PartyAllDaTyme

It depends on your definition of "working". If you are counting on it to give you dibs on a cabin that someone cancels, not necessarily.

I called back. They offered me the CS 1233 but not a good enough incentive - I was not expecting free, but was hoping for something off published rate

So was it $4399, and was that higher than Celebrity quoted, or lower than your TA quoted, or what?:confused:

Unless I'm missing something, you should be able to get the same price or suite you were told was available. Did you try doing a dummy booking to see what the cost of a suite would be, or were you quoted over the phone by Celebrity? If you could find the lower price or suite you want online, maybe get a screenshot and send it to your TA.

I'm finding Celebrity Suite 1233 at $4399 pp, Sky Suite 2151 (corner aft) at $4699 pp. You may want to put a courtesy hold on whichever you want so it's not gone by morning if you can't reach your TA right away.

A cabin is held if it shows as available for booking and you choose the "Courtesy Hold" option instead of going ahead and actually booking it. You cannot either book or hold a cabin unless it's available in inventory. The Courtesy Hold is only good for 24 hours, then it auto-cancels.

If you have a favorite cabin but it's not available in inventory, you can book another cabin and contact Celebrity to have that cabin waitlisted. If it becomes available because whomever booked it or put it on a courtesy hold cancels, it's yours IF Celebrity checks their waitlists and sees you wanted that cabin and IF that cabin is still available when they check.

Yes, they check manually. It's not automatic, and it's certainly not a guarantee.

I don't think that there's a whole lot of time or effort required when you live in Florida and can take a 3 day cruise on the Infinity for $269pp. :)

For anyone who questions whether it's worth it to spend $269 to go up a level, don't forget that you're getting a cruise along with it, too!

If you can find another couple in the same situation and one spouse from each couple can go and split the cost, my recommendation is to send the two wives. If I were to go on a cruise without my DW, even for this noble purpose, that would cause a multitude of issues at home, as would sending the husband from one couple with the wife from the other couple;):eek::D:rolleyes:.

My understanding of the waitlist process is that once a booking or courtesy hold for a particular cabin is cancelled, it goes into general inventory. Anyone can then book it or put it on a courtesy hold. Daily, someone at Celebrity checks the waitlist to see if the cabin someone requested is available. If it is, at that time, they will be switched. But that cabin is fair game for up to 24 hours (maybe the entire weekend) once it goes into general inventory. Yes, you'd think with these modern newfangled computers it would be much quicker and automatic. Thank goodness the computers for little things like navigation are from a different vendor.

I think in this application, when you know the cabin you want is available, the best course is to put it on a courtesy hold, then get with Celebrity and/or your TA, cancel the courtesy hold and hopefully they can snag it for you just as soon as it goes back into general inventory. The waitlist is of no practical help in this.

Edit-- I started working on this post before #6 through #8 came in.

Just to mention my experience, don't count on mentioning the special occasions under online check-in as a guarantee they'll automatically take care of it. I retell it more for the fun of it.

Last Celebrity cruise, we were celebrating both my birthday and our 30th anniversary the following day. (And no, we didn't get married the day after my birthday just I would have no excuse to forget it!:D) We even renewed our vows on board, which of course you pay extra for. I went to Guest Services the first night to confirm with them that they knew about the special occasions.

The night before my birthday, as we're entering the MDR for Select dining, the maître d' said, "I see you are celebrating a birthday tonight!" "No," I said, "that's tomorrow night, but I'm glad to see it was noted." "Indeed, tomorrow night, they will provide you with a celebratory cake."

The next night, dinner came and went, and the waiter presented the regular dessert menu. I said nothing-- cake wasn't really that important to me, but my daughter took the bull by the horns and said, "So, if someone is celebrating a birthday, does Celebrity do anything special?" "Yes, madame, we will generally have a cake, but you must provide us with advance notice." After mentioning the conversation from the night before, they said unfortunately there was nothing that could be done. But after we ordered regular desserts and had almost finished them, here comes the complement of waiters with a cake, singing "Hep-py birs-day too juuuu..."

The following night, our anniversary, we dined in the Normandie. At the renewal of vows ceremony, we mentioned to the Celebrity hospitality person assigned to us about the cake snafu, and asked what we should do since we would not be in the MDR for the anniversary cake. We were assured that it would be available at the conclusion of our dinner. Once again, we received the regular dessert offerings. My daughter asked, "So, if someone is celebrating an anniversary, does Celebrity do anything special?" The waiter looked uncomfortable and suggested he could maybe do a little dance on our table for us, but that such things must be arranged in advance. We again explained we did note the anniversary in the online booking and again mentioned it at the ceremony. Sorry, but they knew nothing about it. After a very wonderful and filling meal and dessert, here comes the cake. "Hep-py annivers-ry too juuuu..." We had no room left to even try it. We were told it would be kept for us, and if we but mentioned it to our waiter in the MDR, it would be brought out in lieu of the regular dessert.

The next night, we wanted to finish dinner and get to the show at 7pm, so we were seated early. After finishing the meal and prior to the dessert menu being presented, I mentioned to our waiter that we had an anniversary cake on hold, and could they please bring it out ASAP so we would have plenty of time to get good seats for the show? Thirty minutes later, and after the others at our table had their dessert, the cake shows up (minus any song). We had enough time to each wolf down a slice, leaving half the cake, and just made it in time for the show.

As we were leaving, asked if it would be possible to just have the remainder of the cake sent to our cabin. It appeared the next day. I have to say it was very good cake!

The morals of the story: Confirm special occasions with guest services, and that they have the correct date(s). Mention to the maître d' upon entering the dining venue that you have a special occasion to celebrate. Don't count on things going right, even then. Finally, don't sweat the small stuff and enjoy the cruise!

If it happens and it disturbs you, I say post it on CC, if nothing else to get the feedback from fellow cruisers and suggestions on how to handle this.

When I read the first incident, I thought to myself "Big deal". The fact that it happened a second time, and in a manner that caused public embarrassment, means it should be addressed.

I have not had this happen. If I did, I'd likely laugh it off because my ethnicity does not match the profile of the typical crew member. This means, though, that you and your partner "fit the profile".

Possibly this was a cruise just after a number of new crew started their contracts and the rest of the crew is used to new crew making the mistakes they thought you were making. Otherwise, I can't see experienced crew members flaunting or disregarding the rules and procedures as a common occurrence warranting the reactions you experienced. The staff you encountered may have subconsciously calculated the odds against you being a customer and thought this was the most efficient way to handle the problem. This doesn't excuse it, just possibly explain it.

You took the correct steps by bringing it to the attention of Guest Services and Security. Since you were not satisfied with the answer, the next step is to contact Corporate. It's always best to keep a civil, friendly tone, of course-- the same tone you used for this post should be fine.

Were I in charge at Celebrity, my response would have been, "I'm so sorry you had this experience. I reiterate it was not intended to be discriminatory. While it may have been natural for our staff to make such an assumption, you are right to point out that they should have taken a more civil approach to handling the situation. Given that we do have rules about crew members not using the same facilities as the passengers, what would be your suggestion on how our staff should handle these situations in the future?"

And what would be your suggestion? Simply ask (quietly), "Pardon me, but do you happen to be a crew member, by any chance?" Or ask, "Excuse me, sir or madam, do you have your SeaPass card? May I see it, please?" And if you happen not to have your card, "I apologize, but I need to verify your status. What cabin are you in?" Only if it appears there is a likely chance that you are actually an errant crew member, take you aside and sotto voce explain the reasons for the questions. Would those procedures have addressed the problem, or what would you want to have happened?

If you see a price drop within 48 hours of booking, they will apply a credit of 110% of the difference. Outside 48 hours but before final payment, they will adjust the amount due (or will credit you back if you happened to pay in full already). Full information is here.

Since QE2 Fan didn't happen to mention it, welcome to Cruise Critic! I suggest you join your cruise's roll call to chat with others that will be on the same cruise-- look for the link at the top of the page or click here.

I suggest you best ask X.

 

SUre why not and it's not there. why I said Ask X not us.

And the original poster has not specified which ship the group is sailing...

 

On the Millennium Class ships [Constellation, Infinity, Millennium and Summit], the balconies associated with the aft cabins [Concierge Class 1 staterooms on Decks 7, 8 and 9] are huge and--at least in the past [i haven't sailed in one of those cabins in several years and don't know if it's still true following one/two dry docks]--they were equipped with extra outdoor furnishings... That said, the balcony partitions on the Millennium Class ships cannot be opened [though it may be different for the AquaClass cabins added on Deck 11]--as the original poster hopes to do--between adjacent staterooms...

 

On the Solstice Class ships [Eclipse, Equinox, Reflection, Silhouette and Solstice], the non-suite aft cabins are classified as Concierge Class 1, Sunset Verandah, or in a very few cases on Solstice only, AquaClass staterooms... The balconies associated with these are standard size but the partitions between adjacent cabins on Solstice class ships can generally be opened by one's Stateroom Attendant... Standard furnishings include two high back outdoor chairs which may or may not have a slight tilt at the back [they are not full body/fully reclining loungers]... For Concierge Class and AquaClass cabins--aft or otherwise--two [separate] foot rests are also supplied; standard verandah cabins [not AquaClass; not Concierge Class]--including the SV cabins--are not equipped with foot rests...

 

Requests for additional verandah furniture may/may not be accommodated; the matter is not necessarily at the discretion of the Stateroom Attendant alone [ie; the policies of the Housekeeping Director--who does spot check rooms and who reports to the Hotel Director--may also be in play]... I have, on occasion, seen guests augment outdoor seating by using the room's desk chair...

 

Fact is, we cannot answer the original poster's inquiry with certainty here as we don't know which ship the group is sailing and we can't predict response to requests for additional outdoor seating if needed...

And that's why you ask here. You'd never get an answer like that from X. Well done, Xport!

BTW, I hope someone at Celebrity considers changing the name of at least 1 of the 2 ships :)

Eclipse Junior?:D:D

How about Xcelsior? Xotic? Xaminer? Xtraordinary?

Always better to buy insurance sooner rather than later (what if something happens tomorrow and you have to cancel:eek:?), but most plans can be purchased 24 hours before you depart (or, as a practical matter, the calendar day before is often acceptable).

As noted, to get the pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver, many plans require you to purchase within a certain number of days of making your first payment-- really has nothing at all to do with when you're traveling. If you're interested in Cancel For Any Reason protection (allows you to cancel for a reason not named in the policy, but it's less than 100% of your trip cost), the same timeframe applies.

I worked for Travel Guard for a number of years. If you did need the pre-ex waiver or CFAR, the My Travel Guard plan would probably work. There would be a hoop or two, but it's still possible. If you need either, I suggest contacting Travel Guard. There are other plans from other companies that might work; I'm just familiar with TG.

First situation-- correct, not a listed reason. These are called "named peril" plans, and the situation ghstudio described would not have been a listed reason. Underwriters look at such potential hazards, determine how much more the premium would be to insure that hazard, and a business decision is made as to whether the higher premium would result in fewer customers. Personally, I would have thought this situation comes up infrequently enough not to affect the premium that much, but the number crunchers say otherwise.

Second situation-- the description of coverage (DOC) will state that evac must be warranted by the physician on the scene, but in practice the Medical Assistance Center would override the physician if there was doubt the insured would receive adequate care. Travel Guard would often go beyond the terms of the policy. Does this guarantee a person will be evacuated? No, because often an insured would prefer to be evacuated, concerned that any foreign hospital would not be up to US standards, but in reality they were fine where they were. I agree that if you want to make absolutely sure you're evacuated no matter what, something like MedJet Assist is the way to go.

I recently retired from Travel Guard, so naturally I'm going to recommend them. Other posters have done a good job of providing an overview of reasons to get third party insurance. There are way too many topics to address here, but I'll hit some of what I consider to be the highlights. Some this may be more applicable to others browsing this thread. This information will pertain specifically to TG plans, but may be applicable to other companies' plans as well. These are general statements and may not necessarily be relevant in your case.

Be aware that there can be differences in plans depending on your state-- for example, prim8keeper mentioned being able to cancel for work reasons. Not available in NY, is available with an optional upgrade in WA (also depends on when you made your first payment whether the option is available). You're from FL, so no worries there, but sometimes there can be such variations. Read the description of coverage, or at least skim it so you have some idea what you're buying.

You may not think you may need protection for pre-existing medical conditions, since you said you're both very healthy, but what if you had a parent or grandparent that became seriously ill? The pre-ex exclusion does not just apply for the travelers, but family members as well. (If someone passes away, the pre-ex exclusion does not apply.) The My Travel Guard (MTG) plan can still get you the pre-ex waiver that takes out all the nasty language about pre-ex conditions, though an upgrade is needed and is only available if you haven't made your final payment. Made it already? With the cruise line, yes, if you're leaving in a month, but if there's something else you can pay for before you leave-- shore excursion, specialty dining, hire a car to take you to the cruise port, get a Gray Line tour of Ft. Lauderdale-- you have not yet actually made your final payment and so could still qualify. I could write a small book about pre-ex.

TG policies have a minimum of $100,000 medevac benefit. If you really want to be safe, MTG has an upgrade to $1,000,000 that then also designates this as Hospital of Choice. Without HOC, the language in the policy is to the nearest available adequate medical facility, but as a practice, Travel Guard would normally evacuate you to your home hospital, anyway, as long as there was money to do so. For where you're going, medevac shouldn't be more than $100,000 anyway, but on the other hand, it's usually only a few dollars more for someone in their 20's to get that upgrade. Note that evac must be warranted, not just because you fell ill in St. Kitts and would rather go home to be treated by your family doctor. Not everything rises to the level of needing medical evacuation.

MTG is a flexible plan, starts out at basic levels, so you don't have to pay more for benefits you probably don't need, but you can tweak it to increase benefits that are important to you. It's also more factor-based than other plans, so since you're leaving in a month and the risk for trip cancellation is much lower than if you booked 18 months ago, it's probably dirt cheap. In fact, if you're not concerned about losing the trip cost or if that's covered by MasterCard, you can list a trip cost of $0 and the premium would really drop, should be less than $50 for the both of you. If you insure the cost of the trip, it would be about $100 (without any of the optional upgrades).

If you have homeowners or renters insurance, that may possibly cover lost luggage for you, so you may not need anything additional there, if MasterCard doesn't cover it. Be aware that simply filing a claim may affect your rates in the future, though.

If you're flying, avoid the extra flight insurance that pays an accidental death or dismemberment benefit-- it is ridiculously overpriced, IMHO, but some people insist on getting it. A lottery ticket is probably a better investment.

I can tell you that the philosophy of Travel Guard was to pay a claim, even looking for a basis to pay that the insured may not have thought of. Having said that, there are some claims that are simply outside the language of the plan (the woman who said she had to cancel because her horoscope said she should not travel comes to mind), but TG felt it was a better business decision to keep customers happy and coming back rather than look for ways to deny a claim.

Lastly, travel insurance is about peace of mind-- you can relax and enjoy the cruise without having in the back of your mind, "What if this or that happens?" In the long run, you'll likely pay more for premiums than you'll otherwise lose due to a medical emergency or trip cancellation, but it's that one time you need it that you'll wish you had it. I'd suggest if you want more information, call TG at 800-826-1300. Note that I no longer work there, so have no vested interest in recommending them.

As a person who is new to cruising I am not a fan of automatic gratuities. On our 2 cruises it's me my wife and 2 children. Gratuities are charged for all 4 of us but being charged for the children seems excessive. That's 48.00 a day. We also like to hand out cash to the people who make the cruise special for us.

This raises an interesting question.

I'm trying to think of a service that requires less effort to provide service for, just because the person is smaller or younger than an adult. While they don't eat as much and the cost of tipping for dining would otherwise be less based on a percentage of the bill, if there was one, it still requires the same effort (and maybe more) for the waitstaff to take the order, bring the food, and clear the dishes. OK, the kids don't require the sommelier's service. The linens still need to be changed and the cabin cleaned, and in general children tend to be a bit messier in the cabin making the steward's job a bit more difficult. I don't know if the staff in Fun Factory shares in the tip pool or not, but if so there's an example of where the tips for the kids should be more than the adults, not less. An infant may warrant a break on tips, maybe toddlers, but older than that, I don't think so.

Jeff doesn't say he only would provide cash tips, but for those people who disable the auto-pay in favor of cash, they are inadvertently stiffing many behind-the-scenes people who depend quite a bit on that income from the tip pool.

I don't do the Faceplant... err, Facebook thing much. I'm on it, but rarely check it. I'll try to make the effort to find you, though.

I'll second Dominica as a fabulous island to visit. It was our favorite of a five port cruise. Titou Gorge is an interesting swimming experience (was featured in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie), and Scotts Head was an amazing (and often overlooked) snorkeling location.

@amsp, Hi Ann, and say hi to Chris for us.

I got the PDF to load for me, and it confirms the spacing problem I posted about.

BTW, the asterisk is for "taxes, fees and port expenses" being excluded from the calculation of what 50% or 75% of the cruise cost will come to. For example, if the total cost of a cruise were $1000 without the port charges and $1100 with them, you'd get back $600 if you cancelled in the 56-29 day bracket (except Xpedition).

Is it possible the spacing is off? Maybe it should be as follows:

1-4 Nights (including holiday sailings)

75+ No Charges

74-57 Deposit Amount

56-29 50% of total price*

28-15 75% of total price*

14 or Less No refund except for taxes/fees

5 Nights or longer (including holiday sailings & Cruisetours)

90+ No Charges

89-57 Deposit Amount

56-29 50% of total price*

28-15 75% of total price*

14 or less No refund except for taxes/fees

Xpedition 3 Nights or longer (including holiday sailings)

120+ No Charges

119-89 Deposit Amount

88-43 50% of total price*

42-22 75% of total price*

21 or less No refund except for taxes/fees

Hi PartyAllDaTyme,

 

My Travel Guard was a good plan, but Travel Guard stopped selling it on Dec 31, 2015.

 

Steve

Not in NC, where zitsky is from. There are three states (not sure off the top of my head, though WA is one) that MTG is not offered. You apparently live in one of those states.

zitsky, if you had called Travel Guard and got me before I retired, I would have recommended the My Travel Guard plan (see my previous post). It must be purchased on or before 3/25, since that's your final payment date, you must select the Additional Unforeseen Events Upgrade, everyone on the policy must be healthy enough to travel when the plan is first purchased, and all prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs are fully insured (those already paid when you first purchase the policy, any subsequent trip costs added within 21 days of those payments). (Oh, and the total cost of the trip does not exceed $100,000 per person-- that is obviously seldom the case.) Meet all those conditions and you the pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver (pre-ex waiver for short) applies.

MTG is a flexible plan, so it starts out at basic levels but individual benefits can be adjusted. For example, if your only concern is medical and medical evacuation, you can upgrade the medical benefit from the standard $10,000 per person ($50 deductible, secondary coverage) all the way up to $100,000 per person (no deductible, and you can choose to make it primary coverage.) The medevac can be increased from $100,000 per person to $1,000,000 and then it's also designated as "hospital of choice".

It's also a very factor-based plan, meaning things like the destination, departure date, length of the trip, and so on, go into determining the cost of the premium. Sometimes it's a fantastic bargain, sometimes it can be rather expensive. But if you are concerned with a hospital stay and you have a pre-existing condition, it is an option.

It's also possible that you don't actually have a pre-ex condition. The lookback period for most Travel Guard plans is 180 days, so if since (roughly) early September 2015 you (or your traveling companion) have not been diagnosed with something new, treated for something or declined recommended treatment (checkups are not treatment), no changes in a medication you take, no symptoms that would have prompted a reasonable person to go see a doctor, then you have no pre-ex condition to be concerned about.

There may be other plans out there that would meet your needs; I'm just familiar with what I used to sell. Read and understand the Description of Coverage before you purchase any travel insurance policy. I am no longer licensed to sell travel insurance; I do not warrant my answers to necessarily be correct. There. CYA.

If you're Zenith or Elite Plus, what are the odds you'll stop cruising with Celebrity because you found out a newcomer to X got a free upgrade and you didn't? On the other hand, if you got a free upgrade on your very first cruise, especially if you've never cruised at all before, how likely will you will be impressed enough with Celebrity's largesse that you'll book another one?

I would hope they would not automatically upgrade someone without their permission. I've got a 1A on the hump that I would be very angry about if they took it from me and gave me a AQ or C2 cabin with a smaller balcony.

It's been a while since this happened, but in 2011 we got upgraded from a C1 to a Sky Suite. Almost.

Because we knew this might happen, we had our booking flagged as "NO UPGRADES", but they missed it. We really wanted that aft C1. I caught it quickly (there was no notification), called my TA and she got it straightened out before our beloved C1 went into inventory and got assigned to someone else. I don't know what they would have done for us in compensation, since it was properly flagged not to upgrade.

As far as I know, you must still have a "No Upgrades" flag, else the Upgrade Fairy might strike, even when you don't want her to. You can make it conditional, such as "No Upgrades to A1, A2, S1 or S2" if you'd trade for a CS, RS or (gasp) PS.

No experience with HAL, but we have 4 cruises with Celebrity and 3 with Princess and find them comparable, though Celebrity gets the nod. I wouldn't think you'd be disappointed with Princess.