THE CRUISE: AN UPDATE!

Ever since we booked our cruise I've been going to a site recommended by our travel agent, CruiseCritics.com.  In addition to cruise deals they also have information and reviews about ports of call, cruise lines and ships.  They also have a message board where we can get info and ask questions about a variety of cruise topics.  There is also a  message board for each cruise line, each ship, and even each specific cruise on any given ship.  What this means is that for the past few weeks we've been 'talking' to the people we'll be cruising with later this month, asking questions and learning a lot. 

Many, many of these people are dedicated cruisers who proudly list their past (and future) cruises along with their name.  These are cruise-savvy people who have lots of insider tips to share, and who are more than willing to share their knowledge. 

If you've read my original post about the cruise you know that we jumped on the $699 per person price for this 13 day cruise.  Not surprisingly, just FIVE days after we booked the cruise Celebrity had another sale for this cruise, and offered outside cabins for just $799!  I called our travel agent to see if we could pay the $100 each to upgrade, but found out that this offer was for new customers only.  I hate it when that happens!  How often do you see deals for cable TV or cellphones that are WAY cheaper than what you, a longtime customer, are paying?!  It's so frustrating that the idea is only to GET more customers, not make the current customers happy! 

Anyway, I kept reading on the message board that people were being upgraded or getting onboard credits (OBC) due to a drop in the prices, and I wondered how that was possible.  Eventually Celebrity did drop the price of our cabin category to $599, and it was a fare that anyone could get, not some 'special' special, so I contacted our travel agent again, based on what the members of the CruiseCritics.com message board told me. 

As I understand it, if the difference in the fares was equal to the cost of the next higher cabin, they would upgrade us, and if not, we would be issued a total of $200 in OBC.  Either way was fine with us, but I was pretty sure we would get the OBC.  Altough we don't plan on having wine with every dinner or making many onboard purchases, I'm sure there will be occasions when we decide to have a drink in the bar or maybe have one load of laundry washed and pressed.  A $200 credit would allow us  (me) to enjoy a few treats without feeling guilty!

Just as we had been told, our travel agent emailed us to say that yes, we now had $200 in OBC!  He also told me that it couldn't hurt to ask for an upgrade when we board.  We'll certainly ask, but you know me, ever the pessimist, I'm certainly not expecting it - and it certainly won't affect the fabulous time we're going to have!