Bluebury

Oh dear, sounds depressing. Especially as we are on the Infinity from 2nd January - she then goes in to dry dock. Will expect the worst and then cannot be disappointed. 

Thank you everyone, that has been helpful.

I hope that someone can help me, I have tried looking to find the answers but getting confused.

We have travelled with Azamara only once and that was several years ago. Travelled with Celebrity and have over 500 club points, making us Elite class. When we went on Azamara they were the same company and the points were added together. How does it work now? Do our 500 points have any value with Azamara and if so, what benefits are we likely to get, as we are looking to book Azamara for the end of the year. How do we access those benefits?

If those points do count, will any future Celebrity points be added, also will the any future Azamara points be added to our Celebrity account?

Thanks for your help and sorry if I have managed to confuse you as much as I am confused. 

Also, where on the itinerary of the cruise that we are interested in taking can I find the info for the Azamazing Trips - or have they been stopped?

Thanks again

Thank you very much Kwokpot for taking the time to answer my question, very much appreciated. Like the idea of hearing the sea whilst going to sleep.

Thank you. I was not sure whether there was a side window at the end but realise that there isn't. I have not been on this class of ship, when on the Solstice class those balconies on the end were lightly bigger but I gather these are not. Seems like there is nothing to choose between the 2. 

Will just toss a coin. Kwokpot - have you any comments or thoughts about your experiences in 9240, would you choose it again?

I hope that someone here can help. 

We are hoping to book a cruise on the Edge and have a choice of a couple of cabins. Both are Aqua class and both on the little hump. One is in the middle of the hump 9236 and the other is at the corner 9240. I have looked on the cabins thread but cannot see what I am looking for, what I want to know - is the one at the corner any better or worse than the one in the middle? Or does it make no difference at all? Does one balcony have better visibility? I expect that the cabins are the same but not necessarily, so comments appreciated.

Thank you

Sharon

23 hours ago, effinaround said:

Thanks for this, Jim. Can't imagine I will ever hit this level of cruising.  Currently at zero points, although that changes starting Saturday when I board the Eclipse!

I love your screen name!!!

Thank you very much for the replies, that is great.

I know that some of you will find this an odd question but I still hope to get an answer to my query if possible.

I am not from the USA, I am from the UK and am considering purchasing some OBC in advance of a Celebrity Cruise later in the year. Then I will not face a surprise bill at the end. My question is - if I put too much in the account and do not spend it - how can I withdraw that in dollars and not have it returned to my card? Is it possible to do that?

Thanks for the help

Were the bookings joined together?

We usually have the bed near the bath, not planned that way - just happens. Last time the bed was near the balcony and I much preferred it. It was easier getting dressed, we could both change in the area without getting our clothes out of the wardrobe, then walk round the bed to larger space to dress.

Also, in the morning I would open the curtains and just sit in bed watching the sea go by. So peaceful and very restful.

I am happy for either, both have their positives and both their negatives, I just prefer the bed near the balcony. I would not choose a cabin on that criteria only though.

Thanks for this, but for me to work out whether it is value to us I could do with knowing how much the drinks actually cost. I know that I have seen it on here once but cannot find it now. Coffee, water, teas, wine, spirits, sodas etc if we bought on board. Hope that someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks

We were on the Azura a couple of years ago and a lady on our table asked for an extra Duchess potato, the waiter had given her one. He looked at her and told her quite stiffly, that she could only have one as it was one per person!

The Peninsular and Oriental are the two main dining rooms and are included in your fare. The Peninsular is Freedom Dining, The Oriental Club Dining. The Conservatory is the Buffet Restaurant but in the evening, a section of this becomes the Beach House, where fees are charged. There is also Sindhu, the for-fee Indian Restaurant. Charges vary depending on the length of the cruise. There is also a small venue on Lido Deck, Al Fresco, where you can get a light breakfast or lunch included in your fare.

 

Sample menus are available on the P&O website.

Thank you for this information - so no Marco Pierre White restaurant, that I have seen written on some websites that I have read.

I have looked it up but depending on what I look at I get different information, so wondered if someone on here can give me the accurate up to date info. I suspect some of the pages that I look at are out of date but am unsure which is correct.

What restaurants are available now on the Oriana? How much are the additional costs and does anyone have the menus?

Thanks for your help.

The money from the 1500 will be shared among all the eligible crew. why should a steward have his share reduced when he has no control over the passengers removing the autotip. However all the shares will be smaller. If more and more passengers remove the auto tip it increases in price to compensate for the fall in revenue.

 

Among your 500 who remove the auto tip I thing significant numbers don't tip anything. This is why I think it should be included in the fare so EVERYONE pays it.

Thank you for your response. So it looks like we are creating inequality all round. Some crew get a percentage of the auto tips, whilst others get that same percentage plus direct tips.

Cruisers, some just pay auto tip, some pay auto tip and extra if they think worthwhile, some pay direct which could be more or less than the auto tip and others pay nothing. This does not seem fair to me. I do not mind paying the tips and additional where appropriate but I do object to subsidising my fellow traveller who has withdrawn their tips.

We have had the occasional steward who has mentioned the end of cruise questionnaire, but not a regular occurrence.

This was an e-mail response from P&O in March last year explaining how their Service reward scheme worked in relation to auto grats.

If I may explain a little in relation to the gratuities, I can confirm that 5 ranks of staff are included within the Service Reward programme, these include Waiters, Assistant Waiters, Head Waiters, Cabin Stewards and Butlers. Members of staff are rewarded for their individual behaviour and service, along with Team work. Scores that they receive from the end of cruise questionnaires plus comments from their peers and leaders are all taken into consideration and I cannot therefore confirm what specific share they receive, as this would differ depending on individual circumstances. This being said, all staff members are rewarded in the same way regardless of the fact that some passengers within their care may choose to remove the automatic gratuities.

 

Any tips which you pay to a member of staff directly are theirs to keep and do not need to be declared or pooled with other members of staff.

 

Clearly it would make far more sense for P&O to include the auto grats in the basic price, they can then do what the heck they want as regards bonus's for excellent service, within any constraints of employment laws.

So, if the auto tips are shared equally and each individual member of staff can keep whatever is paid to them, can someone help me get my head round the following.

2000 people on the ship. 1500 keep the auto tip and 500 choose to give to the individual staff member. Is the money from the 1500 shared among all the staff so a member of staff could get that share plus direct tips - meaning that they would get more than someone who does not get any direct tips?

Are they just planning to sort out the technical issue or are they also doing any changes to the interior? Any idea?

Thank you, much appreciated.

Here is a pdf of all three packages. For some reason I thought I remember something about SDP is only available on European cruises. Does anyone remember?

Thank you for this link, very interesting. This has probably been covered somewhere but I cannot find it so sorry for asking but the classic wine package states $109 - what do you actually get for that? Is it a set number of bottles or a set number of glasses, or can you get a wine by the glass at just meal times? Just a few guesses but please put me right.

Thank you

Does anyone know the code to purchase OBC please?

I have been going round in circles on the website, so I thought that if I actually entered the actual code I could find it.

Also - does anyone know what the actual cost at the moment is in UK£ is for the $25 purchase. If the rate is OK then I can consider buying some in advance of sailing.

Thanks for any help.

Yes! Go to the normal celerbitycruises.com and select ships -> Edge. And under that link there should be an option for deck plans. let me know if that doesn't work for you and I would be happy to post the link

The UK site does not have that option (or if it does I cannot find it) and when we put in Celebritycruises.com it defaults to the .co.uk site. However if there is a link then that is usually OK - so can someone please post the deck plans?

Sorry - just noticed the link above but unfortunately it defaults to the UK site and no deckplans to be seen.

Thank you.

Also, can anyone please explain how the balcony works? I just cannot work it out.

Several year ago we were on a land holiday in Mexico. We visited the local town a couple of times and I looked at the prices of the jewellery in one of the shops.

A few days later we went into town and there were 3 cruise ships in port. In the windows of several shops there were signs welcoming people from the cruise ships and stating that there were special prices for people off the ships. at least 20% deduction off the advertised price.Well, I was a bit annoyed at that until I looked more closely and noticed that in the particular jewellery shop that had attracted my attention everything had increased by 30%. So, even after the deduction the prices were still raised from the normal price.

Next day - with no ships in port - the prices were back to the lower rate.

Not received anything. Is that because we are from the UK?

Can someone let me know the contact number in Miami please? I saw it somewhere but cannot find it now.

Thank you