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Anyone been on the Island lately that can tell me what the theater show times are? 

I am a travel agent and have clients who cruise Celebrity a couple of times a year, and it has been years since I have been able to get them the Shareholder benefit as there is always some kind of perk or benefit. I was told once that if there is just one promotion on the booking they can get it, but not if there are two or more, but I am not sure if that is true. I almost always get my clients the one category Captain's Club upgrade and they usually have perks or a special promotional rate so they do not qualify. They grumble about it every time I try and it is declined, but then I remind them of the fact that they bought their shares for under $6 back in 2009 (might have been as low as they have ever been) and they are now worth almost $100!

Celebrity did give something if there was a rebooking, but I agree with you that they should have done something for Agents who had clients who could not rebook. Just as Agents need to show goodwill toward clients, Celebrity should show goodwill towards agents. Agents are in the front line promoting business for Celebrity.

Well said!

Sheila

I do not personally charge booking fees, and most of the agents I know do not not charge booking fees for cruises (at least here in Canada) although some do for flights as there is generally little or not commission for air bookings. If I did charge a fee, I would likely have refunded it in this case, but I was just saying I could see where the agent might have been coming from in declining to do so here. There are not many jobs where you can end up doing so much work for nothing as is the case in the travel business. Some agents now charge "research fees" which are applied to the booking if the clients goes ahead, and that is pretty tempting as it is so frustrating to spend ages trying to find the best possible holiday for a client only to be told that they have booked online, or their friend or relative booked it elsewhere.

In this case it sounds like Celebrity is being fair with clients, but not necessarily with travel agents. I think that if a cruise line cancels a cruise, and a substitute cruise can not be found for the clients, that the cruise line should still pay the travel agent the commission they would have received since they still did the work (and probably a lot more work in trying to find a replacement cruise). I have lost a lot of commission over the years from cruises and other vacations cancelled due to mechanical problems, swine flu, civil unrest, etc., and it is just not fair that I have ended up doing that work for free! I already spend large amounts of time trying to ensure that my clients get the best deal, and I constantly check to see if prices have dropped to get my clients a lower price or at least an upgrade. My husband jokes that I make 10 cents an hour, and sometimes that is true! Fortunately I love doing it, and the money is not my main motivation for being in this industry.

I am a travel agent, and I have to admit I would have wrestled with the issue of whether to refund the $60 per cabin fee for the cancelled cruise. It is not the client's fault that Celebrity cancelled the cruise, but it is not the fault of the travel agent either! If they return the booking fee they are going to have worked entirely for free for this client (most travel agencies do not pay any kind of salary, the agents are commission based so are paid a portion of the commission, plus any booking fee they charge) I know from experience that it can take just as long to book a 3 day cruise as a 30 day cruise, so if the agent did not charge a booking fee they would have made very little money. The cruise lines pay commission on the base cruise fare, which is often less than half the total cruise cost after taxes, fees and port charges are taken off. I have made as little as $3 commission for booking a short cruise!

The ironic thing is that in the case of cancelled cruises, it is usually even more work for the agent as they are usually the ones calling Celebrity (and usually waiting on hold!) to make arrangements for either switching to another cruise or getting a refund - and if the client does not rebook, the commission is not protected. I had clients booked on a Pacific coastal cruise on the Millenium that was cancelled due to mechanical issues, and I had already spent a great deal of time helping them decide to book that cruise vs. many other options they considered. When it was cancelled I spent a lot of time trying to find another cruise that might work for them, but in the end they just decided to cancel and get a refund. I had not charged a booking fee, and I ended up making absolutely nothing for hours of work.

So contrary to what other posters said, I think it was Celebrity's responsibility to compensate the client for the money that was lost for the booking fee, since the cruise line, not the travel agent, cancelled the cruise!

Thanks for your input, compozer and capriccio! From what I have read here it seems like the suite would not be worth it for the perks, but since we are travelling with a big group, it is still tempting to go for it to be able to entertain more people in our suite and on the balcony. The other appeal is that it looks from the pictures like the bedroom has an accordion door that closes it off from the rest of the suite - is this the case? That is a plus as I am a night owl and my husband is not!

The current price of the S2 suites for this sailing are $4500 more than we paid for our MB mini-suite - no wonder they are still available despite the fact that the sailing is in less than a month! Having toured many ships and viewed some fabulous suites it is hard to imagine that this is the best that a ship the size of the Royal has to offer. The living room area looks like it is particularily small for a suite.

I am wondering if the soot issue will be better on the 9th deck than it would be on the 14th, which is where Dr. Pam said her cabin was? That sure seems like a design flaw!

Sheila

Pam - what a great review! I think it is awesome that you took the time to write such a lengthy review of your experience (and I know just what you meant about "gate lice" - I am a travel agent and I have often heard that term!)

We are sailing on the Royal on June 3rd to the Baltic and just got offered an "upsell" from the mini-suite we were booked in to an Owner's Suite and are trying to decide whether to take it. (It is an additional $699 per person, offered only to Captain's Club Elite who are in mini-suites) It really helped to read what you had to say. I must admit that having toured many ships and seen some pretty impressive suites, I was surprised that this was the biggest suite available on this ship as it does not look that big in the photos, and you have confirmed that. The suite we have been offered is in the same position yours was but on the 9th deck - I wonder if it has the balcony that is not as deep (when you look on the deck plans, it shows all the S2 suites as having the same size balcony, 158 square feet)

It seems like $699 is not a bad deal, although we won't use most of the amenities. We are already Elite, so get the mini-bar set up and laundry/dry-cleaning and as far as most of the other perks, since we are traveling with a total of 28 people (our friends and friends of friends) I don't think we will take advantage of the breakfasts or the concierge lounge except for coffees. Do you think it is worth the $699 upgrade?

Ironically our last two Europe cruises were on the Equinox! We just love those Solstice class ships, and we prefer Celebrity over Princess, but maybe this cruise will change our minds about that! We took our kids on a Med cruise on the Diamond Princess when they were about the ages your kids are now and it was a great cruise, but did not compare to our Equinox experiences.

Where in Alberta do you live? We are in Vancouver, BC.

Sheila