JaneStarr

Is it the same on Liberty?

Not the OP, but the information is in sub-links through the “More Reasons to stay in the Retreat” section of today’s Captain’s Club email. First link is:https://click.na.celebritycruises.com/?qs=00a817ab5a394becb2746c283946e0d68202520daed02eceaf0e09bb1459bad2219b53398bf2bf281385a10052cc016603468b09bea7ef04a318f3f8397d0edc Which takes you to “TAKE YOUR SAILING TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH THE RETREAT” LEARN MORE link: https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/staterooms/suite-class?icid=xplrsh_wrnssn_thr_hm_other_162 From there, you have to click on “all suites” and drill down into the pages for each suite category (and expand the listing along the way) to see what they list as included with each category. I’m not convinced any of this is up-to-date regarding the Team vs Dedicated Butler reinstatement because the stated effective date isn’t until June. I also agree with you that the mini fridge stocking has not been an official perk for suites below RS in the past. It’s just something nice that proactive butlers have done for us these past several years — since we always have a premium beverage package. The sad thing about all this is that Celebrity created this atmosphere of distrust by throwing so many cutbacks up to see what would stick. Jane

I really think this has to be a mistake where somebody linked to old info. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was another proofreading fail. Can’t imagine Celebrity management would be crazy enough to reverse direction on this failed experiment so quickly. Will be watching closely to see how this plays out. Jane

My very recent AAA passport photo got rejected. 🤷‍♀️ That’s the last time I’ll bother uploading a photo.

Dedicated butlers were returned to Eclipse Sky Suites effective with the March 2nd, 2024 sailing. No idea if they are fully staffed. Our friend’s SS butler had been demoted to a room steward and was moved back into the butler position on March 2nd

Yes; that is my understanding of how it’s supposed to work.

I found in my files that the open “Cruise Later” Passages program ended way longer ago than we thought. I had an old one to use for many years after that, so I saved the attached document with the rules from 2014 Celebrity Cruises Onboard Future Cruises Pre 6 July 2015.pdf

They were in 1666. Butler’s name was Nick, I believe. They are also low maintenance but did host a cocktail party as we cruised through the Strait of Magellan. The butler did a great job! We were in CS 1618 and had a really amazing butler named Katarina from Montenegro. She was really proactive at finding ways to help us. We were traveling with a total of 16 people in 9 cabins. Only 4 of us were in suites. She helped us coordinate getting off the ship together to meet our private tour guide and transfer. We also had her help in hosting the group during our sail-away from Ushuaia and past the glaciers.Our stateroom attendant, Nyoman, was also incredible. Everything was always kept clean (even the paint chips that kept falling onto our balcony), yet we rarely saw him. He did his job well and was not underfoot. As far as most of the rest of the staff, they all seemed to be trying hard but they didn’t seem to be experienced. CD, Manuel, was excellent. Didn’t ever see the Captain out and about. Officers weren’t very visible on this 12 night cruise. We had a great time traveling with friends — old and new — and with our cruise agent. Jane

Yes; that is correct

As of our March 2nd, 2024 Eclipse Sailing, dedicated butlers were returned to sky suites. Our friend in a corner aft Sky Suite had an amazing butler who had just been returned to that position. He had previously been demoted to a cabin attendant when they tried the failed renamed cabin steward/Retreat approach.

I’ve definitely had some older ones w/o an expiration date. They did limit how long you had to book in order to get the extra OBC, though

Hi Steve, Thanks so much for chiming in! In this case, we were discussing Celebrity’s “Cruise Later” cruise certificates purchased onboard for an unspecified future cruise.They cost $100 pp and offer bonus onboard credit if assigned to a specific ship and sailing within 6 months of purchase. Celebrity just changed the rules on these last month. The $100 deposits are now forfeited if you don’t apply them to a specific sailing within 1 year. (Previously, they were fully refundable.) My question pertains to the first bullet point under The Exceptions to “What Is Your Initial Trip Deposit Date?” at the link you provided. Does the fact that these new “Cruise Later” certificates are nonrefundable impact what those mentioned insurers (IMG, TravelSafe, Travelex Select and Travel Insured) will consider as the initial deposit date for being able to waive pre-existing conditions? What I’m trying to determine is if we would be able to lock in pre-existing conditions coverage when assigning one of these certificates a few months after putting down the deposit. (I do realize that CSA would currently be an option since it uses final payment date, but I’d prefer other options) Hope this is clear enough. I’m having trouble explaining. Jane PS I’m attempting to add screenshot of the current flyer in case it helps.

Actually, Steve Dasseos of Trip Insurance store has some policies where the future cruise certificate (Cruise Later) purchase date doesn’t count as “booking date” for insurance purposes. It counts as when you have a confirmed reservation with specific travel dates. I went to reread what Steve @iamtrustworthy has about this on his TripInsuranceStore website. The paragraph doesn’t specify that the FCC has to be refundable, but I vaguely recall a conversation with him about that criteria. Perhaps Steve will see this and chime in. It would be good to clarify if Celebrity’s change to making the “Cruise Later” future certificates nonrefundable impacts our options for covering pre-existing conditions. Below is an excerpt on this subject from his website. Not sure if I’m allowed to include a link. —————————————————————————————————————- The Exceptions to “What Is Your Initial Trip Deposit Date?” If you are / were on a cruise and you paid a deposit for a future cruise without setting travel dates, IMG, TravelSafe, Travelex Select and Travel Insured will not consider that date your Initial Trip Deposit Date. Your Initial Trip Deposit Date will be the date you have a confirmed reservation with specific travel dates. CSA uses the Final Payment Date as the deadline to qualify for coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. Travel Guard counts the earliest date when any monies are paid as the Initial Trip Deposit Date regardless of whether there are set travel dates. _______________________________________________________________________ Jane

More like shooting themselves in the head! We have only one booking left with Celebrity. It was made almost 2 years ago, so it includes gratuities and lots of OBC. Giving them a chance to show me if the value is still there. This could be our final Celebrity cruise, at least until the tides change. We are Elite + and typically spring for a CS or RS. We are entering our prime traveling years. IN ADDITION: The Cruise Later non refundable deposit is a deal-breaker for us because I am unable to privately insure to Cover preexisting conditions since the the future cruise certificate date becomes your official booking date.

It seems that this could’ve changed back to fully refundable very very recently. The flyer attached to my Eclipse March 2, 2024 cruise documents shows it as refundable. ”If I do not pick a ship and sailing date within 1 year of booking, my deposit will be refunded.” Please see attached. Of course it’s always possible that Celebrity messed up and attached an incorrect Book Now/Book Later flyer to my eDocs. I just noticed that the copyright date at the bottom of the very fine print shows 2020. Ugh. Jane

It sounds absolutely horrendous based on post #1 on this thread! https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2983083-eclipse-6-january-boarding-in-buenos-aires/#comment-66697669

This is because the changes to butler (vs renamed stateroom attendent/Retreat Host & team) service only apply to Sky Suite level, including Aqua Ski suites. Thus far, the dedicated butler service is still provided to those in CS and above.

Thanks for doing this! We will be in a CS for the 2 March 24 sailing (Buenos Aires to Valparaiso) How long before the cruise were you contacted by the shoreside concierge? Was it by email or phone. Enjoy your cruise!

Just found him on Viking Orion last night! He retired from Royal after 15+ years. That was before Covid. He then agreed to a temporary gig bringing Viking back from the Covid global suspension. He’s decided to continue on because small ship sailing reminded him or what he loved about the CD job. (Just paraphrasing what he told me last night. I may have some of the details wrong.)

I assume this has to do with her noncompete clause. The Azamara announcement said she will start after her non-compete ends in May.

Wow! Glad they finally made a drastic move. Maybe I’ll feel comfortable booking Azamara again

Do you have the correct info for Viking? First port (from 11/7/23 sailing) is Jakarta. Thanks in advance!

When we were aboard Onward in August, they offered a short water aerobics class on a sea day. Jane

Did you have gratuities included or AI? Did you lose anything by doing that?

I checked prices yesterday and today for several categories of cabins on a cruise I’m taking in March. ALL AI prices were significantly higher when I added back in the cost of gratuities and the OBC eliminated from suite bookings. Here’s one example. I happened to find the exact same CS available for both day’s mock bookings. Hope the collage I attempted as an illustration is clear enough. I’m not bothering to put in the effort for the Veranda, Sunset Skysuite, Aqua Sky Suite or Guarantee cabins. All were higher when the removed items were added back in. The effective Suite guarantee price increased by over $1,000 (when $800 OBC and $552 in Grats were added back into today’s price). Celebrity must think very poorly of our math skills by insisting prices were adjusted to account for removal of gratuities, etc. The 5 examples that I checked showed exactly the opposite was true. This is on ECLIPSE 12 NIGHT March 2nd, 2024