New Celebrity Promotion (1, 2, 3 Go !) Returns March 15, 2013

[HopefulCruiser123]

Well, it has been a week since we rebooked at the higher fare to get the promotion and it still is not showing up on the website....we sail in 4 days. My TA finally said today that it is too late to have it show and to get our butler to help us with this once we get on board. I hope we don't end up having tp spend our first day(s) in a long line at guest relations for this. Wondering how the folks on board Silhouette this week are faring.

[Andy]

Well, it has been a week since we rebooked at the higher fare to get the promotion and it still is not showing up on the website....we sail in 4 days. My TA finally said today that it is too late to have it show and to get our butler to help us with this once we get on board. I hope we don't end up having tp spend our first day(s) in a long line at guest relations for this. Wondering how the folks on board Silhouette this week are faring.

 

Hi HopefulCruiser,

 

We've seen reports of the beverage package showing on the website, and many others stating it's not showing. Have you checked your Guest Booking Confirmation to see if any "WAV" items appear ? That could answer your questions.

 

Even if it's not on the booking confirmation, hopefully all will be fine. I believe that Guest Relations will know how to deal with any unexpected issues. Have a wonderful Cruise !

[CairnsCruiser1]

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone on these boards that have posted their advice. THANK YOU!!!!!!

 

Following your advice, I have contacted our US travel agent regarding our 10th December cruise around New Zealand (we are in AUS by the way).

 

I have fought and fought and..... we now have the beverage packages on both our suite and my parents stateroom, and we retained our OBC :)

 

I also fought VERY hard to get my 18 year old her package, as they wouldn't give me one as she was not 21, and we are sharing a cabin.

 

However, I provided a lovely picture of the terms and conditions in the Aussie Celebrity brochure where it states, quite clearly, that in Australia and New Zealand waters, 18-20 may drink alcohol as long as their parent signs a waiver!

 

It must be said, I am quite exhausted by all this wrangling, but I've done it!!!!

 

Rachelle

[MicCanberra]

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone on these boards that have posted their advice. THANK YOU!!!!!!

 

Following your advice, I have contacted our US travel agent regarding our 10th December cruise around New Zealand (we are in AUS by the way).

 

I have fought and fought and..... we now have the beverage packages on both our suite and my parents stateroom, and we retained our OBC :)

 

I also fought VERY hard to get my 18 year old her package, as they wouldn't give me one as she was not 21, and we are sharing a cabin.

 

However, I provided a lovely picture of the terms and conditions in the Aussie Celebrity brochure where it states, quite clearly, that in Australia and New Zealand waters, 18-20 may drink alcohol as long as their parent signs a waiver!

 

It must be said, I am quite exhausted by all this wrangling, but I've done it!!!!

 

Rachelle

Good work, now enjoy.:D

[cbfb]

Sooo anyone on board who took advantage of the offer....How did it go? Was it smooth or is it chaos?

[Tantra1]

My wife and I booked a cruise for Oct to Greece on Connie through an independent travel agent and put down a deposit but it was a few days before the 123GO offer. This will be our first cruise on X. It did however, come with a $200 OBC (not sure if that was through her company or from X). I asked if we could get the 123GO offer but she was told no. :(

 

Is it possible to cancel the cruise, get our deposit back, use it for rebooking the same cruise and then get the 123GO deal? Would there be a problem for the TA and any commission that she gets to do this?

 

Any suggestions of what we could do to get the deal without increasing cost of the cruise?

 

We are also planning on booking another cruise to Norway using the 123GO offer.

 

Cheers!

[Mel&Ken]

We got the offer after booking - we just had to pay today's price which was $50 more a person. I called X directly and they did it. If you cancel and rebook you'll pay the current price anyway and possibly could lose your room - although you shouldn't.

 

On a European sailing you get to pick 2 of the offers so you should come out ahead even with a price increase.

[Iamthesea]

Sooo anyone on board who took advantage of the offer....How did it go? Was it smooth or is it chaos?

 

I am wondering this, also. Perhaps a new thread needs to be started on the subject of "How has the service been with the free Beverage Package?" ;) We sail a week from today.:)

[Andy]

My wife and I booked a cruise for Oct to Greece on Connie through an independent travel agent and put down a deposit but it was a few days before the 123GO offer. This will be our first cruise on X. It did however, come with a $200 OBC (not sure if that was through her company or from X). I asked if we could get the 123GO offer but she was told no. :(

 

Is it possible to cancel the cruise, get our deposit back, use it for rebooking the same cruise and then get the 123GO deal? Would there be a problem for the TA and any commission that she gets to do this?

 

Any suggestions of what we could do to get the deal without increasing cost of the cruise?

 

We are also planning on booking another cruise to Norway using the 123GO offer.

 

Cheers!

 

Hi Tantra1,

 

You could cancel, but you would be subject to any cancellation fees the TA might have. You would also be required the prevailing Five star or GroupX rate, to obtain the 123 GO offer, and you would also lose all previous Celebrity offers (if any) on your booking. Lastly, you could easily lose the cabin you have assigned (if that's important to you)... so be *very* careful before you take these steps.

 

Im not sure why your TA cannot or is unwilling to accomodate you, as many folks have reported making the upgrade. If it's a large TA, I'd ask to speak with a supervisor.

 

I hope this helps. Please let us know what happens. Good Luck !

Edited February 6, 2013 by Host Andy

[Andy]

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone on these boards that have posted their advice. THANK YOU!!!!!!

 

Following your advice, I have contacted our US travel agent regarding our 10th December cruise around New Zealand (we are in AUS by the way).

 

 

Hi CairnsCruiser1,

 

Thanks for coming back, and letting us know. Have a wonderful Cruise !

[AlbertaCruisers]

Well, it has been a week since we rebooked at the higher fare to get the promotion and it still is not showing up on the website....we sail in 4 days. My TA finally said today that it is too late to have it show and to get our butler to help us with this once we get on board. I hope we don't end up having tp spend our first day(s) in a long line at guest relations for this. Wondering how the folks on board Silhouette this week are faring.

 

I booked 4 cruises with the 123 Go sale, of the 4, 2 of the promotions have showed up online a few weeks ago and the other two still have not shown up, even though they were all booked on the same day. The interesting thing is, for all 4 cruises, if I go into beverage packages, and follow through to buy any of them, it shows the price as $0 (FYI - I also upgraded all 4 cruises to Premium), so my guess is the system knows I already have the Premium package? The two that have shown up only say Classic Beverage Package and make no mention of the upgrade to premium.

[aftcabin]

We are booked on the Connie 2/14 and have the wave drink package. We have spoken to numerous Celebrity reps and have been told that since we have a t/a, only the t/a can book an upgrade for the premium package. Additionally, and more disturbing, we were told that it cannot be done on the ship, which is contrary to the "sticky" info. Our t/a said that only we could upgrade. The wave package does not show up online, but it does show up on our invoice. Does any one know how we can upgrade before time runs out?

[Doupa22]

We are booked on the Connie 2/14 and have the wave drink package. We have spoken to numerous Celebrity reps and have been told that since we have a t/a, only the t/a can book an upgrade for the premium package. Additionally, and more disturbing, we were told that it cannot be done on the ship, which is contrary to the "sticky" info. Our t/a said that only we could upgrade. The wave package does not show up online, but it does show up on our invoice. Does any one know how we can upgrade before time runs out?

 

How frustrating!:( If I were you I would (3 way) conference call your T/A and celebrity. My guess is it would get resolved then.

[eadien7]

Just got my new invoice from Celebrity (through my TA). I chose the prepaid gratuities and the beverage package and asked my TA to upgrade the beverage package. In addition to the cruise fare, insurance, etc. It shows:

 

Gratuities 144.00

SLC6-Savings -528.00

SLC7-Wave Bev Pkg 528.00

SLP1-Grat Savings -144.00

WAV8-PR Bev Grat 0.00

 

It appears they didn't charge me for the Premium upgrade? Or maybe it was billed separately? Will I get charged on my shipboard account?

[Doupa22]

Just got my new invoice from Celebrity (through my TA). I chose the prepaid gratuities and the beverage package and asked my TA to upgrade the beverage package. In addition to the cruise fare, insurance, etc. It shows:

 

Gratuities 144.00

SLC6-Savings -528.00

SLC7-Wave Bev Pkg 528.00

SLP1-Grat Savings -144.00

WAV8-PR Bev Grat 0.00

 

It appears they didn't charge me for the Premium upgrade? Or maybe it was billed separately? Will I get charged on my shipboard account?

 

I was told this by Celebrity. When you do the upgrade the additional cost will NOT show up on the initial invoice or the website. The upgrade goes to a separate department for processing and may take several days to show up. I was assured this would be done within 2 weeks. I did this a few days ago and it has yet to reflect the additional cost. Trust me, they WILL charge you;)

 

I was also told with certainty it will be billed beforehand, not onboard

Edited February 8, 2013 by Doupa22

[eadien7]

I was told this by Celebrity. When you do the upgrade the additional cost will NOT show up on the initial invoice or the website. The upgrade goes to a separate department for processing and may take several days to show up. I was assured this would be done within 2 weeks. I did this a few days ago and it has yet to reflect the additional cost. Trust me, they WILL charge you;)

 

I was also told with certainty it will be billed beforehand, not onboard

 

Oh I never doubted they'd get their money! So will the beverage package ever show up on my on line reservation?

[flames9]

My TA was able to change my booking so I could take advantage of the 1,2,3 Go promotion----We did this right at the start of the promotion and the Classic drink package showed up on my online celebrity account Feb 7th!! So around 1 month!!

[youwash]

I am so relieved! Our beverage package with the upgrade to premium finally shows up on our reservation on the Celebrity web site. We got the 123 Go the second week of the promotion. This past Tuesday we contacted our TA and "bugged" him about it and lo and behold it was added to our cruise add-ons Thursday. We were just getting a little concerned as we sail in 16 days. And as my husband said we don't want to be on board with nothing and have them say to take it up with the TA when you get OFF the ship!

[sbt518]

I think I read that the deadline to upgrade to the premium beverage package is Feb 18th.

 

And that it takes a month for the package to show on your itinerary if you book with a TA.

 

I'm concerned about this because we just cancelled and rebooked our reservation a week ago to take advantage of the 123 Go promotion but we want to upgrade to the premium package.

 

The TA said it would take at least 2 weeks, maybe more to show on the X system that we have the package. Now I'm worried that we'll miss the window of opportunity.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[pawkirk]

I have answered my own question.

 

Well after about 40 minutes on hold to X Oz, spoke to a helpful consultant.

 

Two outcomes.

 

Cruise that had gone beyond final payment (March 13 Sailing - South America) - No Go.

Cruise in January 2014 Asia - No problems, prices had not changed. They had to cancel and re-book because I booked on a special some time back where 50% deposit was payable only.

So worth the call I think.

 

Happy sailing all.

 

Thought I would get further rationale, re can't include post final payment.

 

No problem we will include it. Thanks X Oz.

[Andy]

Just got my new invoice from Celebrity (through my TA). I chose the prepaid gratuities and the beverage package and asked my TA to upgrade the beverage package. In addition to the cruise fare, insurance, etc. It shows:

 

Gratuities 144.00

SLC6-Savings -528.00

SLC7-Wave Bev Pkg 528.00

SLP1-Grat Savings -144.00

WAV8-PR Bev Grat 0.00

 

It appears they didn't charge me for the Premium upgrade? Or maybe it was billed separately? Will I get charged on my shipboard account?

 

Hi Eadien,

 

This is from the FAQ, located here : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1764876 I hope this helps !

 

When do I pay for the Premium Package?

Once the request is made, the package will be added to the booking 6-8 weeks once deposit is made. At that time, an invoice will be sent to pay the upgrade of the package. The package will not be removed due to no payment, it will be added to the guests onboard account.

[pawkirk]

Got told by X Oz the only way we can upgrade is on Board the ship.

 

We will wait and see, but I am inclined to think it will be no problem.

[Andy]

I think I read that the deadline to upgrade to the premium beverage package is Feb 18th.

 

And that it takes a month for the package to show on your itinerary if you book with a TA.

 

I'm concerned about this because we just cancelled and rebooked our reservation a week ago to take advantage of the 123 Go promotion but we want to upgrade to the premium package.

 

The TA said it would take at least 2 weeks, maybe more to show on the X system that we have the package. Now I'm worried that we'll miss the window of opportunity.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Hi Sbt518,

 

That I know of, there's no deadline to order the premium package. The promotion is scheduled to end on 2/18. That might be what you are concerned about.

 

As long as your TA notified Celebrity that you wish to purchase the Premium upgrade, I wouldnt worry about it. From other members reports, they are a bit behind in making the additions to bookings, but they are happening. What matters most, is that Celebrity is notified.

 

I'd suggest following up with your TA next week. I hope this helps !

Edited February 9, 2013 by Host Andy

[Andy]

We are booked on the Connie 2/14 and have the wave drink package. We have spoken to numerous Celebrity reps and have been told that since we have a t/a, only the t/a can book an upgrade for the premium package. Additionally, and more disturbing, we were told that it cannot be done on the ship, which is contrary to the "sticky" info. Our t/a said that only we could upgrade. The wave package does not show up online, but it does show up on our invoice. Does any one know how we can upgrade before time runs out?

 

Hi Aftcabin,

 

As you've booked with a TA, they are the only folks who can make changes to your booking. Regarding your above comments, I believe your TA is misinformed. It can be added by TA's - we've seen countless reports of this. I hope you can resolve this with your TA. If it's part of a larger agency, perhaps try to escalate it with a supervisor.

 

If all else fails, according the the FAQ : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1764876 , you should be able to upgrade once onboard.

 

Please let us know what happens. Good Luck !

[kramerella]

We are booked on the Connie 2/14 and have the wave drink package. We have spoken to numerous Celebrity reps and have been told that since we have a t/a, only the t/a can book an upgrade for the premium package. Additionally, and more disturbing, we were told that it cannot be done on the ship, which is contrary to the "sticky" info. Our t/a said that only we could upgrade. The wave package does not show up online, but it does show up on our invoice. Does any one know how we can upgrade before time runs out?

 

I was in the same situation this morning. I'm also on the Connie 2/14. Our cruise was paid in full in Nov. with no beverage pkg. Around a month ago we called the TA and asked her to switch our reservation so we could get the WAVE Classic Package, which she did promptly. We told her on that same day that we want to upgrade to Premium. She said, we'll have to do it on the website, but wait for the package to show up. It's been a month - no package shows up online, not even the Classic. However, the paper invoice shows the package.

 

The CC Sticky on this subject indicates you can upgrade on board. But, I didn't want to take chances and called the Celebrity Captains Club today. I felt the person I spoke with was very knowledgeable. She said, without hesitation:

 

You can't upgrade once onboard the ship. You can't upgrade yourself. Celebrity can't upgrade for you. You must go through the TA. Since it is a monetary transaction - the TA must do it. However, it's a new concept and many don't know they need to handle it. Maybe since this particular add-on is wrapped around the overall cruise price, there are commissions to be considered and that requires the TA to handle the upgrade?

 

I sent my TA an email this morning and told her I'd been round and round with this and told her what I learned. I also pre-authorized her to upgrade and add $11.50 per person per day to my credit card she has on file. One hour later, she confirmed the upgrade and detailed the additional fee via email. I immediately checked the celebrity website and the Premium Package shows up and is shown as paid in full.

 

I hope this helps you.

Edited February 9, 2013 by kramerella