prmssk

Clearly the pre-cruise test isn't keeping covid off ships, probably because people test before they get exposed on airplanes, hotels, restaurants, in ports, etc. Vaccinations on the other hand are minimizing the number of severe cases. The last thing a cruise line wants is more severe cases than their medical center can handle. So limiting the number of unvaccinated individuals on board limits the amount of medical care they may have to provide.

Assuming you leave on the auto-gratuities (or pre-pay them), any additional tips are a personal decision. Some tip extra. Some don't. There is no right or wrong answer although I would work under the assumption that they don't necessarily share any extra tips so if you want to tip both your waiter and assistant waiter, then tip each separately. As for head waiters, sometimes it is the head waiter that handles dietary restrictions (I can't remember who took care of that on our last Royal cruise) and if that is the case, we often tip our head waiter at least a little bit since they take care of my dietary restrictions. Otherwise, I'm not sure I would tip them today (like we may have years ago when they did more).

Royal has made clear in statements this won't be unlimited, at least in the short-term. They still plan to have ships that are more vaccinated than the general population. How exactly they plan to do that I believe is still yet to be seen. There will likely be some sort of exemption process so that Royal can keep track of how many people on any given sailing are vaccinated vs. unvaccinated. They may even still continue to prioritize children for those exemptions. I suggest that you keep checking healthy sail portion of Royal's the website. We should see more details this week.

Ours just shows cancelled in our cruise planner - no new room assignment yet.

I've never worried about this on Celebrity and so far haven't been "upgraded". Is this a concern? I thought upgrades only happen through the MoveUp process or through proactively calling to find out the cost of an upgrade (or if something happens to your original cabin, in which case checking a box wouldn't avoid a change of rooms). (I know it is different on other lines like Princess where they will "upgrade" if it is to their benefit, unless you check the box, which requires a phone call or TA.)

Both the Emerald and the Caribbean had an extra US one (or two) behind the TV (or where the TV used to be) that we made good use of. We were in a balcony on the Emerald (TV had been mounted on the wall so these extra ones were easy to get to) and an Interior on the Carribean (it was pretty hidden behind the TV so a little trickier to get to). After we got back someone mentioned we probably would have found a European one behind the bed, if we had looked.

All Included for Aqua Class (or any lower cabin class) includes the basic wifi and classic beverage package. You can upgrade either individually (with a call ahead of time or on board) but there is no elevate or indulge package anymore. All Included for the Retreat includes the premium wifi and premium beverage package.

Both will have the same room size. The balcony might be slightly bigger on 751 but really all of those aft balconies on the Emerald are huge. The difference is the obstruction. We were in B749 and B755 in February so didn't have any obstruction but from this photo I took of the aft, the post in 751 goes right down the middle whereas the post for 753 is just to the side. I'm sure you can still get a view from either but one looks quite a bit more obstructed than the other. I outlined the balconies in yellow and the posts in light red. If you are interested in what those premium balconies look like, I did a room tour of B749. Obviously the balcony will look a little different in B751 and B753.

I think they can both ships can do the old locks but if either itinerary mentions old vs new, I highly suggest picking one that goes through the old locks which are so much more interesting. Nicaragua is a port that often is missed - often for political reasons. And personally, Grand Cayman you can do as part of a Caribbean cruise anytime. Puntarenas has a lot to do and Cabo is on my list of ports I really want to visit. I agree that Ft. Lauderdale is an easier port to get to than Galveston. So on ports alone, I would lean towards the Brilliance. One other thing to consider is to look at the deck plans and see what kind of public space each ship has to view the transit through the locks. The front is probably the best viewing spot although you can get an amazing view from the back and the sides of the ship too. Even if you book a balcony, you may want to spend some time in public areas to get a different view of the transit. I know they are sister ships but often there are little differences that might give one a bit more public space in areas that would be ideal spots to view the canal transit. All that said, both would be a great cruise. I really don't think you can go wrong. I loved our trip through the Panama Canal and it is already back on my list to do again.

Carnival has already followed Royal Caribbean and eliminated testing for short cruises for those who are vaccinated. They made their announcement the day after Royal, I believe. Carnival's change is effective August 4.

We received an e-mail in the last couple days about the switch of ships. Check your e-mail or check with your travel agent. I understand it may take them a few weeks to transfer everyone over to the Adventure of the Seas. Ours currently shows cancelled right now too when I log into the cruise planner. We are just hoping to get the same room we picked or at least one close to it.

Sky Suites (like all suites on Celebrity) have full access to Luminae including breakfast, lunch on sea days, and dinner. Maybe you are thinking of Royal Caribbean where Junior Suites only get access to Coastal Kitchen for dinner.

The thought process behind a country requiring all cruise ship passengers to test before boarding the cruise is to minimize the amount of covid spreading on the ship which will then reduce the chance that those that get off have covid. Allowing those who don't want to get off not test defeats the reasoning behind the pre-cruise test in the first place (whether you agree with that reasoning or not). So I have my doubts any country that feels pre-cruise testing is necessary would agree to such a proposal.

Princess primarily uses terminal 2. When two Princess ships are in port, the second ship uses terminal 4. Both share the same parking garage (Heron) and are right next to each other. If you Google Port Everglades cruise port, you will find the port website which includes a link to the schedule. The schedule is a bit cumbersome and defaults to just showing the next cruises but there is an option to filter so you can see cruises further in the future. Cruise mapper (app or website) also tells you what ships will be in port but won’t tell you what terminal each is using.

The e-mail I received did not reference any OBC offer either. My understanding from other comments in this thread is that the OBC offer was for people in rooms/room categories that are not on the new ship. Being sister ships, most cabins should transfer over easily but there are a few differences between the two ships so likely a few rooms won't have a perfect match.

There are more than you think. I count at least 15 (not including any that go to Bermuda since Bermuda still requires testing) through the end of the year that are 5 nights or shorter. That is more than I believe Celebrity has and they have also eliminated testing for these cruises. Plus both Carnival and Royal make clear this is just phase one with plans to eliminate testing on longer voyages “soon”.

Carnival just announced they are dropping testing on short cruises for vaccinated passengers effective Aug 4 (similar to Royal). To stay competitive, I think NCL is going to need to follow with something similar soon.

Your post would fit in on the cruise boards of a number of cruise lines. Since the restart, cruise lines are dealing with supply chain issues, staff shortages, and a lot of inexperienced staff. It’s not universally bad across every line. Each ship and each cruise is different (some bad, some okay, some great). And some lines are doing better at trying to improve things. I personally have been more impressed with how Celebrity is handling the restart challenges than how Princess is (the two lines I’ve sailed so far since the restart - I don’t get back on Royal until 2024). My suggestion is to maybe step away from cruising and check in again down the road after the lines have had more time to try to get closer back to how they used to be.

The head waiter I had on the Emerald in February switched ships and was on the Caribbean in the Palm dining room as recently as July 2 (this month) when I got off the Caribbean. I realize it is not the same one from Mexico that you are talking about but I think it is very possible it is the same one KKB is talking about.

You very well might be right but I'm confused how you can be so sure it had to be the Sergio you describe that KKB had and not the on Sergiu I had. Or did you travel with KKB in July?

Someone on FB mentioned something about calculating annual carbon intensity based on a company's vessel emissions and companies having to decrease their emissions but I haven't seen anything to confirm and am not sure what that has to do with speed or how swapping the ships helps.

Was really looking forward to the Voyager but we haven't been on the Adventure either so it will still be a good cruise. Our cabin is not showing as available so I'm hoping that means they already are in the process of putting us in our same cabins and it just hasn't all finished on the IT side. There are others available in our category that we would be happy with though so it isn't the end of the world if we can't get the exact same room.

I was on the Emerald Feb 12-27 and then on the Caribbean June 18-July 2. It was the same guy on both ships. The Sergiu that I worked with was in the Palm DR on the Caribbean but he was not from Mexico. He was from Romania. I wonder which one @KKB worked with in July.

I'm really glad Sergiu was helpful to you. We had him on the Emerald in February and he wasn't all that helpful. I have a dairy allergy and I kept trying to get him to help me pick dishes that were easy to accommodate and he would always say they can do anything except the chef clearly didn't couldn't do anything so dishes were hit or miss. I have to admit I wasn't super thrilled to see him show up at our table on the Caribbean Princess in June. He remembered me and seemed a bit better on the Caribbean. I never got a good dairy free dessert after 29 days total between the two ships. I had a lot of the same stuff over and over again. I didn't starve either trip so I can't really complain but I have had so many better experiences with food on other cruises. Maybe gluten free was easier for their menus or maybe there was a change over in chefs.

We just booked a PT cabin on the Ecstasy and all the photos I found on cruisedeckplans did not show a sofa or any sort of comfortable chair.