kathynorth

What do they do with all the stuff they make in the glass blowing show? Do they re-melt it?

 

I would love to see the show. I think I could sit out there even if it is hot.

They hold a free raffle for lots of previously made pieces during most shows. They save some of the better pieces for the end of cruise raffle.

What we found to be the most interesting part of the hot glass show was the way it is narrated. There are 3 artists on each cruise. Each show highlights 1 of the artists, the 2nd works as an assistant, while the 3rd explains each step in the process as the 1st creates their original piece. The team rotates roles so by the end of the 3rd show you've had the chance to see 3 different artist at work. It really is a unique experience. We've been to dozens of glass shows and have taken a couple of glass blowing classes. None of the have compared to the on board hot glass show.

If ginger mojitos are on the menu then I have to say that I agree with the OP, which means I disagree with most of the posts so far. Asking for a menu item minus the alcohol is still the same drink. I think the bartender should have accommodated them. I also think the bartender should do it for anyone else who asks for a menu item minus the alcohol.

So would there be any advantage to booking now as the price almost always goes down especially Eurooe?

People have reported that they were able to take advantage of price drops while the 1,2,3 was still active and were able to keep everything and get the price drop. If you want to take a price drop you usually can only keep the perks that are in play at the time of rebooking. The 1,2,3 is a Celebrity perk, not a TA perk. You'd have to check the TA policy about what happens to perks if you rebook to take advantage of a price drop. For example, one of the TAs we use gives us OBC equal to 5% of the base cruise price. If we take a price drop then our OBC also goes down a bit. It can be a bit complicated keeping track of all these rules, but can also be well time well spent if you luck out with a big drop.

I've been trying to look at specialty restaurant options for our upcoming cruise and have gotten the "We apologize for the error" message for the past two weeks.

When I try it using Chrome I get "The requested reservation is currently being modified. Please try again in 20 minutes."

It's easy to see why people get aggravated!

Carnival & RCCL do not allow ANY TAs to book their cruise for less than their price. I think they may limit the amount given as OBCs too.

However my husband gets up at 5am - I don't!- and he has seen prices at 5am go up as the day progresses- often 3 times. They never go down just up until maybe the next day if ship isn't full.

We now usually book all our cruises through the ship on line.

I believe most cruiselines have similar policies. However, some large TAs buy up blocks of rooms when the rates are low and sell them off over time. This gives the appearance of offering lower prices and/or incentives. This is also why cabins become available right before final payment. The TAs cancel the bookings for any unsold rooms.

Please bear with me...I've never redeemed points before.

 

I am about to book a Celebrity Summit cruise that is inside the final payment date, so when I book it, I have to pay in full.

 

I also have enough rewards points to qualify for a significant Celebrity discount, which I would like to put towards payment for this cruise.

 

What is the proper sequence? Do I request the discount certificate first, then when I receive the email with the info, book the cruise?

 

Also, is this combinable with the Take 2 resident discount?

 

Thank you!

Sorry, I asked a question then found the answer right after.

Just curious, why do they say "new bookings only" when everyone and their brother has called for the 123 go package and based on another thread have received it? Why does Celebrity even say "new bookings only" when clearly this does not apply?

This is why I'm curious about the 25 bonus points. If they allow the 1,2,3 to be added as a rebook, then why not be eligible for the bonus points. The bonus points might seem to be a minor perk, but they can add up over time. It's a long way between Elite+ and Zenith.

I received an email from Celebrity advertising a sale on Bermuda cruises. In the ad it says "ask about our FREE PARKING at the port? Does anyone have information about this?

This would be a nice perk! Does anyone have info to share on this? I didn't receive this email, but would love to know the specifics. I'm considering a cruise out of Bayonne and would likely park at the port.

I think the way the hallways and elevators are set up on the RC ships is different than on the X ships. I compared the deck plans of the Serenade of of Solstice. They look similar, but I've been on several solstice ships and they have walls with doorways that act as sound barriers between where the rooms are and public areas. There are places where you can look straight down to the 3rd deck, but this isn't as open as on the RC ships.

Book the cruises and then cancel one room at pay time. Flights are the issue. Book two now with Choice air and then book the other two at payday time. You should be great with Choice air.

I have done flights at the last minute even less than you for international and domestic and have been ok. Just stay with Choice air. They really can do you right.

The above is what I would do. The extra cabin can always be cancelled, flight cancellations without medical cause will have a penalty.

A certain website that tracks prices gives an excellent price for a category that you want. How can you find out where this price is being offered. Do you have to pay the money to the website to get that information or just look until you find it.

I would suggest the first place to check is the cruiseline's website. Usually the base price is the same and it gives you a starting point. Then check some of the larger online TA sites. The only time I've seen differences is when a large TA has booked a block of rooms at a group rate. I've figured out where "special rates" were offered by plugging in the ship name + price rate and sometimes the various websites for online TAs pop up with that rate.

Also, since most agencies have the same cruise price as the cruiseline, but may have various offers, we like to figure the actual cruise price by adding in port charges/taxes, then minus any OBC or agency paid gratuities to figure out the actual cost for the cruise. We then use these actual rates to compare rates from other agencies to make our choice. We're looking at a cruise right now and have seen the same exact quoted cost of this cruise on all 3 websites. However, when considering the OBC and gratuities perks being offered the actual cost cruise rates are $3,511, $3,226, and $3,111 for the same cabin.

Good Morning Fellow Cruisers!

 

I will try and post my experience this morning without too much negativity as the boards have been loaded lately. I have to say after my experience this morning, there is some truth behind some of the issues being discussed.

 

I waited on hold for 46 minutes to discuss my European cruise for 2015. To deal with the wait time, I put my speaker phone on and passed the time by reading some posts on cruise critic.

 

The purpose for my call this morning was to "combine" my currently booked cruise with one other offer. The additional perk offered at the time of my booking was "this offer is combinable with one other offer throughout the year if you book by April 30, 2014." When I booked I clarified with captains club rep what this meant and was told was combinable with any promotion throughout 2014. I printed the web page which had this specific language on there.

 

This morning I decided to call about the 123go promotion. The first thing the rep did was to verify I "qualified." This is fine I get that. She believed I did not qualify for 123 go promotion since I was not booking a new cruise and offer was for new cruises booked between june and july. I reminded her about the past promotion for 2015 bookings which stated i would be able to "combine" with one other perk. She put me on hold to verify. She came back and said I did qualify. This took approx 10 minutes to figure out.

 

Then she had to check the price of my cruise because if it went up I would have to pay the difference. This made no sense to me becasue the offer when I booked did not mention this. This took another 5-6 minutes to sort out. Luckily my cruise price did not go up...otherwise I have feeling I would have had to pay the difference which is not what was presented during the early booking offer. disappointing.

 

Now, I am waiting to hear back from her as she has to check with the captains club (which was not open when I called this morning) to verify I still qualify for the one cat upgrade from a c3 to a c2...really?

 

As a customer (and Elite so not new to this), calling for an upgrade that was promised should not be so difficult. The process should be easier for celebrity staff and customers....you call, provide reservation ID, they upgrade accordingly and then Celebrity sends an updated invoice. done.

 

hopefully when I get my new invoice i will be in the same cabin and will have promotions correct. fingers crossed.

 

amy

I'm wondering if you had any discussion about the 25 bonus points. Were you not eligible because the original booking was prior to June 2nd or were you eligible for these points because they rebooked you in order to access the 1,2,3 Go promotion.

Special 123Go! Offer for Captain’s Club Members

As a valued Captain’s Club member, take advantage of two exclusive benefits. First, receive 25 to 50 Bonus Club Points* in addition to the usual Club Points you earn when you book June 2 through July 31, 2014. Second, enjoy 50% reduced deposits* when booking.

*Captain’s Club offer is valid for Classic tier members and above.

Captain's Club Member Offers apply to new individual and named group bookings made June 2-July 31, 2014. Classic Captain's Club Members and above ("CC Members") are eligible to receive 25 bonus Club Points on bookings made at least 9 months prior to the departure date of cruise for ocean view and verandas; and receive 50 bonus Club Points for suites that are booked at least 9 months prior to the departure date of the cruise. Bonus Club points will be added within 14 days after conclusion of sailing. CC Members are also eligible for a 50% Reduced Deposit Offer on individual bookings made more than 70 days from departure date. Reduced deposit must be paid by 7/31/14 or deposit payment required due date. To redeem using celebrity.com, proceed to the Payment page, select "Other" in the deposit field and enter 50% off the deposit amount. Valid membership number must be provided at time of booking; new members may book onboard without a membership number but must provide the membership number by Aug. 10, 2014. - See more at: http://www.celebritycruises.com/htmlpage/123go-captains-club-offer?icid=ccc_bt_123gjn_1406_mul_lk_693187#sthash.y3bibcMy.dpuf

Thanks to both of you! This is exactly the info I was looking for. I appreciate your quick responses!

Kathy

Hi,

 

Same cabin numbers on those 2 ships…just FYI, several of the cabins on the aft/stern of the Solstice Deck 11 are Aqua Class, while the same cabins on the Equinox are Concierge Class…otherwise the same ! Largest balconies in width (not suites) are 2152 and directly below going down...cabins are the same(as stated below):)

 

Hope this helps

 

Woody

Thanks for the response. I just went to check out whether the cabin we're looking at is a CC or Aqua, but the site is down. Ugh

As far as I know the cabin sizes are the same Aqua, Veranda, Concierge all the same size. S1's all the same size same for S2. Are you trying to determine if balcony size as those do vary?

Yes, I meant to say size of balcony. I know that some of the aft balcony's are slightly wider than others on the S class ships.

We joined another couple and jumped in a cab right off the ship. The cabbies will offer a brief tour for the price of the ride into town. They bring you to the top of where the cable car lets out and tell you all about the war. There is a great view of the old city and wall from the top. Be careful about time though. If the cabbie offers to take you different places they'll charge you for the extra time. We did decide to drive to a small waterside town and thought it was worth the side trip. The walk along the wall was nice, but very hot. Bring water. Also, when you go to buy tickets to climb the wall bypass the first station. There's a second ticket booth further down the alley with a much shorter line.

I know that some of the S class ships have the aft balconies numbered differently. I have a photo of the Solstice aft with the cabin #s. Will these #s be the same for Equinox or are they in slightly different positions? I'm trying to identify which of the Equinox aft cabins are larger based on the Solstice photo.

Thanks for your help!

Take the extra bottles inside of you ? i.e. drink them on shore

Lol, we've seen lots of people do it this way!

Fantastic Attitude!!!

I'm booked for January on the Silhouette and in all honesty I've been doubting my decision. I have to keep reminding myself why I chose this ship and itinerary and stop worrying about all the poor reviews (there have been good ones also).

Enjoy your cruise, I hope you come back with lots of good things to tell us!

We booked our first cruise on an X ship back in 2008. Shortly after I discovered CC and jumped into planning excursions. Then I started to read lots of negative posts about the ship I was about to sail on and thoughts of doubts started to creep in and dampen my excitement. We went on our cruise and had an awesome time. The ship was beautiful, even with a rust spot here or there. I often think that some posters have unrealistic expectations when it comes to ship or hotel maintenance. These facilities are used by passengers on a daily basis for years at a time between refurbishes. IMO it's amazing how well these ships are maintained.

The one "killer" app that Celebrity has, though, for a family like ours and the cabin/itinerary we have, is the ability to have MDR dinner via room service if the kids are exhausted and we need to get them to bed early. As long as Celebrity don't remove that within the next 2 weeks, we'll be all set - because that was a major part of the reason we chose Celebrity (on the Breakaway, there seems to be no way to have reasonable in-room dining outside of a suite).

I didn't read all the posts, but thought I pitch in my experience on this item since it requires timing. We've done this on several cruises (Summit + Reflection) and had the following experience.

1. When we called room service we were referred to our room steward for ordering.

2. We needed to know exactly what we wanted to order from the menu of that day so we could place our order through the cabin steward. On both occasions the cabin steward did't know what was on the menu for that day. The first time the steward ran up to the MDR to get us a menu. The second time we knew better and wrote down what we wanted to order and handed it to him.

3. All dishes were served at the same time, meaning they didn't arrive as courses like they do in the MDR.

4. The meal arrived to the room at the same time when the main entree was served in the MDR. This means that you need to place the order well enough in advance so you can locate your cabin steward, figure out the order, and have the meal retrieved from the MDR kitchen. This can feel like a long wait for little ones, so be sure to plan ahead.

5. You can place an order for first or second seating, but the meal will still be served when the main entree is served. I mention this because if you miss the first seating ordering window then it's a long wait for the second seating entree.

6. Both times our meals arrived hot and were great!

Sometimes I think that Celebrity minds have a tendency to forget that these charges are IN ADDITION to what their guests are already paying for their regular MDR meal. What is that meal worth that you give up when eating in a speciality restaurant? Yes the specialities are nice but when you figure what you have to pay extra, plus what you have already paid, it makes for a very expensive meal.

Yes, I see what you mean. If we estimate that a MDR dinner with an appetizer and desert is $25+, then it may be reasonable to conclude that a dinner in Murano actually cost the cruiser $75+pp.

It varies by cruise.

 

We've found the best way to exchange it was to go to dinner the first night and ask the sommelier if you could exchange it for another bottle of wine or get a credit towards a bottle of wine (in the area of $28). They will likely say yes, bring it with you the next night.

We've never had a problem trading our champagne for wine by following the above. On our last cruise we received a $30 credit toward a wine of our choice.

Ouch!! How on earth can this pricing fluctuate by so much? I can only assume that a company the size of X know what they are doing and it must be working - but how? it is beyond insane. I'll try the strategy in my store tomorrow....... maybe not

Celebrity charges $49/night plus gratuity for the classic drink package. On the 11 night cruise for 2 passengers the cost would be $1,239 if my math is correct. When I add my 2013 rate plus the cost of the drink package the total is a lot closer to this year's rate. IMO, my experience supports the notion that the cost of the drink package is compensated for within the higher cruise rate. A patient person can get a deal with the drink promotion if the timing is right, or if they can wait for other "specials" that don't include the drink package.

Last spring we booked an 11-night Mediterranean cruise on the Reflection during the Memorial Day weekend sale. This sale fell between the end of the spring PYP and eventual summer 1,2,3. We scooped up a Happy Hour rate and in addition to a great rate we received a small OBC and 2 bottles of wine/cabin. Because we were in Aqua we received 3 bottles of wine/cabin. (We booked 2 cabins.) By the way, we booked through Celebrity and the rep offered the OBC and wine when I said I'd call back because I wanted to check to see if the TA we usually use would give us perks. These were guarantee cabins, but the rep booked us in 2 adjoining cabins since the guarantees were already in the process of being assigned. I just checked the current rate for the same cruise for the same week in 2014. The cost is currently double what we paid last year.