kwokpot

Celebrity's Casino Program is being administered by parent company Royal Caribbean's Casino Royale Department. At the present time they are two separate programs and no announcement has been made of any changes, but I would bet that eventually the programs will merge. In any case Blue Chip Club has started to implement some of the same casino gambling incentives as Royal's Casino Royale program. One of them is if you earn a certain threshold of points in the casino you will get a cruise cruise certificate towards the end of the cruise. The cabin type depends on how many points you earned. The way it works is the certificate is good for a certain list of cruises that's only good for 6 months (Royal's program goes out for 12) and there are other qualifications. This free cruise certificate is NOT the same as the emailed and/or postcard mailings of BCC complementary sailings. They are two different incentives and the certificate will have sailings that the emailed offers don't.

Helpful hint: You should decide whether you're both interested in the daily delectable delights (that's the little nothing canape nibbles they send out every afternoon. If not you can tell your cabin attendant you're not interested in having them delivered. Cuts down on waste and disturbances to deliver and pick up)

Congrats! Toiletries should be Bigalow. There is a bar in the Oceanview Cafe, It's combined with Segundo Al Bacio (on the Beyond and Ascent there ANOTHER bar in the back of the buffet). Having said that there are roving servers to take drink orders (There's a small and incomplete drink menu on each table and if it's standing up the server will come over and ask if you want something from the bar. If you decline they will lay the menu down so they know not to ask you again).

The rear entrances to the locker rooms can be a bit confusing. Also, the free, co-ed sauna that's in that rear locker room hallway is in an awkward location directly across from the Women's Locker room rear door. On the Mardi Gras the sauna has a clear glass door, so potentially anyone in the co-ed sauna can see right into the women's locker room when the rear door opens. Fortunately they realized this on the Celebration and the sauna door is now frosted. Having said this did you know that many spas in Germany are fully co-ed naked? And when I say this I mean men and women don't cover up for anything, whether in the sauna, steam room, whirlpool, or even just cooling off on a sun lounger. It was a bit surprising to see a women relaxing on a sun lounger fully nude, with nothing covering up anything. Men and women used the steam and sauna fully naked. And this wasn't even a standalone spa, it was a hotel spa in Berlin.

The only thing that's available to all cruisers, besides the fitness center, is the spa locker rooms. Whatsmore on the Vista and Panorama within the men's and women's spa/gym locker rooms is a small sauna that's free for all to use. Of course you can use the other facilities in the locker rooms such as the individual lockers, individual stall showers, toilets, sinks. On the Radiance there most likely will be a co-ed/shared sauna that's right outside the men's and woman's locker rooms, so no single sex saunas within the locker rooms ( With the Sunshine Class refurbs they did things differently from the 1st Sunshine to the 2nd refurb Sunrise. The Sunshine has a small sauna in the spa locker rooms, so single sex use, while on the Sunrise the locker room design changed and they put 1 shared sauna outside of the locker rooms, so I suspect the Radiance will be the same as the Sunrise)

That's a great win on the Equinox! Agree, same with my husband. If he goes through his gambling budget early in the cruise without any jackpots and/or good hits then that's it, no more gambling. The story with the Apex last July, which was a 12 nt Iceland cruise, is that he did go through his allotment and without any good hits he couldn't play as much as he wanted. He did get the casino host to pay for my Wifi and we got a birthday dinner at Fine Cut with a $100 wine allowance. Still he was down several $K. After the Apex cruise we flew from Rotterdam to Rome and after a few days joined our family on Royal's Odyssey of the Seas for a 7 day Greek Islands cruise. Wouldn't you know on that ship he hit multiples jackpots and not only made back his losses but was ahead several $K. He was able to gamble right up until the last day of the cruise, and speaking with the host he had played enough to have $700 to be wiped off of our bill. Since we were traveling with family members we had all dined in the MDR for the whole cruise, and since the cruise was fully booked there wasn't any good times at any of the Specialty restaurants to treat the family on the last night's dinner. So instead he played Santa Claus and gave all 9 family members a spending allotment of $75 to buy anything they wanted on the ship. Everyone was very appreciative and it was great my husband came out ahead at the end of these two trips!

We did the Luminosa 30 TP from Seattle to Brisbane last September/October totally comped and a spa balcony, free drinks everywhere, and US$1,000 freeplay. It was a great trip despite having cancelled ports (Alaska was cancelled entirely and a port in the Philippines, 3 ports cancelled but 1 additional port added) it became basically a Japan cruise with 5 stops in Japan and 1 in a minor port in Indonesia. Our flights were all paid for using points. Starting with East coast to Seattle. Since one cannot fly non-stop from Australia to East Coast USA we decided to add an additional destination and after a couple of nights in Brisbane we flight non-stop in business class to Taipei, Taiwan which was a new destination for us. After 3 nights we flew direct to Vancouver in business class ( not enough points to fly biz all the way to East coast) then a separate direct flight in economy to East Coast. The Luminosa is indeed an older ship but being similar to the Spirit Class to was large enough not to feel claustrophobic and small enough never to be crowded. TBH the food was some of the best we've ever had in a Carnival ship. We've done several TPs on various cruiselines from the States to Australia and we've always enjoyed them. The first several days out from the West Coast are always very cold whether you go during the Fall or Springtime (the times TPs usually sail).

Gratuities are included but you are always welcome to give additional tips and we have always done that.

Your question is going to be hard to answer since what your husband likes and/or dislikes is the actual slot machine games rather than the layout and size. All the E-Class casinos are the same size and layout( same with S-Class ship casinos), so to properly answer your question you would need to tell us which specific slot machine games he prefers. Having said that we were on the Apex last July and my husband, who is the gambler in the family, enjoyed gambling on the Apex but he said the machines were tight and it was the first cruise where he didn't hit any jackpots (he normally hits several jackpots each cruise).

Here we go with different ships doing different things.

It's an adult-oriented Scavenger Hunt game but done in one room and participants play in groups.

Definitely not a corporate decision. Either they were low/out of stock on the ship or they just didn't bother to request the proper items.

We have a Hawaii to Vancouver cruise on Royal in May and with an even later flight at 10:30 PM we are getting a hotel room in Vancouver so we can relax, walk around town, have a nice dinner, then head out to the airport. We're flying Jetblue to NYC and having done this exact flight last year we know what to expect. In Vancouver there's a whole separate terminal wing for flights back to the USA which also clears Immigration and Customs at YVR. After that there's not much in the terminal and even the airport lounge in that wing closes somewhat early.

You'll have to make the arrangements when you first get on the ship.

It's not about the food or the choices but all about starting your cruise in a more relaxed environment than the hectic buffet. The food itself is what's normally served at lunchtime in the main MDR; grilled salmon, pasta, cheeseburger. If you can't make it no big deal. It's not like there's anything unusual or only served at that meal.

If they did this in a two week dry dock I fail to understand why they didn't at minimum renovate Michaels Club on the Reflection during its recent drydock. All indications was that it was going to happen on the Reflection. Luminae needed nothing on the Reflection.

I was on the Odyssey last July for a Greek Islands cruise and everything was the same as compared to Royal in the Caribbean. You're lucky you're going in May when there should be less families. It was a madhouse in July and one thing I did notice is that Europeans do like to sunbathe.The pool deck was packed, overwhelmingly so. More than any Caribbean sailing I have ever been on, and worse than Spring Break and Easter.

I was on the Odyssey last July for a Greek Islands cruise and there wasn't lobster on either Formal Night.

The primary purpose of the Pearl is to be a structural element to support the ship so that there can be panoramic windows on the Promenade. That they were able to create an attraction with it is an added benefit and wasn't the primary objective.

Having said that there seems to have been a few significant updates on the Infinity including Michaels Club and other public spaces.

Breaking news, but here's another thread with the same information. I'm surprised it's gotten so few mentions/responses.

Everything being equal Ascent for sure. The changes from the Apex are all positive.

Wait, is this breaking news? Are you implying that Celebrity has reversed course regarding Butler services for SS? I haven't read this anywhere else.

Celebrity could have had their cake and eat it too and not have created all this controversy if they had used an existing architectural term that most people know, a Juliet or French Balcony, which is exactly what an Infinite Veranda is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balconet https://balconies.global/traditional-balcony-methods/juliet-balconies/#:~:text=Made famous by Shakespeare%2C made,floor of a residential development. https://bayareacablerailing.com/french-balcony-vs-juliet-whats-the-difference/#:~:text=a Juliet balcony is simple,you can lean out of.

I'm curious what airline and fare you booked that doesn't allow cancellations. Almost all major airlines now allow one to cancel a flight and receive future flight credit usually good for 1 year.