WeBcruisingMN

Thanks for all the extra examples of surrendering passports while on a cruise (and @Arizona Wildcat- sorry the use of the word ‘surrender’ didn’t quite depict what happens, I am on vacation and didn’t feel like spending too much time thinking of a different verb 😉). I mostly posted this because a few weeks past, there was a thread where some people said “I would NEVER surrender my passport while on a cruise. They couldn’t make me.” So, just thought I would post a recent example where- YES, you DO need to surrender your passport. Meanwhile- I will get back to enjoying my time on the Silhouette in 67° sunny weather in St. Peter Port, Guernsey Island today. Have a great day, everyone! 😀

I know there was a thread a few weeks back about whether you were ever REQUIRED to surrender your passport to Celebrity, but just wanted to post that we were required to surrender our passports today upon check-in on the Silhouette. Today is June 11, and the letter we were given said that Cork, Ireland (June 13) requires the processing of all passports, so this would make it efficient and we will ne able to retrieve our passports on the afternoon of June 14, from 4-6 pm (that port is Waterford, Ireland). We had no choice in the matter. My husband’s account was all messed up (even though we are elite and this is our 17th Celebrity cruise) and when boarding- he had to show I.D. so thankfully he had his state driver’s license- since our passports were taken from us.

@Nidecwe needed the negative Covid test today to board the Silhouette. I hope they drop that soon. Once we all start mixing together with different port exposure etc, it doesn’t seem like that boarding test really matters anymore.

Hallelujah! F-I-N-A-L-L-Y! So happy, will make our return flight from LHR in late June so much more at ease. Celebrity Silhouette- here we come, boarding tomorrow 🚢🥳🎉

@JamieLogical- great review, I love your kind and friendly spirit! 😊 Thanks for the new drink ideas, too, I hope to try a Mr. Worldwide on our next cruise. Can you explain the ingredients for a Birthday Cake Mojito? When I googled, it only gave me cake recipes- how to doctor-up a white cake recipe (even though I put ‘cocktail’ in the search). Thanks much, and continued happy cruising to you! 🚢

Yes indeed, we are with you on the pre-cruise diet strategy! We cruised a B2B on the Silhouette in Jan/Feb and sailed for 21 days (our longest stretch ever). Despite my well-intentioned thoughts of “I don’t need bread every night at dunner” and “I certainly don’t need dessert every night”…. We caved in our resolve and my husband’s phrase was “Why not?” (Like when asked if he wanted two scoops of ice cream instead of one)… but then we got home and got on the scale and my husband said, well I figured out “why not”, it’s because I put on 10 pounds!?! I put on about 5-6 pounds, and we intended to lose them right away when we got home and got back into normal eating routine. Well, kept putting it off, and our next cruise was approaching (in June), so we finally got down to business in the last three weeks. Here’s what worked for us: Our regular 6 days/week workouts, portion control on everything (& smaller portions on everything), locked-up our sweets/chocolate upstairs in an out-of-the-way drawer, I gave up potato chips, and dinner was just our meat and a salad (no starch) and definitely no desserts. Also, no midweek drinking. We just finally had the right level of determination and the allure of the next cruise coming, where we wanted to be down to our normal weight again so we have room to indulge again. Plus, we did it together, so there was mutual encouragement that was helpful. Good luck, everyone! 😊👍🏻

Thanks for the ‘real life’ info about this; we are planning to do the same in about a month when we disembark the Silhouette. A couple questions: 1) what was the wait time to get a proctor for both of your tests? 2) what day of the week was this? 3) what ship were you on? 4) was it necessary to have the printed copy or just nice to have? Appreciate the tips, too 👍🏻