Jim_Iain

Your not alone. We often book the day a cruise is released. Our furthest out booking is currently a B2B on Equinox November - December 2024. By booking early was able to get the same cabin for both cruises. Also the prices have already jumped quite a bit in price.

Thanks for posting. Really enjoying your verbiage and of course your wonderful pictures.

Generally the ability to enter Credit Card is only available in the App once on-line CheckIn begins. The app will give you the exact date. Having said that I find that at least in my case my Credit Card is stored (possibly from the reservation). When I go to purchase anything - excursions, dining etc it is always there and have accidentally not put in the amount to be used from OBC and had it charge my credit card. I then have to go back and cancel and rebook correctly. After you select an Item to purchase or book go to Check Out Basket - At the very bottom - it shows my CC and asks for the CVV (since I haven't used it on this sailing). It also has a spot to delete or change the credit card number.

I'm also a sparkling water drinker. While I always have a premium package I often order Club Soda, which is available under the Basic Package.

As others have said the App is your go to place. Select a ship and choose the current sailing and then choose your dining room. The menus are listed by day and meal. I have only traveled in Suites but can tell you the Suites Menus are mostly unchanged from pre-Covid and I was definitely not disappointed with the OVC. Instead of cancelling a cruise based on a few that are verbal and tear down everything, I would take your cruise and compare for yourself. I have a feeling you will find more things the same than different.

Library is very limited on M and S class and almost non-existent on an E-Class. Recently when I looked it was almost just books previous guests had left behind.

You may wish to wait and find out what path the hurricane may take. Right now the spaghetti models are all over the place. I am not sure the exact cruise your taking. The captains are really good at choose a route to minimize discomfort and I've been on many cruises where the captain either drops a port or chooses a different port to avoid a storm. Most models are predicting the route will be south of Cuba. Another good resource is on Twitter - RCL Meteorologist James Van Fleet starts posting when when ships are rerouted.

JFI - The original post originated about a year ago.

Thanks for your wonderful review. It will take me a couple days to read it all. You have a wonderful writing style and your pictures are spectacular.

According to the App on Apex Current Sailing - They have Late Nite Dining - I'm sure it's limited between 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM. I know when I was last on Apex they ad Pizza, Pasta and a couple other things available. Maybe someone on board can advise what they have for late nite dining.

There is no hard fact as to when a Guarantee Cabin will be assigned. I read that one person recently had theirs assigned the day after they booked. I have had the experience of not having a cabin assigned until I was at the port. Ya never know. That's why the cheaper price.

May be from the Australia Site but the phone numbers and links are for all departures world wide. I've used it myself from the U.S. You can also call 800-533-7803 (Option 4)

Yes... if you read the flyer there is a per day charge to update to Premium.

My experience has been that in many ports that require Entry Visa's Celebrity applies for the Visa for you. If they don't they send an announcement and have a portal on the Internet Cafe with an open connection to apply. This is however not the case for India. I'm planning on waiting until on the ship and then if necessary apply for it prior to arrival. I'm presuming since there is a $35 fee that the guest will either have to apply for it or will be charged for in on their On Board Account.

Curious what that matters. No Visa is required for the UK and Scotland is part of the UK.

To get the best answer I would contact the "Emergency Team" by phone at the contact in the following link. That is the group I contacted when I requested and paid for the processing of my Down Line Disembarkation Request. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/countries/AU/faq's/Downline Request Form AUD.pdf

I have to agree with you. I read all reviews and then temper them with my own experience as well as others like yours. Do things happen that affect a cruise experience? Yes. I look at reviews the same way I do on Amazon. Regardless of how good a product is there is almost always 10-15% that rate the product with the lowest of rating. I figure that if 75-85% of the people rate the product positive there's a good chance I will experience in the same manner.

To be honest if you were to believe everything you read on these board you would swear that Chicken Little was correct and the sky was falling. I honestly believe there are many on any Social Platform that post anonymously that love to hide behind their anonymity and love attaching others as well as many of the ships. I have yet to sail ANY Celebrity Ship and been disappointed in the ships, the crew and the food. I'm not a cheerleader and do have some differences with Celebrity Loyalty program but it is nothing that would prevent me from sailing any of their ships.

I think it depend on the Butler. We have had some seasoned ones who believe like yours and others that said everything except beer, soft drinks and mixeres were additional.

The downside of unsubscribing to marketing is that you will also not receive MoveUp offers and PowerUp. Instead I create a rule to move all mail from Celebrity into a folder. I occasionally review and then just empty the folder.

Yes you can use OBC both NR and Refundable for both Tip and additional tips. I believe the confusion may be with your reference to Gift Cards. They are a totally different animal and my understand they can only be used for booking a cruise not for OBC. On the otherhand you or others can purchase an OBC form Celebrity.

Personally if Interested I would suggest you book without the perks after calculation the perks you will need. My understanding is the new Internet Pricing doesn't allow you to buy Basic Wifi anymore except For Calculations in looking at my next cruise Internet Premium - 25.99 pp per day but on sale for 17.99 Drink Package Premium $109 (but on sale for 86.99) pp per day Classic $89.00 ( on Sale for 70.99) pp per day Gratuities 15.50 pp per day

I wouldn't expect much. The dry dock is mostly for maintenance of the ship propulsion system. They will probably also repaint the hull and clean up any rust. They usually also freshen the soft goods - I really doubt there will be any infrastructure change that will be substantially noticeable. She already went through the Revolution and has the Retreat Sun Deck and Retreat updated lounge.

Thanks for the link. It didn't show up under my reservation under Gifts and Gear. I went to your link and purchased a bottle of Grey Goose at $130 plus 18% grat. I then cancelled the bottle at almost 2x the price from cruise planner.

Yes it is the large Liter Bottle.