flviking

Ship: Infinity Length of Cruise: 14 nights Cruise Sail Date: 1/28/23 Date email offer received: 12/16/2022 Captain’s Club Tier: Elite Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: TA Current Cabin: AQ Bid? Yes/No: No If YES - Bidding Details: General Comments: Sailing is sold out. Doesn't even show up on web site. Bid ranges: Sky Suite $500 - $1250pp Celebrity Suite $900 - $2250pp Royal Suite $800 - $2000pp No idea why Royal suite is less than Celebrity Suite

We did a RS on Reflection. Used the hot tub on the deck multiple times. Only ate in Luminae once (not a bad thing) as we went to specialties as they are included. Never paid additional for anything. Just a small example - we asked the butler for chocolate covered strawberries one day to enjoy in the hot tub. The only question was how many. For us we can't objectively state the extra cost is worth it due to the added inclusions. It's a subjective value proposition. That said we will book again if the differential isn't too great.

My data point. Beyond S1 10 night southern Caribbean is up 24% between our Dec 2023 booking and our January 2025 booking. Just 13 months apart. Non holiday. We still booked so they must know something. I just wish they would expand the Luminae menu by adding an additional entree or three each night. Open for lunch on port days even for an hour. As Beyond has about 200 suites that puts about 400 passengers eligible for Luminae each day.

Thanks for the info. I emailed our TA to get this arranged or told we can't. Just one more thing I don't have to understand but must comply with. I just want a definitive answer so we can arrange our all too scarce frequent flyer tickets. Being en route for 24 +/- hours we would sure like to find some lie flat seats. Then the trip home can be a relative pleasure rather than a necessary evil.

Thanks Jim. I will have my TA contact Celebrity. I know cruisers are "special cases" for day visits to many countries. It just seems odd that we are free to leave the ship when we are "expected" to return but there is a different process to "finally" leave the ship from the same dock. Although it seems odd we will be cautious and hope to get the ok from Celebrity in a timely manner. We want to use our frequent flyer miles so we want to book as soon as the airline opens for booking that date. Unfortunately no Retreat for us this cruise. A Sky Suite is the same cost per day as the RS we were in on Reflection last month. Not within our value proposition. Hope you're enjoying Mexico.

We arrive Mumbai at 0900 Tuesday morning. The ship overnights and the cruise officially ends Wednesday morning. If we carry our luggage is there any restriction on when we can leave the ship and head to the airport? Our preferred flight departs at 0400. We have been to Mumbai and have no reason to stay another day just to leave the hotel at 0100. Has anyone been through this type of situation with an overnight at the last port on the itinerary?

Just wow! We are considering booking our first Silversea cruise so I'm reading many threads. We just got off Celebrity Reflection. Our "upper level" suite costs less per day than a Silversea verandah for reference. My DW wants diet tonic with her gin. Our butler, and previous butlers, tell us that diet tonic is not a standard item the ship stocks. When a suite guest requests it in advance someone goes off ship and buys it locally to have it onboard. It is stored in a cabinet it our suite. I believe we are told this to let us know the supply is finite and that they are going to do everything possible to meet our preferences. Fill in your own motivation as you wish. No bourbon, Chardonnay, etc? Someone should be "counseled"

We did no problem.

On the 11/27 Reflection cruise it did open for lunch in either St. Thomas or St. Maarten. I don't remember. We found the dining venues open for lunch changed frequently. Lesson learned, update your app every morning and check what you are looking for. It is a pain. With the understanding they are understaffed in specialties this must be one of the work arounds.

It will be especially relevant to your Upper Suite Experience if you enlarge and prominently display the Sam's Club register receipt showing the purchase of your gallon of Grey.

We were on Edge in February. For our preferences it was a great ship. The bright, sunny Retreat Lounge is a great modernization from the cigar club decor of yesterday on M and S class. Ships designed and built 10-20 years ago can only be so forward looking. We greatly enjoyed the Michael's Club on Reflection last week though the Edge feel is more to our liking. Edge felt more expansive to us. Vertical space really opens up. That said, I expect everything to evolve. Some new stuff I like better. Some, not so much. Keep updating your own perspective and appreciate that in others. All in all we like Celebrity as the best outcome based on our coefficients in the formula. Yup, another darn engineer.

Some may dismiss this as trivial. I just debarked Reflection on Sunday. We were in a RS. Our card did not have a second color. The indignity I suffered each time the Gelato attendant asked for payment for a second scoop was beyond humiliating. It took at least 10 to sometimes 20 EXTRA seconds for the person to check the cheat sheet and not charge me. When dining we were seated away from the window one evening. Another humiliation even though it was at 2030. Hopefully this situation is now resolved. As I no longer need to print DYKWIA at the top of my landscape card I'll be able to leave my best Sharpie at home. Solves a another vexing problem in that I thought the Butler should mark the card with DYKWIA rather than causing that task to fall to a weary traveler. On another note, Cranston is awesome!

We have had many simple PE arrive/departs. I think the issue is that Reflection was at a remote terminal. No parking and not walking distance from the nearest garage back to the terminal. Especially in bad weather. When we have had parking near our terminal its been easy. Remote terminals and too few shuttle buses are a totally different animal. We will find out on Sunday as Reflection is again scheduled for a remote terminal (29) as Beyond is at 25.

Sorry for your troubles. Thanks for the warning. Hopefully it won't be raining and the garage won't be full. We will shoot to leave Flagler Beach at 7 and be at terminal 29 at 11. We've readjusted our expectations. Not a terminal 25 experience.

We did our first upper suite out of Port Everglades in February. We drive ourselves to the port. We missed the suites check in area as there was a police car parked there which blocked the view of the sign. IIRC the suites area was adjacent to the round about as a landmark if you are self driving. Waiting on our shore side concierge to give us the info for Sunday as we depart from terminal 29 on Reflection. Apparently we need to take a shuttle from the closest garage.

We board Reflection next Sunday. We were timing our drive to the port to be sure we could go to the Porch for lunch. And in Nassau the next day. Very disappointing. Is Sushi on 5 open port days? Looks like an extra hour of sleep for me Sunday morning.

Never did a Genie Suite. We did Crown Loft Suite. Cabin was awesome. Coastal Kitchen was bad. Although specialty dining was not included we enjoyed all we went to. On Wonder TA we just bought the Unlimited Specialty dining but didn't pay for a suite. I'm guessing that the Genie will solve all issues for you. The biggest advantage of Luminae for us vs specialties is that we don't need a reservation. Even in a RS we've always needed reservations for specialty. For us Luminae is below specialties but above Blu and MDR. We value the flexibility. Sounds like some great experiences for you and your family!

Don't ever spend money on a Royal Caribbean suite on a ship with Coastal Kitchen. If you think Luminae is "throttled" with Sky and Celebrity Suite passengers you'd love the inside cabin Pinnacles filling the Coastal Kitchen to the exclusion of paid suite passengers. Unless you want to dine next to the kitchen door at 9:00pm. They are easily recognized by the DYKWIA name tags. Really!

Not sure its increased demand or less value offered in suite bids or both. We are on Reflection 11/27. Had booked AQ with a plan to bid for a suite. When we saw the minimum bids we just bought up to RS. It was less than $100 more than the minimum bid. No fuss, no muss and we got the Captains Club points for an RS. In Feb we went from a Sky Suite to RS on Edge and the bid plus fare paid was many $1000's less than booking a RS.

Absolutely agree on RCCL and their Pinnacles. Just think of how little spend is required to get there. Then consider the Celebrity spend required to get to Zenith. We won't book a suite on RCCL after we spent $1500+/day and couldn't get within an hour of our preferred dinner time in Coastal Kitchen because it was full of Pinnacles. I have no problem with loyalty perks. During my working days I was the beneficiary of many upgrades from Delta. I am quite certain though that I never displaced a passenger who bought a first class ticket. So Celebrity suites have me hooked. And I don't have a strict dress code!

Njhorseman, Perfect, thanks.I think we can save half the fare and do a PH rather than the OC while having a great time.

Frequent cruisers in Celebrity Retreat/Suites. Entry level suites vs higher level suites are different experiences other than the square footage purchased. Is that true on Oceania? We can't really find differences other than space defined between a Penthouse Suite and an Oceania or Vista Suite. I'd appreciate your knowledge or a link for me to follow and learn. Thanks in advance,

Easy to say take the cruise but not happening. Most insurance policies require the policy holder to take actions to minimize further damage. You can’t just go on vacation with a tree on your house and a hole in the roof. Yes, she lives in Florida which is a declared disaster area and the airport is just starting to open up.

My sisters home was severely damaged by Ian. She was supposed to sail Sunday from Boston. Does Ty have travel insurance. TA says RCI will not make any accommodation. Any thoughts on if that is really the case. She didn’t buy travel insurance as she thought she would be covered by credit card. Card will not cover the FCC portion which is most of the cost.

Lest it seem like I complained I’m really thrilled my career choices let us discuss RS vs Ss and escorted vs not escorted. I pinch myself having these choices and discussions.