New Suite Perk

[cle-guy]

Just off summit, and new perk for me was Priority Disembarkation luggage tags.

 

They assigned a RED colored luggage tag marked SUITE/ZENITH and these bags are accumulated into a special bag claim area thus allowing suite guests (and zenith) to disembark at any point during the process and have their bags waiting.

 

As I had a very later flight out of San Juan, this allowed me to spend my time in Michaels until the last call to leave the ship announcement.

 

Also, being in San Juan, pay for porters to help with luggage (NOTE: Luggage valet is not offered in San Juan). Versus MIA and FLL, the porters here have special lines for immigration/customs, and can whisk you thru the lines. Even better, they get next-in-line Taxis, thus avoiding the long taxi lines and waits. Best $10 I ever spent.

[Smurfette76]

Nice! Thanks for the update. Do you happen to know if this Summit perk applies to Sky Suites?

[Phxazzcruisers]

Yep, we were on the Summit for New Year in a RS and had the new red luggage tags. It is nice, however it took a little while to find where they put those bags, as the system at that time was new..... Agree about the porters, makes it much easier and faster

[cle-guy]

Nice! Thanks for the update. Do you happen to know if this Summit perk applies to Sky Suites?

 

I can not answer this.

 

I can say I filled out the normal disembarkation paperwork, expecting normal green tags.

 

I instead received an envelope from the Michaels' Club Concierge with red tags in it, and also the butler left another set of red tags with turndown service (I was in PH, so this may also have affected the duplication of tags) second to last night, so I might think the butlers will deliver then to all butlered cabins. Will be curious to see if this is the case if anyone else can comment who's been in a Sky Suite.

[Project_gal]

Just off summit, and new perk for me was Priority Disembarkation luggage tags.

 

They assigned a RED colored luggage tag marked SUITE/ZENITH and these bags are accumulated into a special bag claim area thus allowing suite guests (and zenith) to disembark at any point during the process and have their bags waiting.

 

As I had a very later flight out of San Juan, this allowed me to spend my time in Michaels until the last call to leave the ship announcement.

 

Also, being in San Juan, pay for porters to help with luggage (NOTE: Luggage valet is not offered in San Juan). Versus MIA and FLL, the porters here have special lines for immigration/customs, and can whisk you thru the lines. Even better, they get next-in-line Taxis, thus avoiding the long taxi lines and waits. Best $10 I ever spent.

 

Definitely like this new perk. Hope that it is fleet wide.

 

One thing I will disagree with, however. In our experience [4 cruises between 2007 & 2013], using a porter at Fort Lauderdale also gives you a fast track route through Immigration/Customs. There is not a special queue [line] but the porters just go to the front of the queue. No priority in the taxi queue though.

 

Would like to give our experience at Miami but, the only time we disembarked there, someone walked off with one of our cases and we were walked through to the front of the queue for Customs [no Immigration in this case] AND the taxi queue by port officials.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

We had this perk on the Connie last November-December. I suspect it's connected with the suites which can access Michael's Club (we were in the PH), but I don't know for sure.

 

It was wonderful. We walked off the ship and our bags were right there. Really a valuable perk in my view. Thanks Celebrity!

 

Linda

 

[123Funcruiser456]

Hi, I am new to Celebrity, so could use a lot of insights!

I have travelled on RCL and was wondering if points from that can be transferred over to Celebrity?

 

Also, the credit card is for RCL Visa, by paying on it, will Celebrity allow for the OBC or do I need to get a Celebrity card?

 

Thanks so much, Francis:)

[beachmonkey]

Thanks for the information! It has been years since I sailed on Celebrity and I am looking forward to returning.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Hi, I am new to Celebrity, so could use a lot of insights!

I have travelled on RCL and was wondering if points from that can be transferred over to Celebrity?

 

Also, the credit card is for RCL Visa, by paying on it, will Celebrity allow for the OBC or do I need to get a Celebrity card?

 

Thanks so much, Francis:)

 

No, your points from RCL will not transfer to Celebrity. The two lines do offer reciprocity, however, so whatever status you have on RCL will translate to Celebrity (if you establish a Celebrity account ahead of time).

 

I don't do their credit cards, so can't answer that for you.

 

[Phxazzcruisers]

The credit card is good on Royal, Celebrity and Azamara. Your points will translate into OBC's on any of the lines.

[Wayneair]

Just off summit, and new perk for me was Priority Disembarkation luggage tags.

 

They assigned a RED colored luggage tag marked SUITE/ZENITH and these bags are accumulated into a special bag claim area thus allowing suite guests (and zenith) to disembark at any point during the process and have their bags waiting.

 

As I had a very later flight out of San Juan, this allowed me to spend my time in Michaels until the last call to leave the ship announcement.

 

Also, being in San Juan, pay for porters to help with luggage (NOTE: Luggage valet is not offered in San Juan). Versus MIA and FLL, the porters here have special lines for immigration/customs, and can whisk you thru the lines. Even better, they get next-in-line Taxis, thus avoiding the long taxi lines and waits. Best $10 I ever spent.

 

 

I could not agree with you anymore. We paid the porter and made it out of the building and in a can quickly. It was 11 of us plus luggage and was the best money ever spent. We passed people who were off the the 30 minutes before us.

[Luvs2trvl]

Mom and I recently got off the Infinity in FLL and used Luggage Valet - $20 per person. They took our luggage the night before disembarkation and we didn't see them again until we landed home.

 

The night prior to leaving we received special luggage tags and our boarding passes.

 

I know this service isn't available in all ports, but certainly worth checking out.

[jdymiller]

Interesting comments. We were on Equinox in Jan in Royal and were assigned late tags. We were worried as disembarkation was taking too long So finally asked if we couldn't leave on our own. Which we did with no help from Michaels.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[jdymiller]

Oops! We were on Eclipse.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[need2bespoiled]

Our bags roll really easily, so we don't generally need a porter, but I appreciate the tip for San Juan, we'll definitely use it in a couple of months.

 

I can't remember what we had for luggage tags, but when we were ready to leave the ship, we were walked all the way through customs to our waiting car, arrange by the concierge on Millennium in December. There was another large RCCL ship disembarking, the two ships had different lines, and she didn't cut line per say, but provided us access to a line that seemed to be reserved for special situations such as crew and handicapped access. We were definitely "expressed" through.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[LabGuy64]

Hi Curt,

 

Do you know of any other ports where the luggage valet service is not offered?

 

 

Just off summit, and new perk for me was Priority Disembarkation luggage tags.

 

They assigned a RED colored luggage tag marked SUITE/ZENITH and these bags are accumulated into a special bag claim area thus allowing suite guests (and zenith) to disembark at any point during the process and have their bags waiting.

 

As I had a very later flight out of San Juan, this allowed me to spend my time in Michaels until the last call to leave the ship announcement.

 

Also, being in San Juan, pay for porters to help with luggage (NOTE: Luggage valet is not offered in San Juan). Versus MIA and FLL, the porters here have special lines for immigration/customs, and can whisk you thru the lines. Even better, they get next-in-line Taxis, thus avoiding the long taxi lines and waits. Best $10 I ever spent.

[need2bespoiled]

Hi Curt,

 

Do you know of any other ports where the luggage valet service is not offered?

 

These are the ports where it is offered:

*Available in select departure ports only (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; and Seward, Alaska) with select airlines only.

 

Based on this information:

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/explore/singleColLanding.do?pagename=onboard_outstanding_service

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Luvs2trvl]

A little more information on Celebrity's luggage valet.

 

Your Luggage Valet request might be denied due to a random TSA selection.

 

Celebrity has specific "flights after" time restrictions.

 

I had to call Celebrity a few times to find someone that knew the exact details of the program.

 

I believe if you land in FLL and fly out of MIA you can still do the program, but again there are flight time restrictions. Same thing if you do the reverse. Again, my suggestion is to call Celebrity/Captain's Club.

 

If you do the program, be sure they print off all of your boarding passes. They didn't print our connection BP's, but a quick call and we had new boarding passes printed.

 

And, this is not the same as Luggage Forward, which ships your luggage from home to the ship.

[need2bespoiled]

 

And, this is not the same as Luggage Forward, which ships your luggage from home to the ship.

 

OMG, can you imagine, someone getting home and wondering where their luggage is, (after not picking it up at the airport), whoops!

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[NLH Arizona]

Also, being in San Juan, pay for porters to help with luggage (NOTE: Luggage valet is not offered in San Juan). Versus MIA and FLL, the porters here have special lines for immigration/customs, and can whisk you thru the lines. Even better, they get next-in-line Taxis, thus avoiding the long taxi lines and waits. Best $10 I ever spent.

Loved the special porter line - everything went very smooth and very, very quick.

[dodger1964]

Porters should NOT have their own line!

[JFontaine]

Why? These are working men trying to support a family. To them, time spent on line is lost money.

[Jane2357]

oPorters always get priority - at least that I've noticed. They will literally nudge people off to one side and push past them. Not just coming from a cruise but in most airports in the world. Should this be allowed - tough one but I bet they have a made a "special" deal and that is the way it works. Always pay for a porter and you too will be whisked to the front of the line.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Jane2357

[Project_gal]

Why? These are working men trying to support a family. To them, time spent on line is lost money.

 

Exactly and, often. working only for the tips they receive. For this reason, if we are ever delayed for some reason [lost luggage, Immigration issue] whilst using a porter, we increase our tips to compensate for the business they have lost by looking after us.

[Atwell]

oPorters always get priority - at least that I've noticed. They will literally nudge people off to one side and push past them. Not just coming from a cruise but in most airports in the world. Should this be allowed - tough one but I bet they have a made a "special" deal and that is the way it works. Always pay for a porter and you too will be whisked to the front of the line.

 

At the airport in San Juan there is often a long taxi line (and hotels are not allowed to run shuttles). Since many cruisers arrive a day early, they must use a taxi for transport to their hotel. If you get a porter at baggage claim, they will by-pass the long taxi line and get you into a taxi right away. As Jane 2357 mentions, they must have a special deal with the agent who controls the taxis - and for the porters, time is money. If you don't like to stand in a long taxi line, this is the way to go - although it will cost you a nice tip. It also works nicely if you have not paid for a cruise airport transfer and are going directly to the pier.