Clemmnj

Does anyone know if there has been a change to Celebrity’s on board credit policy? I am booked on a cruise in May and received a $600 on board credit. When I booked my excursions Celebrity applied the on board credit to the charges. Now however I am receiving notifications that I owe $600 even though I have paid in full for the cruise and my invoice has a zero balance. I am very confused. The on board credit is showing up as a credit on the invoice so I’m wondering if there has been a change in policy that I’m not aware of. Maybe on board credits can’t be used for excursions? But then why did they apply them to my excursions? I received no communication other than that I owe $600 and that just started a few weeks ago. I booked my excursions months ago. I would appreciate any insight.

That is exactly how I feel. Instead of anticipating my cruise with excitement I am now just worrying that I will feel let down and somewhat exploited. If Celebrity felt the need to change so much they should have done beginning with cruises not yet available for booking. I feel a little like the victim of a bait and switch. I am trying to maintain a positive attitude but I find myself feeling a bit bitter. And who wants to feel that way before a very expensive trip?! I’m holding out hope that Celebrity will consider this a failed experiment that undermines the bottom line and go back to what was once a premium cruise line instead of Motel 6.

I guess I will miss what is now gone no matter what it is because I’m sure to notice it. Things like embarkation champagne and canapés are little things in the grand scheme of things and no one wants to be thinking that the vacation that they planned and saved for is not up to what they were anticipating. And that anticipation comes from past experience. I wouldn’t miss what I never had but these little things add up. And if the food has declined it could certainly ruin the cruise since it is a long one. No one wants to be bored by the food or have it be of mediocre quality. That’s a deal breaker for me.

I guess I will miss more of what the embarkation champagne represented. I will miss that feeling of excitement that it gave you. That feeling of luxury. You save and plan as the excitement builds and then you step on board to a glass of champagne with your whole trip ahead of you. So I will miss that special feeling I guess. Most mid level hotels in resort areas welcome their guests with champagne so I think rather than the champagne itself it’s the lack of it, when it once was there, that will be a sort of let down for me. It may seem silly to some but I bet I am not alone in thinking this is a misstep on Celebrity’s part.

I’ve read that the quality of food in the MDR has really decreased and that Celebrity has made other cuts such as no more afternoon canapés or embarkation champagne. Can any recent Celebrity cruisers comment on other cuts or the reality of the MDR food. I have a cruise booked for May and I’m really concerned. We have cruised exclusively on Celebrity and keep coming back because of the high quality, but this is our first cruise since 2019 and I’m very worried that I will get a reduced experience for what is a lot of money. I still have time to switch to another line but would love to know your thoughts.

I read yesterday that Amsterdam is going to be closing its cruise port. No date was specified. I have a cruise scheduled for May of next year that is leaving from Amsterdam but now don’t know what to do about hotels etc pre cruise. I don’t want to book hotels and transportation if that is not going to be the departure port. Does anyone know anything about when this might happen or how to handle this new dilemma?

The port was Berlin and it was a 12 hour excursion getting back at 8:30 so I booked a 9:15. But it said it conflicted and there was no way to book anyway. So I eliminated select dining for that night and was then able to book the excursion. I wanted to then try for the 9:30 but the website said select dining was sold out, even though when I booked all my dining yesterday everything was wide open. The cruise is more than a year away. The celebrity website tends to be a bit glitchy. But I at least was able to book my excursions to coincide with my select dining. All except the Berlin day.

I tried to book a shore excursion but it said my select dining time conflicted with the excursion. My dining time was 45 minutes after excursion is due back. Is that too soon? Is there some sort of timing issue I’m not aware of?