Blue chip email? Is it a scam?

[sdnich]

12 minutes ago, lhsail said:

Not sure I want to share. 😁. In general, we like the mid-ship angled balconies on Deck 10. This time we got 1231, but they all offer oversized balconies, excellent overhang for weather protection, convenient to the pool and Oceanview Cafe. Also, next to some suites, so we’ve had some excellent cabin stewards. 
 

I have not heard of anyone else being asked for a $500 deposit. We initially paid $284, then the upgrade cost today. Sounds like you need to ask some more questions. 

Years ago we did the Alaska cruise on the solstice and stayed in a concierge on the angle I just can’t remember which room. I booked that cause our family was going and there’s a few that were worried about sea sick so we booked middle of the ship. I wanted to book aqua class but didn’t wanna have to worry about being in separate dining rooms . I might call to see if we can also bump up to concierge or Aqua . Because apparently I have to call anyway to figure out the deposit.

either way we’re super happy !!

[neverlaysup]

On 8/9/2022 at 4:25 AM, gold1953 said:

This marketing seems to be aimed at many who have not cruised since pre covid

Not true, we have taken 10 X cruises since September '21 and we both get offers from BCC.

[Fly and Sail]

15 hours ago, sdnich said:

That’s what I thought I just went onto my Celebrity account and a hold cruises there for $278 but they want a $500 deposit and they gave me a negative balance of $222. I guess I need to call again. I was curious about trying to upgrade my room from a veranda to concierge or aqua if possible. They did put us in an A1 cabin 8197 one of the slant larger balconies..

 

Website error. Happens all the time with them and I wouldn't be surprised if it errors out when you try and pay online.

[Corgidawgga]

On 7/29/2022 at 4:38 PM, CaroleSS said:

ok, my first email as well, so I have a ton of questions!

 

I did a mock booking and the cheapest veranda is $799 with taxes, fees and port expenses of $142.42. Does this mean that my cost for the cruise would be $142.42 plus gratuities, drinks, etc?

Is there a single supplement associated with this? If I want to go, I'd have to find someone who wants to go on the cruise and pay full fare, right?

 

there is no single supplement.    I booked as a solo.   You can add another later, if you wish.    

[sdnich]

On 8/10/2022 at 8:17 AM, lhsail said:

Not sure I want to share. 😁. In general, we like the mid-ship angled balconies on Deck 10. This time we got 1231, but they all offer oversized balconies, excellent overhang for weather protection, convenient to the pool and Oceanview Cafe. Also, next to some suites, so we’ve had some excellent cabin stewards. 
 

I have not heard of anyone else being asked for a $500 deposit. We initially paid $284, then the upgrade cost today. Sounds like you need to ask some more questions. 

After 2 phone calls because I got disconnected while he was checking on the upgrade to concierge.The total time on hold 2 1/2 hrs .But worth it I was able to upgrade to 1120 large balcony concierge for the $10  pp day.The extra points will make us elite plus after cruise so super happy about that .I am very happy about the room location and the few extra perks that we will receive

.And the total was $418 paid in full 

[lhsail]

13 minutes ago, sdnich said:

After 2 phone calls because I got disconnected while he was checking on the upgrade to concierge.The total time on hold 2 1/2 hrs .But worth it I was able to upgrade to 1120 large balcony concierge for the $10  pp day.The extra points will make us elite plus after cruise so super happy about that .I am very happy about the room location and the few extra perks that we will receive

.And the total was $418 paid in full 

Glad you got things squared away. I feel extremely grateful for this trip. 

[Coachpoz]

Do you have to pay federal tax on this?

[blueskadoo]

Hello all- trying to avoid the really long hold times for what may be a well known fact. If I book one of the comp cruises and then cannot go or must cancel, is there a penalty they will assess?

[cruiserchuck]

7 minutes ago, blueskadoo said:

Hello all- trying to avoid the really long hold times for what may be a well known fact. If I book one of the comp cruises and then cannot go or must cancel, is there a penalty they will assess?

No penalty, unless you upgrade.  If you upgrade, the upgrade fee is subject to the usual penalty percentages.

[Stockjock]

I never gamble on cruise ships, as I don't like the odds.  But maybe I need to start.  Is there a minimum to get these offer?  Previously, some of the minimums that I was aware of seemed pretty high.

[kwokpot]

34 minutes ago, Coachpoz said:

Do you have to pay federal tax on this?

No, no W2-G is generated. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by kwokpot

[Retired888]

First time receiving the offer from BCC and I have spent maybe $40 in total on slots on prior cruises.   The last time which we cruised was in Dec 2018.  We had cancelled 3 cruises due to COVID shutdown.

 

My husband didn't get the offer. Last week, I called many times, each time I gave up after 2 hours.  I then I filled out the 3 choices on the web on Friday and on the following morning, I received the confirmation based on choice #2.  My husband didn't like the date and didn't want anything less than Aqua class.  Back on the phone and no one answered, again.  I sent an email to bluechipclub@celebrity.com and till now, there has not been a reply.

 

Yesterday, I did a search for this offer on Cruise Critic and I was encouraged that some of you actually managed to get a live person and that you are also able to get a paid upgrade.  I called yesterday and was pleasantly surprised when it was answered after 45 min.  He was able to get the date which I requested, in which I realized after the call that it was a mistake - that was choice 3 and not choice 1.  But Aqua class upgrade would be $140 per person, so another $280 add on for the 2 of us.  I asked about pricing for a Sky Suite.  He said there is no promo but there is BCC discounted pricing and it was another $3300.  We passed on a Sky Suite. We had no preference on the stateroom for Aqua and it turned out it was A2.  Not a bad location and we didn't want to change it to A1.

 

After I received the confirmation email, I realized I made a mistake on the date. 😞 I called again and this time the same agent answered after 2 hours. He was super nice and changed the date, still $280 add-on for Aqua and the same stateroom.  

 

Thanks to y'all.  I would not have tried calling if not for this thread.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Retired888

[NutsAboutGolf]

7 hours ago, Coachpoz said:

Do you have to pay federal tax on this?

 

You do pay taxes and port fees at the time of booking, most of the Caribbean 7 nighters are around $125/person 

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 hours ago, blueskadoo said:

Hello all- trying to avoid the really long hold times for what may be a well known fact. If I book one of the comp cruises and then cannot go or must cancel, is there a penalty they will assess?

 

You can cancel for a full refund, however if your offer has an expiration its "use or lose" you can't pick another sailing date unless you have another active offer

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I never gamble on cruise ships, as I don't like the odds.  But maybe I need to start.  Is there a minimum to get these offer?  Previously, some of the minimums that I was aware of seemed pretty high.

 

They aren't very transparent and lately, they have been only sending offers for sailings they want to fill.  On my last sailing a gambler told me he sails all the time and claims you need an average of 800 tier points per night across the entire sailing which is as good as guess as any.  Easy to see how many tier points you gain on slots, for table games they won't tell you, you have to ask and they don't seem to want to tell you until the last couple nights of the sailing.  The more player friendly the game, the less tier points you earn.

 

If this is something you want to do, with BJ at the tables they allow you have a strategy card, while you can't lay it on the table you can just keep it in your hand.  If you play a perfect strategy it's hard to lose and if you somehow do lose, it shouldn't be by very much and you're overall ahead if you're able to obtain $5k/person AQ staterooms even if you lose a grand or two at the casino.  Usually there's only one table on X that has the better 3:2 odds, that's a $25/hand table; all other tables are most likely the worse 6:5 odds but will have lower minimum and also an auto shuffler.  They usually have a single deck but it's the worst 6:5 odds.

[Fly and Sail]

4 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

They aren't very transparent and lately, they have been only sending offers for sailings they want to fill.  On my last sailing a gambler told me he sails all the time and claims you need an average of 800 tier points per night across the entire sailing which is as good as guess as any. 

 

Meh I can't see that being accurate. They are sending out onboard cruise vouchers on Day 3 so if you power up your play on these first 2-3 days then you might be lucky. Last cruise on Solstice I earned ~ 6,400 tier points and have gotten scrap from them.

[PhillyGuy03]

I didn't want to wait on hold for so long, so I filled out the form. I didn't hear back for almost 10 days and didn't think they were ever going to respond, but surprisingly a reservation confirmation showed up in my email last night. 

 

One thing I was very confused is that I'm booked in an ocean view room. Likely most of you, I got the offer for a veranda statement. 

 

However, when I looked at the deck plan, 7288 seems to have a balcony. Am I missing something? 

 

 

[mahdnc]

42 minutes ago, PhillyGuy03 said:

I didn't want to wait on hold for so long, so I filled out the form. I didn't hear back for almost 10 days and didn't think they were ever going to respond, but surprisingly a reservation confirmation showed up in my email last night. 

 

One thing I was very confused is that I'm booked in an ocean view room. Likely most of you, I got the offer for a veranda statement. 

 

However, when I looked at the deck plan, 7288 seems to have a balcony. Am I missing something? 

 

 

 

Ignore the stock photo that accompanies the stateroom description.  They are often incorrect.  If you have 7288, then your cabin has a balcony and a nice one at that!

 

For example, here is the incorrect stock photo that Celebrity uses for the reservation I have for a balcony cabin on Constellation:

 

 

 

and here is the actual balcony of the same cabin (Infinity):

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by mahdnc

[PhillyGuy03]

24 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Ignore the stock photo that accompanies the stateroom description.  They are often incorrect.  If you have 7288, then your cabin has a balcony and a nice one at that!

 

 

Wow that's a big discrepancy. So I shouldn't worry if the name of the room type is also incorrect? 

 

Mine says Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom, which is a different class than Veranda Stateroom. 

 

I noticed that yours said Family Ocean View and not Veranda either. 

[mahdnc]

7 minutes ago, PhillyGuy03 said:

 

Wow that's a big discrepancy. So I shouldn't worry if the name of the room type is also incorrect? 

 

Mine says Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom, which is a different class than Veranda Stateroom. 

 

I noticed that yours said Family Ocean View and not Veranda either. 

 

Yes, ignore the stateroom name for your booking just as I am for mine. As long as your cabin is 7288, you are good.

 

If you haven't discovered this yet, at the top of the Celebrity Cruises Cruise Critic Forum are a few pinned threads that collect individual cabin reviews along with a summarizing spreadsheet.  Here is a link to the Millennium class ship spreadsheet.  7288 has been reviewed.  They refer to the nice large balcony.

Edited August 12, 2022 by mahdnc

[NutsAboutGolf]

11 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Meh I can't see that being accurate. They are sending out onboard cruise vouchers on Day 3 so if you power up your play on these first 2-3 days then you might be lucky. Last cruise on Solstice I earned ~ 6,400 tier points and have gotten scrap from them.

 

Makes sense, the other thing, if you're on a super short sailing not sure what good earning 800/night, or 3000-4000 total points would do

[lhsail]

57 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Ignore the stock photo that accompanies the stateroom description.  They are often incorrect.  If you have 7288, then your cabin has a balcony and a nice one at that!

 

For example, here is the incorrect stock photo that Celebrity uses for the reservation I have for a balcony cabin on Constellation:

 

 

 

and here is the actual balcony of the same cabin (Infinity):

 

You got one of the sweet ones. We had the same type on the Summit for four cruises last summer and fall. We’ve been spoiled!

[mahdnc]

29 minutes ago, PhillyGuy03 said:

 

Wow that's a big discrepancy. So I shouldn't worry if the name of the room type is also incorrect? 

 

Mine says Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom, which is a different class than Veranda Stateroom. 

 

I noticed that yours said Family Ocean View and not Veranda either. 

 

Correction: here is the link to the M-class cabin spreadsheet.  The bad news is that I don't see 7288 listed.  It must have been listed on the other spreadsheet that I erroneously provided the link for. Sorry about that.

[PhillyGuy03]

24 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Correction: here is the link to the M-class cabin spreadsheet.  The bad news is that I don't see 7288 listed.  It must have been listed on the other spreadsheet that I erroneously provided the link for. Sorry about that.

 

Isn't Solstice S class? 

[gold1953]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

 

Ignore the stock photo that accompanies the stateroom description.  They are often incorrect.  If you have 7288, then your cabin has a balcony and a nice one at that!

 

For example, here is the incorrect stock photo that Celebrity uses for the reservation I have for a balcony cabin on Constellation:

 

 

 

and here is the actual balcony of the same cabin (Infinity):

 

they are cruising on an S class ship so this photo is not correct for them