Jim_Iain

The response time varies by the ship. On recent cruises I've fount the Retreat to be very responsive and if I call the agent would be able to look at my record and confirm that the requests were sent to the ship. I would try calling again and if they can't confirm ask to speak to a Supervisor.

We just returned from a similar and longer cruise on Solstice. Possibly you would like to look at Solstice as theri cruise will be different. On our Cruise we did an overnight in HNL, and overnight in Hilo and and overnight in Hana followed by all those sea days to Vancouver. Agree with your opinion of the direction that Celebrity is heading.

No. The refundable only covers you up until final payment date After that the percentage by number of days apply. You are correct the NRD really doesn't makes sense unless you know in advance that you are likely going to cancel. I've done it before when no suites were available and knew we wouldn't go unless a Suite was available. Usually it is a better option to purchase the NR and pay the $100 pp to change a reservation to a different cruise if necessary

@Nark_K quoted it exactly.

Really enjoyed following along. Your photos are incredible and bring back so manly warm memories.

Safe travel home. Really enjoyed following along with your travels. I grabbed a virtual Lemon Tart yesterday.... just wasn't the same.

I may be wrong but I believe you have to go through a couple screens before selecting a time. I believe you have to put in name, address, passport etc. I'm sure others will correct me if I am incorrect.

yes --- it is one of the item on the right hand list. You can just click it and it take you to select a time. Nothing else has to be filled in to select a time.

As others have said - I doubt any cruise line will answer visa questions especially if requesting information about a relative that doesn't hold a U.S. Passport. One site you may wish to check out is https://www.passportindex.org/travel-visa-checker/ another reliable one is https://apply.joinsherpa.com/travel-restrictions They are a site for obtaining visa's but will give you an idea of requirement. The second one correctly noted for example a Brazil Visa is not required until April 2025.

My experience is you have to either connect the reservations using the Website if you control the reservation or call you agent and have them join the reservations. After joined your reservations you should be able to access both from your primary reservation. I was able to do this with friends from Australia. I even checked in for them with check in opened so we all had the same checkIn time

I also rarely get local currencies and can advise that the exchange rate on the ship is really not good. You would do much better just exchanging it at a local currency dealer. As above in the cashless world of today I usually just use ApplePay and tip in U.S. Dollars. I've noticed that the majority of the tips given were in USD, UK Pounds or A$. They are grateful for any tips as tipping in many Asian countries is not the norm.

Personally I use a combination of both the App and the Website. The app is easier to just go in and grab a check in time without going through multiple screens. Yes you can check in all the guests but have to select a check in time for each separately. We also were linked with friends from a different country and I was able to select checkin times for them that were the same as us. They were able to come back the next day and put in all their passport, cc and details. I also find it easier to use the App to scan in Passport Information as oppose to entering it manually. I like to use the web app to add the pictures as I do it from pictures we have stored on my pc. You can use either to revise information at any time up until 48 hours prior to sailing.

I think you can get to it by approaching from the deck below and taking the spiral staircase up from the 2 MDR's on Deck 4- you exit right at Blu and before Eden

That was pretty much what I've seen across the fleet after they started throttling it. I found that it worked pretty good for us and was able to stream without problems.

It depends on what you are spoofing for. For YouTubeTV often if you use a server other than one in your TV Market it thinks you are out of area and won't allow you to watch your usually local stations but can still view your recordings. For Netflix - really doesn't matter as long as Netflix tags the IP as heavily used --- in that case just choose another - often a little used server like Kansas City

If you are staying in Sydney for a couple of days we had a wonderful AirBnB - We were close enough about 1/4 mile we just walked to the port the morning of our cruise with our suitcases. (it was all downhill)

LOL - another rebel. I live about 1 mile from Google Headquarters and Google is my Best Friend.

I sometimes search on Google adding the word CruiseCritic and it finds threads that are impossible to searching on CC.

Thanks for posting. Very useful.

Really enjoy his very detailed and informative reviews. His reviews also pointed me to QM2 to give her a try.

It's always to see other's opinion - even if it is different than ours. As a reference point we are Double Zenith and had sailed exclusively in upper suites for 24 years. After spending 13 weeks on Apex and Edge in the past year, we have decided we will never sail on an E-Class ship ever again. I agree with you the ships are beautiful but they have some major downsides in our views. Notable the sound issues with all of the specialties dining rooms. No Walls--- open to loud Lobby with ear splitting "Light Show" The other main issue is the sheer number of passenger in Luminae. Unlike the M and S class ships were they cook your meals to order - On E-Class the cook more cafeteria style and I have had numerous dishes that were totally inedible or cold on the outside while on a piping hot plate. We will be taking out first cruise on QM2 in October and wont' be trying to comparing it to Celebrity but experience it as a new chapter in our life. After 24 years with Celebrity We have booked 2 Cunard Cruises, 2 Oceania, 1 Silversea and 1 Celebrity so far this year. We definitely are no longer and exclusive Celebrity Fan. On the brighter side we just returned from 5 weeks on Solstice and love it with the exception of some small but noticable cut backs --- 1 QTips so thin stems you can't use them (had to buy my own). No Butter in OVC Grill - they have switched to little tubs of a butter blend, Butter in Luminae Cut back to 50% of normal size and Ice Cream in Luminae that was totally inedible, Icy, bad taste and texture of ice milk.

Glad things have worked out for you. I was getting angry for you ---- especially since it is your honeymoon. Even though it was resolved it left a nasty taste in my mind toward Cunard.

I have an older plan called 2 Line One All In Plan and when traveling internationally I also get 5g Speed when available for 5gb of data. After that it throttles my speed to 256 kbs (unlimited). I've only passed the 5 Gb usage a couple times and the 256 was ok for using maps etc but little else.

Enjoying your live post. The photos are incredible.

I think I got the same treatment once coming through JFK. It was a connecting flilght so got the treatment both in San Francisco and then again at JFK. In my case at the entry to the plane the took me aside to a screened off area to do the secondary. I have a feeling that even with Global Entry it is just random. On this one Iain got it and I didn't. We have never both been tagged on the same trip.