KillerP

We have a celebrity Eclipse 12 Night Australia and New Zealand cruise departing 27 November 2022 booked. Final payment is not due until September.

Was looking at our booking today and was asked to complete basic passenger information. That is address , country of origin etc. Upon entering this information, another page came up asking confirmation of a price increase of nearly $3000 AUD.  With option to pay now or pay later.

We have another cruise booked for March 2023 with the same message appearing.

Does this mean that Celebrity are now able to increase the price of cruises at any time they wish?

In the past (pre Covid) once a cruise was booked and at least required deposit paid price was locked in. Any increase in fare was in favor of the passenger whilst any decrease was in favor of the cruise.

Just on Celebrity website looking to book Classic Beverage Package and noticed in text that a 20% gratuity will be added at checkout.

I guess every thing has to go up at some stage. Except the rain.

Hi,

We were recently - Apr/May on Celebrity Millennium - Japan and Bering Sea 15 night cruise Yokohama to Vancouver which was very enjoyable - particularly the Cherry Blossoms.

There were many Elites onboard and 3 drink vouchers were made available for each applicable day.

Vouchers were placed on your bed with other usual information on day of embarkation.

Sky Lounge was open for the Elite happy hour 5-7pm however to obtain a drink you were required to hand over a voucher. Once you had exhausted your vouchers no more drinks were available.

Vouchers could NOT be used in MDR or Spec restaurants.

Many Elites were taking drinks out of the lounge to take to dinner.

No policing was evident because I guess you were entitled given you had utilized one of your vouchers to obtain.

We are retired (fit) couple from Down Under arriving Cape Liberty 7 September on the Vision of the Seas.

Have booked a hotel in Chinatown for 3 nights. However struggling on web to find transport options other than New York Taxis.

We will have two large suitcases to lug about so would prefer a shuttle service or a private car.

Looking for assistance in locating a reliable shuttle service or private car.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Would recommend the Nadia Hotel (3 star).

Across the road from the Westerkirk and easy walking to tram stop, restaurants/bars and Anne Frank House.

Very good continental breakfast and rated highly on TripAdvisor.

Ask for canal view room.

Rooms are small however and stairs are VERY steep.

Staff will help you by carrying your luggage in need.

You would need to book well in advance as a very popular hotel.

We are cruising on Explorer of the Seas 24 night Sydney to Seattle on 22 April 2017.

This will be our first cruise with RCCL having cruised on other lines including Celebrity.

Our neighbours have just returned from a cruise to NZ ex Sydney on the Radiance of the Seas. They told us that their nominated credit card was charged on a daily basis for on board purchases, which presented them with a problem as they had only told their bank they were travelling to NZ. However as charges for RCCL are via Miami their credit card was blocked. Had to make a phone call back to Australia to sort out. We also wonder whether additional bank charges will accrue if this is a change of policy.

Previously on Celebrity and other cruise lines we have sailed with for that matter have always charged onboard purchases to our nominated credit on the last day of the cruise.

Has anyone had the same experience and what can we do if anything to avoid this happening. Other that of course not making any onboard purchases.

That will be a tough call for my wife!!!

On our last cruise we checked off what was in the mini bar against the price list provided.

There were a number of items that were short and a couple of different items that were not recorded on the list.

Brought to the attention of the stateroom attendant who stated some items on list were out of stock and others no longer available.

List therefore needed updating.

We always have contents of mini bar emptied by stateroom attendant on the first day.

We got off the Anthem yesterday and got our bill on the cabin door as we left. Last night we got a revised bill by email with additional charges on it. They were for the mini bar which we had emptied the first day so we could put our own soda & water in to chill.

 

Is there s specific number to call?

We have not yet sailed with Royal Caribbean (cruise booked Apr 17) however we have experienced the same problem with Celebrity. Being from Australia recovering extra costs we did not incur on revised bill is not so easy, but achievable.

On the next Celebrity cruise I decided to check the mini-bar contents to the price list in the cabin prior to asking for the contents being removed.

To my surprise a number of items did not marry off with a shortfall with a couple and a different brand name with another.

Brought the matter to the attention of Guest Services who advised that some items may have been out of stock and some lines discontinued.

Price list not regularly updated because of understandable cost involved. However perhaps cabin steward should make an adjustment to the cabin list.

FYI

I have heard of "xciting deals" that are supposed to come our on Thursdays. How do you find them? I have gone on the Celebrity web site and looked, and I cannot find them.

Please help!!!

Exciting deals can be found by logging into Captain's Club and clicking on the following

.Exclusive offers are designed for our most loyal guests our Captain's Club members

then scroll down to Celebrity Special promotions including the INCREDIBLE 1 - day sale.

For Australian Captain's Club Members exciting deals usually appear late Tuesday afternoons or on Wednesday.

Unfortunately for us Aussie's exciting deals are often only for USA/CAN residents and sometimes US resident by state only.

This opens up another discussion as to why CC member benefits are not the same across the board and whether the wording of Exclusive Offers on Captains Club website should be changed to reflect the true situation.

We like to book onboard whenever possible to obtain cabin of choice and OBC which we are grateful for.

We note from future cruise booking terms and conditions in part state

"Cruise Now program may be combinable with one additional offer of your choice available up to the final payment due date. Cruise Now program excludes certain promotions and discounted rates, including, Exciting deals, net rates, gross rates, cruise certificates, interline,travel agent, and employees rates."

To be honest we do not understand most of the abovementioned exclusions.

We have never taken advantage of "one additional offer" as not quite sure what it is.

Can the cruise critic family enlighten us with their experiences and any successes with the one additional offer.

Thank you.

Rule is firm and any CC onboard host allowing Elite lounge entry (for example) would be perhaps opening a Pandora's Box.

However given points now accure on a per day basis in lieu of previously on a per cruise basis perhaps it would be a nice touch for Celebrity to offically allow CC members who obtain Elite Status during the course of a cruise entrance to the CC Elite Lounge (or vouchers).

It would be a nice way to welcome them to Elite.

All other benefits to be made available at completion of the cruise.

Thank you for your time.

My question is in regard to Captain's Club - Special Promotions-Weekly Exciting deals.

We are Aussies and the only way we can access weekly exciting deals is via login to Captain's Club. However when we try to avail ourselves of the promotion on most occasions (sometimes all) promotion is only open to USA/Canadian residents. As all nationalities have to go through the same process to arrive at a particular CC level it appears that sometimes non USA/Can members are treated as 2nd class.

In hotel terms USA/Can members get the full buffet breakfast and the rest of us the continental only.

Would you kindly advise the rationale behind this policy.

Thank you.

Ditto that for Australians.

Only way we can access exciting deals is via the Captain's Club website on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

Unfortunately (for us) the majority of exciting deals (sometimes 100% of deals) are for USA/Canadians only.

Whilst I acknowledge that RCCL has the right to promote their product as they see fit it is frustrating that we Aussies are unable to take advantage of the weekly Exciting Deals advertised on the CC website.

As a Captain's Club member I had to meet the same criteria to reach my current points level.

I think that ALL Captain's Club members should be on a level playing field and if Exciting Deals are to be continued then perhaps the Captain's Club website is NOT the place to advertise them given they are mostly for USA/CAN members.

Unfortunately no.

They appear on actual credit card statement with outstanding balance increased accordingly.

Will wait a day or two to see if I get a reversal.

Hi,

First let me say how much Margaret and I enjoyed this cruise. In particular the wonderful people that we met on board.

On the not so great side.

It is 6.00am in Australia and upon checking my Visa Card find that my On Board account for 22 Feb cruise has been charged twice to my credit.

So just a heads up for every one to check their cards in case this is not a one off.

Once again thanks for your company Bill & Pat, Bill & Ann, David & Ann, Don & Joy and many others.

It was GREAT.

Café usually opens at 7.00am.

A few people early on sea days mainly for takeaways.

Busier on port days.

Hi Curt,

Let me start off by saying I have been reading your posts for many years and respect your generally balanced view.

I get that the company has the right to promote their product as they wish however I wonder whether via the Captain's Club site is the way to go.

If you log into Captains Club and go to EXCLUSIVE OFFERS which I quote "are designed for our most loyal guests, our Captain's Club members"

Then click on Celebrity Special Promotions - Explore Exciting Deals (Tuesday weekly).

On the Australian Celebrity Site Deals come up with prices in AUD however when you click on the terms and conditions of the deal the pop up states only for USA/Can citizens or US residents only. This is the case for all of the 15 exciting deals this week. This appears to have been the trend over the past few weeks.

As a Captains Club member I think that all the benefits available at the different stages of membership should be available to all Captains Club members.

If the company wishes to promote their fares via the Captains Club web pages perhaps they should amend the wording of Exclusive Offers to something like "

are designed for our most loyal guests, our Captains Club members - note some offers are exclusively for USA/CAN citizens only."

However would the Captains Club then become two tiered.

Look I am only about what is FAIR to all Captains Club members here.

Have a nice day everyone.

Noticed on this weeks exciting deals for CAPTAIN'S CLUB MEMBERS that ALL of the 15 deals offered were for USA resident or US/Canadian citizens only.

This appears to be a trend over the past few weeks.

I would have thought that all Captain's Club members should be on a level playing field and current situation appears not to be the case. Is this fair?

We are loyal Celebrity Cruisers and being from Australia means we have to travel some distances to join up with a cruise. Cruise destinations out of Australia are limited.

I am very interested in what anyone else thinks.

Thank you.

For our upcoming cruise 123Go drinks package and an OBC is shown in payment summary. However when Cruise Ticket Booklet issued online no mention of either was included in Cruise enhancement section.

Sent an email to celebrity 10 days ago with no response.

Can anyone advise if this is normal practice?

We too will be taking other documentation along with us in case there are any dramas at embarkation.

Holding everyone up is not a great way to start a cruise.

I like the new program except for the fact that I and probably many others who are booked on an upcoming cruise which would have put us at Select are no longer going to be Select afterward. I read that many Select members who were close to Elite were given bonus points even though they may not even be booked on a next cruise. I have a cruise in only 3 weeks that I purposely booked in a Concierge Class to gain that extra point to be Select for the next time, now I learn we'll still be 10 points away after we get back. If I knew that, I wouldn't have paid almost $1000 more for Concierge since there aren't too many valuable perks to Concierge Class over a balcony except the 1 extra credit which was advertised under the old system.

 

I know the program is subject to change without notice, but it's not fair that Celebrity recognizes this problem for those who are close to Elite by giving bonus points, but not those of us who are close to Select. I think they should make the bonus points available to those who are in our situation especially when it's well after the final payment date and you can't make changes to your trip.

We (wife & I) are currently Select status. We have booked and paid in full for two upcoming cruises which under the old system would have qualified us for Elite status.

We booked concierge class to enable us to obtain the extra points to upgrade to Elite. We would have stayed with balcony if we had known about the "enhancements"

I also think it is unfair that we will now be 29 points shy of elite. We booked on the basis of Celebrity's advertising the "old" points system.

I understand the fine print that you have to cruise prior to obtaining points. However Celebrity have had the use of our money for some length of time as we paid in full months ago. Upcoming cruises are too close to make any changes without a substantial cost to us.

Whilst we very much enjoy Celebrity cruises our loyalty has been tested and we shall look around for our future cruises.

Good luck to all the Elite status and above members you deserve your recognition.

However to grow a business new customers are also required particularly in an aging cruise market. Celebrity will need to make further changes down the track. So beware.

We have paid a deposit on a European cruise in Aug 14 which I am considering cancelling.

That's all from me folks.

Despite all the comments regarding the worth of Captain's Club benefits it has obviously been a HUGE success for Celebrity Cruises.

It seems to me that generally the cruisers that have already reached Elite status are happy and tough T's to those who have not.

I am recently retired and intend to do as much cruising as funds allow.

We are currently on select status and have two further cruises booked and paid for in February and April which under the "old system" would have made us elite. If the information provided on previous posts is correct we will now fall short.

Our first four cruises were not with Celebrity and we changed because of loyalty program.

It was a bit of fun shaping cruises around loyalty points to try and achieve Elite Status.

We are now in a position where we cannot do anything about our upcoming cruises without losing a heap of money (airfares/accommodation paid for )

I understand re the fine print providing for changes without notice. However if rollout is to be as stated I consider it unfair as I booked in "GOOD FAITH".

If Celebrity Cruises really wants to be fair and reward their best clients perhaps they should recalculate everyone's points based on the new system. That is forget about the 30 for 1 point and recalculate on a cruise day/cabin basis.

Everyone will then be on a level playing field with the most loyal clients rewarded accordingly, and I imagine quite a few who are just elites culled.

Remember the fine print re change without notice can apply to everyone.

My travel agent quoted same Celebrity site. However I obtained deal on Celebrity.com website for EXCLUSIVE DEALS FOR CAPTAIN'S CLUB MEMBERS. This the site I use as a Captains Club member to check my current bookings and any exclusive deals for CC members. Australian and New Zealand Itineraries ARE ON this site. Booked on the site (prices quoted in AUD by the way) in good faith believing we would receive Free Beverage Packages. Captain's Club website allowed me to book right through to paying of deposit. We appear to meet all conditions of offer.

HENCE MY CONFUSION.

Captain's Club webpage Terms and Conditions state "offer is not eligible to residents of the United Kingdom". NO MENTION OF ANY OTHER NATIONALITY.

Question: Is this false advertising, given terms and conditions on Celebrity's Captains Club website, which on the face of things we MEET?

Question: Are Captain's Club benefits different for Australians and others ex USA and Canadians? Does anybody know. If so why so?

I am an Aussie and rookie Captain's Club member of Celebrity. I utilize Celebrity's website under Captain's Club to monitor my current bookings and to check out current promotions.

Website is where I located 123GO promotion, read the terms & conditions and seemed to qualify. Clicked on Australian and New Zealand Itineraries, clicked on a 17n top end Australia Cruise, clicked on 2D verandah cabin, booked and paid deposit to Celebrity. Unable to phone number on website as not connected from Aus. Contacted my travel agent who advised we did not qualify for package.

Terms and conditions states offer is not eligible to residents of the United Kingdom. (another why not Q here) but nothing about Australians.

Has anyone else had same experience.

Is there a two tier system in place, one for US/Can Captain's Club members and another for everyone else.

I booked cruise in good faith and now have all this drama.

Have any other Aussies had similiar experience and who in fact does qualify for 123GO promotion.