xamsx

That is crazy. We just booked a more exotic B2B cruise on Regent for just a bit more than that per day (PH suite).

Where'd ya go? It sounds like a wonderful place. I am glad you had a good vacation.

I’ve done blowouts at the ship salons but not color. Will you be bringing your own tubes + formula (do they allow that!?) or asking them to get out the book + color wheel to match your color? One thing I do when traveling is go to my hair color’s website and seek out a salon in that city that uses my hair color products. I make an appointment through facebook messenger, by calling, or on the salon’s website. I have my formula, so I hand that over (to looks of surprise and relief). I have done this in numerous cities, it has always been a great experience *knock wood* and I love seeing how my hair gets styled in different parts of the world (color+ blowout).

Make sure you pack Dramamine as you never know…

We are also looking around. We currently have cruises booked with Princess, Oceania, Viking, and Silversea (RCCL). We only have one future cruise booked with Celebrity. Right now, itinerary is driving our bookings (within reason) instead of loyalty. We do hope that a new line will become a "favorite" as Celebrity was in the past for us, but in the meantime will be having fun cruising while looking around for that new favorite. Good luck!

No, terrible is an accurate word not overemphasizing. It is one reason we have stuck with Celebrity - the desserts are so bad I don’t gain weight on Celebrity cruises. 🤪

I think it is what you are used to. We did two Celebrity cruises in late 2022 (Nov and Dec) and then did another in February (2023). The changes to food and service were a stark, negative difference to us in just those two months. My mother and aunt were on that Feb cruise with us, and my aunt raved about what a good time she had and how wonderful everything was. It was her first cruise. My mother, who has cruised many times, was less than impressed (as were we). We have 8 cruises booked currently, only one is with Celebrity. Like many others, we are branching out. Some of those booked cruises are higher up the food chain, some lower. Whereas before we would look first at Celebrity and make the itinerary work, now we are checking the itinerary and making that the priority (within reason). Probably what we should have done all along, but we really appreciated the value we felt we received from Celebrity in the past.

We were on the TA Connie cruise last fall docking in Tampa, we walked off, went through customs and were in a taxi to the airport car rental in about 30 minutes. I am sorry you had difficulties. We were again on Connie in December, walked off, went through customs, handed our parking ticket to the valet, and were on the road home within 30 minutes. If your difficulties were with luggage (you did not mention what the issues were), maybe a walk off would help?

We have a conflicting cruise (with other people), otherwise we'd gave canceled and booked this. I hope they run it again.

Thank you!

Where did you get your medallion holder?

That is definitely not the issue. 🙂 I do wonder what someone without a smartphone does. We went on a Celebrity cruise with my mother in March. She is in her late 70s, does not have a smartphone, and uses an old flip phone when she has to make use of a cell phone. We gave her a smartphone to access the Celebrity app. Celebrity does not use it as a key card or to input data (online works); it uses it as a personal folio and the ability to see what is happening around the ship at any time. She stuck that smartphone in the safe and returned it to us at the end of the cruise. We would never be able to take her on Princess (I have no idea what she'd do with the medallion!) She does not use a smartphone and has no interest in learning how to use a smartphone.

Thank you both, but ... yes, but think about how silly that is... can't book from a web browser, you have to use the glitchy app... oh wait, use the web browser app instead because the phone app sucks. Why not just allow the customer to do everything associated with the cruise from an account using the web browser? Here's the web browser app link for anyone looking.

I must say the Princess app sucks. I wish they’d let me book everything from my browser (looking at you dining reservations). I thought the Celebrity app was bad, but the Princess app makes that one look good as it is simply dreadful pre-cruise. Glitchy, slow, difficult to sign into - I have four Princess cruises booked (two back to back), and it makes me want to cancel. I won’t, but the app is frustrating, to say the least.

Yes. We went down to the desk to find out where to make our complaint. We were told "on the app" and could never find a place to write comments about that tour on the app. My husband tried somewhere/someone else (I don't recall where or who), but there was no follow-up. I do wish Celebrity had a rating system. That guide should not be doing a chef's tour. A city highlights walking tour? Sure. But not a market/food experience.

I really wish Celebrity allowed reviews on tours like Princess does. I would have left our experience with the lowest score possible. The absolute worst tour we ever took on a ship excursion was last year on our TA on the Constellation. It was a chef’s tour. We were to tour the Mercat de l’Oliver. The market itself was terrific, well what we saw of it in the few minutes we were there. The “chef” never said a word to any of us, and he didn’t purchase anything. The tour guide kept talking and talking, showing us every “very important” statue and street. Our luncheon was abominable, nothing that was served to us was described to us, and this from a tour guide who described everything she saw not related to food or the market in excruciating detail. She gave us the opportunity to have the bus called and to be transported back to the ship after that. Over half of us jumped at that chance. I think we were all just hungry and wanted to head back to the ship for something to eat. Later, at the pool bar one of the other people on the excursion saw us and started discussing how horrible the tour was. She told us we were smart to bail, that the tour guide marched them up a church (!!) and by the time they got there most of the rest of the group had peeled off, and there were only six people left! (There had to have been 25-30 people to start, not 10-12 as others have had on their chef’s market tour.) My husband and I skipped the dinner that evening. We were not fit company, and so decided not to impart out bad humor on anyone else who might attend. Now, that chef’s tour with a whopping 20 minutes in a market followed by a gross lunch may have been an anomaly. I certainly hope it was uncommon.

We did a TA last October on Connie. The bag was $49.99. Look for a prepaid bag offer under manage your cruise as one may be offered for less. We too do carry on in Europe, and on our 16 TA did several bags. As far as how much you can fit? My husband makes an Olympic sport out of it, so I am not a good judge. He gets around 40 pieces in at a time. You might also consider taking laundry sachets on your trip to do some laundry by hand.

The first time I went carry-on to Europe, I got camera sleeves for my purse. For my DSLR cameras, I brought two bodies, plus some lenses in my (ugly) Pacsafe crossbody handbag. I also brought extra batteries, chargers, memory cards, etc. If you carry a purse, there are camera bags that look an awful lot like purses (I have a few), which can be used instead of a traditional camera bag. My husband brings a lightweight computer and I bring an Ipad. The last few European vacations I have switched to a travel camera (a canon powershot), and that made things much more lightweight. For the average person (as opposed to a professional photographer), that can be a real choice.

I paid the dollar plus gratuity difference on the classic package for the Aspen multiple times at Cafe Al Bacio in March. My aunt did the same.

I do the wrap method, and my husband does the roll method. He also goes an extra step with smaller packing cubes, putting in one set of clothing per day in each cube. I use larger packing cubes and pack by type of clothes (shirts, pants, etc.). Even though he is larger than I am, he always has extra room in his carry-on. Next time, I may have to try the roll method in small packing cubes to compare how it works out for me.

The key (for me) is everything must match everything else in my bag. I also need to do laundry once per week. And, I order shampoo and conditioner to be picked up at an Amazon box. We have a foldable suitcase we pack for any extra items purchased that we don’t have shipped home. We have only used it once (we went wild in Rome before out TA last fall), but it is worth bringing just in case.

We have been doing carry on only to Europe since 2015. When my husband first suggested it, I laughed in his face. Now, I would not travel any other way in Europe. We don’t simply go to one city and stay at one place, we move about every 6-8 days. If you (generic you) are unwilling to do laundry, carry on only for longer than a one week trip probably isn’t for you. On a ship it is easy to send out, on land either the Airbnb needs a washer, the hotel needs to have laundry service, or we find a place to drop off. I also have AirTags now “just in case.” I slip on inside my purse (a very ugly pacsafe crossbody that hold a lot), too.

That was a bucket list item for me, my husband had no interest. He went because I wanted to do it.

We have moved on. Of the six cruises we currently have booked, one is is with Celebrity, and that one is only because my mother insisted (the rest are just Hubby and me). We are only elite status, so we aren't leaving behind tremendous perks or anything. Raise the prices and provide less product? See ya!

Rome: the Vatican (I have done private tour and small tour, prefer private), the Forum (I suppose you would want to do the Colosseum, too), Jewish Ghetto… really anything neighborhood-foodie. Naples - Sorrento (I love Sorrento, food tours, agritourism, etc), Pompeii (not if you are old or have walking issues), in Amalfi, up to Ravello, Scala, etc., Capri is a ferry ride from Naples (Anacapri, third level is lovely), Mt Vesuvius. Lots to do from Naples. Instead of taking a local train we used a car service last time. It was well worth the money, IMO. Palermo is gritty. If you stay in the touristy areas, it does have some charm. You can also head out to some of the Greek ruins. (Sicily has the second most Greek ruins in the world.) Siracusa, head over to Ortigia. There is a beach, Temple of Apollo, lovely restaurants, the ability to take a boat ride around the area, etc. Venice - head out to Valpolicella if you enjoy wine (Amarone, mmm). I much prefer Burano and Murano (where I have spent a small fortune in art glass) to Venice, but if you have never been, everything is walking in Venice (except for the canal gondolas) and there are stairs, stairs, and more stairs. I hope I caught all the autocorrects that were not correct. If not, apologies.