kwokpot

I will add although it was always packed we were able to get a table large enough for 9 towards the from on the right side (Facing aft). We felt the food in the Windjammer was repetitive with the same choices every day with just a slight variation and the food quality just average to soso.

EXACTLY our experience post Covid in SS on two different ships classes, Reflection and Apex.

I was on this cruise July 23-30 and can agree on many of the conclusions in this report. It was our first time sailing in Europe during the summer, usually we're there either Spring or Fall, and I was taken aback at the amount of families with kids on this cruise. NEVER again will I sail the summer in Europe. The biggest negative of the hoards of people was on the pool decks. It was just mobs of people everywhere. Luckily I was able to find a lounger in the Aft section either Port or Starboard side every time I wanted to sit outside. Food and service in the MDR was very good to excellent. Our cabin, a balcony, was beautiful, large, with tons of storage. The Ports of call were great EXCEPT for Santorini. Not a direct fault of Royal but the hoards of tourists, especially in Oia, were unbearable. We did enjoy the sunset in Fira and we walked down the path to the tender area in the dark. Best advice is carry a flashlight or use your cell phone light and keep it on the pathway the whole way down. The pathways are wide and it's a gradual slope down so it's not like climbing a stairmaster in a gym. You just need to watch the donkey poop and amazingly no one in our group got any poop on our shoes! Best advice for Mykonos is to go onshore early but not TOO early (shops don't open until 10) so say 9:00am. Go to see the windmills FIRST, then walk the town's winding streets and shops, try some snacks and coffee, and then if you're a beach goer go to the beach of your choice.

And in my opinion a bit tacky, along with the waitstaff in the MDR singing and dancing.

I was just going to post that I don't remember getting towel animals on Celebrity ships, and certain not since the restart, having sailed 7 Celebrity cruises since 2021 on all three ship classes and not having towel animals on any of them.

I just got back from a Greek Islands cruise last month. It's unfortunate but Santorini has been overrun by tourists. Luckily I've been there before but some of our travel group hadn't and they weren't too impressed mainly due to the unrelenting crowds in Oia. Fira was packed too but since the main town is bigger the crowds were more dispersed, but to was craziness nonetheless. We did enjoy the sunset at Fira, and although we didn't plan to we did all walk the path down and take the tenders back to the ship. What we did is use our cellphone flashlight the whole way down. It will take 20-30 minutes depending on how fast you walk and amazingly none in our group got any donkey poop on our shoes! I assume you're going to Mykonos and what I would advise is to get off the ship early, but not too early, say around 9:00. Go to the windmills FIRST, then walk the streets and shops, then if you're a beach goer go to the beach of your choice, in that order.

Aren't they great? My husband and I also brought newly purchased golf slacks from Underarmour to our two Europe cruises last month and they were great! So comfortable and lightweight.

Thanks for explaining that. As someone who's familiar with landed based casino programs from, Caesars Entertainment, MGM, Hard Rock, Venetian, Live, and 3rd party casino hosts such as UR Comped as well as the cruiselines own programs, I'm curious where these kinds of offers are coming from. For reference although my husband isn't a huge whale we've been reporting W2-G winnings in the low 6 figures for over 5 consecutive years(obviously not paying taxes on the full reported winnings) so he's not a small gambler and are interested in different sources of complementaries. We cruise at least 8x a year, all comped cruises, for the past 10 years.

These offers are through Carnival players club? I'm still not understanding . If you're gambling enough to generate these kinds of offers through Carnival why aren't you familiar with how to use OBC on a Carnival cruise? My husband is a regular cruise casino player and gets all kinds of offers but we haven't heard of the types of offer you're getting, which is why I'm asking you these questions.

Are you sure it's OBC and not Freeplay that has to be used in the casino? Where did you get this offer? Through Carnival Player's Club?

I realize that, but since Celebrity is obviously trying to bring in additional for-fee items that would generate revenue AND better monetize existing spaces I would be fine if they offered food items for a fee. I think the reluctance may stem from a similar idea on the Edge that never lasted beyond the first revenue cruise. It was something similar to my idea but located on deck three to the left of the Martini Bar. The original design concept of the Grand Plaza was to mimic places like Europe's most famous plazas and squares where there's food, drink, entertainment and people watching all rolled into one (The interior designers for NCL's Prima Class used the same inspiration for that ship class's Penrose Atrium). Unfortunately it most have been VERY apparent from the preview cruises and first 7 day revenue sailing back in 2018 that this space in practice didn't work and probably no one ever went to get any food there. I was on the second Revenue sailing of the Edge and that cafe counter already was shuttered down and never used again and on subsequent E-Class ships done away with.

EXACTLY what we do!

As someone else mentioned on M & S Class ships I think the Gelato counter is underutilized. They would be much better served by moving the Gelato to the Oceanview Cafe Ice cream counter, just like on the E-Class ships, and using that counter for an expanded FOR PAY, snacks and light bites area. It could include the new hot cookies but also hot Panini sandwiches and other sweet and savory snacks. It would be similar to Royal's Promenade Cafe but I would be totally fine with them offering a higher level of snacks for a fee.

We just bright in our car for the annual State Inspection Sticker this week. The company we go to, an independent auto repair shop, has a Keurig coffee system, Halloween sized candies, and Otis Spunkmeyer fresh baked cookies. They have this little branded oven, which looks like a little pizza oven, sitting in the waiting area. The employees will occasionally pop in some premade cookie dough to bake fresh cookies.

A type of weight lifting equipment used for exercise. As part of Aquaclass amenities you can have certain exercise equipment predelivered to your cabin;yoga mat, kettlebells, etc. To do exercises in the privacy of your own cabin.

I was on the Apex last month for 12 days and there was chocolate macaroons and cookies in the jars on top of the pastry showcase in Al Bacio.

There are signs indicating what's vegan and what's GF, but I don't remember now. I'll be on another Virgin cruise in February and will make note of that!

A sample of the cookies and pastries from Virgin Voyages, all included as part of your cruise fare.

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal. I had to wait 15 minutes for the sommelier to come to our table despite repeated requests. Then to make matters worse our comped dinner from the casino included a bottle of wine but there was an issue with it and it took another 15 minutes for it to be resolved. As I show in my photos the lobster appetizer wasn't anything special,the lobster entree in Luminae is superior to this. The accompaniments with the steaks were also average and nothing special, and as you can see the cheesecake I had was no different than what is served in the MDR. Edit:Fine Cut is considered a steakhouse so all cuts of meats served there so be the best of any dining room/restaurant on board. Oh and no Amuse Bouche served either. Edit: Here's a photo of a rib eye from the specialty steakhouse on the Carnival Pride, a 22 year old ship. Better than any ribeye I've had on any Celebrity ship.

As an aside I was on the Apex in July and went to Fine Cut Steakhouse for dinner. I was disappointed with our meal there. While there was nothing particularly wrong with the food or service there wasn't anything SPECIAL about it either. I felt the MDR food and service was equal to that of Fine Cut. Luckily our meal was comped by the casino, otherwise I would have regretted paying the cover for Fine Cut. We were on the Beyond this past October in Aquaclass and to be frank the ribeye steak I had in Blu was SUPERIOR to the Ribeye I had in Finecut. Below are photos from out meal at Fine Cut on the Apex, followed by a photo of the Ribeye in Blu on the Beyond.

Incorrect. On Celebrity Elite status and higher gets UNLIMITED free drinks from 5-7;however; it's not available on embarkation/1st night, can cannot be ordered from any restaurant, dining room, and a handful of bars. Additionally, the free drinks are from a selected menu of beers, wines, and spirits, mixers, soft drinks. I will agree it's not as good as Royal's program, but you had wrong information.

Transpacific cruise, not toilet paper 😜

The issue is it's not an automatic computerized action, it has to be manually entered by the server that it's no charge. We had an incident just last month on the Apex where a server was unfamiliar with the Elite+ benefit and I was charged for a a coffee. When they brought over a charge skip for me to sign I knew instantly he did the transaction wrong. They had to make an adjustment and it took one full day for an offsetting credit to show on my account. They couldn't just go into the system and reverse the charge instantly.

That's impossible in an IV cabin for the simple fact that there's no outside. The portion that designated as the Veranda is just an area that's part of your cabin that's next to the window. The Veranda is no different than sitting next to your open window in your bedroom at home.

I'll add my two cents. We sailed on the Solstice in February and found the MDR food to be OK to very good. I'll agree that many times the presentation/plating seemed very basic and not what I previously expected from Celebrity. We just finished a 12 night Iceland cruise on the Apex last month. I felt the MDR food was definitely a cut above what we experienced on the Solstice. I've been on all three Edge Class ships and it's been my experience that the Edge Class ships seem to do things a notch higher and closer to what I expect the Celebrity brand to be. TBH I'm this seems to happen often on other cruise brands where the newer ships have a better experience than their older ships.