markeb

So, there is stated policy and actual practice... On our last cruise, our butler asked questions about drink preferences, etc., on their first visit. They cleared the minibar and restocked with water and (ironically) Diet Coke, and kept them restocked. There were no minibar charges. They also volunteered to bring a glass of wine with our afternoon snacks (also no charge). From reading threads on here on CC, that is neither unusual nor universal. Clearing the minibar is pretty universal. Some folks have had an evening G&T delivered, for instance. Your butler does almost everything for you. They deliver your room service. They bring back your laundry. They can do a lot of guest service things (although the Retreat concierge has direct computer access and is probably a better choice for most guest services requests). They also received a nice additional gratuity at the end of the cruise...

You mention your butler. Are you in the Retreat? Sky Suite or above? If so, in all likelihood your butler will stock your suite with your preferred beverages. There's a cooler in the Retreat lounge that's normally full of water and soda, so you don't even need to go to a bar to grab a Diet Coke for the morning (or evening, or afternoon, or pretty much anytime of the day). I've never done one of the extra charge fresh squeezed juices with room service, but good old OJ, coffee, milk, tea, etc., are all included. Rules are tighter if you're not actually in the Retreat, but the suggestion to grab a diet coke when convenient on the way back to your cabin still works.

We moved to Celebrity from Royal Caribbean and have found we much prefer the product at this point in our life. But I'm talking as a customer, not as a board member or investor. RCG doesn't report internal financials on its subsidiary companies but if the board is approving much bigger investments in Royal Caribbean than Celebrity (implied in this thread and likely true) than I'd certainly expect that's where the bigger return is. And they should be investing in Royal Caribbean and not Celebrity. That's the board's responsibility to shareholders. If they're looking at a $1B outlay to either Royal or X, and Royal has a 10 year net present value of $4B and Celebrity has $2B (made up numbers), then invest in Royal. Pretty simple... The food conversations, AI versus no AI, itineraries, etc., are tactical decisions, not capital investments. There could be a whole other thread on segmentation, targeting, and pricing, but with no data, there's not much there. However, the amount of comparison between the two companies in this thread, even discussing the private islands, suggests to me their targeting and segmentation is missing their target.

That’s actually the more likely plan. There appears to be a participating Post Office 2-3 minutes from our hotel. So I still won’t make it to a bank lobby!

Can you book a placeholder and then shift to your “real” booking? We ran into this with an onboard booking for Alaska 2024. We had 90 days, but the schedule wasn’t out. We were able to book something, not sure what any more, as far out as possibly, then rebooked Alaska once the schedule was released. Not perfect, but it’s an idea. Does your paperwork show 12 months? If so, call them on it. That’s a pretty major change. If it’s all verbal…

I haven't actually been in a bank lobby in years (I'll be in one in London in July to trade obsolete £20 notes...), but I distinctly remember a time when some US banks were going to charging for in-person services versus using online or ATM services. Not sure if that's still the case. Randomly searching for business accounts, and it's apparently not uncommon for banks to charge businesses for in-person transactions, although there's usually a reasonable number of free transactions first. But it costs the bank to staff a teller window and to count cash. And if they can pass that on, they will. Large cash accounts have to deal with on-premises storage and/or secure (armed in the US) transport. Much less expensive to deal with credit cards and electronic transfers! We're way off the OPs original question, but are electronic transfers now the norm in the UK? Last I looked they were ubiquitous on the continent and writing a check (cheque) was unheard of. I remember a real nightmare trying to send a wire transfer to Norway years ago. My government travel account was designed to revolve around a credit card; the receiving end needed a wire.

The points don't transfer or accumulate across the cruise lines. Your status will (and sounds like it did) transfer, but you'd be Diamond with 0 points (assuming it's your first Royal Cruise). Diamond/Elite is the highest match.

Yes. I read post #9. The vendor/business generally prices their service to account for that hit. If they don't, that's their problem, not mine. And most studies I've seen say that people paying by card generally spend more money in the first place. The server gets the gratuity. It's the law in the US and there are cases where businesses have been taken to court for not passing through gratuities. And in the US, if the wage plus gratuity doesn't equal minimum wage, the business has to make up the difference. In most of the rest of the world employees who are traditionally tipped in the US are already paid a full salary. Would you actually notice the difference between a $1000 tour and $1030 tour? Or $1060 if it's AMEX? That would make up the credit card fee. Just charge everyone $1030 instead of adding 3% for using a card.

Exactly. Although I do expect you to tip the workers here and understand that's the norm. And I'll generally not tip (other than restaurants) in the UK as that's the norm... (And I know you understand the ludicrous system in the US. Some, unfortunately, don't...)

Even here in the hinterlands of North America, the guitar player at the winery on Sunday had a QR code with links to PayPal and Venmo. My fellow Americans need to get over it and pay with a card. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that I'd book a tour in Europe these days with an operator who's such a dinosaur they can't take a card (asbestos suit on...). Are they using a GPS to plan the trip? Do they have a smartphone to call ahead if they're late/early? The worst thing with pulling Pounds from an ATM is what I'm most likely to need are £1 coins for bathrooms. And those aren't dispensed (or pre-ordered from the US). (Actually that's usually more of an issue for €1...)

Thank you! That's what I wanted to confirm. And thanks for the luggage confirmation. I'd seen a YouTube video on the Elizabeth Line, and they weren't at all concerned about luggage without racks, but they weren't filming traveling with bags. We'll probably have a full-sized bag and a roll aboard each, but we successfully manage those all the time. I'll have to flag your directions and get them on my phone. Basically exit at the back of the train. For where we're going, it really makes the Elizabeth Line a great option.

We're a couple of months out from a (non-cruise) trip to London. We're booked into the Marriott Grosvenor Square. We've stayed at the Marriott Park Lane a number of times but it was outrageous on cash and unavailable on points. I was looking at Google Maps out of curiosity, and it's showing a direct shot to Bond Street on the Elizabeth Line, and a "3 minute" walk to the hotel? Is the Bond Street stop doable with luggage? I'm still a little unclear where the Elizabeth line drops you; I know you connect to the standard Tube lines. It will be a late Sunday morning/early Sunday afternoon inbound and an early Sunday afternoon outbound. United, so I'm assuming T2/3. On the surface, that's about the same distance and level of difficulty we'll have getting our bags from the car to the terminal in Dulles. I think there's still a certain "over the river and through the woods" at Heathrow, but this option has my attention. I know the Elizabeth Line is escalator/elevator only, which is great. It's air conditioned, also great. It looks bright, airy, and modern. I don't "think" it has racks like HEX for bags, but most things I've read about it suggest it's pretty easy to travel with luggage. Anyone have any real life experience? I mean £10-11 (ish) per person each way almost to the door of the hotel and not in traffic seems too good to be true!

I'm pretty sure the third party vendor who runs the duty free on board and contracts for Celebrity licensed products just went with an existing towel clip, slapped it into Celebrity packaging, and offered it for sale. I suppose it would be nice to believe the operations side of Celebrity talked to the folks contracting for retail, but the clips are probably just part of a broad set of pre-approved licensed items. They had a source that already had the "VIP" and "Reserved" clips and it saved money...

Always choose the local currency. Let your bank do the conversion.

You're largely looking for contradictory options. Hotels near things to do, without a car, are mostly not going to have shuttles in Baltimore. And affordable is relative. What are your dates in September? The Orioles are having a good start to the season (could tank at any time; sorry Baltimore...) but if they're in town and doing well, that could impact hotel availability. Ditto September 9 when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be performing at Camden Yards. I would start by looking at Harbor East for hotels. That's essentially midway between the Inner Harbor and Fells Point. Pull it up on Google Maps and look at the area. We don't go to Baltimore as often as we used to, so I can't make any specific recommendations. When we do go up, we tend to stay at either the Hotel Monaco or the Renaissance which are in the Inner Harbor area. I really like the Monaco as a hotel and they have a great bar/restaurant. Harbor East gets you closer to Little Italy. For things to do, there's the Aquarium (Inner Harbor) and Fort McHenry (think Star Spangled Banner). With a day, those would be my top 2 to research. There's also the Historic Ships of Baltimore that includes the USS Constellation. Fells Point is a fun neighborhood to explore. Trinity Reservations may or may not be useful for what you're talking about. There's a lot in the area, but a lot of it isn't convenient without a car. With a car, I'd be tempted to head to Annapolis and explore that area and do a tour of the Naval Academy. Lots of options...

The beauty of ApplePay is it doesn't expose your actual credit card during the transaction. And some (AMEX for one) issuers immediately update your ApplePay credentials to a new card if your report your card lost or stolen, which you can do in the app from anywhere. Which also greatly diminishes the risk of being left "cardless" due to fraud. You probably need a physical card for hotels and rental car counters, but you can leave that one in the safe. I also much prefer the international method of bringing a credit card reader to your table. It's becoming more common in the US as well. And the readers are usually contactless and take ApplePay/Google Pay so you don't need to pull out a physical credit card.

I don't get this either. €50 from an ATM will probably get you through almost anything as long as you have a credit card (Visa/MC). The thing you're most likely to need, that you won't be able to get in the US or from an ATM, are €1 and €2 coins for the bathrooms! The only time I've used cash on my last several trips was either when I was 1) out with a group and everyone was paying cash or 2) Oktoberfest (which will eventually go cashless, kicking and screaming...). The main thing is to pull cash from a bank ATM instead of something like Travelex. But I pull it when and if I need it. Which is currently never as I have a lot of leftover Euros from before I started taking my own advice!

Are you in the Retreat? I seem to remember some posts on that. Even there, the official answer is "no". The real answer is "it depends". Your butler may well offer to pick drinks up for you that they'll charge against your package. They don't have to. I honestly don't know who answers the phone if you call room service from the Retreat; almost everything actually goes through your butler. They deliver your breakfast. They (may) deliver a glass of wine with your afternoon snacks. And folks have reported them delivering drinks from a bar. When you meet with them the first day, and they ask what they can do for you, either outright ask, or be indirect and ask where the easiest bar is to get a glass of wine or a G&T (for instance) to enjoy in your cabin before dinner. It's a greater than 50:50 probability they'll offer to get it for you. And if they do for a week, that's grounds for an additional gratuity...

Embarkation is fine. During the cruise is technically not allowed. You have to turn it in and it's delivered on the last night. But there are frequent reports of people not being directed to turn in their purchases. However, if you're buying a nice Bordeaux that you plan on drinking on the cruise, and going straight to the airport at the end, you need to plan on drinking a nice bottle of wine on the last night and hoping it's delivered before dinner...

Looks like the OP is from the UK and cruising from Barcelona. I would also suspect they're a little more likely to see dinner jackets/tuxedo/suits on their cruise than they would from FLL to the Caribbean. But probably still not a high percentage. To the OP: They're not required, and unusual in the Caribbean. The general nonstatistical observation of many is they're more common on European itineraries. If you want to take one and that's what you're used to and comfortable with, you'll certainly be fine. If you don't, you'll also be fine.

The last time this topic came up there were reports of renovation at the Renaissance, so check that. I’ve not stayed at the W. I like the vibe of the Renaissance and the neighborhood location. I like the overall convenience of the Marriott and its proximity to the museums. The rooms are probably nicer at the Marriott, but I’m going prepandemic here…

Without going too deep here, a DD214 is a release from active duty. If you were never on active duty, you won’t get a DD214. If you were called up multiple times you could have multiple DD214s. Timelines come into play for various veterans benefits, but that’s well beyond the scope of a cruise discount…

That’s the best possible outcome. Sounds like he didn’t touch your booking, so no opportunity to mess something up!

Did you book with a TA? If so, call them. If not, I’m inclined to forget about $200. They might do exactly what you ask and apply the discount, and overwrite something else on the booking. Like OBC for instance. A good TA is more likely to look at the pros and cons of a seemingly minor change. Had something similar happen on my very first Celebrity cruise where our drink packages somehow dropped off the booking. We got them back, but not easily. It may be doable, but make sure NOTHING else changes if you do it.

They also have a system where you can complete the enrollment on arrival from an international flight. That’s another option. If the app and kiosks weren’t working, there’s no good option!