Paulras

1 minute ago, mdpa said:

The concern is as legitimate as a preference to not focus on any other subgroup. I did a Google search (and everything is true on the internet :-)) About 4.5% of people identify as LGBT. For me the interruption and resource investment is more detrimental to my cruise experience than the lack of hand sanitizer.

 

Others are free to have their opinions....but I think to exclude 95% of the people from enjoying the pool for an hour doesn't make sense.

Um. It's at night when the pool is closed. If I recall, last year was 9pm. And all are invited. 

Every sailing in June will have a Pride party. It's literally just an hour or two of music at the pool. All are welcome and it has nothing to do with a large special group being on board or others being excluded. It's just another entertainment event with a theme. How this turned into people thinking their ship will be overrun by draq queens, dykes on bikes and political protests, I'll never know. 

37 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

I read whole topic.There is a difference between just sailing and sailing and engaging in some public activities which are not so exciting for others.  )))

 

 

" I couldn’t care less but others don’t feel that way and feelit doesn’t need to be celebrated around others." 

"I'm not too keen about being on a cruise where there are big, group-focused LGBT parades and p ar ti e s ." 

"not a fan of PRIDE events or supposedly LGBTQRSTUV friendly events" 

"I have no issues with anyones lifestyle/political/views except when they push it in front of me" 

In other words, they have a problem with there being any mention of an event including the daily get together. And adding RSTUV is just trying to be an as***le

34 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

 I do not think anybody is opposed to sailing with LGBTQ people.

There are mentions of LGBTQ (Friends of Dorothy?) groups in every Daily planner. Don't ever remember about problems with that too.

See above

1 hour ago, mdpa said:

Seems like quite a few intolerant people in this thread. I don't care for any segregation of groups, and not a fan of PRIDE events or supposedly LGBTQRSTUV friendly events. For many religions homosexuality is a sin so it is equivalent to having an event with only adulterers or liars allowed.

 

That doesn't mean they are intolerant...and I would also be offended if I paid money for a cruise and they had a special event with the captain just for men, or married couples, etc. IMHO political objectives shouldn't be pushed on this forum or on a cruise line.

And about half of the world's population follow a religion that doesn't allow pork to be eaten but you don't see people walking out of the dining room when there's bacon on the breakfast menu. 

5 minutes ago, bikerunner said:

And hence the problem with many.  They make totally false presumptions without asking go straight to hostility.   Pointless to try to explain since you already made up your mind.  Best. 

You're welcome to explain what someone pushing their lifestyle on you means. 

3 hours ago, DYKWIA said:

 

What do you mean by this? Holding hands, kissing - is that pushing it in front of you?

 

Re the OP's original comment - Are they fitting Gender Neutral toilets on the ships yet? If not I think this is something they should consider, certainly on new builds.  We wound't dream of building or refurbishing offices without putting them in these days. 

He/she just means that if they know someone is gay, he/she hates them. That's all

Seriously people? Sad to see that some (pathetic) Celebrity cruisers want to "avoid those people" in 2019. Go to another cruise line! 

Last June, the "parade" was a handful of the entertainment staff walking around the pool deck passing out rainbow flags. The party was the DJ playing 70s dance music while a few dozen older straight people danced and a couple of the ship's dancers dressed as sailors rolled a girl in a bubble into the pool (ie. Same as the silent dance party in the solarium). Lasted maybe 90 minutes. Oh the horror! The handful of us who are gay just stood around watching and chatting. No drunkenness, nudity, orgies. 

I've been more surprised by lifestyles of straight people that I've met on cruises over the years. Fetishism, (many) swingers, public intoxication, etc. Maybe I should avoid straights. 

On 6/30/2019 at 5:21 PM, mattie123 said:

I was told on my last cruise, if you took advantage of this offer your $500 (and the extra $50 obviously) play would not count toward tier level.  Wanting to keep Sapphire I passed.  

That's only 550 points out of the 25,000 needed for Sapphire on slots, or only about 70 points on table games. I think the free play is a better "bet". 

The good thing with the free play on slots and video poker is that it helps to bring the payout ratio more in line with land casinos. For instance, house advantage on VP at most land casinos is a couple percent but on ships is closer to 20% (achieved through lower payouts for the same hands). A few times, I purchased the $575 for $500 when they offered it, took it to a VP machine, played exactly $575 and hit cash out. Most times, I cashed $600-700. Only once did I lose money, cashed about $400.

Some banks don't allow anyone else to deposit money into another's account. But I wouldn't do that because there's no way to track the funds to get to you on the ship. You can deposit it into my account! 

26 minutes ago, pirateg11 said:

I actually talked to my pvp about this, and the $500 is actual on board credit (not fun play).  Now I'm a slot player, but I did confirm that if I charged my slot play to the room (sail and sign card), that the on board credit would cover this.  I assume if you charge your table play the same, that it would work the same way?

Note that there is a 3% service fee for charging table play. No fee if you take it out at a slot machine. Also no fee for certain casino players. 

Blu crowding depends mostly on the time you go. We get there between 8:30-9:00 and almost never have a wait. If we do, it's only a few minutes (ie. standing in line behind a couple others) . I think we were only given a beeper once in 60+ days of sailing AQ on several S class ships. And even that was no more than 10 minutes (ie. time to run to the restroom). 

As soon as I saw the subject I knew it would be a Celebrity Blue Chip question! 

You did better than me. I was told that I would have to not book with my TA for 2 years before I could book through BlueChip again. But that was over a year ago which is enough time for them to change the rules 5 times! Plus if I can't book with anyone else but my TA, it sounds like I just couldn't go on a Celebrity cruise for 2 years which would make me lose my Sapphire status, defeating the purpose. 

Think it's time to try URComped for my next booking. If I can. 

 Blue Chip status has nothing to do with Captains Club tier level. You can be Zenith and have zero status in Blue Chip. However, certain Captains Club status gets you MGM MLife tier status. And certain MLife tiers (not obtained from Captains Club status) gets you benefits from Blue Chip (but not tier status). 

Confusing, right? Bottomline is you get nothing from Blue Chip unless you actually gamble on the ship or gamble at an MGM property and earn a status. 

Question for those who've been on these special casino cruises who get the Drinks On Us card. Is there any way to get them to upgrade to Cheers or pay a little extra for it? I don't like to be limited to just the casino bar especially when it's going to be packed. And my companion won't be in the casino much but will drink alot at other bars. 

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

How big is this bag?  We are hoping to return to X this fall for a transpacific after doing most of our cruises on Norwegian where the bag special is under $25 so surprised by the $50 charge. Norwegian’s bag is a paper one and is 12”-15” wide and 20”-25” tall. I can typically roll and stuff (and I mean stuff!) 8 underwear, eight socks, four shorts, and four shirts and a pair of jeans or two in it-all men’s clothes.  

 

Are Celebrity’s bags larger?

I'm pretty certain it's about the same size. I think it's a rip off at $50. And that's a "special" price. I'm Elite so I get a bag for free. Can usually get about the same as what you stated. Remember, the bag doesn't need to close. Also, try double bagging it so you can fit more in without ripping the bag. 

Though I do have to say that I've been disappointed in the quality of the laundry. Almost seems like they don't really use detergent and definitely no fabric softener. I've been tempted to send clothes back a few times. 

I always have a picture of my passport on my phone and a copy printed in my luggage. Just as an extra precaution in case it gets lost while I'm traveling. I do the same with my drivers license. Also makes it easier to pull up on my phone rather than pulling them out if I have to fill out any forms with that info. 

Yes. They have one next weekend. I don't think I got anything in the mail but my online offers says Select cruises or $500 off any cruise from Bayonne on Royal Caribbean. 

I brought an old pair of boots on an Alaskan cruise to use on an excursion and planned to just throw out. The cabin steward kept taking them out of the trash can and leaving them on the side. He must have thought I accidentally threw them out. After the 3rd day of this, I finally told him I didn't want them anymore! 

What irks me is how much money they make off of internet service and they won't use any of it to add to bandwidth. 

22 minutes ago, Tourist1292 said:

If you can download a minute in less time than the movie itself, it is streaming possible. You need around 3Mbps for streaming a movie smoothly. Someone just reported watching Netflix without problem. The actual speed depends on the ship, location, itinerary, weather, and number of users at the same time. The introduction of the surf package may have made it worse.

Should have said half hour tv episodes rather than movies. But my speed tests on Caribbean sailings were rarely above 3Mbps. Agreed on the new packages making it worse if bandwidth isn't upgraded. 

Also note that your speed needs to be consistently above a certain level or you'll get buffering until the bandwidth is back. That's very annoying, watch 30 seconds, wait 30 seconds, etc. So downloading is always a better option if possible vs streaming. 

13 hours ago, Tourist1292 said:

The internet package in perk is the unlimited streaming already.

Unfortunately, it has only worked for me on port days when many people are off the ship or late nights when people are asleep. Truly frustrating to use for anything but simple emails and webpages. Rather than streaming, I've tried to download a movie that would take maybe a minute at home but would take well over an hour during the day on the ship, if it didn't crash. 

Were any of those offers for December 18th on Constellation? Just curious

51 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

as i said in my OP, i couldnt call because it was the weekend and they're not open.

thus this post for some info.

 

since it's now mon, i called. LONG hold time. 😞

offer for all the cruises on postcard is free balcony/Veranda, no perks, just pay port fees/taxes.

and like you said, i cant substitute for another cruise not listed on the postcard.

 

doh.. just remembered i forgot to ask how much is the upgrade fee to either AquaClass or sunset veranda.

might call back tomorrow to ask since i dont want to be on hold again.

 

As I thought, you can't use on another cruise. But are you Amethyst or higher in their club? If so, you can usually get them to take money off the price. 

If you have casino status at another cruiseline or land casinos, you might want to get in contact with URComped. Send them your offers and they'll work with Celebrity or others to get you much better comps than BlueChip can give. I had a casino host on a celebrity ship tell me I'm getting ripped off by BlueChip because I should be getting much more freebies than they can give me under their current program. 

2 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

yes, the postcard is from blue chip.

it said call or email bluechipclub@celebrity.com for more info.

(it also had a phone #.)

 

what do you mean by 'notorious (my opinion) about checking to see if you actually got an offer from them on a specific cruise rather than any cruise'?

shouldnt it be normal for them to check and verify that you actually got a postcard for specific cruises as you claim?

 

Well yes, but if you hear that someone else got a postcard but you didn't, they won't give it to you. And if you ask about the same ship/itinerary but on a different date, that won't fly either. Basically, they only offer special comp rooms on certain sailings that aren't selling well. But call to find out what they can offer you. 

What level are you in BlueChip?