T^2

Trying to plan ahead (a little) for next month when I make my final payment on 7/6 Greek isle cruise and see if anyone has an available coupon.  I can be reached at OldWorldCruiseTraveler2017 (AT) GMAIL.COM using the bold upper case letters.  Thanks.

Some insightful comments, thanks.  I was being too obtuse.  My question really was: does anyone have any suggestions on what else to check on a TA other than being on the cruise line's site as a "preferred" travel agent and no BBB complaints?  The TA I am looking to go with is offering a price for say a category 3 (better) cabin at the category 2 cabin rate.  One TA matched the price but the cruise line and other TAs aren't even close to this low of a price.

Not sure this is the best thread to post this, but ...  I am going to do my best to not violate the CC rules.

I requested and received a number of quotes for a luxury cruise.  After I received the quotes, I went to the cruise line's web site and found the "best" quote providers are listed on the cruise line's site as "recommended" travel agencies. I called the cruise line and was told the agents listed on its site were "vetted" (to some extent).  I have not worked with any of the agencies before.  The travel agency I have worked with before didn't even get me the "$250 OBC" type credit.

All quotes were discounted prices from the line's site prices.  Some quotes were better than the "standard $250 OBC" type offer.  The other quotes are WAY, WAY BETTER than the "standard $250 OBC" credit.  Sorry, trying to keep this nebulous enough to stay within this sites rules, but get my thoughts across.

1. What am I missing that these "vetted" travel agents can provide such discounts?

2. Is there something else I should be reviewing that I am missing?

Thanks for any insight!

Thanks for the replies!  That sounds more like what I have been seeing related to SB.  I keep leaning more and more towards that first SB cruise.  I'll have to actually purchase passage one of these days.

I am looking at my first SB this summer.  Don't ask me why, but I was looking around the SB web site and visited their Careers page.  I KNOW who looks at the cruise line's career page when looking to go on a cruise???  I found it interesting that the bartender and sommelier both have a job description to the effect " down selling the complimentary program and up-selling the wine list/program" from sommelier listing.  Does the staff push customers to upgrade from the included beverages?  I guess I am not totally surprised by the upsell effort, but wonder how strong the push is.

Depending on how "real time" you need to be able to be reached on your cell, you could also use the phone wifi calling feature while off the ship assuming you visit locations with land based wifi.

That is another the many "undocumented features" of the X web site their IT department has spent significant dollars and hours perfecting!

Although it is not near Plaza Narvona or the Trevi Fountain, it has a subway station right outside the front door, we stayed at Hotel Napoleon. We enjoyed our three nights stay there. It had a full breakfast, too.

Did you compare the $360 cost to the gratuity cost rather than the OBC? Sometimes the pre-paid gratuities are a better deal than the OBC.

I am looking at a European cruise next summer and the "second" choice (go better) didn't make sense in terms of $/cost benefit. If I looked at the go best option, it became reasonable. It may be a marketing ploy for some folks to jump on "the sale" tag or for other to go ahead and "upgrade" to the go best and spend more.

It all depends on each person on the benefit portion of the $/benefit equation.

I can't speak for an Alaskan cruise; however, last year we did a Rome to Barcelona cruise. We had no issues with two different ports. Enjoy!

I was able to get in just now. Did you try using your email address as your userid?

Sorry, not helping you at all, only asking a curiosity question. Never having been in a suite or anticipating I'll get to one (can always dream though), how did Celebrity change the role of the concierge in Michael's Club? From postings, it sounded like the concierge did pretty much anything.

Last spring, we stayed at Alibrandi Palace. It is more a B&B and it met our needs. It was clean, reasonably priced and the staff was friendly and helpful. There was a plumbing issue they told us about on the way to the hotel. They had plenty of bottled water available of all needs, but the issue got resolved before dinner, even though it was a holiday. The cruise ship dock is basically on the other end of the port from the hotel. The hotel is basically across the street from the port ;however, .. Staff got a taxi for another couple and us. Relatively cheap transport and quick.

Last spring, we gambled and felt it paid off. We pre-purchased tickets for a self guided roam of Pompeii planning to take the train there and back. As we exited the terminal area, we were approached by a taxi driver. After a bit of confused (on my part) discussion, we agreed on a price for transport to Pompeii for about four hours then to Sorrento for lunch and a couple of hours visiting that city. We ended with a short drive through Naples leaving us time to do some walking around town to see even more. I don't remember what we paid for the day, but it was considerably less than other options I had researched. What is that saying about ".. taking care of fools and drunks"?

I don't know why there aren't escalators, so I offer the following for your consideration, in no specific order:

1. lack of real estate

2. more maintenance than the few elevators

3. general functionality on a rolling ship

4. force many of us travelers to get some exercise going to/returning from the buffet/dining room/bars

Last spring we cruised out of Civitavecchia. We arrived several days early to tour Rome and then spent the night before the cruise in Civitavecchia. We stayed at Hotel Napoleon in Rome and Alibrandi Palace (a B&B type establishment) in Civitavecchia. I prefer to stay within "walking distance" the night before a cruise, just to be safe. Alibrandi Palace turned out not to be within walking distance to where the ship actually docked, but we traveled by taxi to the ship with another couple staying at the same place for a very reasonable price. We were able to purchase a transfer from Rome to Alibrandi Place through them. Don't remember the transfer price, but it is listed on their site. There is a metro/subway station right outside the door of Hotel Napoleon and a GREAT little deli about half a block away on the corner where we ate lunch. As for Alibrandi, they had some plumbing issues when we arrived and being a holiday, they were having trouble getting them repaired. Ended up getting repaired before dinner, so all was well. All in all, we would stay in both places again on our next trip. I don't know how many stars either have, but it met our purposes. Also, Napoleon offered an option to have a full breakfast.

Iais - as I understand it, the one to three pages showing reservation number, name, cabin, and where you sign saying you authorize X to charge your credit card or a cash account is known as the Express Pass. Also, as I understand it, it isn't critical to have it when you arrive at the dock to board, X can provide a copy for you to sign, but if you already have it signed, it is one less delay getting on the ship.

Not sure what is going on. I tried Edge and Chrome on Win10 computer and had issues for almost a week trying to print. Tonight, I tried FireFox and it worked correctly. Then I tried Edge again and it worked this time. Chrome still doesn't work. Win10 and Chrome worked on first reservation a little over a week ago, but started failing a couple of days later.

In my case, it printed better, but not the way it did before. I found a link at the top of the boarding pass to the effect "send to the printer." On two computers with multiple browsers, what printed before easily on three pages printed on four pages with very large font and no lines for signature. On a third computer, it worked "correctly" in terms of font size.

I am providing some confusion with my reply, so I apologize. Generally, you can select seats after purchasing tickets. My son was able to select three seats out of four flights (two legs each way). The fourth flight, different airline, didn't allow seat selection yet, based on the ticket class. So, check the ticket class. I have used Celebrity Air on my two previous X cruises and for the upcoming one.

UPDATE: I just saw previous post after I hit save. I had flight change impact my return flight from Med. Needed to reroute the entire return trip. Celebrity Air "offered" a set of flights that were longer than the ones I had originally booked. Not sure what the price differences between the "offered" flights and my selection, but in any case, the schedule change to the new flights were at no cost and no price change since it was an airline "forced" change. Went from 3:30 layover at ORD to 0:30, which wasn't going to happen, even if I wasn't going through customs.

KUDOS to the Celebrity IT staff for making the web site more difficult to use! Must have worked overtime. As my family's unofficial TA, I completed my reservation check-in earlier this week and all worked reasonably well. While trying to finish up my adult children's check-in, the Express Pass font is so large, what normally prints on three pages, now prints on four pages. Entering flight information, now has two sets of fields to enter the same data. I checked two browsers on one computer and one browser on another computer. Also, went back to my reservation and was able to generate a four page Express Pass.

I have not seen an additional charge.

Now to divert this thread (a bit). A "twist" I encountered and didn't appreciate was when I used the "browse flight" function, not the tied to a reservation search, I found a flight I wanted. When I then did the search tied to my reservation, the details I had initially found weren't to be found. Logged out and did the generic search and found the original flight again. There were some other issues with my attempt to book the flight, so ended up calling on the phone. When I asked about the difference between the two search results, I was told the generic search is an "old" data set and the search tied to my reservation was current data. Don't think I got the original flight/price I found on the generic search, but they did get me something close.

I have had a bartender ask me for my (premium drink package) card after I order but before the drink was poured. After looking at my card, she said, you don't want X (don't remember what I ordered), you want this and reached to the top shelf and "dusted off" a bottle. Sure wish I remembered what I was drinking... Before you jump to the conclusion I am leading you towards, on different days I was trying different drinks, since I normally don't get to try the options without paying much more.

Assuming you have a cell phone, check it/your carrier. Several models have wifi calling. You can ask crew where free wifi is available in the port area. If someone back home needs to contract you, you would need to get to a port to "be able to do anything."

Probably wrong again, ... At least for some of the drink packages, the two "primary" occupants of the cabin need to buy the same package.