Jim_Iain

Someone created a tool to do just that for any Celebrity / RCL cruise . Just fill in a blank yellow line and copy the link for Excursions.... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ukT6gOPcu7coL92LuDcyDaWXQfO88u5kN9FEdHRj5bM/edit?gid=0#gid=0

I"ve noticed the same on many of the Premium Lines I've been booking with. The top end Cabins and the bottom end cabins book really quickly when reservations first open. Even though the deposits are higher - You can cancel and only pay a low $100 pp processing fee. I think many book and then cancel later. Use to be very common on Celebrity also.

There is no lounge for Retreat guests in Sydney. If in an upper suite - RS and above they will pull you out of the suites line and expedite your processing. To be honest Sydney handles boarding rather quickly and the biggest delays will be security and Customs / Immigration. One think I like most at Sydney is at the entrance to the terminal they have baggage handling staff open to receive bags around 8:30-9:00 AM. They also have a sign that say.... Arrived early drop your bags and enjoy the rocks....

I've sailed most of the ships in the Celebrity fleet an find that the S-Class is our sweet spot. Many of the features of the E-Class that many rave about are the reason we have decided to never sail another E-Class. Probably 95% of the ship is open to all. The main areas you may refer to are things Like the Retreat, Retreat Deck, Luminae and Blu. Solstice never went through The Revolution so all passengers have access to the two front facing decks while on the E-Class have much larger restricted areas and the Revolutionized M- and S- Class ships have dedicated sun decks. There are disadvantages on E-Class ships but you either lover them or hate them and the same with S and M class ships. To be honest I really only notice the decor on the first day I arrive and then it just becomes the norm. I would have no qualms on booking Solstice.

John -- interesting and rather outdated as he was talking about WindowsXP and really old Wifi capabilities. When I was young(er) I use to enjoy PenTesting (Penetration Testing) on my Own and other Servers and WiFi. Didn't do much with it except when traveling I liked to hack into an accessible WiFi router to get free WiFi Was much easier before many of then new encryption modes. I've done some testing on my New Google Nest Router and it took over a week processing to un-encrypt the password. While I have never done it - I think it would be pretty easy to hack into someones WiFi Account. With a brute force program and a word list of usernames and 4 digit pins could probably hack a couple in less than 30 minutes.... really wouldn't be helpful as you would toss them off the air.

They both have Private Browsing. Really important to understand what your expectation of Privacy is. In Private Browsing Mode on both Mozilla and Safari - the browser won't remember your browsing history, removes tracking cookies etc. I think all browsers now have an incognito mode. It will not block someone from hacking your information over a public WiFi connection. That is where VPN is helpful in keeping your data encrypted and less prone to hacking. This is only my opinion but but I don't think hackers hang out on cruise ships trying to capture data packets. ....but of course is possible on any unsecure Public Wifi network. It would be much easier at a Starbucks and not have to pay the high cost of a cruise.

Only problem is they also pulled the Filet off the Kid's Menu - Replaced that with a NY and then recently heard they pulled the steak completely. It use to be the go to when nothing else interested us.

Looking forward to following along. Hope you and your Mom have a fantastic vacation.

After you select the Ship's Wifi you have to log into your Celebrity Account. It sometimes pops up the menu but if not use the built in browser and go to guest.onboardicafe.com and log on using one of your accounts. You can stream using VPN if needed to spoof your location. Many of the streaming channels require you to be in the U.S.

Look forward to hearing about your Africa adventure. I think we will enjoy RSS. Like you we almost never go to shows and don't participate in things like trivia etc. I know some love it and I would much prefer do my 10 mile walk a day. Wonder how challenging it will be on a smaller ship. It did look like they had nice deck and I don't mind walking hallways. After traveling for about 23 years in upper suites on Celebrity we really (I really loved) having two rooms due to someone I will not mention snoring. I found on Ponant I could survive using Bose Sleep Buds. I still have by buds but also have a set of their replacement Ozlo Buds. Bose discontinued the products and some employees brought a new product to market.

I use to hate the Firestick as compared to Roku but recently using Firestick more and more at home. When I'm up early I use my Bose Headset to not disturb Iain. It works seamlessly with Firestick but not with Roku. Also Firestick allows built in VPN apps while Roku has zero support.

They no longer add pages. I did that a couple times while living overseas. At least when we renewed it said you had to obtain a new passport. Not sure when they changed. FAQ from State Department - You cannot add visa pages to a current passport book. If you need more pages, you must renew your passport book. Apr 30, 2024

I can only Imagine. Iain use to work at SF Federal Reserve. He was offered a tour of the vaults with all the new paper monies. He said it was incredible how much cash they had, each full of cart held between $4-6 Million and were packed inside a room the size of a football field.

We applied for the extra page books this time but with all the new electronic processing will probably never get another stamp.. LOL

Ahh... the good news is that when we applied in late May it took a month from mailing application until receipt of new passport. Checking status it took 3 weeks processing time. For some reason it took Iain a week longer. I mailed both at the same time and his took about 5 days extra to say received. Much faster than we were expecting. One thing I found interesting was when they were mailed back they were mailed from Hot Springs, Arkansas.

To be honest .... we are too.

I complain about those OLD people all the time. Then Iain reminds me they are probably YOUNGER THAN YOU. OK I have a Dorian Gray mirror....

To be honest -- the only difference between a 2 device for one person and one device for 2 persons is that in the first you create one longon (which can be shared by two people) or create two accounts one for each person. In RS we get 2 accounts each for a total of 4. We rarely use all 4 at the same time.

Currency aboard Celebrity is always USD regardless of location in the world.

Good to hear your passport is on the way home. We renewed our this summer also... ran out of pages. Iain also renewed his British Passport so we are all set.

I'm sure others experience may differ. We were on Edge Singapore to HNL and HNL to Vancouver (28 days) in April of 2024. Not sure if this is recent. Both our Waiter and the MD encouraged us to order off MDR or Blu menu and would deliver every evening. They suggested ordering the day before but also said if we didn't find anything they would send someone down to get the dish. We tried to always do it the night before. We knew another couple in the dining room that had Filet's almost every night. They were not the 4 ounce Filets but the full size. I'll be honest. We are not a big fan of Luminae on Edge class and probably will either choose M or S class or other cruise lines going forward.

John... you got a chuckle out of me. I sure you meant a World Class Wine List vs a Working Class List. NA Wine may fall under the working class -- Vintage July 2024. LOL I always kid the Sommelier when he offers a taste... I don't think it turned into wine.

I've met some bartenders that made roses out of the bar napkins. Might have been a Black Rose.

We are late diners and normally will show up around 8:45. One think we enjoy about late dining is that it gets quieter and quieter as other guests finish their dining. We have never felt rushed or frowned upon and often the staff feel more comfortable engaging in longer conversation, not having to rush to server others. I have to say that this is 99% on Celebrity as we will not sail Cunard for the first time until October.

Generally, Iain drinks Grey Goose and Tonic for cocktails and Chardonnay with dinner. On Celebrity I usually order an Alcohol Free wine. Does Cunard offer any Alcohol Free wines? If not I usually drink San Pellegrino or other natural sparkling waters. Not a big fan of Evian or Perrier.