chelsea_gal

Hi Everyone Sailed Royal since 1985 and whilst done a few other cruise lines mainly loyal to Royal -Booked the Harmony of the Seas out of Rome in October 2016 and simply cannot wait.

I think Celebrity is trying to appeal to a different demographics whilst at the same time valuing the loyal customers. Let face it the Elite program and happy hour is very generous. Look at the HAL loyalty program and you will quickly notice the difference. i cannot comment about the increase noise levels. But I will look out then next Celebrity cruise I take. I will say that dont worry or be sorry for be a wise spending cruiser, I believe that Celebrity model allows for different spending levels and their new suite program will give those with more disposal income the opportunity to pay for the little extras that perhaps others are not bothered about. I say each to their own and WVUFAN dont worry about it Celebrity still values you no matter what Cabin you choose

We sail on Eclipse on the 22nd and being British enjoy a cup of tea in the morning, we are aware there are no kettles in the cabins but would our attendant be able to supply one or should we bring our own, also are there shampoo dispensers in the bathrooms.

Being a Ex Pat and one who still gets their year long supply of PG Tips Pyramid Tea Bags from the UK. save yourself the hassle and get room service.

We also used the service as a extra alarm clock :) but on board they generally have the English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey and I cannot remember if it was the Equinox or not but we also had Irish Breakfast Tea.

And even the times when we did not pre -order and just rang because we were not having any food it still came fairly quickly.

Anyways what we did was grab some of those tea bags /Once we even brought our own in a jiffy bag and in both cases we just asked for HOT water and milk to be delivered to our rooms, the water came piping hot at the designated time , and we made our tea that way.

And like you enjoyed our first cup of the day in our room before we headed to breakfast.

I'm curious - how can a Canadian TA offer ABTA protection?

sorry my sister said

iATA

My sister who lives in London books all the time with a Canadian TA and gets great deals , OBC etc and plus the Canadian dollar currency rate is doing great to the UK pound. so she is double happy. Her bookings are backed by ABTA so she has no worries at all. She also says that her TA provides all sorts of additional help and advice on North America and cruises that a UK TA has not provided in the past. So go ahead and book with a North American TA and have no to fear.

I would upgrade to the premium package if you would like to drink martini's basically package rules for the Classic package is

"beers up to $6 per serving, and spirits, cocktails, frozen drinks, and wines by the glass up to $8 per serving".

According the latest bar prices from menus individual cocktails such as Sapphire Ginlet or a dirty martini is $11.00

Spoke to Celebrity to confirm that the drinks package can be used on Labadee and the person I spoke to said yes. I would have been VERY annoyed if Labadee was excluded. And in any event last year when we were on a RCCL cruise and it stopped there, RCCL beverage package was accepted on Labadee.

Hope this helps.

You could check out this post http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1571274

The poster listed much of the items on the drinks menu.

This link is to the excellent review of a cruise on the Reflection by the Preismans and they have scanned or taken pictures of many of the bar menus http://www.thepreismans.com/ecarib_reflection_menus.htm

Thanks "whatevergoes" just as I had imagined and I feel much better. Like I said we have been on RCCL and they loved the youth program there , but this will be their first Celebrity cruise.

Thanks for replying

Can anyone tell me what the Senior Teens Program is like on Celebrity Cruises? we have a couple of teenagers going on a family reunion.

We have been with RCCL many times and we know that generally that line is better for all age family group , but this time we "the family" voted for as Celebrity cruise based upon price and itinerary.

The family reunion will be taking place 2015 Easter

Yer we have seen the cabins we have booked for a March 28 2015 go up already . And we have a block of cabins booked ( we have a large family reunion happening). I did ask my TA and she said that the time we have picked has easter in our sailing so we figure this was the reason for the hike.

Has anyone successfully combined open passage with 123 promo? Just got told from celebrity that you can't but I think you can. I guess I will just have to keep calling back until I get someone with the right answer. Do other cruise lines have as bad phone customer service as celebrity? They are a nightmare.

Well I should be able to post something tomorrow or Thursday as I am just about to use my open passage . I have gotten 3 different answers all conflicting but I have to say that the last person I spoke 3 days ago was by far the most knowledgeable so I am going with that. I was told I needed to transfer it to my TA and then they can convert the open passage sailing reservation into the one I wanted. Then I can select the 123go and get my $100 OBC from the open passage so wish me luck.

Will post my success or not

There is no catch ... other than it is a package for 2 which means that both of you have to have it. Unless you have someone who is under the legal age limit or can show a medical reason why they cannot participate then they will trade the alcoholic package for non alcoholic version.

DH and I were 100% convinced that we could not justify (ROI) buying the drinks package as we never drank that much.

So we added up all our drinks and even the specialty coffees, freshly squeeze orange juices in the morning ( the Buffet orange in the machine is dreadful) plus added in the two bottle of wine we brough prior to boarding and , we still came in way under the daily package rate.

Then we went on a last minute cruise that consisted of 8 of us and soon realized that we would be better off getting a package and we did. And I will have to admit it was a good idea. The fact that you can try new cocktails , was different as if you did not like one , well heck we just ordered something different.

The next plus side is no receipts to sign and double check on the last night the only thing to watch out is the price limits if you take the classic. But if you are selecting the drinks package as part of the 123Go promo then I suggest that you might want to consider upgrade to the premium version.

In our opinion the drinks packages are good value for money if you are on a 10 or 14 night cruise, I am personally not sure if we would have found it so on a 7 night without being in a group. I think if that was the case we would have taken the OBC.

But like others have said here... the drinks package is better for the cruise line to offer than say the gratuity or even the OBC .

I say the take the drinks package and enjoy not having to sign a bill for what you drink !!!.

I am with Phoenix_dream I love celebrity because I have found it to have a bit of everything for all age groups I find. I also find that my travel Agent does a fine job of keeping me in the loop and in fact gets me offers info within hours that celebrity announces officially. In fact having tried both approaches ie booking direct with celebrity and booking via an agent. The agent approach has yielded greater value to me.

Like Phoenix dream what draws me to celebrity is the

I guess I am in the minority. I started cruising Celebrity when I was around 40years old (which would have made me Gen X in today's market), more than 20 years ago. I liked it then, and I like it now. Big band music was before my time, but I love to listen to it (not every day, but at times). I also like disco (just for dancing:)) and rock and roll, and classical violin, and a bit of hip hop, and a bit of salsa, and on and on. What draws me to Celebrity is the service, and the classy elegance (without any stuffiness) at a price point comparable to more party friendly lines. Is that an age thing? I wonder. I do think as generations change there might need to be some modifications onboard (yes, technology tops my list) but I wonder if a lot of changes really need to be made other than those one would want to make to any brand to keep it from being tired and too predictable. I think Celebrity appeals to a certain type of cruiser, not necessarily a certain age of cruiser. Read these boards. A lot of 30 and 40 somethings love the line as much as us 60+ folks.

We are also looking into this tour for later this year!

 

Quick question: Are there any/many restroom stops along the way? With an all day tour and lots of drinking, just want to make sure we have access to facilities.

 

Thanks!

They are very accommodating and will tell you when the next stop does not have any facilities.

But basically most all the stops had decent public washrooms

Did a COSOL tour in December when we stopped there on a Celebrity Cruise.

quite frankly was one of the best tours I have ver been on.

There was about 3 vans that day and whilst we were not in COSOL's Van , Baptist was just as excellent , not only as a driver but also at providing information throughout the trip.

For the question posed an

Bout sandals We had a bag with us that had our sandals, beach towels and some other bits , started in our trainers and then were able to change depending upon where the stop was ie the beach stop we changed into our sandals.

COSOL tours is perhaps one of the most organized and well run island tours we have ever been on that was not cruise company run. And in fact was better value for money than the ship tours.

We have just booked a tour with COSOL the tour seems highly recommended

so we are going to give them a go.

Will do a review when we get back

We are on the Celebrity Eclipse Holiday Cruise Dec 15