Pushka

I costed the full premium drinks package for our cruise and it was something like $2500. We upgraded from basic to premium drinks and wifi. I'm not touching my booking again in case it goes amok with all these changes.

They didn’t even accept the original offer if you decide to change cabins let alone dates. As I found out last week.

Thanks for that explanation. So unless it states that Tips are included in All included, then they aren't. That's really good to know. So in the above picture I posted, no tips are included in the AI. I reckon it will get sticky for those booked in the Old deal where All included (in my booking anyway) included tips but someone booking the new AI tips won't be. Must keep dated screenshots of my booking. And also that changing cabins removes any previous inclusions. I also see that if I change my cabin then I can only book Cruise Only, there's no provision to rebook any kind of AI.

We changed our room, same cabin grading, and lost the OBC from the original booking.

Can you post a link to this please? I just did a search on celebrity website using Australia and couldn't find a contract. Just a meaningless blurb. And nothing received with our booking. Cancel that, I didn't realise English was an actual link.

Cruises booked from Australia must be price inclusive as per our federal legislation. And that includes compulsory charges like tips. So the changes made in USA are not relevant.

This is only a recent thing. I've been on several Cunard cruises in Australia until about 2017 and tips were not included in the price. They were added onboard.

Well, not sure Celebrity can do this legally in Australia but - tips are not included.

But what about European cruises that Aussies book?

Agree. My booking of a few days ago specifically shows tips.

It isn’t stated so I’m not convinced.

I priced our cruise today and the price has dropped. Significantly for Cruise only and slightly for AI but I do wonder if it included tips as that wasn’t mentioned but thought all Aussie prices had to include tips.

We had a long cruise with Viking in May. Food quality not so great.

We can only select all included currently. No other option. I'll check again after the 4th.

Long time since I've been on Celebrity but looking forward to next year. I'd forgotten the issue with the Lock Out after making changes to the booking. Some things don't change. Anyway, in Australia we can only book All Included. That's drinks, wifi and tips. I understand the drinks are the classic package not premium, but can't seem to upgrade to Premium online as it doesn't recognise that we have the classic package. Common problem? Any clues? Thanks.

The cruise after ours on Equinox involved a charter of the whole ship. The last days we were there all the toilet signs were changed to be non gender specific. They were clearly trying to run down supplies on board as the charter brought on all their own food and drink. So alcohol started running very low on ours.

Sounds like you may have been bumped for a full on charter cruise.

We dined in Murano on Equinox a few years ago and loved it. We tried it again next cruise and didn't. And this was pre Covid.

Well, I enjoyed watching it as a refresher. 😉

So what exactly is on offer?

Disagree. People can evaluate all the various factors given here and decide whether they are worth it.

This happened with us. The ship arrived very early in the morning and passengers disembarked. The ship then went out to the harbour. It stayed there until around 5.30pm until a berth at port became clear once all the ther ships had departed. We then boarded. Not a great start to our first Viking journey as we were stuck in the no man's land of the embarkations hall for a few hours. Watching others leave.

I think they are secret in the sense they aren't marked at all, from the corridor. And they are always shut. In the Explorer lounge there is a sign each side, referencing access to the cabins port and starboard.

On Mars in May. Continue towards the lounge along the corridor and there is a closed door on the right taking you straight to Explorer lounge. The only sound we heard during the day was from the banging of the shuttle board on the games deck above.

Our cruise in the Middle East had temps around 100F. Our cabin was excellent but we kept the curtains drawn when sun on that side. But the suite next to us had high temp problems that weren't successfully repaired. Our cabin already had a blank card inserted when we boarded. It was hot outside.