johhnnyt

Hotel Icon outstanding in every regard and rated one of the best on trip advisor as well. Service on a par as a Mandarin Oriental, but priced like a Hilton

It's my understanding that the captain's club one category upgrade is independent of any other celebrity offer. It is only available at time of booking and, as others have pointed out it is within category....c3 to c2 (not c2 to C1) and A2 to A1....not C? to A?

As far as I know, this is 100% accurate

I find it informative and helpful, hope it stays

It's always nice to hear compliments and praises from other Celebrity passengers. Thank you for posting something positive!

Couldn't agree more with your sentiments, we hear enough "they delivered my room service order 20 minutes late and didn't offer my an upgrade and compensation" stories and they kind of muffle out the positive ones, thanks for attaboy Celebrity

“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.”

Someone shared this drink package calculator (xls SPREADSHEET) in a different forum, which I thought was really helpful. you input quantities, types of beverages you expect to drink, length of cruise, and it compares your options. I uploaded a copy of it

Celebrity Drink PKG Selector 2014(1).xls

We don't have a choice. It depends on our origin, our destination, and the time zones. We often have one, sometimes 2 connections.

 

Taking an early connection can sometimes mean the difference between arriving home the same day, or the next day (with overnight stopover). For trips outside NA, air fares and carriers also come into play for us.

I totally agree. I think just most people would love to take a day or two after the cruise to chill-lax after a wonderful holiday, but then life gets in the way. Work, kids, pets, & commitments.

I know for me by about the last day of any cruise, my mind is already told me, vacation over time to get home, so I'm ready to go, so if I can grab an early flight even the better. Since usually if I get home earlier in the day, its one less day the dogs stay at the kennel

Oh, I didn't finish the story.:rolleyes: She got what she asked for...the nice comfy, roomy seats... AND... a screaming baby across the isle, for almost the entire 1.5 hours home! :D

It used to be the knuckleheads like the couple you mentioned were the one in a million people, more and more though you see that sense on entitlement with some people.

I've had a similar experience with a German Shepherd service dog. He and his owner were the nicest most polite passengers on board, and if you didn't know the dog was under the seat, you would have never suspected a dog was there. Amazing creatures those service dogs

I saw a guy recently at the airport almost knock over a 2 year old because he NEEDED to pre-board. It irked me so much I went to grab him, but before I did the child's Dad got right in his face with "PAL YOU IN THAT MUCH OF A HURRY?"

One other that I remembered, was a guy who went down to complain because he thought the person (people) in one of the adjoining cabins were complaining to guest relations about him smoking on his balcony.

Guest relations asked him, "so you don't smoke?" he said "yeah I do", guest relations said "So you don't smoke on your balcony then?" and he said "well not as often as the people next door said I do", he said they were just trouble makers

Thanks

I'll also confirm when I pick the sailing

 

 

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7. CANCELLATION OR EARLY DISEMBARKATION BY PASSENGER:

Cancellation of Cruise or CruiseTour. Refunds of the Cruise Fare or CruiseTour Fare (including any applicable supplement charges) for cancellations by

Passenger made prior to sailing or, with respect to CruiseTours cancellations made prior to the first day of the CruiseTour shall be made in accordance

with the following cancellation policy:

Non-Holiday Sailings

Days Prior to Departure Date:

FOR 6 NIGHT OR LONGER CRUISES

CANCELLATION CHARGE

75 days or more No charge

74 to 57 days Deposit amount less taxes and fees

56 to 29 days 50% of total price less taxes and fees

28 to 15 days 75% of total price less taxes and fees

14 days or less No refund less taxes and fees

Only exception to the 75 day rule is for holiday sailings, then cancellation has to be made within 90 days for a full refund according to the terms Celebrity lists here

http://www.celebritycruises.com/media/en_US/pdf/cruise_ticket_contract/Celebrity-Cruise-Ticket-Contract.pdf

They have a social media team that monitors this site, facebook, twitter and other sites like it. If its a bigger scale or sytematic issue its directed up, but probably 90%+ plus of the stuff mentioned on here isn't systematic or company wide problems, its more a singular passenger concern or observation, or a problem that's already know, documented, and been discussed before

It seems like it would be a waste of their time to do it

What is the funniest complaint you ever heard (or overheard) at guest relations?

I know this is a very tricky subject, since One man's trash is another man's treasure, but what was the one think you heard that really made you laugh?

One of my favorites I think was onboard a TA, we stopped in France, and took an excursion to Nice, half way there a woman complained that she wanted to be taken back to the ship, because she didn't expect to be on a bus for an hour. The guide explained to her they couldn't turn the bus around just for her, she then insisted she and her husband be left in the next town "and we'll arrange our own transportation back to the ship"

The next day she was down at guest relations, demanding that

• The guide be fired for ignoring her
  
• That she be reimbursed €400 for the money that it cost her to hire a boat to bring her back to the ship (although she had misplaced the receipt for her voyage back to the ship)
  

The people at guest relations tried their best to calm her down, but explained to her that neither request was going to happen, since they didn't do anything wrong. Fellow passengers who were in line at guest relations could not stop laughing, which no doubt infuriated her even more. She ultimately stormed away saying her travel insurance would surely cover this and Celebrity should expect a call from her attorney.

Celebrity!! Really?! The price we, the passengers pay is one thing. The crew deserve the ablirily to connect without paying.

 

Come on celebrity lovers!! Let's help our wonderful Crew! How about December for free at the very least!!

 

Months away.... The crew deserves this one benefit.....

I applaud you for thinking about others, nice to see you thinking about the hard workers on board, and I learned something, I never realized that about troops either

A lot of great info on CC but so many comical posts are related to things like

"I didn't get enough ice cubes, I deserve an upgrade"

"how do I contact Mike Bayley, my steak was undercooked"

"Too little smoking areas"

"Too many smoking areas"

"I missed my flight. I want my money back"

"I didn't get my luggage tags, I wanna speak to the Vice President in charge to tags"

time to close this thread I'm thinking. much ado about nada

Celebrity is a leader in the industry in having smoke free enviroments. Dan Hanrahan (the last CEO of Celebrity) said it was one of his proudest accomplishements.

E-cigs are a tricky area, Unlike cigarettes their business is booming especially among high school students growing from 5-10% in one year. They still contain many of the same carcinogens as regular cigarettes just on a lesser level Due to inconsistency or lack of quality control in

manufacturing, so they emit different amounts of nicotine with each puff

The AMA’s (American Medical Association) recently suggested regulations to include a minimum age of purchase; childproof packaging; restrictions on flavors that appeal to young people, and a ban on unsupported claims that the devices help people quit smoking, preventing the marketing of e-cigarettes to minors.

A new study published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research found that e-cigarettes are a source of second-hand exposure to nicotine, but not of other compounds released when tobacco is burned. And the nicotine exposure was 10 times less than that from tobacco smoke.

However, another recent study from New York University researchers reported that e-cigarette smokers may not be spared such exposures. They inhale more nicotine because they puff more often and tend to breathe in more deeply than regular cigarette smokers. So higher nicotine consumption may be a risk for e-cig smokers

BTW I quit smoking about 8 years ago, it was the hardest thing I ever did. Thank God for the Mayo Clinic's smoking cessation program. Oddly I guess, I still like the smell of a cigarette, but also know that smoking of vape-ing puts a lot of bad chemicals in your system, so as long as you accept that and don't put me in harms way I have no problem with it in appropriate areas

I wonder how often these episodes go unreported. I once had some cash (not a lot) taken from my wallet on a HAL cruise, and felt stupid for leaving my purse on the floor by the bed, and did not report it. Maybe I should have, but you begin to doubt yourself and don't want to accuse someone and open up a big messy inquiry.

 

Mostly, though, I felt bad because we all want to trust our wonderful room stewards. It's just statistically true that despite the majority of honest, hard-working individuals in ANY business, a dishonest person will sometimes get access to your stuff.

 

As far as the official response...I think the cruise ship management has to present a sort of neutral face as they investigate (rather than rush to agree and apologize to the "victim.") No employee can/should jump in and make soothing statements that suggest they agree you've been robbed. The investigation has to follow its course.

 

And if a front desk person seems ho-hum about it, imagine how many times they've had upset passengers claiming their gold rollexes and diamond earrings are gone, only to see the sheepish person later admit it was found in the evening bag. Probably happens several times per sailing.

Really Good Points!

It brought back a memory

We had a couple sitting with us on a voyage one time, and day three she had her earrings stolen from their safe, reported it and absolutely convinced it had to be their steward or butler since they were only other ones that had access to the safe

She talked about how guest relations and security wouldnt admit fault, and at first port stop contacted her lawyer at home, Celebrity Executive offices in Miami and her insurance company, and demanded stewarts and butler be fired

Day 5 and 6 at dinner that's all we heard about

By day 8 it was out of her system I guess since we didn't hear the story repeated

Day 10 (of the 12 day cruise), her husband told me she found the earrings in one of her other purses a few days before, he felt terrible and being a stand up guy apologized to the stewarts and butler, guest relations, and security

He told me she was still convinced someone stole them and returned them after she raised a fuss. I could tell by the look on the husbands face, he knew that wasn't the case

I would think that cruise ships like any small community have to use presumption of innocence if there is a lack of evidentiary standards, so although they might feel bad for the person they are speaking to, they can't admit fault when they don't know fault exists

We always find the easiest way to calculate what is an appropriate additional tip [at least for those of us are not totally familiar with the north American tipping culture] is to understand the amount of the prepaid gratuities are allocated to each person and then ask what multiple of that sum is merited as an additional tip. For us, it is much easier than trying to think of how many US$ per day extra.

That makes sense

I'm pretty minimalistic on services with butler (nightly canapes, specialty reservations, and one small dinner party is all I've ever requested), I always try and keep the tipping simple, $100/7 day cruise or less, $200 if more than 7 days

Unless you plan on kissing the doctor that is infected at Columbia University Medical Center , you have nothing to worry about. Ebola is a virus that is only exchanged by bodily fluids of an active infected person

That doctor certainly should be in all our prayers. He volunteered to go to Africa to treat patients, knowing the possible risks. God bless men and women that do things like that

Maybe it is in large font and written in multiple languages :D...I have only a few things I request when we board...

 

1) We love ice and need it filled as often as possible.

2) Reqeust they leave cookies during tea service even if we are not in the cabin

3) Dinner reservations at specialty restaurants if not done before we board

4) Give the butler a heads up we usually do a full breakfast in the suite each morning and to leave room service cards each day

5) Swap out the champage for a white wine

 

 

I think thats it...

Well you have reasonable nice requests

I have a couple of friends that are hotel directors and they have shared some stories, it's amazing what some people want, and sad part is many times the most demanding passengers with a laundry list of demands, and freebies request are the ones that leave a $10/day gratuity

When my parents cruise celebrity, they are always in suites. So much so that they are zenith members. My mom always tells me how she hands the butler a list that is 3 pages long. Then she discribes how his jaw drops to the floor!

I have seen some people really treat the butlers as their personal manservants. It's scary funny

RS

I like that the RS has a seperate shower

Hot tubs are really a gimic, and too small to really enjoy (and I'm not a big person 6'1 and 160 lbs), same thing with small bath near front

Dining table and sink/kitchenette area always make me feel like I'm in an efficiency apartment vice a hotel suite

CS

The shower/tub combo is kind of cramped for showering if you are over 5'8" or so

Bedroom/closet space are really good

Like the leisure/living space for entertaining

Balcony has plenty of room and not over crowded

Overall I think the CS better fits my needs as a single traveler, and its a few bucks less, so even better

I think the RS is better suited for families though

Now the Reflection Suite on the other hand WOWSA WOWSA:D

There is so much wrong with this statement it is difficult to know where to start.

 

First the passenger isn't a nurse she is a lab technologist and her exposure would have been far less than those who provided direct care to the patient who did actually die from Ebola.

 

They went on their cruise because at the time the CDC cleared her to travel. NOT because of some nefarious desire to infect anyone.

 

She has NEVER shown any signs of Ebola. She and her spouse voluntarily agreed to quarantine after the CDC contacted them and Carnival when their recommendations on travel changed. AT NO TIME has she shown any signs of being ill.

 

PLEASE folks find out the facts before you create more unnecessary hysteria.

100% RIGHT IN WHAT YOU Stated

People need to fact check before they draw conclusions that incorrect

They also have two ATM's onboard, one at guest relations and the other at the casino. I think there is a $6 charge, but still much easier and more convenient than travelers checks (plus in the days I used to use travelers checks, half the places wouldn't accept them, and gave a bad exchange rate)

Another option I always use is my debit card from my credit union, they don't surcharge ATM withdrawals from foreign ports, and there are at least a dozen banks (and a lot of credit unions) that do same thing

This is my first cruise on Celebrity, though we are Diamond on RCCL, so have Elite status. The prices for our upcoming cruise have dropped and they are now offering a suite guarantee for 1299. We are in a verandah with no extra perks, so no risk of losing them. I'm curious as to what is the lowest price anyone has seen on a suite guarantee for a 7night cruise? Cruise is still 44 days out and there are quite a few suites left. Actually, there seems to be cabins in every category left.

Did see price as low as $899 a person two years ago, but generally $1100-1400 range, this past month grabbed one at $1199

This is, by far, one of the most helpful threads on the Celebrity Board. However, it has veered a little off topic as of late. It's hard enough to sort through the pages and pages of information. Any way we can restrict posts to those with actual information regarding officers, staff, and crew?

Getting people to do anything that makes sense still seems a challenge to some

I've made earlier flights, so it is doable, just a lot of what if's can happen (customs, luggage, traffic. etc)

The last two times I had early flights the day of departure, I also booked refundable fares with jet blue as a backup

Both times I got the earlier flight, and then cancelled day of flight with JetBlue and received a full credit back with JetBlue (you WON'T receive a refund, just a credit with them)