Mum81

Has anyone had any experience with the photobook that can be purchased through the cruise planner? How does it work? Was the quality good? TIA 😀

I am looking at purchasing a package in our cruise planner that includes $300 "shore excursion credit". Can anyone advise if this can be used as standard OBC or does it have to be used on shore excursions? We already have all our excursions booked and got them at a great price on sale, so don't want to cancel them and re-book with the credit. The package would only be worth it if we could use the $300 as OBC. TIA 😀

My 12 year old son chooses to wear a suit on formal nights because he enjoys dressing up and he gets use of his suit for other occasions (attending the races etc). However I would not purchase a suit specifically for a cruise simply because they grow too quickly. I would consider dress pants and a long sleeve collared shirt appropriate. You can always add a tie to appear more formal.

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

I agree with @Paulras.  We have celebrated NYE on two Celebrity cruises and will be doing a 3rd one at the end of this year (Solstice).   Evening Chic was the dress for that evening in both instances and you found a variety of different dress for the night.  You would not feel out of place if you dressed more formally.  I dressed in my dark suit for both NYE events.  Here is a video of our Infinity cruise where we rang in 2017 as we were closing in on Cape Horn: link

Your video has made me so excited for NYE on the Solstice this year! We will be dressing up regardless of the dress code for that evening. I think a lot of people will do the same. 

Christmas lunch is bigger in Australia than Christmas Dinner traditionally. Many of the bigger hotels will sell “tickets” to their lunches that need to purchased and paid for in advance. Some include a beverage package. I hope this helps.

8 hours ago, dandtgeddes said:

Gidday.

 

Have a large multi generational group headed on Voyager of the Seas out of Sydney in March 2020 booked.

 

Just wondering if anyone has booked a cabin either solo or with say, a younger sibling, for someone who is 18?

 

I note that in the Terms & Conditions that ANZAC sailings have a minimum age of 18 to book a cabin but the website told me 21 is the minimum when I tried to book.

 

Anyone experienced this and how did you solve it?

 

BTW, the cabin wont be close to the parents as that area is booked already.

 

Thank you.

 

TraceyG 😀

Hi Tracey,

By calling the call centre, we were able to book a balcony cabin for ourselves and and a solo interior with virtual balcony for our son who will be 13 when we cruise on Ovation of the Seas. The two cabins are VERY close to each other and they stated they would only allow this arrangement when cabins are so close together. I hope this helps.

6 hours ago, jelayne said:

That interesting, in our 27 cruises the prices have been consistent with of course the exception of prices out of Southampton or Australia where currency conversion and fees and mandatory gratuities on drinks, Spa etc  must be included in the published price.  

 

Out if curiosity what is the price of dinner in Murano or Tuscan?    My cruise planners thru 2021 all show $50 pp for Murano & $45 for Tuscan.  Sailing are out if US, Asia and Europe.

Ok well perhaps the dynamic pricing applies in Australia but not in the US. Our cruise is ex Australia and Murano is currently $94.25AUD and Tuscan $87.00AUD which is more than we have ever paid and not in line with the exchange rate. Even with the gratuities added. Bookings started at $54.90AUD and rose by a couple of dollars at a time until they reached their current price.  Our shore excursion prices can also vary from day to day (again not in line with the exchange rate - literally hundreds of dollars difference) and I’m not talking about a sale, just daily fluctuations. I thought it must have been a supply/demand thing. The price on the premier plus/perks/perks extra packages vary day to day as well. I wasn’t calling into question your statement, just commenting on my experience with Celebrity and cruise planner purchases. 

3 hours ago, jelayne said:

 

That is incorrect.  Royal Caribbean has dynamic pricing not Celebrity.  The price of the  Premium Alcohol Beverage package is $69 per person per day plus 20% gratuity regardless of the ship or itinerary. The Classic Alcohol is $59 pp per day plus the 20% gratuity.  There are occasion sales but no dynamic pricing. Same for specialty restaurants and wi-fi

That's interesting, because the specialty dining prices are inflated for our upcoming cruise on the Solstice. 

I think the reason that Celebrity don't show the prices for beverage packages, specialty dining, WiFi packages etc, is that they have "dynamic pricing" for these add-ons. Meaning that the price can fluctuate according to the particular cruise.

I have tried to search for this answer, but I have so much trouble with the new CC search function. Can you hire an alcove on embarkation day? They are not showing in my cruise planner and I’m just wondering if they are sold out or not available at all? I realise that you would not get a full day hire, but I thought it would be a good place for our group to have sail away from Sydney harbour. Has anyone successfully hired one on the very first day? TIA.

19 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Curious as to where Mum81 found that the champagne is Vevue Clicquot.  The champagne in the RS & PS is Perriet -jouet which retails for $58 in the US.  

Unless you are a 1st time RCL, Azamara or Celebrity cruiser these packages make no financial sense; except to Celebrity’s bottom line

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I can't tell if this has already been discussed before although I did do a search:

 

I noticed that Premier Pass is now being offered for our Dec 23 2019 (12 night) sailing aboard Solstice.  For $649 per person you get:

 

• Priority embarkation and debarkation 
• Welcome bottle of champagne 
• Unlimited internet access (two devices) 
• Inside Access tour (two guests) 
• Lunch with an officer 
• Captain’s toast and photo 
• One exclusive food and wine pairing 
• Laundry service (one bag per stateroom)

 

Judging from the things you can purchase separately (or get from your Captains Club status), I am not sure that it represents a very good value.

 

Royal Caribbean has already rolled out something like this earlier (The Key Program)

I am on this same cruise and have actually looked at the premier pass and came up with these calculations. I actually believe that as the inclusions are 2 tours and 2 internet packages, you only need to purchase one package per stateroom of 2 people. I have also done a “dummy booking” and it does let you purchase for just one person. Kind of like the alcoves where you only purchase for one person. Because I am from Australia, calculations below are in AUD.

Cost of premier pass $941.00 AUD

COMPARED TO:

Bottle of Vevue Clicquot purchased through onboard gifts $182.00 AUD

Unilmited internet for 2 devices $630.00 AUD

Inside Access tour for 2 guests $330.00 AUD

Food and wine pairing $68.00 AUD

One bag of laundry - price based on special given in last 2 Solstice cruises $72.00 AUD

TOTAL VALUE = $1282 (not even including the perceived value of the priority boarding, lunch with an officer and captain photo etc). 

As we claim the purchase of the internet on our tax anyway (it is used to work while we are away) the premier pass would actually be good value for us. I  considering purchasing but would like to know more about the priority embarkation as this is the most appealing part for us.

I went looking for where I saw the date of the 12th July and it looks like it’s been delayed until the 16th August. 

Silk Harvest is gone and has been replaced with Le Petit Chef which is now showing in my cruise planner (cruising December 2019). I believe the change was made on the 12th July. Would you recommend Le Petit Chef? It's $80 AUD pp for our Christmas/New Year cruise and I'm wondering if it's worth it?

We also booked this trip today for April 2021 and chose a port side balcony. Looking forward to this once in a lifetime opportunity (as we are coming from Australia).

Has anyone had the experience of ordering platters from Gifts By Celebrity? I would like to know if you were happy with them ie. were they well presented, reasonable value? And can you have them bought to your cabin/suite at a time that suits you? I know I can make plates of food up myself from the oceanview, but this is for us to entertain family in our suite for a special occasion. TIA

Following

We will be on Celebrity Summit. Has anyone heard if they are doing any kind of Easter Brunch onboard?? We were on the Reflection last year for easter and they had a really nice brunch in the Tuscan Grill. For a fee of course. We did it and it was excellent.

 

Just wondering if they are going to offer something this year?? I emailed celebrity, but no response.

 

:o

I’m glad to hear the Easter Brunch was excellent, we have booked this year on the Solstice. Can I please ask if the Tuscan Grille was decorated for Easter Brunch and were there chocolate eggs or other treats?

My sisters just did this without a problem on our upcoming cruise with Celebrity. First sister booked solo and paid $4400. Second sister added to stateroom a few months later and total cost was $4900. $2450 each. Win, win! Extra drink package and on-board credit was included also.

Thanks again for all your helpful information regarding this cruise. We are on the same (similar) cruise leaving on the 30th March. We have heard that the ship will depart from the dock in Sydney at 6.30pm and then sit in Sydney Harbour until 11.59pm when it will cruise out of the heads. Can you please tell me if this was your experience or whether it was a normal sailaway? TIA

Thank you so much for the information and photos so far. Do you remember around what time the muster drill on this cruise was held please?

Thank you for doing the live blog. It is super helpful. Can you please advise why the shops and casino have been closed on sea days? Also, what prices have been offered onboard for the specialty restaurants? Specifically Tuscan Grille and Silk Harvest? Enjoy the rest of your trip 😊

We are currently on Solstice, and did the group GBR tour from Cairns. The CAT took us to the reef and the vendor had stinger suits in all sizes available for use from the platform. Most people used them as a precaution. All equipment was included in the price of the tour.

 

At the shore excursions 'talk' on the boat they mentioned that if you were taking the smaller tours where you dive and snorkel right from the Cat, they offer stringer suits but might charge $5-6 dollars to use their suits.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Sorry to change topic, but would you recommend this tour? How much snorkeling time did you get?

Wow, I hadn't heard there's a Panama Canal cruise departing from Australia! Excellent!

 

When you book with NCL from Australia, the service charges may or may not be included in your fare. What I mean is that it's possible to have them removed from your fare at the time of booking, but you will need to ask to have them removed, or if booking online look for a mention of it (a box to check, for example, to remove them). I've done heaps of dummy bookings when looking for the best fares for cruises we're taking, with NCL and other cruise lines too. I've checked out the NCL site itself and independent online travel agents. A lot! I love cruising!

 

Presently we're booked on Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Jewel and we booked through my daughter who works for Flight Centre. I specified that I wanted the service charges removed and they were.

 

If you're unsure if the gratuities were included in your fare at the time of booking you'll need to contact the travel agent you used and ask if they were included. If they weren't, you'll be charged them on board. They'll be added daily to your on board account. You CAN then go to the purser's desk once on board and ask for them to be removed. We did that on Norwegian Dawn last November and it was done. We paid our tips ourselves, to the staff members directly.

 

If you find you have been charged the gratuities at time of booking, wish you hadn't, and have not yet paid your final payment, it might be worth asking the agent if you can have them removed.

The Panama Canal cruise doesn't leave from Australia, we booked it from Australia. I don't wish to not pay the service charge or have it removed. We actually prefer to pre-pay our tips. I just read in the posts above that they were included if you booked from Australia and I was confused because we have the option to pre-pay them in the planner.

I have read all the above information, but I'm still confused. We have booked a Panama Canal cruise with NCL from Australia in Australian dollars. So does this mean the "service charge"/gratuities are included? If so, why is there an option in the cruise planner for us to pay them upfront instead of having them added to our account once onboard? I would appreciate any information 😊