publicpersona

We almost always book balcony guarantee. With only a few exceptions, there are no bad balcony staterooms (having a lifeboat outside our window doesn't bother us). On the other hand, I would never book an ocean view guarantee as there are many of those that are undesirable for various reasons .. spent a week in a room next to the aft thrusters once. Our experience is that the stateroom is assigned within 24-48 hours. With dynamic pricing, you can sometimes encounter weird pricing anomalies. Recently booked a cruise where a concierge gty was $200 less than ocean view.

Thank you so much for your thorough response!

If course. Everyone exercises their own judgement applying to their circumstances and risk tolerance. No one is wrong and no one can blame anyone but themselves, provided they were given good information to start with.

They make that suggestion (and I confirmed with HAL that it is just that), but that's really a judgment call by the person signing up. I live where there are 7-8 one-hour direct flights a day to FLL for next to nothing and nothing to tie me down. On the other hand, someone could live in Fort Lauderdale within view of the port but have kids that need to be arranged for, job responsibilities that require notice, etc. etc. As long as I have accurate information about how much notice will be given, that's for me to decide. Having said that, when they indicated I'd get 7-day notice, there was no question. I could probably swing it with 24-hour notice. But now that they've changed the wording, and having been told that the program may require that you show up in the terminal a few hours before sailing only to be told you didn't make it, then that changes the equation. It doesn't necessarily mean that living close to the port is a requirement. But it does mean that going to the port to be turned away can't bother you (although data points are more along the lines of 24-36 hours). We are going to be in Fort Lauderdale early May anyway, so I plan to standby if any Fort Lauderdale departures are available. I won't need any notice, really, and I won't be sad not to make it on. The important thing is that people should go into it with accurate information. That is what HAL did not supply in the beginning but are doing better now.

We always made Nachi our go-to in Cozumel and were never disappointed .. until the last time just pre-COVID and we were disappointed. Since then, we have read reviews from others that Nachi is not what it once was. Anyone else that has been there in the past year want to disagree?

Was asking about this in another thread, but since it was a little off-topic, will continue here. It appears the situation remains the same as previously discussed in this thread. The issue is that we are assigned 6 PM seating and therefore are not given the opportunity to select restaurants, much less time, pre-cruise. I would ask Celebrity about this but 1) whoever I talk to won't know, and 2) I used a TA for this booking (rarely do, and now remembering why) who insists that E class ships have fixed dining in addition to Anytime. Is it still the consensus of recent E class cruisers that they don't have fixed dining at all? And if so, if your reservation says you do, there's no getting around it pre-cruise? Note that I'm well aware that I can speak to someone once onboard, or just show up at any restaurant at any time and get in eventually. ------- For what it's worth, Celebrity has a blog post outlining all the dining options (last updated Feb 6, 2024) that does say there is fixed dining on E class: The Complete Guide to Dining Options on Celebrity Cruises | Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Select Dining on Edge Series Celebrity Edge® Series offers not one but four complimentary main restaurants—Normandie, Tuscan, Cosmopolitan, and Cyprus. Every restaurant features the same mouthwatering menu that changes nightly, plus each one offers its own ambience, along with a selection of exclusive, regionally inspired dishes and drinks. We may have reinvented the main restaurant experience, but we haven’t changed the way you plan your dining in our main restaurants. You can choose Celebrity Select Early or Late seating for your dining times, which allows you to enjoy dinner at the same table with the same waiter every evening. You’ll be assigned one of the four main dining restaurants, while having the option to dine in the other three upon request. On Celebrity Edge Series, we offer Celebrity Select Dining Anytime. Select your dining time in any of the four restaurants and enjoy a change of scenery. There’s nothing traditional about Celebrity. And with Celebrity Select Dining, the choice of how you plan your evening meals is up to you.

Well, I thought I was remembering that from two previous Edge cruises. And in fact, we haven't done fixed dining on any cruise in many years. That said, our cruise documentation says we have early seating and it says I cannot make any reservations since we have fixed dining. So while I know I need to be making reservations to choose MDR restaurants, it just tells me I should have picked Anytime, for which I am shown as waitlisted. And with Anytime Dining on our Edge® series ships, you have four restaurants to choose from. Select your dining time in any of the four restaurants and enjoy a change of scenery. Guests with Anytime Dining must reserve their dining time in the pre-cruise planner after completing their reservation.

It has been a while since I’ve been on Edge, and will be doing Apex soon. We are set for early seating but waitlisted for Anytime. Remind me how does one get to select which restaurant to go to. I tried reserving online but it said my dining time was already set. But not the restaurant?

Only one person (Raybit) said that they ended up with a Vista Suite. That has been quoted and discussed in a few other posts, but no, only one person has said this. One shouldn't go into this program expecting anything better than an inside cabin with an earth-shaking-at-4AM aft thruster below, and an all-night heavy metal bar immediately above. Anything better would be icing on the cake.

Insufficient data. I have asked for clarification a couple times, but I don't recall that anyone was notified that they were not sailing without them first having to call HAL and ask what the heck happened to the 7-day notice. Was anyone who took no action at all notified in advance of debarkation that they were not sailing? I was explicitly told that the expectation was that you would show up at the terminal and learn 90 minutes before sail away that you didn't make it. Regardless, if they want to define the program as being 24 or 48 notice, that's fine. But that's not what they said when we paid in full for the cruise. Side note: The people that I talked to at HAL were extremely nice and understanding that what they promised was not the way it worked. And I was thrilled beyond words that my full refund was posted within a couple days of speaking with them about it. The *only* beef I have with them was the seven day misrepresentation.

I think you need to read the whole thread. As one who has been through this, I can tell you that the seven days was a complete misrepresentation. They expect you to show up at the terminal if not otherwise notified, per the conversation I had with someone to whom my query for status within 46 hours was escalated.

Nope. My story was just like yours.

This is very true. The PCC I spoke with was appalled that I hadn't heard anything less than 46 hours from sail away. The direct booking agent I spoke with told me yes, I was indeed on the cruise, I was going to have a great time, and how many shore excursions, drink packages, specialty restaurants, etc. could she sell me? I told her to slow down .. I said "What stateroom am I in then?". Then she said, "Oh my .. wait .. what the ...". The escalation person that finally settled it for me could not find any public facing information on the program at all. So I gave her the link.

Yes, for certain. But there is another way they could approach this. They could leave the program exactly as it is but add that anyone who has not been notified that they have cleared standby within 48 hours of departure has the option to cancel with full refund. Those who get on the standby and cancel further out than 48 hours will still lose their money.

Your overall post is pretty accurate. I will pick a nit about the stateroom. The terms and conditions do not state a specific stateroom, only that the guest has no choice about it (and by inference, it may well be an interior). I believe it is the case that in their systems, they technically treat the booking as on WAITL for N (interior).

... unless Holland America tells you something different. It's fine if they want a standby program which means you must show up at the terminal ready to sail. But that's not what they said when they were taking our money.

Well, when we got within 46 hours of closing out boarding and having heard nothing one way or the other, I called and talked to several different departments. The last person that I spoke to repeated the line that you may get called to board up until boarding closes 90 minutes before sailaway, and there is the expectation if you haven't been notified, that you show up in the terminal ready to go. That's how the program works. There was agreement that nothing like that is described in the terms and conditions, and "approximately 7 days" in their copy of the T&Cs says "within 7 days." She took the time to visit their webpage to note the discrepancy.

We are standby for the same cruise but got on the standby list Dec 26. I'm hoping we hear something Monday or Tuesday which would be 4 or 3 days .. about the closest in that any reasonable person could define as "about 7 days". Unless I missed it, I don't recall any data points in this thread as to when negative news (i.e., the likely scenario - you are not sailing) comes. I hope HAL doesn't consider that notification any less important.

Ha! You probably didn't think anyone on this thread would have a clue what you are talking about. But I do .. and will point out SNOBOL was interpreted, not compiled. The compiled version of SNOBOL was SPITBOL (Speedy Implementation of SNOBOL).

To those who have been notified that you have cleared standby and are on the cruise, as well as those notified that you have not … How were you notified? Were you called, or receive an email or text, or were you watching your reservation on their website and saw a change such as stateroom assignment? And of course please share how much time before embarkation you found out.

Just wanted to say thank you very much for sharing your experience.

So I guess that you no longer cruise because you have no assurance that the cruise ship is actually going anywhere.

No, the program didn't work like it was supposed to. HAL, which wrote the terms after all, basically said ... Are you willing to put money at risk that you can be flexible enough to make arrangements to cruise about a week before departure? but what they are delivering is ... Are you willing to put money at risk that you can be flexible enough to make arrangements to cruise within 48 hours of departure? That's very different. I'm on standby for a Jan 26 cruise and now very nervous. I have flexibility if I know more than 3-4 days ahead, but cannot do it with lesser notice.

I would be interested to hear from those who have recent cruise experience on both Celebrity and Holland America. We've done about 70 cruises favoring Royal and Celebrity, but in recent years I'm finding pleasure in discovering new things/ships. Our first venture outside RCG was MSC. While certain things such as food paled in comparison to Celebrity, the value proposition for price paid was much better. I will sail them again and set expectations appropriately. Now I've become curious about Holland America. Being used to how things are on Celebrity, what would I be disappointed in on HAL? What would I find a welcome improvement?

I find I have to change my password about once a month or I can’t get in. And I’m not “forgetting” my password as I always use a password manager.