judatt

Greetings everyone. We have a 14 night cruise in July. I noticed there are several lots within a couple of blocks of the port with monthly rates. Are these lots an alternative?  I’d assume they are more expensive but any idea how much more expensive?  Thanks for your help. Very informative. David

Greetings everyone. I received a message from a travel agent about MSC offering a status match. You can use several different types of travel programs. We are diamond at Hilton (top level), Elite plus on Celebrity (next to top level) and Diamond plus (next to top level) on Royal Caribbean. Anyone know which one is best to use and what the corresponding level might be on MSC?  Thanks. David

We’re diamond plus on RCCL and elite plus on celebrity so we’ve been on a few cruises with each line. We’re the second level up on Carnival. Only cruised on them a few times with our kids and grandkids. My observations will mainly be comparing celebrity and royal with a few comments on carnival. 
biggest difference between celebrity and royal - add 20 years to avg age for celebrity and subtract 90% of the kids. Yes, there will be a few kids but not many. Carnival will have kids everywhere. 
now that we’re retired we often cruise in suites. Royal has coastal kitchen and celebrity has luminae. No comparison - luminae wins hands down. CK is good but it’s in the lounge. Luminae just has an upscale experience and the food is better. 
on celebrity and royal you will get one announcement per day, although on our recent royal cruise the cruise director got very long winded. I think he liked to hear himself talk. Don’t get me started on carnival with their 40-50 announcements per day. 
royal has larger ships with big promenades that are a lot of fun. Celebrity’s largest ship is about 3000 passengers. No promenades. 
entertainment on royal is more varied with ice shows, Aqua shows etc. however celebrity will typically have some kind of show every evening in the theatre. I missed that on our most recent royal cruise.
finally, I’d say the food on all 3 lines in the mdr is pretty good. I give a slight nod to celebrity but carnival does a good job in the mdr. I found the last time on royal the food was Luke warm at best. I like it hot and Ive always been amazed how cruises ships could serve so many people hot food. We’ll, now they evidently can’t at least on royal. Pleasantly surprised that carnivals food was so good. 
just my opinions, fwiw. 

We were on Millie in 2008 to Alaska. Loved it. Also one other cruise on her. We’ve just booked the spice route cruise in Feb 2024 on Millie. Looking forward to a renewed pleasurable experience on Millie. 

We’ve sailed the Edge two times and the Equinox several times. I’d agree with others that the Equinox has actual balconies although on both our cruises on Edge we were in suites and had actual balconies. The retreat area on edge is very nice. Loved the pool deck. Can’t really comment on he infinite veranda on edge because we’ve not had one. 
you’ll love either ship!

Greetings everyone. We are cruising out of San Pedro on Celebrity Solstice on Oct 8. We are doing b2b so will be parking 14 days. Anyone know how many ships in port that day ?  Is there plenty of parking?  I have considered staying at the doubletree and leaving our car there but then you have to get a shuttle to the port on Saturday morning and then also wait on a shuttle back to the hotel after the cruises. Rate at doubletree is about $800 for 2 nights including parking for length of cruise. I think parking at port is about $250 for 2 weeks. Anyone have any recommendations?  Thanks. David

On 9/6/2022 at 12:28 AM, swjumbo said:

I’ve just done a Concierge Class cruise on Silhouette and didn’t think it was worth it.

The lunch on boarding was nice but not essential.

The ‘concierge’ was uncontactable.

The shower head was the same as a regular cabin.

The toiletries were the same.

The robes were the same.

The room service menu was the same. 

We had gold key cards and will hopefully get extra CC points. 

We got binoculars, an umbrella and a slightly larger balcony but that’s about it.

So in my view it’s not worth it.

It hasn’t put us off Celebrity though. 

Do others feel the same?

Our next cruise is in concierge class and mainly for 2 reasons. First, we are 29 points away from elite plus. CC is 5 points a night so that’s 35 points and puts us over into elite plus. Probably more importantly, we like aft balconies and the only way to get one at the last minute was in CC. So we paid a couple of hundred more to get a cabin in our preferred location. 

Interesting. I recently posted on the HAL board that we are long time celebrity cruisers looking for info on HAL. Received many great responses and trust you will as well. Celebrity does have theme nights although can’t say specifically about white nights. Several options for lunch upon boarding although we usually just go to the Buffett and get a table by the window with a view. Doesn’t really pertain to your question but my most memorable embarkation lunch was on our first cruise where we took our kids and grandkids with us. We boarded and we’re sitting around a large table (10 of us) eating lunch and I looked over at my wife with a tear in my eye and said this is the best $15,000 we have ever spent. Great cruise - and we’ve done it a few times since. 
enjoy celebrity - we hope to enjoy HaL someday soon. 

A few months ago we did 2 cruises on 2 different ships. First one we were in a RS. Next one we were in a CS. In my opinion, totally different experiences. RS has a Whirlpool on deck, the bedroom is a little bigger, the bathroom is a good bit bigger and the living room is slightly larger. In the RS everything is included. We don’t drink much alcohol so can’t comment much about what’s available there but everything is included. If you want to go to a specialty restaurant it’s included and the concierge will make your reservation and escort you to the venue and you get a great table. In the CS they’ll make the reservation but you have to pay the fee and they don’t escort you so you don’t necessarily get a great table. In the RS all the staff knew you and greeted you. In the CS just another couple of folks. Yes, he RS is more but it’s a great experience. 

Thanks to everyone for some excellent responses. I probably should have said we’ve done some longer cruises - 35 nights in Europe which was actually a b2b2b and we’ve done almost 40 nights which was USA to Australia and then around New Zealand. We enjoyed both of those very much. 
we agree with several of you that cruising to Alaska in October probably wouldn’t be a good way to find out anything about HAL so we’re not going to. We do plan to do a HAL cruise soon though - maybe this winter to a tropical place.
thanks again to everyone for some great input. David 

Greetings everyone. We have been on several cruises on Celebrity (20+) and almost as many on Royal Caribbean. Several on Carnival (with kids and grandkids). One each in NCL and Princess but never on HAL and honestly don’t know why. HAL has some longer itineraries that look very interesting to us but before we sign up for a 30+ night cruise we thought we’d try a shorter one to see how we like it. We’re thinking of the Eurodam to Alaska Oct 1. 
I realize this is the HAL board so we expect most if not all replies to be positive and frankly I’ve heard nothing but good things about HAL.  only negative I’ve heard is that it tends to be an older crowd but hey - that’s us - we are 69 and 70. For those of you who have sailed Celebrity or RCCL as well as HAL I’d be interested in any comparisons you might have. 
thanks for any and all input you might give us. 

On 8/25/2022 at 8:26 PM, Cruise Gopher said:

I’m loving this thread, thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. 
 

Can people share what some of their requests have been to the shore side team prior to the cruise? What kinds of things do you ask for?

 

Has anyone requested the Peloton bike for their suite? 
 

We have a PH on Millennium in November so I want to make the most of it. SO excited!

We received an email from the shoreside concierge yesterday for our Oct 15 Solstice cruise in a royal suite. One thing we asked for was a small real refrigerator for my wife’s injectable medication. We’ve had both types - the kind that is just basically a chest and the kind that actually cools. We need the refrigerant in there 😎. 
last January we did a 12 night in a royal suite and a 11 night in a concierge suite. Don’t think it was my imagination but the service and experience in the RS was a notch or two above the CS. Just a different level of everything. May have just been our staff and they were on 2 different ships. 

We did 2 cruises out of port Everglades in January. One was 12 days and one 11 days. We drove to the port and parked at port Everglades. We considered parkngo but decided to park in a covered building and near the ship. Yes, it was $15 a day but off site parking wasn’t cheap and all of it left your car sitting in the sun and subject to hail, etc 

on our first cruise, the slip we were in was changed to a distant part of the port. I dropped our bags and my wife and I went to park in the garage. There was a shuttle waiting and I was back to the terminal in 5 minutes. After the cruise we rode the same shuttle to the garage - no lines and we were there in just a couple of minutes. 
on the second cruise our slip was right across from the garage. Easy walk. After the cruise we walked with our bags to the garage and we’re there in a couple of minutes. 

16 hours ago, Moonarino said:

I'm guessing it's an issue of replicating data from one set of servers to another, i.e., the website probably runs on one bank of servers and the app's data is on another set of servers. Something like that. Hopefully the app's database will catch up with the website in a day or two.

 

If that doesn't happen you can email the app's IT team -- should be able to find that email address in the app somewhere, or maybe on the Google Play or Apple istore page for the Celebrity app. I've actually emailed them before and got a fairly quick and very informative reply.

 

Thanks for your input. I went back to the app and it still showed the apex data. I played around and got to the page of the app where it showed the ships supported by the app. I clicked on Solstice and it gave me the next several cruises. I clicked on our Oct 15 cruise and it switched to that cruise On the app. 
looks like we are good to go. 

On 7/22/2022 at 8:50 PM, sbcs5390 said:

I am doing the RS solo on Solstice October 22 also having taken advantage of the great sale as well. Many times on X but this (B2B) will be my first time in the Retreat. I'm doing a corner SS the first week. Will let you know how it goes! 

We’ll try not to do too much damage. We’re in a Solstice RS on 10/15 sailing 😎

I’ve got an issue I haven’t seen before. We booked a Baltic cruise for next summer on the Apex. Received an email that they were cancelling the St Petersburg stop so we decided to cancel and see if it might be added in the future. Our travel agent recommended that rather than cancelling we transfer our deposit to another cruise which we did. We are now on the Solstice this October. If I log in on celebrity’s website everything is fine. However, if I go to te celebrity app, it still shows our Baltic itinerary. Since it was a transfer, the booking number remains the same. Any suggestions?  Thanks. 

We’ve done move ups several times. The last several cruises when it showed expired as the status we never got upgraded. However, when it showed pending - sometimes for a couple of weeks or so - we eventually got the upgrade. 
also, don’t know if it helps, but we always bid a little more than the minimum. If it says minimum bid $1500 we bid $1610. We usually only bid on suite upgrades. 

4 minutes ago, Turquoise Girl said:

I received this email from Celebrity today.  I think it is saying that an observed test will no longer be required on most sailings from the US.  Does anyone else interpret it this way?

 

Starting with September 5th departures:

All travelers, regardless of vaccination status, can cruise with us on sailings departing from U.S. and Europe ports (excluding sailings that visit Canada). We will begin accepting self-tests on sailings from U.S. ports that don’t visit Canada and Bermuda, and on many Europe sailings. We’re easing testing protocols for U.S. cruises that don’t visit Canada or Bermuda: For sailings 9 nights or less, vaccinated guests will no longer need to test to board one of our ships, where destinations allow; and will have 3 days prior to boarding to test for sailings 10 nights or more. Unvaccinated guests ages 5 and older will need to test 3 days prior to boarding U.S. sailings (excluding Canada and Bermuda); and ages 12 and older for select Europe sailings. The current testing protocol for cruises to Canada and Bermuda will remain in place until further notice, as well as the requirement that guests age 12 and up be fully vaccinated. Some testing protocols in Europe are also easing.

I interpret it to mean if you’re cruise is less than 9 nights and you’re not going to Canada or Bermuda then if you’re vaccinated no testing is required. If it’s longer than 9 nights or you’re going to Canada or Bermuda you can do a self administered test. 

We did 2 Celebrity cruises in January including the Jan 24 on Silhouette. It was great. Between the 2 cruises we had 13 ports and Cartagena was to be our only port that we had not visited previously. It was cancelled and we went to DR instead. Overall, still very enjoyable. 
We would also say the Indian evening was a highlight. Definitely left with a full belly  of delicious food. 

1 hour ago, jimmybean said:

Also sailed on this cruise.  

 

Celebrity did everything possible to make us safe from Covid germs.   Yes, there were covid cases, but the vast majority of us faithfully wore masks as recommended and did not get sick.   

 

Only 1213 passengers on the Equinox (with a capacity for 2850).    Crew spoiled us!    It was great.   Kudos to Celebrity!

 

Felt it was the right decision to sail and we are very glad we did.   

 

Like many passengers on the ship, we upped our extra tipping to double because service crew had appreciably fewer passengers to give tips.   Think about this, if you are about to cruise.   

 

Happy Sailing to you all!    Jimmybean

We were on this cruise and are on the Silhouette sailing Monday. Even though tips are included I always go to the bank and get tip funds prior to a cruise. We gave out all our tip money for both cruises on the first one 😳. Had to find a bank today that would give me funds - got the same amount again in anticipation we’ll give it all out again on our next cruise. I really felt the crew did a great job. 

38 minutes ago, Dave Judy said:

 

In a sentence, despite mask wearing and port changes/restrictions we had a wonderful time!   

 

We have always been avid Disney Cruisers - Yes, they are a family centered quality cruise line, but you pay quite a premium for the Disney brand. However, in September we tried Celebrity; Millennium to Alaska, then Apex Transatlantic, and now Equinox Southern Caribbean this past January. 

 

We are typical Baby Boomer savers with a hard earned nest egg and for years only booked oceanview cabins to save money.  We have only recently tried out balcony cabins and the Celebrity “bid to upgrade” feature successfully. 

 

Covid-Omicron… I believe that the December holiday cruises and the resulting high numbers and bad press were an anomaly.  Omicron was beginning its ascent and with high passenger counts the results were inevitable.  Our ship had approximately 1,200 passengers, the majority of which were very careful and abided by the mask mandates. Sure, there were entitled scofflaws, but that’s our U.S. society.  Not positive on this, but it appears that the numbers slowly rose to about 1% crew and passengers by the last day (less than 20 out of 2,000).  We were very careful avoiding “questionable areas/activities and felt as safe as back home in Maryland. Loved our modest 9’x6’ balcony. 

 

The food was great.  For us, anytime you don’t have to shop and cook, it’s great. The Oceanview Cafeteria had ample choices for us at lunchtime.  Of the Equinox, Apex, and Millennium, we actually thought Oceanview Cafe was best on the Millie !

 

Blu… Because of our “bid up” to Aqua Class ($100/day total for both of us) we were given access to Blu for breakfast and dinner.  Our server, JoJo and asst. Sothon were wonderful. Any special requests were taken care of.  Hard to describe the food in Blu - probably “Healthy Cuisine.”  Many selections were not to my taste, JoJo made it easy for us to order off of MDR or Blu menu interchangeably every evening.  I had several steaks, filets, and prime rib - always served perfectly medium rare. Dennis, the sommelier hustled from table to table trying to serve numerous wines and keep glasses filled.  We will probably try to get back to Blu in the future for the intimacy (trigger word during Covid) service, and food. 

 

Entertainment… Well… Let’s just say that Covid had an impact.  There were no large production shows.  There were some great entertainers; Todd Murray, Karen Grainger, Jacob Tresuk, Celli, Lady Valentine, and Uptown.   There were two good comedians and a magician.  There were a few solo vocal acts, that were out of their league, couldn’t carry a show. They just wailed loudly as if that would cover it up…  The live house orchestra was outstanding.  With a few exceptions, we felt entertained every evening. 

 

Would we go again soon ?  Absolutely.  The ship is safe, the stateroom comfortable, plenty to do. Food and weather amazing. Service top notch.  You alone can assess your Covid risk factors. At this time when passenger numbers are down and ships are pushing to get the industry started again is a great time.  We have a B2B cruise already planned for early May. Can’t wait!

 

 

 

 

We were also on that cruise and had a great time. Great review!

17 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Question please.  Have you or when will you be tested for Silhouette?

 

Yes. We get off equinox on Friday and can’t test for our Monday departure on silhouette until Saturday so we plan to use the Abbott/Optum tests recommended by Celebrity. We also used them for this cruise. 

Just ran into a lady we have met on the cruise. Her husband is one of the 5 positive cases on board Equinox. She said he is in a large balcony cabin on deck 6 (don’t know that there are any large cabins but I think she meant a larger than normal 😎). She had to quarantine in their cabin for 24 hours but she’s out and about now after testing negative 3 times in 24 hours. 

20 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

Also I disagree with the quality of the entertainment. The two comedians were very good as was Celli and the violinist. The singers were poor ( screaming) and obviously last minute emergency replacements. I missed the production shows. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t love the cruise just that I spent more time in the casino. Also the area used for game shows was too small without enough seating. Staff was wonderful. 

My wife will tell you I’m easily pleased 😎

Captain just announced 2 crew have tested positive so that’s a total of 5 passengers and 4 crew on this cruise. Still extremely low percentages.