bigbenboys

We booked 3 cruise for 2014 on Celebrity. Mar 2014 a 14 night Southern Caribbean, May 2014 a 7 night Alaska and Sept 2014 a 12 night Hawaii cruise. July 2014 a 14 night England land vacation. Richard

When I have Aquaclass I leave my formal attire at home. As I'm eating in Blu and formal attire is not required on any night. Richard

I agree with you on most of the things you posted and we believe we are going to try the 10 or 11 day southern cruise , but is the aqua class a better choice if we want the spa or can we purchase spa seperate ? Is Blue worth doing instead of normal dining and is Reflection a major diff. than than other solstice class ship's ?

 

I would book the South American cruise. As to Aqua or not. We normally book Concierge. Sometime Aqua cost less than Concierge. Our next 3 cruises only 1 is in Aqua. It is more about the bottom line. Our next 3 cruises only 1 is in Aqua. Blu is not enough of a draw for us. Anyone can book spa treatments you don't have to be in Aquaclass. Blu breakfast is very nice. Blu for dinner is ok. The best thing about Blu is that you dine when you want. The tables of 2 are so close together, you might as well been at a table of 4 or 6. Check out some of the menus from Blu. See what you think. Richard

I've booked hotel and transportation to and from hotels, airports and cruise terminals. It does help if you have a global phone. What I have done is email the concierge at the hotel I'm staying at and ask what company they use for transportation. Look them up online. The hotel may setup the transportation for you. When your picked up at the airport. Tell the drive about your pickup the next day. Hope this gives you insight and ideas of how to plan your transportation. Richard

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) requires that a muster drill must be conducted by the ship within 24 hours of departure, but many Cruise ships actually conduct the drill before the ship departs for the first time. Richard

A thought I had was if you find a cruise you like. Go on the Roll Call for that cruise and ask about teens. You might get a idea of the number of teens that might be on that cruise. You really never know how many teens will be on any cruise. Richard

With the new levels in CC we are now Elite Plus with 840 points. We just booked our 3rd cruise of next year. So next year we will get 215 points. I'm happy with the new system.

 

As to the 123go. Since we are Elite Plus and we get the social hour with drinks. We take free gratuities. Richard

For the last 2 days I've been working on trying to find rooms on a Sept Azamara cruise. Emails with my TA trying to find 2 N1 rooms together. In the end we did find 2 rooms together but they were N2 and to far aft. If I could have looked online for room available. I could have moved on to a different cruise.

 

Today I went to Celebrity website. Looked at a Hawaii cruise. I could see rooms that were available. Emailed TA and 2 rooms side by side were on hold. It all took about 15 or 20 minutes.

 

Why does Azamara want to make seeing room availablity so difficult. Richard

Strange that there is no explanation on the web site that the "gift" is for achieving another level.

 

I went through the other thread.

 

Very confusing.

 

Welcome to Azamara. Many of us are confused. Richard

We were on the Solstice on the summer solstice. We got a letter from Celebrity saying we did the summer solstice on the Solstice. Richard

In the past I have put 2 bottles of wine in each of my checked bags. I used to cruise with 3 checked bags for a 14 day cruise. I have never had any problems with wine in my checked bags. Richard

For myself. I've never rented or bought a tux in my life. Never needed a tux and my 55 yesrs old. On our cruises I wear a black suit if in MDR. If I'm eating in Blu I wear jeans or pants of some sort. I've eaten at Oceanview Cafe in shorts on formal night. My feeling are if you want to wear a tux wear it. Richard

Can someone who has actually done this comment on how easy it is to work out? I've seen reports that sound like you need special permission and need to arrange it in advance with the maitre d'. We'll be in AQ for our 10 day Reflection cruise in May --- we liked Blu last time but may want an occasional change of scenery.

 

We were book in Aqua, dining in Blu. On our last cruise we just did not like the menu in Blu on many nights. But we ate in Blu all but one night. We just went up to Select Dining and asked for a table of 4. We were seated right away. Our next cruise in Aqua we are planning to eat more in Select Dining. For us Blu never had Prime Rib on a 10 day cruise. They had it twice in MDR. Richard

1. Eastern Mediterranean

2. Indonesia

3. Azores/Canary island

4. Baltic Sea

5. East coast of South America

6. West coast of Mexico

7. Southern Caribbean 14 night

Does anyone know if Elite will no longer have a social hour? Will we just be issued tickets instead? I enjoyed the social aspect more so than the free drinks. In the little brochure it listed a social hour in the benefits table that broke down the different levels. I wonder if they plan to continue the social hour for elite and elite + combined and issue the tickets to alleviate the crowding issues in the sky lounge.

 

This got me thinking. Might Celebrity on cruises with large numbers of Elites. Give the Elites vouchers and open the Sky lounge for Elite Plus. I've only done 1 cruise with vouchers and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. We would get a table at the Oveanveiw Bar. Have our drinks wearing our shorts. Then go change for dinner and stop at the bar near Blu and get a glass of wine with our voucher for dinner. Richard

It sounds very good! I am glad you are happy with the new benefits. I am trying to calculate how long will I need to get there:)

 

I did the calculations for myself. I'm turning 55 this month. I might work 2 more years. I'm currently Elite Plus. If I continue to cruise at the same rate it will take me 7 years to get to Zenith level. I thought that is not to bad.

 

My thought on Michael Club for Zenith only. That is fine with me, but I hope that Zenith's would not be turned away from a Elite event in the Sky Lounge. Like most cruises it all depends on the numbers of members at each level. On one of our Alaska cruises we only had about 26 Elite members and only about 10showed up in Michaels Club for drinks. Richard

[quote name='ClaudiaB']We're sailing aqua class next month. Typically we've brought on a case of bottled water as we like to drink it all day long. Will the cabin steward give us as much water as we'd like? How does it work actually? I seem to remember reading that only one bottle was given a day or just one at a time.[/quote]

We had 2 bottles, then 4. It seems to be as much as you can drink. Lets see what other people have gotten. Richard

What's the point of eating something that only is edible when drenched in garlic and butter? No appeal to me.

 

So you don't like lobster? Richard

 

I can eat 2 orders of the escargot before dinner. The mushroom are more rich so only 1 order of them. And yes I eat oysters, calamari, clams. 3 beers and 18 raw oysters is a great lunch. Richard

There is a problem with the gas turbine engine and so they are moving us to the navy pier and we will be here overnight. They are going to allow us off between 6:30pm and midnight. Not a bad place to be stuck!

 

What!! Some of the bars/night clubs don't get going until 11pm to 4am. Back on the ship at midnight? Well it is better than nothing. What happens if your not back onboard by midnight? Richard

What good luck. I'd go hit the bars in Key West. Should be great fun.:DRichard

This notion of paying for bottled water intrigues me. Coming from a country where potable water is the norm I cant see the need to pay extra for a bottle. What is wrong with filling water up from a fountain at breakfast into a sipper bottle and taking it with you or are cruise lines so tight that one is nor permitted to fill one's own bottle with water.

 

This can be done. And I think the water is fine on the ships. But you cant just fill your water bottle from the fountain. You must put the water in a glass and fill your bottle. Then get another glass to fill the rest of your bttle. When I have done this I like 1 glass of ice and then ice filled with water. The real question is how many people go to the fountain with a screw top bottle and fill their used bottles.:eek: Yes I have seen it done many time even with the sign posted. Richard

You can make reservations...if there is an opening you can go to Blu. Sorry, should have added that....

 

From my understanding Blu is 1st come 1st served, that you can't make reservations. Anyone know different? Richard

Thanks Kevinyork, we are based in the UK so if I book a 7 day cruise in an ordinary balcony cabin - we will get 14 new points plus 25 bonus points bringing the total to 39 captains club points - is that correct?

 

This is the USA info from Celebrity website. State room must be Aqua or above

 

Special 123Go! offer for Captain's Club members

 

Enjoy 25 Bonus Club Points and 50% Reduced Deposits.

First, receive 25 bonus Club Points** in addition to the usual Club Points you earn when you book November 29—December 31, 2013, in an AquaClass® or above stateroom.

Second, enjoy 50% reduced deposits* when you book. It's our way of saying "thank you" for sailing with us again.

**Captain's Club offer is valid for Classic tier members and above.

Choose from these incredible offers

 

FREE Beverage Packages

 

Receive a Classic Beverage Packages for two, including spirits, valued at $88* per day, with beverage gratuities covered by us

FREE

Gratuities

 

Receive pre-paid gratuities for two, value of up to $30* per day

Onboard Credit

up to $300

per stateroom

 

Receive $100* for 3- to 5-night sailings Receive $200* for 6- to 9-night sailings Receive $300* for 10-night or more sailings

Michaels Club was still being used for the Elite event in the evenings and even for Breakfast. It has all depended on the number of people that are VIP and Elite on your cruise. We were on a cruise and we only had 100 VIP and Elites total. They used Michaels Club. With the higher numbers it would be held in the Sky Observation lounge. Then if the numbers were even higher they would give out vouchers. As to the drinks. You cant take any drinks out of the breakfast or evening events. If you are on the vouchers, yes you can stop and get a drink at the bar using your vouchers and take them into dinner. Richard

Cancel one of them, rebook it and pick up the 25 pt. bonus....

 

In our case. We booked a cruise for May 30th 2014 awhile back. We had already booked A1 rooms. And did get a very good price. I did the math and it would cost us a extra $576 per cabin with this new promo. The only bonus would be the 25 points for each of us. As we are both Elite plus now. Just not worth it for a 7 day cruise with 1160 points to get to the next level. Richard