sptrout

Just got the form this evening, $29 p/p and we are in the Retreat.

Not directly related, but we are on Beyond now and today's newsletter letter says that Luggage Valet will be available for certain airlines at the end of our cruise. Told to call for details soon.

Costs may be a problem, but Moody Gardens and their hotel is a great place to stay with many things to do. 

https://www.moodygardens.com/

Another nice, but again costly option, is San Luis Resort & Spa.

https://www.sanluisresort.com/

There are other hotels on the island just search to hotels on Galveston Island.

12 minutes ago, smeck said:

I saw you had lunch in the retreat on embark day I was under the impression that Luminae wasn’t open for lunch on embark day. 

Unless there has been a change since January and earlier cruises; yes, Luminae is open for lunch on embarkation day. That is always the first place we head to when we first board. I do not remember though when it closes. Could be closed for people with late boarding.

23 hours ago, sptrout said:

Just another opinion about Princess' Enclave Spas. Having sailed on most of Celebrity ships and several Princess ships, IMO the Enclave on the Royal Class ships (and newer I can only assume) are far superior to anything on Celebrity since the end of the Century Class ships. Night and day difference. In our experience only the newer MSC Class ships are at least comparable to Princess. Celebrity has really dropped the ball when it comes to spas.

Could be, my memory of these two types of ships is fading. As you can see in my signature, MSC was our last non-Celebrity cruise, and the Regal was a couple years earlier. MSC's spa as I remember it, has numerous small rooms each with different features; from a pool, to a salt room, to an ice room, etc. Easy to lose your partner LOL. The Princess Regal, as I recall, was one large room with a variety of options all easy to find, but overall fewer options than the two MSC Ships that we have been on.

In any case, either brand is light years ahead of Celebrity's Persian Gardens or Thermal Suite (E-Class). With the newer E & S-Class builds Celebrity really missed the target. Really disappointing.

Just another opinion about Princess' Enclave Spas. Having sailed on most of Celebrity ships and several Princess ships, IMO the Enclave on the Royal Class ships (and newer I can only assume) are far superior to anything on Celebrity since the end of the Century Class ships. Night and day difference. In our experience only the newer MSC Class ships are at least comparable to Princess. Celebrity has really dropped the ball when it comes to spas.

Not an answer to your question, but below is a link to "Casual Navigation's" explanation of morning lines. More to it than us non-folks may realize.

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

I’m from the Westcoast. There are plenty of wild salmon that is not from Alaska.  Costco on the Westcoast sells fresh or previously frozen wild salmon. Usually Copper River or Sockeye. We do not eat farmed salmon.  Costco is actually pretty good for seafood on the Westcoast. Lots of fresh crab.  

I do not remember ever seeing Copper River, but I could easily have missed it if they had it. One thing that you mentioned that has always puzzled me and this is not a Costco thing, but every place that I know of that sells "previously frozen XX". Why thaw it out? Can these items be refrozen? The same goes for other seafood items such as shrimp; always previously frozen and we live near the Gulf Coast which has many fresh shrimp markets. 

About a year ago our local big super market had nice looking previously frozen sockeye salmon for a great price. The filets where too big for a meal so I asked the meat manager if previously frozen salmon could be refrozen? He totally dodge the question, but had a better answer, he when back to their freezer and sold us rock hard frozen filets for the same "on sale" price as the thawed-out fish in their display case. Seems dumb to me to thaw out good fish/shrimp/etc. when they can sell still frozen stuff from their freezer. 

35 minutes ago, diesel1973 said:

Read an article once that if it is wild caught it is probably farm raised. The light pink wild caught salmon at Costco says "coloring added ". What color was it before the coloring was added? The Alaskan salmon is a dark red and firm texture. Delicious !!!

I agree, almost all salmon not labeled as "Alaskan Salmon" is farmed raised. Any fish that has "Alaska" or "Alaskan" on it has to be wild caught or the manufacturer will likely be meeting Alaska's AG in Court. Alaska takes this very seriously; like Walt Disney does with anyone they catch using their characters without authorization. Buying Sockeye is another way to make sure that it is wild caught since Sockeye cannot be farmed raised.

As for color, farm raised Salmon that has not had coloring added looks kind of grayish. IMO, it is almost certain that any Salmon served on a ship or any non-Alaskan restaurant will be farm raised. Good wild caught Salmon is very expensive, even at Costco where you can buy both frozen Alaskan Sockeye and farm raised Salmon. In Costco's unfrozen fish displays they do have wild caught Salmon, but that is rare at least here in Houston, most of the time it is farm raised. Usually, not labeled as farm raised so you have to look at the labeling closely where it will say "coloring added". Big red flag.

We were on the Beyond this past January in a corner aft cabin. There are two of these SS1/Retreat cabins on a few decks and they are a long ways from any other Retreat Cabins. Being so far off the beaten Butler/Retreat path I was not too surprised that we only saw our butler on day 1 and day 6. However, the cabin was stocked to Retreat standards (whatever we wanted in the mini-frig for one thing) that we really never missed the Butler. And it truth we seldom used our Butlers in previous SS cabins. 

We have an 11 day Beyond cruise booked for this coming January, but this time mid-ship. It will be interesting what we will have lost in service/treatment between 1/24 & 1/25. We like Luminae for the great service, but the food and presentation was several points down this past January from our previous sailings. I think that the food cuts were in full force even then. Le Voyage was the only restaurant that we visited that was truly unforgettable. But it helped that we ran into Captain Kate just a few steps from the door; what a nice lady. 

Sorry to read that several folks were not able to visit Volcano National Park. I have been there 3 or 4 times and it is always a place to remember, Nothing else like it. I hope that all of you get a chance to visit the Park again some day.

12 hours ago, hcat said:

has anyone  who enjoys MSC,  experienced the spa or equiv to thermal suites/ Persian Garden on X..

Do they have a T pool,?

Sorry hcat, but I no longer remember all the details, however I remember that we were very impressed with the spa's on Seaside and the Meraviglia. We wore our YC robes from the cabin over our swim suits and they just let us right in after giving us locker keys.

Much better experience than the spa's on any of the Celebrity Spas. They contain a wide variety of experiences/rooms that divide the large spa into more manageable experiences. Yes, they do contain T-type pools and several other experiences, and also a door to an outside spa only area that we never managed to get to.. If you have sailed on Princess' Regal Class ships (the newest that we have sailed) the MSC Spas are similar, even better/bigger. Either MSC, or Princess Regal Class, spas put Celebrity's to shame IMO.

We live just a few miles (<10) from IAH and I can tell you that timing for any trip is a crapshoot. The International Terminal as well as some of the domestic United Gates are in the middle of a complete remodeling (from the ground up). When are you coming through IAH? I recommend that the site I have below become your new "home" website.

https://www.fly2houston.com/

We booked an 11-day Beyond cruise over a year ago for this coming January in a SS1 cabin. Based on current pricing we got a great price and with "All In" meaning "All In". Celebrity's new pricing has priced us out of the Sky Suite market so for a year from January we will be on the new "Sun Princess". Basically, with nearly all the perks of a Celebrity SS at about 1/2 the price and on a new ship. (BTW - - We cruise once a year.)

We have been sailing on Celebrity since 1/1995 and will reach Elite+ at the end of our January cruise. We have always enjoyed Celebrity, but they will be sailing without us. Almost booked HAL's Rotterdam for next year as even their 12-day Panama Canal would have been cheaper than Celebrity's 7-day cruises and with a lot of perks.

I looked at moving up to a super premium line, but did not see anything that was in our price range and Princess and HAL both have many competitive options that fit our budgets.

When I prebooked reservations for a Beyond cruise this past January for Le Voyage & Eden I did not remember anything about the prices including tips. In both restaurants all of our service people refused tips saying that they were prepaid. They absolutely refused, even the wine service. Not even given a paper receipt so no place to add tips and I do not carry cash on cruise ships. Excellent service in both restaurants, would have gladly gave tips. 

While on the Beyond this past January, we noticed a sewer-like smell in our Retreat S1/Corner Aft Cabin (deck 12). We also noticed it in the hallway on Deck 3 when walking to the main entertainment area & Martini Bar. We mentioned the smell in our cabin to the Retreat host and later received a nice FCC for our trouble. Worked out great since we had already booked another Beyond cruise for this coming January and our TA was able to apply this credit to our 11 day sailing. This FCC, along with the what would now be considered an unbelievable fare, makes our upcoming cruise a great buy. With today's SS and above pricing we are probably priced out of any more Retreat sailings. Time to move on to other lines even though we will be Elite+ when we return from the upcoming Beyond cruise. Been sailing with Celebrity since January 1995.

BTW - - The sewer smell was noticeable, but it was nowhere near a level that we would have considered moving to another the cabin even assuming that one may have been available. Beyond only has a few S1 cabins in the aft facing area, so it was a great location otherwise. Although it is a long walk to Luminae and other Retreat areas.

We stayed in a corner aft SS cabin on the Beyond this past January. Great cabin, but I cannot compare its size with other SS. However, it seemed to be about the same as the same location that we stayed in on the Reflection one year earlier.  The only downside is the very long walk required to get to the main Retreat areas especially Luminae. We are booked this coming January for 11 nights in a SS cabin midship. I will miss not being in an aft cabin, but not the walk to Luminae. 

6 minutes ago, palolake said:

We stay there every year.  There is a living room and separate bedroom.  Are you sure you have the right hotel?

Oh yea, at least once before maybe twice. No separate rooms the last time. Cannot remember our previous stay(s). Like I mentioned may have been a first floor room location issue. It was very small. I recommend that anyone staying there confirm the room size before moving in.

Cannot comment on walking distances, but I do have concerns about the Hyatt Place Hotel. The last time we stayed there (about 1 1/2 years ago) we had a very small room (1st floor). Very limited open floor space for luggage, and more seriously the area around the main sink was so limited that only my DW had room for her stuff. I had to use the bar/utility sink for my stuff. Overall, a very poor experience. Maybe just a 1st floor room situation because we did stay there previously and do not remember any problems. Just be careful, or pack lightly.

1 hour ago, CruisinBanka said:

If you ask your cabin Steward he/she will bring you distilled water, and if needed, an extension cord for no charge. If you bring an extension cord with you, they will confiscate it at security when boarding and will return it to you when you get off the ship in terminal. 

Not necessarily. The last few Celebrity cruises I have carried on in my CPAP case a long extension cord and security never mentioned it; probably because it was in my CPAP case. To be clear, I had already made arrangements with Celebrity for distilled water and an extension cord so I had no plans to use it. I only had it incase there was a problem at the pre-cruise hotel, which there was not. 

Agreed, you can you OBC. However, when buying any pre-cruise items I have found that it is very easy to misunderstand the checkout page and automatically charge it to your CC. The default payment method during checkout is for the system to choose your CC, you have to look carefully to make sure that your OBC is being used as your payment method.

Best work of fiction that I have read in a long time. Nothing like what is described on the Celebrity Beyond. I wonder if the writer has ever been on a Celebrity ship?

Same thing for our 1/8/24 Beyond cruise. Assuming that it eventually works, it will be very handy. 

We have also been to the three islands quoted above. Of the three Dominica would be my first choice due to its tropical beauty. Grenada is also very nice and as you may remember the US has a history (war) with this island. Very peaceful now with one of the nicest beaches anywhere. The beach is very close to the medical school that was the reason for the war (to save the US med students; if they actually needed saving LOL). Once you see the beach you will know why the med students liked the location of their school.

Martinique is very French like Honolulu Blue said. French is certainly their first language (maybe Creole is really first), but English is not widely spoken at least when we visited many years ago. Beautiful island with one of the highlights being a tour to an old city that was destroyed by a nearby volcano; now domart or maybe extinct). It would require a tour to go the city remains IMO since it is several mile from the port. Nice tour with stops along the way. When we were shopping the sales folks spoke French only and did not push any sales. Would be hard to due to the language barrier. 

All three of these islands are worth visiting at least once. Repeat visits for Dominica and maybe Grenada.

16 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Have to agree that MSC YC prices are creeping up.  And frankly, that's to be expected if they are to continue exceptional service they are offering.  Cost of fuel alone would be cause for increased fares.  However, I have yet to find a situation where MSC was more for a YC stateroom than Celebrity for a similar Retreat suite.  Here's a quick snapshot of what I pulled this morning.  The 11 night Beyond cruise is significantly more than MSC for  the least expensive Retreat currently available (Aqua Sky Suite).  Though this cruise is 3 nights longer than the MSC example shown, they both offer the same amenities plus access to the thermal suite (included in all YC categories).  Additionally, I pulled a 7 night comparison for a more apples to apples look at YCD1 vs SS1.  Celebrity is more.  Not trying to prove you wrong, more so just trying to see for myself if MSC is still the better value (in my mind).  Bottom line, people need to research cruise fares over time and also factor in any refundable OBC they may acquire from a TA as this can reduce the over all "big picture" fare as well.

I booked the 11 night Beyond cruise months ago. I know looking at current 11 night Beyond pricing is about the same as a trip to the moon. It has jumped so high that we could not book this cruise and like you mentioned, the standard Sky Suites are gone and have been for awhile. The current best choice for booking the 11 night Beyond cruise today is way more than twice what we paid. The Aqua Sky Suite that you show (which the last time I checked was the only Sky Suite available) is price more than double than our SS1 cabin. 

The price that you show for a 7 night YC cruise is just a little less p/p than our Beyond 11 night SS1 cabin. Not to mention that we have considerable refundable OBC, which drive the comparison even farther down.

Our Beyond pricing is so good that I hope that Celebrity does not figure away to cancel us since they could sell the cabin now for much, much more.

Pricing is weird/out of control. I hope suite pricing comes back to earth soon. Otherwise our Celebrity SS cruising will be over, and maybe cruising in general cannot see going back to non-suite cabins.