kydems

We have 3 B2B booked for next year. The new system does have them all registered under the one booking number and when you log on the three cruises are listed separately but with the one reservation number. We still get the B2B OBC for each cruise and as far as I can see nothing else has changed.

We have had to make 2 claims for the one trip. We have used Allianz, both for individual trips and annual insurance. We had the annual cover for the year that Covid became a problem. We had taken one trip, but others planned for the year were cancelled without cost to us so no need to claim. Allianz refunded a pro-rata portion of the insurance premium as we could not use it due to Australian travel restrictions. 

We have recently had to make a claim through Allianz for a disastrous 7-week trip to Europe. I was isolated for 5 days in cabin for Covid, my husband had a heart attack (not severe) when docked in Edinburgh and was in hospital for 7 days, we were able to reboard our ship after 9 days and continue our holiday and then we were robbed in Spain.

Allianz covered all costs including refunding the cruise fare for the 9 days we were off the ship.  Allianz medical team were wonderful to work with and provided much needed support. They also liaised with the ship medical team to ensure they were happy for us to continue with our holiday. We always buy the cruise package that includes medical evacuation from Ship and trip interruptions.

We have used Allianz, both for individual trips and annual insurance. We had the annual cover for the year that Covid became a problem. We had taken one trip, but others planned for the year were cancelled without cost to us so no need to claim. Allianz refunded a portion of the insurance premium as we could not use it due to Australian travel restrictions. 

We have recently had to make a claim through Allianz for a disastrous 7-week trip to Europe. I was isolated for 5 days in cabin for Covid, my husband had a heart attack (not severe) when docked in Edinburgh and was in hospital for 7 days, we were able to reboard our ship after 9 days and continue our holiday and then we were robbed in Spain. Allianz covered all costs including refunding the cruise fare for the 9 days we were off the ship.  Allianz medical team were wonderful to work with and provided much needed support. They also liaised with the ship medical team to ensure they were happy for us to continue with our holiday.

I am not usually one to use ship shore excursions, however we had 4 B2B cruises from Amsterdam to Barcelona last year and a bucket load of OBC to use so we booked all ship tours. Some were not as good as we would have hoped for some were better than expected.

My husband had a medical incident on board, and we were off the ship for 9 days during the 40-day cruise while he recuperated in hospital. The shore excursion team refunded all the tours we had booked during that time either to OBC or the credit card if we had paid for it that way. We were then able to discuss all future shore excursions that we had booked with the shore ex team and modify our bookings to suit my husband's needs at that time. The team was marvelous and made my life so much easier. I cannot imagine the problems I would have had if we were cancelling and changing options with private providers.

I am not saying that we will book only ship tours in the future, but this experience is something for others to consider.

We are having a quiet 2023 and will be on the Journey in 2024 from March 7th to April 3rd B2B for Japan Intensive from Hong Kong to Tokyo. We haven't been to Japan before and the itineraries look great

I noticed this when trying a booking for a cruise from Australia. Inside cabin Always included was around $1000 more p.p. extra but with balcony cabin was only $400 p.p. extra. Made the price for a balcony all included very attractive

Yes the Best Price Guarantee is true. Working with a TA after final payment for 3 cruises received $1200 OBC for the first one, $2400 OBC for the second and unbelievably a cash refund of $3600 for the third. This took about a month to come through and lots of emails by my TA. Used a lot to pay for shore excursions. Very happy cruiser

I have also been on board when the captain has asked for passengers to donate blood. They always ask that the donors present their current donor card to verify their blood group. Donors are checked regularly for infections, so most people would be aware of their HIV, hepatitis etc status

This info applies to the US only as different countries have different policies. In Australia it counts as a cancellation and rebooking and you lose the deposit already paid. We did it when the price dropped by $1250 per person for one of our trips. We lost the $800 deposit but were still $450 better off. Most of the time the savings are not enough to warrant a change

On 5/15/2021 at 5:45 AM, marinaro44 said:

Yes.  Seems unfair to compare menu changes on b2b 7-day cruises to those on a single 14-day cruise.

Normally I would agree with you but this time some of the cruises were longer than 7 days and there was a significant number of passengers on the 3 B2B2B.

I didn't have any problem with the quality of the food in the MDR but the menu repeat every 7 days became tedious. There were a lot of B2B2B cruisers for our Croatia cruises and by day 14 we knew what to expect for the rest of the week.  We did opt to eat in other venues a lot of the time but others did not want to eat anywhere else. The best nights in the MDR were on White night so we would often eat in the MDR then join the party. 

not freebies but ....A few years ago we were doing a 35 day B2B2B2B on the Eclipse through Europe and my husband injured his knee on day 4 on a non-Celebrity tour. The kindness shown to us by all members of the crew and medical staff was exceptional. They organized specialist  medical appointments on shore during turn-around days, and managed the injury on board for us, adjusting knee braces etc so we would not have to cancel our holiday. The staff would help with the wheelchair whenever they saw us in the hallways, and special seating organized in the restaurants when necessary. As the injury improved and he progressed from wheelchair to crutches to walking with the brace on, all the crew would stop to chat and comment on how he was progressing. We had dinners in the specialty restaurants to celebrate each small improvement. We really felt that they cared about us. This is one of the reasons that we will continue to sail with Celebrity 

We will take the FCC for now, conditions state that you can change your mind and take cash later if you want to. The Aussie dollar is down at the moment and we would not get our full value back if we took the cash. I was told that we can use this for final payments for cruises already booked as well, I hope this is true

this is a good idea, I hope others follow suit. Or how about a move up to a better cabin if there are lots free following cancellation....

I must be one of the few lucky ones. Planning a repositioning from Singapore to Sydney on the Eclipse in November 2020 and have been watching the price. New offer is $500 less pp for a balcony or if I choose the 2 perks It is the same price as yesterday but I get a classic beverage package X 2 and $300 OBC. It is very unusual to get these offers on repositioning cruises so I am a very happy cruiser. Booked it ASAP

Azamara is part of the RCCL loyalty program. Your status will be honoured by all the lines. Just a different name for each category, e.g. elite with celebrity is Discoverer with Azamara etc. Your loyalty number is the same for celebrity and Azamara. I don't think you can combine the cruises though to jump up to the next level. I hope that helps

Definitely not a newby but I love my lanyard. Most of my clothes don't have pockets and I don't want to be that person that takes the card out of their underwear and hands it to the bar staff.

We are booked on this cruise as a B2B2B beginning the 14 Sept. I cant wait. The itinerary looks amazing. We just need to organise some tours. Keep the photos coming

I noticed this week on the RCI website that I can use my OBC to prepay for tours, beverage packages before boarding. I checked with my TA, apparently they changed the policy this week due to complaints from passengers about not being to use OBC pre cruise.

Beanb41, Australia has reciprocal health agreement as well but you have to go through the public system, private hospital not included. If we had of gone to the public system, as it is at the moment, with a non-life threatening injury we would probably still be waiting. We managed to go to the hospital, be seen by the consultant, have a MRI and be back on board for sailaway..on a Sunday. I was impressed and willing to pay the cost.

Beanb41, Celebrity costs only unfortunately, billed separately by consultant and hospital for MRI, physio, brace...you get the picture. Never travel without a credit card and travel insurance. We only use the credit card for unexpected holiday expenses, and travel insurance is a wonderful thing.

DH and I are the same. Both work in zero tolerance workplace and would not risk our licence by even having 1 drink and driving. If we go out and use public transport we may have a drink or three, but on the cruise ship we certainly make up for abstaining in our normal lives. Bring on the premium package!

Beanb41 - the total fee from the ship was $220 US which was $125 for the consultation and $94 for the splinting. We were not charged for follow up appointments which I was surprised about. Travel insurance will cover all out of pocket expenses.

My DH and myself have recently returned from an extended cruise on the Eclipse. In Norway on a private shore excursion my DH fell and injured his knee severely. We stayed with the tour and went to the medical centre on return to the ship. The first questions asked, after making sure my husband was OK, were

1. did this accident happen on board the ship..no

2. did the accident occur on a celebrity excursion..no

3. did the accident occur on a private excursion...yes.

By now I was expecting the nurse to turn us away as celebrity had no responsibility for the injury. We were offered the opportunity to be transferred to the hospital for assessment or be seen by the ships doctor, knowing that if we went ashore we would not make it back in time for sail-away. We elected to be seen by the ships doctor. He assessed my husbands injury and made a splint to immobilize the knee and supplied us with a wheelchair.

We arrived in Southampton 2 days later. The medical centre staff had organised for us to be transferred to a hospital, a private orthopedic consult and an urgent MRI was booked. A staff member from the port came to the hospital to check on us to make sure we were OK to reboard. We continued our trip with my husbands knee in a brace. The MRI results were sent to the ship by the orthopedic consultant and he was happy for the ships medical officer to continue managing my husband injury. My DH needed tio were the splint for a further 5 weeks. The kindness shown to us by all the celebrity crew was amazing, from people helping with the wheelchair, adjusting seating at restaurants or just enquiring about his progress as we passed by.

We cannot thank the staff enough for making what could d have been a terrible experience into something manageable

As an Aussie, we have the same problems with the US border control. The Americans we were travelling with to St Petersburg did not believe us that the Russian border control people were more polite and nicer to us that the US ones were.