abbydancer2003

7 hours ago, Joker54 said:

Was on Solstice from Singapore to Vancouver a month ago. I too like polished shoes and was polishing them when our butler was refreshing our ice. He offered to shine my shoes at that moment and again several times throughout the remainder of the cruise. I prefer to polish them myself. Wonder if this is an inconsistency or if our butler was just offering a service no longer required…….

At least you got ice.  We didn't, but I think maybe it was because we forgot to ask for it.  Clearly not a big problem and not reflected in our review.  We had two excellent butlers and one excellent room steward. (other was fine, we just never saw here).  Post cruise survey still says head butler and retreat host.

We were at Labadee on the Symphony of the Seas in December, and also in Falmouth.  We're on the Ascent in January, and Labadee was just changed to Falmouth.  

Last time we were there we left the port area, because DH forgot to bring his ties.  We found a nice little store selling them so he got one.  We also went to a local grocery store, looking for JBM coffee.  

This time we'll probably just hang out in the port area.

When I tried to book a 4 night on the Beyond on the flash sale price, it only gave me a choice of first night, with nothing available.  I had to call.

5 hours ago, billc23 said:

Luminae typically closes at 8:30 for breakfast on a port day.

I think Solstice was the first time I've seen that.  In the other 3 I did in the last 6 months, I thought it was just 9 for all, but I could be wrong.

34 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We finally made it home safe and sound. Thanks again everyone for following along! 

 

 

Thanks again.  By the way, we were in Montgomery in February.  The Rosa Parks museum is outstanding and after we had some pretty good pizza.

We’ll be doing Scandinavia on Apex in August so following.   

On 5/9/2024 at 9:20 AM, DougandEric said:

I just booked through Viator for 3/2025 from Auckland before our cruise.  I didn't want to possibly miss the ship with Hobbiton being so far away.  I'd rather endure a longer bus ride than miss the ship.  Our tour includes the glow worm caves, leaves from the CBD at 6:20AM and is expected to return about 5:30PM.

I thought it was too far as well, so we're flying to Auckland before Sydney, staying for 3 days, and then heading to Sydney a week before our cruise.  We're renting a car, and I'm booking it all myself.  So far I have the dinner tour at Hobbiton, on our last full day, and the Glow Worm caves on the first full day.  We do, after Hobbiton have to drive the 2 hours back to Auckland to drop the rental car and stay at an airport hotel, but c'est la vie.  We go to Auckland again on the Edge, so will probably go to the Weta exhibit there.

Since the OP went last year, did they ever post what they did?

5 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Conner announced the morning of our departure that he's getting married.  Apparently his fiancé also announced to her team that morning as well.  

  

If I typed Eliza I blame it on auto correct.  Eliya was our other Retreat Concierge.  She was fantastic and such a bundle of joy.  We actually ran into her and her husband at a ramen place in Hakodate.  

 

Yup, that was her on the Apex.  You certainly had great retreat concierges.  Is Conner going to continue being a concierge, do you know?

thanks for doing this.  We're on the same itinerary at the end of June, along with the preceding 6 day cruise.  I've done quite a few ABC cruises, but not on the Beyond.  It will be DH's first time on Beyond and my second.

Looking forward to reading about your experiences. 

Sapphire is one of my very favorite ships.  Have a wonderful time.

5 minutes ago, monkey@cruise said:

Suzie passed away in 2017, so I changed CC named from SSN.  Travelling in Japan is relatively easy, most of the port I did DIY. If sailing the Spice Route, will be head spinning for all of us.

Sorry to hear that.  Glen has been there for business before, and enjoyed it.  Thanks

11 minutes ago, monkey@cruise said:

Abby, we both did Antarctica on Star Princess;  and Iceland TA on Caribbean Princess. I will do the Expo 2025 in Osaka and take Discovery Princess to Singapore.

Right - how are you guys?  As I recall, you changed your cc handle between them.

5 minutes ago, rinshin said:

When is your cruise to Japan?  

March 16 2026.

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 There were a number of people on our roll call who were not in suites that I would also love to hear from.  I spoke with a couple of them and encouraged to them comment but they were always amazed at how I found time to do the comments that I did do.  

 

 As you might have noticed this was a very port intensive cruise and my wife and I were just commenting about how great it was we planned a couple of days in a hotel before flying home.  We are still recovering form having to get up early most mornings of the cruise to get ready for our day ashore. 

 

9 hours ago, villauk said:

You need a vacation after a port-intensive cruise 😁. We’ve actually planned that after our August Japan cruise: a relaxing 10 days on Connie six weeks after we return from Millie 😉. Thanks again for the wonderful review; I, too, am amazed at how you managed to post as often as you did with such full days - bravo!

Our first Celebrity cruise was an Eastern Med cruise, with 2 sea days out of 10.  I told DH we needed a vacation from our vacation.

We had Conner on the Summit last year - he was great.  Maybe Eliza on the Apex, not sure it was same, but if so, she was great also.

I still haven't got the email.  I didn't get the last one either, but did up until then.  I think I'll watch it later tonight and see what happens.

Thanks again.  My plan is to review this again when our trip gets closer.  It seems a bit overwhelming right now. 

1 hour ago, mahasamatman said:

 

Not logical in the days of computers. It's not like they need any manual intervention to send blast emails. They could easily send them all out at once if they wanted to.

Maybe.  Depending on their servers, sometimes marketing emails (as these technically are) are sent out in batches in order to prevent their servers from being overloaded.

10 hours ago, zitsky said:

What flavor?  

 

Plain old potato chips.  I really like them.  Probably Lays or something.

28 minutes ago, jelayne said:

So nothing finalized according to the article.  🥱 

That's my take.

On the Equinox in 2021, we went to the sundeck late afternoon and asked if they had potato chips.  After that, anytime we were there, and the same server was there, she'd bring us chips.  

We just got off of the Solstice, and for 28 of our 41 days were in an aft corner sky suite.  We were on deck 7, and that may have been longer then higher decks.  We were constantly joking about needing provisions for our walk to our room.   It was a hike.  

DH just pointed out that there are crew elevators in the back, he said he saw them.  If not, our poor wonderful butler had a lot of hiking to do, as he had the aft skys.

31 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

BTW the potential for seeing the Northern Lights just after we arrive at Whittier, Alaska around midnight tomorrow night is looking pretty good!

 

 
The sky around Whittier is also currently forecasted to be free of clouds tomorrow evening, especially to the east!

 

 
And with the Whittier sunset around 10:32, hopefully we’ll have quite the light show to watch after we dock around midnight! 🤞
 

 

 

I'm so jealous.  8 Alaska cruises so far and no lights ever for me.  Enjoy!

Have a wonderful trip.  I do hope it lives up to you hopes and dreams.  I love Alaska, and will probably be be back in 2026.

We were just B2B in a sky suite.  Our butler said to write B2B on the slip and you can do it.  We didn't try it.

For specialty restaurants the Eclipse has Murano (continental), Tuscan Grill (Italian/steak), Le Petit Chef (gimmick), and Sushi on 5. If we do one, it's Murano.  

We did our first Royal on Symphony in a suite last year.  We prefer Celebrity - Royal was a bit too big for us, but we had fun.  One difference is that Coastal Kitichen was open for lunch every day, Luminae, like main dining is closed on port days.

On the Eclipse, the Luminae kitchen is co located with the main dining kitchen, so you can order from the main dining menu if you want.  

I've been on the Eclipse a few times, and have her booked again next year.  My sister and I will bringing her back after the 2025 European summer.