di T

I did two cruises on this ship this year. The most recent 2 months ago. Both great trips. Can not see it falling apart that quickly.

Just my opinion.

We were on Connie in July and had a great time, hope she is still as good as I have booked 3 cruises on her for2017

So at check-in they don't worry whether residency matches currency the cruise was paid for?

 

As a UK resident I guess they would expect me to pay for the cruise in GBP rather than Euros.

 

This is the bit that concerns me a little.

 

Am I worrying about nothing?

The quote you posted I think refers to special rates for US residents, such as Florida and other states they sometimes get special offers. Like senior rates if you book with these they check your age to see you are eligible.

Is this an issue? If so what do CC do with the booking?

 

I'm looking at a transatlantic next year and if I book it via .com in Euros rather than the .co.uk site I can save around £300.

 

I wondered if the site would convert the rate to GBP when I got to the payment screen but it didn't.

 

Has anyone got any experience of doing this? I've tried to search the forums but couldn't find anything.

I did the very same thing in September for a cruise in the Med the price in Euro was a total of £450 cheaper than booking through the Uk or with mt American agent.But the booking went through the French site and all correspondence was in French! Then when the price dropped there was no way they would honor the new price. I cancelled and booked with my usual agent even after the cancellation charge I was still £600 better off, lesson learnt.

Unless things have changed since April, I don't think the "Captain's Table" is ended. Instead it is held in a different way. On Millennium, we saw it once in Luminae, and twice in Blu.

We were invited 4 times, accepted twice because the first 2 times we were with friends and didn't want to be rude and accept and not show up for dinner!

But the two time we went were lovely and we were not in suites in fact one of the times we were in an inside! Great food, drinks and company, so glad to of done it! Dianne

I would love to see The Porch return to paninis, soups and salads. My wife and I loved the location for both breakfast and lunch. We tried the seafood version of The Porch last January and were not impressed at all.

We have tried the seafood and were also disappointed, would not order it again!

We have been invited three times, and it was a lovely experience each time. But last time was two years and six cruises ago.

Think the captains club host has a big say in who is invited, we have never had a suite just regular staterooms.

hi everyone how is the food in main dining on the connie please? when did you sail what year? on her

Right, first of all we were on her last month our 16th on Celebrity 3rd on Connie.

Food I found a bit off in the MDR IN 13nts there was a couple of dinners that were less than great! But the speciality restaurants were great, and we still had a lovely cruise. Hope you enjoy yours. Dianne

We are on Connie right now. We ate at Ocean Liners last night for the first time. The service was fine but I do think the cover charge is rather steep when comparing the quality of the food to the MDR. That said, my Grand Marnier souffle was the best desert by far I've had on X and DH greatly enjoyed the Dover sole. Unfortunately, however the pork belly starter was not to his taste and is the only dish has ever asked to be returned to the kitchen He was offered another starter immediately.

 

I was interested to hear today from one of the waiters that it has be decided to keep Ocean Liners as so many pax had requested it stays. The intention is to keep Connie different to the other M class ships?

We were on Connie last month it was our third time on this ship.Always enjoy our food in Ocean Liners, and we visited twice this time. I heard that it was staying as it was, I hope that's true!

I bought at the £17.30 rate and my receipt shows this. However, my card has been charged with the new £18.80 rate. I await their response :rolleyes:

This happened to me as well, I rang Celebrity Uk and they gave me an email address For the Miami office. The reason was given that as I booked through my agent in the states the OBC went through in dollars I told them I paid with a

Credit card in pounds.

I spoke to someone who was very helpful and she offered to make up the difference I was down with extra OBC, so I was quite happy with that. Dianne

I really wish Celebrity had at least 1 S class ship in Europe in Dec-Jan.

So do I,even out of Barca to Canaries would be nice for a little trip to brighten

The New year

I booked through my agent in the States, but when I ordered the OBC it came up as payment in pounds.I will ring them tomorrow and see what they have to say.

Today the payment comes up in dollars and the exchange rate as changed too!

Did you get in touch with them? Same has happened to me:confused:

Same here, ordered on Thursday and expected to pay in pounds they have charged me £304.80 plus a transaction fee so I'm £37 down. Not happy!

Not for us Brits !! I have just bought and got a rate of $1.44 to the GBP at home the rate is $1.27 win win in our case[emoji6][emoji6]

Does anyone know if this is refundable if there's any left at the end of the cruise?

Gosh...not the kind of thread I want to read right now...since I'm departing Sunday for a cruise on the Constellation...

I'll check my cabin carefully as soon as I board, I guess...

 

My wife, though, may want to just let them live...She got angry with me this morning because I killed a fly...

Hi Steve, we will be on the same cruise on Connie and hope there's no bed bugs! Thinking about them is making me itchy lol. Dianne

It depends who you book through, I've found if I use American travel agent no problem with getting price drops. Dianne

Cheers everyone! Edward and I have just boarded the beautiful Silhouette. This is our first transatlantic but our 9th cruise on Celebrity. We are definitely on the younger end of pax at 29 and 33. We just purchased the ultimate dining and premium drink package. The weather in FLL is absolute perfection at 78, sunny and a light breeze.

 

We will get the unlimited internet package so I will update as much as I can and post photos too. With 8 sea days coming up I will have plenty of time to answer any questions about the ship or find out anything you need to know. I'll post menus from all restaurants as well as the bars now that we have unlimited internet. I will also post some videos as well.

 

We've already met some wonderful people on this cruise. I think it will be a great one!

 

 

Cheers!

Hi, we too will be doing our first Transatlantic on the Equinox.

We fly out from the UK on Thursday not looking forward to the flight but excited for the cruise.

We have sailed loads with Celebrity, looking forward to your posts. Dianne

The Constellation is the ship that has been going where I want to go.:)

I will be on her for the third time in a row in July for 14 days!

Love this M class ship.

We too will be on her for the third time at the beginning of July, looking forward to it!:)

Not at all. You are under no obligation to accept.

We refused our first invitation about four years ago on the Equinox.

We had lovely table companions in the MDR, also our table was right next to the Captains table,and felt we should dine with our new friends.

But we have accepted twice since and have found the experience lovely, very interesting conversations from officers and fellow passengers.BY the way we were in standard cabins both times.

Storm Katie looks like she is starting to calm down now & the weather forecast looks good for when we travel down to Heathrow on Wednesday for what we class as the start of the holiday! :)

 

We stayed at what was called the Arora Hotel on Bath Road last time we flew from Heathrow but they have done away with the parking on site so this time round we are staying at the newly refurbished Renaissance Hotel just further along the Bath Road which has parking on site.

 

It was a bit of a faff last time as we had to check into the Arora Hotel, then take our car down the road a few miles to the parking lot & catch the bus back to the hotel which was a pain & we like to make things easier & not more complicated!

 

With a 1.00PM flight, we could have travelled down in the morning but we decided not to risk it.

A few years back, my mum almost missed a flight from Heathrow due to traffic volume on the M25 so to us, it's not worth the stress!

Sure you will have a great trip, I love the Solstice class ships and Reflection is lovely.

Two weeks on Weds and my hubby and I will be setting off to Manchester for our flight to Miami to join Equinox for our first Transatlantic can't wait!

I know, this thread had previously been posted, probably a kazillion times already, but, Chef’s come and go, menu’s change, recipes reinvented, and restaurants are either phased out or replaced. Still, cruisers come back for the ambiance, the relaxation, knowing you’re going to another place to visit and sight see, and the feeling of not doing anything, to include those two filthy horrible “C” words, yes you know them: cleaning and cooking.

 

So, I know everyone had cruised at one time or another and had something, whether it was from a Specialty Restaurant, MDR, Buffets, Pool Side or Lawn Grill, and Room Service they found to be really, really, delicious. So good that you went up or ordered seconds and maybe even thirds. Something, that when you booked your cruise, over and over again, you were hoping or praying they still served that special something you so longed for to satisfy the cravings within yourself. Even the people who cruised and found the food to be mediocre must have found something that was edible. What was that special something that made you twirl your tongue around the morsel in your mouth as the taste buds gathered the flavorings, triggering those sensors, while you close your eyes, relaxing your shoulders, and tilting your head back or sideways, and saying “Mmmmmmmmm”.

 

The most memorable dinner we had was in the Murano on the Century. The Chateaubriand for Two in a Cabernet Sauce and Lobster Tails, my god, by far the best dinner. The meat was so tender and cooked to perfection that I didn’t use my knife to cut it. The Lobster was huge and succulent. The plates were presented beautifully and pleasing to the eye, definitely a First Class setting. And, for dessert we were recommended the Crepe Ballon Rouge. This was made tableside, it’s a crepe filled with vanilla ice cream, and topped with strawberries in a reduced infused balsamic vinegar sauce that was flambéed. Definitely the best meal we ever had.

 

So, what does your palate desire on a cruise.

Have to totally agree, the same menu as you we have every cruise! Love Murano

We have a couple of cruises booked for this year and just noticed the prices have gone up by a few hundred dollars.

 

Was also looking at next year and some prices higher than yesterday.

I booked the Silhouette September cruise you have booked a couple of weeks ago.

I used my American agent as though no perks the price was a lot lower for my balcony stateroom than here in the UK, noticed the price has gone up quite a bit.

Thanks very much for that. I presume that means personally visiting an Indian High Commission office?

How far in advance can you apply in this way?

We had to travel to the Manchester office last year to obtain ours, there was quite a wait. I think we applied about six weeks before travel.

Doesn't really surprice me that this can happen... I have experienced that my personal information on My Celebrity was replaced with someone elses. It took Celebrity three(!) weeks after reporting this (after several mails and telephone calls) to sort it out.

Needless to say I didn't get any explanation or excuse ...

 

I still wonder what could have happened if I - or the other person would have had a cruise booked? Maybe I could have taken advantage of the Celebrity status that belonged to the other person? :D Or cancelled a cruise even?

 

After that I check in on a regular base to make sure that everything is OK.

I too have had issues with My Celebrity, two years ago I logged in to see my two future bookings but there was a third one which had nothing to do with me.

Curious I went into the reservation and found the booking was someone also from the UK, I had access to there name, and other details, I rang Celebrity and told them, they apologised and said the booking would disappear. It took 5weeks to remove.

We are also looking at MSC just now - just for a break in the Med in March 17 - looking at their Aurea Suite experience - it looks great - have to say I emailed them and their response was very prompt and very upbeat and positive.

The weather wont be that hot (well Canaries + Morrocco we m,ight get a wee bit of suntanning) - there are very few ships in and around the Med during March - we have done Costa many times and have had great experiences - never tried MSC - certainly a serious contender for us. Price for their SPA experience includes drinks, lots of welcome perks such as a free Balinese massage each - full 11 night pass to the thermal suites - yeah - its looking very attractive to us right now.

Not sure I would be taking them in the Caribbean - I am looking as I say at a winter break with a cheap short haul flight to Genoa.

We prefer NCL to Celebrity though for nightlife, (we have NCL booked for our TA crossing later this year) so we may well like MSC - Italians love late night vibe - even small kids dine very late - I'm not sure one can even compare MSC to Celebrity - just too different.

Celebrity has the edge when it comes to passenger/space ratio - There is no doubt about that on pretty much all mass lines. I am a huge Celebrity fan - for Alaska we would not use any other line than Celebrity - Its not a "party cruise" - so we will want that Celebrity Luxury - not too fussed on late nights for this one.

The Yacht Club however - who knows - perhaps similar to NCL's Haven?

I am waiting on flights coming out for March 17 - once I have those - think I am going to book :)

Oh and do you know about MSC's loyalty club? Whatever you are on another line - you send them your member data - and you inherit their equivalent - So if you are Elite on X- I think you get Black on MSC - very good perk!

Hi Blondie, that's interesting the loyalty match! We have been with lots of brands but do at least three Celebrity cruises a year.

Have yet to try MSC they seem to do some nice itineraries though, please let our know what you think if you do go with them

Couldn't uk travelers get around this by booking with a us travel agency? I sure would if booking a guarantee

I book most times with my US agent,and find them lots more flexible. Twice last year I had price drops applied after booking.

As for guarantee cabins I've had quite a few and never had a bad one!

If I book with a UK agent it's usually because of a special deal, at the moment I'm keeping an eye on the exchange rate because that is something that will make my cruise more expensive