CalTexCruiser
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Everything posted by CalTexCruiser
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No need to imagine robots rolling around. In many Asian buffet restaurants (both here in the US and in Asia) where customers are able to order specific items from their phones while sitting at the tables, these robots are already delivering food items. It won't be long before robots are able to deliver room service on ships after you've placed orders from your app or called the room service chatbot. The Retreat Team will include both humans and robots to make for a streamlined experience for Celebrity's valued customers.
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If (and that is a big IF) done correctly, I suppose the Retreat Team concept may actually enhance the customer experience. On the Edge series ships there are so many Sky Suites that sometimes any particular butler may be overwhelmed. The Retreat Team would allow the workload to be more evenly distributed, ASSUMING that there are enough members in the team. Hopefully Celebrity did some analysis to optimize the number of members to include in the team, but I fear it will be trial and error leading to many frustrated suite passengers.
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I think perhaps people are jumping the gun on this On our cruise 5 months ago, the housekeeping manager told me both the room attendant and butler work under him I was surprised at this since in the past the butlers were under the suite manager. Perhaps Celebrity’s plan is to have one person perform the roles of both attendant and butler for Sky suites, rather than have 2 persons which may be inefficient. This may work if they have Sky suite only room attendants who can focus their attention on suite customers and not have to deal with non-suite cabins.
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How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?
CalTexCruiser replied to Bwana Tom's topic in Princess Cruises
I didn’t read your original post correctly and missed that you are upgrading from balcony to club class mini i thought the 250 was from regular mini to club class mini from balcony to club class mini, 250 pp is a good deal IMO -
How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?
CalTexCruiser replied to Bwana Tom's topic in Princess Cruises
$ 250 will get you 6 or 7 specialty dinners depending on which restaurants you go to, so you could factor that into the equation. Plus club class mini suites are in better locations. I wasn't too impressed with club class dining--it's literally a cordoned section of the MDR (at least on the Discovery Princess) and the food was standard MDR fare (with one extra dish per night). (Some) waitstaff in club class is better than the waitstaff in the main section of MDR. -
We are also curious about this. We are booked next spring Singapore to Dubai on the Encore. Usually book upper suites on Celebrity but the Seabourn itinerary filled a lot of our bucket list.
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Typical NCL Haven cruiser. Looking for Retreat tips
CalTexCruiser replied to adamnoone's topic in Celebrity Cruises
If you have unlimited specialty dining make full use of it we find Luminae can get busy and a bit hectic at rush hour and enjoy the relative more quiet dining experiences in the specialty restaurants -
Posted on Another Site...Ruby Princess Hits Dock in SF
CalTexCruiser replied to Jaymuxman's topic in Princess Cruises
Thanks for the video showing the collision!! Reminds me of when I was learning how to dock a power boat in the SF Bay and the winds (20+ mph) would blow the boat right up against the dock even when I tried to apply power to move away from the dock. Although one would hope an experienced pilot/captain would do better than a novice. -
[Equinox] Brown water from stateroom faucet
CalTexCruiser replied to CelebrityBrownWater's topic in Celebrity Cruises
@CelebrityBrownWater may start a trend...may not be long before we see the following screen names: NoLobsterInMDR HorribleBuffetFood PoorExperienceInLuminae G*d*mnChairHogs SlowWifiSpeeds -
I took one for the team: Pork and Beans
CalTexCruiser replied to rmalbers's topic in Celebrity Cruises
If that is the case then Celebrity has done a great disservice to pigs feet. Why try to transform it into some blob in an attempt to hide the origin of the food item? Just serve it in its original form (cooked of course). Same thing with chicken feet, an ox's tail, pig's ear, beef tongue, and other variations of food from an animal's extremities. -
I took one for the team: Pork and Beans
CalTexCruiser replied to rmalbers's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Anyone have a picture of the Pigs Feet Carpaccio. Pigs feet if cooked right can be quite tasty—the thick skin and tendons if tenderized are quite succulent -
Suspicious Cruise Itinerary Change
CalTexCruiser replied to finstotheleft's topic in Celebrity Cruises
SF's unhoused population will take issue with your insensitive remarks. Where else can they go to the bathroom? -
Early Embarkation - Sydney (The Retreat)
CalTexCruiser replied to wechy85's topic in Celebrity Cruises
This is what our shoreside concierge told us for our Sydney departure: "Please note, boarding will begin at 1:15 pm and ends promptly at 5:15 pm. Please arrive early to avoid delays." "... as a suite guest you can arrive anytime during the boarding process." -
BCC's advertised system of assigning points to theoretical loss seems to be different, but at the end of the day, it's just a variation of what a land-based casino does. Land-based casino also assign comps based on theoretical loss, except that they usually have a system of giving back to the player Y% of the theoretical loss as comps, where Y differs by casino (some are more generous than others). As to using microchips in casino chips, I have not heard that BCC does that. I often see a pit boss with a clip board, and as they walk around the pit observing the games, they would make notes on it. I have always assumed that's how they track play.
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It's 8 points for every dollar of theoretical loss, which varies by the table game you play. For example, if blackjack has a 2% theoretical loss, than if you play $1,000, you have a $20 theoretical loss, and the 8 points is based on that $20, not $1,000.
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My daughter played 10 minutes on a slot machine in 2019, and in the second half of 2022 was getting nonstop BCC comp offers. However, that was a waste of time for them since even comped rooms are not enough to lure her back to cruising. Her offers have since stopped (at least so far in 2023) so it appears that the geniuses at BCC may have come up with a more refined strategy.
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Got the same offer. I did a trial booking and was charged $ 1 pp for the entire 7-day sailing (plus port fees and taxes). FINALLY Celebrity has enabled the booking of comp sailings directly online as opposed to having to contact the BCC over the phone or filling out a form and waiting for a call. Hope this is a sign of things to come from BCC. Definitely one change that I like.
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I'm posting this to warn others with waitlisted airline upgrades that Flights by Celebrity may cancel your waitlist if they have to touch the reservation for any reason. Using FBC, we booked travel on United Airlines in Premium Economy between the US and Sydney. We used airline miles (directly through United's website) to request an upgrade to Business Class, which was waitlisted. Recently, there was a schedule change of the flight that moved it about 40 minutes earlier. No problem. However, when FBC touched this reservation as a result of the schedule change to email us about the change, they inexplicably cancelled the waitlist. Fortunately, I just happened to look at my reservation on United and saw that the waitlist disappeared...we did not receive any notification from FBC. I called United, which told me that FBC cancelled the waitlist, and I had to contact FBC to reinstate the waitlist. I called FBC, and the rep said he will escalate to the ticketing department. Fortunately, the waitlist was reinstated a few hours later, but we likely lost priority relative to others on the waitlist.