Islander500

On 1/9/2024 at 5:42 PM, lackcreativity said:

I hope my suggestion will be acceptable on an Oceania thread. I am here to learn about the Oceania experience, in hopes of finding some Mediterranean itineraries that are unavailable on Viking, my cruise line of choice.

 

I am not a cold weather fan for vacations, but I know enough about Viking's offerings to report that they have a strong presence in Scandanavia, with a variety of options available. They already have dates available for all of 2025 and much of 2026. Perhaps you might find something that suits your August anniversary there.

 

Again, as a likely future Oceania cruiser myself, I hope my advice will be recognized as an attempt to be helpful. From what my research here has shown me so far, it seems that Viking and Oceania are similar, and both are very popular. 

Thank you.  I actually looked at Viking options as my 1st choice.  Both Oceania & Viking would be new lines to try for us.  But I couldn’t find an itinerary on Viking which I preferred.  I would rather stay on the European mainland rather than start or end in Iceland.  I also saw an Azamara itinerary which looked interesting but I prefer the newer ships.  

Thanks so much! I was wondering if they were not yet released. I almost booked in June because we do want to go summer of 2025, but prefer a later date to celebrate an anniversary in August.         

Neither here or there, but just happened to see a current wine list/pricing posted on the Oceania thread and thought it would be helpful to share.  🙄

Hello, 

I have been trying to find cruise options for a Norwegian fjords cruise on this cruise line in late summer 2025 or even 2026 but am find nothing.  Since I'm new to this line, was wondering if anyone can help? (I'm on hold with the cruise line so thought I'd post here while I wait.) Is it possible they are not yet released?  

I apologize in advance.  Looking to change to other lines/smaller ships (from Celebrity) so may be annoyingly present here at least for awhile.

Thanks all! 

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

It seems from recent posts that, at least in the Retreat, they tell you about the upcharge before serving the wine but no slips to sign.  

Thanks jelayne. We typically dine in BLU and always love that our sommeliers are usually very attentive to "refill" our wine glasses before our glass is empty.  Not sure how this will work with all the wine upcharges; they will bring you another serving in a new wineglass or wait until you are finished to refill?  I guess they will figure it out, but it won't be a problem for me.  Will likely just stop purchasing packages or seek alternatives to Celebrity that are more "all-inclusive." 

29 minutes ago, Debordo said:

We were on the Dec 10th sailing of the Ascent. I was very disappointed with the price increase for the wines and other drinks. We purchased a classic package as a gift for our friends we were traveling with as a treat for them.  The wine options were so small it was ridiculous. My husband and I were on the premium package as I enjoy Conundrum wine. Last year on the Beyond this was always in the premium package. This year I was charged $2.40 up charge. I always enjoyed the sommelier being generous with keeping my glass full of wine while I was on the package. This also is no longer true as they’d have to ask each time to verify I’m willing to pay the upcharge.
The reason I buy a package is for the convenience and as my husband is on medication and no longer can drink any alcohol, I’m definitely paying a premium. There really is no way I can justify the price with the amount of drinks I drink. Celebrity really should rethink these upcharges as I have decided to no longer purchase a package and just pay as I go. I’ll be spending much less so Celebrity will be missing out on their profit from me.  

Truth!  We have an upcoming cruise on Ascent.  The day I have to start to pay for an upgrade (and sign a little paper) for pretty pedestrian wines will be the final time I purchase an alcohol package.  How utterly annoying and ridiculous. Be careful what you ask for, Celebrity!  You may be destroying the alcohol package programs you created to increase revenue and it may backfire.

On 12/29/2023 at 2:45 PM, LindaS272 said:

My favorite was In the Wake of the Vikings—Bergen to Montreal. Next favorite was Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile, to Buenos Ares. Haven’t been on a port intensive one yet. We tend to prefer ones that take us to far flung places that we wouldn’t go to on our own as a destination (Faroes, Falkland, Chilean fjords, throw in Svalbard, too.)

We have been Celebrity cruisers but are planning our first Viking cruise for 2025. I haven't seen that one so will have to look for it. Thank you. 

Had an incredibly frustrating experience yesterday when I cancelled flights by Celebrity before Final Payment. Just sharing so others know what happens and not to be surprised when it does. 

I changed my travel itinerary and needed different flights to return from Europe after a TA.  I booked the flights directly and called Flights by Celebrity to cancel the prior reservations before Final Payment as is allowed.  I verified with agent that this cancellation did not affect my cruise booking and she assured me opf such, and that there was no cancellaton fee.

Immediately, I started getting emails saying that my specialty restaurant reservations, WIFI upgrades and even 1 excursion would be cancelled unless I paid certain amounts since I had exceeded my OBC (I had not).  Not just one email, but multiple emails; one after another. These were extremely concerning because they were sent to me and copied to another couple with whom we are traveling and we had booked various reservations as we are linked together. 

Thankfully, I had computer access so immediately went on the Celebrity website.  The cruise was still there but the payment had increased significantly even though the flights were no longer there. 

I was so concerned that I called Celebrity & waited & waited.  Finally, I was fortunate enough to reach an EXCELLENT customer service rep who told me he would check it out, contact his support dept and would call me back. Honestly, I was skeptical but he did just that.  After 2 to 3 hours back and forth on the phone, & multiple call backs from the same rep, it was all supposedly fixed.  They couldn't reinstate the same cruise rate I had but the difference was minor. The OBC was also reinstated. The specialty restaurant bookings were supposedly all reinstated, although what I received has no specific dates or times or passenger names anymore. The wifi and premium drink package upgrades are not specific with the passenger's names, either.

The Rep explained that cancelling flights, which is permissible without any penalty or fees, up-ends the entire cruise reservation and resets everything so it all has to be manually corrected, to the extent it can be.  I did go back and print my receipts for each individual booking from OBC (from my emails) to bring with me. Hopefully, all will be well!  If not, I expect I will be very pissed when I get on board my cruise and my travelling companions and I have to spend hours at Guest Relations after boarding. 

Sharing so you know what to expect if you end up in the same proverbial "boat".          

To the OP: 

I'm so sorry that your family trip was disrupted by this unexpected unpleasantness and that your daughter (and your entire family) was understandably distressed. 

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who's employee(s) created this snafu. They were representing the cruise company and ultimately, Celebrity needs to respond appropriately. 

I hope you share Celebrity's response and that an apology is prominently included.

Period.  

One of a parent’s worst nightmares. 

So sorry for that child & her family and the likely others involved. Apparently more video cameras may be needed as well as someone actually checking the videos. This did not come out until a 6-year-old reported it.  Was anyone checking the videos regularly? How long had this guy been supervising kids on this and other ships? Especially horrifying when there’s a new batch of young kids who were exposed to him weekly.  

Wow!  I guess demand is driving that price.  So lucky we booked on a real sale several months ago for an upcoming TA. 

We did this recently for the first time because we never knew it was allowed and we had a lot of OBC (it had been booked a long time ago when OBC was flowing much more freely.)

It worked well for the stateroom attendant. Since we dined mostly in BLU and had been seated at multiple tables (different teams of waiters)  we tried to leave the balance of the OBC for the BLU team.  Guest Relations said that I could not do that, only to individuals.  The Maitre D had told us that they pool their gratuities so I don't know if there is a way to leave the OBC to this "pool."  But if it's doable, I'm sure someone here on CC knows!

15 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

I wonder if it's acceptable to drink from the bottle in a brown paper bag?

Only at the art auction. Any drinking is encouraged there.

14 minutes ago, SSAtlantic said:

Does anyone know if I book the upgrade for a cruise we may move to a different cruise (Middle East), 

will my upgrade move too or be cancelled? We are definitely not going, but have not decided on a replacement yet. 

I had booked drink and wifi upgrades on sale for a cruise that Celebrity cancelled (no fault of mine) and they said no to giving me the same upgrade sale price for the replacement cruise. I got a refund.  I even sent an email and received a call from the "Executive Offices" saying "sorry, but no" politely.    

So different, but similar, circumstances.  Good luck!

Well, who cares about the CC discount!  just booked at $6.99 per day which is a no brainer.

Thanks all and CHEERS! 🍸 

12 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

What is this new $15 upgrade price?  Wow.   I paid $9.99 so still ahead but that’s interesting they’ve dropped the regular price 
 

 

Is this new math? 

45 minutes ago, jag82177 said:

Is it possible/easy to cancel a previously purchased premium upgrade? I had paid $20/day so would like to get the new price if possible 

Yes.  Just cancel and rebook at sale or new lower price.  

1 hour ago, Cruise Gopher said:

 

Yeah this is interesting.  I wonder if things will change in the coming days because it definitely looks like they just lowered the base daily rate of the upgrade.  So the Elite discount % should be off the $15.  

 

In the meantime I just canceled and re-booked at this lower $13.99 rate for 3 of my cruises.  It's cheaper than the old rate with the Elite discount.

Does anyone know what is the Elite+ discount currently on a pre-cruise upgrade to premium?  It used to be 15% but just read on the Celebrity website that it’s 10%. Did they announce a reduction?  

On 10/16/2023 at 3:37 AM, kitkat343 said:

Both the Baltics and the Norwegian fjords are spectacular, for the reasons Kaisatu correctly identified.  The only thing I would add is that please note that Norway is scheduled to restrict access to the heritage fjords (which include Geiranger and Flam) starting in 20205 to ships that are zero net emissions.  If you think you would be interested in visiting Norway, I'd do it next summer.  If you are looking for a 7 day, my favorite ports were Geiranger, Flam and Olden.  The one thing that's tricky about Norway is that the weather can be tough, and a lot of the ports are weather dependent in that the spectacular views are diminished if the weather isn't clear.

 

The other reason to choose Norway next summer is that it would give another year to see if St. Petersburg might reopen.  I definitely wouldn't bet on that, but if you went to Norway next summer to see the ports that will have limited access in the future, there's a better chance of St. Petersburg reopening in the summer of 2025 than in 2024, but again that's nothing you can expect to happen soon, since even if the war ended tomorrow they'd need time to ensure that Russia is stable before letting people visit again. 

Thank you.  We are planning to visit in 2025 and what I have found in reading is that the zero emissions standards are being put in place in 2026. Can you advise where you are seeing that it is in 2025? Maybe wishful thinking on my part? 

Appreciate OP's post and it actually made me laugh.  We are also thoroughly confused as to what line to book.  Thinking about going on a smaller ship, i.e. splurging (for us) on Viking or Oceania.  Just struggling with what itinerary to choose because some of the larger ships seem to go to the "must see" locations I've read about on Cruise Critic and I don't see those in the smaller ship's itinerary, such as Flam and Alesund. Any advise would be appreciated.

7 hours ago, zanderblue said:

Sorry folks but I feel I need to vent a little. We had a poor experience on Solstice a couple of months ago, but the Infinity was worse.

 

Just off the Infinity this morning in Lisbon. Food choices from the menu in MDR were very poor.

Most evenings for appetisers it was 3 soups and 2 salads or vice versa, with possibly one other item; eggplant caviar and salmon tartar spring to mind. The usual ever present onion soup, shrimp cocktail and escargots disappeared randomly through the trip.

The entrees fared worse I thought. The menus changed late in the day with the substitute items poorly thought out. One night we had braised shin of veal on the menu, to be told at table that it was not available and was replaced by steak Diane. Only problem there was we were then left with…..

Steak Diane which was grilled sirloin steak with mushroom sauce

Steak n chips which was grilled sirloin steak with fries

and

New York strip which was grilled sirloin steak with vegetables

 

Most entrees came with green beans, carrots and mashed potato. Although one night broccoli replaced the green beans.

 

No beef wellington to compete with the lobster tail and no prime rib on final night, although it had appeared on the menu, only to be replaced with braised short rib at the table.

 

I do appreciate that food can be subjective, but my gripe is less to do with food itself and more to do with the removal of dishes and the overall reduction of choices.

 

There is no way that these changes are an enhancement. The wait staff were mostly embarrassed by it all and were encouraging folks to mention it in the survey.

 

In addition to this we experienced issues being seated consistently in same section. We were allocated to 5 different sections during the 9 nights and had to wait more than 40 minutes on 2 separate evenings, this was despite having reservations made for the same time every day at time of booking. We were only a 4 top and were never difficult in trying to get seated. 
I did note that select dining was allocated the larger lower dining room instead of the usual mezzanine upper level and did wonder if the additional select numbers might have been the cause???

 

The ship is in reasonable condition overall, although there is some general wear and tear due to age.

 

We did enjoy the cruise in spite of the MDR issues, but probably won’t be back with Celebrity anytime soon, unless there is an improvement. So sad and disappointing!

 

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I for one appreciate hearing from someone who just got off a Celebrity ship rather than all the people who are suggesting you’re wrong when they weren’t on it with you.  Hope your next holiday totally meets your dining expectations!  

2 hours ago, prmssk said:

In addition, to the daily gratuities automatically being deducted from your OBC (assuming you don't pre-pay), you can also choose (if you so desire) to add extra gratuities to specific staff or departments by asking for the form at guest services (or the concierge if you are in the Retreat).

I just did this on Summit and I was told by Guest Relations I could not assign it to a dept or a team; was told that each amount had to be designated to a particular staff person by name (or employee #). 

9 hours ago, hankandteri said:

Again, I admitted that I didn't compare current vs. historical averages for any other line in my initial report. I was only concerned about recent Celebrity reviews.

 

Just for fun, I just did the same exercise for Carnival and HAL (last 60 reviews vs. historical average) Carnival also dropped and by way more than I was expecting. They went from 3.8 to 3.0--almost as much as X dropped. HAL, on the other hand, went from 3.9 to 3.8, which isn't much of a change at all.

Like how you have fun.  Haven’t read further on the thread but would love to see if you will make similar comparisons to some of the other more premium lines, too.  I think the data is interesting.  I know I was one of the very recent Celebrity reviewers and my survey response to Celebrity tracks what I posted on CC.  It’s my third celebrity cruise this year & my ratings have gone down with each.  By my cruise in May (from January), the changes were noticeable, by September they were significant and disappointing.  
 

1 hour ago, hankandteri said:

It was a combination of things. The O cruise was a Med cruise in May on Riviera--one of their bigger ships. I realize now that some of it was what all cruise lines were and are still experiencing to varying degrees--very full ships and not enough crew. A high percentage of the crew they did have were very new and training on the job. I suspect the situation is much better now, several months later.

 

We were in a suite, and some of it was a very disappointing experience with their butler service (first world problem, I know). We happened to draw a dud on that front.

 

Finally, I was positively livid that the ship missed three ports (Lisbon, Porto, and Guernsey). Guernsey was legit high seas at a tender port, so no issue there. The reason given for the two misses in Portugal was a supposed port strike when there was no port strike and never was going to be one on the dates we were to visit. It was infuriating watching cruise ships from other lines sailing in and out of those ports while we got bonus sea days. NCL ships (O belongs to NCL) were missing a suspiciously large number of ports at that time, often for the flimsiest of reasons. I still don't understand the economics of port skipping, but I'm 100% convinced that hitting a quarterly revenue target had something to do with the decision. I created a bit of a firestorm on the O board when I wrote about this in way too much detail. You can hunt it down if you're interested, but it's probably best if you don't.

 

There were some great aspects to that cruise as well, and a prior sailing on one of their smaller R-class ships was the best cruise we've ever had. The bigger O ships have an artist in residence who offers free classes during the cruise. My wife participated in that program and it was a highlight of her trip. The excursions we took were fine, our cabin steward was the best ever, the ship was clean and lovely. The specialty restaurants (included for all passengers at no extra charge), the buffet and the MDR were all fantastic. The ice cream on board (included) was memorably excellent as was their grill. 

 

I guess I'm trying to say that you shouldn't let my specific issues dissuade you from trying O out. The other people in our party (there were 10 of us) all had a wonderful experience, and I know that at least one of the couples has booked another cruise on O already.

 

And now back to your regularly scheduled X food discussion.

Thank you. I can certainly understand your disappointment and how that affected your opinion. I would have been pretty upset, too. Those ports in Portugal are wonderful and I’m sure you were expecting they would be a highlight of your cruise. Much appreciated and hope you’ll be able to go back to visit Portugal sometime when you’re ready.  

1 hour ago, hankandteri said:

 

I totally agree that the overall experience is what matters.

 

Carnival isn't for us either any longer. Been there, done that, won the plastic ship on a stick. However, we feel the dining experience is such an important piece of the total package, that Celebrity may no longer be for us either.

 

We were on Oceania earlier this year. The food was consistently terrific but some other elements weren't quite what I was looking for or remembered from our pre-pandemic cruise with O. We sail on Celebrity in less than two weeks, and I really hope we love everything about it. After that we have cruises booked on Princess and HAL. We're also looking at Viking or maybe Virgin after those. We would love to become loyalists and cheerleaders for at least one of the lines, but that's a challenge right now. We're going to sample what's out there until we either find our "home" at sea or conclude that cruising isn't the best fit for us any longer.

Really appreciate your point of view.  Would love to learn more about the Oceania misses. That’s one line we were looking at closely.  It’s helpful to hear it from Celebrity cruisers because we can consider in context to what we both know & are familiar with…Thanx.  

As several folks have questioned whether the BLU experience has changed, I'm sharing a link to M-class Summit review for very recent feedback on the BLU experience on a Celebrity ship. Just note the subsection on dining, or please just scroll on by if you aren't interested. It's just my opinion! 🫣😏

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=706873