dcbiker97

I’d be interested to hear other people’s experience.  Ours experience while sailing in Penthouses is that, while they are dedicated to your suite, they are also dedicated to other suites as well. It’s not a 1:1 ratio.

That seems to be a very old description that came up. Gotta love Celebrity IT. 

I have never felt the need to tip at the beginning of a cruise and have always received excellent service. I’m sure you’ll hear from others who say it’s critical to get excellent service, but it’s never been my case. I think it’s a bit tacky as well in that you’re automatically making an assumption that they won’t do their job and the only way they will do it is to tip upfront. 

We just got off a 9 night on Constellation. There was live music in the Retreat Lounge at least 2 of the nights. Unfortunately, it was only one set right before dinner time.
 

The Suite Manager also arranged to have the magician from one of the main theater shows do a set one evening before dinner. There wasn’t an empty seat in the Retreat Lounge. Sure wish they would do that sort of thing consistently across the fleet. 

Not sure what you’re trying to say that’s new.  What you said has been how Luminae has worked for years.  It’s never open on port days (other than embarkation day).  

We were just on Connie last week and I asked for Macallan in the Retreat Lounge.  They told me there’s a $2 upcharge even in the Lounge.  I had a direct conversation to show my displeasure about it with the Suite Manager and didn’t have to pay the upcharge the entire week.  Hopefully they will retreat in the crazy business of up charging for nominally better products.  I don’t mind it for expensive bottles, but for Macallan Quest or Decoy wine, it’s unacceptable. 

14 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Hi, Lois.  It is great to hear from an old Celebrity regular from years gone by.  What brings you back?

 

David

I was thinking the same thing. Looking forward to hearing about your upcoming travels. 

The “wine” part of the cruise probably refers more to the regions you’ll be visiting rather than any special events on board.

The only differences regarding drink menus in Australia is that they will have the gratuity built into the price.  

33 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

but it shouldn't be for a March 24 sailing. I already checked in for our March 30 sailing on Feb 13.

 

make sure Celebrity didn't cancel your reservation...

Yep. I didn't count right. 

I'd just wait a few days and not stress.

It could be an issue with where the ship is located versus you and the timing of the opening of check in. 

13 minutes ago, jshli said:

No availability for a private tour, except in the evening. 
Mangrove Snapper, since I take only early morning shore excursions, I didn’t realize later ones that require a tender, meet off the ship. Makes sense, you have solved my dilemma and I will go on the excursion as originally planned, only later.
Thanks all.

 

I would check with shore excursion staff to make sure this is the case before going ashore.  If they do meet on the ship, you can let them know you’ll meet at port.   

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

There are many sales on Amazon and matched by other sellers currently. It is anticipated that updated iPads will be released in March. 

Yes that’s true, but unfortunately Amazon doesn’t accept Celebrity OBC as payment.  I’ve bought iPads and Apple Watches over the years to burn up OBC. I’m happy with not having the latest and greatest if I can use up OBC. I’d never pay cash for exactly the reason you cite. 

It might be useful to post the itinerary. Sometimes there are new speed restrictions put in place due to whales, etc.  

We always use a car service. It’s more expensive but we find it worth the added cost. Here is who we use in FL:

https://larryslimo.com

3 minutes ago, prbffd28 said:

In my humble opinion this is just another decision by the new president/admin's to turn what a lot of us love about Celebrity into a more Royal Caribbean style line.

If I wanted to sail Royal I would but I choose Celebrity (or at least I did).

We love going to this area when most others are at dinner since this is about the only time it's quiet and the hot tubs are not full of people.

As many many folks have already said, this is nothing new. This was also a thing under the previous leadership. 

We usually get it when we stay in the higher end suites. There's a note from the hotel director along with the bottle of champagne (or wine).

Now a days there’s not much cost savings with FBC. Main thing is that you don’t have to pay for the flights until final payment.  Make sure to read the terms and conditions about what FBC does and won’t do as for getting you to the ship. It’s not as simple. 

Celebrity doesn’t really do theme nights.  Occasionally there will be a white party, but it’s not consistent across the fleet. 

Personally, I'd want to have direct communication with Celebrity Special Needs instead of going through a third party. Unlike the normal customer service side who will not talk to you if you have a TA, special needs will.  That way you can be sure they are aware, and you can be sure that they understand what you need, instead of it going through someone else. Even if the TA has made contact, you can also talk to them. 

Wheelchair Accessible Cruises | Celebrity Cruises (Contact is on this page)

1 hour ago, lmklimmek said:

Hello!

 

I was wondering if anyone had experience with the pullout bed in the living room of the celebrity suite on the edge series. Is it comfortable enough? Do they put a mattress topper in it?

 

Thank you in advance!!

We’ve been in an Edge class Celebrity suite several times.  The pullout bed and also the sofa part are hard as a rock and even a mattress topper couldn’t help.  We always ask for a rollaway bed to be brought in. 

I always assume that folks want to knit the captain (or cruise director) a hat with their name on it as a present when they ask this type of question. 

20 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Thank you, I will look in to this but I think I recall that when I booked, it said it was refundable up to the time of cancellation.  Would there have been a flag or notation on the flight that would have said otherwise?  Also, we've already selected our seats.  Would this trigger payment?

It’s been a while since I’ve booked through FBC, but there are notations in the different fare classes whether it was refundable or not.  Seat selection won’t trigger payment. 

Sometimes there are nonrefundable fares on FBC which would be charged at the time of selection. Maybe you got one of those by mistake?

1 minute ago, CruisinShips said:

Absolutely, to each their own.  I suppose it's all about what one looks for in a suite lounge.  Yes the chairs were comfortable, but there were never more than a handful of people there in the pre-dinner evening cocktail hours, and there were no hor dourves.  There was just no real social vibe like we have preferred in other ship suite lounge areas.

I guess it's ship dependent. While there's not the small buffet of hors d'oeuvres, like on E class, we are almost always asked if we'd like anything, and the bar servers bring them from the back.  Agree that it can be super quiet, but then again, we like that.

2 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

Keep in mind the Eclipse, while it's a lovely ship with a great Retreat staff, is severely lacking in Retreat amenities.  No sun deck (let alone a Retreat pool), and Michael's Club (the Retreat Lounge area) is kind of a dingy place IMO with no snacks (peanuts maybe) and no real vibe to it.

Luminae was great...servers were fantastic, and our butler was teriffic as well.

To each their own, I guess. We love the old Michael's Club vibe on the original S class ships. We find the chairs to be much more comfortable and love the dark wood atmosphere more than the E class ships.