hammo

If celebrity told us which ships had large groups on board...they would have a difficult job selling cabins on those ships....depending of course on the group.

 

It is clearly in their best interest to refuse to give out that information.

I can see that , but what about my best interest - or my families best interest , maybe that should also be important , if not paramount , in my selection of a cruise I feel maximizes the substantial $ outlay .I'm saying the choice should be an informed one and if a group such as described in the earlier post -( a group of 900 on Reflection! :eek:) takes over the Sky Lounge or pool area :mad:and monopolises the late dinner seating to the extent that I must eat early or Select:mad:, then we should be able to understand that this is possible and will probably occur with Celebrities blessing. Its freedom of information so we avoid a potential problem.

I look at it like the ship hold 3000 people, does it really matter how they get there?

 

So some of the cruisers will be at the pool, well the same number of people would have used the pool if there were no "group". So they fill sky lounge, well, they just happened to the first 300 there to fill it....

 

I was on a group charter in November, we had 900 of us on Reflection. If you visit our roll call, (November 30, 2013 Reflection) you will see how many people came back from the cruise to post even though they were not in the group, how it wasn't really an issue, and what a fun cruise it was.

 

Yes our group took the entire late dining seating, making others go select or early, but its always a chance the ding room slots are full and people can't get first choice.

Yes , I think it does matter -

" So they fill sky lounge, well, they just happened to the first 300 there to fill it...." really ?? What if I would like to go to the Sky Lounge - and your other comment - "Yes our group took the entire late dining seating, making others go select or early, but its always a chance the ding room slots are full and people can't get first choice."

Thats exactly what I am saying ---

To my original point - it does seem that our cruise now does have a large group booked onboard - Silhouette on September 12. A CC contributor on our forum mentioned that their TA told them the group have booked all inside cabins and when I looked at the Celebrity site , all oceanview cabins are sold and the balcony price starts now at $3500 plus.

Our own TA says they cannot find out if indeed any large group has booked as Celebrity will not divulge that information ( not sure how the other CC contributors TA did find this out ?).

:( Having sailed previously with a large group onboard ,who took over public areas and lounges , and made access to some bars etc difficult I believe we should be advised when this occurs as it does affect your expectation and for us the enjoyment of cruising. Not saying large groups shouldnt be able to book large blocks of cabins , just that the rest of us should be able to decide whether that cruise is right for them given that.:mad:

Why is the Tuscan Grill experience so ordinary given the price we pay for the privilege ?:confused:

Is it possible to find out if a large Charter Group may have "Hijacked" your cruise? Our RollCall is particularly slow and it was suggested that this may be because a large group have taken a large number of cabins and have no need to use CC as all their itinerary etc is in-house and no need to participate here.:confused:

We are returning to Naples on Silhouette and will take our family down the Amalfi Coast and also visit Pompeii . We have prices from several private tour companies and have found Mondo Guide to be slightly less expensive. Has anyone had experience with them ?. We originally had a quote from Jack the driver but this was 150 euro more for basically the same 8hr day for 6 people.Any advice most appreciated.:)

Hi

Appears we have been allocated cabin 6184 on Silhouette - I'm guessing this is not a good cabin ? Cant find any information about it on CC :confused:

I need advice here also please. We have a booking for Celbrity Millennium May 28 . We are from Australiua booked with a USA agent . We have paid in full , and see that we are outside the 75 day penalty for cancellation. Would we be able to cancell and rebook to take advantage of the promotion. We have an ordinary inside cabin on Continental deck so no loss there! I also see our travel agant is offering the cruise at a much discounted rate than we paid also . Should we cancel and rebook anyway ?? Any advice would be appreciated:confused:

Good fun reading the beverage package posts again . We were on Solstice last Jan in the Caribbean and both had the Premium packages which were a fantastic way to go for us after months of pouring over all the posts in the Sticky. ( no pun intended )

. We are now booked on Solstice again in March ( Australia ) and Millenium in May ( Alaska ) . We plan on buying the Premium packages again but would certainly like to buy these at a reduced sale rate if and when they are offered . Does anyone have any information about the likelihood on a beverage package sale or discount occuring for 2013 cruises mentioned above ? Maybe there will be a price increase ? :eek::eek::eek:

Thankyou Jim & Larry . Can you tell me where I can get the premium tea and coffee with the Premium Alcohol Package please -- do I need to go to the cafe or is it somehow available with lunch/dinner in the dining room? Thanks again for your time.

I cant see any French Bubbly on the list , so I guess it may not include wines that are over the $12 limit ?? Does anyone have a full current list ?

Also , I have ordered the premium alcohol package as the most excellent calculator seems to say I may spend twice the package cost !! -- :eek::eek::o:o

Am I able to get a specialty coffee or premium tea in the MDR with breakfast or do I need to go out to the cafe for this ?:D

After months of procrastination and countless hours of reading these posts we have finally decided on our drinks packages -- premium for me and premium non alcohol for the beautiful wife. ( she will just pay as she goes for the wine as she is not the boozer that I am apparently ) .Thanks to everyone for the advice and information , it has been fun reading and I will no doubt continue to check in daily as it seems to have become a habit now .

I do have 2 questions --

when I sit down for dinner / lunch and request some bottled water , do I need to drink this before I can order a glass of wine ( given that its 1 drink at a time ? )

Also , if my wife decides to "upgrade" from the Premium non alcohol to the premium alcohol for the last 3 days of the cruise , how do we go about this and how is the price calculated? Thanks again:D

Thankyou Lsimon , as usual , you are a wealth of knowledge and we are fortunate to have your contributions here on these boards . We too were thinking that we would just order and pay as we go , but after adding up our likely consumption of wine per day , especially on sea days , we are about the same as the package price - so maybe a nicer coffee and a martini / daquiri or 2 makes the premium package appealing. On the other hand , I know we will miss out on tasting some bottled wines we would prefer to order , and just order the small range offered by the glass. There in the conundrum lies.

Can you tell me if Red Bull is readily available on Solstice - I see it on some lists -- that may influence one person in our party who plans to buy a package .

We are on Solstice Jan 1 and I have read and re-read the 1500+ posts here several times and my head is spinning . I would like to purchase the premium package -- we would mainly be drinking wine -- sparkling wine / Champagne -- but it seems that the wines by the glass are very limited - does anyone have the latest wine by the glass lists relevant to Solstice - I have read the 2010 lists and a list from the Constellation from earlier this year but cant find a more recent one .

Can someone also tell me - I have seen different wine offered in the MDR , the specialty restaurants ( the Silk Harvest list had no Champagne offered by the glass ? ) and bars --- can I get say - Perrier Jouet Champagne by the glass at all bars ? dining rooms etc ?

Thanks for any advice here .

If this turns out to be too expensive I'll add the appropriate alcohol package on during the cruise. Hope this is helpful to some, Laurie

Thanks for the info Laurie --- to be clear then -- you are saying you can purchase an alcohol package part way through the cruise ? I still have yet to hear first hand of someone actually doing this succesfully :confused:.

Just thought I would check again if anyone has returned from their cruise and purchased a drinks package pro-rata - say for the last 4 days of a 7 night cruise . I realize their have been posts suggesting this is possible , but has anyone actually done this ??

Cheers :D

Thankyou so much Lsimon - Larry , if I'm not being too presumptuous - You are a fantastic help on the Cruise Critic Boards . Read through the links you identified and it does seem that we should be able to purchase the Premium Drinks Package for the second half of our Solstice Cruise -- fingers crossed. If you hear anything to the contrary please post as I will be watching the boards and especially this sticky. This is such a useful tool , especially for us here in Australia as we seem so far away from all the available information you have at your fingertips . Our family cant wait to get onboard Solstice on Jan 1 .

Thanks again

The question still remains - Has anyone actually purchased a drink package for part of their cruise pro rata ? If so can you tell us how that went? That would take some of the mystery out of this question . Obviously everyone who uses this forum likes to plan and prepare and maximize the enjoyment of their cruise . It seems that someone would have at least tried to purchase a beverage package for the second half of their cruise ? Seems like I'm rather pedantic about this I suppose , but if I can do that I will wait rather than prepaying for the entire package on line now . :confused:

Hey Jim

Thanks for adding to this -- As I said , I guess my question is the ability to purchase a package pro-rata , say day 3 on a 7 day cruise ( I understand that it would then be for the remainder of the cruise ) and even the last few days on a longer cruise. I thought we might hear from someone who has actually succesfully done this recently . Maybe someone can give some definition to this as it should be a win win situation for both Celebrity and the cruiser .

Thanks for the reply Lsimon , you certainly add a great deal to this forum and I am most appreciative of the contribution you make .

Do you think it sounds ambiguous -

QUOTE] No, it must be purchased for the entire voyage. It can be purchased on board up until there are 2 nights left in the cruise and must be purchased for the remainder of the voyage

How Can it mean you must buy for the entire cruise and then again you can purchase up untill 2 nights are left ? I must be missing something here ?

cheers I hope :confused:

What type of bottles are you looking for information on. Wine? Spirits? Beer? Water? If you can give more info we might be able to help.

Also, if you're not sure then why not wait until you are on the ship and take a day to check out the offerings, prices and your own consumption. You can always buy a package after a day or two of your cruise and pay the pro-rated rate for the remainder of the cruise.

 

Hi

Firstly , thanks for all the contributions to this thread and having read all 68 pages , it certainly is one of the most interesting questions on a cruise - how much to pay for your drinks aboard. We are sailing on Solstice Jan 1 and I am still confused about Lsimons post above . Celebrity say on their site that the beverage packages must be purchased for the entire cruise , and some anecdotal evidence suggests that you can by say the Premium Package on a pro-rata basis - say for the last 4 days of a 7 night cruise ?? Does anyone have a definite answer to this or have you done this recently on board . It would certainly make our decision easier as we plan to bring aboard Solstice the wine allowance and as much soda and water as we feel necessary , so the first couple of days should be covered adequately for us . We would then consider a package beginning the 3rd day or so if this was available to us. Any advice on the question would be greatly appreciated.