keels81

1 hour ago, karena1 said:

When are you going?  If it is after Navigator goes through its refurb, there will tons to do on the ship if you don't want to get off in Nassau.  Mini Golf, Sky Pad, etc.  We love Mariner since we got her in Miami and now looking very forward to getting Navigator.  From what I have seen so far, the plans for the new Navigator are going to even outdo Mariner.

Looking at mid-May!

2 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

$300 to $600 for the cheapest cabana.  Chef's table about $85 pp. Pool and slides are open as well as most bars. Most spa treatments are 30% to 50% off.

Thanks!!

7 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

No brunch.

 

Thanks! 

Hi! My girlfriends and I are thinking of surprising one of our besties with a weekend birthday cruise on the Navigator and we're trying to price everything out so we know what we're getting in to ... so a few quick questions:
1. I can't find it, so I assume no - but does Navigator offer a brunch?
2. What's the recent price for Chef's Table?
3. Cabanas on Coco Cay - what have prices been running? Thinking about one of the cheaper ones, not at the water park but by the pool.
 

Right now, I have stateroom 1390 on hold (3B Spacious Balcony aft) - there are four of us going, so I know the squeeze will be tight. Four of us cruised in April in a smaller cabin on the Disney Dream, so we had the benefit of the split bathrooms. I'm a little concerned about the bathroom situation, but we'll make it work!

Also - what are ships like lately when they port in Nassau? I haven't been off the boat in Nassau in years, so I just want to make sure there are things for us to do if we decide to stay on the ship while in port in Nassau.

Hoping to make this surprise a really exciting one! Thanks, y'all!

Do you want to come on my birthday cruise in April?!?! We need an expert to help us navigate the champagne-filled waters of our sponsored group.

Anyone have recent experiences with the Chef's Table on the Empress?

I've done a couple of other Chef's Tables on RCCL and would like to plan for one during our August cruise on Empress, but wasn't sure if it would be worth it on such a short, port-intensive cruise. I was hoping to do it on our sea night, and I know the Empress has a brunch with free mimosas that day as well.

Thanks!

Sorry Cruise Kitty you are incorrect with your advice. The Express pass and E - Docs are two completely different documents.

 

The Express pass is the online document one fills out online 90 days out from sailaway. This can be accessed from "My Celebrity" on the Celebrity website. The Express pass contains all the personal details of you and your shared party including details how you intend paying your onboard account, emergency contacts, passport details and the like. This information whilst not mandatory before checkin will greatly enhance the checkin procedure when arriving at the port. If the express pass is completed it will mean that only credit card and passport details need confirmation otherwise all required details will need to be completed. One will still need to turn up at the port with passport and credit card

 

The E Docs are an online booklet which contains details of the cruise and if living outside Canada or the USA will also contain a colour copy of the luggage tags. Apart from the luggage tags it is a nice to have document but is an informative document only. If you booked your cruise through a Travel Agent Celebrity will send the E Docs to the TA 49 days out from sailaway. You can then obtain a copy from the TA. If you booked direct with Celebrity you can obtain a copy of the E Docs 49 days out from sailaway direct from them.

 

The reason why the E Docs are sent to the TA is because Celebrity pay the TA a commission to do this work and they are the cruise line client and you the passenger are the TA's client. Celebrity are of the view that if they are paying a third party a commission why should they do the work they are paying someone else to do. If one ends up doing a number of cruises through Celebrity one will often become more knowledgeable about the workings of the cruise line than your local TA

 

Hope that clarifies things

Yeah ... this is extremely incorrect. You should receive a link to download E-Docs if you would like them (though you don't need them) - it has nothing to do with how you book, whether with a TA or with Celebrity directly.

And as a Five-Star Academy approved TA, your comments about commission are also off-base.

The prices are the same between booking directly with Celebrity or when you book with a TA - the "commission" is exactly the same and is paid to either a TA that books or directly back to the Celebrity agency arm that books (web or phone or on-ship). If you book directly with Celebrity, you'll get assigned somebody who will get a portion of the cruise fare set aside as their commission. It likely won't even be who you talk to on the phone, but someone who is assigned to you after 30 days when the reservation can't be transferred out of Celebrity's handling.

If you book with a TA, that commission-portion of the already decided-upon fare goes to an actual person that is actually available to you by name and contact to aid you during your travel planning or actually during your trip.

I'm a newbie TA (only six weeks - and I mostly deal with Disney, but - like I said above - I'm Five-Star Academy certified with Celebrity and will be doing the full TA tour and certification on the Solstice in a couple of weeks), but I will say that if you see a TA offering OBC that's above what the cruise line is offering directly ... that's a TA willing to give up a portion of the set commission back to the client in an effort to get business. Some agencies will work with the agent so that the OBC or payback to the client comes out of the commission BEFORE the agency takes its cut, but most of it comes AFTER the agency takes its cut.

Celebrity most CERTAINLY gets a commission cut in its booking process.

I love the idea of the vest to dress up my look on the regular nights. I may just have to go out and buy one. It will take up a lot less luggage space than a second jacket.

 

Thanks for sharing that idea.

You're welcome! They're very popular right now and I think they look pretty retro and nice!

My husband will wear Lululemon dress pants and a button down, and maybe a vest, to dinner for casual nights, and he's bringing two suits for "formal" nights for our upcoming cruise. (We're going to Alaska).

I'll be wearing black shift dresses to dinner every night except the two "formal" nights, where I have a cocktail dress and a couture full skirt with a top to wear that goes along with what my husband is wearing - it's our 10th anniversary, so this is our one shot to get pictures together since we got married. :D

We have a 2D booked for our Christmas cruise this year. Obstruction or not, I felt it was a win-win, because we got a veranda room for $100 more total than an oceanview-only cabin.

Nothing more to add other than:

WE LOVE YOU, ANDY!!!

Have a wonderful cruise with your loved ones - and I'm sure your Dad will still have a heavy hand in making sure that everything goes as perfectly as can be expected.

Sandi - thanks for the EXCELLENT thread! Thinking about booking the Reflection for the Holiday cruise over Christmas for the family and your pictures and report are such a great help!

Can't wait to hear more about the ship and the ports!

My TA says that drinks such a pina colodas are not covered by this promo. However, I heard otherwise from some folks. Can someone tell me the correct info? Thanks,

With the classic package, as long as the drink is under $8, it is included. So this would include pina coladas, as long as they aren't in a souvenir glass and are using house (not call) rum - ie. requesting something at a higher price point than $8.

As for non-alcoholic drinks (sodas, juice, bottled water), I believe the price point was $5 or $6. Red Bull was not included in the Classic, but was on the Premium. So, I imagine smoothies are not included in the Classic, but are in the Premium. We had to problems getting smoothies with breakfast for free in places like the AquaSpa Cafe with the Premium drink package.

Thank you! We have also been on the Century. A very nice ship, but I love the Solstice class staterooms so much better and my thinking is that we would be spending more time in our stateroom for a cold cruise. Oh, decisions. I guess I should look at the schedule before deciding. The Solstice may not work out for DH.

 

Good to hear about your beverage experience. We are not the type to order one drink after another, unless it's coffee/tea/hot chocolate or juice. Where do you get the fresh squeezed juice?

 

How do servers know you have the package. Is it on our seapass cards? Can we take advantage of the pre-mixed drinks that the servers bring around deck, especially that first sailaway day?

Yeah, we went ahead with the Sunset Veranda on the Solstice. I know there have been reports of soot, etc., that make the SVs undesirable - but I'm excited.

On Century, we always got our fresh-squeezed juice at the bar (Sunset Bar?) behind the buffet. It was never crowded and they had a fun little machine that you could watch the oranges roll through en route to squeezing (yes, I realize how nerdy that sounds ...)

As far as the SeaPass cards - we always bought the package as we boarded the ship and they just put a little sticker on our cards (now, this may have changed as it has been about two years since our last cruise). When we'd order drinks (usually outside), they would look at our cards, right down what we wanted on a sheet, hand us our cards back and serve us our drinks.

We were able to order the pre-mixed drinks passed around by servers on the pool deck. We did not have to have the same packages as the rest of our stateroom (I always had the Classic Package, my husband had the Premium).

 

keels81 - Are you taking the Solstice that does not go to Hubbard Glazier? My TA says we need to take the Century, as the Solstice would not go thru HG and we would miss out on the most spectacular sites of Alaska.

 

BTW- I think it was addressed earlier, but does the 1-2-3 beverage package include the gratuities? So all we do is tip the bartender separately if we wish?

Yup - we're on the Solstice that does not go to Hubbard Glacier. We've had many friends who have done both routes and said that either one you choose, it will be equally impressive.

We picked the Solstice for the ship and sea days - we've been on Century twice and I was ready for a change. I don't envision this being our only trip to Alaska in our lives, so it made it easy for us. Plus, the first sea day falls on our anniversary, so we will be able to relax, get pampered and enjoy time with each other without having to race around to excursions and see sites.

As to your question re: gratuity on the beverage package, it does include gratuity (one of the bonus points of the beverage package is you don't have to wait around for receipts to sign). We always tipped servers we saw often - especially as they moved from lounge to lounge during the course of the day. I know people say that there is some "lock down procedure" in the system that keeps you from ordering drinks too quickly - I don't exactly know that that is always true. By our second or third day, our favorite server would bring us buckets of beer on the pool deck as soon as we sat down. Now, that's service! :D

Thanks for posting that! I'm glad to see it showed up. I hope that is the case for everyone.

 

Did you book directly with Celebrity?

 

Someone mentioned having an option to pay for the upgrade in the "beverage package" section. Now that yours is posted, I'm wondering if you have that option?

 

Thanks again.

 

Sue

I booked via Celebrity (first via website) the morning the special began.

I called a CVP I had been working with prior for another cruise and he said he couldn't do the upgrade request for me, but he would transfer me to the main online desk who would be able to help me. He went ahead and put the initial waived beverage package on there and transferred me.

After the transfer, the new gentlemen I spoke to said he removed the WAVE - Classic and instead added the WAVE - Premium and that it would likely take a while to show up online, that the upgrade was an additional $11.50 per person, per day and that I wouldn't need to pay for it right away. He immediately sent me a new copy of my invoice (the screengrab I posted), which reflects the free beverage package and upgrade to premium.

At this point, I'm very satisfied that at least I'll be getting my free drink package. Though, I might tell the husband to start saving his lunch money and allowance to pay for his drinks ... :o

Hi Keels,

 

Thanks for posting this. I'm very pleased (and a bit surprised) to see the package is appearing online !

No prob! Happy to help - and I was just as surprised to see it on there, except for the fact that it was only for me and not my husband. (Kinda concerning? Oh well! At least I have free drinks! :D )

But it's marked for both of us with the upgrade to premium on my invoice, so I figure all is good.

Hi, I appreciate the update, I'm kind of nervous about this whole thing. I changed 3 cruises around for this so I want to make sure it works out!

 

When you say it "showed up" can you tell me what that means. Is it showing under "extras". If you go into beverage packages, does it give you the option to pay for the upgrade? When did you book?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Sue

Sure thing! I went to "View My Reservation" and it was under cruise extras. I've attached a screenshot!

And this is what appears on my Invoice:

My comp'd beverage package showed up on the Celebrity site today, but just for one of us.

I'm not going to sweat it, though - I'm even surprised it showed up to begin with. My invoice denotes that the bev package is waived and we'd like to upgrade to the premium package.

I guess we'll wait until closer to sailing to see how it all shakes out! That said - we plan to make money on this deal. :D

Done and booked on Solstice in July - in the Sunset Veranda cabin I nearly booked last week!

We went with the Classic Drink Package, but went ahead and upgraded to the Premium package for the extra $161 for 7 days ($11.50 pp/pd).

On our last X cruise, we definitely made money on the Premium Package over 5 days, so I have no doubt that we will get our $161's worth and then some.

Oh, man - I was literally about to book the Solstice for July (like, going through the booking motions) when I was just searching this board for beers available, when lo and behold I see this thread!

What a great deal - I'll even take the chance that the stateroom I really love will be gone by the time Monday rolls around.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

The letter to the hotel director sounds like an excellent idea. I will definitely take the time to do that.

What about international pre-paid phone cards? Do people even use those any more?

Hiya!

My family and I are traveling on the Century out of Miami over Christmas.

I was hoping to bring small gifts to give to members of the staff (bartenders, waiters, housekeepers, etc.) over our trip as a token of gratitude.

When we spent Christmas in the D.R. a couple of years ago, I gave our AI waitstaff Sammy Sosa t-shirts with some cash as a Christmas gift. So I've been trying to come up with similar ideas that would be good for people that stay in such a small amount of space. Having not cruised in years, I don't know what the needs/wants/luxuries might be.

Help?