Gilpet

I do love my latte so that's a great bonus, thanks for the info.

Thanks again to everybody who answered my questions - I have just booked Eclipse for August 2nd and I'm off to join the roll call :):):)

Gill

With your Captains Club status you will also be eligible for a free gelato! They serve the gelato by Cafe al Baccio. It is awesome.

Thanks, I'll look forward to that :)

Gill

Thanks very much for all your answers everybody :). We would be sailing from Southampton so it looks like we would have a kettle.

Thanks for the tip about the Captain's Club, Melody, I've already done that and we have our Captain's Club numbers. We've already booked P&O's new ship Britannia for next April so sadly your sailing would be a bit close to that lol - and as I don't fly (we're in the UK) I suspect that it would be out for that reason anyway..........but have a great cruise :).

Eclipse certainly looks a beautiful ship but it's great to have your confirmation YVR Cruiser.

Gill

We are thinking of booking a cruise on Celebrity Eclipse for this summer and I would appreciate it if you could answer a few questions for me :).

We currently have Diamond Status with Royal Caribbean, I understand this makes us Elite with Celebrity, and we are looking at a standard balcony cabin, I don't know if that affects the answers to any of my questions.

1. Are there any "no go" areas - e.g. areas of the ship only open to Suite passengers?

2. On RCI's Independence of the Seas snacks are available from the Promenade Café and Sorrento's without any charge but on P&O the snacks are only free of charge if you buy a speciality tea or coffee - Are snacks available "free" from any cafe's around the ship with Celebrity?

3. Are tea/coffee/water available without charge at any/all times?

4. Are there tea/coffee making facilities in the cabins?

Thanks in advance for your help

Gill

It's not an obsession. It's just being extremely prepared for any and all situations that may arise before, during, or after a cruise. Consider it a "muster" drill for the cruise.

 

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Lol - I like your style :p

As for the videos......I can't get enough of them, what on earth did we do before utube?

Gill

Why not log into Cruise Critic at work too?

Naughty Bob ;)

A friend from a previous cruise shared her log-in with her husband. Shortly before the cruise the roll call got very busy and she ticked the box to get alerts when somebody posted.........forgetting that it was linked to her husband's work e-mail. He got in to work on a Monday morning to be greeted by IT security wanting to know why he had received more than 200 e-mails from Cruise Critic over the weekend :p:D:p he wasn't happy when he got home lol.

Gill

Good luck with the cruise. I'm sure that your daughter's signature on the notarized forms will be sufficient but give Royal a call and tell them that you're thinking of taking your grandson on a cruise and tell them that the father is absent and cannot be traced, how should you proceed.

Please, please, please do not offer the "sperm donor" money - not only is it wrong that he should benefit but if your daughter finds out (and I'm sure she would) you could end up losing her and your grandson.

Gill

Thanks for your replies :) that was what I was expecting.

Gill

Can anybody tell me if P&O supply bathrobes for use in a balcony cabin or is it just suites.

Thanks

Gill

The primary protections you get are under ATOL. US consumers have nothing even remotely close to this. A good example was during the Iceland volcanic eruptions - UK customers were far more protected (with or without insurance) than US customers were - even with insurance.

Thanks, I take your point with that. I suppose what makes a difference to me is that I don't fly and only cruise from the UK so any flight problems wouldn't apply to my situation - sorry I didn't mention that before.

Gill

I am a UK resident who uses a US TA and was able to get price drop due to the BOGOHO promo..no problem.

I wouldn't use anyone who asks for a $100 cancellation fee.. one click of the mouse isn't worth that! :eek:

It looks like I need to do some more searching for US TA's!!! I looked at 3 who all made the same charge so I thought that must be the norm but obviously not.

Thanks

Gill

That's a shame Pat, I'll keep my fingers crossed for the upgrade fairy calling on you :)

Just out of curiosity, did your TA give you a better price than what you would have gotten if you directly booked with Royal Caribbean?

.

I think it was about two years ago that RCI decreed that UK TA's were not allowed to undercut their prices so no matter which TA you go to you won't get a better price than Royal Caribbean though you may get OBC or free gratuities or some other incentive.

Gill

I can't post the name of it but maybe if you visited a British Cruise enthusiast site you would find several members who use a US agent all the time with no problem... :)

Thanks, I've heard about that as well which is what started me looking after I heard about this offer. I have found a couple of TA's in the US who I could book through but both charge $100 for cancellations, which is fine because we'd still get our deposit back unlike in the UK BUT if you book a promotion that you're not eligible for then they will amend the cost to the full price so there really wouldn't be any point in trying to get this offer, we'd just be $100 out of pocket.

It isn't allowed because when they have allowed this in the past, people from the UK and EU have sued to get their protections back and the lawyers have suggested the courts would side with these people as the mailing address on file would be one in the UK or EU and therefore Royal should have known.

 

It would be nice if we were all treated the same, but we aren't. You are treated far better than most if anything goes wrong (even if its not the cruiseline's fault) and that directly plays into promotions because it directly plays into the bottom line.

Thanks for the explanation :). What do you mean by "if anything goes wrong (even if its not the cruiseline's fault)"? We read threads on here all the time about missed ports or problems on the ship and the passengers receive compensation from RCI in one form or another. I'd love somebody to tell me what this special protection is! I've looked all of this up and it seems to me that the financial risks would be covered by my travel insurance and/or my credit card company.

Gill

I had a similar experience with Crown & Anchor yesterday :mad: except I had no trouble with the accent, in fact the people I spoke to both seemed to have American accents but they were no more helpful.

My question was around the BOGO 50% offer currently available in the US. I had contacted a TA in the US and asked if we were eligible for the offer if we booked through them - the answer was no, it's only open to US & Canadian residents. The reason we are always given for not having the great deals available in the US is that UK cruisers have "extra protection" when they book in the UK - obviously this begs the question if I am willing to miss out on the "extra protection" and book with an American TA why can't I do this and take advantage of the offers? I phoned Crown & Anchor to ask that question and was told that they can't access the Terms & Conditions for US bookings!!! I was then told that some TA's in the UK use the American booking system and I could book it through them.............but they couldn't tell me which TA's they were, they suggested that I google "travel agents in the UK using RCLL American booking system" - yes, they really did suggest that! I then spoke to a supervisor who gave exactly the same responses and who proudly told me that the Google suggestion had been his :confused: All in all it wasn't a great experience. This leaves me with another question - do I really want to pay RCI for a cruise when I know that the same cruise is available in the US & Canada for £800 less?

Sorry for the rant! I don't begrudge anybody a great deal - but surely we should all be treated the same?

Gill

Come back and let us know how you get on please Pat :)

Gill

As it's for "new bookings only" the price they are quoting you is how much it would have cost if you had originally booked a JS and doesn't take account of any price drops........very unfair but sadly it's what they do in the UK :mad: I don't know if you'll get any joy but it's probably worth ringing Crown and Anchor and see if they'll do anything. Has the price of your balcony cabin dropped? If it has you could try approaching Crown and Anchor from a different angle e.g. "the price of our balcony cabin has dropped considerably, I know that as I am in the UK I can't take advantage of that price drop but as a loyal crown and anchor society member can I upgrade to a JS at it's new price" - this has worked for us twice, each time we upgraded for £50 each :).

Obviously we can't mention names of TA's on here but some of them take group bookings with RCI and it really puts you at a disadvantage.

Good Luck

Gill

Don't apologise for asking "too many" questions - CC is all about helping others by passing on our knowledge, experience and opinions and long may it continue :)

Sadly I can't help much with your questions though. I don't know about the beverage packages as I've only had the soda one and not tried to upgrade it. Somebody else has already answered your gratuities question but I would add that you do pay higher gratuities for a JS, as you have pre-paid I would imagine that is taken into account with the cost of the upgrade. As for the Aft balconies.........I've visited but never stayed in one. I love the thought of being able to hear the water but for me it's not worth that very long walk along the corridor every time you leave your cabin :eek:........that answer comes under "opinion".

Have a great time

Gill

Yes, it is two separate days so you do return to the ship in plenty of time to get ready for dinner...........though all we had the energy for was a trip to the buffet lol. Alla also do evening tours e.g. ballet, if you think you'll have the energy for that.

Gill

You can see from my signature that I'm a big Independence fan :D so I would always go with Independence but I haven't cruised on Adventure so I can't really compare them for you. What I would say is that this is the final year for both ships sailing from Southampton as they're being replaced with Anthem and Explorer - I believe that Adventure and Explorer are basically the same but if you want to cruise on Independence or her sister ships in the future you would need to fly out to the US. Either way I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Gill

Thanks everybody for all your very helpful comments and advice.

As I don't fly we only cruise from the UK so I don't have to worry about airlines, just the TA and the cruiseline but I take your point about research Paulxyz2004. I have looked at Trip Adviser and the TA I'm thinking of using receives mixed reviews, the negatives are mainly to do with slow customer service received after booking and the fact that they charge a $100 pp cancellation fee whenever you cancel. I have read their terms and conditions and the cancellation fee is clearly stated there. I don't see either of these things as a major problem, I have rarely needed to contact a TA after booking and if I book in the UK and cancel I would lose my deposit so I wouldn't complain about their cancellation charge. Any other suggestions for research I should do?

Pushka, we hear the same "Consumer Protection" story in the UK but I've yet to discover how I actually benefit from it!!

Gill

Has anybody in the UK used a US TA for booking a cruise with RCI? The current BOGOF promotion is just too good to miss if we are able to book it this way. I realise that the exchange rate can/will affect the final payment but apart from that are there any pitfalls?

Thanks

Gill

We've got our first TA booked for November so I can't comment on the sea days........yet! You mentioned Iceland - the Splendour of the Seas TA in September 2015 goes from Harwich to Boston via Iceland and one port in Canada amongst other places. An added bonus with that trip might be that between Iceland and Canada it's only four sea days.

Gill

Here's another vote for the 14 night - or if you can afford the holiday from work maybe even a 17 night then you could go as far as Venice and Croatia which should really please your husband. I don't like flying either so we only sail from the Uk and the short cruises really restrict your choice of ports. One of my favourite ports is Cartegena (the Spanish one not the one in Columbia) it's a beautiful port to just get off and wander around.

Have a great time

Gill

You've made a great choice with Alla Tours, we did the two-day St. Petersburg excursion with them two years ago and it was superb (my favourite parts were the Fountain Park at Peterhoff and Yusupov's Palace).

We were with RCI so I can't guarantee you'll be docked in exactly the same places but in Talinn it was an easy walk to the walled city and it was beautiful to walk around there. Copenhagen, as somebody else has said, only about ten minutes walk to the Little Mermaid - but it is very little so be careful you don't miss it lol. Stockholm, we took the HoHo bus into the city centre and walked around near the palace - the HoHo bus wasn't really up to the standard that we're used to in Lisbon, Barcelona etc. Have you looked at Alla's website because I know they do tours in several of the Baltic ports.

You'll have a wonderful time, it was one of my favourite cruises and one that I'd like to do again.

Gill