canderson

... or to look up an obscure wine never before seen in the northern hemisphere!

I'd still like get a sense as to whether the 'let it all hang out' crowd would be willing to allow for just ONE venue aboard requiring compliance with what Celebrity puts in print. How about Murano, where available?

Indeed. And of course, since the restart, their web page has read as follows, and since the restart, the idea of reduced capacity on Celebrity-booked shorex transportation has been a complete joke. Wherever possible, we have noted that Celebrity has assured that shorex transport of all kinds is filled. WHILE ASHORE Our main priority is your safety in port. We highly recommend you choose shore excursions with Celebrity Cruises that follow the same health protocols we have on board. Most of our carefully selected experiences are outdoors, and you'll be encouraged to stay within your group. Buses will be at reduced capacity and will be sanitized frequently. Please be aware that as destination conditions change, you may be required to go ashore on a shore excursion provided by Celebrity Cruises. This will help to keep you safe and healthy for the rest of your vacation. We find the lack of any capacity enforcement with their contracted shorex operators to be most unfortunate, and Miami has been told about these situations so often that there's no possible way they aren't fully aware of it. Of course, Celebrity will beg off every time by saying that they have no obligations with regard to how these contractors operate, but Celebrity DOES have the option of booking only x number of pax per excursion and paying to keep the numbers down... but not going to happen.

No specialty restaurant presented us with a bill for gratuities on our last two cruises in RS (Nov '21). Don't think anything has changed since then.

Depends on how much/little of the target protein is present in the sample. A 'weak line' can take some time to develop. That they don't follow the kit manufacturers' protocols raises red flags again.

When I say "positive result", I mean COVID positive. I've noted a few comments where the service isn't even waiting the requisite 15 minutes for the results.

Should be able to do rhis using the "Plan your cruise" in the online planner. Should come back either on credit card or OBC, whichever way you paid.

Should show up in Specialty Dining options in Plan My Cruise in your planner... same place as the pre-cruise discounts for restaurants. Assumes X's crack IT group has included it, of course.

Beginning to wonder about this outfit, in particular, whether they're even associated with OnPoint which as I recall, is in Washington state. The url for this proctoring service is different altogether ... a fairly recent GoDaddy vs. the 'real' OnPoint at onpointmedicaltesting.com. Has anyone ever had a positive result when using them?

Ditto. In fact, we wish they would reinstate the old "Extend Your Stay" program.

If you have a cruise booked, go online and "Plan your cruise" or "Manage reservation". You'll see original and pre-booking discounts there. Compare pre-cruise price to regular - your E discount. As for onboard deals, unless business is light, expect best discounts while in port when they're usually very light.

FWIW, it made sense to me.

cruisemapper vesselfinder marinetraffic and more

Does when you compare what you get. Here's a Med cruise I was looking at yesterday before booking with Silversea: 18% higher for the RS vs CS. A good chunk of the difference can be quickly covered by a lot of specialty dining over a 10 night cruise.

Ah. One of the few honest ones here, at least.

Yeah. Unfortunately, it's called 'entropy'. You can see its historical results pretty clearly.

Just pulled the pin on a WB TA on Silversea for 2023, Lisbon > FLL on Silver Dawn. Space-wise, their Silver Suite looks about equivalent to a Royal Suite on a Millennium class ship. This will be our first cruise with them. Was happy to see a VERY good pax:crew ratio - 1.45:1 vs. Celebrity's already superior 2.3:1. The service will feel like we're back aboard a thinly populated restart cruise. Those were the best Celebrity cruises we've ever had. Ships are smaller (Dawn is one of their 3 'big' ones at 298 cabins, 40,700 tons), but a surprising variety aboard. Eight different dining venues and a lot of space. To put it into perspective, the old Celebrity Horizon was about 46,800 tons with 1,828 at capacity. Granted, the space includes larger cabins, but at capacity ... Horizon = 46,800T / 1,828 pax = 25 Dawn = 40,700T / 596 pax = 68 The price is a bit more than Celebrity, but when comparing pricing, you have to get to apples-apples by subtracting shorex, some of the air fare, and a few other costs. Still more, but not as much as it first appears.

Might be entertaining for all present when the whatever has been parked on the chair (other than the owner's keister) is whisked away! 😏 DING! Crew might even get some applause for responding. If you let them know ahead that the timers are set, it's at least slightly more likely they'll feel obligated to respond.

Indeed. After many years sailing primarily Celebrity, just pulled the pin on next year's transatlantic. Silver Dawn for 16 nights. Silversea seems to be the only RCG line that seems able to draw one.

A couple if these might be fun to play with ... one per abandoned chair. Point them out to attendants when set to 60...

I figure that when I am presented with and select a time slot on X's system, and receive an email from X minutes later 3 hours off, it may be an X issue. Rescheduling for the moment boarding starts really should be impossible anyway.

Does Celebriry still use DePalm Island for these excursions?

Both. It's possible that the shoreside concierge will be able to make a dining reservation for a date/time that does not appear in the planner. If in a RS or above, you can wait to deal with this aboard, but they can help you out with it in advance. They can arrange reservations for other events that aren't available in the online planner. As an example, I thought it would be fun to take 'the kids' on a Behind the Scenes tour on their first S class cruise, and those don't show up anywhere in the cruise planner for our cruise - not under Excursions, and not under Onboard Activities. Shoreside was able to find out from the ship when these would be held and got us a reservation for a specific date/time. They can also straighten out screw-ups with other reservations - like when you make a spa appointment for something like 2:30pm on embarkation day and the confirmation email comes back with 11:30am - and boarding doesn't start until 11:30am! I'll never do THAT online again! If you get a good shoreside concierge, they can manage a fair number of things in advance other than reservations, too. I had a B2B for 15nts that would have involved a bar setup of 2L x 2 of some liquor or another. No way we could go through a gallon in 15 nts! Traded half of it for a couple of bottles of a specific and VERY serviceable Barolo that went for a good bit more than the 1L bottles of hooch.

No, Dave has it right for his cruise. Nothing to do with any country's protocols. Proctored testing is a blanket requirement for all TA and TP cruises this Fall. https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/transatlantic-travel-requirements

Ah, now, you know that isn't universally true. It depends upon the nature of the infraction and who's doing the enforcement. Guests are often confronted, especially where the line's money is at stake. I wonder how many bottles (and other curious containers) of booze have been returned to guests at disembarkation? Could probably stock a few full service liquor stores with all of it. Maitre d's should have a "hold harmless" clause in their contracts and be put in charge of dealing with this, just as they used to be. Makes me curious as to how lines that do still 'hold the line' instruct their maitre d's?