Any new changes I should be aware of?

[di T]

3 hours ago, Mynki said:

Yep. I forgot Ocean Liners were replaced with Tuscon. Ah well. 🙂

Ocean liners wasn’t replaced by Tuscan, it has always been on deck 11, we have just 

left Connie in Venice on Thursday after 18 lovely nights on board! We found the captains club perks were as good as we have had ! Happy hour all round the ship from 5 to 7, Elite plus coffees were much better than earlier in the year nice and strong as we like! Sure you will enjoy. Dianne

 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Luvcrusn said:

I have no access to the UK site

All of the Celebrity websites are available irrespective of where you reside. For example, while I use the Canadian site the majority of the time, I check pricing against the US site to determine whether I can get a better price because of fluctuating exchange rates or for other reasons. For the UK site: https://www.celebritycruises.co.uk

[woody14h]

7 hours ago, proshopred said:

The new $ 14 "tax" only applies to reservations made AFTER 10/10.....If the "complimentary" beverage was one of your "free" perks for a reservation made BEFORE 10/10.....the new policy will not effect you....Happy Cruisin'

Iam so happy to see that. Now all I have to do is upgrade to premium/

[chemmo]

On 10/10/2019 at 10:19 AM, Mynki said:

We last sailed Celebrity back in May. We board Connie next week but I haven't really read these boards very much since then. Knowing how frequently X make changes I'm wondering if there's anything that has changed recently that may impact us. We have the classic beverage package included and are in aqua class. I also plan on upgrading to premium once onboard. 

Thanks in advance. 

 

Mynki,

Nothing new to report, just wanted to wish you a fantastic cruise...We are just off Equinox and are suffering from it being a year to our next cruise!

[Luvcrusn]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

All of the Celebrity websites are available irrespective of where you reside. For example, while I use the Canadian site the majority of the time, I check pricing against the US site to determine whether I can get a better price because of fluctuating exchange rates or for other reasons. For the UK site: https://www.celebritycruises.co.uk

You are, of course, absolutely correct.  I meant that I log on in the US and don't make the extra step of going to any of the other sites. Sorry.

[Mynki]

11 hours ago, di T said:

Ocean liners wasn’t replaced by Tuscan, it has always been on deck 11, we have just 

left Connie in Venice on Thursday after 18 lovely nights on board! We found the captains club perks were as good as we have had ! Happy hour all round the ship from 5 to 7, Elite plus coffees were much better than earlier in the year nice and strong as we like! Sure you will enjoy. Dianne

 

Pretty sure the M class ships originally had individually named restaurants collectively known as the Ocean Liners restaurants. They served the Murano menu. They were then all closed and replaced with the Tuscan Grill. 

[Mynki]

10 hours ago, chemmo said:

 

Mynki,

Nothing new to report, just wanted to wish you a fantastic cruise...We are just off Equinox and are suffering from it being a year to our next cruise!

 

Many thanks. I hope you had a great time. Are you also spending time in Florida now? We have a huge extended family trip booked for October 2020 on another cruise line but no cruises planned in between as yet. :) 

[chemmo]

3 minutes ago, Mynki said:

 

Many thanks. I hope you had a great time. Are you also spending time in Florida now? We have a huge extended family trip booked for October 2020 on another cruise line but no cruises planned in between as yet. 🙂

 

No, we enjoyed time pre cruise in Orlando flying on broomsticks with Harry Potter!

 

We are now back home in a rather wet, cold and dismal England....next cruise a year yesterday Tokyo to Singapore on Eclipse....beginning to wonder about the likely weather.

[SHIP TRAVELER]

One big item for us is the move to bigger penalty for cancelling cruises.  It was once the deposit and now it seems to

be 25% on some far out cruises.  This has made us wait until after the final payment drop on a lot of cruises to be sure

that we will actually sail.  It sort of seems everything is non refundable to get a good early booking rate.  We were looking

at the Millie TP in September of 2020.  You lose 25% of fare (balcony not suite)the day after you make the booking it you cancel.  That is shocking to us.  We use miles to fly and it makes the planning very tricky.  Also travel insurance does not

cover non medical instances where we would cancel a cruise.  This is the biggest BAD change to us.

[Northern Aurora]

6 hours ago, Mynki said:

Pretty sure the M class ships originally had individually named restaurants collectively known as the Ocean Liners restaurants. They served the Murano menu. They were then all closed and replaced with the Tuscan Grill. 

 

 

My memory is the same.  The one named "Ocean Liners" was the one on the Constellation.  We dined there several times on the Constellation.  But I am dating myself as I also remember the "dough nut whole" between decks 4 and 5 which was removed when the Constellation went into drydock in Hamburg in 2010.   

[Mynki]

On 10/12/2019 at 8:30 AM, chemmo said:

 

No, we enjoyed time pre cruise in Orlando flying on broomsticks with Harry Potter!

 

We are now back home in a rather wet, cold and dismal England....next cruise a year yesterday Tokyo to Singapore on Eclipse....beginning to wonder about the likely weather.

We were in Florida back in August on a land vacation. We did Universal too before heading down to the Keys / Glades. The boy hooked a 7' gator when fishing in the latter which was certainly interesting. Looking forward to a more uneventful trip onboard Connie!

I was very pleased to see that X have finally put an S class ship in the Far East as it's an area I'd like to do at least two or three more cruises in right now. It looks like you picked the best itinerary on the best ship so I'm sure you'll have a great time. I'm a little envious. lol :) 

[chemmo]

6 minutes ago, Mynki said:

We were in Florida back in August on a land vacation. We did Universal too before heading down to the Keys / Glades. The boy hooked a 7' gator when fishing in the latter which was certainly interesting. Looking forward to a more uneventful trip onboard Connie!

I was very pleased to see that X have finally put an S class ship in the Far East as it's an area I'd like to do at least two or three more cruises in right now. It looks like you picked the best itinerary on the best ship so I'm sure you'll have a great time. I'm a little envious. lol 🙂

 

I think this is a one off itinerary as Eclipse was supposed to dry dock after our cruise but now that has been put back. Watching carefully in case our itinerary changes...

 

We spotted a gator in the natural lake behind our villa in Kissimmee...Didn’t know if we were thrilled to see it or apprehensive about how safe the ‘pool covering’ was...

[Mynki]

1 hour ago, chemmo said:

 

I think this is a one off itinerary as Eclipse was supposed to dry dock after our cruise but now that has been put back. Watching carefully in case our itinerary changes...

 

We spotted a gator in the natural lake behind our villa in Kissimmee...Didn’t know if we were thrilled to see it or apprehensive about how safe the ‘pool covering’ was...

Hmmmm I'm hoping Eclipse or another S class ship will be out there when Celebrity release their new itineraries shortly for 2021 and 2022 etc. I think a Far East, child free cruise could be in order then.  Hopefully they'll be no unwelcome changes to your trip. :) 

[hcat]

Gators are all over in Florida... golf courses, lakes etc,  keep a good distance and mind your pets carefully, even if they are unside  a screened lanai or pool cage!

We keep our garage door closed as well.

[hcat]

On 10/11/2019 at 4:03 PM, di T said:

Ocean liners wasn’t replaced by Tuscan, it has always been on deck 11, we have just 

left Connie in Venice on Thursday after 18 lovely nights on board! We found the captains club perks were as good as we have had ! Happy hour all round the ship from 5 to 7, Elite plus coffees were much better than earlier in the year nice and strong as we like! Sure you will enjoy. Dianne

 

 

On our Connie cruise a few yrs ago, I believe Tuscan was in  the space  that was formerly the lovely plant, sachets  and candle store....and where  there was a nice  Atrium with live trees,  Tuscan overlooked the pool...very nice location.  On another ship that space was Q sine ( maybe Infinity) ??  They are all a bit  different.

 

Looking forward to sailing Connie again in 2021 from Tampa

Edited October 13, 2019 by hcat

[villauk]

1 hour ago, Mynki said:

Hmmmm I'm hoping Eclipse or another S class ship will be out there when Celebrity release their new itineraries shortly for 2021 and 2022 etc. I think a Far East, child free cruise could be in order then.  Hopefully they'll be no unwelcome changes to your trip. 🙂

 

 

I’d not get your hopes up too high. We were all set to book Connie for next Christmas until they moved her back to the Caribbean. After all, another ship is desperately needed there for the winter months 🙄.

[chemmo]

58 minutes ago, hcat said:

Gators are all over in Florida... golf courses, lakes etc,  keep a good distance and mind your pets carefully, even if they are unside  a screened lanai or pool cage!

We keep our garage door closed as well.

 

I must confess I looked under the hire car from a distance each time we were going out!

 

I must also confess I was more scared of the enormous ‘roach’ that appeared in our bathroom in Fort Lauderdale! We don’t get bugs like that in the U.K.!

[Mark_T]

On 10/11/2019 at 9:30 PM, Fouremco said:

All of the Celebrity websites are available irrespective of where you reside. For example, while I use the Canadian site the majority of the time, I check pricing against the US site to determine whether I can get a better price because of fluctuating exchange rates or for other reasons. For the UK site: https://www.celebritycruises.co.uk

 

The easiest way to find the other national sites is just to scroll to the bottom of the page at the .com site and pick the country you want from the drop-down list.

 

Otherwise, if you go to the .com from the UK for example it just takes you to the UK site anyway.

Edited October 13, 2019 by Mark_T

[Mark_T]

On 10/11/2019 at 7:25 PM, Mynki said:

It doesn't appear to be showing on the UK website. Is this a US thing with the $14 pp/pd being 'hidden' in the UK cruise fare do you think? 

 

This is a non-issue for the UK.

 

We don't have the 'perk' system over here and that is what is causing the problem in the US.

 

The Classic Drinks package perk costs Celebrity more than the other perks, so they have added a price adjustment for those who elect to take that particular perk.

 

Since the UK doesn't have the perk options we don't get caught up in all of that. We just get the advertised offers at the advertised prices. Much easier to see your actual price clearly stated without the need for higher math to figure out if it is actually a good deal or not... 🙂

[Mynki]

1 minute ago, Mark_T said:

 

This is a non-issue for the UK.

 

We don't have the 'perk' system over here and that is what is causing the problem in the US.

 

The Classic Drinks package perk costs Celebrity more than the other perks, so they have added a price adjustment for those who elect to take that particular perk.

 

Since the UK doesn't have the perk options we don't get caught up in all of that. We just get the advertised offers at the advertised prices. Much easier to see your actual price clearly stated without the need for higher math to figure out if it is actually a good deal or not... 🙂

I agree it's far more straightforward to book here than it is with a US TA. However it was stated elsewhere that the $14 pp / pd charge will be implemented here in the UK a few weeks ago. This made me ask if it's been implemented yet as I can't see it when doing dummy bookings with Celebrity UK direct or even our UK based TA. The poster may have been misinformed or it might get rolled out here. Or it might have been hidden in the cost of a UK booking. 

It's still worth costing a cruise both sides of the pond though. I found considerable savings here in the UK with some cruises but also in the US with others. I even found one cruise where a shy suite 2 cost the same as an aquaclass room when you factored in the value of the included perks given with the UK offer which we would have paid for anyway! 

[di T]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

 

On our Connie cruise a few yrs ago, I believe Tuscan was in  the space  that was formerly the lovely plant, sachets  and candle store....and where  there was a nice  Atrium with live trees,  Tuscan overlooked the pool...very nice location.  On another ship that space was Q sine ( maybe Infinity) ??  They are all a bit  different.

 

Looking forward to sailing Connie again in 2021 from Tampa

Tuscan is on deck 11 and always as been since we first cruised Constellation years ago. It is above the pool deck someone once told me it was the original Tuscan grill!

just back off the ship and had two lovely cruises. Dianne

[Mynki]

47 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

I’d not get your hopes up too high. We were all set to book Connie for next Christmas until they moved her back to the Caribbean. After all, another ship is desperately needed there for the winter months 🙄.

 

Have you grown a bit tired of the Caribbean too? :) 

HAL have some great itineraries at some great prices out there I noticed a 28 night balcony back to back had a base price of £1500 yesterday which seems very good value. If only I were 103 years old.... 

[Mynki]

40 minutes ago, di T said:

Tuscan is on deck 11 and always as been since we first cruised Constellation years ago. It is above the pool deck someone once told me it was the original Tuscan grill!

just back off the ship and had two lovely cruises. Dianne

 

 

I thought all M class ships had a restaurant named after an iconic Ocean Liner and collectively they were known as the 'Ocean Liners restaurants'. For example, Celebrity Millennium used to have the Olympic restaurant whilst Celebrity Summit had the Normandie restaurant and all served the Murano menu. 

It looks like Celebrity Constellation had the Murano menu restaurant and it was called Ocean Liners, hence my confusion. On Summit and Millennium at least these French restaurants were replaced with the regular Tuscan Grille found on S class ships which is a real shame in my humble opinion. This webpage clears things up, but yes, there is no Murano on Constellation. I'm pleased by your positive comments though. :)

https://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Constellation-review-OceanLiners.html

Edited October 13, 2019 by Mynki

[Luvcrusn]

12 minutes ago, Mynki said:

 

 

I thought all M class ships had a restaurant named after an iconic Ocean Liner and collectively they were known as the 'Ocean Liners restaurants'. For example, Celebrity Millennium used to have the Olympic restaurant whilst Celebrity Summit had the Normandie restaurant and all served the Murano menu. 

It looks like Celebrity Constellation had the Murano menu restaurant and it was called Ocean Liners, hence my confusion. On Summit and Millennium at least these French restaurants were replaced with the regular Tuscan Grille found on S class ships which is a real shame in my humble opinion. This webpage clears things up, but yes, there is no Murano on Constellation. I'm pleased by your positive comments though. 🙂

https://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Constellation-review-OceanLiners.html

The last time we were on Connie, we were told that Ocean liners was to be replaced with Qsine, and Tuscan was on the deck above the pool deck. We've not been back aboard since the change though. 

[Mark_T]

1 hour ago, Mynki said:

I agree it's far more straightforward to book here than it is with a US TA. However it was stated elsewhere that the $14 pp / pd charge will be implemented here in the UK a few weeks ago. This made me ask if it's been implemented yet as I can't see it when doing dummy bookings with Celebrity UK direct or even our UK based TA. The poster may have been misinformed or it might get rolled out here. Or it might have been hidden in the cost of a UK booking.

 

It would have to be included in the price, so what you see is what you pay, just as you do now.

 

Only way you'd ever see a difference would be if you decided not to take any of the 'free' promotions, not sure if you can do that though.