phoenix_dream

Some of the issues mentioned by the OP might just have been luck of the draw (the excessive # of smokers, the crowded Solarium pool area) - I have on occasion encountered this on other cruises. That said, the closing of so many public areas for such length of time is just unacceptable plain and simple. I would NOT have been happy. I don't care what groups are onboard, or how many groups, or how many people in those groups. It is just not fair to your other passengers to consistently block off public venues. When you book a cruise part of what you are paying for is the use of such public spaces. To block off so many for so long is not right. I am hearing of these types of things more and more on these boards (albeit not overwhelmingly so) and I just think it is wrong - period. A small party for an hour or two? Fine. But no public area should be off limits for significant lengths of time IMHO. And in this case the fact that it was Celebrity itself causing this inconsideration is just wrong!

I kinda take offense at your comments. Do you care to elaborate? Should those of us that have been loyal to Celebrity and have reached Elite, Elite Plus or Zenith feel bad or ashamed? Why do you assume all or most of us are not normal? My wife & I do alot of transatlantic cruises. There are many Elite and higher on these cruises. Do you think we all just sit around and brag about our level, our free drinks or our cabins? Actually, your assumptions about "us" couldn't be farther from the truth. We meet many people here on Cruise Critic and aboard the ships. Many are not at our loyality level, but we make sure we include them in all our fun. If that means going to a different bar or lounge during Happy Hour so they can be included, we do that. The use of vouchers has made that even easier to do now. After 50+ cruises, I can honestly say I have NEVER encountered any passengers with the attitude you envision.

I am glad I am not the only one finding some of these posts offensive. The term 'elite' is unfortunate, but Celebrity came up with it, we didn't. If I mention it, it's because it's pertinent to the conversation. If I like some of the new captains club changes and don't like others why is that considered complaining if I explain those viewpoints? I thought that's part of why this website exists. It also doesn't mean I feel "entitled". What I do feel entitled to is benefit of the doubt a s the saying goes. Why presume bad intentions or presume you know how people feel or the intent of their words? I have cruised 24 times on Celebrity and I could count on one hand the number of snobs I have encountered, and have fingers left! The OP need not worry. Geez:rolleyes:

Will just point out that Select is sometimes overbooked and those of us who chose it are made to wait for tables. Those who are assigned to Blu and just "show up" at Select are taking tables from those of us who are assigned to it. We can't do the same (just show up at Blu and take YOUR table!).

 

Also please consider the gratuities. You who just show up and walk into the MDR w/o discussing with your BLU staff are causing problems for the gratuity system. talk to your BLU staff and your tips will get reassigned to the MDR staff

Some good points. On my last cruise Select was totally booked up, so it would not have been considerate at all to just show up. I would recommend discussing the topic with the Blu staff the first night and ask them the proper way to handle it for that particular cruise as it can definitely vary depending on the logistics of that cruise. On some cruises, showing up may be just fine. On others, they may need to arrange seating for you. Best to ask ahead of time.

I would go with option 5 (which I just made up:)). Sleep in. Enjoy a leisurely breakfast and perhaps a dip in the pool. Head over to the ship around 1:00. You will miss the chaos of the 'have to get onboard ASAP' passengers, and will likely board quickly and be able to go right to your room. Drop off your carry-on bags and then go have a peaceful lunch at the Bistro.

OSJ is interesting if you have never been, and we do enjoy visiting it, but honestly it is not that big a deal. Add the crowds of the event you mentioned and you couldn't pay me to go there. As someone also not as young as they used to be, this is definitely the option I would propose. Otherwise you will start your cruise exhausted and stressed - no way to start a vacation. My opinion.

In my 20+ years cruising Celebrity my opinion is that the pizza really varies from ship to ship. Some great, some good, and some only when you just gotta gotta have it.:)

But there is one thing for sure - the best pizza in the US is in CHICAGO. Just sayin':D:D:D

Wow...teachers making Zenith...that is amazing! Good for you! It is a difficult job, and the pay does not correspond!:cool:

Just food for thought - in our school district there are many teachers, particularly at the high school level who make well into six figures a year. How do I know this? In our state (IL) they publish the salaries online for all to see. They have the opportunity to make more with coaching, tutoring, or other extra activities, and summer work if they care to. They also can retire in their late 50's making approx. 75% of their salary in pension for the rest of their lives after a 30 year stint. This is not a commentary on worth, and whether this is appropriate or not. And I know this is not true of all teachers. But having a number of teachers in our family, I just want to set the record straight that in many cases, teachers are in a much better position than many non-teachers to cruise a lot, at least in our district (and I live in a middle class neighborhood- not high end)

I think the main reason Celebrity moves wheelchairs to the front of the line is the fact that they only have so many wheelchairs so they need to clear them quickly for use again.

I know there are people who take advantage, and shame on them as they hurt the truly disabled and annoy the rest of us. But sometimes we need to be careful how we pass that judgment. For example, someone may need a wheelchair at the airport because they need to rush to catch a plane and could not walk that fast, or they do not know how long the walk is to the gate. Once they have landed, they may not need that wheelchair as they can take their time now that they are at their destination, or perhaps they are in their home airport and know their walk is within their capability. How would we possibly know the difference? I know a lot of seniors who can walk, but not very fast, and often not very far. So sometimes they need assistance and sometimes not. I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt unless they are blatantly abusing the system:)

My opinion is that if the item were of greater monetary value (jewelry, camera, cash etc) I would turn it in to Guest Relations. You could ask for a receipt, but honestly, to what end? They are not going to keep track of this stuff and report back to you that it was returned, or not. You are not going to be on the ship after your cruise is over so how would you ever know? Not trying to be snarky, just thinking through the details.

If I found a smart drive like the OP did, I think I would be more inclined to handle it like they did. I have little faith in lost items being found, even though I would turn in more expensive items as I mentioned, with my fingers crossed they would be in honest hands. For most items there would be little in the way of clues to point me to the rightful owner. And I would not want them found in my possession with the chance I would be accused of theft even if I had honest intentions! What if you had an undeclared $500 ring and were stopped by Customs with no receipt and no explanation. Not likely to happen but why take the chance.

But the odds of getting an item back? Not so great based on my experiences. I left a pair of prescription glasses onboard once and they were never found. I find it very hard to believe they were not turned in as why would anyone want glasses with my prescription?? And yet, they said it was never turned in. My MIL left a medium priced ($75ish) ring in her safe and it was never found (supposedly). In their defense, I am sure each cruise brings dozens of lost items into the pile, and it must be a challenge to deal with them.

We are confused with what we are! The booklet we got in the mail said we were elite with six hundred something points. Online on the celebrity website it says we have seven hundred something points and are elite plus . To make it more confusing, in the big lettered box it says "elite" but in the smaller print it says "elite +". Has anyone else had this happen? Our last cruise was in September so it should have been factored in the booklet calculation. Perhaps there has been discussion of this already?I have not had time to read all the threads on this topic:)

So now we have your post complaining about a thread to complain about people complaining. :eek: :D Let's see, "If you see a thread..." :)

And the complaining goes on and on:D:D.....but I stand by my point about ignoring threads that don't interest you. As long as people are abiding by the Cruise Critic rules, then I think they should be able to say whatever they want to, as many times as they want to. I do think the Captains Club changes are one of the biggest changes to come along for the Celebrity line since the S class ships were introduced. Is it any wonder then, that people want to discuss them at length? I have read most of what is out there so far and while there is quite a bit of the same points being made (and I am guilty of that myself), I do think some of the threads are looking at it from a different viewpoint. From what has been written in the past, Celebrity representatives do read Cruise Critic - how often I am not sure. I have to think they are reading some of these threads to get a feeling for how the new program is going over. From that perspective, there is a lot of valuable feedback coming in.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Think about this for a minute. This is a thread to complain about people complaining. If you see a thread that doesn't interest you - just ignore it. Easy peasy. As for 'clogging' up the boards, come on now. It takes miniscule effort to scroll down to the next thread. There are people who are very frustrated because they were just-this-close to a higher level and now they are further away, there are people who are grateful for the perks provided but who had hoped the level over Elite would actually provide some real additional benefits and feel a bit letdown that it basically did not (for the record I am one of those), there are those for whom no benefit is enough, and there are those who think the new plan is great. If they want to talk about it, that is what these boards are all about. Just ignore the threads you are not interested in. Done and done.:)

I'm not sure what you are talking about. Here is the line (starting at Select so it isn't available for Classic but it is for all others) in the benefits list and I don't think this is new.

 

• Priority embarkation while boarding the ship (where available)

 

Hard to argue the point about which program is better as it is not a simple comparison. Both have a few really good benefits and a lot of "fluff". It all depends on what is important to an individual. For those who say they are only interested in feeling valued, any recognition should do that. For those who are only interested in monetary benefits, it depends on which things you use most. I may try to do a point-by-point comparison for my own interest.

I think the point I was trying to make about being valued is not coming across clear enough. I think that when one achieves Elite level, there is a significant bump in the perks offered. When one achieves Elite+ level (which takes considerable time/money to achieve) the bump in perks is pretty minor compared to the difference between Select and Elite. Especially given that for at least a couple of the few additional perks better deals can be found with booking specials (paid beverage package vis a vis 1-2-3 promo - versus discount on liquor package), through TA benefits thrown in, or onboard (Specialty restaurant discounts, when often 20-30% or more discounts are offered onboard), Other than some non-monetary perks which could be offered but aren't (maybe more dinners with Captain or Senior Staff or something similar), how else can one judge value other than monetary value? When you create a higher level that is difficult to achieve, make the next higher level all but impossible to achieve for most cruisers, and then throw in some very minor perks, then it says to me that level is not very valued.

And I will repeat again that I am grateful for the perks I do receive. But if I am going to do an analysis of the levels, I think Celebrity missed the boat a bit on the Elite+ level.

Unfortunately, the fine print gives the cruise line all sorts of freedom with a number of things affecting your cruise enjoyment, from moving your cabin to changing or completely dropping ports of call (and I am talking about for any reason, not just because of safety or mechanical problems or the like). They have to give you an equal or higher cabin, but there may be many reasons you booked your original cabin in the first place (location, larger balcony, close to friends/family etc) and even a higher level cabin may be less desirable to you. I don't think that's fair at all, but it is 'legal'. At the very least, they should notify you ahead of time, give you a reason, and discuss acceptable alternatives. Another reason to be a bit paranoid and periodically check your reservation to make sure you are where you expect to be (which doesn't mean they can't make changes last minute, but if you see it early at least you have a shot at moving back, or moving to a better spot).

I have never had this happen to me. Do they usually notify you? I think in the case of one of the previous posters, perhaps a fax was in fact sent and the TA didn't get it for the very reason that their fax was broken. Not sure Celebrity would have any way of knowing that. No way of knowing for sure, but I would certainly hope at the least they would tell you.

This entire topic is so endingly tiring and sad. If one cruises just for building perks sail in a suite and you will get all sorts of these fast track perks and more at the time of your sailing...even if its your very first Celebrity Cruise.

There is a simple solution for you - just stop reading it. Many of us have waited for the new Captains Club changes for a long time. It is only natural that people would want to express their opinions, both pros and cons. Most of us appreciate the perks, but more so, we want to feel appreciated. I for one am very grateful for any free perks, and do not necessarily book a cruise because of them.

At the same time, some of the perks (like the social hour) save us a considerable amount of money, which makes a difference between cruising once a year or twice a year, or between being able to afford an inside cabin versus a balcony. As a long time (20+ years) Celebrity cruiser, and now Elite+ member, I was pretty disappointed at the "perks" for the new level. Don't see the point of wanting to spend even more time on a computer while supposedly on vacation, and DH doesn't even drink coffee (although I like that perk:D). We don't drink enough to purchase liquor packages, so that perk is useless, and there are usually discounts on Specialty dining anyway so that is no big deal. Extra laundry is nice on a long cruise, but until retirement the longest we can handle is 10 days, so that perk is of no benefit to us either. I was hoping for something better - maybe one free Specialty dinner, or a free bottle of wine or something. The main point is that it takes quite a bit to achieve that level and the perks added do not feel very special to me.

I am also very dismayed to see the highest level so insanely unattainable for us mortal folks. Based on my cruising history over 20+ years, I would need to cruise another 40 years to hit that level. Not a particular incentive for sure. I suspect everyone at that level was already getting those kind of perks anyway - they were just under the table.

So once again, happy for any freebies and don't make a final cruising decision because of them. But the purpose of this thread is to discuss our thoughts on them, so there are mine.:)

I definitely feel the pain of people in the situation of the OP. I would be very disappointed myself.

I wanted to reply to the comment, though, about upper levels only being for those retired and who cruise a lot. We are lucky enough to be bumped up to the new Elite level. We are not retired, and while we have cruised "a lot" that cruising has taken place over more than 20 years cruising Celebrity. Our first Celebrity cruise was taken in 1993 I believe it was. We have cruised generally once or twice a year, with a few years missed here and there. I just wanted to speak up on behalf of those of us who have been loyal for years and years and years. We earned our status the old fashioned way, as the saying goes. There is sometimes so much animosity on these boards for people who have achieved the better levels that I wanted to put in a good word for folks who earned these levels by being very, very loyal to one brand. No, I don't think this makes us "better" than anyone else, but please don't begrudge us what we have earned by being loyal for so many years.

And once again, I sympathize 100% with those who were on the downside of this announcement. Hopefully Celebrity will make it right somehow.

First off, no evil eye. There are a few posters on these threads who prefer a more childless cruise, but onboard no issues. I have taken my son on Celebrity since he was 3 years old (he is now an adult). He always had a good time.

To be clear on one comment above, I do not recall a kids area by the pool but there is a nice kids club onboard. When we sailed with our son when he was young we either used water wings on him, or we played around in the whirlpools.

I have not been on the Grandeur, but have sailed other RCI ships. Overall, Celebrity IMHO has better food and service, and a more quiet, relaxed, and elegant atmosphere (without being stuffy). There will not be a lot of kids onboard at that time, but there will likely be a few and the kids program will be active regardless.

Celebrity tripled the cabins on offer in a matter of 2+ years with the launchng of the Solstice Class ships. This means that 2/3 of their staff had to be hired brand new. That is a tremendous task and one that we have all felt the growing pains. I think they will launch in another few years once they start to retire the Millenium class. Personally, I liked very much the Mercury class and love the Solstice class however that Millenium class always left me cold.

 

I look forward to the Millenium class all being retired and the next great thing to come along. Change is good!

 

Safe sails to all!

Unlike unlike unlike. The M class ships have always been my favorite. Always hated that change is good thing - some change is and some change isn't. As I get older trust me there are a lot of changes that I could do without:D:D

I am not going to complain about any benefit Celebrity wants to give me for free. That said, I nevertheless have opinions. If vouchers are the future (and I think that's just fine), then I think the time and venue restrictions are silly. How about at the beginning of each cruise, people who are at Elite level get X number of free drinks loaded onto their sea pass and they can use them whenever they want (limiting the $$ amount per drink is reasonable). If they want three today and none tomorrow, what the heck is the difference. If they want to order in the MDR instead of ordering in a lounge and carrying a drink into the MDR what's the difference? There could still be a 'meet and greet' type of event with officers and maybe hors d'oeuvres to satisfy the need to mingle and personally interact. If another CC level is added, it could allow more drinks, or perhaps a separate gathering.

Might this be slightly more costly for Celebrity? Perhaps. So I'll offer another suggestion that won't be popular with everyone. Since in my scenario there is no 'event' involved, there is no need to give these free drinks to people who are not Elite who just happen to be in the same cabin. They are welcome to join their Elite traveling partners in the lounges or wherever but they can buy their own drinks. After all, this is a benefit the Elite passenger earned; they did not. Sounds pretty fair to me.

Celebrity inside cabins are generally the same size as their exterior cabins (standard and standard balcony). I do not know about Radiance.

As to which ship - it really depends on what you want in a cruise. I have been on both ships and they are both nice. Honestly, if I were not a long-time Celebrity cruiser who gets some nice perks I would look first at itinerary and pick the one with the most ports, and just as important the longest time in port. If that is fairly equal, my preference is Celebrity. IMHO Celebrity is more 'elegant' without being stuffy or pretentious, has better service, better food, a more quiet and relaxing experience in general. That is what I personally prefer in a cruise. Radiance does have good food and service, more entertainment options, and a bit more of a 'party' atmosphere (but far from party ships like Carnival). Celebrity crowds trend a bit older, but there are people of all ages on both lines.

Had vouchers for the first time on our last cruise and I am now a big fan. No complaints, but if I could manage it the way I wanted to I would make a couple changes. First, I would honor it anywhere liquor is sold. As long as you stay within the dollar amounts why not. As long as the waiters or sommeliers keep the coupons and turn them in and get their 15% gratuity (I presume they still do??) then what is the difference. Second, I would eliminate the time constraint. What difference does it make if they are used at 7:30 versus 6:30? If they think this would increase the usage too much I would (gasp:eek:) go to two coupons instead of three. The flexibility would be worth it to me. On our cruise the bars were absolutely jammed from 5-7 - sometimes nearing standing room only.

My opinion only. Once again, not complaining, just explaining how I would tweak it if I was in charge:)

I have not been to this port, but in general the last tender time is a half hour or so before departure. As long as you are in line, they will not leave without you. It is always a risk to do private tours, as if the tour is late the ship will not wait for you. An hour seems enough time in general, but I would say it depends on the logistics of the tour itself, as well as the back-up facilities of the tour operator. Is this a port where you could fairly easily catch a taxi back if the tour was running late? If not, does the tour operator have back-up options such as other buses or taxis or so forth. Does the tour go into remote areas of the country where it would be difficult to find other transportation, or does it stay fairly close to the port? You can go onto sites like TripAdvisor and check their reviews of the tour company and get a read on their reliability but of course even a slew of good reviews does not guarantee there will be no incidents. Last and not least, how far away is the next port and worst case, what would be your options to get there. All of these are points to consider. Sorry I could not answer your specific question.

One more consideration - if you do go make sure not to overuse the 'good' arm. I have not had this surgery (thank goodness, based on what I have read here!!) but did injure my shoulder a couple years ago (inflamed rotator cuff). I could not believe how long it took to heal (about 1 1/2 years). One thing I had to be very careful of was to not abuse the other shoulder due to my frustration at not being able to do what I wanted to with both. Even with help travel can present a lot of stress to someone working with injuries as other people are impatient and stressed out themselves and may bring some 'peer pressure' to do more than you really should be doing. I love the idea of the sling - it definitely will help keep others aware and away, and perhaps a bit more patient. Good luck. Hope all goes well.

I don't recall the tea brand these days, but if you are a 'tea snob' then I recommend you just pack some of your fav's. Takes up little space and weight so why not. That way you know you will enjoy.

The great advantage of Select Dining is meeting different people but also being able to wear repeat formal wear & no one evens knows:D

And some of us older folks have come to the realization that even if someone sees you in the same outfit more than once who the heck cares:D

I also agree with the previous posters that people tend to dress up more the first formal night. One exception - if the first formal night happens to fall on a day where the ship has been in a fantastic port, then it seems to be a bit less formal. But this rarely happens as it is usually the first full day which is usually a sea day (at least for Caribbean, Alaska, or west coast cruises, the only ones I have been on so far)

What Is NOT an Exciting Deal....

 

when cruise lines offer their "free drink" packages as a perk and then raise the overall cost of the cruise. Saw it happen both on HAL and Celebrity.

And I have been on a couple cruises where the price was exactly the same pre and post perk offering. I confess I remain skeptical, but honestly I have seen it work the other way - meaning same price before and after. What can happen sometimes is that the perk offering can suddenly push up the bookings substantially, which in turn then drives the price up as we know the prices are driven by supply and demand. Not saying you have not seen it happen, just that it is not necessarily a given all the time.