mayleeman

However will we survive? 😭

The TA might have old info before Celebrity changed formal night to Chic night. Could certainly reveal a lazy approach to answering the customer's question. "Let's see...I have that in my binder..."

It is the silent intervals, followed by a couple clicks, right before yet another msg, that drive me crazy. I react like my dog when we go near the back door...all excited, ears perking up, drooling..

For another perspective: We are paying $163 pp/pn for our upcoming Equinox 9 nighter in a balcony on 9. Our upper limit probably would be @ $225 for a balcony on X. (Our first cruise was 10 nights in Aqua in April 2019 for $220 pp/pn.) Had a balcony on Allure in October 2019 for a 14 night b2b that cost us @ $128. Too much for the Central Park balcony we had, but I was not willing to go up to $150 for an Oceanview cabin. We don't have the resources to spend more, but I retired at 50 and the tradeoff is well worth it. I admire those who worked harder and longer and earned their suites, but I am not envious because the Retreat deck, the drink setups, the butler, and Luminae would be lost on me. Now, the extra space...oh, well, leg bruises go away in a week or two!

Of course, the always-unreliable X website encourages "cheating" by not connecting to the "lesson" properly. If this be cheating, I happily confess to cheating rather than trying for more than, say, 2 minutes to get to the material. I will also happily spend an extra hour sitting quietly on my balcony as punishment.

Some of us are interested in the experience of cruisers reporting they tested positive. Seeing how many report severe vs mild/no symptoms helps us assess the risk if we do catch it. There are 2 risk assessments involved in deciding whether to go: first, the relative chances of catching it (which also includes seeing whether the precautions others report about may have worked or not), and second, the chances of getting through it relatively ok. We do the same here in our (largely retired) community. Big outbreak lately, and most have been pretty mild, but some are much worse. Those experiences all feed into our calculus.

Before one cruise awhile ago, we were on a roll call that was very active and inclusive to all participants. As more info got exchanged (including a roster with cabin #s), several of us noticed that people in suites started only responding to each others' posts. We talked about it at the meet and greet when we saw the same people huddled away from the mingling group. It was strange--and not duplicated on any of our other 3 cruises where everyone was friendly.

OP: The fix is to tell your steward how you want the bed(s) arranged. Trying to fix X's IT issues would involve a long list of things before titles would be considered vital.

@DCPIV Agreed...and good news--days are shortening again!🙃

Apparenty. It was a simple suggestion on how to get the caffeine the OP said was needed to avoid headaches when she said matcha was the only beverage with enough. When it became apparent they couldn't serve what she needed to use with the powder, I tried to be helpful. If not a useful suggestion, we fortunately have people standing watch to criticize.

Seems like one could easily choose how much to use.

If it just caffeine that is the important ingedient, buy some of those small "5 hour energy" bottles.

I was suspecting you prbably did. That timing sure was unfortunate. And was just joshing you about it being a secret. Many people have reasons for doing things that need not be explained. I myself was primarily interested in which came first, the booking or the PP renewal application. I still think X"s policy sucks--penalties/forfeitures should be tied to whether they can resell the cabin. (Because you know they will, and they get a windfall.) Good luck.

The OP, I believe, has not posted when they booked despite being asked at least 3 times. Might be another secret!

Same types of people are everywhere. Good, bad, mean, kind...just as many people try to help as say nasty "gotcha" stuff. At least when they say such things you know who to avoid if you do run across them!

I got that msg once when I lifted/shifted an Oct 2020 cruise after that one had been booked using money transferred from an earlier cruise before the pandemic. The system denied it at first because it was showing the funds to be L/S as being from that first one, not the Oct one that the money was transferred to. They had to go in and manually adjust the date of the money. Not sure if this could affect an FCC, though (ours was a direct transfer).

@OttawaJohn So, did you answer the question of when you booked (because if before April you should be covered as people haave said) ? Also, when did you apply for pp renewal? I think in the electronic era the Final Payment date is way too early, so you have my sympathy as to their policy. Expecting an exception if you booked in the FP period without a realistic expectation of getting a timely pp may, however, not be so reasonable.... 🤔

Are there really adults that young? Sigh....

Using the reasoning offered by the 2 who insist AI includes every tip because exclusions aren't listed, we need to insist that X return all gratuities charged for upgrades to the drink package. After all, the bartenders don't have to do any more just because the drink costs more. I am amazed that people spending thousands of dollars on a cruise, many thousands in suites, worry about a possible extra $5. Cheapskates anonymously proudly declaiming that in case of ambiguity, by gosh they will choose to not be even mildly generous.

I think the point about moaning that the OP was making is that there are people who seem determined to respond negatively to all positive posts. Pointing that out does not mean the OP is saying the negatives don't have a right to their opinions, rather that it seems some people seem to not afford that same right to positive people. And some attack anyone who dares express understanding of why X might have done something. "Celebrity cheerleaders" is a leading example. Everyone probably needs to be a bit more tolerant.

You give up the right to expect that whining about contracts you signed will be adjusted to meet your whims.

They told me the amount about 6 weeks before my cc refund, so I think you are correct. Given likely means TA told, not transferred to.

Do you have any documentation of your arrival in UK, such as a passport stamp? Or is that just a "wave 'em through" entry?

Mine took more than 5 mos for the FCC part and more than 6 for the refund part. But it turned out 3 mos was lost b/c they treated our cancellation as too late, and despite admitting it was on time it then took 3 more to get it fixed. Good luck.

The best things in life are (equivalent to) free (provided you have the patience to get them fixed)!