Live from the reflection

[mathed101]

On 2/26/2024 at 6:22 AM, High on the Seas said:

On a current B2B and turnaround day was fairly quick. We had to be in Tuscan at 9:45 and were off to clear customs and back on by 10:30. 

 

 

 

Were you informed or invited to the Concierge Lunch on your turnaround day since you were on a B2B? If so, did you go and how was it?

[mathed101]

Would you please tell me where can I find the hours of operation for the MDR Breakfast and the breakfast in Blu?

[High on the Seas]

2 hours ago, mathed101 said:

 

Were you informed or invited to the Concierge Lunch on your turnaround day since you were on a B2B? If so, did you go and how was it?

We were but did not attend. We did have friends on the same B2B and they did go and enjoyed it. They also had a wine raffle during the B2B meeting and gave away 4 bottles of wine. 

[High on the Seas]

2 hours ago, mathed101 said:

Would you please tell me where can I find the hours of operation for the MDR Breakfast and the breakfast in Blu?

Hours for all restaurants can be found on the Celebrity app. 

[mathed101]

Thanks so much for this info. I don't have the cruises booked yet so I didn't get the app yet but I will take a look at it anyway.

[High on the Seas]

1 hour ago, mathed101 said:

Thanks so much for this info. I don't have the cruises booked yet so I didn't get the app yet but I will take a look at it anyway.

You can load the app anytime. Viewing any current cruise will give you the dining times. 

[crimsonbird]

On 2/22/2024 at 3:43 PM, High on the Seas said:

Currently on board the Reflection in the Caribbean. Staying in Aqua class so if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to find the answer. 

We will be in aqua in a couple of weeks.  Did u ask your steward for a bottle of wine upon boarding?  I read that one needs to request it in aqua class.  Also, how many exercise classes were included?  Was dining in the aqua restaurant easy?  We are unable to make reservations.  Are they even needed?  Thanks in advance.

 

[hcat]

no res are taken for BLU..bkfst or dinner  You go when you want but some dinner times are more  busy than others..and there may be a small line to be seated..

[High on the Seas]

9 minutes ago, crimsonbird said:

We will be in aqua in a couple of weeks.  Did u ask your steward for a bottle of wine upon boarding?  I read that one needs to request it in aqua class.  Also, how many exercise classes were included?  Was dining in the aqua restaurant easy?  We are unable to make reservations.  Are they even needed?  Thanks in advance.

 

We did not request. The quality is usually not great for a free bottle and since we had the premium drink package you can get better quality that way. 
 

No exercise classes included. They come at a cost. 
 

You cannot reserve a dinner time in Blu. They open at 5:15 and up until about 6:00 you can usually be seated immediately. By 7:00 or 7:30 there is usually a line and a short wait. 

[cinderellen]

On 2/27/2024 at 4:04 PM, High on the Seas said:

I just mailed Laura Hodges-Bethge. Catering to travel agents who can bring them future business is obviously much more important than individual customer concerns. 

Curious if you ever received a response to your email? In 2006 my husband and I took our first and only NCL cruise. A couple weeks before we sailed, we found out it was the “Good Morning America Ladies Cruise”. We contacted our TA and she contacted NCL. She called us and said they assured her the group would not impact our cruise. It was chaos. Every venue was packed. Not to mention the helicopter that landed on the ship every morning so they could do their live show. 😳

[High on the Seas]

9 hours ago, cinderellen said:

Curious if you ever received a response to your email? In 2006 my husband and I took our first and only NCL cruise. A couple weeks before we sailed, we found out it was the “Good Morning America Ladies Cruise”. We contacted our TA and she contacted NCL. She called us and said they assured her the group would not impact our cruise. It was chaos. Every venue was packed. Not to mention the helicopter that landed on the ship every morning so they could do their live show. 😳

The day after I emailed, an invitation to a sail away on the bridge showed up in our room with a call from guest relations asking if we still had concerns. Felt like getting thrown a bone to make the complaint go away. We didn’t attend. I sent a follow-up to corporate

(LHB) but didn’t hear back on either note. Never received anything from Celebrity that vaguely resembled an apology. 

[thepoint]

High On The Seas

 

How do you research whether there is a large group on your sailing?  Thank you. 

[High on the Seas]

10 minutes ago, thepoint said:

High On The Seas

 

How do you research whether there is a large group on your sailing?  Thank you. 

At least on Celebrity, you can’t, and therein lies the issue. When we returned I called my travel agent and she told me that Celebrity refuses to divulge information regarding the makeup of customers on any of their sailings. 

[Sherry MGM]

I was also on this sailing in Aqua class.  You get 3 free exercise classes.

[High on the Seas]

3 minutes ago, Sherry MGM said:

I was also on this sailing in Aqua class.  You get 3 free exercise classes.

Sorry if I misspoke. We didn’t see any information on free classes. 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, High on the Seas said:

At least on Celebrity, you can’t, and therein lies the issue. When we returned I called my travel agent and she told me that Celebrity refuses to divulge information regarding the makeup of customers on any of their sailings. 

sometimes if you do a gen search you can find ads or info abt groups..hit or miss!

 

we will also search for  the huge ICON of Seas by Royal  C in  our ports..

Edited March 9 by hcat

[thepoint]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

sometimes if you do a gen search you can find ads or info abt groups..hit or miss!

 

we will also search for  the huge ICON of Seas by Royal  C in  our ports..

I remembered from years ago there was a website that listed some of the ships that were booked for large groups.  Took me awhile, but I found one.  There are only a few charters listed for Celebrity ships.   I think there is another website I will keep looking.  

 

See this website   https://www.cruisetimetables.com/full-cruise-ship-charters.html

 

[hcat]

good resource!  so far our cruises are okay..

[39august]

These appear to be full ship charters, so no way to book them except thru' the chartering group. No danger of being on board with the group. 

[High on the Seas]

45 minutes ago, thepoint said:

I remembered from years ago there was a website that listed some of the ships that were booked for large groups.  Took me awhile, but I found one.  There are only a few charters listed for Celebrity ships.   I think there is another website I will keep looking.  

 

See this website   https://www.cruisetimetables.com/full-cruise-ship-charters.html

 

This is a good resource but appears to be for the entire cruise and would not apply for a situation like we encountered where a large group of travel agents or medical professionals were onboard and reserved many of the venues. 

[zitsky]

On 3/6/2024 at 4:50 PM, QuestionEverything said:

Well I did have a number of big strong gentlemen who were rather adept at intimidation. Guests on the ship were livid.

Some pro cruising posters would get all in a tizzy over this and quote the cruise contract. I point out that the Air Passenger Protection Regulations are in place for air travel consumers but 0 for cruise passengers.

Tells one something indeed.

gold1953, always take video and photographs, send them to the cloud or elsewhere before you approach guest relations, advise them the evidence is already with the media who will await your order to release. It works every time.

Stand your ground and get what you pay for.

The arrogance of the cruise lines is increasing so you have to be very aware of your rights under the law, law outside the one sided cruise contract.

Think of it this way - if the cruise lines did a great job they would not be quoting the cruise contract so often!

Enjoy your travels!

Hey I like you.

 

Do any of the luxury lines sell out to groups?

 

How can one know if Celebrity sells out your cruise to a group before you board?

[hcat]

19 hours ago, 39august said:

These appear to be full ship charters, so no way to book them except thru' the chartering group. No danger of being on board with the group. 

oh ..so not what we are looking for..as far as large groups on non charters!

[QuestionEverything]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

Hey I like you.

 

Do any of the luxury lines sell out to groups?

 

How can one know if Celebrity sells out your cruise to a group before you board?

Hi zitsky, thanks, same back at you.

It was a really arrogant, disrespectful move by Celebrity that significantly downgraded the ship two days before we disembarked in San Fran. The following nude cruise was obviously more important than the guests on the cruise I was on.

People were upset, elderly folk hurting to sit on hard mental/wood chairs - so I had to take action, and I did.

The premium and luxury lines generally have smaller ships so that limits those cruise lines from undertaking any group bookings of large size as it is harder to "hide" the groups.

To your question regarding how do you ferret out groups on cruises - So I picked a group topic; I googled Christian cruise and up came this group cruise on Celebrity, how big it is I do not know, but you got a cruise date:

https://www.inspirationtravel.com/event/lisa-harper-2024

 

Then googled Celebrity Pride cruise and up came this group event on the Edge June 4, 2024 - how big I do not know:

https://outcoast.com/celebrate-pride-at-sea-celebrity-cruises/

 

Then thought, dear first responders, fire fighters, up came this cruise on Carnival, how big I do not know:

https://firefighterscruise.com/

 

Then I googled the freemasons, and up came this cruise on RCL, how big I do not know:

https://www.kena.org/masonic-family-cruise

 

I think it is luck of the draw, but some sleuthing can obviously find interesting information indeed. 

But basically, the larger the ship the higher the probability of group bookings.

I cruise premium and luxury and have never heard of group bookings.

Anyways, hope this is of assistance.

Blessings to you and your family zitsky!!!!!!!

 

 

[retired dude]

On 3/4/2024 at 7:27 PM, KYTess said:

Breakfast is available every morning in MDR. 

tess: did you and you other half find any good beach bargains on either curacao or bonaire for the cruise on the 30th.???I am sure caught up in the sec tourney that i have not even researched it...We go to manchebo beach in aruba but in the past we have done an island tour on bonaire and curacao but have not done any beaches....thanks in advance for your thoughts....go big blue. B&B in fla, by way of  ky.

[KYTess]

Hi retired dude, Check out the Avila Beach Hotel on Curacao. We reserved day passes for $10 pp. It includes beach & pool access with chairs/umbrellas. It will be our first time visiting but have read good things about it here on CC. We’re thinking of exploring Bonaire on e bikes. So looking forward to this cruise and will be cheering on Big Blue while I wait!