mmr923

Ship:  Constellation 
Length of Cruise: 15 days
Cruise Sail Date: April 17
Date email offer received: Not received - found it online
Captain’s Club Tier: First cruise 
Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: TA
Current Cabin:  CS
Bid?  Yes/No: Yes
If YES -  Bidding Details: RS ($500-$2000 range) bid: $1250 ("Good"); PH ($1500 - $3000) bid: $1600 (Poor)

Cabin Category: RS and PH
Bid Offer: See above 
Notification Date: TBD
Accepted / Rejected: TBD
General Comments (offer details, etc.) - when I first bid, back in mid February, I bid $750 for the RS - there were 5 RS's available for the longest time. Today there are only 3 left, so I increased my bid. 

7 hours ago, the penguins said:

Sorry not false advertising as X never clarifies it's definition of "small".

Our definition is maximum 6 ideally 4.

Lots of words like this in advertising another example from cruising "classic ships" I.e. " old".

In our case, Celebrity DID actually bother to define "small"  - this is from the description of the tour we have booked on our upcoming TA in Seville - it's called "Small Group Legendary Seville" and part of the description is this: 

I would rather do smaller than that, but I don't consider 20-25 an unmanageable amount. I'm just not interested in the big tour bus sized things.  

On 2/5/2023 at 9:25 PM, DannyS said:

About a week and a half ago, I noticed that my MoveUp bids had the "famous" lock - one was pending and could not be changed, the other was marked expired. (I'm currently in an Aft Sky Suite, my bid for a Royal was expired, my bid for a Penthouse was "pending" and unable to be changed.

 

I emailed MoveUp, and was told "your bid is still under review by our Revenue Team. It is possible when seeing this, that your bid is in the process of being approved or denied. Please allow some time to see if the status changes."

 

Yesterday, I noticed that both bids are back to pending - and can be edited! 

 

This is for Beyond on Feb 26. So, apparently the "lock" is not a lock.

 

Not upset at all, but thought people would like to know that until you see "accepted" - your bid is not accepted. 🙂

Hi Danny S:

What was the eventual result of your MoveUp bids? 

2 hours ago, HateSnow said:

Yes, that was the minimum.  I bid in the 2/21, First day I got the email.  I got the email that my bid was accepted on 2/28.

Thanks for that, and congratulations! Enjoy your cruise! 🙂

4 hours ago, HateSnow said:

Ship: Apex

Length: 7 nights

Sail Date: 3/18/23

Date offer received: 2/21/23

Captain's Club Tier: Preview

Booked through Celebrity

Current Cabin: 8250

Bid? Yes

Sky Suite - $2000 per person

Bid Offer - $2000 per person

Notification Date: 2/28/23

Accepted

 

Comments:  First cruise on Celebrity.  Free casino cruise so it made the upgrade affordable.

 

Was $2000 the minimum bid? Max bid? Something in between? Did you bid on 2/21? Found out today, I presume? 

9 minutes ago, Jjg34219 said:

Then only use the US outlet

 

OK - thanks. I'm sensing that the US outlets should be 60Hz, which should be OK. 

4 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

There are standard US 3-prong and there is a round euro type too that is 220V.  Check the Shark description for your dryer.  It is likely dual voltage like most electronics these days.  If so either outlet would be OK,  but you would need an adapter if you want to use the euro-type plug.

it is NOT dual voltage. So can I use the Euro outlets (with an adapter)? Aren't us outlets 110/50? 

Are they all Euro plugs? Do we need adaptors? Also, can I plug in a 120v/60Hz Shark Flex-Style hair dryer without risking frying it? Thanks in advance! 

Are they all Euro plugs? Do we need adaptors? Also, can I plug in a 120v/60Hz Shark Flex-Style hair dryer without risking frying it? Thanks in advance! 

5 hours ago, zgscl said:

You will love it either way! What ship are you on?

Constellation!

1 hour ago, canadianbear said:

I totally agree, that’s what we said.  We only started cruising in 2008 and in a Neptune suite.  I’m sure if our first cruise was Celebrity we would have stayed with them.   

Thanks to you both - have my fair share of experience in Neptune Suites on HAL but will be new to Celebrity Retreat in April. Now you've given me something to look forward to! In a CS at the moment but have a decent (well, I think it's decent anyway!) bid in for RS. Sounds like I'll be quite happy either way. 

The Neptune Lounge concierge effectively replaces all front desks onboard the ship so you ought to be able to do it through them. Just keep in mind that daily rentals are only possible if there are any that aren't rented for the week. You may want to call Ship Services and get an idea of how many are available NOW... might help you get an idea if those individual days will be possible or if its better to just bite the bullet and get one for the whole time

Yes, I understand that we may be disappointed if we don't book now. But there are 8 adults in our group and it's just a bit out of my price range to book 2 family cabanas for the week, as opposed to 2 for just one sea day or both. Good idea about calling to see what's available, though! Thanks!

Hello all! We are leaving shortly on a Christmas cruise. This is only our second time in a Neptune Suite, and we have never been on a ship that offered cabanas before (they are new to the Oosterdam). I see that I can reserve one for the entire week through ship's services now, but I don't think our family (it's actually a pretty big group) would use it during the port days as people want to be out and about. However, I'd love to maybe get a couple of cabanas on each sea day. The brochure I found online by googling says that you reserve for specific days through the front desk (if anything is leftover). Can I use the Neptune Lounge Concierge to do this for me once I board, since I'll be checking in there to introduce myself anyway, as opposed to making a separate trip to the front desk?

Just trying to make good use of our Concierge as on our prior cruise we really didn't have need for much assistance.

Thanks for any input and advice!

Hi! Just to add additional information for those who try to figure out the upsell fairy, we were booked on the 12/23 Oosterdam Western Caribbean in a specific SS suite. We booked this cruise through a HAL PCC sometime in the summer (forget which month - June maybe?). Today, around noon, I received an e-mail advising we were eligible for an upsell to Neptune Suite for $499 pp.

I had been keeping my eye on this cruise by doing "dummy bookings" in order to check for price drops, and the HAL website showed both SS and NS completely unavailable as of 2 weeks ago or so. Obviously, that wasn't the case.

This is the second time we've received an upsell offer. The other time, we had booked the cruise through a TA. That time, she received a call or e-mail (not sure) from HAL and she called us right away and was able to get back to HAL in time to accept the offer. That was also an upsell from SS (SS guarantee) to NS. I seem to recall that was only $299 but it was an Alaska cruise for which the fare was much lower to begin with than this holiday fare. I believe the timing was around this same time - about 3 weeks out.

Nobody knows the ways of the upsell/upgrade fairy, but it sure is interesting to ponder! Good luck to everyone awaiting an upsell or a guarantee assignment!

your chances for TSA Pre. The agent said that it only improves your chance to get TSA Pre. I had the impression (wrongly) that it was TSA Pre as well.

 

Could someone tell me about chances of TSA Pre is it almost always there with Global Entry, or 90%, 75% or worse odds of being given TSA Pre?

 

Also as an aside, We applied July 1, got conditional approval on July 15 and I was able to snag an appointment for Monday July 18 and Pam was able to Get today July 20. In Albuquerque. On Monday I was the the only one of 8 people from ABQ there for an interview, the resat had come from Denver and Phoenix to get an appointment. We also found out when we were there that ABQ takes walk-ins.

Be aware that the airline on which you are flying must participate in the TSA PreCheck program in order for you to receive it. We learned that when we flew direct from MCO (orlando, FL) to London, Gatwick on Virgin Atlantic (we had a friend flying on British Airways at the same time). Neither airline participates in TSA Pre-check so, even though there was a TSA Pre-Check line available at the TSA security area we had to go through, because we were flying on a non-participating airline, we had to go through regular security. None of the Virgin staff had even heard of Global Entry, but we finally found someone at TSA who explained it to us. I believe some of the more "discounted" American airlines (like Spirit) do not participate in the program either. This is a list of the airlines that participate, as of May 2016, from the TSA website: Aeromexico, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Allegiant, American Airlines, Cape Air, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Seaborne Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin America and WestJet.

When we went to Santorini on the Noordam in 2009, we did a ship's tour which has remained one of our favorites of all time. A great looking galleon type ship picked us up alongside the Noordam, then we were off to learn about history of Santorini from our very cool guide who looked like a long-haired gypsy sort of. We stopped first on a volcanic island in the middle of the caldera and walked around for a while (very easy hiking) amidst the sulfuric steam coming out of the ground, and learned more about how the caldera was created. Then we got back on the ship, and navigated to a thermal spring around the side of the volcanic island. We dove in, swam in the thermal (warm) water coming out of the bottom of the ocean (due to volcano), and we all smeared ourselves with mud (said to have beauty and skin-enhancing properties - but fun!), then swam back to the ship, which deposited us back on the Noordam in time to change, get lunch on the ship, then take a tender back to town. In the afternoon, we took the cable car up the mountain, and then found the public bus stop and rode a public bus to Oia, where we just wandered around, and peeked at all the artesans' shops. We stopped for snacks and beers after a few hours, then took a public bus back to Fira, did some souvenir shopping (back in 2009, you could also buy alcohol ashore and drink it in your cabin! DH got some ouzo and I got some red wine), and then took the cable car back to the landing to catch the tender back. It was an amazing day and has left me wanting to return and spend much longer than a day in Santorini! Have fun!

For our Christmas cruise, our groups' 3 Veranda cabins went down $200pp - (but no $50 beverage card or prepaid gratuities). Since that amounted to roughly $140, we decided it was worth it to forego the gratuities - some wouldn't use the beverage card much anyway. It seemed like a net "gain," there, so we had our PCC re-fare the Verandas.

However, for our signature suite, while the price is down $300pp, we would lose over $300 in promotional benefits, so we're keeping our suite priced where as we booked it during the Anniversary Sale.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2111008

See response #7 from a couple whose DGD had severe allergies to MANY things - she did fine! :)

I am very encouraged as DH and I are taking our multi-generational family on a Christmas cruise and SIL has "Alpha-gal" a life threatening allergy to all mammalian products (contact with or ingestion) so eating out with him is super challenging. But after reading the remarks on this thread (above) I am confident that he will be well taken care of on HAL, and we will all have a wonderful Christmas cruise!

Good luck to you!

HAL veranda cabins have curtains dividing the bedroom area from the living room area. They don't go the entire length of the room, but do go about the entire length of the bed (leaving a little "aisle" for someone in the living area where the sofa sleeper would be to have access to the bathroom which is closer to the door.) If you go to the HAL website, and check out their descriptions/photos of the different categories on each ship, you will see the curtain. It's pictured pulled back for daytime (so you can see the view/balcony), but it pulls out for nighttime. Not a separate room, but better than nothing!

Another plus, at least in my book, is HAL has bathtub/shower combos - not shower only.

My now 20 somethings went to Alaska and the Western Caribbean with us as older teens on HAL. They had previously been on NCL at the age of your twins, and the age of your oldest. After their first HAL cruise, they pronounced HAL the better experience for them. There were fewer kids on the HAL cruise, but they actually liked that better. They made friends with the other few kids that went to ClubHAL, and they really enjoyed all the personal attention they got from the ClubHAL counselors, since there were fewer kids. Since your kids are well-traveled already, I think they'll do very well. You will enjoy it!

In 2012, we booked a VA on the Westerdam for Alaska. After a price drop, we were able to switch our booking to an SZ guarantee for no additional money. Shortly before sailing, we were offered a Neptune upsell, which we thought was very reasonable and ended up in an SA near the Neptune Lounge.

We have done guarantees for most of our cruises and we have not ever had a bad experience. That has been our only upsell experience.

Ah! Ok. Makes sense. My last up sell was through a TA so I never saw the email - she just called me. Thanks!

Thanks all for the replies. I think we will, indeed, skip this offer and wait and see...

The language that has me confused is the following:

"Upgrade for select bookings from your Ocean View Stateroom (Category G to HH) to the following best available: Ocean View Stateroom (Category CQ - FF) for an additional $149pp USD/$162pp CAD"

Nowhere on my original booking does it say I had a Category G to HH guarantee - just HH guarantee. I thought that included everything above HH (including FF and above). They seem to be implying that my current booking is for G to HH, which is fine, but it certainly didn't specify that when I booked it.

Oh well. I'll be sure to post back when we get a cabin assignment and let you know if it was, in fact, a G through HH! This is our 3rd guarantee out of 5 cruises with HAL - we were very pleased the two previous times (one was a great assignment and the other was a great upsell). We're just ready to go on vacation!

Thanks for the insight! So glad you enjoyed your cruise. We're looking forward to it (in any cabin!)

We purchased an HH guarantee for our 8/8 cruise on the Maasdam. We just got an email offering us an upsell to "CQ through FF" guarantee for $149pp. The curious thing is that the email lists us as G to HH reservation- I don't see that restriction on our original booking - just HH guarantee- does this mean we will definitely get a G through HH unless we pay more? Never heard of this. I thought our original booking entitled us to assignment in any OV. We are not interested in upgrade because we really just want the light from the window / not the view, but I was curious if anyone else had experienced an offer like this. We booked by calling the 1-800 HAL line. Thanks!