ellie84

13 hours ago, jdacombe said:

I phoned Celebrity to upgrade our complimentary Classic Drinks packages for my wife and the Non Alcoholic Classic Drinks package to the Premium Alcoholic package for all three of us, which was all done and paid for over the phone, I then received an email showing details of  the old Classic Packages and the new upgraded Premium Package. 

The email also shows confirmation that we have pre-paid our gratuities together with details of all our booked speciality dining and excursions that I had booked through the cruise planner.

 

I've already printed this off to take with me just in case.

Thank you for the good advice! Sounds like I’m better off doing it that way then, than attempting to do it online! Especially with the bonus of receiving the additional paperwork over email! I’ll get on to it shortly! Thanks again for the heads up. 🙂

4 hours ago, NewWestwardbound said:

 

If I was looking at this decision in a work context I would be thinking about risk versus reward. 

 

Risk has two components: probability (of losing the combination of cabins on rebooking) and impact (if that happened) .

 

You believe probability is high in this case, in that you consider the accessible cabin to be rare, sought after and could be wait listed by another. This belief may be correct, but it is currently unsupported by specific data. One way of increasing or reducing confidence in this belief would be to gather more data, in this case by researching suitable cabin availability on this cruise (and possibly other similar cruises) by making mock bookings for suitable alternative cabins on the Celebrity UK website. This should give you a better feel for whether suitable alternative cabins are available, and therefore how probable it is that your current accessible cabin is waitlisted by another.

 

Impact is loss of the combination of cabins. 

 

The combination of these components is the effect - in this case potentially loss of the cabins and therefore - worst case scenario - the cruise.   

 

Reward is more straightforward: £1800 if you secure the same combination of cabins, less if you secure cabins in a higher grade. But only you know the "value" to you of this £1800, as in how important it is to you in the great scheme of things.

 

The optimum solution would involve maximising the reward whilst minimising the risk, by risk mitigation. You might do this by the excellent method chemmo suggests. Or more broadly by establishing if there is any other combination of cabins that meets your needs, and putting a hold on these (via a mock booking on the Celebrity UK website or via your Agent) before you cancel your original cabins. This gives you a fallback if your original cabins are waitlisted by another, and they take up the offer.

 

Or similarly you could waitlist suitable cabins on another cruise. 

 

Just my two-pennerth.

 

PS. I agree with chemmo re: booking with Celebrity; I have found it much easier to make changes to my bookings direct.

 

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to write your amazing response 🙂 And of course everything you said is absolutely true and makes perfect sense. The issue we have lies in the fact that unfortunately you can’t book or even investigate accessible cabins online on Celebrity website. They don’t even show you whether there are even any accessible cabins left for each category. It’s majorly frustrating! Therefore our TA has to contact Celebrity directly, and due to the fact that our personal details are already linked to our current booking, they won’t accept further bookings for the same cruise! Unless we cancel first of course! And seemingly on the Celebrity UK website, you can no longer put a hold on cabins even regular ones not accessible ones, not even for 24 hours like you used to be able to do. I do wonder however whether Celebrity could tell, our TA whether there is a waitlist for these other accessible cabins, so we could determine whether this could work out for us cancelling and rebooking etc.

You've provided me with much much food for thought, going back to read your full response now, and to formulate a plan! Thanks again 🙂

5 hours ago, chemmo said:

Is there an accessible cabin in a higher category? For example a veranda accessible if you are in an oceanview or a sky suite accessible if you are in a veranda....

 

If there is and it is only a bit more expensive than what you have paid for your present cabin get your TA to contact Celebrity again. They may be willing to upgrade you.

 

We are also from the U.K. and tend to book directly with Celebrity. We find too many TA’s over here are not very knowledgeable about cruises generally and particularly lack knowledge of lines other than P and O and Cunard! We also find once they have got your booking they will not be proactive on your behalf unless you are firm with them...

 

Worth another phone call...you may not get any money back but you may get a better room.

The cabin in question is an accessible Concierge. So the next one up would be accessible Aquaclass. Which we’d be absolutely fine with, as have sailed Aqua previously, and the price would be less than what we paid for Concierge originally. However, unfortunately no accessible Aqua cabins still available. So the next step up would be accessible Sky Suite, but there is a significant price hike, as the price drop seemingly was not particularly significant for that category of cabins. But we are still definitely going to look into it, so thanks for the advice!

Regarding your other comments, totally agree with everything you’ve said. Firstly yes seemingly a lot of UK TA’s are not the most clued up on cruising, least of all with Celebrity! And yes I know exactly what you mean about their preference for Cunard and P&O. In fact on a previous Celebrity booking with them, our TA kept referring to our upcoming P&O cruise in any communication she had with us! In spite of the fact that we’ve only ever sailed with Celebrity! And wholly concur with your views about them not being proactive on our behalf. We literally have to make so many calls to the TA and countless emails! So frustrating that when booked with a TA, Celebrity won’t talk to you about your own booking! Thanks again for your advice :)

7 hours ago, dtagirl said:

What if you keep the accessible cabin, and take the price drop on the others.  Usually a good agent can do it so quick, book a new booking, cancel the old and switch the cabin.  At least that way you get some savings.

You know what, that thought hadn’t even crossed my mind! But it’s actually a really fantastic idea! Thanks so much for your input! 

9 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

Maybe it's different in the UK and US. We have all 4 perks, and booked through a TA. Our X OBC shows (OBC from TA won't show until on board), our beverage package shows in the cruise planner under Order History as does our WIFI packages. The only thing that never shows is pre-paid gratuities. It's advisable however to have documentation with you on your cruise in case of problems. Also, I've called Captains Club  (800-760-0654) on the rare occasion that our perks aren't showing and they've corrected the Cruise Planner.

 

Ellie84, if you want to upgrade your beverage package, it's best to call to do it, especially if your Captains Club standing gives you any discount. The X website is notoriously wonky.

Thank you for the advice re upgrading! It’s no doubt very good advice, I am always had multiple issues with their website! So will call them this time to do it! And to check that our perks are at least showing their end! Thanks again for the info!

5 hours ago, upwarduk said:

Just after our last cruise I was sent an e mail inviting me to book another cruise. It informed me I was Elite status,  which I knew anyway, as we had been Elite since Sept 2012. I logged on to ‘My Celebrity’ to check that my points had been added from our recent cruise, and my points were ZERO and it wouldn’t accept my Captains Club number. I was furious, as my husband’s new points total was correct. I rang the number shown on the attachment, but they were no help, saving only that points take a time to be added after a cruise.

I contacted Celebrity via FB ( I don’t ring the USA, as it costs me $ phoning from UK).

I was rung from the Miami office that evening. They could see my points, but she said the reason I couldn’t was because my DOB had been added incorrectly!!!

i assume an error had occurred at the recent change over from logging in via user name to e mail address.

 

Thank you so much for your reply :) What you’ve said is sounding very similar to one of our issues with the account. Sounds like I’m going to have to reach out to them yet again! Thanks for the heads up and the extra info, it’s much appreciated!

6 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I had the same problem a couple years ago and after repeated attempts to fixing I sent an e-mail to Lisa's office.   Amazing the next day someone from OneTouch called me and told me they would work with IT to fix.   It took about a week and they called daily to give me an update.   They called and told me they found the problem and it had been fixed.   Not had a problem since. 

Oh that is very interesting to read! Glad to hear that I can go down that route if captain’s club truly can’t fix the issue! Thanks for the heads up :)

9 hours ago, Toftwood said:

Not in the UK sadly. It is not just Celebrity, most cruise lines seem to have similar Ts & Cs in the UK.  We were faced with a similar situation earlier this year and the price drop was so great that we cancelled our booking, forfeited our £300 deposit, moved from a mid-range cabin on deck 7 to a C2 on deck 10 and were still in pocket!! Admittedly this was on a T/Atl where prices do seem to plummet as final payment date approaches. 

Wow, so glad you managed to take advantage of the price drop! Sounds like you bagged a great deal! Because one of our cabins in the booking is accessible, it severely limits the number of options if we were to lose our original cabins! But £1800 price drop is clearly significant!

10 hours ago, Alakegirl said:

UK rules are different than US rules.  You might have read reports from US cruisers who got price drops.  

Thanks for your reply 🙂 I’m quickly learning that’s, exactly what you said! Seems to be far more beneficial booking in US than here in the UK!

5 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

Yes, especially for accessable cabins where there is a waiting list. If an acessible cabin is cancelled the system will a hold on it for the first person on the wait list to decide.

 

OP if you were happy with the price when you first booked, just go with an open heart and mind and have a great cruise.

Thanks for your reply 🙂 Yes you’re exactly right about the wait lists etc, hence it being a massive risk! And you’re right we were willing to pay the original price, but then when the price is dropped nearly £1800, it’s super annoying!

5 hours ago, Fixit2010 said:

I will book at a price I am comfortable with and once done, I don't track price changes.  That way I am not dissapointed.

Thanks for your reply 🙂 I totally understand and agree with your point, and it’s not that I was necessarily tracking any price change. I was actually on the site investigating something else for some friends, and it was only then that I noticed that the  price drop had dropped nearly  £1800! So it’s just annoying that we are essentially paying that amount more for the same thing that we could have for £1800 cheaper! It wouldn’t have annoyed me if it was a couple of hundred pounds, but this price drop was quite significant!

11 minutes ago, NewWestwardbound said:

Even cancelling with Celebrity by telephone and on the same call immediately rebooking the same cabin?

It’s because one of the cabins on the booking is a specific accessible cabin. And there’s just so few onboard, and it needs to be close to the other hooked cabins. That’s why it’s quite risky in our particular situation, but totally agree if an accessible cabin isn’t required then this far out, the risk is very low!

19 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

They come and go 😆. I’ve found that since the last update, the only perk that shows online is the OBC from X. You used to be able to go into ‘order history’ and see the beverage packages, doesn’t happen for me any longer.

Thank you for your reply 🙂

On this new system then do you know how you go about purchasing the upgrade price for the beverage perk to take it from classic to premium?

22 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

Price drops in the UK are no longer permitted, either prior to or after final payment (it stopped about 4 or 5 years ago - may be more as time does fly). You can either cancel and lose your deposit, or alternatively, in this was an onboard booking, move it to a future cruise and then rebook the current sailing as a new booking at the cheaper rate.

 

Different T&Cs over here to that of the US, so do not compare your booking to those replies you receive from US reservations. I have booked in the States for many, many years to retain the flexibility with my reservations.

Thanks for your reply! I didn’t even realise that we could in the UK book with the States! Do you mind me asking how the process starts for that?

Thanks for your reply! Interesting to hear that here in the Uk the rules are so different 😞 So they won’t even transfer the deposit either to the new booking? So difficult to know what to do, as one our cabins booked is an accessible one, and there’s so few onboard, it’s quite risky cancelling and rebooking, even with the significant price drop! But obviously we don’t want to be paying so much more for the same thing! 

VillaUK - thank you for your reply 🙂 Mmmm....that’s interesting as historically our perks have always shown on our cruise planner (can’t remember whether gratuities did or not) but certainly onboard credit and beverage packages definitely did. Wonder whether they have changed their system then?! Hope not!

Scoggins - thank you so much for your reply! Exactly what you said, just don’t feel comfortable about not having it in writing, so I’ll definitely get them to send the full invoice through, like you did. It’s strange, as on our past couple of Celebrity cruises, we have upgraded one of our perks from the classic beverage package to the premium package by paying the upgrade price shown on the cruise planner. And we did that about 6 months out, so well before the finally payment. And yet now on our cruise planner, it’s only showing the price for buying the premium beverage from scratch, not the upgrade price. And that’s presumably, because it’s not listing the perk on there yet! So it’s strange that they’re saying about the 90 days. I guess I will have to do some more investigating! Thank you again for the info 🙂

LEESRE - thanks so much for your reply! I’m so glad (not glad you had a problem!!) to hear that we’re not the only ones that have encountered this issue (as that was what captains club were implying the first 5 times we contacted them on the issue haha!!!). Happy to hear that they finally sorted out your problem. You make a good point - we have only contacted them through email to date. So yes i’ll do what you said and try calling them, and hopefully find somebody there that is able to fix the ongoing issue!!! Thanks again 🙂

Have a cruise booked about 3 weeks ago for September 2020 (I appreciate that it’s a long time away!). However currently Beverage Package, OBC, and Grats aren’t appearing on our online cruise planner. The only thing showing currently are a few shore excursions. Speciality Dining etc is also not showing any bookable options. Do any of you know how far out from sail date that the Perks appear on the cruise planner? And indeed when bookable options show as available on the cruise planner? Although very seasoned cruisers with Celebrity for the past 15 years, we've never booked a cruise 16 months prior to sail date, so never been is this situation before, with no info showing on cruise planner! And our TA didn’t have the answer either! 

Booked a cruise for September 2020 a few weeks ago, so only deposit paid. This week noticed a significant price drop on that sailing! Booked though a UK travel agent. They contacted celebrity to ask them to honour the price drop. And were met with a resounding no. They claim you have to cancel entire booking and then rebook. But they won’t hold the cabins. In our situation, we have quite specific requirements, so that would be extremely risky! I’m pretty sure on the boards I’ve read about people asking for price drops to be honoured and they were able to do that without cancelling. Has anybody been met with a no, like us? Does anyone know whether we can take it further?

My family have been sailing with Celebrity  for nearly 15 years. All of a sudden one of my family members Captain’s Club numbers has become “unattached” to their Celebrity account. So although Celebrity were able to link their captains club number to an upcoming cruise booking, they are not able to view their captains club account as all, as it says this guest number is not recognised! Contacted Captains Club directly on the matter several times and they say they do not know why this is happening! All the details have been checked and rechecked to make sure they exactly match both celebrity account and captains club account. And all the details are correct. Has anybody else encountered this issue?! All help greatly welcome!! 

Have sailed with Celebrity on multiple cruises, but have never sailed on the President’s Cruise. However we will be imminently!! Can people who have done regular Celebrity Cruises and have also been on a President’s Cruise, advise me as to all the differences that we would notice between the 2! Many thanks!

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Have never sailed on a Millennium class ship before. (Only on Solstice Class) and have never travelled in a Sky Suite before (only Aquaclass). That said have an imminent sailing in a Sky Suite on the Constellation!! Could you let me know how the afternoon tea situation works in the Sky Suites? Do they bring it to you automatically? Do you have to be in the cabin? Is there a set time for delivery etc? What does it consist of? Is there a choice? Is this different to the evening canapés that we’re used to in Aquaclass? Sorry for all the questions, all answers very very very welcome, and any extra info!!!!!

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Yes, it was 9123. The balcony was small depth-wise. A wheelchair could fit out there I would think. The issue is getting out there though as there is a hump you need to get over where the sliding door is. I remember thinking that it might be difficult for a wheelchair guest to get out there without assistance.

 

 

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Oh wow that is a coincidence! It is 9123 we will be sailing in very shortly! And yes that’s the impression the photos gave, that the balcony is very narrow depth wise and the issue with the hump :( which for a wheelchair user is not going to ideal!

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I was in one last May. You can find photos on page 3 of this LIVE FROM thread I created: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2493173&page=3

Hey there, thank you so much for directing me to the photos! Don’t suppose that was 9123 was it? Is the balcony ridiculously small for a wheelchair user? Was the balcony easy to access from the cabin? Thanks again :)

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