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Everything posted by mayleeman
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@calicakes If you are a lawyer, you likely know that "fair" in law is usually used in comparing two situations that are resolved differently, or where a bad result occurs without notice by whoever is imposing the consequence. Most people in this thread seem to feel that your situation did not involve either of those scenarios. So it has degenerated into an argument that seems to you to trivialize your complaint. How about "EVERYTHING ABOUT CELEBRITY'S NONREFUNDABLE CRUISE FARES JUST SUCKS!" We might find more people on board with that... 🤷
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Just FYI: On the Reflection last week, based on advice people have posted here, we asked at Cafe al Bacio after boarding and they served a very cold bubbly, no charge. The ones we got years ago at the door were warm. This was much better, especially sitting down to relax.
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Bringing soda and bottled water with you at Embarkation
mayleeman replied to abbysmaid's topic in Celebrity Cruises
On Feb 3 we boarded Reflection with a thermos backpack with 15 cans of soda and 6 bottles of water, plus another soda in my carry on duffle. No one cared. Through the scanner and onboard. Just do it. They won't throw you overboard because of how you are handling your carry ons. -
Reflection LIVE 2/3/24-2/11/24: 8 Crazy Nights of ABC Islands
mayleeman replied to GenerationX's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Charla, I am so glad Dawn and I got to meet you at breakfast that one day, and that I saw you again on Thursday on the pool deck. Everyone who hasn't met our favorite ship reporter should try to get onto a cruise with Gen X even if you have to stowaway! She is as full of laughter and joy in person as she is in her writing. I wish we could have done the moon party--sounds like a blast. Until we meet again! --Joel and Dawn -
Dunno about MDR. We took it to buffet with no problem. Soda brought on board is not subject to a corking fee so I am sure there is no reason to not take it to MDR. I think bars have cans, so how would they know?
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@Adowsett I never had trouble bringing bottles of water back on at visited ports. Today was our last Reflection stop, in Curacao, and although the cruise ends Sunday Security just looked at my 375 ml bottle of Blue Curacao Triple Sec when I put it in the scanner basket. No one was disallowing or seizing anything being brought on. (In my room now, but won't open it until we need it at home.) You can also carry a 1 liter insulated hot/cold bottle with you, fill it up periodically at restaurants on shore, and fill it in the buffet (use a glass to do it). They haven't looked at ours at any of our 3 stops. As to soda, we brought (okay, I brought) a cooler backpack on board with 14 cans of ginger ale and 6 bottles of water. Through the scanner, no inspection. (Wife only has had 2. Glad we...I mean "I" again...carried all that weight!)
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On the Apex now and I honestly don’t know what
mayleeman replied to CruisinShips's topic in Celebrity Cruises
A bit of perspective that might help the OP understand how this thread went off the rails: I remember January 2023 when the food cutbacks were being reported. Some pax kept posting about the complainers being too picky because they hadn't experienced those things on their cruises. It turned out after lots of discussion and many threads that most cutbacks were in the MDR and OVC, but were not being experienced in Luminae. The same thing happened over the next few months as cruisers sought info about whether MDR cutbacks were getting better. We again had people saying things were never bad, and many turned out again to be Retreat pax. Another issue, same thing: room service fee only in Aqua and below. Not in Retreat, but some Suite pax said anyone who could afford a cruise shouldn't be complaining because all the other lines were starting to do that. Then the Sky Suite butler cutback occurred and the Retreat-eratie went, oh, call it ballistic, and non-Suite pax (unaffected by that cutback) basically said "Welcome to the real world of us hoi polloi!" Not everyone took sides or shots at the other, but I think the atmosphere was charged from literally dozens of criticisms from BOTH sides regarding complaints written by people whose experiences were unsatisfactory in some respect. I thought nothing was wrong with the title even though I also thought it was going to be read as a swipe at complainers. And I thought immediately, "Ah, another suite cruiser not seeing any cutbacks is making fun of complainers who do see them." Then I reread the OP, and realized that it wasn't a direct attack, and could have just been talking about his own experience being good not bad. When his second post was made, though, I just wish the OP had said, "Oh, I didn't realize it could be read as devaluing other people's problems. I only meant that the things people complain about didn't happen to me. I realize that is most likely the result of being in a suite. I hope things get back to normal for all levels of cruising soon!" That isn't what he said, but what the heck, I'll pretend. -
Update: We did the health questionnaire on my wife's phone. On mine, it kept telling me about it but never connected...just the same damnable white screen that required rebooting the app. (On hers, it kept sending reminders saying we hadn't done it yet even tho it was showing completed when we went to other screens. No problems at terminal.) The videos invitation was sent directly to both of us and we watched them on our respective phones. Apparently, that process is not connected to the infinite white screen of death appearing when hitting check in on the app. There were many people complaining when we boarded about their app freezing like mine did. (I don't know if it is an Android issue or if iPhone people also had it happen.) We had a noon boarding time but got to the terminal 90 mins early. We were expecting to just wait along with some other early birds, but a grizzled senior looking employee rounded us all up and told us to go on in even after one guy said they were very early. On board 5 mins after it opened at 11:00. That was Saturday getting on Reflection. Everything is great! Thanks to everyone who provided advice. Best part of Cruise Critic!!!
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Good information! That makes it seem a lot easier than waiting for the room tv to 🤞🏼
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@cruisestitch I have been unable to get into check-in on the app on my phone (Samsung S23+) after the time selection at the 45 day point. We board Saturday. I have tried every combination of deleting and reinstalling the app, purging the cache & cookies, and restarting. But clicking check-in on the app only takes me to a full page X on white background that gets nowhere. (I can't access the app using incognito mode because it is an app, not a website. Thought it might be a solution.) Using the Celeb main menu on mybphone just routes me to the app, and to the white X screen. I haven't tried putting the app on my wife's phone, but our phones are identical and I will try using it to get into the app check-in link, but I am not hopeful. We do have screenshots of our Express Passes, so that's good. I am supposed to do 3 things on the app, as I understand it, before or during embarking: --update our credit card from the one I put in 90 days ago because it got replaced; --health questionnaire (I know this can be done in-person); --watch the muster 2.0 video that morning. This is the one that has me stumped because if it is something the check-in link activates on the app, I can't get it. I have read that you can watch the video in the room but if it isn't ready except to drop off luggage what do we do? You seem well versed in this. Can we do all 3 at the terminal without the app? Any other suggestions? I appreciate any help you, or anyone else, can provide! Thanks!
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You know what? Your question made me realize I made a mistake. I got the sale on our scheduled Murano dinner at about the same time I got the Glenlivet gift. The Glenlivet was originally the "room set up" which was priced at $130 or something near that. After reading @Jim_Iain's post about the gift liquors not including gratuity, I switched to the Glenlivet in that offer. The lack of gratuity is where my 20% saving came from, not a sale. Sorry for the confusion! I do see the liquor gifts are still available.
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Apex Jan 20 review or "Were the critics correct"?
mayleeman replied to CruiseRQA's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Nice timing. I am too pessimistic to schedule anything that tightly! Enjoyable review--thanks! A few questions in view of your second sentence: did you book under the prior butler protocol, or after the changes took effect? If you have done Sky Suite before, did you notice (or hear about) any lesser availability of the team than the butlers before? Do you think some of the complaining here on CC was due perhaps to temporary problems caused mostly by the staff transitioning to the new system? -
@roxannex My wife won't do mocktails because they are all so sugary (calories!), and she can't have artif sweeteners. Back when she could drink, she didn't seem so concerned about the sugar in mixers! I understand the sensitivity to triggers for someone in recovery. Very different than my wife's medical prohibition. I hope you both have a fun and carefree cruise!
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@roxannex My wife can't drink because of a-fib. I'm not even doing the non-alcohol package because I have finally broken the soda addiction. Regular iced tea and coffee are fine with me. We will bring ginger ale for my motion-sensitive wife. As to alcohol, I will bring 1 bottle of wine (nice little pinot noir, my wife likes the bouquet) for my minimal wine needs (leave bottle in cabin and take glass to dinner = no corkage fee). I also bought a 1 liter bottle of Glenlivet as a "gift" to our cabin (got it at 20% off during a sale; bonus: no gratuity!), so I won't be spending any money on board. Total investment in beverages, about $140. Here's the alcohol gift link if you want to have a bottle delivered to your cabin: https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-gifts/items-results?category=SPIRIT&collection=LIQUORPKG
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@roxannex Call back and try again. Ask for a supervisor.
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Roof Top Grill reservation canceled via email from Celebrity?
mayleeman replied to MarkE's topic in Celebrity Cruises
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What is the TA doing about it?
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@theopup We are on on Feb 3, too. Haven't seen you on the roll call. Here's a link. (not a very active one but you might see people you want to meet) https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2877432-february-03-2024-reflection-abc-islands/page/1/
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Happens here with pizza delivery. Service charge by the restaurant plus you tip the driver.
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We have a Marine in Oahu who will retire there with his family-to-be, and our other son in Maui with our DIL and 2 grandkids. Wonderful to visit, but breaks the bank now that Hawaii is a regular visit instead of once-in-a-decade or -lifetime!
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The advice about the luggage came in reply to a comment about taking 4 bottles by splitting it up in carry on and in luggage. Trying to bring on extra can result in confiscation and (hopefully) return of the excess at disembarking.
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Not a wine aficionado... There is a wine called Decoy? Looked it up, and the reviews are nice. (I was surprised it isn't a non-alcoholic wine, though!)
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Hobbies brought on to Celebrity ship
mayleeman replied to Cruise till you drop's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Those look like really beautiful work. Very uncomfortable earrings, though! 🙄 (Just kidding, for anybody waiting to hyper-react!)