Xport

Some things I've loved over Celebrity (over and above the food and service which are different league)

 

the simple process for getting on the internet and using your free minutes, no horrid long lines in the computer room but a code in your welcome letter from Le club voyage hostess.

 

Your unused minutes would roll over to your next cruise (if you had some and were staying)

Back in February, I first encountered the simplicity of Azamara's new internet enrollment process and the revised policy allowing roll over of unused minutes if doing consecutive cruises... To my mind, both represented some of the best process improvements I've seen aboard ship in ages and both worked like a charm...

Don't know if Celebrity is following Azamara's lead relative to roll over of unused minutes [wasn't cruising consecutively and never had occasion to speak with the onboard IT Rep or visit the iLounge], but you will be pleased to know that Celebrity was piloting the simplified enrollment process when I was aboard Constellation in April... And in some respects, the process was even easier as all one needed to activate an internet package is the folio number from one's SeaPass rather than a special code from the Loyalty Host or Hostess...

In a company not known for its technological innovation--and goodness knows they have miles to go--it was nice to see some very positive, guest-focused signs of their emergence into the twenty-first century from a systems perspective...

In October when I booked my cruise, one of the selling features was a discount of 25% on excursions. I booked direct with Azamara to take advantage of this discount. My invoice stated that excursions would be available 4 months prior to the cruise. To get the discount, I had to pre-book the excursions up to 4 days prior to boarding the ship.

Following is the thread--started last October--relative to discontinuation of the Shore Excursion discount as of 4 January 2014... You will note that the original announcement [i didn't get the e-mail either but did learn of the change here and did book my Land Discoveries for Asia by the discount deadline] was ambiguous--perhaps that was the cause of the misinformation you received from the Azamara Rep with whom you spoke--and it did take some time before Bill Lieber was able to fully clarify the announcement here...

The communication and its wording were awful but--and I'm not saying that this Forum ought be the basis for any official notification--awareness was raised among those who routinely follow this Board...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1934556

Bonnie, maybe you can answer me this:

Can I use my Open Passage benefits on a sailing which also has the double upgrade and single supplement. ? If not, and I don't use the single supplement, what dollar amount is the benefit when one is upgraded from inside to balcony? Thanks, Bonnie.

I recently did so for the 19 February 2015 repositioning cruise--Rio to Miami--on Journey...

The cost of the Open Passages certificate was converted to my booking deposit and the cost reduction benefit [which varies by cruise length] associated with the Certificate was further applied against my invoice...

That it has all worked out for you, Phil... Enjoy!

That you'll need contact Celebrity by letter or e-mail to share your thoughts...

As I understand it, the link now provided for survey response has a one week life post-cruise and that further participation is closed/results are compiled at the end of that period...

The on-line survey is far less comprehensive [think free-form comments to a few questions] than were the questionnaires--with lots of discrete rating categories--that had been delivered for on-board completion in the past.

I agree that your TA should know the procedure.

 

Perhaps for future reference, unlike XPort's experience we have never had to fill out a form to transfer an open booking. The Future Cruises official, after obtaining our consent, automatically sent the booking to our TA's office. This was the same process as used by Celebrity.

 

I, of course, have no idea whether this method is available to UK cruisers whilst they are on board.

 

Best of luck, Phil. It seems the TA culture is considerably different in your country.

Is somewhat the same as yours... If booking a specific cruise or an Open Passages Certificate while aboard once a Travel Agent has been associated with your past cruise profile, the Future Cruise Sales Specialist always asks if the purchase should be assigned to the same agent for the current purchase... Under such circumstances, no Transfer Form is required... But I'm not of the impression--perhaps I'm wrong or it differs in the UK--that Phil has used this agent before; if so, I suspect that a Transfer Form--almost surely something more than a phone call--will be required for a cruise booked aboard [hopefully, that'll be different--as it is here--for subsequent onboard bookings once a relationship is documented]...

I use a small travel agency--essentially a one person operation closed on weekends--and I've twice had to execute a Transfer Form in recent years [long after I initially established a relationship with my agent]...

In the first case, I booked a cruise by phone through Captain's Club--over a weekend--to take advantage of an expiring promotion and to get the exact cabin I wanted... In the second, I placed a hold on a cabin over a weekend via the cruise line's website and immediately wrote to my agent asking that she convert the hold to a reservation the following Monday morning... In both cases, I needed to go through the formal process [form] of getting the reservation transferred to my Travel Agent...

I believe, at least within the Royal Caribbean family of brands and within the US, that cruises booked directly with the cruise line by phone or by web are--by default--assigned to the cruise line or their designated agent [i know without a doubt--even if not apparent--that Celebrity sometimes directs booking calls (or has in the past)--at least on an overflow basis--to agents with whom they've contracted for such services]...

Paying a commission can be a very attractive/cost effective alternative to a cruise line's staffing up for anticipated peak periods--which may or may not materialize--without subjecting themselves to direct wage/benefit pressures that come with longevity, without so substantial/continuing investments in training and information systems, and--at least conceptually--frees up their own employees for higher level/more complex/less repetitive work... Commissions here are based upon an agent's sales volume with a cruise line but are, in all cases, a known percentage by agent and on average... If prices go up--and that's a good thing--the cruise line's spend on administrative overhead is still likely subject to less fluctuation/more predictable than associated with directly employing full or part-timers and requires fewer managers [they manage relationships rather than the vast operation/related hassles]... Same concepts--shift the risk and concentrate investment on core competencies rather than administrative overheads--are in play for work that is outsourced/contracted to third party partners...

But--in the US--there is a transfer form that needs to be completed/signed by the guest, returned to the Travel Agent, and the Travel Agent in turn submits it to the cruise line [same practice is used here for Celebrity]...

With commissions at stake, I tend to doubt that it'll be as simple as a phone call...

If no one from the UK posts here promptly, the information isn't available on Azamara's UK website [and in fact, the form may be available for download if one can find it], and you don't want to call Azamara, I'd suggest that you call the Travel Agent directly... They'll know the drill...

Sounds like a great deal... Good luck in getting the transfer accomplished quickly...

During the recently ended cruise season, Constellation used no fewer than five different cruise terminals at Port Everglades depending upon day of the week, the number/size of other cruise ships in port, ship provisioning/service requirements, and maintenance/construction activities at port facilities...

When I sailed Constellation last month on her last Caribbean cruise prior to the Transatlantic, we departed from Terminal 29 [on a Saturday] and returned to Terminal 18 on Thursday [Terminal 18--by far the largest and newest of the port's cruise ship facilities--is always reserved for Royal Caribbean's Oasis Of The Seas on Saturdays, Royal's Allure Of The Seas on Sundays, and Celebrity Equinox [which sails on Mondays or Fridays depending upon itinerary]; midweek, it is sometimes used by other Royal and Celebrity ships... If you are driving to and parking at Port Everglades, know that Celebrity will provide complimentary shuttles if the parking deck nearest to the terminal from which you depart is a distance from the terminal at which you arrive; if applicable, a related notice will be published in Celebrity Today once aboard ship...

If you check the following website within a week prior to your departure [earlier checks will yield information that tends to be somewhat tentative], you'll get a pretty accurate idea of the cruise terminal that Constellation will use for your departure but--even then--assignments can and do change...

https://pevweb01.broward.org/Public/PublicMovements.aspx

Know that there are enormous electronic signs posting terminal assignments at every port entrance...

On a positive note, we actually received the elusive welcome home gift for achieving Discoverer status - dark blue leather luggage tags and passport holders. Very nice.

So glad to hear that getting your gift wasn't nearly so arduous as it was to get Azamara to recognize your Discoverer status after you'd earned it... What a rigamarole that was!

Best to you and the good doctor... Think of you often...

We make a copy of our drivers licenses and passports onto 1 page and place them in the outside pockets of each piece of luggage and carry on just in case something gets lost or a luggage tag falls off.

And perhaps I'm overly cautious... But I think that the practice of storing copies of official documents--such as passports and driver's licenses--could invite identity theft if it were to fall into the wrong hands... I recently had an attempted hijack on my identity--have no idea how it happened--and, though I caught it before any damage was done, it was quite a sobering experience...

It's long been my practice to stick a copy of my itinerary into an outside pocket of each piece of luggage--a copy of my bill from the cruise line that includes my port schedule works great--and affix an address label to/note my phone numbers on each copy... Perfect? No; but much of the information is of no enduring value and the personal information of greatest potential value to someone unscrupulous isn't available for compromise [address and phone numbers are pretty much available on the net]...

Should add that I also carry copies of the same documents--Passport and Driver's License--that you do but bury them in my locked luggage or carry-on...

For what it's worth...

But with all due respect, the list for 2014 was very extensive by late April last year... That's when I booked a B2B2B to Asia--I was aboard Solstice when I did so--for 3 February until 17 March of this year [unfortunately, the second cruise terminated early and the third was fully cancelled due to the unfortunate mechanical incident Journey encountered in Tokyo Bay]...

Though Bill may have posted the list here during August 2013, I seem to recall that he did so in response to reports that some were having difficulty booking sailings at the reduced Single Supplement despite their inclusion on the website... The information was not new at the time...

Bill also reported here last autumn that there would be a Savings For Singles promotion last December... Did you see it? Well, neither did anyone else!!!

Though I'm not pleased by the essence of your post today, I do appreciate your follow-up and candor in sharing the results of your efforts... To my mind, it merely confirms my suspicions--they've been building for some time-- that Azamara has adopted a dwindling commitment toward their Savings For Singles initiative... I've got it; it is--as the saying goes--Crystal clear...

In the thread cited below [please specifically see posts 35-40], several of us expressed potential interest in reduced single supplement cruise offerings--beyond the very few currently available--during 2015...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1940120&highlight=singles&page=2

Any update? A month has passed; those of us who travel solo like to plan ahead too...

Azamara acknowledged me as Discoverer + by word [ie; my welcome letters]--if not by deed; as expected from reading this forum, loyalty benefits were identical to those long associated with Discoverer level and, not that it mattered, they were unable to print the new membership levels on SeaPass cards--while aboard Journey in February...

All that Azamara has done--they've hidden behind the fact that their loyalty accounting is tied to Celebrity [i suggested a work-around on this Board months ago; essentially suggesting that a verandah on Azamara be viewed as a Concierge or AquaClass stateroom on Celebrity; it would require some minor recoding at the front-end of their loyalty accounting system without changing the integrity of Celebrity functionality]--is to reduce the cruise point accrual for many... I believed then--and I still believe now--that points accrual for cruises taken during this extended period of inaction be converted via the greater of the scheme Celebrity used when they changed Captain's Club [30 points per cruise credit] or, for suite guests, at the [perhaps; depending upon cruise length] higher rate under the current system... In the interest of equity, that situation significantly magnifies the longer Azamara procrastinates--and I now wonder too if they'll ever do anything; members deserve a long overdue update--in introducing new tier benefits for Le Club Voyage [and for what it's worth, I have a letter from the Marketing Director in Miami--provided in response to disappointment I expressed while aboard--assuring me that a new program would indeed be launched (last month; we read that here too!)]...

Spursgirl kindly referred to the Marketing Gurus in Miami in a recent post... Gurus are pros/experts and--if their field is Marketing--they don't alienate their loyalty base, they don't let stuff like this languish for six months [it's not like they didn't know that the changes at Celebrity were forthcoming more than a year ago], and they don't consistently/publicly overpromise and underdeliver so as to undermine organizational credibility...

It's a shame... And it's shameful...

For the life of me I can't find any reference to the cancellation policy on Celebrity's website.

 

What is their cancellation policy?

 

Full refund of deposit if done prior to final payment?

 

What about afterwards? On other lines, I can usually find a grid of percentage of fare that is refundable/unrefundable.

You are entitled to full refund of your deposit if cancellation occurs prior to final payment... After final payment, refunds--if any--are based upon a diminishing scale based upon the interval between cancellation and sailing date...

If you look at the invoice for your upcoming cruise--assuming that you either booked directly with Celebrity or your Travel Agent uses Celebrity's invoice in communicating with you [some use their own formats]--you will find a detailed schedule of cancellation fees...

It usually takes about two weeks; sometimes it's a bit faster and sometimes a bit slower but that's pretty much the norm...

I completed a cruise on 24 April and my account had already been updated when I looked at it about ten days ago [and it may have been updated earlier]...

You will find the Roll Call for your sailing--seems like a very active group--via the following link...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1838103

Roll Calls allow those sailing together to "meet" their cruise mates and discuss matters specific to the cruise they are sharing before embarkation... By comparison, this forum provides members with the opportunity to exchange information about cruising with Celebrity in a more general [non-sailing specific] sense...

Is it possible to get a list through the end of 2014 for both ships???

Was posted by Azamara on 5 March 2014... Please see post #275 via the link that follows...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1640015&page=14

Everything is fine.

 

The reason C1 is excluded is there is nothing to upgrade to from there, just as category 12 is the highest balcony.

 

A2 upgraded to A1

C2 upgraded to C1

 

Any balcony, oceanview or inside cabin upgraded one level, provided its not already the top tier of the category.

But that's not exactly the way it works... Please see the original poster's citation from the Celebrity website--in red--above; there are some exclusions with C2 to C1 being one of them... Interestingly enough, A2 to A1 is not precluded but, given that so few A1 cabins are aft cabins [upgrades to SV are also excluded], A1 cabins--regardless of location--are not regarded as "prime real estate" [using the words of the Captain's Club Rep I spoke with relative to the same issue (I didn't remember any non-suite exclusions when the benefit was first introduced and am not sure they initially existed)]...

OP... Good luck in holding onto your C1... I once had a circumstance in which a cabin category was changed after I booked onboard [it was on the day that Reflection reservations opened for the first time and I told the Rep that the cabin category looked goofy to me] and X did try to reassign me without so much as the courtesy of a call [i noticed it when I added the cruise to my My Celebrity profile]... I pushed back--their error/not mine--and did prevail in getting my original cabin back [i noticed quickly] at the price originally quoted...

Earlier this year in 7084 and really enjoyed the location for its convenience...

Just steps away from the aft elevators--no noise from the mechanicals or from fellow guests using them--and far enough away from the laundry room to make its proximity a non-issue [though I never detected noise there while passing by either]...

Balconies are small--but to my mind, sufficiently serviceable--in standard verandah cabins... And, at least on Journey, those in the area are configured exactly as santrah describes them above... Metal plates did not obscure the view...

I'd select the same cabin again...

We are Diamond members of RCL and Elite of Celebrity. What do I need to do now before our first Azamara cruise in June?

It's not clear from your post as to whether you've earned Elite status in Celebrity's Captain's Club on a reciprocal basis based upon your sailing history with Royal Caribbean, whether you've earned Diamond status in Royal's Crown & Anchor Society on a reciprocal basis based upon your sailing history with Celebrity, or whether you've earned such status under both loyalty programs independently based upon your sailing history with each of the two lines... Any of those scenarios will provide you with reciprocal Discoverer status in Azamara's Le Club Voyage...

Azamara and Celebrity share a loyalty accounting system [cruise points earned under either line count toward potentially improving your level of membership with the other but do not cross accumulate to your sailing history/potentially improve your C&A loyalty status with Royal]... Further, your membership number in Celebrity's Captain's Club will--if things still work as they had--become your membership number in Azamara's Le Club Voyage...

Conceptually, it should be sufficient to have your Captain's Club membership number associated with your Azamara reservation either by contacting Azamara directly or by having your Travel Agent do so on your behalf... To be on the safe side and without knowing your sailing history across the RCI family of brands, it might be advisable to have your Crown & Anchor membership available to share with Azamara if needed [though it will--to my mind--be preferable, in terms of cross accumulation of cruise points, to link via Captain's Club if it works as I expect]...

Enjoy your first Azamara cruise!

When I look at a cruise schedule, I either see docked, tendered or at sea...it never says it's docked. So, that's where my interpretation came from.

 

 

SAT 20-SEPMonte-Carlo, MonacoEmbark10:00 pmSUN 21-SEPPortovenere, ItalyTendered8:00 am10:00 pmMON 22-SEPLivorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy Docked7:00 amTUE 23-SEPLivorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy Docked10:00 pmWED 24-SEPPortoferraio, Elba, ItalyDocked8:00 am2:00 pmTHU 25-SEPSorrento, Italy Tendered8:00 amFRI 26-SEPSorrento, Italy Tendered6:00 amFRI 26-SEPAmalfi, Italy Tendered10:00 am5:00 pmSAT 27-SEPCivitavecchia (Rome), ItalyDebark6:00 am

Doesn't indicate that the ship will be docked upon embarkation in Monte Carlo or that it will be docked upon disembarkation at Civitavecchia... But I have never seen a cruise that starts or ends at a port when tenders are required [some ports support both docking and tendering if ship traffic is heavy but turnaround ships--rather than those in transit with an intermediate call--will get dock priority]...

Logistics--especially with regard to luggage handling--just don't support use of tenders on embarkation/disembarkation days...

You can transfer your deposit to another cruise. If its the same length as your current booking you would not pay anything more. If its a longer cruise you might have to put down an additional deposit. It depends on the length of the cruise your changing to.

The Original Poster is a resident of the UK... Rules there--and in many other regions outside the US--are very different from many perspectives than they are in the US [which is not to say that you aren't familiar with them; could be that you are correct but the basis for your statement is not immediately apparent in the context of the specifics of this inquiry]...

That said, I've never seen the deposit terms you ascribe to Celebrity in the US... Deposit amount has never, in my experience, been governed by cruise length... Instead, deposits are higher--regardless of cruise length--for suites and for some holiday sailings... And at times, deposits are discounted as a result of booking aboard or--on rare occasion--as a result of a promotion available for bookings land-side...

How strange.

Am doing a back to back & didn't receive anything by email either.

Did a back-to-back on Journey in February and a large number--perhaps all--of the guests doing consecutive cruises never got an e-mail relative to survey completion for the first leg... The Hotel Director--wonderful Richard--was aware of the issue and had, best I know, reported it to Miami...

To Azamara's credit, they did arrange--even if it was never used--to supply back-to-back guests with fifteen minutes of onboard internet time for survey completion...

Clearly, Azamara had my e-mail address as I learned via a note from Miami during the second cruise [and before it was announced on the ship] that my third segment had been fully cancelled as a consequence of propeller damage that Journey sustained while sailing into Tokyo Bay...

The system does sometimes work... I did a brief cruise on Celebrity last month and the e-mail inviting me to complete a survey for that trip arrived within hours following disembarkation...

From 19 until 24 April... The morning Elite event [held in Tuscan Grille]--with the usual continental breakfast buffet and beverage service--was alive and well on Constellation as recently as last week...

In response to your post of this morning relative to private tour share opportunities... Once again, you'll find the Roll Call for your specific sailing here...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1808219

Go to the bottom of the last page and click on the radio button labeled "Post Reply"...