Celebrity Constellation Review 8/26/04 Baltics

In article , Tom &
Linda wrote:

We're mostly days at sea. 4 Ports, 5 days at sea (10 nights). That's why I
though it would be fun to kill some time having internet access. I'm going
to borrow an X series ThinkPad, which is a baby unit. So bringing it won't
be a big problem from a size/weight perspective.

If they have the slow dial up access like on Summit and the RCI ships
it definitely could be a time killer. Terribly slow. The only way I
could really use it was to read and write e-mail and newsgroups offline
and then connect to upload. Web surfing was pretty much a bust. I
probably would only do it if they have the flat rate. Or if they have
put in wireless access somewhere on the ship and it is faster than dial
up speeds. I take a small 4 pound, 12inch screen laptop and find it no
problem. I don't take it just for internet access, I also use it to
download pictures from my digital camera.

--
Charles

Jeff, your review fit nicely into the Seacruise archives, and can be
viewed at http://seacruisereviews.com/byrecent...?cruiseid=1138
Mary

Jeff Stieglitz wrote:
Too many words in my post! What a shocker. I'm even having some trouble
over at cruisecritic, where the reviews are limited to 10k. My review is
about 75k and I just don't have the stamina to break it up.

Meanwhile, you can see the whole thing in google with the link below:

http://groups.google.com/groups?th=4bbdaf3a8d45534b

Charles wrote:
What I did on Galaxy which had no dial up hook up was use free wireless
hotspots at the ports. It should be even easier to find hotspots at the
ports on your itinerary, either free or inexpensive.

Excellent idea, Charles. Thank you.

~ Peri

Tom,

Below are the pertinent details of the re-vamped Online @ Celebrity the
program as we experienced it on the Millie in June. I fully expect this it
what you will encounter on Connie, as we learned this is a third-party
vendor set-up run out of RCI/Celeb corporate. We had expected the much more
favorable set-up that had been in place for a long time and has been
discussed in this thread. We had used it with success on prior RCI cruises,
and in fact, it was still advertised as such on Celebrity's website when we
planned this trip. So, it was an unpleasant shocker to board and discover
the new regimen.

"A limited number of Connect @ Sea units, enabling Internet access from your
laptop in your stateroom, are available for a daily charge of $25.00 which
includes the first 50 minutes of connect time each day. Charges for
additional minutes are as outlined above."

Here is the info on those additional minutes:

"Internet Access is available from all computers in both rooms [DB note: on
the Millie, the rooms they refer to are the Internet cafe available 24/7 and
a Beta Computer Room available certain hours when no classes are using it].
The charge for Internet access is $.75 a minute. Volume upfront purchases of
100, 200 and 500 minutes are available for $.70, $.60 and $.50 per minute."


You can do the math.

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX


"Tom & Linda" wrote in message
. net...
I may try to call Celebrity... though I'm guessing the res agents probably
don't know. Still... nothing to lose by calling.

--Tom


"Peri" wrote in message
. net...
Tom & Linda wrote:

Any idea about the package cost for a 10 day cruise?

--Tom

Sorry, Tom, I don't know. I'd be interested to find out, though, as
we're scheduled for a 9-day on the Voyager next August!

~ Peri

Tom,

Below are the pertinent details of the re-vamped Online @ Celebrity the
program as we experienced it on the Millie in June. I fully expect this it
what you will encounter on Connie, as we learned this is a third-party
vendor set-up run out of RCI/Celeb corporate. We had expected the much more
favorable set-up that had been in place for a long time and has been
discussed in this thread. We had used it with success on prior RCI cruises,
and in fact, it was still advertised as such on Celebrity's website when we
planned this trip. So, it was an unpleasant shocker to board and discover
the new regimen.

"A limited number of Connect @ Sea units, enabling Internet access from your
laptop in your stateroom, are available for a daily charge of $25.00 which
includes the first 50 minutes of connect time each day. Charges for
additional minutes are as outlined above."

Here is the info on those additional minutes:

"Internet Access is available from all computers in both rooms [DB note: on
the Millie, the rooms they refer to are the Internet cafe available 24/7 and
a Beta Computer Room available certain hours when no classes are using it].
The charge for Internet access is $.75 a minute. Volume upfront purchases of
100, 200 and 500 minutes are available for $.70, $.60 and $.50 per minute."


You can do the math.

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX


"Tom & Linda" wrote in message
. net...
I may try to call Celebrity... though I'm guessing the res agents probably
don't know. Still... nothing to lose by calling.

--Tom


"Peri" wrote in message
. net...
Tom & Linda wrote:

Any idea about the package cost for a 10 day cruise?

--Tom

Sorry, Tom, I don't know. I'd be interested to find out, though, as
we're scheduled for a 9-day on the Voyager next August!

~ Peri

Tom,

Below are the pertinent details of the re-vamped Online @ Celebrity the
program as we experienced it on the Millie in June. I fully expect this it
what you will encounter on Connie, as we learned this is a third-party
vendor set-up run out of RCI/Celeb corporate. We had expected the much more
favorable set-up that had been in place for a long time and has been
discussed in this thread. We had used it with success on prior RCI cruises,
and in fact, it was still advertised as such on Celebrity's website when we
planned this trip. So, it was an unpleasant shocker to board and discover
the new regimen.

"A limited number of Connect @ Sea units, enabling Internet access from your
laptop in your stateroom, are available for a daily charge of $25.00 which
includes the first 50 minutes of connect time each day. Charges for
additional minutes are as outlined above."

Here is the info on those additional minutes:

"Internet Access is available from all computers in both rooms [DB note: on
the Millie, the rooms they refer to are the Internet cafe available 24/7 and
a Beta Computer Room available certain hours when no classes are using it].
The charge for Internet access is $.75 a minute. Volume upfront purchases of
100, 200 and 500 minutes are available for $.70, $.60 and $.50 per minute."


You can do the math.

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX


"Tom & Linda" wrote in message
. net...
I may try to call Celebrity... though I'm guessing the res agents probably
don't know. Still... nothing to lose by calling.

--Tom


"Peri" wrote in message
. net...
Tom & Linda wrote:

Any idea about the package cost for a 10 day cruise?

--Tom

Sorry, Tom, I don't know. I'd be interested to find out, though, as
we're scheduled for a 9-day on the Voyager next August!

~ Peri

Oh blech!

D Ball wrote:

"Internet Access is available from all computers in both rooms [DB note: on
the Millie, the rooms they refer to are the Internet cafe available 24/7 and
a Beta Computer Room available certain hours when no classes are using it].
The charge for Internet access is $.75 a minute. Volume upfront purchases of
100, 200 and 500 minutes are available for $.70, $.60 and $.50 per minute."

Bummer...

Thanks.

--Tom

"D Ball" wrote in message
...
Tom,

Below are the pertinent details of the re-vamped Online @ Celebrity the
program as we experienced it on the Millie in June. I fully expect this it
what you will encounter on Connie, as we learned this is a third-party
vendor set-up run out of RCI/Celeb corporate. We had expected the much
more
favorable set-up that had been in place for a long time and has been
discussed in this thread. We had used it with success on prior RCI
cruises,
and in fact, it was still advertised as such on Celebrity's website when
we
planned this trip. So, it was an unpleasant shocker to board and discover
the new regimen.

"A limited number of Connect @ Sea units, enabling Internet access from
your
laptop in your stateroom, are available for a daily charge of $25.00 which
includes the first 50 minutes of connect time each day. Charges for
additional minutes are as outlined above."

Here is the info on those additional minutes:

"Internet Access is available from all computers in both rooms [DB note:
on
the Millie, the rooms they refer to are the Internet cafe available 24/7
and
a Beta Computer Room available certain hours when no classes are using
it].
The charge for Internet access is $.75 a minute. Volume upfront purchases
of
100, 200 and 500 minutes are available for $.70, $.60 and $.50 per
minute."


You can do the math.

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX


"Tom & Linda" wrote in message
. net...
I may try to call Celebrity... though I'm guessing the res agents
probably
don't know. Still... nothing to lose by calling.

--Tom


"Peri" wrote in message
. net...
Tom & Linda wrote:

Any idea about the package cost for a 10 day cruise?

--Tom

Sorry, Tom, I don't know. I'd be interested to find out, though, as
we're scheduled for a 9-day on the Voyager next August!

~ Peri

Bummer...

Thanks.

--Tom

"D Ball" wrote in message
...
Tom,

Below are the pertinent details of the re-vamped Online @ Celebrity the
program as we experienced it on the Millie in June. I fully expect this it
what you will encounter on Connie, as we learned this is a third-party
vendor set-up run out of RCI/Celeb corporate. We had expected the much
more
favorable set-up that had been in place for a long time and has been
discussed in this thread. We had used it with success on prior RCI
cruises,
and in fact, it was still advertised as such on Celebrity's website when
we
planned this trip. So, it was an unpleasant shocker to board and discover
the new regimen.

"A limited number of Connect @ Sea units, enabling Internet access from
your
laptop in your stateroom, are available for a daily charge of $25.00 which
includes the first 50 minutes of connect time each day. Charges for
additional minutes are as outlined above."

Here is the info on those additional minutes:

"Internet Access is available from all computers in both rooms [DB note:
on
the Millie, the rooms they refer to are the Internet cafe available 24/7
and
a Beta Computer Room available certain hours when no classes are using
it].
The charge for Internet access is $.75 a minute. Volume upfront purchases
of
100, 200 and 500 minutes are available for $.70, $.60 and $.50 per
minute."


You can do the math.

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX


"Tom & Linda" wrote in message
. net...
I may try to call Celebrity... though I'm guessing the res agents
probably
don't know. Still... nothing to lose by calling.

--Tom


"Peri" wrote in message
. net...
Tom & Linda wrote:

Any idea about the package cost for a 10 day cruise?

--Tom

Sorry, Tom, I don't know. I'd be interested to find out, though, as
we're scheduled for a 9-day on the Voyager next August!

~ Peri

D Ball wrote:

You can do the math.

And they can stuff it.

Thanks for the update, Diana, but I would NEVER pay such rates on board.
I think we'd all be wise to boycott until they replace this ridiculous
policy with something a little more customer-friendly.

~ Peri