nanook21

Thanks for the info, it helps.  

Getting back to the Internet issue, does anyone know the package costs of Unlimited Internet and Surf Internet for 14 days in the Baltic on Silhouette? Thanks.

Im interested in a pkge for 2, as we both are online at the same time.

Yes, that’s what I had thought, so thanks.  I have no desire to be assigned to any specific dining room, it would be much too difficult to coordinate with our friends.  We are pretty casual folks, so MDR, the buffet, or even pool deck grills work fine for us.  We are Sushi fiends, so would likely spend time there too (at ala carte pricing, but that’s expected), and not really big eaters, so don’t need or want elaborate meals.

Luvcrusn, I agree.  My TA gives better perks too, also a large online agent who specializes in the luxury lines (but who will also assist with the Premium lines like Celebrity).  If we decide to book this cruise, she’ll be the first one I go to. 

Chemmo, not a problem.  Appreciate your tips and going to the trouble to provide them. I’m sure Celebrity is a fine option and I’m only making comparisons to what I’m used to from past experience, with no expectations that everything will be the same.  I’m trying valiantly to juggle my expectations with cost realities! LOL.

5 hours ago, mayleeman said:

Think of the internet "per adult" price (no matter how many devices) as "per package." They use the same terminology for renting cabanas over on Royal Caribbean web site. The wording is just stupid. You just choose which person in the cabin is the purchaser, not both.

 

But note that on the internet packages, if you buy for 1 device, you get 1 sign-on code. But you can actually use more than one device, just only 1 can be signed on at any given time. 2 devices gets you 2 independent sign ons, and so on. You do NOT pay separately for each person, though!

Thanks, that clarifies it for me.

8 hours ago, chemmo said:

.Make sure if cruising with friends you choose rooms that share the same main dining option. For example, if one couple have Aqua rooms and the other does not then they will be assigned different dining rooms.

 

Not an issue, we don’t plan to book either Aqua or a suite.  However I couldn’t find anywhere on the site that those guests were “assigned” to a separate dining room, only that they had that exclusive option as an alternative to MDR. Am I mistaken?

As for your other comments on this post, thank you for the tips.  However we have cruised for many years, so not exactly newbies.  Before we discovered Regent, we sailed NCL and HAL, and found that we did not care for the crowds and lineups of the larger ships.  In that same vein, we also didn’t care for fixed dining, but prefer anytime dining where we can ask to share a table.  We’ve met many wonderful people this way, and that’s the only entertainment we need.  😉  I was happy to discover that Celebrity now has an “anytime” or Select dining option.  (Sorry, getting a bit off-topic here.)

49 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

@nanook21 As you have noticed, you can expect lots of help from fellow cruisers here on CC. But I fear your hope that Celebrity might see your questions is an empty dream--I have never seen any indication that their employees ever peruse the forum, let alone provide helpful info. Chances are there would be six or 60 different answers from them anyway!

Thats unfortunate, I know that other lines have their people check into the Cruise Critic forums on a regular basis. It’s on their threads.  Oh well.

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

The only difference between C1, 2 or 3 is location.  The cabins are identical and the Concierge benefits are the same.  There is no way that I know on Xs site to see the difference.  Some TA sites do show the pricing by sub category.

The only way I’ve found is to go back to ship deck plans on the main menu. Very awkward.

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

The surf package does not support streaming but is fine for checking email, surfing the internet, posting to FB, IG, etc..  the Unlimited does all that the surf package does  and you  an also stream.

If you select the internet as 1 of your perks the first 2 passengers in the cabin both get Unlimited internet, so you both could be online at the same time.

 

i can’t tell the price of Internet for a 7 day cruise but did check the Cruise Planner for a 9 night cruise we have booked and here are prices for 9 nights:

 

Unlimited for 2 devices $358.  One device $239.  

Surf for 2 devices $174,  One device $116.

when we don’t select internet as a booking perk we will  be purchasing a 1 device surf package as we don’t have a need to both be on the internet at the same time.

I hope this gives you a. Idea of the cost.  A 7. Night Cruise should have slightly lower costs.

Thanks, but what is confusing is that it gives prices for 2 devices, but it also says “per adult”.  I also noticed this on another earlier thread on this forum, but can’t get clarification from the website. 

Agreed, I tried to do just that, but couldn’t get a definitive answer on the Internet packages.  Is it per person or per room, and what is the difference between Surf package and unlimited. Anyone know how to find that.?

Thanks for all the info, appreciate all posters good tips. I discovered that I can do a partial mock booking to get the actual price quote without having to put our info into the system, and on a Concierge we had perk options of 2 or 4.  Or I could do the 2 with an add-on of pre-paid gratuities ($406).  I believe, from what I’ve read, that the beverage packages and Unlimited Internet are the most expensive of all the options, so those would be the ones I’d choose. On the 4-perk package, the beverage pkge is Premium rather than Classic so that may be a good choice.  I don’t really care about the $150 OBC extra, but it’s part of the 4-pack.  It’s correct that the suites have the perks included, but I found even the Sky suite pricing way too high - over double that of the highest Veranda and almost double over a Concierge.   That’s getting up into Regent territory!  😉 LOL

9 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Really unrealistic to compare an all inclusive luxury line to Celebrity...there are differences in prices and other things for a reason.

 

I encourage you to give Celebrity a shot, with realistic expectations. 

You don’t say.  Of course I know that!  But I want to know what the value per $ is, thanks very much. 

I’m going to try a mock booking for a suite just to see what comes with it.  Thanks for all the info, people.  BTW,  all of Regent bookings are fully refundable, including air, up to date of final payment except for a small fee of $100pp and any air deviation charges ($200), if applicable.

My friend’s TA gave me pricing for a Veranda (but we would upgrade), and her “amenities” included those items, but she priced out the difference from no amenities at all to all 3 as an extra $2000. I thought that was rather excessive, so I was trying to determine what it would cost on our own.  My own TA would give us OBC gratis usually, so I assume that having it in an amenities package means we are paying for it, so not free at all.  I’m trying to get a handle on how Celebrity works so we can make a decision.

2 minutes ago, Mum81 said:

I think the reason that Celebrity don't show the prices for beverage packages, specialty dining, WiFi packages etc, is that they have "dynamic pricing" for these add-ons. Meaning that the price can fluctuate according to the particular cruise.

OK, that makes sense.  I’ll try a dummy booking to see what I can find out.

11 minutes ago, mnocket said:

Coming from Regent, I'm guessing that you are interested in a suite?  In many cases suite passengers get certain perks included (beverage package, gratuities, etc.).  It's probably best to work with your TA once you've narrowed it down to a few itineraries.  I'm not a suite traveler, but I'm sure others here can expand on the suite experience.  Do make sure to adjust your expectations as Celebrity will be different than Regent.

Yep, I’m already figuring that out!  LOL.  Regent has spoiled me for anything else. Oh well. We are actually just looking at a Concierge. 

add a PS:  we were looking at joining friends on the May 16/20  Silhouette Baltic London round trip.  Not sure it will happen though, so didn’t want to get my TA involved until I had more indo.

Thank you both for this info.  I’ve been quite spoiled with Regent, and their pricing is shown clearly without booking (and is all inclusive). But Regent is getting very very pricey, so I thought I’d look around at alternatives.  We shouldnt have to do a mock booking to get basic information, but I’ll try that.  I did go through the menu to onboard experiences, but the packages only showed minimum pricing with no details.  It’s kind of hard to do a proper comparison with everything all in without the details!  I’ll look a bit harder under that category.  Again, it should be more accessible, if anyone at Celebrity is paying attention.  But thanks for these tips. 🙂

Why in the world would anyone want to book on Celebrity for the first time, based on the lack of detailed info on their website?  As regular Regent cruisers, we thought we might want to give Celebrity a try, but it’s impossible to get more precise details like category pricing (specific to each class within the categories), cost of all beverage packages, cost of all WiFi packages, etc?  The only way I can see to get that without bothering my TA is to actually book, as every page I went to wanted my booking number.  I’ve tried searching these forums, to no avail, so I’m starting a new topic on this.  I tried to do a “chat” online with a Celebrity Agent, but was told it wasn’t available.  I’m so put off by the wasted time and effort, that I don’t believe Celebrity will ever be in our future travel plans.   Perhaps someone at Celebrity would care to respond to this oversight.

I'm with you all on the Shopping topic.  If I want a shopping stop, I'll go on a tour that offers one, but would much prefer to just do our own thing.  We have also been on tours that offered an anticipated "market" stop, that spent so much time touring residential housing areas ad nauseum, that the guide wanted to bypass the market.  Many on the bus revolted and got off the bus instead.  Why cant they find guides that follow the promised itinerary?   But getting back to the topic of this thread, we did get the email about the Go Local, and find it intriguing.  We'll look at that for our August Baltic cruise.  Unfortunately we can't see those excursion offerings yet, I think its open for booking in January.  Sure would be nice to see it in advance so we can plan!!

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 11:05 AM, Travelcat2 said:

 

Your comment really made me laugh.  You might be the only person that would vote for me

I would Jackie!!  😉  

I’d like to know,this too.  My TA said if we deviate and arrive days early, and depart the day after debarking, we are on our own.  But I don’t know about arriving/departing same day.

I’ve tried everything, and I can’t increase the Font size on my iPad for this website.  If I change the font size default on my device, my email text and everything else is HUGE, but it has zero effect on the forum posts at CC.  Getting a headache trying to read tiny very faint text.  Can we have the old Forums back that actually worked?  Or get this fixed immediately before we all abandon Cruise Critic as unusable? 

Please fix the Font size Cruise Critic! I have reset my iPad Font so large that my emails are ridiculous ,  but I still can’t read the Forum posts which remain very tiny and faint. What have you done with a perfectly good Forum?  Very very annoying.  Got a headache trying to follow post threads.  

Rallydave, my understanding from what I read on Global Entry was that kiosks were also available entering Canada, not just leaving. But I’ll check that again.