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I realize I am just one data point but I don't drink any less (or more) when I am in a suite vs. when I am in a standard room.

You might not realize this, but everyone doesn't vacation the same as you do. Some may actually find an internet connection enhances their experience. Or they may have people and things back home they need to stay connected to.

Did you book through a TA? If so, you probably have to pay them through your TA. By the way, I do not believe you can use OBC on gratuities ahead of time.

I can't find a similar FAQ for Celebrity, but Princess actually has a Cruise Ship Employment FAQ posted on their website on this very topic that says Princess Cruises provides the flight from the crew member's designated airport to their assigned ship. I can't believe Celebrity would be able to compete in getting staff if they weren't routinely doing the same.

It's all interesting to see these figures but I am a bit at a loss of how I (from my very US centric mindset) interpret a crew member's salary. Most are making money to send back home and return back to their home country. So to have any meaningful discussion about what is an appropriate salary, we would have to analyze what the cost of living is in those countries and how far such a salary goes in covering both essentials and those things that make life a bit nicer. A high paying salary is going to look very different in the US than it is in the Philippines or Mexico or many other countries.

I think the point of this chain of comments wasn't to try and tell people they need to wear a mask. The comment was about how to make masks truly effective for those that do wear them. For those that choose (or are required) to wear a mask, you negate your goal of wearing a mask if you then take it off in a crowded room to eat and drink. This is the part that has made me wonder throughout the restart about the effectiveness of passengers wearing masks when they then congregate in bars/lounges and the dining room maskless.

Does anyone know how often crew are tested these days? I hope the easing of mask restrictions which I think is great also means an easing of testing for crew.

For those that haven't received an e-mail yet, Celebrity's FAQ on their website has already been updated with these new rates. https://www.celebritycruises.com/faqs/gratuity-program

The market is pretty separated and not right near the pier so if you don't seek them out, they can't bother you. We discovered them because we are the type to explore the whole island and some of the stuff they were trying to sell looked interesting, they just then wouldn't let you leave! We had no issues on the beach or on the rest of the island.

And this should also mean they are treated the same whether they choose to wear a mask or not. I fear that as it becomes optional, some crew may fear lower tips from some if they continue to mask or may get sick of dealing with some passenger's impatience with the mask and let that override their own comfort level. I just wish we could get to a point where it was completely optional for all but also not judged for those who continue to wear masks.

I have noticed that some of my excursions on my Eclipse Hawaii to Vancouver in April have gone up in the time I have been considering excursions. I was a bit surprised because I didn't think excursion prices changed but to be honest, I may just not have noticed it before. On previous cruises, we booked our excursions and then didn't go back to re-check prices. I only noticed it this time because excursions have been so slow to release (so I'm constantly checking to see if there are more) and there are a lot of moving parts for this trip that are taking longer to come together.

Labadee is very nice (it is one of RCI's private "islands"). It has a dock so you don't have to tender. There are plenty of beaches and lounge chairs. You can pay to do a zip line that I have heard very good reviews about but have not tried myself. It is completely gated off from the rest of Haiti and I'm not sure they ever even offer excursions that go into the rest of Haiti, which I think is still a bit unsettled (ships stopped going there for a while because of political unrest). When I visited there on a Royal ship,drink packages worked at the bars and the food was included in your fare. I would assume the same would be true for Celebrity stopping there. Just a word of caution that the venders in the market can be incredibly aggressive.

I'm pretty sure at least the outdoor pools are not heated and none of them have any sort of cooling mechanism. The warm temperature you are feeling in the pools is most likely because you are in a climate that is experiencing very high heat not because Celebrity turned up the heat. The tap water temperature also could be a ship struggling to keep up against high heat. I live in the south and my home tap water is not all that cold in the summer. There is only so much that can be done to cool it when temperatures get that high.

For my Nov 6 cruise, the check in included three sections "Travel Info", "Arrival Time", and "Health Status". The Health Status section was 3 questions, 2 relating to vaccinations (whether fully vaccinated and whether boosted).

Yes, anyone cruising during hurricane season should expect that one may disrupt their vacation.

There is no live virus in the vaccines that would affect an antigen or PCR test.

There is no mention of airport pickup.

Absolutely it makes sense to offer excursions both days and we don't depart until midnight the second day so there is plenty of time either day. I'm just thrown off by the 10:30 a.m. excursion time on day 1 which is before the typical arrival time windows for embarkation day so I'm not sure how that works logistically.

It's being offered on my Honolulu to Vancouver cruise on the Eclipse next May. We do overnight in Honolulu but this specific excursion is available to reserve for both day 1 (embarkation day) and day 2. I supposed it could be available to B2B guests (as I would imagine some do stay on from the Sydney to Honolulu leg) but if that is the case, it seems odd it would be available to me to book in the cruise planner when I am not a B2B guest. It's not something I had ever seen before. Maybe it is an error.

Is that on Connie? If so, that is exactly where I will be in November watching us sail away from Tampa!

Anyone ever booked an excursion for embarkation day? How were the logistics of checking in and boarding handled? We leave out of Honolulu and they are offering a 10:30 a.m. snorkeling excursion on embarkation day. Does check in start that early or do you check in afterwards? Is there somewhere to put your carry on belongings during the excursion?

I've only done 1 turnaround day and this is what I felt about it - a wasted day and the quiet of the ship really didn't last all that long. We have another B2B booked because there were other things we liked about the cruises but if I have a choice over a B2B or a longer cruise, I will pick the longer cruise each time.

We have Holland on our list to try again (our last Holland cruise was our wedding cruise 17 years ago) and even had the Koningsdam booked at one point (cancelled due to COVID) but these comments don't make me to anxious to try and get one booked again.

They still have this option. You just have to first narrow it down by time of year, departure port, etc. Then once you have a list of cruises from those criteria, there are filtering options for length and ship. I use these filter options quite a bit to find exactly what I'm looking for.