Bmac

https://www.celebritycruises.com/blog/

The sale price doesn't mean anything to me because they are always having "a sale". I look at the cost per person per day and decide from there. When calculating your break even point don't forget to add 18% gratuity per drink as this increases the coast of the drink and reduces the break even point. A $14 dollar drink is actually $16.52 with 18% gratuity. We got the drink package for our next cruise at $73.99, with gratuity that brings the price to $87 per person per day making our break even point 5.2 drinks per day which for us is just about perfect especially when including bottled water and specialty teas and coffee.

We just recently sailed out of Vancouver. I have a DUI on my record from thirty years ago. When we booked the cruise I was not aware of Canada refusing entrance for anyone with a DUI. I did my due diligence and put together any information that I may have needed to be able to get into Canada, passport, copy of prior criminal record and a completed temporary residence form stating that I was rehabilitated. When we got to customs everything was automated kiosks we entered all of our information scanned our passports and walked right through. I believe if the DUI is less than ten years old it could be an issue but we had no problems. My advice for people in this situation is to do what I did and get everything ready and if you are flagged present all of the info. From the information I've gathered if you are flagged and have all of the proper paperwork and a temporary residence form filled out you can pay a fee to be able to pass through Canada. If you were staying in Canada for an extended time things may be different.

It seems both RCL and Celebrity are trying to maximize profit with all these small changes. Just recently watched a video were two cruisers on a Celebrity cruise tried to get a drink at every bar (can't remember the ship) doing a kind of bar crawl. They had the classic drink package which caps at $10 they only found one cocktail on the whole ship that fit the $10 cap aside from a few wines and beers. The reality is that they make a killing on drinks, most likely the largest profit margin on a cruise ship. If you think of the cost of a bottle of liquor even at retail pricing which I'm sure the cruise lines get a pretty good discount due to the amount they purchase it only takes about two drinks to break even and the rest is profit. I'm ok with them making a decent profit but at some point it becomes price gouging. It's disappointing that you buy a drink package and wind up with a bar tab at the end of the cruise because almost all the of drinks are more than $10 typically $12>. From a business stand point they see this as maximizing profit but the reality is they may be shooting themselves in the foot. This is a kind of bait and switch tactic and as more cruisers realize that they aren't getting much for their drink package they may op out of buying a package at all. We're sailing on Apex in May for a transatlantic sailing, we upgraded to the premium package hopefully that isn't a bait and switch package also. Also hoping service will be better than RCL as it should be for a higher priced cruise line. We'll see.

Just booked this one! We had a blast on the last halloween cruise we were on. Looking forward to getting dressed up and seeing all the other costumes people bring.Our last halloween cruise there were some really good costumes. Here's a pic of the wife and I. .

I agree 100%. Just another reason I don't like these surveys.

Next, first cruise on Celebrity will be 13 night transatlantic from Fort Lauderdale on Apex. Very much looking forward to this cruise. We had a transatlantic booked on Anthem of the seas in April of 20 which never happened.

I've won two royal ups one in October '21 and just won one for our cruise coming up on the 24th. The first was for a family cruise and my two girls got upgraded from an inside to a balcony. The second was not as extravagant we won a spacious oceanview balcony over the standard balcony which we are very pleased about, standard balconies are a bit tight. Both bids were bare minimum.

You're welcome! Enjoy your cruise!

Maybe this can help. We used this for our last cruise and it was easy. https://www.portofgalveston.com

When we think about the drink package it seems that the only thing considered is drinking cocktails. If you factor in the cost and also convenience of having other beverages such as specialty coffee/tea, bottled water...available the package starts to make sense if purchased at a fair price. We're doing a ten day Vancouver to Hawaii in two weeks and I was able to get the package at $61.99 per person it is currently priced at $71.99. Taking into consideration the way we typically view the drink package, for this cruise we break even at 4.5 drinks per day w/tip not including any other beverages. At $14 + 18% gratuity each cocktail comes to $16.52 each, that x4 a day it would be $66.08 if bought al a carte, if you go one more drink it brings the daily total to $82.60. What we do is whenever we get a cocktail we ask for two waters each so we have in water our cabin at night and water for excursions in ports so for us the drink package works. I also hate dealing with the bill at the end and it just makes things more convenient. I know that the tap water is fine to drink but it does have an off taste to it.

We're sailing on Brilliance Sep24-Oct4. We just received notice of the itinerary change. I'm thinking Matt may be correct about the ship size being an issue. We will be overnight in Kona as a replacement for Oahu. I wonder if Kona can't dock larger ships. The fires are an unfortunate event out of the control of RCL and it is an inconvenience but the fires have leveled many of the residents homes and left them homeless which I would think is a much larger inconvenience than having a port change on a cruise. I've recently read somewhere that the reason for RCL skipping the Panama Canal is how long it's taking to fill the locks to get a ship through the canal due to the current drought conditions we're experiencing in many parts of the world from what I read the locks are filled from watershed that fills the rivers and lakes that the canal uses to fill the locks. This is the email I received. Dear Guest, Due to the devastating wildfires in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, we’ll now visit Kauai (Nawiliwili) instead of Lahaina, on Day 10. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by this, nonetheless, the safety of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit are our highest priorities. To help make up for this change we’ve added an extra four hours to our visit in Kauai (Nawiliwili) and we’ll have an overnight in Kailua Kona – giving you more time to enjoy everything these beautiful destinations have to offer! Below, please find our revised Brilliance of the Seas September 24th, 2023 itinerary. Day Port of Call Arrive Depart Dock/ Tender Sun Vancouver, British Columbia 5:00 PM D Mon Cruising C Tue Cruising C Wed Cruising C Thu Cruising C Fri Cruising C Sat Hilo, Hawaii 7:00 AM 5:00 PM D Sun Kailua Kona, Hawaii 8:00 AM T Mon Kailua Kona, Hawaii 5:00 PM T Tue Kauai (Nawiliwili), Hawaii 8:00 AM 8:00 PM D Wed Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii 6:00 AM D Shore Excursions Any pre-paid Royal Caribbean International shore excursions booked for Lahaina will automatically be refunded to your original form of payment. Our Shore Excursions team will automatically reschedule any pre-paid Royal Caribbean International shore excursions affected by this change. In the meantime, feel free to browse all the exciting shore excursion options for your sailing inCruise Planner to level up your vacation. Tendering All guests will be tendered to shore in Kailua Kona. Unfortunately, tender boats are not accessible to guests who are full-time mobility scooter or wheelchair users. Guests who are unable to take a few steps on stairs or walk across from the tender platform to and from the tender may be unable to go ashore. We’re sorry for the impact to your vacation, and we hope you understand that your safety and well-being comes first. Guests who use collapsible wheelchairs and who can take steps will be able to go ashore. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at (866) 592-7225 or email [email protected]. Thanks for your understanding. We can’t wait to welcome you onboard Brilliance of the Seas! Sincerely, Aurora Yera-Rodriguez AVP | Guest Experience Royal Caribbean International

Thanks for replies. Yes I understand the onus is on me to make sure I have all the proper documents but this caught me off guard as I've never heard this before. My travel company got back to me and gave me a way to work through this. It is not without risk but the risk is small. What he recommended (which all responsibility falls on me) is to obtain a transcript of my criminal records and to fill out the application for a TRP visa and bring these with me to Vancouver. He explained that I can apply for a TRP visa right at the border so if I can't enter with just my passport I'll have all the necessary paperwork to get a TRP visa right there and being as I've done all the legwork they usually just have you pay the application fee and let you go through. Also if when I get my transcript and the offense isn't listed it's no longer a problem. I will bring everything with me regardless and hope for the best. I understand what you're saying but I think that a travel agent who has more than likely encountered this before which the gentleman I spoke with said "it happens all the time" would have some type of FAQ page with something like this posted on it to make their clients aware.

We cruise out of Vancouver in 88 days and I just found out that I most likely will be denied entry into Canada due to a DUI from 33 years ago. I seems that I will need a TRP visa to enter Canada and it takes 9 months to secure one. Has anybody else been in a similar situation? What was the resolution? My only option at this point is to cancel my cruise. I've tried contacting my travel agent but it seems every time I try to contact her she is on vacation herself. I called RCL and was told I would have to pay a 25% penalty for cancellation which is unacceptable to me as I was never made aware of this requirement. RCL and travel agents should make people aware of this. I can only imagine how many people have lost out on their cruise due to this.

As already mentioned it's just more cost cutting to show profits to shareholders. I worked for a big box car dealership and the founding CEO of the company believed in his people and believed that if the company treated the people as if they had value they would be invested in the company and in return always do the right thing for the company and it's customers. I know this because at a company function I had the opportunity to sit with him and talk. Unfortunately some of the executives below him felt they should be more focused on theirs and shareholders profits not so much the people who do the heavy lifting. So the board eventually forced him to step down. With that everything changed and all the extras us workers were getting eventually dried up. I do not know Richard Fain but from what I was able to assess it appeared he had a similar approach to leadership, did he always do the right thing probably not but it did seem he cared about the employees. In 2008 the company I worked for let over 600 of us go in an effort to show a third quarter profit amidst a crashing economy. In the early days of entrepreneurship people didn't go to school to learn how to do business but today you need a business degree so you go to a college to learn how to do business. I think this is were we lost our way so now people go to school and are taught that this is the only way to do business. I'm not saying that Jason Liberty is doing the wrong thing I think he's trying show his value as new CEO unfortunately the only value he has is what he provides for shareholders.

Sorry I don't know the answer to that. This will be our first time for Hawaii. We're on Brilliance out of Vancouver on September 24. Looking at available cruises it looks like they are all one way either to or from Vancouver.

We started cruising again right after the restart in October of '21. We did another cruise in February of '22 and they had staff walking around trying to book reservations at the specialty restaurants and the discounts were pretty good they were doing chops for $35 but on our last couple of cruise they haven't been doing that. The specialty dining doesn't have discount specials as often as the drink packages do. So I would guess booking specialty dining on the ship will be full price.

I think the economy will eventually sort things out much like what is happening in the auto sales industry right now. When we had all of those "supply shortages" the dealers were naming their prices on vehicles, some having $50-100K "Market" adjustments. Now with the "supply" issue mostly behind us and interest rates rising the dealers are up against it not being able to sell vehicles at this point due to their own greed and the current economic climate. I think what happened with cruising is that once we were clear of all the covid protocols people wanted to spend their money like drunken sailors (pardon the pun). Im seeing a lot of posts on media sites about how much cruising has become the new way to vacation and a lot of posts of bad behavior on cruise ships. That leads me to believe there are a lot of cruise rookies trying out cruising only to have a bad experience and that will eventually lead to less bookings. The bad behavior I would think are people who have never cruised and think that they can behave on a cruise ship the way that they behave on land. Only time will tell. We booked a 10 day Hawaii cruise back in January and that cruise last I looked was almost double the price. We just looked at booking a short 4-5 day cruise and the prices were what a seven day cruise was six months ago. So our next vacation is an all inclusive resort, the cost for the resort and airfare is in line with what a seven day cruise was months ago. Not giving up on cruising but gonna wait and see what happens in the near future.

This is typical of modern business models when the new CEO who was the former CFO takes control of things, especially after a situation such as covid where these cruise lines are all now on their back foot financially. I'm reading new revenue strategy as "let's use a play from the airlines playbook". We'll over book cruises to make sure that we have all the seats filled and then make cancellations at the last minute once we have the full cruise fare. So basically they're increasing their immediate revenue with over sold bookings and then cancelling bookings and offering a percentage allowance or future cruise credit for the inconvenience. Meanwhile they already have your money allowing them to to use it for previous debt or to accrue interest while in their accounts. Every little bit counts when you're watching the bottom line.

I truly hate this aspect of how corporations do business now. I don't like getting a service and being harassed to give a good review so the company can show the shareholders "look at our great customer reviews". I get these surveys from my doctor and dentist and just think of how tacky it is, it makes me feel like going to my doctor is the same as getting my car serviced. If I truly enjoyed the service I received I make sure to let people know and recommend it to friends. Filling out a survey doesn't seem to make a difference at the consumer level as I never see suggestions being put into effect. I've never been contacted about a single survey that I've submitted so what's the point?

Radiance did have Buffalo Trace along with Makers also. I think you'll be fine

We did Samba on Radiance last week 3/22/23. Having been to Brazilian Churrascaria's before so we decided to give Samba a try. On Radiance you need to walk outside on deck 12 to get to Samba which if it is windy and you did your hair it would not survive the walk to the restaurant, or if it's raining you'll absolutely get wet. With that little gripe out of the way we enjoyed Samba. It is not like a traditional Churrasacaria but overall was good. Like mentioned pace yourself because it is a lot of food. Try to pick and choose the things you like most. For us the Pichana and the Filet Mignon were our favorites. We thought the seasoning on the meat was better than some of the churrascarias we have eaten at on land. We usually do the three night dining package when we cruise just for some variety and the experience. Just a heads up for anyone on Radiance right now thinking of going to Giovanni's, we did Giovanni's the second night and our waiter was the same waiter we had for Chef's Table last June on Allure and remembered the service, he sat us down and created an abbreviated version of Chef's Table for us and it was excellent! So if you're on Radiance right now and considering Giovanni's ask for Christian as your waiter you won't regret it.

OK thanks, sorry I misunderstood the terms.

The only caveat is you can't use the dining package for the same restaurant twice in the same day, for example you couldn't use it for dinner at Chops if you used it for lunch there the same day.

if you can't see it in the app for your sailing click select a different cruise, click browse our ships and look for the ship you'll be sailing on and click on a cruise that is currently sailing the same itinerary if possible and you'll be able to see the menus for each night for that sailing which would be the same for yours. Hope this helps.