Celebration entertainment

[Pandaco]

Hi,

I'm hoping some of you lovely people will be answer a few (of the hundreds) of questions which keep coming to me about our cruise.

Has anyone just returned from a Celebration cruise? We are booked onto the Celebration for 23 August and wondered what the entertainment is likely to be. Do they still have a guest entertainer from the uk? A couple of years back we were on the Destiny and we had Maurice from the Grumbleweeds onboard, he was great.

Also will we find it easy enough to arrange our own trips in the ports. There will be 8 of travelling so are thinking it may workl out cheaper all round to arrange independant trips.

Are we allowed to take our own drinks on board, soft and alcoholic, as i have read that they will be confiscated on embarkation.

Do they have a tour of the bridge available on the Celebration?

And finally, does everyone get invited to have drinks with the captain or is it the selected few as with the captains dinner?

Many thanks in advance of your answers

Sue

[Tiggertastic]

Hi Sue

 

We have done 2 celebration cruises and the Captain came to only 1 and the other was lead by the chief engineer. They took photos but never came along for dinner on either. Be early or the queue gets rather long and the longer you are there, the more free drinks they bring round.

 

Both time there has been a comedian on board for 1 or 2 nights. The staff show is always excellent too on the last night as is the midnight buffet and the baked alaska parade.

 

Drinks - the first time we cruised there was a duty free in the terminal and we took on board a bottle of wine no problem and the 2nd time didn't bother as you can buy litres of spirits in the shop in board at duty free prices (was £8 a litre) and drink in your cabin. We happily carry water or soft drinks on board at different ports. However we are AI this time so won't be taking anything on board.

 

Trips - we have done many ourselves - there are 7 of us this time and find it better to arrange them in advance rather than wait until we get there - depends on where you are cruising but some places are good to just walk off the ship and walk around.

 

Let me know where you are cruising to and I will pass on any onfo I have for those places

 

thanks

 

Jan

[Pandaco]

Hi Jan,

 

Many thanks for the quick reply.

 

Is the Captain's evening by invitation only or is it open to everyone?

 

We are doing the Aegean Discovery, taking in Marmaris, Bodrum, Izmir, Mykonos, Piraeus, Nauplion and Crete.

We range in age from 15, 17, mid 40's and a not so mobile pensioner, so will be looking for trips to suit all ages. We have already decided that we will be doing the ships tour to Athens, but are open to suggestions for the others. Some may not want to go ashore at all, so we may just wait until we get into port and then make decisions from there, last time we cruised we just strolled around the port/town as they were places we had already visited on land based holidays, although we would like to do some sort of day cruise where we can swim from the boat in the lovely bays around Turkey.

 

6 of the party booked really early and received a free AI upgrade, but my partner and I were unable to get this when we booked ours recently, so we were a little dissapointed about that, but as we are not really big drinkers are not too worried and certainly couldn't warrant paying the extra to upgrade ourselves. We would rather use the cash to pay for a few luxuries out and about.

 

We have seen in the brochure that they are giving £50 on board credit to ALL summer 2010 cruises on the Celebartion, however our TA said they don't know anything about this and although we have contacted Thomson Cruise direct they have not replied to either our e-mails or to a recorded delivery letter. (I am not impressed with them at the moment). Do you know if this is something that is automatically applied to your cabin when you check in?

 

Just a thought, do you know what the cabins on deck 7 are like? we have booked 053 and i'm a little worried that we may feel the boat 'rock'. :(

Also are there plenty of sunbeds as we may just decide to chill out on some days and not even go ashore.

 

We are really looking forward to August and the Celebration.

 

Once again many thanks for your reply and if you have any info that would help at all it would be most appreciated.

 

Sue

[mtt]

Both times we've been on thecelebration they've done 2 bridge tours, they have a comedian on sat nite live, and agree the drew show is a must but go early as it gets very crowded, we normally go for the 2nd show and stay.

For the captains cocktail party you get invites a few days into your cruise, everyone has the option to go

[ekco]

Re. the £50 pp on board credit. We booked the Celebrity in early January for the end of June for and got it but I noticed that it was only offered for a few weeks more. I think it's a bit like the AI, which we were offered at a high price, in that the earlier you book and more you pay the more likely you are to get the offers. I haven't seen the £50 offered since February if my memory serves me well.

 

As I said on another post recently, when booking online always double check the page with the check boxes on for flowers, champagne etc, as the £50pp on board credit was hidden away 2 or 3 choices down the list and could easily have been missed.

 

Better luck next year.:):)

[FiggyWig]

Concerning the £50 OBC - we booked with our high street TA, then later noticed the £50 as an 'extra' on the website. I queried it with our TA as to whether we could get this also and was told that it would only be offered with online bookings ! Right or wrong I don't know.:confused:

[ekco]

Concerning the £50 OBC - we booked with our high street TA, then later noticed the £50 as an 'extra' on the website. I queried it with our TA as to whether we could get this also and was told that it would only be offered with online bookings ! Right or wrong I don't know.:confused:

 

We printed off the online quote and took it into the TA (Thomsons) and they said they would match it and take £50 of the total as well. She went through the booking procedure and ticked the £50pp on board credit which then showed on the invoice. It seems to me that TA's need to get their facts right as we have had 2 different opinions about upgrading cabins in the last 2 weeks. Not to mention the AI which, although we didn't take it, I queried last week whilst we were in there and she said that they don't do named spirits which from what I have read on here is not true.:eek: Or is it?

 

Jan

[Pandaco]

Concerning the £50 OBC - we booked with our high street TA, then later noticed the £50 as an 'extra' on the website. I queried it with our TA as to whether we could get this also and was told that it would only be offered with online bookings ! Right or wrong I don't know.:confused:

I would guess information is totally incorrect or it wouldn't be advertised in the brochures.

It clearly states in the brochure (December 09 edition pages 82 & 27) £100 free on board spending money on all summer 10 cruises on Dream & Celebration sailings. The monetary amount will be credited to your on baord accoint at the start of your cruise. Amount shown is per couple and is only available to adult passengers. It is non-transferable and non refundable.

 

We didnt actually have a brochure when we booked, so only spotted this later on. No-one seems to want to give an answer as to whether or not we will receive this so guess its a case of wait and see.

[Pandaco]

We printed off the online quote and took it into the TA (Thomsons) and they said they would match it and take £50 of the total as well. She went through the booking procedure and ticked the £50pp on board credit which then showed on the invoice. It seems to me that TA's need to get their facts right as we have had 2 different opinions about upgrading cabins in the last 2 weeks. Not to mention the AI which, although we didn't take it, I queried last week whilst we were in there and she said that they don't do named spirits which from what I have read on here is not true.:eek: Or is it?

 

Jan

Yes Jan i quite agree its time these TA's got there facts correct. We too have had differing information regarding upgrades and amending bookings etc.

We booked our cruise over the phone, initially we were booking online but as we wanted a particular cabin we rang the cabin department to see if this was available, whilst they were checking this they offered to book the cruise for us at the same time, This seemed like a good idea (at the time). However with hindsight it was a big mistake. The price we thought included everything turned out not to! We also wanted to be able to mangae our booking online, which we now cannot do.

We have asked the ? over the onboard credit, but as yet they have not bothered to answer my query, so i guess its wait and see.

Now that the summer season has kicked in, if anyone that didnt know about the onboard credit has travelled and received this it would be good to hear from you.

[ekco]

I checked my invoice this morning and was a bit concerned when I couldn't find the £50pp obc but there it was on the 2nd page under additional options with the meals etc. Unless you have it in black and white I would be very wary about getting it.:):) Good luck anyway.

 

Jan

[Jim The Scot]

When we transferred to the Dream the £100 obc flagged up on the website when our TA was carrying out the booking so can`t see why any TA say it isn`t available when it clearly is.Like ekco,obc appears on the invoice

[Scarey Mary]

Hi Jan,

 

Many thanks for the quick reply.

 

Is the Captain's evening by invitation only or is it open to everyone?

 

We are doing the Aegean Discovery, taking in Marmaris, Bodrum, Izmir, Mykonos, Piraeus, Nauplion and Crete.

We range in age from 15, 17, mid 40's and a not so mobile pensioner, so will be looking for trips to suit all ages. We have already decided that we will be doing the ships tour to Athens, but are open to suggestions for the others. Some may not want to go ashore at all, so we may just wait until we get into port and then make decisions from there, last time we cruised we just strolled around the port/town as they were places we had already visited on land based holidays, although we would like to do some sort of day cruise where we can swim from the boat in the lovely bays around Turkey.

 

6 of the party booked really early and received a free AI upgrade, but my partner and I were unable to get this when we booked ours recently, so we were a little dissapointed about that, but as we are not really big drinkers are not too worried and certainly couldn't warrant paying the extra to upgrade ourselves. We would rather use the cash to pay for a few luxuries out and about.

 

We have seen in the brochure that they are giving £50 on board credit to ALL summer 2010 cruises on the Celebartion, however our TA said they don't know anything about this and although we have contacted Thomson Cruise direct they have not replied to either our e-mails or to a recorded delivery letter. (I am not impressed with them at the moment). Do you know if this is something that is automatically applied to your cabin when you check in?

 

Just a thought, do you know what the cabins on deck 7 are like? we have booked 053 and i'm a little worried that we may feel the boat 'rock'. :(

Also are there plenty of sunbeds as we may just decide to chill out on some days and not even go ashore.

 

We are really looking forward to August and the Celebration.

 

Once again many thanks for your reply and if you have any info that would help at all it would be most appreciated.

 

Sue

 

Hi Sue

We are doing this itinery 31st May for 2 weeks so I will be able to give you any info when we get back. We were on the Celebration last year in cabin 053 which is a deluxe on deck 8. It didn't seem quite as large as the deluxe on deck 9 but this was because it was in a corner but it is a very nice cabin. It is also a very quiet cabin tucked away in a corner behind the water tight doors next to the bridge. The only noise we heard was occasionally the crews radios on a morning when they went onto the bridge. It does tend to rock slightly as it is at the front of the ship but it wasn't too bad rocks you off to sleep.:)

As regards the Gala night everyone gets an invite and as yet both on the Spirit and the Celebration we have never seen the Captain at dinner. This year the Celebration has a new younger captain who is very nice and sociable so he might be at the dinner but saying that the dinner is in two sittings so he will not want to be at them both.:)

They did offer tour trips of the bridge but the numbers are limited it's first come first served basis. It will be in the Cruise News when they will be giving out the tickets for this so you need to get there early.

The entertainment and food were great last year. As with all Thomson ships do not expect luxury but the friendliness of all the staff and the atmosphere on board are brilliant.:D

Don't know anything about the £50 on board credit though.:(

Any other info you need do not hesitate to ask and I will try and help.

 

Mary

[Huddersfieldtourist]

[quote=Pandaco;24358273]I would guess information is totally incorrect or it wouldn't be advertised in the brochures.

It clearly states in the brochure (December 09 edition pages 82 & 27) £100 free on board spending money on all summer 10 cruises on Dream & Celebration sailings. The monetary amount will be credited to your on baord accoint at the start of your cruise. Amount shown is per couple and is only available to adult passengers. It is non-transferable and non refundable.

 

 

if you booked early enough - it doe ssay on early bookings on page 27 - then you will have this and you will be able to tell as it states it on your invoice - if not on your invoice then you will not have it - sorry

[oceancreek]

We are the cruise from 31 May, same as Mary. Booked in January and got the 50pp OBC. Probably paid about £100 more than the price now though, so when they reduce the prices they don't give the OBC.

[ekco]

We are the cruise from 31 May, same as Mary. Booked in January and got the 50pp OBC. Probably paid about £100 more than the price now though, so when they reduce the prices they don't give the OBC.

 

Yeah, it's all swings and roundabouts. I think if we were just booking the cruise I'd wait until the price drops but as we wanted cruise and stay it worked out quite well for us. We wanted a particular AI hotel that had 100% good reviews and were glad to get that as it disappeared a few weeks later and all the others on offer were not in the same class. When you think about it the price only has to drop £50pp if you didn't get the obc and after that you're winning, our cruise is now selling for about £120 less than we paid. :):)