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A magic genie grants you a wish of staying onboard a Celebrity Cruise for FREE for a year. Bad news is you have to work onboard ship for a month to qualify for the priveledge, which job do you think would be the best to have????And the worst????

They are few and far between and have to be willing to seek them out. For example right now Constellation has a ~125% single fare on their November 12 sailing on inside and outside cabins. Millenium also has good single fares on its transpacific sailing on September 8 ranging from 114% for a category 7 or a CC3 for 138%. There are a few websites you can use to track them

I am glad to see Edge having 16 single occupancy cabins. Price point for them will be 180% of the normal fare, cool things about these cabins though as they are the newest infinite balcony cabins as well. After I saw the layout of them, I immediately booked one for the Inaugural voyage December 16, 2018

And be careful with these "Fund ME" sites, as they all charge a good size commission for their use. We tried setting up a charitable one for hurricane relief, but then realized they charged 5% commission on all money collected plus a 2.9% transaction fee for every donation

Thanks for sharing - it's always nice to see happy, positive stories. What a wonderful honeymoon it will be for them!

 

Thumbs up to Celebrity.

 

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I agree, sometimes its nice to celebrate the positive. Sometimes I think it's easy to remember the annoyances (ice cubes too cold, deck chair was hard to find, ran out of snails on day 13, they overcooked my steak), rather than remembering all the good things they do, and the little extras that bring a smile to your face.

Because of his schedule (plus he had a 630 AM business trip the next day to Mexico) , he didn't really have the luxury of going to see a TA, so instead the Consumer Outreach team was able to put this together all this soup to nuts 9:30pm that night, and give him a good deal in the process.

To me, just seeing that type of outreach and problem solving skills s what makes a company strengthen its base and grow

Nice story. Thanks for sharing it but next time have him put a hold on the booking when he sees it....then he would have 24 hours to ask his bride and save you the phone calls.

Thanks. He did try, he put the courtesy hold on it, but I guess because of some problems with the website, it didn't go through, and by time he came back no courtesy hold was shown, and neither was the XC availability

A friend I met on the Equinox a few years ago is a young engineer as Tesla. He was married about a week ago, but because of the upcoming release of the model 3 was unable to have a honeymoon right away.

He called me on the 21st and said that Tesla informed him that if he wanted to, he was able to take vacation starting July 31. He called me as he wanted to see if he and his bride could get on the Reflection 10 day Western Mediterranean sailing, and what he needed to do to make it happen.

His budget for the holiday was about $8K inclusive of airfare, we did some looking, and saw that XC (Concierge Guarantee) cabins showed available at $1799pp , so he checked with his bride after returning home from work and by that time, the XC cabin was gone, and and even a CC3 was $2799 So what to do?

I emailed a friend who works for Celebrity and asked for help. He was kind enough to refer me us to Scott who is the AVP-Consumer Outreach, and Scott's team rallied to help.

Within an hour Chris had his honeymoon booked (with a Concierge Class Guarantee), RT Airfare from San Fran to Rome booked through Choice Air, airport transfers taken care of by Celebrity, and even a honeymooner annotation on their reservation to ensure this beautiful celebration continues on board. All well under his budget.

Thanks Celebrity!!!!!:D

Have done two cruises with Aquafest, a China/Hong Kong on Celebrity Millenium, and a 15-Day Mediterranean/Transatlantic Cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette sailing from Rome to FLL, and both were fantastic trips solely due to Tom and his partner Marc's attention to detail and for the same reason Joe mentions above. I would do even more with them if they did more with Celebrity, as it's my preferred line. I've watched Tom track down a dentist for a fellow passenger in a small town outside Rome, to appeasing cranky passengers and advocating for them with guest relations. Super highly recommend them, and just booked another cruise with them on Summit for October. Great great host and very talented knowledgeable man overall.

I saw that Lisa LP posted this on twitter earlier today when someone asked her about whether a new tier being added

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo @·10h

Replying to @

Thank you @, this is still under consideration and we will make an announcement once decided one way or the other.

It's a cool feature, but the wake and depth of the ship , I don't think you would see much of value, and if it displayed camera images, couldn't you just send that to any screen?

Didn't realize that Zeniths got all those wonderful benefits. They're definitely worth it. But I'll still be too old by the time I become Zenith. Just a lowly Zen (a trace over halfway there).

Same here, when they added in my double points it put me to the 1650 ish mark, so a long way to go to get that ith :D

Good for her

I'm sure it's a thankless job, prob 90% of everyone you talk to either has a complaint or wants an upgrade or compensation

I wish her well, we're friends on LinkedIn and I know she has a great future ahead with the RCCL extended family

Just a word to the folks like myself that pay the double occupancy rate and then just use the cabin for one person

DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOU ARE CREDITED WITH DOUBLE CAPTAIN CLUB CREDITS

I noticed it for the first time today, that they had only given me the half the amount I was entitled to,

called up Captains Club, and they told me I was correct and they would double the points of the cruises since (and including) my 2014 sailings (doesn't include sailings before that)

In my case it added an additional 334 points to my tally towards Zenith (which I think I'll reach by age 115 )

Just a word to the folks like myself that pay the double occupancy rate and then just use it for one person

DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOU ARE CREDITED WITH DOUBLE CAPTAIN CLUB CREDITS

I noticed it for the first time today, that they had only given me the half the amount I was entitled to,

called up Captains Club, and they told me I was correct and they would double the points of the cruises since (and including) my 2014 sailings

In my case it added an additional 334 points to my tally towards Zenith (which I think I'll reach by age 115 :D)

Captain Berdos Read this to us the last night of the cruise on Infinity. Made me laugh for 10 minutes. From the eyes of an 10 year old boy, I found it quite factual. :D

Thank you for your review. I will be on the Infinity for a coastal cruise soon. I was a little worried because the ship is older but you seem to be quite pleased. I can't wait for my cruise.

I was too as its been a while since I was on an older ship. They changed my mind. It did re-affirm that it's the crew onboard that makes the cruise, not the ship that makes the cruise. I think they do have to keep it updated (last refurb was was 2011) , but carpets and furnishing were replaced since that time .It amazed me that I was told they replaced the capets a year or two ago while cruising. They did it at night, in sections, and without disturbing anyone.

So I think if you maintain the ship well, and the team onboard strives for guest satisfaction, it really makes up for a few bells a whistles on a newer ship might have

Thanks for your review. We also were on this cruise and thought it was wonderful. Itinerary couldn't be better.

 

Service was great pretty much everywhere. While we didn't go to any specialties or to the theater we had a great time. I was sad to see it end.

 

We ate most meals in the MDR and thought it was good to excellent. We compare this to Oceania which is the other main cruise line we do. I don't know what the people that gripe about a downgrade in quality are talking about.

I couldn't agree more with your synopsis. I think if you look hard enough you can find good and bad in every aspect of the hospitality biz, so happy that Celebrity shows us the good

:')

John, it was a pleasure meeting you on this terrific voyage. I can't add much to your excellent recap except to say our experience and enjoyment mirrored yours. We, too, took advantage of the suite guarantee upgrade when it was offered. What a great decision as the access to Luminae truly elevates the overall cruise experience.

 

Living in California, we're all too familiar with what is known as "May gray" and "June gloom" weather patterns of cool, cloudy and overcast skies at this time of year. Normally, this itinerary is best done in Fall when the Pacific Coast has its true summertime weather. But Mother Nature hit a home run with the abundance of sunshine and comfortable temps all the way from California to British Columbia.

 

This itinerary and cruise were pure pleasure.

My absolute pleasure meeting you both as well :D

Celebrity Infinity May 2017

Background- Total of about 35 cruises, ~30 with Celebrity,last few were all on Solstice class ships.

Route-We started in San Diego and moved up the coast ending in Vancouver, 7 stops in 11 nights, also doing an overnight in San Francisco,each city stunning in its own right. They couldn’t have picked a better itinerary, and we were only touched by rain one time in our journey which lasted about an hour, luckily that was on a sea day, so it affected nothing other than missing an hour in a lounge chair

Boarding

Boarding in San Diego was hectic. Two ships Infinity and Disney Magic) were boarding the same day and port didn’t seem well equipped to handle more than one. Once we made it past the security screening all was fine and smooth but did take about 1-2 hours to get to that point. We purposely arrived later in the day to avoid crowds (boarding started about 11, we arrived at 2), but still chaotic. 6/10 (but Celebrity’s portion 9/10)

Cabin

I initially booked a C3 for this voyage bit a few weeks before a Suite Guarantee became available for a nominal $600 so I grabbed it since it also included the 4 perks, so I ended up in an S2 on deck 6. The room was nicely maintained and updated (Infinity was refurbished in 2011), and carpets were changed again 2 years ago. The Sky suites are a bit smaller on the Millenium class that the Solstice class (250 vs 300ft2), but plenty of room for two people. Small balcony as well with a few chairs was great. Only negative I found with the suite was the combination bath tub/showers limited height. If you are tall it’s a bit awkward, as is just climbing in the high wall of the tub.Heard a few people that had sky and Celebrity suites complain unless you are tall it’s hard to climb into the tub/shower.

Plenty of closet space, drawers and storage, so much so that I only used about ½ of it. Did like the little touches, the plush bath towels, great sheets, and that the room attendant and butler introduced themselves the first day. Cabin service was excellent. Never used the room service, but cabin was serviced twice a day and butler checked in 3x a day, and canapes delivered daily at about 4PM 9/10

Excursions

Took two of the ships excursions and good ROI (return on investment on both). We visited the Reagan library in Santa Barbara and whale watching in Victoria. The tendering operation was a bit frustrating for some as we tendered in two ports, and somewhere getting antsy about the lines, but I think that’s just a part of cruising.Always amazed how crabby some people get over little things beyond their control. I do wish they would re-write the explanations on excursions details though. It just seems like every excursions details include two much flowery generic prose that could be found in a tourist publication and not really any nuts and bolts detail of nuts & bolts of the tour (how much time will we spend on bus, what places are we visiting, are we going to be sidetracked to a pottery place to try and sell us trinkets?). I wish it was more of a bulleted time line of what, where, when and how long. 7/10

Food & Dining

Main Trellis Dining Room-Didn’t try it

Sushi on 5-Didn’t try it

Blu- Tried it once enjoyed it-Seemed to me to be a mini-me version of the MDR with smaller portions and a few different selections, nicer more intimate atmosphere than MDR. 7/10

Luminae-We dined the majority of our meals here. Can’t say any negatives about it. Truly a 100% positive experience. Service OUTSTANDING,by the second day everyone on staff knows your name and has the atmosphere of a place you’ve been dining out for decades. Food well prepared, original,seasoned and cooked to order. Their recommendations were generally spot on. The menu consisted of about 4 or 5 appetizer/soup/salad dishes and about the same in main courses. You could also order off the MDR menu if something didn’t catch your eye, but most meals I found the Luminae selection to be the better quality choice. Not even once did I find myself waiting for service, a course,or a table. Efficient, friendly and great attention is given to everything.Only open on sea days for lunch which makes sense, since when they have tried to keep it open every day (on past cruises), as it sits empty unless it’s a sea day. 10/10

Qsine-It’s a fun playful experience and you always end up with a lot more food than you can ever imagine. My only negative is that since you use the Ipads to select your dishes, would it be two difficult to have them connected to the waiter? It just seems silly that put all these inputs into a computer and ultimately the waiter comes and writes them down on a slip of paper.

Bravo to Qsine for the way they handle vegan/vegetarian dishes. One person in our party, preferred vegan/vegetarian, and for just about every dish we ordered that contained meat or seafood, he offered our friend a meat/dairy/etc/etc/etc free version of the same or similar items. Truly astounded me on how the waiter kept track of the ultimately 20+ or so different dishes that he bought the three of us. 8/10

Tuscan Grille-It was awesome, had dinner one night with Captain and 8 other guests, and last night dined with the Hotel Director and three friends, and it was fabulous. I savored every bite of every dish. Filet Mignon was fantastic (as for the brown mushroom sauce for it), the plate on Antipasto (prosciutto, sopressata, salami and cheeses was heavenly). Again in Tuscan my one friend’s dietary requests were adjusted to give him alternates to the meat heavy menu. The establishment itself has a great ambience, nice old world Italian steak house design. Service was attentive but not overbearing. Like Luminae it’s a great restaurant to have a conversation in. Tables and seating are set up so you’re not having to raise your voice to speak at someone at the other end. 10/10

Oceanview Grill- Ate their twice for breakfast and a few times for lunch It’s hit or miss. I like the salads, fresh fruit and ice cream.Pizza’s are limp right out of the oven rather than crisp (I’m used to New York pizza which the Gold standard), a few of the dishes were good, but nothing really memorable. They do a great job of bussing tables, and making sure people aren’t waiting for tables. 8/10

Bars & Lounges-Great smiling faces at them all. Most of the cruise critic events were held at the Constellation Lounge on deck 11.Especially though that Istavan from Hungary was fantastic. Superb fun bartending group overall. Erik and Dian fantastic at Michaels club. Didn’t spend much time at sunset or martini bar though, so hard to give you good feedback on those. 9/10

Entertainment

Was fun that they did the silent disco a few times, I think it’s a slam dunk win even if you don’t participate, and just watch the fun. Alejandro did a good job, and the activities team really seemed to enjoy getting people involved in everything from bingo, to trivia, to mock game shows. Always enjoy the Celebrity dancers and singers, the material is usually dated, but their vigor and enthusiasm makes it fun to watch. Liked some of the guest performers, magician was funny, and always fun when you see them tailor their act to audience a bit,and make it interactive. 7/10

Spa

Tried an 80 minute massage, it was OK. They always try for the upsell though. 80 minute massage DISCOUNTED rate was ~$200, then if you want hot stones during it, that’s ~$30 more. I’m a massage junkie at home, and this was pretty good but not very good 6/10

Crew

In a word-OUTSTANDING. Captain Berdos and Hotel Director(HD)Bosco Pires work together like a well oiled machine. Their personalities are similar and I think so is their work ethic, excellence performance. I can’t say enough good things about them and their management style. Rest of the department heads outstanding as well. The housekeeping manager, the F&B director, guest relations manager, restaurant managers all go out of their way to keep passengers happy. Kirsty the Captains club host also spectacular as was the event coordinator. The excellence of the senior managers rolls down to the staff which seems totally engaged in guest satisfaction. The senior staff attended every event that we had from Captains Club to CC, to informal gatherings, and were always asking what they can do to make things better.Great sign of an engaged group of men and women.

One of the stories I heard from the HD I thought was surprising.He told me he found being a HD on a Millenium class ship more challenging then on a Solstice class ship. I would of though since Solstice having more dining venues, more passengers, more lounges and staterooms it would be tougher. He went on to eloquently explain that because the Solstice class ships have all the “bells and whistles” (my words not his, his explanation was much more poetic), it makes it easier from a guest relations standpoint. The older ships it takes some extra marketing and extra effort to make them a competitor, and he enjoys that extra challenge of showing any product he is currently serving aboard. Really enjoyed our talks as much as the meals. 10/10

Overall-I’d give the cruise 5 stars. Any minor things I pointed out were minor in comparison to all the great things that the team onboard does to keep you happy. You know it’s been an excellent cruise when you’re two biggest complaints were that

Voicemail in my room didn’t work

Internet was slow

I already have my next voyage booked on Infinity for February of 2018, so see I put my money where my mouth is

I’ll end the review with this story the Captain read on the public address system the last day, it’s called “Why I want to be a Captain” and was written by an 10 year old British boy.

“I want to be a captain when I grow up because it’s a cool job that is easy to do. Captains don’t have to go to school such a long time.They only need to learn figures so they can read instruments. I think they also have to able to read maps so they don’t get lost when they sail.

Captains have to be brave so they don’t get scared when it’s so foggy they can’t see and when the propeller falls off they have to know what to do about it. Captains must have eyes that can see through the clouds and they mustn’t be afraid of thunder and lightning which they have closer to them than we have.

The captain’s wages is another thing I like. They earn more money than they can spend. That’s because most people think it’s dangerous to drive a boat, except captains, because they know how easy it is. There’s not much I don’t like, except that girls like captains. All girls want to marry a captain, so captains are always having to chase them away to get some peace…

I hope I don’t get seasick, because if I get seasick I can’t be a captain and I’ll have to start working.”

May 17, Infinity Sailing

Master-Yannis Berdos

Staff Captain-Xenakis Damianos

Chief Engineer-Ionnis Nionakis

Hotel Director-Bosco Pires

GRM-Cameron Robertson

Cruise Director-Alejandro Tortorelli

F&B Director-Vedran Jelavic

Executive Chef-Kenny Ramos

Restaurant Ops Manager-Murat Dolas

Michaels Club-Erick Guzman

CC Hostess-Kirsty Sparks

Chief Housekeeper-Taylan

Vocal Guitar/Soloist-Ethan Cain

Guitar & Vocals-Passion Duo

Dance Band-Groovity

House Band-Take Five

DJ Joshua

Solo Piano-Vasi Katina

Onboard Celebrity Infinity May 22, 2017

Master-Yannis Berdos

Staff Captain-Xenakis Damianos

Chief Engineer-Ionnis Nionakis

Hotel Director-Bosco Pires

GRM-Cameron Robertson

Cruise Director-Alejandro Tortorelli

F&B Director-Vedran Jelavic

Restaurant Ops Manager-Murat Dolas

Michaels Club-Erick Guzman

CC Hostess-Kirsty Sparks

Chief Housekeeper-Taylan

Vocal Guitar/Soloist-Ethan Cain

Guitar& Vocals-Passion Duo

Dance Band-Groovity

House Band-Take Five

To all who have had the good fortune to sail in a Penthouse Suite, I'm looking for guidance for tipping the staff.

 

It seems like taking up so much cabin space necessitates something beyond the prepaid gratuities. Would anyone be willing to share what they give the butler, wait staff, cabin crew, etc?

 

Interested in Royal Suites opinions too.

 

Also, would prefer not to get answers such as "it depends" (I'm a lawyer and I say that to clients all day) or "whatever you want is fine". Really interested in guidelines for what is average/standard/appropriate.

 

If it helps, we usually get coffee and breakfast delivered most mornings (but left in the pantry and not set up), have a couple of lunches and maybe 1 or 2 dinners if we can eat during sail away.

Finally, there are 2 adults and 2 children in the cabin, so the auto grats are already doubled.

 

Thank you so much!

In addition to normal gratuities

I did $30/day additional to the butler

$20/day additional to cabin attendant

$10/day Luminae and Michaels club host

I didn't do much entertaining, but they all went out of their way to make the voyages superb

I heard they were going to take away free deck chairs

I heard they were going to take away free towels

I heard they were going to take away free hamburgers

I heard they were going to take away free shampoo

I heard they were going to take away free clothing hangers

I heard they were going to take away free luggage tags

Until any of this happens I wouldn't worry about it

Why worry about something that may happen? And personally if it does, I'd much rather have them tack on a few dollars and provide a premium product, than raise fares, at least this way its my option whether I purchase it or not.

I have been on Cruise Critic for a long, long time and didn't know that this thread existed. When a friend told me about it recently, I was tickled.

Would I book a cruise because of a particular Captain? Yes! If there were two nearly identical cruises to our desired itinerary and time frame, I would jump at the opportunity to be on Captain Kate's ship. Her positive attitude filters down through the entire crew, making the cruise an even more pleasurable experience.

Conversely, I've been on ships where the attitude of the Captain negatively affected the entire crew.

AND, yes, I've conveyed these feelings to Celebrity.

Keep up the good work, and thanks to all contributors.

George

I do agree with you George

I think while all the senior staff are fully competent in their roles, there are some that are really outstanding

A really wonderful combination of any of the Master, Hotel Director, and Cruise Director can change a nice cruise into a spectacular one

I don't think (at least in my case) there are not any I would try to avoid, but there are certainly at least three Captains I consider home runs in the way they run their vessels, and at least as many Hotel Directors that their presence alone would entice me to join them on a voyage if I was sitting on the fence whether to take the cruise or not.

You would like to stop at Luminae, and order your meal "to go" and take it to the buffet to eat with your family? That's problematic on so many levels, and I have no would doubt that it would be prohibited. First, how would they even pack it? I don't think they will allow you to carry covered trays out through the ship. Nor will they have "take out" containers. Also, then they can not make sure the food will stay the correct temperature. Imagine sauce that congealed, meat that is cold, soup that is cold etc. Then there is the issue lof you clearly eating a meal in front of everyone that no one else around you can have...prompting questions and explanations some of which would no doubt result in some sort of discord. If you want to eat with your family, do so in the other complimentary venues they have access to or pay for specialty dining. Either that or you should all travel in the same category accommodations.