Stem to Stern

The cart is a great way to do it. Bimini bread is a thing, but we never found any. There are a few souvenir shops to stop at along the way if you want to support the locals. There were mounds of freshly caught conch like I had never seen. Beaches on the south side have lovely views back toward the dock and the ship. The ship backs in which is totally cool. Great internet plan. See how many days you can stretch that 90 minutes. It would be a fantastic exercise in restraint for myself. 😄

Sorry, but which two different demographics are you referring to?

Friendly fellow passengers really can make a world of difference. But I have never really encountered rude passengers on any cruise ever. We are all on vacation for crying out loud. How crabby could anyone possibly be? And, if Tami is on board Seascape after having to wait to embark so late in the day after the tragic accident, and she is finding everyone to be pleasant, then that is wonderful. Of course, she is sailing in the Yacht Club, right? If she is hanging exclusively in the Yacht Club, maybe she is encountering a higher level of social refinement amongst the passengers she is regular coming face-to-face with?

Your cruise is in the 7th month. What ae you doing for internet on board? What is your plan for Bimini? We took the free trolley ride around Resorts World and on the way back stopped at a parking lot full of carts. We rented one from a local character and headed for the south end of the island to do some exploration on our own. Ended up at the Dolphin House Museum catching the owner before we headed off to church. He has quite a place and showed us every inch of it. Check it out if you get the opportunity. Bon voyage!

She did a back-to-back on Celebrity and MSC. Enjoy! 🙂

I spy Fever-Tree in that mini-fridge. Yay!

I get ized easily I guess. Maybe on my next cruise I will get YCized like the time I was Crystalized on board Serenity.

I think that ship has already sailed. Hee hee. 😄

Your entire review and most of the commentary that followed resonates with me. Prior to this I was encouraged by Charla's live from MSC thread. We status matched to Diamond, so were able to take advantage of MSC's incentives for our first booking foray into the Yacht Club. We will be doing a side-by-side comparison of MSC Yacht Club with The Retreat on board Summit. We have previously enjoyed The Retreat on board Silhouette and Equinox, but we look forward to trying it on board a Revolutionized M-class ship. I am not looking to uncover any miraculous discoveries during the comparison, but it will be interesting to disembark one ship and nearly immediately embark the other. The 5-night on the Summit was booked first. Then, we tacked on the 7-nights on Seascape after I got Charlacized by her review. We will be sailing glass-half-full after suffering a lonnng, land-locked 363-day cruise hiatus. We are always grateful and happy just to have booked cruises to look forward to. Any day on any ship (within $$$ reason) beats a day on land.

The big news finally hit my inbox from Captain's Club at 11:48am this morning. "New ships. New islands. New experiences."

Still a nice surprise. It never hurts to pick up the phone and let your fingers do the walking.

Also known as the upgrade fairy. Congrats!! Was there an additional charge?

It is a shame Celebrity did not update the bathrooms of these suites to coordinate with the decor of the rest of the suite. That guy in the You Tubes always does a decent job with his stateroom videos. Thanks for posting.

Bon voyage! I hope you can get a cart from Bonaire Cruisers. They are so great. We got started really early and did the south loop. We were back on board for lunch. The time before this we just got off the ship without any plans in place. We happened upon a lady just outside the port where all the tour vans were parked. She was looking to fill her tour van. We only had to share with one other couple. She took us along the north loop and gave us a fantastic island tour.

Questions: Grass fed? Fresh, never frozen? (I see it is served on Day 2, so doable.) Can I have it with the special sauce? If this new menu item ever grows in popularity, will it eventually incur an up charge?

Sadly, when we are driving rather than flying to the port of embarkation we tend to exercise a lack of self-control when stuffing the cases. I even bring additional skinny hangers. Half the garments come home unworn. 😄

Thanks. Sorry, but did you call Celebrity to book or do you use a TA?

Azamara. But they have a smoking corner on the pool deck near the pool bar that I had to walk by to get to the closest rest room from my pool lounger.

Now that the FVs are relabeled UVs, does this mean they are available to book online now and do not require a family quantity of guests in the stateroom?

And no children on board. And no nickel-and-diming??? From the recent Resilient Lady Live thread I followed there seems to be a lively party vibe on board. I did not get a sense of even a whisper of an elevated or premium experience. Also, so far, their itineraries are less than inspiring. But I need to research the line further. As interest continues to slowly ramp up I get a sense that Virgin's ships may not be sailing at full capacity which would be a plus. Did the ship feel as spacious as Celebrity's S-class ships?

I am not sure my numbers demonstrate anything specific. The cruise-only prices in my spreadsheet are low, but by the time we ran up our bar tap or purchased a beverage package plus gratuities I don't think these sailings were really bargains compared to the sailings we had an All Included/Always Included/Go Better/Go Best promotion. I put the sky suites in purple. I am thinking if the attractive pricing disappears for good, our December suite might be our last as we gravitate away from the relaxing Caribbean cruises toward the port-intensive European cruises in regular verandahs or interior (Gasp!) staterooms. Some of the options we are considering for 2024 are on other lines because some of them have fewer sea days than Celebrity's itineraries. We really enjoy Luminae and the Retreat Lounge, but I am just not in a place where I am willing to pay whatever the going rate is. And, yes I know The Retreat experience on board the E-class ships would probably blow me away. So, yes I have a maximum pppn threshold. But I am not quite sure what that is. The cruise that really blew us both away was our one time on Crystal Serenity. It was a bargain to boot at $300 pppn ($234 pppn after CL and TA OBC which covered all of our excursions and additional specialty dining.) The day we embark Summit this coming December we will have just disembarked our first sailing on MCS Seascape. We are trying a Yacht Club Interior at $177.90 pppn. Please do not flame me. 😄 This exercise has reminded me of my frugality if nothing else. 😄

This will be an interesting exercise. I am in the process of putting some numbers together for you. I wasn't going to figure in the OBC. But if one does, the pppd numbers drop quite dramatically in some cases.

Congrats to both of you! I will be following along with you on one of my favorite itineraries and favorite ships. Great tip about the Sea Escapes Package at Renaissance Island in Aruba.

Spent ten nights in 1075 on board Equinox (same location as Silhouette.) Zero noise issues. The elevators are not noisy. They are in their own separate lobby. 1075 is not literally adjacent to the elevators even though the deck plans make it seem like it is right by them. Loved 1075’s convenient location in relation to the elevators. Huge verandah.

No. I would put that $300 towards a specialty dining package. Sorry, I highly doubt a guarantee booking is eligible for the one-category Captain’s Club upgrade. However, I must say there are some “Exciting Deals” on those 6-night sailings.