Algebralovr

You were on the old internet on Solstice. They don't have their Starlink live just yet.

You are welcome! If I had not had a bunch of OBC-N, I would not have necessarily thought of it, but I did. We used the same approach on a cruise last week, over Thanksgiving. We completed a form at Guest Relations for some additional gratuities for other staff, and asked for zero dollar receipts from a couple of bar servers. Happy to reward people who make us happy, particularly on the company’s dime!

If the TA actually put in writing to the client that a passport card would be sufficient, then the people who were turned away should ask the TA to reimburse them for the costs they incurred. The TA can either do so out of pocket, or using their E&O insurance. This was a VERY basic mistake to make.

We asked this direct question to the Beverage Operations Manager on Solstice a couple of weeks ago. It is someone we had met a few years ago, and were comfortable asking directly. We took a sail only cruise on the cheap, and used Al Bacio as our hang out. The Elite Plus benefit was a great help to our budget. 😉 When we order a drink using our E+ benefit, the bartender who makes it get a part of the automatic gratuity that is assigned to the drink, as does the server. The company picks up the cost of the gratuity. We had about $60 in OBC from our shareholder OBC. We asked the Bar manager how we could best reward the team with it, as they made our vacation so pleasant. He had one of the servers bring us a “zero dollar bill slip” and we wrote it on there as an additional gratuity. He said that we could put it on one, and they would share it among the team. So Raceli brought us the slip to sign, and all of them knew we had signed it for that amount for them to split. You just need to ask for a zero dollar receipt.

Hi! I’m new to Princess after taking around 25 cruises on Celebrity. Planning to do the Canal on Emerald Princess Dec 18. I would like some info on what tea to expect. We have Princess Plus, so whatever that includes as well. On Celebrity, we typically drink a cup of regular dining room tea, him a Black Tea and me Darjeeling, from tea bags, after dinner. He prefers a strong Ceylon when possible. Daytime, we typically start with the Tea Forte Bombay Chai, we like a couple of those, then a couple of the Tea Forte Black Current later in the day. Is something similar available? Do I need to bring an acceptable substitute? At home, I actually mix my own Chai from Assam leaf tea, but will drink Tazo in a pinch. Thanks for the help!

Yes, this is the risk you take. If the prevailing rate is higher than when you booked, you would not want to adjust. We had booked our Feb 2023 cruise as a refundable deposit when it was first released. The price never went any lower for refundable s. We saw non-refundable a slight bit lower but chose not to change it. Often in earliest days of release, the difference is very small. Not always but often. I just consider it a form of insurance.

@Reel Loveany time before final payment, you can change to the prevailing rate and offer and a NRD at that time. We had one booked at refundable and when we saw a really good price, we updated it to a NRD and saved $1100.

We booked one cruise where the fully refundable deposit was only $120 extra…. We were booking in Feb 2020…. While on board, shortly after the Princess ship had been quarantined in Japan. It was shortly before the all stop. It was worth $120 not to have to worry. It was two weeks later the world fell apart.

Yes, by phone but not online.

Gratuities, yes, but they may not wish to provide wifi for the 17 year old, or they may not need both wifi for themselves and can give one of them to the teen. Also, a NA package is SUBSTANTIALLY less than alcohol, so it may still be less. Not sharing a room with a 17 year old boy? Priceless. 🙂

They may want to look at pricing for adding the 17 year old to their cabin, vs an interior nearby. They may find that the cost is similar for the two options. If they want a beverage package for themselves, And not the young person, they can book all inclusive (tends to be about $600/person but includes classic drinks, gratuities and WiFi) and they can do a cruise only for the inside room for the minor. Then they can buy a NA package if desired for the minor.

We were on Millie in May/June 2022. Beautiful ship and great cruise. If you are boarding in Seward, one option is to fly to Alaska a few days early and travel some by train to see the land sights. You can book a cruise tour through Celebrity which picks you up in Anchorage and then escorts you, taking you to the ship to check in. You can also just do it on your own or through the Alaska RR. you can fly into Anchorage a day early and take the regular run of the Alaska RR to Seward, spend a night in Seward and then board the ship the next day. Finally, you can fly into Anchorage and take the Charter run through the ship that goes from the airport to the ship in Seward. So, lots of options. We plan to go back in 2024, and plan to do Alaska by land first, then recover from the land part on the ship. 🙂

They will likely allow the second cabin to be booked as an adjacent room. Matter of either calling your TA to arrange, or calling a CVP. There are enough adjacent rooms with the shared entry to make it less of an issue.

I’ve also enjoyed the Fre’ on board. I had one sommelier pull a face in Luminae in February on Silhouette, which quite enjoyed me. We realized that particular sommelier was REALLY pushing the sale of bottles of wine. We had a couple of previous ones who simply poured from packages like crazy, unless the guessed asked for the bottle list. They were great.

It really is too bad that a few bad apples spoiled it for the rest of us. We were on Reflection in Nov 2021 and the coolers in Michael’s club were well stocked. We were on Silhouette in Feb and they only have the little refrigerator of non-Al drinks in the updated Retreat Lounge. The manager told me it was because the lounge was open 24/7 and they couldn’t leave alcohol unattended.

There was a woman on my May cruise who had not gotten hers even though she claimed to have requested numerous times. She went to guest services and complained she had requested it and it was never applied. She had a copy of her brokerage statement with her. Apparently they gave her the $100 via guest services. My guess it was to shut her up? After all$100 in OBC often just leads to more spending.

We tend to use the DoubleTree right by SeaTac. They have an airport shuttle. They also, last time I was there, had a shuttle that would take you to the Target and the Mall. Depending on your timing, you may not be able to use that, but it has come in handy for us.

Thanks for the info! I board Solstice on Oct 22 and I’m looking forward to it! We agree with you about missing the other backgrounds for photos. The idea of doing them all in front of the green screen just isn’t as good. I particularly miss the white background. We don’t buy photos when just the two of us, but when our family joins us, we sure do! I also agree with you that a proctored Covid test should still be required. It would cut down on the number of positives. I’m not seriously worried about catching it now, after having 5 doses of the vaccine plus catching what was likely BA.5 in July, but I’m also not interested is quite this much openness.

They have been having supply chain issues with the Tea since the restart. Reflection didn’t have any Chai back in November 2021, it just didn’t show up. Luckily, I had thrown in a box of Tazo chai to get me through. Not my favorite, but acceptable. At home, I drink a loose leaf chai, but the Tazo is easier when traveling.

@Caribbean Chris I’m so glad you and yours are safe. Moving sounds like a nightmare. As I say that, I’m actually sitting with DH starting to make a plan for us to eventually move. The home we are in was built in 1923. It is TOTALLY not accessible. We can see that at some point I’ll need a lot more accessibility than I do now, and trying to determine how to handle it. I really don’t believe there is any way to adapt our current home. I’d be able to get into the home with some easy work, but getting around it is a different story. Since we know that I’ll eventually need a lot of accessible features, it makes sense to plan now, while I’m able. One issue, however, is the location. While I’m not working any longer due to disability, hubby will likely keep working another 10-15 years. We currently live within WiFi distance of the university where DH has worked for so long. It means he can run home to help me, or check on me, any time. We own a house that we rent out about 4 blocks away, however, and are considering tearing it down and building a house that would meet accessibility needs, then moving there, and renting out the home we currently live in. Of course, the house we currently live in is where we’ve raised our kids, and we FINALLY have it most of the way we want it…and we dread the thought of moving. plus, the funds we would need to spend would interfere with cruising!

I love Reflection, but the additional deck of suites is a serious issue. Luminae doesn’t have sufficient seating for all the suites. For some reason, no one thought to make it enough bigger when it was built. The M’D basically has to hope that 1/3 to 1/2 of the guests choose to book specialty instead of coming to Luminae. It is kind of crazy. We were on one cruise on Reflection where the specialty restaurants just were not being booked. Luminae was super full with waiting. If I remember correctly, they were offering Tuscan for like a $10 cover charge one evening to Luminae guests, to try to help with the pressure. Only saw that once, though.

I like the TA that I've been using the last 10+ years. She has done well for me. And I TOTALLY understand her not wanting to spend an hour or more on hold for stuff. When everything is smooth, it goes well. Let's face it. No one wants to make pennies per hour. If a cruise is a budget one, and all goes well, it is simple to just book directly with the cruise line since the TA makes so little commission they can't offer any OBC back to us. In the case of mine... she is looking forward to retirement before too long. But I've learned a LOT from her in the last decade. She has earned every cruise I've booked through her.

I believe the commission paid by the cruiseline to the travel agency is actually about 20%. I’m sure it can be higher, if an agency sells a LOT of Celebrity/Royal cruises. Not certain, just an educated guess. It is split up a number of ways. Part goes to the individual agent. Part goes to the agency, and part goes to the group the agency belongs to. So, if your agency is associated with AMEX, then AMEX travel gets part of the commission, strips off their share, and sends the agency their share. The agency strips off the overhead they charge the agent, strips off the OBC awarded to the client by their formula, and then pays the actual agent their individual commission. I’m not a TA, but I’m going off the numbers of OBC I’ve received and comments my TA has made.

@Oceangoer2 my CVP said the points are for completing the booking, and get her things like choice of schedule, etc. Apparently they get to choose their schedule every three months, based on the merit system. It is a fairly common way to do it when a system needs to be manned more than regular business hours. When my CVP started, she was working essentially 2nd shift, starting at 3 pm, and worked every weekend. The last 6 months, she has worked 9am to 6pm M-F. She said she got to swap to more preferred hours based on the number of cruises she completed bookings for. If she is off, she is off. However, because the booking is owned by Celebrity, rather than a TA, if she is not available, I can speak to any agent and get a question answered or issue resolved…. Assuming the agent is capable of doing so. I’ll admit, it still gets frustrating. I had left her a message to call me back, so I could pre-pay gratuities (based on my credit card closing dates) and she didn’t. I tried to online and it wanted to re-rate the entire cruise and charge a lot more. I tried to call the regular line and was frustrated by untrained agents and long hold times. I finally sent email to the exec suite office, and had a US based agent calling me back the next day who handled everything.

I’ve been known to use both. I have a travel agent, but I’ve learned that my TA only makes about 5% commission. The rest of it is split between the agency, the agency group, and the OBC the agency provides as a reward for booking. If the expected commissionable cost of my cruise is super low, I skip the TA and go directly to a Celebrity CVP. For example, I booked a cruise in Sept 2021 for last Christmas that was about 250/per person. I booked it right before final payment, online, then called the TA to see if she wanted to pull it in. She told me it really wasn’t worth bothering with, that her commission was only going to be $25, and that it would require a couple of hours of phone time. The price was so low she would not be able to offer any OBC. Her agency uses a formula to award appreciation OBC and our cruise cost before taxes was below the minimum. I managed to hook up with a Celebrity CVP around the same time. She is salaried with Celebrity, has a direct phone number, direct email, and works from home. Great gal. So now, if I want to book a budget cruise, I call the CVP and she gets points for doing the booking. If I am planning a cruise in advance and it is over a price threshold I call my TA. There is no reason to waste my TA’s time with a cruise that I find last minute for a super low price. Could I? Yes, and would she likely book it? Yes… particularly after final payment if she can just use my card directly inside of Cruising Power, but if anything else comes up, then she and I end up spending far too much time on the phone. At that point, it is honestly easier for both of us for me to just book directly.