Chicago Boy

Hello...

 

After my exhaustive search today, I was unable to locate a thread created for this cruise. My name is Walter and my partner Iain and I will be on this cruise. We will arrive a few days early to spend some time in Rome doing activities we didn't get to do in 2013.

 

November seems far away, but it will get here sooner than we will realize. Looking forward to meeting you on the ship. Take care.

 

 

Walter

Hi Walter.....Jim and Don here. My partner and I are on the Nov. 5th Trans Atlantic as well. We arrive in Rome on the 4th. We are both retired and enjoy the Trans Atlantic's as well. Hope to meet you in the ship.

Have tried to contact Celebrity via "concerns@celebrity.com" as well as "captainsclub@celebrity.com". E-mails were not returned 'undelivered'...but..silence from Celebrity. Have sent 4 e-mails. Been almost a fortnight without a response. Any ideas please? Thanks in advance..

If you are a Captain's Club member call the number on the back of your card otherwise call the number on their website. I've found this is the easiest way to get in touch with them. Hope it helps.

I have entered all my details for online booking days ago but the Xpress Pass keeps saying still not ready and I am wondering if I have done something wrong I have rechecked all the details are correct but still cannot print out .Also I wondered when I would be getting the flight booking details and transfers-I am going on the Celebrity Silhouette 18th October.

You didn't say if you used a travel agent for your cruise or if you booked your air through Choice Air. If you used a travel agent I would contact that agent right away to find out what is going on. If you didn't use a travel agent, I would contact Celebrity and Choice Air right a way to find out what the hang up is. You should have all of your cruise documents by now. We are sailing on the Constellation Nov. 5th and we got our cruise documents last week and we received our air confirmation several weeks ago. Enjoy your cruise.

Whether you use a TA or book directly, do your homework. Do not rely on either Cruise Air or a TA to arrange your flights. Let them know exactly what you want and do not book until you are satisfied with the results.

If you are booking domestic flights for embarkation day you will have more control over your flights if you book directly. This is particularly important if you have connections.

If you are booking one way flights for a transatlantic cruise, for example, Cruise Air may be an option if you want to be on a US based airline.

When your flights are booked monitor your flights for changes via the airline's web site.

If you have questions about Cruise Air - or flights in general post on the Cruise Air Discussion Forum BEFORE you book. There is a Sticky at the top of the page that provides great detail about third party booking agents like cruise air programs.

We always use Choice Air, especially on Trans Atlantic flights, and have our TA do it for us. Here is the thing. Be very sure your TA has the name on your plane reservation exactly as it appears on your passport. If it isn't you could be denied boarding your flight. Our TA did that to us and we really had to scramble at the 11th hour. That travel agent is no longer our travel agent. The other thing is booking with a domestic carrier does not necessarily guarantee you will fly that carrier. You could be flying on one of their alliance partners. It's sad to say, but we have found flying a foreign carrier is often cheaper and the service superior to one of our domestic carriers. Enjoy your cruise! We are doing a Trans Atlantic in 53 days and can't wait.

We have the classic and premium beverage packages.

 

Going on the Equinox, eating in MDR. Do we get cocktail/wine menus at our tables from the waiter then show our cards as usual?

Hi there. If you haven't been on the Equinox before, you are going to love it. If have been, then you already know it. Lol.. I'm sure your wine steward or cocktail waiter can provide you with a wine or cocktail list. We tend to stick to the same wines and martinis so we are good to go. Enjoy your cruise!

I have complete on-line check-in over 2 weeks ago, and my e-docs are still not ready :(. How long does it take to get them? I cruise in less than 30 days. I am using Choice Air, so I understand there is a delay because of that, but still...

if are sailing in less than 30 days I would call Celebrity and have them e-mail you your e-docs. They should be ready by now.

But if you sail longer cruises like the one you are on, won't you get more people who are retired? Not that I'm knocking being retired as I am, but isn't there also something nice about cruising with younger people?

I think it depends on your choice of itinerary and the time of year that you like to cruise. We prefer the west bound Trans Atlantic cruises just because we really enjoy the sea days. Our experience is this type of cruise tends to attract an older crowd but it is always nice to see young people on board.

Anyone been on Celebrity's ship excursion to Delos (port of Mykonos)? Any positive or negative comments?? We usually do all excursions on our own or with local companies, have no experience with ship tours.

We did the tour a couple of years ago. At that time we were tendered from the ship to Dellos then on to Mykonos. That may very well have changed. What I can tell you Dellos is beautiful as is Mykonos. You will have a fabulous trip and will build memories that will last you a life time. Enjoy the cruise.:)

Has anyone been so upset with their TA that they have transferred their booking from them and given it to Celebrity Cruises. Can this be done. I have read that you can transfer it from Celebrity to a TA.

As I understand it, you can transfer your booking from the travel agent to Celebrity but your travel agent is going to have to release the booking. If they don't want to do that then you are stuck with the travel agent, at least for the cruise. We had a similar experience and rather than make waves we just don't use the travel agent again. Enjoy your cruise.

In other threads I've noticed that some folks have mentioned they have sometimes been able to order things that are not on the menu; Steak Dianne in Murano is one I've seen mentioned. Sometimes this apparently involves ordering in advance.

 

I'd be interested to hear of anyone's experience getting access to the "secret menu," if it really exists. Is this rare or common? Does it vary with the restaurant (MDR, Blu, specialty restaurants), the ship, the voyage, the time of year? What sorts of dishes you been able to order this way? What can be done if you order in advance? Can you talk to the chef and come up with something?

 

I did something like this on Regent once. We were a group of six; the head chef was Indonesian and he did up a fabulous Indonesian dinner for us, but I hadn't really heard about it happening on X.

We have seen people order off menu in the MDR and in the specialty restaurants. We always find the selections in all restaurant venues to be more the sufficient so we do not fee the need to do it. :)

I will take beautiful ships, good service and food and good itineraries over a little chocolate on the pillow, a flower or cotton balls. I can bring my own chocolate and cotton. Sure they were nice "little" touches but not going to make me jump overboard and react like the sky is falling.

I agree totally! Give me a beautiful ship, good service and excellent food and we are happy. As for the rest of it, we don't eat the chocolates, use the Q tips, we bring our own. As for the flowers, in Concierge our experience has been then don't change them out all that often so don't bother. We have a wonderful time anyway. We leave for our next cruise on Celebrity in less than two months. Can't wait to be on the Constellation once again. :)

Just received an email telling us there are too many Elites on our cruise and we will be given drink 3 vouchers each day to be used at any bar instead of the Captains Club Social Hour.

 

How was your experience using the vouchers?

 

TIA!

 

***

It's disappointing but I can see their point. On our Trans Atlantic last fall on the Equinox half the ship was Elite. To provide free liquor and munchies for over a thousand people every evening would soon become cost prohibitive, I should think. Not sure I am such a big fan of this kind of reward program. Personally, I would rather see quality service, excellent food and good prices all the way around. To be honest, we have never taken advantage of the complimentary cocktails. We would much rather go to the Martini bar before dinner and enjoy our drinks there. Enjoy your cruise. We are less than 75 days for our Trans Atlantic on Celebrity!

Is it okay to use a debit card when checking in?

As you know by using a debit card you are giving the merchant direct access to your checking account. It is much safer and there is more security in using a credit card upon check in.

Have already done on-line check-in/express pass. Just got notified our credit card had some fraudulent charges, so they are closing that account and issuing us a new card/number.

 

It will essentially be the same account, just a new number

 

Two weeks before sailing.

 

Will we be able to change out the number on board when we check in, or do we have to do it in advance? How? What number do we call that someone might have a clue how to do that?

 

Thanks!

Yes, you can give Celebrity a new credit card upon checking in. I am assuming you have already printed your X Pass. If so, just go back into your on line account, go to Checking in and give Celebrity your new credit card number and print a new X-Pass. We have had this happen to us in the past and this what we did. Enjoy your cruise!

I noticed lots of experienced Celebrity cruisers talking about unexpected charges or getting "nickel and dimed" on things. Would you please share things to watch out for? Conversely, would you share the surcees that people might not know about?

 

I'm sailing the Celebrity Reflection in January 2015, CC, so any specifics related to that ship/ Caribbean itinerary are especially helpful.

 

As always, I really appreciate everyone's information and advice!

We sail on Celebrity once and often twice a year and we have never felt nickeled or dimed. There is much that is included in the price of the cruise and other things we are asked to pay for. Somethings we are willing to pay extra for, others not so much. We look up on it as our opportunity to choose those things that are of interest to us and let go of the rest. We believe Celebrity offers the best cruise value on the market and been sailing with them for several years.

Long time HAL cruiser - going on my first Celebrity cruise soon. I have some questions about MDR dining.

 

We've asked for a 2 top - early dining. If we decide to eat elsewhere on some evenings - do we have to let someone know so we don't lose our table the rest of the cruise?

If you have requested early seating in the MDR then that would mean you have been assigned a table for the duration of the cruise. If we are not going to dine in the MDR on a particular evening we always let our waiter know the evening before or if that is not possible just let the dining room know and they will tell your waiter. This way he / she will not be expecting you. :) Enjoy your cruise.

Hi all. Trying again to get some opinions on this. We are doing a 14 day New England/Canada cruise on Summit. There are 2 specialty venues on the 3 and 5 dinner packages. Am I better off buying the package in advance, or waiting until we get on the ship and hoping for discounts. On our last cruise, (7 night Bermuda) we didn't know about the advance purchase packages. We ate in Qsine twice (we had such a good time the first night that we returned immediately) and in Normandie once. We had some difficulty getting a good time for Normandie and ended up eating very late - don't remember times for Qsine. All of the meals were discounted, with the sail away day in Qsine being a 2 for 1 deal.

 

What has been the experience of this year's M class cruisers? Are you getting good discounts and good dining times when you book individual nights on the ship? If you bought a package, did you get desirable dining nights and times?

 

Thanks for your help.

There are just two of us (table for 2) so often we dine in the MDR because we really enjoy in. On occasion we will meet other passengers with whom we would like to dine either in the MDR or a specialty restaurant so we wait until we are on board the ship and make our reservations at that time. Enjoy your cruise everyone!

We are doing the Trans Atlantic from Rome to Fort Lauderdale on The Connie Nov. 5th. For the last couple of days we have tried to book our excursions on line and were unable to do so. For one reason or another the site wasn't working properly and several ports had very little or no information. Has anyone else experienced this problem? We did call Celebrity and they were very helpful and booked our tours for us and sent us confirmation.

We hope you all enjoy your upcoming cruises.

I have never sampled a martini. I will be participating in my first pub crawl with my roll call this September on the Solstice. Can anyone tell me what their favorite martini is and why?

My favorite martini is a Grey Goose martini straight up with a twist. It's very smooth and one will do.

Enjoy your cruise!

Just got an email from one of the big TA's about the Connie cruise just after its TA was a charter that canceled. So they now have made it a 3 night FLL to Nassau cruise and back. Leave Friday, return Monday.

 

It's not showing on sale yet on X site, but I contacted my regular TA and she was able to sell it.

 

Finally payments due by September 22.

 

X is even offering the 123 promotion, even though 123 is only valid on 4 night and longer cruises. X is offering $100 OBC for the short cruise as the OBC option.

 

A great "party" cruise if anyone can make it, and likely fares are quite

 

reasonable. I was able to snag my favorite suite ;-)

 

!

 

Fri Nov 21 FLL depart 4:30

Sat Nov 22 Day at Sea

Sun Nov 23 Nassau 7am - 6pm

Mon Nov 24 FLL 7am

 

I'm taking my brother and niece and family on it for a Christmas present :-)

Too bad we just found out about it. We are on the Connie for the crossing. It would have been fun to stay on the ship. Instead, we are visiting friends in Fort Lauderdale for the weekend and flying back to Chicago on Monday. Oh well. We can't have it all.

If a particular location is on the State Department's naughty list, we think twice and thrice before booking a cruise with that itinerary. Also, due to DH's job, places like Mexico are off limits to him period.

 

We don't wait for the cruise line to determine what is or is not safe. It helps that most of the places with unrest hold no interest to us anyway at this time.

 

 

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It's too bad Mexico is off limits to you and your husband. We spend the winter in Puerto Vallarta and we feel safe and secure. Just another point of view

:)

Leaving soon (September 7th) on the Equinox...13 days in the med:) I am hoping to keep the weight gain to a minimum (lol...probably not possible but as I won't deny myself all of the food I have been dreaming about I will have to try to work it off instead). I have looked at some recent dailies and see that a lot of the fitness classes have fees.

 

Aside from the pool side exercise (Zumba etc)....are there any FREE classes? I know that I can use the gym but I like to attend a class to stay motivated or my brain will think "cheeseburger" and I'll be out of that gym in a jiffy!

 

I have a late seating dinner...so the best time for me to work out is between 4 and 7. Do they even have classes at that time? Most of my port days will start early so I would prefer to avoid the early morning workouts:) If not, I will be hitting the treadmill or the track...but I thought I would see if anyone had any insight into this...

 

Thanks in advance for the info.

We don't pay to take gym classes on board, instead we just use the equipment in the gym. At certain times the place is crowded so we avoid those times and go when there are more machines available. It helps to keep the pounds off. At least it's an alternative. Hope it helps.

How do think the world issues will impact Celebrity cruises in the European regions ,like the Baltic & Eastern Med ?

Our experience has always been that Celebrity does not go into areas that are considered unsafe and does its best to protect their passengers and crew. We have been on cruises where a port or two were missed because of unrest and alternate stops were offered.:)

Cadillac.

Cadillac

My observation is it's left outside the door by porters.

 

In the event a cabin steward or some other person who is authorized to enter cabins does so after luggage is dropped, they will pull the luggage inside if its there waiting. But they don't automatically pull all luggage inside, just a hit and miss thing based on timing.

Our experience has been that luggage is left outside our door. It can be delivered within a a couple of hours or it can take longer. The last couple of cruises we have booked Concierge which has priority luggage delivery. I'm not sure it is all that much faster.