KKB

Meh, not so much. Have sailed 2 Caribbean sailings solo in the last year. Went to one "meet up"--I was the sole attendee! Luckily I am a social person & chat people up at bars or trivia/gameshows. Plus met some nice people at dinner. Such a long cruise, if you put yourself out there early, you will make friends!

@Dorhead1230 Thanks for this review! And thanks for the Vibe pic--it was MUCH nicer on the Getaway & loungers spaced out nicely. This looks no better than regular decks (OK...they are padded & I'm assuming no problem getting a lounger). We booked it for Nov but with 4 port days & poker to play, we plan to cancel since we won't get $500 use out of it. (plus if we stay onboard on a port day, that is a great day to hang by the pool!)

@Les43 Thank you for this lovely TR! DD & I are doing 2 nights in Rome & 10 day Greece/Italy cruise soon (on another, less desirable line...) Your TR gives me ideas of what to expect--we too like to wander. We do have a Food tour booked one night & a cooking class the next day & plan to wander otherwise. DH & I got a fab deal on Retreat on Beyond in April & really enjoyed it (our 30th is next year...but the deal was this year!...) Looking forward to more!

I did an 80s cruise. It was pretty much 80s music everywhere all the time. If polka isn't your thing, I would see if you can change to another date or ship.

We are doing Southampton based cruise in October. Staying at the Marlin Waterloo nights before--209E for Sept. 28. We are using Transfeero from LHR to London & British Express from London to Southampton. Not the cheapest form of travel, but party of 2 from LHR & 4 from London. Train is cheapest for sure & very doable (tho I don't know specifics). I find customer service reps at train stations in Europe can quickly & easily route you where you need to go if you aren't sure. Excursions...a number of ours were sold out when we booked in April, so I imagine it's worse now. Most of your ports are easy to do on your own. Check out whatsinport.com--it was SUPER helpful in knowing if I could grab a train/bus into a town or if an excursion was wise. Your cruise has a number of different ports than I did in May. Cobh is an adorable little town with some cute pubs. If you go into Cork, I recommend a couple of hours in Cobh before short walk back to the ship. Belfast--I grabbed a cab at the port & asked them to take me to where I could board the Hop On Hop Off bus. LOVED the HOHO. I did the full loop (brilliant!), hopped off (it was the "end of the road" for our bus) & found my pass was good all day--I got on another, went to Titanic museum & grabbed cab to port from there. Greenock--NOT MUCH THERE. I recommend an excursion. I did book independent excursions too--Google is your friend. Viator, Trip Advisor, Get Your Guide & others are reputable companies (tho I try to book direct with a specific tour company if I can)

I was stunned to see such an early check in time, I've never seen that before! We are on the NCL Breakaway in August. Has anyone had personal experience sailing NCL from hear & what we can expect. Thanks!

When I checked it, it gave me checkin times to choose. I chose earliest as that is what I have always done...

We, too, will have 4 ships in port. Therefore we opted to book a ship excursion. We will still need to take the cable car down, but luckily we are the last ship in port, so I anticipate lighter crowds when we need to go. (steps are a viable option...but it will be dusk so concerned about slippery donkey poo!)

Yes, things were announced in multiple languages. I found crew overall to be just as lovely as other lines--very personable & striving to make connections. (tho I did find some officers NOT to be that way--aloof, chastising crew in front of guests) I agree that their shore excursions to be well-priced.

Honestly, I didn't find the approach (both in Caribbean & Europe) all that different than the other mainstream lines I have sailed. All the same basic components...just not executed quite as well overall.

There r differences to be sure. Somehow never bored on any line!

NOT our AK experience on Discovery Princess! We had different kinds of salmon every night & it was DIVINE. The pork roast was inedible at both buffet & MDR...but everything else was top notch. (Did sail Sapphire in Oct...while food was good, we did notice our servers seemed VERY stressed & overwhelmed...)

Interesting. Applied 4 mos. prior & it quickly posted!

here is the pattern: (all pacific time PDT)Monday - 11:10amTuesday - 11:15amWednesday - 8:05amThursday - 9:05amFriday - 1:30pmSaturday - 1:40pmSunday - 11:40am (this from a Vegas online forum)

So you aren't an 80s guy. Fair.

You can put in a request to prior to the cruise. https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising# They are NEUROTIC about it, too. They wouldn't even let me have sauce at Teppenyaki when I said I could (I'm not celiac, but gluten sensitive) That should help you feel at ease, though. They had signs up in some places at the buffet, but I would ask when you come in to be sure. But they were very accommodating everywhere if you just let them know. (at sit down restaurants they take your card, & the info is attached to your card so they always know there; you just have to be more of an advocate for yourself at the buffet)

When we saw it in Dec on the Encore I was blown away by the level of singing. Here's why--typically on ships, the female vocalists are outstanding & the male vocalists...well, they usually aren't as good. Still very good, but the women outshine them (this is a generalization; even i have seen exceptions) NOT so with COM (again--the cast I saw in Dec on Encore). OUTSTANDING. Nearly every vocalist as good as anyone I have seen in Broadway shows. BUT I have seen different performers do the same show--it doesn't always translate that way. Syds for instance. Loved it the 1st time we saw it. 2nd time, the female vocalists were stronger than the male vocalists BUT this group had such energy & just fed off each other so well that it made them better than the 1st group I saw (who were still fantastic). So perhaps the clip you saw of COM on You Tube wasn't the best it can be. Perhaps on the Encore it was. But clearly I'm an 80s girl, so that appeals to me as well. (And DH thought it a neat feature to go down & get a beer at the beginning--he spent quite a bit of time up there chatting up one of the cast members.) Now, there was an 80s production on a Princess ship last summer--OMG. I felt like I was at a bad high school production. Talented enough, just a bad production. So 80s music alone AIN'T enough.

@GenerationX my heart goes out to you & Gen Z... I so worried that a situation like this would happen. Dan & I were just discussing our Retreat experience...and whether we should consider MSC YC. For us, the answer is no. Why? Because we want more than an amazing room/restaurant/lounge/pool area. We are active cruisers who want to play trivia, grab a coffee, hit the martini bar, partake in a game show...and all of those things are outside of YC/Retreat...so if we can book ship w/in a ship at a great rate...it's all about the rest of the ship for us. We don't care who is booked in which cabin (which I know you aren't as well) But when we all show up at the martini bar, we all get the same show. I love that.

Lots more on our cruises! (Have been on Celebrity 5 times in last 2 yrs) Trivia at least 2x/day Deal or No Deal is their bingo. Game shows r different were nearly every night—Minute to Win it, Yes/No game, Family Feud, Majority Rules, Marriage Game, Battle of Sexes, Quest, etc. Pool area games: chipping & putting contests, bean bag toss (Cornhole), Golf ball toss (Blongo), etc We like to be BUSY so we wouldn’t be sailing Celebrity if there weren’t options!

LOL--NOT YC!

THIS--this unfortunately is along the lines of behavior I saw on my MSC cruises (in steerage). Far too many passengers with zero regard for their fellow passengers & common courtesy.

I find trivia on Celebrity to be very good--one DJ did a brillian 80s music trivia. He took a part of the song (not the chorus) & put it on loop. THAT made it more challenging! (admittedly I've only had that one once) I admit to finding S & M class shows "meh". But Eclass production shows are to the level of RCCL & NCL production shows. VERY good. No, they aren't A list Vegas shows--and they don't claim to be. But they are the best level of production shows at sea. And OF COURSE casinos at sea are smaller than land casinos🫥

We sit at the bar right outside Syd's nursing a drink, about an hour before show time. As soon as ONE person gets in line, we get in line too!

Huh, have never felt this way. I DO NOT do bag toss or towel folding... Always trivia, game shows, musicians, pool games on sea days--much like other lines. (now...they don't have like 10 trivia games on sea days like Carnival!)

If you don't like smaller RCCL ships it is unlikely you will be a big Summit fan. I HIGHLY recommend Apex, Edge or Beyond on Celebrity. We feel Celebrity is a small kick up from other lines, particularly in service & food... Eclass (these 3 ships plus Ascent) are kick up within Celebrity! They are FABULOUS ships. I LOVED Allure & Anthem...then I sailed the Edge...O.M.G. Spoiled me. Entertainment on Eclass rivals RCCL. Now, we sailed Equinox again last Nov & thoroughly enjoyed it as well. But all I really want to sail is Eclass...sigh... (PLUS you will truly get the most value sailing Eclass as they are often a bit pricier)