kwokpot

I'm happy for you that you enjoyed your meals on the Pride. Having said that I can very honestly say with 100% confidence that the food was not as good as other Carnival ships, much less other cruiselines. I was on the Pride for 31 days from the middle of May to middle of June. Just two weeks prior to boarding the Pride I was on the Mardi Gras for 14 days. And 7 weeks prior to the Mardi Gras I was on the Celebrity Reflection for 9 days. Overall the Mardi Gras prepared the food to a much higher standard than the Pride. And the food overall on the Celebrity Reflection was to the standard of the steakhouse on the Pride, or Rudi's on the Mardi Gras.

I think the most you can hope for is Michael's Club to be updated to Retreat Lounge standards. That was mentioned by the Retreat Hosts onboard the Reflection this year. Nothing was mentioned about the Retreat sundeck. A normal revolution renovation was at least a 4 week project.

Then why is the language different if there's not a change in policy?

Are you going to book the Carnival Pride only, or considering other lines? What month are you looking to cruise? How long?

Exactly. The notch is where the bed goes, since the room is too narrow to fit in a bed if there wasn't a notch. So if the notch is closer to the window/IV balcony,the bed is by the balcony area. If the notch is closer to the middle of the room the bed is by the we bathroom, since the bathroom is at the entrance but not drawn into the deck plans.

In 8181 the bed is by the bathroom.

If you got a great deal then I wouldn't worry about it, as long as you're going into it with your eyes open to all the plusses and minusses. Having said that I personally won't be boarding the Pride next year even with amazing casino comped offers. Too many other cruiselines and ships with amazing offers. In fact we're booked on the Celebrity Apex next July for Iceland, Scotland, Ireland.

While not the same we're on the July 7,2023 Apex sailing going to Iceland, Scotland, Ireland. One day in Akureyri and Isafjordur, overnight in Reykjavik, one day each in Glasglow, Belfast, Chobh. I think it's a great itinerary leaving from Amsterdam, which is always a beautiful place to visit. Probably train to Paris post cruise and return to the States from there.

Unlike the M & S class Celebrity ships the new E class ships don't have any complementary sauna facilities; they are located in the Co-ed thermal suite. The other ship classes have a complementary sauna located in the locker room of the gym/spa. On the E class ships the locker room is located in the spa area and is reserved for those with a treatment, thermal suite pass, or Aquaclass cabin. If you're just using the Fitness center you don't have access to the locker room. Additionally the E class ships eliminated the single sex saunas in the locker rooms, so there's only the unisex ones in the thermal suite.

There's no pool or hot tub in the Thermal suite on any Celebrity ship, period. The description is a generic wording applying to all of Celebrity's Spa facilities whether or not the ship actually has those specific facilities. The thalassotherapy pools are in the Solarium on M-Class ships, and are accessable to everyone whether you have Thermal suite access or not. Celebrity conflates the offerings in the Solarium with the thermal suite since Celebrity considers the Solarium as part of their spa facilities.

No

Yes you will, on each leg AND the Pride is giving CASH, so just go to the Casino Cage and ask for you rPlatium benefit and you'll get $25 cash (You sign a receipt for it) and yo can use it any way you want!

Rumor debunked!

People have different ways of spending money and what's the value of a Dollar (Or Euro, or Pound,lol), I get that. I just think it's strange, especially on the Celebrity Board where you have people literally saying they would rather not go on a cruise than stay in a room other than Retreat Class, only eat in Specialty restaurants when the MDR's and other included venues are quite good, and spend boatloads of money on alcoholic drinks that a post cruise transfer that requires multiple steps and a lot more effort is where one is going to save money.

I'm not sure if you were aware but it is rumored the bookstore was one of the inspirations for JK Rowling's Harry Potter books. I've never researched whether she actually confirmed this. And here's a photos of the crazy hoards of people trying to enter the bookstore that cyntil8ing was talking about.

Taking the train at the Civitavecchia port also involves taking a shuttle bus from the cruise port to the train station. So it will involve multiple trips up and down stairs. Does it get where you're going sure, but at alot of hassle. Sometimes spending more money actually makes more sense if makes everything easier, and less of a hassle.

It was precisely designed for people that aren't seasoned cruisers.

It makes absolutely no sense to use the train if you need to go to the airport. It would mean taking the train to Rome then changing trains to go to the airport, making the trip twice as long and alot more effort.

You can prebook tickets for that bookstore, then there's a separate line for those that have tickets. I didn't know about the bookstore until the day before, and I made the reservations while on the Pride the day before. Part of the admission fee is rebated back if you buy something, which we did!

Hmmm when did you last sail Royal Caribbean? The only ship that was true was on Quantum class when they first came out. Hadn't been that way in years. No Royal ship currently has what you're implying.

When did you sail? Those weren't the gifts we received in May & June, when I was on 2 Elite cruises.

Here is a cut and paste of a posting I did on another thread about Elite cruise benefits. About three weeks before your cruise you will get an email asking about several things. One is what you want for your In Room Bar setup. You'll choose from a list of Wines and Spirits, each passenger gets to choose one bottle. There will also be a selection of mixers for each of you to choose from a list, which also incudes sodas and water. The bottles are full sized and unopened, and since you'll be getting drinks everywhere for two people you MAY want to decide whether or not you actually want to open and drink the wine/Spirits or take it home with you, which are are certainly allowed to do. Just remember if you're flying into and from the Port you'll need to place the bottles protected in your check luggage. Second thing you'll be asked to decide is whether you want the complementary excursion, which there will be a preselected choice for you (both people have to take the same excursion) or you want a spa credit of $300 total, which can be used however you want by either both or just one passenger. The last thing you'll decide is whether you want Port Parking or the transfers. If you choose the transfers, you'll get a second email from the transfer company asking for details. The second email will ask what kind of transfer you want. You are given two transfers to use however you want, there's no restrictions. So if you're flying into the port you can use the two transfers for any combination you want; airport to hotel, hotel to pier, pier to hotel, pier to airport. The transfers doesn't even need to necessarily coincide with the cruise. For example, we used a Elite transfer from our London Hotel to Heathrow 3 days after the cruise ended. The transfer company didn't care the cruise already ended three days prior. All you need to do is decide which two points you want them to take you from and to, and give them the dates, places and times. To get the most value, if you have multiple transfer needs, for example you're staying in a hotel both pre-cruise and post- cruise, decide which segments are the most expensive and have Carnival pay for those and any other transfer needs you have you use a cab, car service or Uber/Lyft. Edit: The transfers are a private luxury car service, in a SUV, luxury sedan, or something similar. They simply pick you up and drop you off. Carnival pays the gratuity, but you are obviously welcome to pay additional tips.

Treats are fresh fruit, cookies. Gifts are various types of logo gifts. Most recently it was a set of travel size suntan lotion and other skincare for sunning (all in a little case), and a round Beach blanket with fringes (IMO not particularly nice looking, big Elite cruise logo.

Especially with marriage equality in the US we're part of the mainstream.

There is no whirlpool or hot tub in any thermal suite in any Celebrity ship.The rainfall water you're asking about is a co-ed shower in the thermal suite. It's a shower. TBH while the E-Class ships are stunningly beautiful, their spas fall far short. The best features of the E-class thermal suites are the heated tile loungers, two types of steam rooms (one is more like a turkish bath) an infrared Sauna (I still prefer the traditional sauna but i think cruiseships are transitioning away from those since I think the infrared one are less maintenance and less prone to issues). That's it. The other couple of rooms do nothing. Edit: The Thalassotherapy pool mentioned in the Celebrity write-up is on M-Class ships in the solarium, which means they are accessible to everyone at any time and have nothing to do with the spa or thermal suite.