gek

I filed a dispute last week with my credit card for the first of many refunds I was owed. Perhaps coincidentally, all my refunds were then processed over the weekend, and I received full refunds for two of our three May cruises. The third cruise was 90% refunded and I have asked them to follow this up.

Total time from cancellation to refund was 50 days for two of the cruises,  and 28 days for the other.

Having 3 cruises booked and not willing to take the risk of waiting for them to be cancelled, or having to take them all in FCC if they are not, we decided to cancel one of them just before final payment date. The others, we will take a chance on. We had, however already made full payment, so I suspected I would lose my deposit. I rang Celebrity who confirmed this and I proceeded with the cancellation online. The cancellation process confirmed my deposits would not be returned to me. 

On closer reading of the CWC FAQs I found this
 

Q: What happens if you decide you are not interested in getting a Future cruise Credit and simply wish to cancel for a refund, what are the options? 

A: If you wish to cancel prior to final payment, you can absolutely do so for a full refund of all monies paid to-date, and the nonrefundable deposits will be returned in the form of a FCC. After final payment, the standard cancellation penalties apply for guests not interested in taking advantage of the Cruise with Confidence policy    
 

OK, so maybe I will get my deposits back. I rang again today to ask about this and was told that my cancellation had been processed as a 100% FCC. What? Not what I had requested. I was reassured that my money was safe and all cancellations were handled this way before they were processed by the appropriate department during business hours. Ring back during the week for a definitive answer on my FCC.

So it appears that the cancellation policies are being applied manually. Hopefully I will get my deposits back as FCC, but for the moment I am in the system with 100% FCC.

Has anyone else been in this situation and did you get the deposits returned as FCC?.

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Nope, that was a picture of the sign outside the Blu restaurant on the Equinox I took tonight. Obviously, they don’t strictly enforce it to the letter, but that’s what it said. There was a similar one outside Luminae with the only difference being the name of the restaurant posted on the sign. 

Yes, I didn't mean you had copy/pasted it but whoever created the sign may have. It's not the first time I've seen a sign at a restaurant which was completely different to Celebrity's published dress code. Not that anyone pays attention to the signs.

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here is the sign in front of Blu which is also the same in front of Luminae. But it’s nice to know I don’t have to wear a tie, just a button down shirt with slacks. 
 

However, we did check with  a specialty restaurant Matre D and all specialty restaurants are always smart casual. 
 

 

 

Long sleeves for smart casual? Where did that come from? I can't remember every having worn long sleeves in Blu on any night. I think someone;s just copy/pasted something without thinking about it. 

1 hour ago, Ugaaucruisers said:

1123 is available on our cruise for next year.  Is the Sunset Terrace movie an issue? Can you hear it when movies are playing?

Thanks.

I never noticed any noise on the Constellation. The movies aren't that loud usually.

There is no requirement for long sleeve shirts in the dress code. Evening chic is  described as "time to shine—your way". If Hawaiian shirts are your thing then go for it.

Sometimes the problem is caused by cabins in a particular category being sold out. There might be one available at the start of your booking but it might get booked before you finalise (or in this case, call Celebrity). This happened to me recently when I was trying to get a better price on an existing booking. I had a price on the screen, but when I went to book I got thrown out back to the start and then there were no cabins available  when I tried again.
In the end I just persisted daily until I got a chance to put a cabin on courtesy hold, then rang Celebrity to complete the booking.  They couldn't refuse once I'd received the email with the offer and I saved a considerable amount of money.

If I had a choice between cruising with the sort of people who wear shorts to dinner and the sort who complain about what other people wear, I know which I would choose.
And no, I have never worn shorts to dinner.

We sailed on the Eclipse in January and it was fantastic - probably the best cruise we have ever done. I have nothing bad to say about the ship or her crew.

No one is going to stop you if you meet the basic requirements. It's up to you.

On each of our last 3 cruises they have done it differently. On our most recent, the authorizations for onboard expenses were erratic. Sometimes they appeared immediately, sometimes not at all. 

On the last night of the cruise we decided to pay with a different card. At that stage we owed about $600 but there was only $200 worth of authorisations on the old card. We switched cards and paid our bill as we had done on previous cruises - or thought we did.

What they actually did this time is put a new authorization for the full amount owing on the new card (leaving the existing authorizations on the old card). The next day they then put the final payment through on the new card. 

So we ended up with $800 worth of outstanding authorizations across two cards and an actual debit of $600.

Having experienced this nonsense before we were well prepared for it, but it did cause some inconvenience. I imagine it could be disastrous for some people. 

On our previous cruise everything worked more logically but was still annoying. Each transaction generated an authorization, and at the end of the cruise the available funds on our card were reduced by exactly twice the amount we had accrued - the final payment plus the associated authorizations. The authorizations then each cleared exactly 3 weeks after entered.
 

Yes, he was on Eclipse but left after the last cruise. One of the activities team said they thought he would be back on board after his vacation but they couldn't be sure.

We got the multi entry visas for our cruise last April. Others got evisas. Nobody had any problems as far as I know, but  multi-entry visas were recommended for anyone doing the multi-day Delhi shore excursion.
I believe that the process for cruise ship arrivals was simplified around 12 months ago and evisas should be fine.

However...if I were to go again I'd make the effort and get the multi-entry visa just to be sure. You never know when it comes to Indian bureaucracy. 

These themed cruises are getting ridiculous.

The Deck 11 Aqua class cabins on M class ships are in a fabulous location and the S class Aqua cabins can't match them.

Also the S class ships don't have an equivalent to the Rendezvous lounge which is a good medium-large venue.

In most other ways the S class ships are superior.

Tatoo sock, heavy metal tee, shorts...oh boy Celebrity is so not for you and you are so wrong for Celebrity.....even with the new reveals!

Now you've done it. I'm breaking out all my metal tees for my next Celebrity cruise. Do you think they'll rescind my Elite status?

The app is not to be trusted. The Aqua class menus were often posted for the wrong day and the activities section is far from complete. I've didn't see a discrepancy with itineraries though.

There's probably more to see on the starboard side going through the canal but don't stay in your cabin. Get out on deck and experience the whole thing.

And yes, it's lights out for the whole ship. External lights, that is.

We sailed in a starboard cabin recently and barely noticed any noise from the movies. There was a bit of early-morning furniture moving bit that was all.

We did Abu Dhabi to Singapore last year. Great trip. We stayed at the Premier Inn Abu Dhabi Airport as we landed quite late. We were able to walk to the hotel. It was very good , spotlessly clean and very cheap.

It's a fantastic place to stay when you arrive at midnight. I don't think I've ever had such a smooth arrival at any airport in the world. Straight through customs, walk to the hotel, efficient check-in and a comfortable hotel at a more than reasonable price. We were asleep in bed within 45 mins of landing.

And there are plenty who think it is unfortunate ;)

 

 

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And less than half of those who think it is fortunate enjoy themselves at least half as much as those who think it is unfortunate.

Wind speeds of 35 knots and 4 metre waves should be no problem for a ship the size of the Eclipse. I've sailed through worse without any significant problems.

We used priority boarding last month. As others have said it's just a separate line but it probably save us 10-15 minutes this time. Canapes and the bottle of wine were offered to us by our stateroom attendant but we declined the offer. We are rarely in our stateroom to use them at a time which is convenient to us.

This is a sad commentary on Cruise Critic in general. The OP was seeking information NOT judgement. This is a forum for just that, information.

 

People are mean,nasty and rude sometimes on these boards and it is hard to take at times.

 

We wish the OP's son nothing but the best in life. He is not asking for anything from anyone but common human courtesy as are his parents!!.

I've been pleasantly surprised actually. I just popped into this thread to watch the drama but so far there have only been a couple of medieval responses and they have been responded to appropriately. Hopefully this thread won't attract any more but compared to other forums this one is positively sedate.

We think both food and service in Blu has gone down significantly. We decided on our last cruise to not sail AQ any longer as a result.

On the other hand, I though our March cruise was our best Blu experience so far. I guess it can depend on what waiters you get and how efficiently the galley is operating on a particular ship. Nevertheless I still think the worst Blu experience is streets ahead of the MDR. I guess it depends on what you are willing to pay.

We are early eaters so we are usually seated shortly after 6. We often see a lot of people arriving around 6:45 so it's no surprise that you would wait for a table at 7:30. Everyone is either just finishing up or halfway through their meal.