ChucktownSteve

I think Washington State supports more programs with tax on liquor.

I just did a fake purchase from Total Wines in Bellevue and the total cost for JW Blue 750 ml would have been 240.99 pick up in the store. The base price was $199 but there was $41 taxes with the caution, final taxes will be added at pick up.

 

South Carolina sales tax would be $14.00 for the same item.

Better you than me. I hate contributing to the delinquency of government. Yep and we have some of the lowest gas prices in the country too. The price today at my usual station for regular is $1.97.9.

The best liquor prices I've found in the islands and on board is in Saint Maarten.

Sure, no sneeze guards on table side prepared items, prepared on carpet rather than tile, hair nets/hats in the kitchen, etc. Don't blame Celebrity or any other cruise line, blame US health regulations that are trying to protect you.

No offense but based upon your generic response, I'm not buying your premise. It may relate to CA but where's the proof you claim to have researched as it relates to Celebrity? Where did you research your conclusion? It's not like Celebrity needs an A rating from the Miami department of health to post on their ship's window.

Actually no, table side preparation has been essentially eliminated because of revised US health standards as a result of communicable diseases like Norovirus that have become a problem on cruise ships. I encourage you to check it out like I did, before jumping to conclusions.

 

There is good information on CC as well as bad.

Please excuse my ignorance, however how does the staff person preparing the dinner table side contribute more to norovirus than the same staff member preparing the dinner in the kitchen? Can you please supply a link to what proof you're referring?

Sometimes on Lobster Night they may try to restrict you to one lobster. However if you have a good relationship with your server, you may be able to get two. You shouldn't have a problem with one lobster and another entree.

On our NE/CA cruise they picked up fresh Maine lobster that day where the captain announced they took on one per passenger. When I asked for a second one, at first the server said he couldn't. I toyed with him a little and he agreed to bring it. Of course I had palm tipped him earlier in the cruise and tipped him again later. ;)

YMMV

BTW the next day there were dishes on the menu that included lobster so I know they weren't all ordered.

Has anyone else tried the Johnny Walker XR 21?

Yes the ship price for JW Blue is great. I have gotten some for $99. Lately they have been running 2 bottles for $310, plus 10% if you buy the 1st night. Back in Washington state JW Blue cost $250 per bottle.

Wow, your store is very high. I just check my local liquor chain, Total wine & more. Here it's $199.99 plus sales tax today.

Waiting to disembark from the Summit. We have done a dozen cruises on Celebrity, several on this ship. Time for a change.

What is your opinion that caused you to say that? I had mixed feelings when I sailed her last fall and soon have an upcoming Summit cruise.

 

The Celebrity Perks are worth $55/d pp (or $385 for 7d) for the Classic Beverage Package, $300 for an OBC. The free gratuities don't equal this value until you get over 10d.

Don't want to quibble too much but FYI the classic package is worth $454.30 for a seven day cruise if you count the 18% gratuity.

Yes, I find it easier to buy at home not only for the ease of not having to carry the bottles around when travelling. But also due to our AUD vs the Ship's USD prices any savings would have been eroded.:D

I've never had to carry the liquor I've bought back to the ship. In the Caribbean ports I buy, they deliver to the ship for free. The first time I see the bottles is when they deliver the liquor to my cabin the last evening.

I've bought as many as 13 liters without paying any duty when I've driven to the port. Instead of paying $185/lt for JW Blue, it cost me $99! On my last cruise the price was $125 which is still cheaper than the $195 at home. I also purchased Johnny Walker XR 21 for $100 that isn't even sold in the states and I like better than Blue for it's smoothness.

A couple of bungee cords attached a liquor carton to the top of the carry on luggage for disembarking or I packed some in my checked luggage surrounded by dirty laundry.

easy...peasy and I saved a ton of money. I wouldn't do it for inexpensive liquor. Just for the stuff I wouldn't pay the exorbitant price at home.

Sorry I'm slightly confused. Non refundable is what Celebrity gives you when you book a cruise correct. Where do you get refundable from?money you charge on your credit card? What determines refundable and non refundable? As you go does your daily tally tell you what you have left to spend?

Sorry for the confusion..

Non Refundable (OBN) is from Celebrity as their perk. You can spend it on board or take it out in the casino as promotional chips that if you win, you can cash out those chips for real cash.

The refundable (OBR) is what your TA gives you on top of the Celebrity promo OBC based upon how much you spend on the cabin. It's only refundable if the OBC is not a special pass through via the TA from X.

I always ask the TA if their OBC is from them or from an X promotion.

On your cabin TV account view, they will pull from your OBN first. Once you go over that amount, it debits your OBR. Whatever you don't spend of your OBR goes back to the credit card you used to guarantee payment.

You will see an account balance. Once the negative balance goes below the OBN amount, that's when you're debiting OBR.

I hope I answered your query.

About the only booze we buy by the bottle is Jack Daniels. We were on the Silhouette last month and went to price it in the duty free shop on the ship. For the 750ml bottle they wanted $25. That price didn't look right so when I questiioned it and told the sales associate I buy this all the time back home and can always get it in the $17-$19 range (the truth), he told me to buy it at home and walked away. I didn't expect him to price match, but I thought it was kind of rude the way he handled it.

Maybe he was frustrated by hearing that from passengers regularly but had no ability to deal with it.

Reading your post, it seems like it's more about the cut in activities staff onboard that has impacted your cruise rather than the actual beverage packages. Most of the things you mention are related to the lack of free activities and entertainment/musicians that used to appear on X ships. This reduction in alternative activities has then resulted in pax spending much more time drinking their 'free' packages, and has consequently led to a different atmosphere than your previous cruise experiences on Celebrity.

 

I'm a little shocked with your reference to a 'booze cruise' as usually this happens on the Med cruises out of Southampton, rather than the Northern European routes (one reason why we never sail from Southampton to the Med ;)). I do have to agree on the lack of free activities since the staff have been cut to the bare minimum. There used to be far more interaction and music, but this is what happens when the staff are stretched and it's more about generating extra income from ridiculous 'sales' in the shops onboard. The actual free events have diminished to virtually zero in the daily planner - unless of course you want to attend the one-off, never to be repeated :D, sales event of the year at the various retail outlets :rolleyes:.

I concur with your analysis. Good points.

I found the comments of the poster who has been taking their business to Oceania interesting. We've cruised Oceania twice both times on Riviera - a fantastic ship, crew and food.

 

Oceania is owned by Carnival Corporation and if I remember my numbers correctly while Carnival holds a 42% market share, Oceania holds only 3% of that number. Carnival is targeting a niche market at a higher price point with Oceania. Celebrity within the RCL community of cruise lines holds a much larger market share (about 22% of RCL's overall cruise market share of 30 something %) than Oceania does among its fellow cruise lines. One can argue that Celebrity, within its family of RCL owned cruise lines, is not only competitive compared to the industry but is also delivering a product that seems to be in demand.

I agree with your statements about the quality of Oceania's cabin, food and crew. However you can't compare Celebrity to Oceania which was not long ago bought by NCL as you pointed out in a subsequent post.

If you want to do a true comparison you have to look at RCL's Azamara vs. NCL's Oceania.

If the price was cheaper on shore, why not just buy it from the shop there rather than going to all the trouble of getting a price match?

Because you can't use OBC landside.

I tried having the ship's liquor store match the price. I had the pictures. The problem was the island store was selling .75 liter and the ship was selling 1 liters. He wouldn't extrapolate the price even though in most stores a 1 liter is less expensive per ml. This was on the Connie in Feb.

Therefore I suggest you visit the ship's store first and take pictures of their bottle sizes and prices you're interested in. Then do the same size at the shore side liquor store if you expect them to price match on the ship.

The two 2,900-guest, 117,000-gross-registered-ton ships, developed under the project name EDGE will build upon the modern luxury experience of the brand's Millennium and Solstice class vessels. Kel:)

Let's hope that they truly build upon the modern luxury experience and it's just not marketing rhetoric like they're doing now.

If you would tip extra in the MDR why not in Blu? If the service warranted it then yes, we would tip extra.

I understand. My question wasn't whether to but more to get a consensus of what amounts various people do.

We have an upcoming AQ cruise that includes Blu. Do you tip extra? Who do you tip and how much? (position not name) Please mention if you're referring to a 7 night or 14 night cruise.

I was wondering if there is an amount that would be insulting to the recipient?

Thank you in advance for your opinion.

P.S. UK cruisers, we already know a lot of you feel they're just doing their job and shouldn't be tipped extra. ;)

How much does it cost to park at the Charleston terminal?

$17/day

Charleston Port cruise parking info

Vehicles displaying a valid handicap placard or license plate with ID are free. The handicapped person must be with the vehicle.

I just got an email with the exciting deals.

I just received an email also but nothing seemed Xciting OR exciting. Guess I'll wait until business turns bad to book another cruise.

Too bad. I really wanted to book another cruise before next spring.

The excitement is waning?

Can't find them either.

Appears to have taken a long walk off a short pier. :D

So Lisa Lutoff-Perlo was serious when she said they weren't going to discount any more?

I keep looking for the current "Exciting" Deals (Wasn't it "Xciting" before?). All I keep getting is 5/17/16 – 5/18/16 but today is 5/23. Has anyone found the current deals?

Just returned from a cruise on Constellation and on reviewing our information noticed that our seapass had a B2 code on the card. Not sure what this is as our booking information had us as C2?

I believe that's your muster station not your booked cabin category.

We have done 15 cruises out of Bayonne and only our Summit Canada / New England cruise last September went by the Statue of Liberty. That was Captain Kate's first official sailing where she took over as Captain.

 

OP have a great cruise and take care of the ship. We sail next Sunday.

Here's a picture from that sailaway to NE/CA, CruisingChick :)

Steve wrote:

 

"Based upon what I read, they've removed or are removing Cafe al Bacio from Classic. That's an outrage if so."

 

Where have you read this? I agree it's a very bad thing if it turns out to be true!

This is the description on the web site that has no mention of premium coffee in the paragraph. But then I further clicked on the classic package PDF where it does say premium coffee included. Guess I just didn't click enough to find it.

Classic Package

Throughout your cruise, choose from beers up to $6 per serving, spirits, cocktails, liqueurs and frozen drinks up to $8 per serving, and wine-by-the-glass up to $9 per serving. Plus, with purchase of this Classic Package, you can enjoy a 15% discount on all wines by the bottle purchased on board, even our prized Reserve Wine list and Rare Wine list.

*Starting from: 55.00 USD Per NIGHT