h & m

Damn! It must have got a price hike above the $7 limit for classic package out of Australia :p

 

Haha! I'm sure I could manage to drink that surplus charge if I tried but across the whole cruise I doubt it's worth it just for Corona, I will survive without:D. Last Celebrity cruise I purchased the premium package but this time I don't think it's worth it as I found I'm not much of a martini/fancy drink kind of person and the fancy drink bars like martini and molecular always seemed to have the longest wait times! lol :rolleyes:

 

 

@ Hilary-

 

If you follow this link to the Celebrity site then click on the hyperlinks under classic and premium("pay one price" and "premium package") you will find a list of what is included, hope this helps :)

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/planAndBook/tabLanding.do?pagename=onboard_beverage_packages#onboard_beverage_packages_premium_classic_tab/onboard/asrPanel.do%3Fpagename=onboard_beverage_packages_premium_classic

Thanks for the link - We'll wait until on board and see what beers are available on the Classic. Maybe if I get Mick a yukky American beer and stick a slice of lime in he won't the difference :eek:

Seriously, we got the 123 package because our US agent managed to cancel and rebook our cruise, but I doubt either of us would drink enough to justify the cost of the package. Will try our best though :)

Hilary

Bwahhhhhhhhhhhh :D too funny!

Where do I find the list of what is included ?

We have the classic package, may have to upgrade for DH as Corona is his beer of choice on the Celebrity ships

Thanks

Hilary

I brought back a copy of the bar prices, have been searching for it for the last couple of days, but can't find it yet.

From recollection, we were quite disappointed with the wine list. We grow grapes, and would have loved to bring a couple of bottles on board to share with people on our roll call. We found an OK Shiraz, can't remember the name, but it was $32. 00. Lots of the wines on the list were unfamiliar to us, even the Aussie wines.

Paying in Aussie dollars helps, and they do not add on the 15% charge as on the US ships.

Mick drank mostly beer, around $7.00, and soft drinks were $2.25.

My favourite drink on board was a shot of espresso from the free machine, in a tall glass topped up with free soft service ice cream. Just like a coffee thick shake :p

Here's a link to the review I posted in September, and I will continue to search for the bar prices.

Hilary

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1913392&highlight=spirit+review

Same for everyone.

Changes have been made, and the website now seems OK.

We received an email overnight - our 13 cruise credits converted to 390 cruise points, so we remain elite.

I'm very happy that Elites retain the same benefits, we got to enjoy them this April for the first time. The evening drinks were enjoyable, but for me (not a big drinker) I loved breakfast in the Tuscan Grill, and I am happy the breakfast remains on the list of benefits.

It definitely will take longer now to accrue points to the next level, points per day range from 2 for inside/ocean view, 5 points for CC/AQ, to many more points per day for high end cabins.

Hilary :)

Thought i'd give you a giggle - currently on hold with Celebrity Aus who have just told me that info on Cruise Critic is 'rubbish' & that posters have only 'generally cruised once or twice' .... on hold to speak to a supervisor!

Good luck, I'm just off the phone, same issue, the drinks package. The person I spoke to was adamant, no drinks packages for bookings made here and websites that said different were lying !

Hilary :)

Great review, enjoying the narrative as well as the photos.

Looking forward to the next part, we have the same cabin booked next August, so will be glad to see more.

Not wanting to start a non-smoking debate either, but we are so happy when the Spirit comes down under, there will be very limited smoking locations, and smoking will not be allowed on the balconies.

Hilary :)

Just back from a 17 day cruise around the Top End of Australia on the Sun Princess, and happy to report no problems with smoke on the ship.

No smoking areas inside, the Casino was smoke free. Smoking permitted on the Starboard side of the Promenade Deck, smoking areas on Port side on Deck 12 (pool deck).

Hilary :)

We have for a while thought about saling the DP Australia/NZ or reverse, but one thing or another never done it.

Now we are in with a good chance but in January 2013 and also the CS will sail NZ/Freo that month. So we are thinking the CS instead of the DP, which ship would you sail.

 

stevo

Stevo - we have done the DP and Celebrity Equinox (sister to Solstice). Our big reason for trying Celebrity was Princess allowed smoking in cabins and balconies - now that has changed we are happy to go back with Princess.

Biggest difference we found between the 2 ships -

Celebrity service is outstanding, lots of little things starting with the sparkling wine as you board. The staff seem to have more time (maybe a better staff - passenger ratio)

Things we prefer about Celebrity - all balcony cabins have a sofa, on Princess we had to go to a mini-suite to get a sitting area.

Although we prefer to eat in the dining room, when possible, the buffet on Celebity is well designed - much easier to get around and find a table.

We found Princess food a little bland, Celebrity more to our taste, but that is very subjective.

Things we prefer about Princess - self-service laundry, really important to us on longer trips, or a cruise combined with more travel.

Swimming pools larger on Diamond Princess.

Both are lovely ships, I would sail on whichever had a better itinerary and price, but everything being equal would choose Celebrity for great service.

Hilary :)

I'm 100% this question has already been answered at least 10 times, but I just can't find the answer.

Is it possible that another person use the card that has the beverage package?

Ex: Can my son take my card and go and by something (non-alcoholic)?

 

If no, how many drinks may I ordered at the same time?

I kept the beverage package flyer from our April cruise, giving details of the various packages. It states packages must be utilized one drink at a time.

Under terms and conditions, it states packages cannot be shared and are non-transferable.

On the Infinity I used the card for my coffees, and if getting one for DH too I always made it clear I would be paying for one. I noticed they were very strict at the coffee bar on the correct use of the card. Hope this helps. I did try to scan the flyer, but no luck so far

Hilary :)

Bevie - thanks for following along and the nice comments. As I said in my most recent post's I always find the food to be great. I have never had a bad experience. If I don't like something there is always something else to find. The food on Celebrity was fabulous. I did not find any reason to complain about. The variety at the buffet left you with more than enough choices and they had great fish and chips and the Pizza was to die for! I will say that the Pizza I had on this ship was the best I had ever had. The menu in the dining room was different each day but always had the regular stuff you could order as well.

 

Sayvan

Thanks so much for the review and lovely photos. We are on the Infinity in April, with unfortunately a very slow roll call so far. You have really helped making my excitement grow, and seeing the ship makes it seem real. Keep up the good work :)

Is that per person?:eek:Seems an awful lot for a 4 day cruise. Or does it include airfares??

Sorry I was not clear - that is for 2 people, including taxes etc.

We had 4 days in Florida before our Transatlantic cruise, and were originally planning to hire a car & drive down to Key West and back to Ft Lauderdale.

After pricing car hire, hotels etc, I found this cruise which visits Key West, and it was easily the cheapest option. Plus no hassles with driving etc.

Hilary

We recently booked a short 4 day cruise on the Majesty of the Seas. Price on the US site was US$1150. Same cabin on the Australian site was AU$1450.

Looking on the European site we all use for checking cabin availability I noticed the price substantially lower. With our favourable exchange rate, I just made the final payment, it worked out at AU $830.

As we booked late I did not look into cancellation penalties etc, as only an emergency covered by insurance would cause us to cancel now.

Paying in Euros is something I had not considered before, but worth checking these prices in the future.

Sorry about the Star Princess cancellation, we are good friends of Sandra and Dave.

we booked through an online us ta a couple of years back and had no issues boarding. no where in the HAL docs we were mailed was the ta identified.

 

in these days of online print yourself ticketing, how on earth are the checkin agents going to be able to identify who you booked with. yes, very possibly it's in their computer system but checkin is usually bedlam x 10 and the last thing they'd be looking to do would be deny boarding to someone who has paid the dollars just like everyone else.

 

like has been said many times through this thread, this is a beat-up between RCCL/Carnival and whatever the Oz travel agent association is called to try and scare us poor ripped off punters into spending too many of our hard earned dollars here instead of saving from a few hundred to a few thousand of them and booking offshore.

 

I'll just say one thing to them all - bugger off!! you want my money then give me the best deal here instead of me so easily being able to see I can get a better deal a few clicks away on the internet.

 

I think they've shot themselves in their collective feet with this story. a lot of people weren't aware what a premium we pay here. possibly now people who may have just accepted the prices they are quoted will start saying to their tas "I can get a better price than that, can you match it?"

 

stranger things have happened

Well said - I believe the story was in major papers all over Australia, and may have got others thinking about booking overseas.

In the last few months I have booked 3 cruises through the US.

Our Princess cruise for 2011 was not available on the Aussie website, so apart from the (huge) price difference, we got to select the cabin we wanted, and used US Future Cruise Credits (cost $200 on board), get back the $200 as OBC, and also gave us a free $200 deposit.

the Carnival cruise I booked through the US, within 24 hours I had an email from Carnival welcoming us as Australians and alerting us to Visa requirements, so the company had no issue with this reservation.

This happened to DH every time on a cruise. Someone suggested he eats parsley, and guess what, it works. It's a natural diuretic, so yes you need to be close to a bathroom, but he starting eating the garnish on his plate, or asking the waiter for a sprig of parsley in the mornings, and no more problems !