kwokpot

Our limited post pandemic SS in-room mini bar experiences, which amounts to the Apex and Reflection at one night each, was that the soft drinks, water of all brands, and beer was complimentary and replenished. The spirits and wine would be chargeable.

What the casino rep said is incorrect. Celebrity now has free drinks for EVERYONE while actively playing in the casino on all their ships. Standard, well brand drinks and you DO need to be playing (Of course if you're a regular in the casino and tip nicely the servers will know you and take care of you if you take care of them) to get comped drinks. TBH there really isn't any other benefit that comes from a BCC booking; all other benefits comes from your BCC tier status, which for you if you haven't been on a Celebrity cruise since prior to the pandemic should have expired. If for some reason you still have a higher BCC tier that has added benefits those would still apply for any cruise booking whether you booked through BCC or with an outside TA.

As I said on this thread I disembarked the Apex on July 19 and had no problems getting the Elite+ coffee benefit at Al Bacio on embarkation day.

My husband doesn't remember seeing it on the Odyssey. We finished a Greek Islands cruise on the Odyssey 2 weeks ago. Let me know if you have any questions. It was a great cruise!

Ok. No worries then. Sorry if I overreacted. Now back to our regular bitching and moaning posts! 😉😆

So what exactly is your beef with my post that you quoted? I'm not understanding.

To read this is forecast of all their fleet is a major leap.

When did I ever imply this was a permanent change? All I commented on was that it was probably due to an influx of AMERICAN cruisers from areas of the country that eat dinner early that all requested early set dining and thus Carnival had to make this change on this cruise to accommodate the onslaught of requests. Then ANOTHER poster quoted my comment and implied that my statement was ridiculous. I'm just backing up that my assertions are the correct reasons for the changes and contrasted that by saying if the demographic was made up of Spaniards and South Americans not only would the dinner times not have been changed to those times but it would have changed to the exact opposite, with early set dining probably at 7:00 and late at 9:00. It all boils down to the demographic makeup of the particular sailing. There's no pejorative implications when saying Americans in general eat dinner earlier than other nationalities.

That makes perfect sense. At some specified time there has to be a cutoff for the previous cruise onboard accounts.

As explained by John Heald, Carnival Brand Ambassador: There have been quite a few questions about dinning times with people asking if we are changing them across the fleet. The answer is no, we are not. However on the Carnival Legend cruises to Greenland and Canada we have done so to the following: Early dinner is 5.00pm Late dinner is 7.30pm YTD is 5.00pm to 8.30pm This is based on the demographics we have on board. But this is only for these specific cruises. Cheers Edit: I can 100% assure you that if the majority of the passengers were from South America and/or Spain these dinner times would never have been changed to these times. It was already explained that there was a huge demand for early set seating which is why it was altered this way.

The fancy espresso based coffee machines are still in the Diamond lounges. We disembarked the Odyssey of the Seas and utilized the machine several times a day. It makes all types of espresso based coffee drinks and also has decaf beans loaded as well.

One should ALWAYS get to know the casino host the 1st day and the last day of the cruise. On the last full day of the cruise the casino host can tell you all your gaming stats; avg bet per hand/spin, total coin in, avg gambling session time. With this kind you have an understanding of what your style of gambling generates.

Carnival apparently confirmed my assumptions. You may choose not to believe it but my explanation was PRECISELY why the dining times were changed. Furthermore, as this Cruisehive article confirms it's Americans that eat their last meals early, not most other countries. https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-line-clarifies-dining-time-adjustment/108713

I just finished a 7 day Greek Islands cruise on the Odyssey of the Seas disembarking on July 30th. The ship was full, and there were some interesting statistics. Only 20% of the passengers had sailed Royal previously and about the same percentage were Americans, the rest were from other countries and from the looks of it mainly Europe. While I was online at the MDR on embarkation day to workout dinnertime for our party of 9 one of the people ahead of us said in a loud voice, "I don't want to eat dinner any earlier than 9:00!!!'

Older AMERICAN crowd. Europeans, Latin countries and other nationalities don't eat dinner early.

We were on the Apex from July 7-19 and there were no issues getting Elite+ coffee benefits on embarkation day.

Is that 'luncher' or 'dinch' or maybe 'lunchper'? https://www.thedailymeal.com/entertain/grandparents-supper-dinner/

That's an understatement!

We disembarked a cruise at Civitavecchia on July 30 and with a 5:30 pm flight we decided to take a private tour to Lake Bracciano. We had the car service meet us at 8:00am and we first went to a cafe for coffee and pastries right by the Lake. Then we walked around the lakeside which being a Sunday had market stalls all out. After that we went to the nearby Orsini-Odescalchi Castle. It was such a beautifully restored castle (Tom Cruise had his wedding here with Katie Holmes) and I highly recommend Lake Bracciano and the castle. After the castle we made our way to FCO airport. It was a wonderful and relaxed ending to our Mediterranean cruise.

I agree with you 100%. You're confusing my advocacy for the IV cabin to mean that I believe it should replace the traditional balcony cabin. I think nothing of the sort. As I have previously said I think MSC has named and marketed this type of cruiseship cabin for what it really is, a deluxe Oceanview cabin. I have never waviered from that position and if you go back to the introduction of the Celebrity Edge back in December 2018 you'll see my posting about this cabin since I was on one of the inaugural cruises for this ship. Royal Caribbean Corp had to continue marketing this type of cabin as a balcony since it couldn't do an about face on the Icon and call it an Oceanview when 5 ships on their other cruiseline call it a balcony.

Yes and yes. In humid areas the room will get too humid and muggy, and eventually you'll need to close the window for the HVAC to turn on and cool/dehumidify the cabin. Some people thought that closing the bifold doors keeps the HVAC on when the window is open. it. The bifold doors have no effect on whether the HVAC is on or off; however, closing the bifold doors will slow down a little bit the hot or cold outside air from reaching the rest of the cabin, which may be the reason some people think that the doors control the hvac. It 100% doesn't. The curtains in the IV cabins on the Icon may be an improvement over the blackout accordion shades on Celebrity since unlike the bifold doors the curtains will allow someone to sit by the open/closed window and with the curtains drawn the rest of the cabin will be dark. No so on Celebrity since the bifold doors are translucent. The wind tunnel effect does indeed happen with the window down. Having said that whether IV or traditional balcony if either the window or door is open we still struggle to open the cabin door and have the daily planners that are neatly stacked on the desk flutter all around the cabin. We try to manage the cabin door closing gently rather than slamming from the pressure.

Interesting about your experience on the Pride this year. We were on the Pride last May/June in Europe and there were no room service cards for the 32 consecutive days we were on the ship. TBH there were lots and lots of things that weren't right on the Pride last summer for their Europe sailings, but that's another thread!

I like this explanation,very logical!

I would LOVE for late seating to be 7:30. That's our preferred time to eat dinner, which is why we always choose mytime dining on every cruiseline so we can dine between 7-7:30.

It obviously shows that your cruise was all Americans and from areas that eat dinner early.