phoenix_dream

I'm not sure what you mean about Celebrity weathering Covid the best, and I think I answered your question above.

Almost all cruises I have sailed on Celebrity (70+) have two shows in the main theater each night - generally at 7 and 9 but that can vary. Occasionally for various reasons there has only been one show. That situation has primarily been when the ship is in port late, in port overnight, or during the early days of restart when the performers often came down with Covid and needed to be quarantined. But even in those situations there might be two shows - it really varied.

The tvs do have some on demand programming, but IMHO fairly limited. I always get comments from haters regarding statements like this, but I personally would like to see more options offered on their televisions. Unlike some, I like to go back to the cabin fairly early to chill and would love to be able to relax and watch some good tv before nodding off. Same for on sea days. Celebrity has really cut down on television options over the years. If you like news, you're good. If you like to watch soccer, you're good (and occasionally some other sports). If you want a choice of a handful of movies you may like most ships have them (exception was when we were on Connie last year - they didn't have any, at least on our tv).

And in my recent experience, can even change while on the cruise

It could be. But after finally reaching Zenith after literally 30+ years it is very difficult to sail elsewhere and miss all the nice benefits, not to mention the cost savings of the benefits. I also really like the Celebrity vibe so to speak, although that seems to be changing very rapidly post-Covid. Like her or not whatever LLP did to bring in younger crowds sure seems to be working, at least on the ships I've sailed since restart. I don't like smaller ships like the luxury lines (if I could afford them) as I am prone to seasickness. The only other options I would consider at this point are Princess or HAL (Royal only if sailing with younger family members). But again, costs me a lot more when I consider drink packages, internet, laundry, etc.. But it may come to that.

I think that is most likely the case. They would certainly not be knowingly sitting on this information. It would serve them no purpose and just cause bad feelings, which it has. I would have suggested immediately contacting an Alaska based travel agent who could have put together a nice land tour with a lot less stress. We did that on our first cruise to Alaska and it worked out great. But if the OP already cancelled the cruise I guess it is too late for that.

Infinite balconies have really forced me to reconsider other options for travel. I love Celebrity (turned Zenith not long ago after 70+ cruises), and each winter season now that we're retired we book multiple cruises. This year we have a total of 8 cruises booked/taken. Next year we have 2. Why? First, we spend a lot of time on our balcony so would only consider suite class or SV on E class ships that have an actual balcony. Have you priced them recently?!?! We cannot afford to spend $5,000+ (and often quite a bit of +) to book the lowest level suite. Maybe for people who are rich, or who only splurge once or twice a year. But not for us. To those who say there is a choice, I beg to differ as well, at least to an extent. I desperately tried to find decent cruises to fill next Feb and Mar in the Caribbean (our 2 cruises are B2B in January) and almost all the options were E class. The limited S or M class sailings had either itineraries that were repeats of our January sailings, fewer than 7 nights, or were either already sold out or very, very expensive for the AQ rooms we prefer if we can't justify the suite price. So instead of our usual 4-6 cruises in February thru April, we are likely going to spend time in Arizona or Florida. All largely because of infinite balconies.

Ordering off Tuscan's menu is unusual. As to Blu or MDR, on M class you can order off of them as the kitchens are together. On other ships not necessarily, especially E class. As has been said, Luminae will do their best to accommodate you, in particular with advance notice. And the Classics menus are always available - it's been my experience in Luminae and Blu that the waiters don't tell you about them.

Can you explain the reason you needed to call out what people were eating or how much, with the implication that the weight was what was causing them to barely be able to stand? Are those people not up to the "quality" you expected? I sincerely hope that was misworded and insulting overweight people was not your intent.

Do you mean leaking outside of the shower? Then the answer is no (at least on the Apex).

So it's back, but it's not back, and it's free for suites and Zenith or maybe it isn't. Does anyone know what the actual status is of its return (why some ships seem to have it and not others and why and when they all would have it) and who actually benefits by it?

Our cousin was in one on Apex recently and it had both a roll-in shower as well as a bathtub. A huge bathroom. Their only issue was the strange placement of the television - on the side of the bed and no way to swivel it. It was a fabulous room.

And I wish we wouldn't see any again. Unless there is a big, or serious outbreak on a sailing I don't want to hear about it Covid is here to stay, and everyone will almost certainly get it at one time or another. It serves no purpose to hear about individual cases.

I think they do. While the current versions don't generally cause serious symptoms to the public at large, they are still very dangerous for people with certain vulnerabilities. So I for one want to know if I have it so I can make sure to do what is morally right to avoid infecting them.

There is really no way to know for sure anymore if there is Covid. They make no announcements. The staff is likely discouraged from talking about it. In addition, many people might have it and not report it, or have such a mild case they don't even know about it. I would be willing to bet a good amount of $$ that there is Covid on every single sailing on every single cruise line. A ship with zero Covid would be a statistical miracle.

Once it's past final payment I don't see anything wrong with what they're doing.

Not surprised. IMHO those are the absolute best cabins to sail to Alaska on cruises through the inside passage or fjiord. I'm usually a 'grab a suite if you can afford it' type of person but in Alaska scenery is king and since this cruise I assume sails through the Inside Passage that would have been the #1 cabin for viewing. But suites are also awesome so I'm sure the OP will have a great time

I think your cruise will not have too many kids. 10 nighters usually attract an older crowd, although at this time of year you might see a few more than usual. Since your cruise crosses over two different weeks, that will help as well.

My response was to the person insulting those of us who earned an honest living the old way - working 9-5. Read the first paragraph of the post I was responding to and see what I mean. I have no particular issue with influencers on a ship as long as they stay in their lane so to speak - I specifically mention that my comments can apply to non-influencers as well. I happen to have a relative who has made a great living as an influencer of a different type. I don't really care how they earn their money or what hours they work as long as they aren't adversely impacting the cruise I paid for as well.

Respectfully, I think you'd get a lot more information if you titled your post differently. Many people don't even know what it is (I had to look it up), and it sounds like your main interest is not "on your cruise" but rather on the beaches in the ports. Not sure if you can still change the title? It might help.

On a 5 night I doubt Tuscan will be open for lunch. On our most recent sailings this past January I don't recall them being open any days, even though these were 9 night cruises. But things can change, and I have been on sailings where they did a sea day lunch. There's really no way to predict that ahead of time, unless it shows up as available to book for you.

Just wanted to add my two cents to the comments (responding to mine, and no offense taken) that searching in Cruise Critic leaves something to be desired. 100% agree. But on this particular topic it is easy to scroll back a couple pages and find tons of info related to changes. For awhile there it even topped the dress code threads!

We have had some great cruises on Reflection. Our only issue has also been crowding - especially in Blu as they have more AQ cabins but the same size dining room so the tables are even closer together as they shoved more in the room. We have also, on occasion, had to wait for seating in Blu up to half an hour which is very rare for us as we eat late (8ish). We also found Ensemble to be more crowded at times as well.

We did a B2B on Solstice in March and due to being in a RS and having free specialty dining we ate in Tuscan 4 times. We thought it was great - very good food and excellent service. We enjoyed it much more than Murano on that ship, where our favorite Dover Sole was just not as good as on some other trips. We also prefer the variety in Tuscan. Murano, in our opinion, has a much more limited menu.

I don't have numbers specifically. But historically, as well as from reports here and on FB threads, the ships have been very crowded during Spring Break in general. There are generally considerably more kids than usual, with that number really varying but could definitely be in the area of several hundred. I don't know Silhouette's schedule - is it a 7 night? Anything longer than that tends to have fewer, and less than that even more (we had 700 on Connie a number of years ago). I'll leave it to people who actually sailed that week to give more specific numbers.