twincheryl

Koningsdam

Like others who are sad to see Celebrity leave the west coast, we have booked a short 7 day to Mexico in Jan 2025 so we don’t have to fly anywhere. It has two ports that we’ve not been to in our many early years of cruising Carnival from Long Beach when that was all we could afford. It’s on a newer ship, so we shall see. We are currently on Reflection and find most everything to be as we have experienced many times before… a lack of bar servers is the big missing link. The rest of the experience is filled with friendly and helpful staff. Will continue with Celebrity as much as possible in the future.

Yes… looking at the Celebrity Today as I type…We will check your bags in and print your boarding pass onboard… fee of $29 per person. Available on flights from FLL on select airlines. Deadline to register is 1/10 before 3pm (we debark on 1/14).

Have never seen it… but I just get a can of club soda and drop in a piece of pineapple or watermelon from the buffet… or a splash of fruit punch or juice from the dispenser. Take a plastic glass of fruit back to your cabin fridge to use later…

Was so excited to see a couple of those news articles. We are currently on Reflection to ABC Islands and have 8 more cruises that were booked before this new pricing scheme. Three of them are on other lines even though Celebrity is by far our favorite… but the prices even before this were hard to pass up. We were excited to finally get to Elite Plus on Celebrity but as we are solos who always book SV cabins we just cannot book with this increase in price. The last booking we made in early Dec went from $4700 to now almost $9000 with this ridiculous scheme, Still waiting for my return call from the executive office… 😎

Appreciate you emailing… I have done the same regarding the ridiculous solo pricing but have not heard back. In the past when there have been issues that lots of people were unhappy about, it does seem that they were listening… which is why we have remained loyal to Celebrity. I would encourage people to email about issues that are important to them. We’ll see how these are handled by the new mgmt team… there are many other cruise lines out there.

The last cruise I booked in early Dec 2023 appears to be the same promo that is on now... No Perk Rate w BOGO75 PCT NRD... it is a solo booking and definitely not the current pricing calculation. I originally thought that it must be an IT error, but your conversation confirms that they must have started the new calculation a couple weeks later...

Totally agree with this situation. As with the great evening buffet debacle of January 2023, I suggest that as many people as possible email executiveoffice@celebrity.com. While I don't imagine that the response will be the same as many of us received last January (with a very quick phone call from a rep and buffet soon back to almost normal), they really need to know that this is not ok. As with several issues over the years, possibly this will make a difference. Possibly the new executive team will just ignore us... no way to know unless we try. I already emailed and expressed my sadness that after many Celebrity cruises over the years, I will not be booking more than I already have booked before this ridiculous price increase. Just sad for those who cruise solo through no choice of their own... like having a spouse die or being divorced... not to mention those who choose to be single. I have never complained about paying the price for double occupancy, but this new pricing strategy has significantly increased even that. Here is an example... 10/1/24 11nt Canaries & Portugal... double occ $6559 cruise only... solo cruise only $9320. More than ridiculous!

I have stopped buying the non-alchoholic pkg... after pricing it out, it was just not worth it. We are Elite as well. Easy to pop down to the continental breakfast in the morning and accumulate water or a couple sodas during the evening "cocktail hour". We also book on board so usually have a pretty good amount of obc, so it works out fine for me.

You are correct… that is for people who have the basic wifi that is included in the all included package. If you want two devices to be on Premium you need to purchase the Premium two device plan. Interestingly, several of the cruises I already have booked only offer the Premium one device during the flash sale… no idea why that is… maybe an oversight or…?

Have had no luck emailing… just went thru this last month. Do you have a UK phone number for Capt Club? That’s the fastest way.

Keep checking the price... and then call and have them reprice if it goes down or there is a different promotion. As I said above, we just booked a cruise on Dec 7 that priced it correctly... after they sent out the email about "our special half yearly sale" or whatever they called it, this problem cropped up. I would certainly escalate and be the squeaky wheel... it makes absolutely to sense to have to pay a huge amount more than double occupancy. I always pay double and am used to it, but on the cruise I booked it's now $3000 more for a solo. Just can't be correct...

Agree... not seen this issue before as I always book solo... They have definitely changed something in the past couple of weeks. I booked a Sunset Veranda for 2025 the day the Boston/Canada came out on Dec 7th. A solo cabin was $4866 with fees and cruise only. After reading this post, I just did a mock booking and the same cabin is $7854. Double occupancy is $4668. That's just crazy! Hopefully this is an IT glitch... would never pay $7854 for a solo cabin. Might be a good time to email executive offices and ask. I have had very good success with getting a prompt response... LBethge@celebrity.com

Prices change quite often… for an example… Summit next May, Pacific Coastal, is $22.99/day and Edge Alaska is $25.99/day. As a comparison, Apex to Canaries/Portugal in Oct 24 is $21.99/day. The regular price with no sale or “flash sale” that they have every once in awhile is anywhere from $24 to $33 per day on cruises I have booked. There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind the prices. We have found the Starlink internet to be good enough to stream movies and do everything we want to do on social media, etc… even wifi calls have been fine.

They have had packets of free hot chocolate powder on every Celebrity ship I’ve been on… in Oceanview by the tea bags. You just add water. They also make awesome hot chocolate in Cafe al Bacio with your choice of regular or alternative “milks”. Unless you have a drink package there is a charge for this.

Here's the info we have on the Budget rental car we are getting in January... it was a little difficult getting this location to come up on the Budget website... I finally just did a google search and found it that way. We'll just return it to the FLL airport before our flight in the evening. Budget Car Rental Pick up: Ft Lauderdale Cruiseport Shttl, EV3 2520 Miami Rd, Fort Lauderdale Ph: 954-761-7231 Do you shuttle to and from Port Everglades? Yes, we do! If Ft. Lauderdale is one of the cruise ports you’re going to explore, simply meet the shuttle at the pier, and it will deliver you to the Budget Port Everglades / Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port office, where you can pick up a rental car. How close is this location to the port? Our Fort Lauderdale cruise shuttle office is about 1.6 miles from Port Everglades Terminal 18. This is a shuttle ride of about 10 minutes.

I would say that one thing to consider is that there is not a lot of shade on the SV cabins, and it's likely to be quite warm on an ABC cruise. Last time we did this on a different Caribbean itinerary, we had to keep the curtains closed most of the afternoon due to the heat from the sun beating on the slider. It would have been way too hot for me to sit out there, but DH could handle it for a bit. Long walk back to the cabin, but we find it quieter back there with very little hallway noise. A personal decision for sure... but on a "hot weather" itinerary it wouldn't matter to me if I stayed somewhere else on the ship.

The biggest incentive we find is the $100pp deposit and a bit of extra obc above what is available for the current promotion that Celebrity is offering online, if any. Amount depends on cabin category and length of cruise.

Thanks so much, John Bull and everyone else! Never imagined that we could stay with hotel points in Bournemouth and also take the train to Brockenhurst or other stops nearby for a day trip. We are not "tour" people, so this will allow us to do only the things that interest us in each place and not need to hire a guide or taxi. Everyone in our party will be happy now!

This past summer we stayed in London and Southampton before our cruise. Next October we're cruising out of Southampton again and would like to see some other areas. Will stay 2 nights after flying from California and make our way to the port the morning of the cruise. We've come up with Bournemouth or Winchester as possibilities that have lovely scenery and places to walk around as well as eat out. Those of you that live on the other side of the pond from us... do you have any comments about those areas or others within an hour or so of Southampton? We are three seniors with no disabilities... will need 3 hotel rooms at a hotel with air conditioning. Will hire a private car to wherever we end up. We will not have a car, but ok to Uber or taxi... don't care about tourist locations like Stonehenge... love beautiful parks/nature areas and lovely small(ish) villages. Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions...

We did a 7day b2b with a 4 day this past summer and had to call… got $100 discount.

We have sailed in Concierge cabins several times. In my opinion, there is no difference. We decline the afternoon canapes because they often sit around all afternoon while we are doing something in port or around the ship. The price is rarely worth the one bottle of sparkling wine that you now have to ask for if you'd like it. We have never used the binoculars or umbrella, the pillow selection, or the key holder. That being said, if you are close to the next Captain's Club level, it might be worth getting the 2 extra points each day.

Yes… unless it’s a flash sale. Check the fine print at the bottom of the offer.

Just off a packed full Silhouette B2B out of Southampton... lots of coughing, sneezing, etc. and no mention of Covid anywhere... many evenings there was nobody at the entrance to the buffet with hand sanitizer, although generally someone during breakfast and lunch. I was surprised that there were no sinks for hand washing as on most of the new or revolutionized ships... which would be my preference. My sister tested positive when we got home... both of us had allergy-like symptoms during the cruise but assumed it was due to the a/c as we generally experience in that type of situation. I imagine many others did not test either and expect that many would have been positive. Maybe saw two or three people with masks out of over 3000 passengers

Just off Silhouette and this was the case...and one evening the DJ was by Cafe al Bacio... quite loud and certainly not our favorite!