elf426

21 minutes ago, numberguy said:

You had to ask for one if you wanted to see it, or you could have scanned a QR code (if you could find it) on your phone.  We also learned there are certain things they can't make at every bar, but they'll go to other bars to get them.  The LGBT group met in the mojito bar each night at 7, but there were several Europeans in the group who wanted Aperol spritzes, so the waiter would go to the Mixx bar to get them.

 

--Michael

Did you at all find it odd that the majority of their mojitos were not uh...mojitos? Sticking a sprig of mint in a cocktail does not a mojito make. Conversely, I asked for an Aperol Spritz in the Haven lounge one night, which didn't have all of the ingredients and ended up with some sort of grapefruit concoction. Can't screw up a glass of bubbly. 

1 hour ago, CarolinaMamma said:

Thanks for sharing your review! It sounds like higher-end cruise lines may be better for you unless and until you decide to have kids. For us, the Haven gives us the peace and quiet, no lines, and better food we want while on a big ship that has fun stuff for our teens to do. 
 

i agree with you that the “free at sea” promotions are kind of deceptive. A $50 per stateroom credit is not really “free shore excursions,” but a coupon. The internet package doesn’t bother us, because we cruise to get away from the internet. I wish NCL included bottled water and coffee drinks without having to buy the premium plus beverage package. (Celebrity has a premium

non-alcoholic package that includes these). 
 

Did you try the thermal spa on Getaway? It’s a lovely, adults-only area. At least I’m pretty sure Getaway has one. Her sister ship, Breakaway, does. 
 

With a little pre-cruise research, we’ve had some excellent experiences on NCL, but once we are empty nesters, we may upgrade to higher end cruise lines. 

No worry about the "kids someday" here. We talked ad nauseum about if the ship were just the Haven, we'd have loved it, which begs the question what is the next step? I don't mind kids on cruises, however, there's something drawing me personally to Viking Ocean, which is 18+. VV is also adults only, but it's its own animal and I'm a bit of a traditionalist. My favorite spaces on Celebrity Edge this past July were the magic carpet bar and the solarium. 

We didn't try the thermal suite as there was some confusion about whether or not masks were required, which seemed pointless then. @mrmerlin2005can you confirm what the ruling was?

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I think this brief consensus is that even with research, you can’t possibly grasp the breadth of the Haven your first go-round. That’s fine, I hope this didn’t come off that I was miserable the whole time. Mudslides, cranberry mimosas, super soft loungers and a king size bed will generally make me a pretty happy gal. It’s just all the Haven “isms” that take some time to learn. 
 

I’ll get the dailies posted shortly for those that asked (mindless sales inserts not included).

This review has been brewing in my mind since before we even set foot onboard, but it's struggling to come out how it sounds in my head. I can only describe my first Haven experience as an initiation where I wasn't given a pledge book. Not sure how this will come across to everyone (I'm guessing it'll be "you're not the prototypical Haven client"), but here goes:

A little background
Two 30-something DINKs on their first NCL sailing - in The Haven no less (dramatic oohhing and ahhhing). We're historically Royal loyalists, although this is our third post-Covid sailing on three different lines - Celebrity Edge in July, Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady in October. We chose this NCL Getaway sailing as my husband had FCC from a prior cancelled that needed to be used and the price and timing worked out. 

Embarkation
Our 3.5 hour drive from the Orlando area to Miami was uneventful. Our drive from arriving to the Port of Miami to the terminal...well, I can say now it set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. No directional signage to be found, we eventually made it to the garage only to find zero available spaces, save for low emissions ones. Guess where we parked. 

The pre-boarding testing queue was outrageous. We arrived at noon and the entire testing process took us just under two and a half hours. This pre-board testing is not new for NCL and if this is how it's run all the time oooohhhh buddy. I assumed (shame on me) the line outside was the line. After about 20 minutes we got to the building entrance where security was hand-wanding people. Not exactly sure the point of this since they weren't checking bags, but sure, create unnecessary bottlenecks for the sake of "security". Then...Welcome to Thunderdome. Seriously, that's the only way to describe the testing room with its maze of switchbacks and bodies. Two hours of weaving around a room, listening to the party behind us complain about how long the line is. We know, we're here, too. Please back up a step and quit breathing down my neck, sir. I wish I could say what the slowdown was, but even know thinking back I have no idea. There looked to be about 20 testing stations and all you did was scan your barcode, confirm your name and DOB, self-swap your nose and they handed you your results card with directions to the waiting zone. The two of us took all of three minutes at the station. 

It was 2:30 when we finally entered the terminal and were sent straight up to Haven check-in. I hear there's like a lounge with snacks and whatnot, but we didn't even have a chance to look around. ID check, handed keys, walked on board. Easy peasy. Finally.

Cabin
We had booked a Haven Courtyard Penthouse Suite. The room was fine, the bed was great, actually. I'm surprised how many people say they dine in their rooms - do you get a bigger table when you order room service? Ours was a tiny cafe table and I can't imagine dinner being served there. We weren't lacking for storage, although the tiny drawers in the closet were laughable. Only two American outlets in the entire room is something that needs addressed ASAP. Not ok. Balcony furniture was comfy, although I would have enjoyed a lounger. *I'll note here something I saw on a familiar social media site where someone with a "large balcony" posted that she was unhappy with the furniture provided (a cafe table and two chairs). Someone responds with "well, why didn't you ask your butler for some loungers?" Who would think to ask for different furniture?!? Am I crazy? If there were supposed to be loungers, there would have been. I'd never in a million years think to ask the butler for new furniture. See top comment about Haven initiation.

Service
Speaking of butlers, ours was Ricky. He was very nice and did all the things I'm generally used to a cabin steward doing. Again, first-timers in the Haven and not sure what to really use the butler for. Our room attendant was Edwin. The main concierge in the Haven Lounge was David and I also saw Ivan. We had an excellent server on multiple occasions, Ronie (one "n") and bartender Christian was good as well. I needed assistance from the concierge twice, once to modify a specialty dining reservation that was made incorrectly on embarkation day at Headliners, and again for a spa appointment that was decided spur of the moment while we were at the bar. Overall service was good. My biggest complaint would be lack of attendants in the courtyard, but I learned to always get a drink on my way outside.

Food
Dining in the Haven restaurant was pleasant, generally. I think we had breakfast four times, lunch twice and dinner three times "in the bubble". One tidbit I did get out of my pre-cruise research was to ask for filet at breakfast one day in advance. What I didn't know, and maybe this isn't a regular thing so don't go all "well ELF said...", was that once we put that order in it became a standing order. On the plus side, my husband got filet and eggs twice (we had put the request in for Christmas morning), but he could have potentially had it every day? Lesson learned. We also ate dinner at Cagneys with our one "free at sea" certificate and once at the noodle place by the casino. No major complaints, however, be prepared to be chastised if you don't eat three courses at lunch. Twice we went and had just soup or just a sandwich and our waiter acted like it was the end of the world. I was initially miffed that the menu doesn't rotate (Coastal Kitchen on RCI is my only comparison), but I got over it. 

Also, as to the great debate of dress code in the Haven restaurant, yeah.....nice try. On Christmas night one family got turned away dressed in swim coverups, but when the mom went back to the hostess stand to clarify who needed to change, she was told just the son (who was wearing a tank top). We saw shorts on men at all meals, hats more at breakfast and lunch, bathing suits at all meals (hard to hide a hot pink string tie around your neck). Did it change the way my food tasted? Nope. 

Lastly, single handedly the worst pizza onboard any ship. Buffet only and gross. Sometimes a girl just wants a snack, dang.

Entertainment
Sorry, I went to Howl at the Moon once and no other shows. I slept a lot. I read two and half books. I guess this ties more into ship layout, but I found it very peculiar that so much activity took place in the main atrium. Movies were shown there, the love and marriage show was there, trivia was there, Christmas Mass from the Vatican was shown there. With so many venues on board, I wonder why they chose that option (especially L&M with its "PG-13 rating"). The other weird thing I thought about the overuse of the atrium is its proximity to the arcade. The clang of the air hockey machine would wreck any movie for me. Oh, and CD "Travelling Jeff" - take it down a notch and please never bing! again.

Random Thoughts
We "got" all of the Free at Sea perks, however, they're no more of a nickel and dime scheme than buying a la carte. You still pay tax on the drinks package, the Wifi was dismal at best. Some of you will call me cheap, but I try to stay in my pre-purchased lane. I never once saw a wine list or bar menu in the Haven, so I did my best to assume that whatever I was ordering was within reason. However, I never saw anyone sign slips for what I assumed were overages (higher end whiskeys for instance). The non-stop in-room voicemails, TV messages and daily inserts for next cruise, photo studio, excursions was brutal. The upsell is hard, guys. 

Overhead announcements: necessary evil or effective mode of communication? In this case, chaotic evil. I get that the captain needs to come on and do his blah blah nautical miles blah blah but between his briefings then Jeff jumping on the mic twice a day it was overkill. Perhaps I'm biased and our last sailing on VV ruined me forever with its NONE overhead announcements. 

Covid protocols: performative at best. Like someone from this same sailing posted earlier, one poor guy was plopped into the main entrance of the buffet with a spray bottle of sanitizer (while six sinks and two additional sanitizer machines sat unused). Haven hostess Janet was pretty reliable in asking to washy washy on the way in. There was directional signage in the stairwells (up and down) but they felt backwards and I thought they were from the European sailings and would get taken off...alas, it didn't stop anything. While the onboard mask protocol was dropped in our laps at the 11th hour, most onboard did a decent job complying. We all have opinions about it and respectfully, this isn't the debate floor. They made the rule and we did our best to observe it. 

Did I maximize my Haven experience? Not a damn clue in the world. How are you supposed to know if you did or not? Did I use the exclusive restaurant every day? Yes. Did I use the exclusive pool and courtyard every day? Yes. Did I ask my butler to do cartwheels down the hall while singing Jingle Bells? No, but can I? I don't need for much. I can get my own coffee, I like eating in restaurants, I can make my own dinner reservations. Am I the wrong customer for the Haven? Can you desire upgraded amenities, pool chairs and steak without feeling like you have to ask someone to hold your hand?

Did the Haven ruin me forever? Well, kinda. See, I doubt I'll ever sail NCL as gen-pop, but I'd try the Haven again if the price was right. I'll say that 90% of this sailing was spent in the "bubble" of the Haven. It's slightly unfair of me to judge NCL as a whole based on one-tenth of one ship, but hey, if not on CC, where 🙂 Lacking an adults-only area like the solarium on RCI or Celebrity, I didn't find another hidey hole onboard Getaway that mimics that environment (aside from the Haven courtyard, which isn't adults only and that's a debate for  another day, too). And no, Spice H2O is not that area either.

But could I go back to RCI in a junior or grand suite? Totally. Does diamond status that comes with certain perks help me make that decision? Obviously. Is it time for us to graduate from mainstream commercial lines to "upscale" and "luxury"? Maybe. Anyone want to throw out some good options?

I have the dailies in case anyone is interested, just let me know and I'll upload them. I personally found it absurd how much paper we threw away from inserts and notes in the room...and those forsaken paper straws....my molehill...

Thanks for reading and letting me drain my bucket. No future cruising on my horizon but I look forward to living vicariously through all of you.
 

OP, I was onboard Getaway as well and I'll agree with your assessment of the CD (bing!)

22 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

No problem. Since we're in our late 60s and pretty much stay at home and work around the farm when we're not cruising, we usually keep our expectations low so we're usually wowed by everything we experience while on a cruise. Of course, having a glass of Bailey's to sip on while watching the show always helps! 😎

A glass of Baileys was exactly the drink I needed to watch the dumpster fire of a DJ in the nightclub the first night 🤣

7 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks for your insights while you were on your cruise. Just curious, you didn't mention the evening shows. Was that an oversight or did you just not go to them? For us that's one of the things we enjoy going to in the evening as well as going to the game show that is usually held between the two evening shows.

Hi Ken, it’s not oversight but thanks for mentioning it. We generally had dinner around 6 and so the first show had started by the time we finished and I kind of just forgot about the second one. I did stop into the singer on night 2 (the Aretha covers) but didn’t stay for the whole thing. She was amazing and I slightly regret not seeing her set in Eden on night 6 or 7. The magicians don’t really do it for me and I’ve been burned by the production shows in the past. My evenings were mainly spent in the casino or watching the Stanley Cup Final. I’m sure others can give you a better idea of the show quality.

Ok, here it is, the hot mess of my final thoughts....

Reality is four loads of laundry, running and unloading the dishwasher, cooking and going to the grocery store within 24 hours of getting off a cruise. Hell is going back to work on Monday. Purgatory is our neighborhood still setting off fireworks a week after July 4.

While I thought I’d take some time to collect my thoughts on our sailing, Celebrity had other plans and we received our survey before noon on Saturday. I’m not certain everyone was off the ship yet. The only person that dared utter the word “ten” to us was our waiter at dinner the last night in the MDR.

I guess I want to flush out some notes from earlier in the week and throw out some random thoughts:

-          The stateroom doors are very heavy, and as such they slammed a lot. Keep that in mind if you’re an early riser, late-nighter or light sleeper.

o   Speaking of doors, I think our last RCI sailing in “The Before” had a two-sided magnet that was either “do not disturb” or “I’m not in my room” and I thought that was a much better communication system with your stateroom attendant than just “I’m sleeping” or nothing which we had onboard Edge. My afternoon naps are usually unplanned so getting a knock on the door was a little annoying. Cruise ruining? No.

-          Best of the week: Café al Bacio – hands down the star for us, Magic Carpet – my favorite afternoon spot and much breezier on 16 than 14, Muster Drill – I cannot stress enough how painless, quick and easy the new system is.

-          Worst of the week: Oceanview Café – I’m sorry, there’s just no saving it. I know, it’s just the buffet, but hey, why should its quality be any different than any other venue onboard? It’s the most noticeable spot for contradictory Covid precautions (see previous comments on condiments) and people still reached through to grab tongs and serve themselves on occasion. I also found it odd how many crew ate there. Is that normal and I’ve just never noticed before?

-          Spa/fitness center: I’m usually one of those sad, hopeful souls that goes to the spa raffle on embarkation day knowing good and well I won’t win squat but still drops my name in the bucket. This time, as we went to get me signed up for the Peloton, a kind fitness center attendant was waiting at the entrance and asked if we wanted a tour. Hindsight says I should have just told her what I was there for, but in the moment I said “sure”. After a thorough explanation of every single service offered (including the lady stabbing herself with an acupuncture needle to prove how not scary needles are then talking to us with a FREAKING NEEDLE STICKING OUT OF HER HAND), our guide said that if we book a massage today we can get 25 extra minutes free (ie a 75 minute massage for the price of 50 minutes). I returned that afternoon after reviewing the spa menu and was told by the receptionist at the spa desk the offer was good for any massage performed today only – not just booked today. I obviously misunderstood, but I do think our guide didn’t explain it very well. Oh well.

I also asked if the yoga classes were free, as I had noticed in the first sailing’s dailies that some of the classes didn’t have the extra fee symbol (see my Day 3 planner – slow flow yoga doesn’t have the symbol, however, it’s there on Day 6). Sadly no, yoga isn’t free.

Twice I needed the fitness center staff to log into the Peloton bike for access. When you start your session you should have a screen asking which language you want (English or German), and then you’ll put in your username and password. If you have a screen asking for your access key, you’ll need to find staff to log in. Streaming quality was good. I encourage you to bring headphones. My first session the bikes on either side of me were both working out without them and so I got to listen to not only my class, but theirs too! The fifth bike that was there on day 2 never appeared again the rest of the sailing, so there were four at the gym most of the week.

-          We only got overhead captain’s announcements on the mornings we were in port. Is that normal? I feel like I’ve been on cruises that someone, sometimes the CD, made an announcement every day. Is that better or worse? I don’t know but Captain Kate threw out a riddle both mornings and now I’m not sure I got the answer to the second one. Cruise ruined obviously.

-          Elite perks: uhhhhhh basically didn’t use them. Oops. Our stateroom attendant did ask us if we wanted to have laundry done as one bag is included, but we didn’t need it. I never once set foot in the Captains Club Lounge. Is it nice? It’s not that I didn’t use the perks on purpose, but truthfully, the perks sheet got buried after the first day on the desk and half of the perks are drinks, which we didn’t seek out as we already had a drinks package. Similar to RCI, you no longer need to visit the Diamond Lounge for your three free drinks. Oh well. Reading the list again I see that I could have gone to a second wine tasting but I had plenty of access to booze and I have no regrets about missing it.

-          Room review: we had an Infinite Veranda room on Deck 9, forward. The majority of cruises I’ve been on have been balcony rooms so this was a bit of a change. While I much preferred this blackout shade (that still lets some light through) to a curtain, I’d have rather had a sliding door and traditional balcony to this setup. I did enjoy the touch panel controls and the shower was roomy with good water pressure and surprisingly hot water. We had plenty of storage and the included robes were comfy.

-          Overall service: I don’t recall every seeing so many “suits” onboard. Maybe with so few guests in causal daywear they just stuck out more? The crew on board were 99% friendly, accommodating and (I think) happy to be back at sea. I can’t blame the poor guy that just wipes down stair handrails all day for maybe not being as enthusiastic as say the CD, but I always got a “good morning/afternoon/evening” from them.

Now I’ll begin rambling because I’ve tried writing this five times and can’t quite get a concise thought out of my head:

I had seen another thread whose OP said they felt like they paid full price for a less than full-price experience….and some CC commenters tore them to shreds for it. Everyone has their own opinion of the value of a dollar, and to me at least, the point of CC is to share our opinions and then shape our own from them. I don’t fit the mold of the typical Celebrity cruiser. No offense meant, but again, I’ve seen people flat out say that a 30yo couldn’t possibly enjoy Celebrity as it has an older demographic. What I took away from that thread was that yes, cruising is back, but cruising isn’t back as we used to know it and I tend to agree.

Does the lack of the Eden “experience” diminish the value of an Edge sailing? No clue, I never experienced it before. Would I like it? Hard to say. Did I feel like something was missing? No.

Personally, I felt like F&B took the hardest hit in the new system. There was an obvious lack of assistant waiters in the MDRs, perhaps they were who stayed up in the buffet for dinner? The buffet system needs some work as it stands. No, I don’t want to waste food on people who aren’t eating there, but I have some expectation that dinner should be slightly better than lunch.

Was my stateroom any more or less attended to? Not that I’m aware of. We did not opt into the Go Green plan (sorry earth) so we always had fresh linens and a turned down bed each day. Look, if I don’t have to do laundry or cook for a week it’s all worth it in my mind. Did we get towel animals? No – cruise ruined. Do I care? No. Did it probably save our attendant 2 minutes? Sure, I guess.

Was sailing at partial capacity amazing? Yeah, it was. Even six people in an elevator felt crowded. These are the parts of “The Before” that I’m not looking forward to going back to.

What I want moving forward is this mask/bracelet/judgey side-eye ***** to go away. I’m not diminishing what the world has gone through these last 18 months. But asking over and over again how many cruisers are vaccinated or am I going to be safe or “well someone could forge a document”….I’m going to rip my hair out. I’m vaccinated. I’m reasonably healthy. I don’t plan on licking the walls, hugging strangers or drinking the jacuzzi water. A bracelet isn’t going to protect me. If you’re concerned, maybe cruising isn’t for you at the moment? If once you boarded you were told there were 100 unvaxxed passengers would you get off? I’ve been on a Celebrity cruise with a norovirus outbreak and that ish wasn’t fun. Take twice to three times as many passengers on board and turn the buffet tongs around. That’s chaos bottled. Legit a lady sitting next to me one morning was telling me that her husband had been sick the past day but that they still went to the MDR for dinner (insert Disgust from Inside Out here).

For comparison sake, look at what RCI is doing with blocking seats in the theater, removing seats at bars, bracelet checks at entry points of the casino and unvaxxed hours at the gym (per a live review on Adventure, where that poster also mentioned there were 140 kids on board). That sounds miserable. I’m thankful that the environment we were in was relatively non-invasive.

I struggle making an iron-clad opinion because I didn’t pay for this cruise, my husband did. This is not an audit of our personal finances, let’s leave it at that. Would I have paid face value for this cruise out of my pocket? No. But I’m out of Celebrity’s price range as a solo traveler. Did we want to cruise from the US over the July Fourth holiday? Yes, so this fit the bill. Unfortunately, RCI doesn’t honor casino promotions over holidays or we would have been with them for a much lower rate (and apparently greater restrictions).

Well I’ve gone and talked myself into a knot so there you have it. Our first post (mid) pandemic cruise is in the books. Sea pass cards and blue bracelets have been added to my memory board and we’re already researching what’s next. Anyone have any suggestions? We’ve been thinking of dipping our toes into the premium/luxury pond but our options out of the US are limited (not to mention likely being the youngest on board by a margin scenario).

Thanks for following along, commenting, asking questions and being as excited as I was get to get back on board.

1 hour ago, guidance lady said:

Hi, is the parking garage right next to the ship? Did you have any trouble finding a spot? Please keep us posted on your adventures. Thanks!

It's across the street and down just a tad from the terminal. It's no problem for me to walk but I rode the elevator with a nice gentleman who was getting the car while his other half waited at the terminal with the bags. No trouble finding a spot at this point but I've never parked there while it's full.

15 hours ago, sunshinetricia said:

Malin & Goetz-- does anyone know if this is good stuff? I often bring my own when I travel but if this good, I won't bother. I have a feeling I will already be overpacking!

 

Malin & Goetz products are in Delta Sky Clubs and some higher-end hotel brands. I personally think they're very good.

31 minutes ago, cosmo1027 said:

This is so disappointing. Part of the reason we upgraded to premium package was because the Celebrity chart showing drinks available under classic and premium listed IPAs under the premium package.  Well at least I know in advance so that I can set my expectations appropriately.  Thank goodness for the Martini bar! Thank you for the feedback!

I had responded to the original question that yes, Goose Island IPA was on the Magic Carpet - I watched them unbox in and put it in their cooler. Don't know what else they have though.

1 minute ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Hope you don't mind me quoting you, when you were disembarking, at the FLL terminal, did you recall workers not allowing more than one bag on the escalator?  It used to be like that pre-covid but I'm curious if this is still the case as I have an early flight booked.

Do you mean per person? I don't know as I only had one rolling bag plus a backpack. We were also the first 20 people off so I didn't have much of a sample size to view.

1 hour ago, sergel02 said:

Celebrity always picks super super attractive people for their print material and video ads and I’m always like “where are all these people on my ship? I’m definitely not part of them.” Hahaha 

I know why they do it and don’t mind but it always gives me a chuckle.

That's also how I feel about travel agents that do ship tours of empty ships. Show me the martini bar four people deep or the pool deck covered in haphazardly rearranged chairs and crumpled towels! 

1 hour ago, George C said:

I was either eating in Luminae or specialty restaurants, did see people in shorts in specialty and T-shirt and baseball caps. Did see baseball caps in Luminae although did not see any baseballs or bats.

On embarkation day, the foursome in front of us checking in at the MDR asked the hostess if what they were wearing was ok. One guy was in shorts, T-shirt and hat. She said that yes, for today it’s ok but afterward not. He asked if he needed to take his hat off. She kind of non-verbally signaled that he should take it off but it seemed like she didn’t want to expressly say yes or no. So he takes it off…then puts it back on when he go to their table. Go figure. 
 

On the flip side, do iPads belong at dinner? Personally, unless someone is loud or especially smelly (good or bad) how they look doesn’t change my meal. I’d rather the iPad than a screaming kid like we also had on night one. Made me forget the guys outfit in a flash.

2 minutes ago, 39august said:

Elf thanks so much for taking your time to post all this information. Are there still live orchids or other flowers in the public ladies' restrooms?  I so love that touch of class. 

Truthfully I have no idea. While I didn’t notice them (and they could have been there) I thought the projected lights/flowers in the sink were pretty. Also, if I’m the only one that noticed them, I do NOT have any drugs to recommend hahahaha. My husband says he doesn’t remember any sink-light-flowers in the men’s rooms. So I might be hallucinating. Yay!

21 minutes ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

Thanks for all the great info!  Really enjoyed reading your review!

 

I’m curious about the chic nights.  Did most passengers ignore it or did they dress up more?  Our experience is that it is mostly ignored in the Caribbean but we have not sailed there in many years.  We sail next Saturday and all your info has been very helpful even though we have sailed the Edge once before.  

I saw one tux. The second formal night a guy came in wearing shorts and a T-shirt (gasp! Record scratch! Heads turn!). I joked to my husband that food would never taste the same again and my cruise was ruined. I wore a cocktail dress both nights and my husband wore slacks and a button down shirt (no tie or jacket). In comparison, other nights I wore black pants and a “nicer” top (what is that even) or a cotton dress. 
 

19 minutes ago, bama4cruisin said:

I

1.  Any drink at Cafe al Baccio that is $9.00 or less (and that is all but a few), are covered by the Classic Beverage Package, which is what is in the AI.  Any over that limit, you would be charged only the difference plus 20% gratuity on the difference.

 

2.  The Solarium is for ALL guests

 

3.  Can only be answered by someone who is or has been on one of these first cruises 

 

4.  It is reported by passengers on Celebrity cruises thus far, that with the exception of suite passengers, check-in times are being followed.  Suite passengers have a dedicated check-in line.

 

Enjoy your first Celebrity cruise!

To clarify #2, the solarium is for all guests over the age of 16. On our sailing it was a quiet, peaceful nugget of space on board. The loungers are padded, each chair has a pillow, servers will bring you frosty drinks…ahhhhhhhhh take me back!

#3 I can’t say the exact percentage but there were always loungers available and the only time I noticed lines in the buffet where the pizza place bc they couldn’t crank them out fast enough and whenever there wasn’t a server available at a station (which wasn’t that often, but was noticeable). Obviously there will be waits at the omelette station at peak times, just be aware of that going in a don’t let it sour your mood.

Disembarkation info - as I’ve mentioned we did self-assist, which queued in Eden. It was well staffed this morning which allowed everyone to just line up their bags and take a seat in the lounge. Beats standing in a stairwell. 

Day 7 - clearly those two aren’t sad about it being the last day

Day 6 - note that the Magic Carpet moves up to Deck 16 on sea days, whereas it’s on 14 in port (during the day). The bartender told us they’re not serving dinner at the moment, however, it does still go down to 5 in the evening.