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On 2/5/2024 at 3:11 PM, C-Dragons said:

I'm glad that I saw this thread. We made Zenith last year.

On our first cruise after reaching this milestone we thought there would be some sort of “initiation” or recognition. Neither happened.

On the very next cruise we sailed on, there was a Zenith lunch which we were invited to.

Just curious, I wonder if there are others who never were initiated?

We became Zenith shortly after cruising resumed after Covid. We received nothing, no welcome packet, no initiation or recognition and at the time they were not doing Zenith lunches. It really didn’t bother me but my husband was a bit disappointed. We were able to book our complimentary cruise which was the most important thing to me.

1 hour ago, Cruise till you drop said:

What site was that on ?  How official was that information ?  

I guess I’m a pessimist and believe that this will be rolled out fleet wide at some point

 

 

I cut and pasted this,  removing the group and poster. Sounds promising!

Received this today in response to my inquiry about vaping.

X

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We are pleased to inform you that the vaping pilot ended on 8/20 and will not roll out. This has been discontinued.

Have a great day.

Sincerely,

Executive Office

Celebrity Cruises

ExecutiveOffice@celebrity.com

00 136

46 comments

15 hours ago, George C said:

We liked our oasis cruise in owners suite and our allure cruise in grand suite we avoid summer and when school is out to limit the amount of children. I think entertainment is way better than any other class ship . I like the specialty restaurants so we also buy UDP. Ice and aqua shows are amazing we also like the broadway play etc . I think we will be elite plus after our next royal suite on celebrity and we are diamond plus so we get 5 free drinks etc on rccl.

Love the entertainment on Royal and variety of dining BUT, one thing I have discovered is that lately there are loads of children no matter when you sail. Since covid, I think more parents just pull them out of school and do online studies while on vacation. Plus the fact that ( in Texas at least) many schools are doing four day weeks or home schooling which means children are cruising all times of the year. We were on the Allure in mid January this year with 1400 children.

4 hours ago, kazu said:

Yes, there are non smoking casinos.  Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, Westerdam, Noordam.

 

The information is right in the “Know Before You Go” on the HAL site.  No need to call.  Here is a screen shot of the pertinent page for you.

 

 

 

FYI - there is a dedicated thread - sticky at the top of the page for all smoking discussions.

 

 

I appreciate you saving me from the 36 pages of discussions about it, lol. I just needed to know what ships and I kept getting different answers. Thank you!

4 hours ago, bookitdanno said:

https://hollandamerica.cruiselines.com/smoking_policies.cfm

I keep hearing that some of the ships have non smoking casinos but it’s not really too clear. I’ve posted on the HAL board to try to get actual passengers to confirm this. 

22 hours ago, sixpackeddie said:

We are in reflection suite, having a great time, love the location, balcony. Food and staff are amazing have not really noticed any change other then a but  disappointed we could not order from specialty restaurant to our suite. It’s really not a huge deal but was able to order on our past cruises when in upper suite. Again staff here is phenomenal, food and service is great. It would be great to hear feedback from clients that are in sky suites to see how these changes have affected their experience.

You are in the top suite on the ship and they wouldn’t let you order from a speciality restaurant???  Wow, that was one of the things I loved about being in a top suite! If they won’t cater a bit to their highest paying guests, I’m afraid to see what’s coming next for all the passengers. I have been faithful to Celebrity for many years but I’m seriously looking at other lines. 

We are seasoned cruisers but in the last 15 years have done mostly Celebrity. Since it appears that they are modifying their policy about smoking, allowing vaping in the casino, we are looking at other cruise lines. I’m having a difficult time getting a definitive answer from the HAL website so I thought maybe you guys could help. Are their actually some ships with non smoking casinos or just non smoking nights like it was 20 years ago when we cruised with Holland? Any information will be greatly appreciated. 
Debbie

14 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

I believe on M class there were 6 butlers.

On our Summit cruise in 2022 there were three butlers onboard. They were definitely having staffing issues. We were in the PH and we felt so sorry for our butler. He had 18 suites to take care of and I’ve never seen a butler so stressed. We are pretty low key but even the smallest requests were forgotten. We eventually just stopped asking him for things. Still had a great time!

3 hours ago, Suite Susie said:

Think we will ask the Retreat Team for our coffee and Almond Croissant from Al Bacio. Will report when we are back on 30th September. 

That’s exactly what we ask for from our butler! 

1 minute ago, zitsky said:

So butlers became Retreat Host and now Retreat Team?

Actually, butlers became retreat hosts, then butlers again and now “retreat team”. 😂

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

We have considered our Butlers more of our friends than a "servant" and have stayed in contact with a couple. I have reached out to one in particular to see if he is one on the chopping block, I have not heard back from him yet.

We have remained friends with a couple of butlers too. I have reached out to one, out of concern for her job. Sounds like she’s okay but said that it’s heartbreaking and would never want anyone to lose their job. They may not know exactly what will happen yet. Time will tell.

8 hours ago, abbydancer said:

If that were the case the 6 butlers would probably have lots of free time, since each would have 2.3 rooms.  

I seem to think that they might keep butlers for the 16 Celebrity suites. That would bring the average to 5 per butler which is still less than many of the butlers have now.

14 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

I was on Apex for Christmas 22', and they only had "1" Zenith couple on the whole vessel.  By the end of the year, Celebrity was adding another "7" Zeniths, to the grand total of "87" fleet wide!  So your ship, had more than double, the total Pinnacles to Zenith's, in Celebrity's entire program. 

You were given incorrect information. Although the amount of zeniths is a “closely guarded secret” there are many more than that with new zeniths being added daily. Ten years ago there were around 400 to 500 so the numbers now should be well over 1000. Still, it’s only a fraction compared to the number of pinnacles.

On 10/27/2022 at 1:50 AM, KatPem said:

We had a similar experience earlier this month.  We had a 12:15 flight out so we booked a private driver with them so we could carry our luggage off and meet them at 7:30.  (Carnival Pride) They met you just outside the doors and escorted you to their car that was right there in the parking lot.  Simple and Easy. If I were not flying out, I would probably just take the train or a cab to save money.

I’m curious,  how long it took you to get to Rome? We are looking at booking a 12:40 flight to the US the same day as we arrive in Civitavecchia. The ship arrives at 6 am and we have priority disembarkation. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for the responses. I do like to plan ahead and get everything lined out. We too are used to dealing with the shoreside concierge on Celebrity and having everything arranged before I deal with the last minute details of leaving home. We leave on the 15th and still have had no questionnaire or contact. I guess if I don’t hear anything after new years I’ll get my TA on it.

We are sailing mid January and have still had no contact from our royal genie. Last year, we were contacted long before now. Does anybody have any recent experience with this?

1 hour ago, SusieAV8R said:

What was your original cabin or suite?

We were in a sky suite.

26 minutes ago, otownfins said:

Congratulations! You’ll love the Edge Villa. 
Did you bid on other suites? If so did your bids go from pending to some showing as expired and only the Villa showing as pending without the ability to adjust or cancel the bid?

Here is a screenshot of what I noticed being sent to encourage others to increase their bids. I’m guessing if you adjusted your bid it would have taken you to a similar page. 

I didn’t actually see the first email about increasing my bid until after I received the second bid confirming that they accepted the move up offer. There was only about a 30 minutes gap between the first and second one. The edge villa is our favorite on the edge class. It’s funny that the bidding on both my upcoming cruises started higher for the villa than for the penthouse. Did you find that so on your move up offer?

Funny story. Today at 2:45 pm I got one of those “you have been outbid” emails, and suggesting that I up my bid. I did nothing. Thirty minutes later I got confirmation that I had won my bid for the edge villa. Just trying to squeeze a few extra dollars out of me I guess.

56 minutes ago, Janet524 said:

RC apparently still hasn't "gotten the memo" so to speak.  This is an automated e-mail and I expect that there will be a new one sent with the updated information, probably October 1st since that is the date the new protocol goes into effect.  I'm on the same cruise with you.  Also, don't bother calling RC.  Their reps are usually the last to learn of new protocols and procedures.

 

See you on October 6th.

Celebrity  ( and every other cruise line for that matter) had their sites updated yesterday. Sure wish Royal would get it together. We sail on the 6th too.

So let me get this straight, the barge company (actually it’s employees) are refusing to move the barge and holding approximately 4 to 5000 people hostage? Sounds like the law enforcement or the government better get involved soon or things might get very ugly. 

16 hours ago, Kteacher said:

    We’ve sailed in a CS twice on the Reflection and looking to sail the ship again. I’m intrigued by the Signature Suite. Can anyone give some pros and cons? This will be a Caribbean sailing, and we will most likely be booking some dinners not included with specialty dining.

We have done both and love all the speciality dining options on the Reflection, which is a plus since it’s included with the signature suite. We also love the high ceiling of the signature suite and the fact that the spa cafe is just steps away for smoothies in the morning.

The things that I did not like, it is not really conducive for entertaining, we had a few friends over for hors d’oeuvres and it was tight. Also, and perhaps they have fixed this by now, there was absolutely no place to plug my flat iron in to do my hair. I could not even fit the plug in the socket because of the way it was positioned and even after the butler brought me an extension cord, I still had no mirror or good lighting. 

21 hours ago, quicklabs said:

I talked to Celebrity Engagement on 12 July, two days after our return home.  Our full  refund  due  10  days of quarantine  on the 12 day cruise appeared as a single payment on our credit card today.    So that is just 23 days.  I didn't need to make any calls after the first one.  I'm pleased with that outcome.  We had 1400 of nonrefundable OBC.  We assigned $1,000 of it to our butler, who continued to care for us in quarantine. She asked special permission to do so and was tireless in her efforts to take care of us.  She cried and cried tears of joy when she thanked us.  Her contract was up and she was returning home, hoping to have a life where she could settle down.  She told us how happy she was to have met us, since she learned from us (42 years married)   that "true love still exists."  Then we all cried.  Lol.  The rest of the went to housekeeping and the Retreat Concierge and bar staff.  So, even with the refund, we were able to spend our OBC, which was refunded onboard from the excursions we cancelled when I went into quarantine.  My husband did not want to venture from the ship when I was in quarantine in case I needed him, but he could have gone if he wanted to, and we would

still have gotten the full prorated refund.  I am very thankful that Celebrity handled this part of the ordeal so well.  

We were on the ship the same time as you, I’m glad that you were able to get this resolved so quickly. Did Rhona happen to be your butler? It certainly sounds like her. She was ours and she took such good care of us and our dil and grandson even though they weren’t in a suite. 

If you don’t get this resolved before your sailing, I would check with the retreat manager onboard. They can make things happen that I didn’t think were possible. I’m not sure when your cruise is but Claire will be onboard Beyond in December. She is absolutely fantastic.

6 hours ago, chemmo said:

Honestly, I cannot believe how a decision was made to give a RS a balcony smaller than some veranda cabins…I know not everyone likes the sun and some guests may only sit on the balcony occasionally and that the Retreat Deck is only a few steps away…..but for us it is a real dealbreaker.
 

 

Us too. We will never book a Royal on E class again because of that balcony. We just got off the Apex and I thought that maybe they might at least have more comfortable furniture on it than the Edge,  but no, still that rock hard concrete square stuff.