librarylady19

On 4/11/2023 at 12:13 PM, accio_7 said:

Hi Ann, 

 

Having never sailed on HAL before, I have been following your live thread with great interest. (Thank you for sharing your wonderful stories and photos with us!) The food looks incredible, glad to see that my mom and I aren’t the only individuals who enjoy taking pictures of food. 😂

 

How have you been enjoying the entertainment onboard so far? Have you had a chance to meet either Doug Parker from Cruise Radio or Tony from La Lido Loca? I think Tony mentioned that there are media onboard this cruise. 
 

Hope you have a great day! 

Yes, wonderful review. I love all the food pics and menus. First sailing on HAL/Rotterdam on 29th - hope we like it as much as Celebrity as they have gotten soooo expensive. I’ve been following Doug Parker’s reports and tweets too!

On 4/14/2023 at 5:17 AM, momofmab said:

😆 I thought they could have worded that better, myself.  Maybe switch out "valued" with "Retreat".

I think they mean "valuable" as they get lots of revenue from those "Valued" guests.

I've read about several Royal sailings being oversold recently, and they were offering passengers full refund and credit for another cruise. I would pursue this.

Got this also and was wondering how to find rates - what # to call?

3 hours ago, lola2013 said:

Don’t mean to hijack the thread…I have done three cruises since the restart with four more scheduled.  With the deals that Celebrity has been offering, the cost is doable.  No more “double the price” for a solo… Although I don’t have a husband to convince to let me sail.  😉

Cool. Mind me asking where you find the deals (without naming names😀) 

Enjoying your review. I really want to sail solo as I’m retired but DH is still working (to pay for all those cruises) so I have lots more time to travel! Only thing holding me back is paying double ….

9 minutes ago, lavictoria said:

Unfortunately HAL does not allow OBC to be used in the casino.

Good to know! Guess Ill just have to do some on board shopping😀

21 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Plus HAL unlike other lines will not let you use the OBC before you embark for things like shore excursions, spa treatments and Specialty restaurants.

We have OBC coming from TA and Amex; can we get casino credit with this ? 

23 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

And they even have 3xl ones for us larger folk!

That I didn’t know. Will have to request one for DH🙄

8 hours ago, gerelmx said:

The spreadsheet is old, useless, the last time it was updated was in 2013, 10 years ago!!!!

Actually, if you look, there are postings from 2019 and you may also not be aware that the last person to update  it (a volunteer I should add) moved on. 

1 hour ago, Tikigal1 said:

1)Can you please start opening up more opportunities for singles to cruise on Celebrity.  Many seniors have lost their spouses and now are still in love with Celebrity, but feel paying 200% for a room is unreasonable, especially since the cruise fares have skyrocketed.

2)Another concern was in Captains Club, as X offered double points for customers booking Europe by March 31st, 2023, and sailing by December 2023. (Example, SINGLE customer books Concierge (5 pts/n, and receives 10 pts/p/n).  As a single you are paying double occupancy prices to begin with and start out with 10 pts. for the cabin you paid double for. That makes sense, but for the special, are discriminated against, and only offered 15 points instead of 20.  Can you explain why you discriminate in the point system against Singles?  It is so disheartening. 

A normal couple gets 10 points for the room, but during the special receives 20 points for the room, for the same price a single is paying, minus taxes, fees, and gratuities.  

 

Totally agree that more attention should be paid to solo travelers. There are also many people whose spouse/partner can’t or won’t cruise as much as well as those who choose to be single. A 100 sf solo cabin for $1000 is totally unappealing. 

On 12/1/2022 at 10:29 AM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I guess the best thing is to book Always included if you can , or just buy a drinks when you fill like it 😁

i just did a week on Harmony as Diamond and another week on reflection as Elite, so have experience recently with its systems. On all other celebrity cruises I’ve had drinks included but since it was just me (DH had to go back to work) I opted  to go the budget route and manage with Elite drinks only. Let me say, I much preferred the Diamond perk which allowed me to choose any drinks, when I felt like having them. oI also liked the Diamond breakfast & nibbles in DL. The elite perk on Celebrity was much more restrictive, not just in timeframe but the drinks that were on the included list. 
Overall, Celebrity is by far my favorite cruise line but I did give Royal the edge in this category. Not. Deal breaker but just preferable. 

14 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Well done! Reason can afford lot these Cruises is the Solo 340+ along with other Discounts(Military, Etc) savings is like every 3rd or 4th Cruise is Free

What is “solo 340+“ is it a Diamond Plus discount?

42 minutes ago, Chot50s said:

Did the $16.50 include gratuity or was that added on to your purchase (I’m assuming it would be 20%)?

Yes, that included the gratuities.

Upgrade from Classic Alcohol to Premium (Elite/Elite+ Discount 15% Discount)

Just got off phone w/ Capts Club and added the upgrade for 13 night TA. Worked out to $16.50 additional pp per day (essentially 1 cocktail😀) and I was able to apply by OBC. 
Thx for everyone’s advice!

2 hours ago, bikerunner said:

With elite I got 15% off the upgrade to premium but yes have to call them.  Best is early am never had to wait more than 2-4 minutes when I call then. 

Can you use OBC (already on account) if you call in to purchase the drinks upgrade?

Just on Reflection last week and this was not my experience. Food in MDR was great, service was on point, cabin steward was efficient and responsive.  Did not have dinner in Oceanview so can't comment on that. Went for lunch once and it was fine (much more choice than on Harmony cruise week before where food was gross in Windjammer). 

Question: why does Royal allow smoking in its casinos (which invariably impacts other areas of the ship negatively) when only 12.5% of the adult population still smoke? Many land casinos ban smoking and still make plenty of money. 
 

2nd question:  why doesn’t Celebrity switch to the more flexible Diamond drink “vouchers” rather than limit Elites to meager drinks list from 5-7 pm?

On 12/28/2022 at 12:46 PM, robmtx said:

I used the offer, called my TA and just asked to make a $1,000 on a booked sailing. Got the points the next day.

Sucks though that the point values are being nerfed really bad. 25,000 used to be $250 almost anything imaginable. Now you gotta hunt and peck to get this level of cash equivalency. I'm really disappointed in my choices. 

Respectfully disagree. If you use your points for flights, especially if you transfer them to an airline when Amex has a bonus offer and book business class, you get tremendous value. Points gurus value Amex points at around 2 cents each. For example, I booked Iberia business  class one way from ORD to MAD via BA with 34K Avios points for TA next year. 

20 hours ago, TheMiz said:

 

 

Same here .  Sometimes we all don't get the deals 

 

I read that if you “add to card” travel-related offers you are more likely to get them in future. For example, I added NCL offer, even though I won’t be sailing them. Worth a try. 

Going to be in St. Maarten on Reflection in February. This sounds like a good spot but most importantly - is there access to clean rs[est rooms there?

Wouldn’t pay too much attention to what’s on the written menu as what is actually offered depends on what they can stock. DH was very disappointed in “selection” on Apex last January as it was quite limited. This was chalked up to supply chain issues but we have noticed inconsistency in beer offerings before Covid too. 

21 hours ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

We will be doing this itinerary on Reflection in a few weeks. Looking forward to your review!

Same here. 2/5 sailing!

8 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Correct it’s just below the bridge and I was told its used by crew only primarily for R&R

Oh dear, I thought that was on deck 7, which is why I picked the deck 9 OV cabin. Oh well, too late to switch now as all those cabins are gone….