Question for Zenith Memers

[Jim_Iain]

We made Zenith back in October and still confused about a couple things. 

 

We received our Zenith Welcome kits (actually we have now received a total of 6 of them - Celebrity at it's best).   They list a Free Cruise and Donation in our name, but have no instructions on how you do it. 

 

First is what is the best strategy for booking the free cruise.    Some I have met on cruises suggest finding a cruise during High Season for the booking to maximize credit and then transfer to a cruise and room  you want to apply the credit.   Is this how it works.   

 

Second is how do you do the donation?   

 

Feel free to e-mail me  with my email in my signature privately if you don't want to post in public.   

 

[Orator]

Jim:

the free cruise must  is for 1 week in any balcony. You cannot book Edge at this time. You can add days or upgrade cabin by paying for the difference between what ey give and what you want. You can have the free cruise applied to a booked cruise. Call Celebrity for more information. When I received the free cruise I was required to book through Celebrity.

There is a list of charities that should have been sent to you. You select and Celebrity will contribute $100 in your name. You are not required to give anything, but many do. DW selected The Breast Cancer Foundation. I selected Make a Wish.

[Ma Bell]

When I made my reservation three years ago they took an average of the cost of a 7 day cruise for the Caribbean or Alaska in a veranda cabin  and applied it to my European booking. If you just book what you are entitled to, you get what you book.

 

You tell the Zenith Concierge who contacted you where you would like the donation to go. 

[Northern Aurora]

Hello Jim:

 

When we turned Zenith in 2017 we only received one of the "welcome kits."  Lucky you!  Someone in Miami must realize what nice folks you and Iain are.

 

The credit for the "free" cruise is based on a 7 night cruise Bermuda or a 7 night Caribbean.  We applied our credit to a longer cruise which we had already booked.   I called one of the shoreside concierges who had to contact another department.  A day later she contacted me with an offer of credit, and it actually was a higher amount than I had expected.  We happily accepted, and felt the credit was more than fair.

 

It will be interesting if other Zeniths post their experiences. 

 

We were not offered a list charities.  The donation, at least for us, was the the Worldwide Wildlife Federation.

 

Take care,

Gerry

 

 

[Northern Aurora]

28 minutes ago, Orator said:

 

......

There is a list of charities that should have been sent to you. You select and Celebrity will contribute $100 in your name. You are not required to give anything, but many do. DW selected The Breast Cancer Foundation. I selected Make a Wish.

 

Charles:  You became Zenith way before we did, and I was surprised when we were told that there wasn't a list of charities.   So I wasn't totally off base when I was surprised (actually a little miffed) when we weren't given options.  

 

Give my regards to Cindy.

 

Take care,

Gerry

[Orator]

9 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

Charles:  You became Zenith way before we did, and I was surprised when we were told that there wasn't a list of charities.   So I wasn't totally off base when I was surprised (actually a little miffed) when we weren't given options.  

 

Give my regards to Cindy.

 

Take care,

Gerry

Not surprised to learn that the list has been discontinued. Great if they now allow the new Zenith a free choice. We would have still gone in the same direction.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Ma Bell said:

When I made my reservation three years ago they took an average of the cost of a 7 day cruise for the Caribbean or Alaska in a veranda cabin  and applied it to my European booking. If you just book what you are entitled to, you get what you book.

 

You tell the Zenith Concierge who contacted you where you would like the donation to go. 

We were never contacted by a Zenith Concierge nor were we given a list of charities.   Just of list of the perks - luggage tags and Zenith pins.    It does have the phone number for the Zenith Desk.    I'll give them a ring and discuss. 

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks all.   You gave me a direction to go.   I think I will shoot to use it on an Alaska cruise and try out Millennium post Revolution. 

[jcpc]

When I reached Zenith, I received the "welcome package" via FedEx.  I called the "Zenith Desk" number in the booklet and worked with a concierge in Wichita to apply my credit to an already booked cruise.  The concierge said nothing about making a donation to a charity - I brought it up to her and told her the charity of my choice.  I never got confirmation from anyone that the donation had been made. 

 

When my traveling partner and friend became Zenith a year later, she did not receive any "welcome package".  I gave her the toll free number I had for the "Zenith Desk" and she called and worked with someone there regarding getting a credit applied to an already booked cruise.  Again, no mention was made to her about a donation to a charity so she initiated that conversation with the agent.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, jcpc said:

When I reached Zenith, I received the "welcome package" via FedEx.  I called the "Zenith Desk" number in the booklet and worked with a concierge in Wichita to apply my credit to an already booked cruise.  The concierge said nothing about making a donation to a charity - I brought it up to her and told her the charity of my choice.  I never got confirmation from anyone that the donation had been made. 

 

When my traveling partner and friend became Zenith a year later, she did not receive any "welcome package".  I gave her the toll free number I had for the "Zenith Desk" and she called and worked with someone there regarding getting a credit applied to an already booked cruise.  Again, no mention was made to her about a donation to a charity so she initiated that conversation with the agent.

 

I had a similar experience to you friends.   After 2 months after we were initiated into Zenith on Silhouette we still had not received the "Welcome Package".    I called and asked about it.   There were profuse apologies and the next day a Fed Ex package arrived with two boxes in it.   To our surprise the boxes were empty.    I called again and the agent who assisted me apologized, explain the co-worker who handles the Welcome kits was out of the office for a couple weeks so she tried to expedite by send them out herself but didn't realize the boxes hadn't been populated yet.    A couple days later another FedEx box arrived with the proper Welcome kits.   

 

To our Surprise a month later on Friday of last week another box arrived from FedEx with two more welcome kits in it.  Needless to say we found it very humorous.   I wish they made a mistake an applied a couple credits instead.  🙂

 

 

[verizon]

Thanks for creating this thread.

Would be great we can keep in touch with each other and share our thoughts about cruising with Celebrity after reaching Zenith.

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by verizon

[Orator]

1 hour ago, verizon said:

Thanks for creating this thread.

Would be great we can keep in touch with each other and share our thoughts about cruising with Celebrity after reaching Zenith.

 

Arno started a Zenith page on another social media site that cannot be promoted here.

[verizon]

10 minutes ago, Orator said:

Arno started a Zenith page on another social media site that cannot be promoted here.

I know but that social media site is strictly for my family use only.

 

[Jim_Iain]

@Arno.   Can I get an Invite to the other social media site?   My e-mail address is jim (dot) smaltz @ Gmail dot com?

[jcpc]

11 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I had a similar experience to you friends.   After 2 months after we were initiated into Zenith on Silhouette we still had not received the "Welcome Package".    I called and asked about it.   There were profuse apologies and the next day a Fed Ex package arrived with two boxes in it.   To our surprise the boxes were empty.    I called again and the agent who assisted me apologized, explain the co-worker who handles the Welcome kits was out of the office for a couple weeks so she tried to expedite by send them out herself but didn't realize the boxes hadn't been populated yet.    A couple days later another FedEx box arrived with the proper Welcome kits.   

 

To our Surprise a month later on Friday of last week another box arrived from FedEx with two more welcome kits in it.  Needless to say we found it very humorous.   I wish they made a mistake an applied a couple credits instead.  🙂

 

 

Jim,

 

My friend tried many, many times to get the "welcome kit".  It was always promised to her that they would be sending one, etc. etc.  She never got one.  It really makes no difference as, in my opinion, the only useful thing in that box was the phone number for the Zenith Desk!! LOL

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, jcpc said:

Jim,

 

My friend tried many, many times to get the "welcome kit".  It was always promised to her that they would be sending one, etc. etc.  She never got one.  It really makes no difference as, in my opinion, the only useful thing in that box was the phone number for the Zenith Desk!! LOL

 

I will have to agree with you.   The kit is pretty useless except for the phone number.    I got mine by calling the Shoreside Concierge as I didn't yet have the Zenith Desk Phone number.  

[wrk2cruise]

What would be an acceptable time to wait for a contact from Celebrity before initiating it ourselves?  We just completed the qualifying cruise to get us to 3000 points yesterday.  We do have some cruises booked for future but were considering adding something to Bermuda/Caribbean late spring/early summer so thought we might be able to use the complimentary cruise for that, so I'm also interested in "strategies".  Also has anyone had their onboard "ceremony" during the complimentary cruise?  I tried asking the CC Hostess but she just said there would be a ceremony on our next booked cruise.

Edited February 11, 2019 by wrk2cruise

[verizon]

7 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

What would be an acceptable time to wait for a contact from Celebrity before initiating it ourselves?  We just completed the qualifying cruise to get us to 3000 points yesterday.  We do have some cruises booked for future but were considering adding something to Bermuda/Caribbean late spring/early summer so thought we might be able to use the complimentary cruise for that, so I'm also interested in "strategies".  Also has anyone had their onboard "ceremony" during the complimentary cruise?  I tried asking the CC Hostess but she just said there would be a ceremony on our next booked cruise.

Congratulation and welcome you to the Zenith club.

[ozark74]

10 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

What would be an acceptable time to wait for a contact from Celebrity before initiating it ourselves?  We just completed the qualifying cruise to get us to 3000 points yesterday.  We do have some cruises booked for future but were considering adding something to Bermuda/Caribbean late spring/early summer so thought we might be able to use the complimentary cruise for that, so I'm also interested in "strategies".

We achieved our 3000 points at the completion of our cruise on 1/29. A Concierge from Celebrity called us last week. Ten days after we got home.

Edited February 11, 2019 by ozark74

[Jim_Iain]

We were on a TA cruise about 10 days after we qualified for Zenith.   The day we arrived on the ship we received a call from Rose the Captain's Club Concierge asking for us to drop by to see her or call her back.   She reviewed with us all the scheduled events and asked if we had any one we would like to invite to the Bridge initiation.   Others have said that all the Zenith's were invited to the celebration.   In our case there were 21 Zeniths on the cruise so we just had a small ceremony of people we knew.  

 

 

[verizon]

1 minute ago, ozark74 said:

We achieved our 3000 point at the completion of our cruise on 1/29. A Concierge from Celebrity called us last week. Ten days after we got home.

Congratulation and welcome you to the Zenith club.

[wrk2cruise]

8 minutes ago, ozark74 said:

We achieved our 3000 points at the completion of our cruise on 1/29. A Concierge from Celebrity called us last week. Ten days after we got home.

 

That's encouraging!

[ozark74]

2 hours ago, verizon said:

Congratulation and welcome you to the Zenith club.

Thank you. It was getting there.

Edited February 11, 2019 by ozark74

[Northern Aurora]

On 2/11/2019 at 11:43 AM, ozark74 said:

We achieved our 3000 points at the completion of our cruise on 1/29. A Concierge from Celebrity called us last week. Ten days after we got home.

 

 

I've turned off the signature feature, so you may have a list of your prior cruises.  But I wonder if we met on the Summit in 2017.  We you on the last Canada/New England cruise of the season followed by the re-positioning down to San Juan?  We had just turned Zenith and met a couple who were going to cross over early in 2019.  Was that you?

 

Whether it was or not, welcome to the "club."

[Ma Bell]

On 2/11/2019 at 1:34 PM, wrk2cruise said:

What would be an acceptable time to wait for a contact from Celebrity before initiating it ourselves?  We just completed the qualifying cruise to get us to 3000 points yesterday.  We do have some cruises booked for future but were considering adding something to Bermuda/Caribbean late spring/early summer so thought we might be able to use the complimentary cruise for that, so I'm also interested in "strategies".  Also has anyone had their onboard "ceremony" during the complimentary cruise?  I tried asking the CC Hostess but she just said there would be a ceremony on our next booked cruise.

Strategies for what? I'm just grateful for what I get.