanview on nights we couldn't be bothered to change to 'smart casual. I have to say the food was really good in the MDR and Oceanview provided lots of choices evening time.

Hi,

We were on the very last Galaxy cruise before she went to Tui (mein Schiff).

Obviously not as well maintained but still very clean and food etc., still normal Celebrity standards. Would I risk it again - probably not.

[it is hard to believe he only got 16 years. The poor families of the deceased got a life sentence. Considering the lies he told about 'falling into a lifeboat' and how he ignored instructions to return to the vessel makes the 16 years sentence a joke. So this is Italian justice?

We are fans of Celebrity and whilst we have been on the 'M' class ships, the 'S' class ships are our favourite. However, in November (and after an absence of approximately 8 years) we did the transatlantic on NCL Epic. We had read lots of reviews on the ship and at one point we almost changed our mind due to the 'horror' stories regarding the shower/toilet arrangements:eek: Honestly speaking, to us, it was no big deal.

I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed it, it was an amazing cruise and the food was of a very high standard in the MDR. The entertainment and activities far outweighed Celebrity's offerings. In a nutshell we were really impressed. On disembarkation of the Epic, we embarked the Silhouette for a 2 week cruise to the Caribbean and what a disappointment in comparison to our Epic adventure in every department. In fact, we were pleased to be going home - a first for us. We haven't been on the Getaway, but our friends who were travelling with us have and they had a marvellous time. We wouldn't hesitate to book NCL again, based on our Epic experience.

You might like to get a comparison quote for the Holiday Inn, Herbet Walker Avenue, Southampton. Of course, I don't know which cruise you are on, but this hotel is literally a couple of minutes walk from check in for City Terminal which is where Eclipse berths. Good reviews as well, particularly about the breakfast.

Dubrovnik - no. Corfu-no. Kushadasi - yes. Kotor- tender.

In Dubrovnik, there are taxis virtually at the bottom of the gangplank Euro10 for 4 passengers 1 way. Corfu- free bus to the port gates and Public bus to the centre of corfu Euro1.50 pp Kushadasi ship is parked virtually in the town centre. Kotor tender to almost the centre. Celebrity provides a bus, usually $15 per person and never mention the alternative transport methods.!

Thank you for the report of your recent Silhouette cruise. Having very recently returned from this ship, I can almost 100% agree with your findings. We are mainly Celebrity cruisers but prior to boarding the Silhouette we enjoyed 3 weeks on the Epic. It is a long time since we had been on NCL (probably 8 years or more) but were we impressed. The entertainment and daytime activities surpass anything that the Silhouette had to offer and whilst food (speciality or otherwise) is always subjective, we were impressed time and time again with the Epic. In fact, because of our disappointment with Celebrity's main diningroom offerings, we only did the formal nights out of the 14 nights on-board. We have thought for some time, that standards have slipped somewhat with Celebrity, the towel animals or chocolates on the pillow are not a concern for us, but we too look forward to some decent theatre entertainment evening time and its just not happening. There was just something really missing this time, we missed Puerto Rica due to slow speeds, couldn't get into Cozumel (according to the Captain because of the weather but Disney, NCL & Carnival could???) and couldn't get into the Caymen Islands again because of the weather, but NCL & HAL could). We have another Celebrity cruised booked for April next year on the Constellation, but another poster has posted that the orchestra has been removed and they are using 'taped' music. We are currently re-considering our booking.

[quote name='Belly11']Celebrity never even informed me about these changes which really gets to me - I happened to go online to book a shore excursion in SJ and just noticed it is gone. I called celebrity and asked why is was not showing up and was told that the ship has to skip that port as it can only travel so fast.

Celebrity has since offered me a $100 on board credit (technically $50 per person) which I think is a joke on it's own. But my question is, how much did I already pay in port fees for SJ that were included in the original price I paid for the cruise? I seem to remember it was over $90 (per person) for that particular port which would mean I was actually loosing out money even with the on board credit they provided. Wondering if anyone has any info on the port fees for SJ as well as if anyone has been able to get any sort of reasonable compensation for Celebrities false promises and bait and switch tactics.[/QUOTE]

We were on the 23 -30 Nov sailing and also missed San Juan. An announcement was made at 11.00 saying we would be late arriving into this port so instead of a 3pm arrival it would be 4pm. The weather was blamed. At 12 noon another announcement was made saying that we wouldn't make the 4 p-m arrival and the port was cancelled. Lots of people were disappointed. So, we then have a 7 day cruise with 2 stops only. Quite disappointing really especially when one has crossed the pond to partake!
I can tell you, the refund is $17.35. So those of you who are getting $100 -$200 make the most of it. There were no extra dollars for us and certainly no email advising of the situation even though Celebrity were aware of an ongoing problem at the time of booking and at the time of sailing. Very sly Celebrity and one I will bear in mind in future.

Sadly, at the time of posting, QM is still alongside. Our friends are on it and have just rang to tell me. They are on their way to the theatre so afterwards it looks like an early night. Hopefully, it won't be too long before all are on their way.

Can anyone tell me the best way to travel from Miami airport to FL. We will be cruising on the Equinox in November from FL.

Is there anyway that I could perhaps pre book a taxi or shuttle?

I will also need transportation from FL back to Miami airport after the cruise.

 

 

The BEST way to do this journey is by taxi which could be pre-booked and waiting for you at arrivals. Our friends have just done it and it was $100 + tip. Not cheap by any means, but after 8-9 hours on an aeroplane and the nightmare of Miami immigration, you may see it as money well spent. There are alternatives of course, much, much cheaper but you would loose all the convenience of the taxi.

Hi

go into your 'My Celebrity' and find your reservation. Click on 'dining' and your will see it all come up. It takes a bit of time as you have to do each night separately, but eventually you will get there. Don't worry if you decide not to go, it won't be a problem. As someone else said, there are lots of tables for 2, just sometimes they are very close together.

Hi,

Very recently we disembarked the Neiuw Amsterdam after a 24 night cruise around the greek islands, turkey, med and Dubrovnik area. There were some super ports of call most of which we had been to before, but none the less still enjoyed seeing again.

We have sailed HAL a number of times and Celebrity even more (42 cruises in total) but there was something about the Neiuw Amsterdam that we just didn't like. Although food and entertainment is extremely subjective, we just felt that something was really missing on this cruise. Sadly the entertainment personel was reduced to just the cruise director as his right hand man had to fly to the Eurodam due to a staff crisis and the food in the buffett was far from HAL's standard -luke warm at best and repeated often. Its actually put us off booking HAL again. We love the S class ships so its back to Celebrity for us.