STLCRUISIN

I was watching, as well as a Royal ship headed out of Port Everglades followed by the Summit. The crew that was lining the rails along the top deck looked relaxed so I hope they get to enjoy some of the facilities. I'm sure its been a very stressful time for them.

We stayed at the Elita for a few days a couple years ago after it first opened. Very nice rooms, pool area and friendly staff. Got to meet the owners who were very excited and proud of their new boutique hotel.

9 minutes ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

I don't think Miami is in the EU but you are safer doing the upgrade before you board.

🤣Gordoncruickshank, You are right....guess I should have worded that sentence a bit differently. What drives me crazy about Miami, especially South Beach, is their land based restaurants insistence in tacking on a standard 20-22% "gratuity" to the check. Worse than some EU VATs but that's a whole different topic.

Hi All,

The reason I asked about the VAT in Italy is that we are embarking on a TA in Civitavecchia next month. We have a Classic drink package and we're going to upgrade to Premium the day we got onboard so we could use our OBC. If I'm gonna get hit with a VAT in Italy I may as well upgrade now to avoid it.

The ship is going to 4 Spanish ports after Italy before heading across to Miami...no non EU countries.

Is there a VAT tax on the ships when docked in Italy. 

I remember before we sailed on the Edge in the spring we scanned our passports as part of the express check-in process. However, for our upcoming Infinity cruise as part of the express check-in process we uploaded our pictures but it did not ask for us to scan our passports. Maybe only the ships such as Edge and other ships, once they are Revolutionized, allow you to scan passports.

We had the Surf package on our Edge transatlantic in April. We purchased it for my wife and I just used the Elite+ minutes on my phone. Got a 35% Elite+ discount. Texting and emails worked fine the entire time. We didn't do any streaming and would not anyway with the surf. 

I just purchased a surf package for our transatlantic in two weeks on the Infinity also at 35% discount.

Keep in mind a lot also depends on how good the internet is onboard. On the Edge there is a router in every cabin so no issues. As each ship is Revolutionized the internet will be improved. We expect to be roaming around the Infinity in search of a strong signal if it doesn't work in our cabin.

My wife and I had a wonderful female butler named Nalan on our Reflection cruise back in October, 2013. She was very proactive, did everything we asked of her and surprised us by doing little things we didn't think of. She was also very thoughtful and caring for me when I wasn't feeling well one day. We really missed her and wished we ran into her again but never did.

In the few times we were in a suite since then our male butlers, with the exception of one, has been lackluster at best.

Shipster60, the Flights By Celebrity rep gave you some bad information. Once the flights are paid you can immediately book your seats.

We also have the "Pay Later" option for our upcoming cruise in October but in our case the flight was paid for about a month before our final payment was due. I don't know why.....maybe because we booked business class seats and they had to be paid for sooner...just a guess. Anyway, I was able to access the seating chart and book our seats at that time.

If it makes you nervous not having seat assignments until very close to when you fly you can always choose to pay for the flight portion in advance by calling Choice Air.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your cruise!!!!

Another thing to keep in mind is Choice Air has the program, Book Now Pay Later. We booked business class to Rome under this program for a TA. It was confirmed with American Airlines and it also showed on the AA website. However, the booking only showed that the reservation was made but not paid for so seat assignments could not be made until the tickets were actually purchased. Tickets were eventually paid for one month before final payment of the cruise. Then we were able to choose our seats.

Hope this helps for those that use the Book Now Pay Later program through Choice Air.

On 3/8/2019 at 12:38 PM, crazyman3 said:

And if your butler is not doing a great job... speak to him/her... Still no joy? Hotel Manager time!

May I suggest before going to the Hotel Manager have a word with the Retreat Manager. All butlers report to the Retreat Manager.

Hi Joe and Welcome!!!

1 hour ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

Unfortunately, I believe the free saunas in the men's and women's changing rooms are no longer there after the addition of 13 new A1 cabins on deck 10 forward starboard (the changing rooms appear to be less than half the size of what they used to be.) The LLP doth taketh away!

When the Millennium moved the men's changing room to the port side they did put in a new sauna (no porthole window). I didn't get to use it on our Asia cruise in March but it and the changing room looked very nice.

Nordski, Thank you, you have some very good and valid points we should consider when cruising in the future.

• On 3/20/2019 at 3:42 PM, Silkroad said:

  Thanks for the helpful information! It’s always different in person. Would you mind letting us know which cabin type you had? Thanks🙂

  We were in one of the sweet sixteen balcony cabins on the forward section, deck 6.

We just came off the February 17 Millennium cruise in Asia (post Revolution). Those of you who have not sailed with the changes yet and think there's no storage...it just isn't true. We sailed for 14 days and had empty drawers. They did cut down on the amount of hanging space but there is more than enough drawers and shelves for clothing.....not to mention plenty of additional shelving space in the bathroom.

4 hours ago, CrabbyQ said:

Are there clotheslines in the bathrooms in the veranda cabins?

Yes, there is a clothesline in the shower stall. We were happy to see it in our cabin.

We just came off the Millennium Asia cruise on March 4 and were surprised to see as many children on this ship. Still not a lot but the most we've ever seen on our 37 or so Celebrity cruises. One day in the OVC the Kids Club was heading through with about 15 or so in the group.

The kids on this cruise (teens and younger) were all well behaved from what we saw. I don't think Celebrity will see a huge influx of children sailing with them since they don't offer all the bells and whistles that would attract them. But I think with the new Edge Class ships and the "Revolution" of its other ships the company's vision of attracting a younger clientele includes families with children so these promotions will most probably continue.

2 hours ago, wwcruisers said:

 

 

WHEW -- Thanks, guys! Good to hear that -- but sad that they are carving-up the one big lounge, on the S-Class ships.

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Not on the M-Class.    There has been no change to the size of the Cosmos Lounge.    They will be taking a chunk out of the lounge on the S-Class ships but hardly noticeable.  On the S-Class they will be adding the Reflection Suite and about 6 Signature suites and will be similar to the layout of Reflection.  

 

The major change is one deck above where the rarely used sun deck Sports Deck Forward was transformed into the Suites only Retreat and Lounge.

Yes the Cosmos lounge on the Millennium was untouched by the changes. However, I think the taking a chunk out of the lounges of the S-Class ships will be quite noticeable since the Sky lounge on the Reflection is only about half the size of the other S-Class ships and without that full view with the added suites.

16 hours ago, usmcmom3 said:

We booked a sweet sixteen for Alaska- I am assuming the balcony is still the same?

Yes, the balcony is still the same size. We loved having the extra space. Now only if there was a bigger table and foot stools that would have made it perfect and still have provided us with plenty of space. 

We were on the 2 week Millennium Asian cruise that ended March 2 and had a great time. We stayed in one of the "sweet sixteen" cabins. According to my wife the refurbished cabin looked like a dorm but to me it was just fine. However, it grew on her with a few days. Even though they took out one of the wardrobes it had plenty of storage space and shelves, including in the bathroom. Celebrity did a nice job updating the bathroom although they used a fake marble laminate around the shower stall which they could have picked a better material but I'm not complaining, only an observation.

We never ran out of new tissues as another poster mentioned earlier so didn't have to switch to an old tissue holder. Also our trash can lid closed at all times.

Our a/c worked fine but whoever came up with the idea of hanging a bedside lamp from the ceiling so you have to get out of bed to turn it off must have lost their mind!!

There were a few minor items that workmen still need to complete and our stateroom attendant had a list of what they were. We found out later that some items ran out and were ordered and being shipped from the States.

I noticed that the teak railing on the balcony was replaced with aluminum or similar material. The public decks are still the teak material.

We love the changes to the MDR. It is so much brighter. We don't think it is drab at all. We sat in the high chairs maybe 5 times during the cruise and found them to be comfortable. Those chairs have a small pillow for your lower back. The regular chairs were also comfortable. Food was also very good. It was hot most nights. I would say 2 nights it arrived warm. We sailed a past cruise on Milly where we could not get a hot meal no matter what we did so we were pleasantly surprised. Service was excellent too.

Rendezvous Lounge is a huge improvement from its former self. Bright and stylish.

We were disappointed no changes were made to Cellar Master or Café Al Bacio. We both enjoy wine and have enjoyed sitting at the bar in the past but it just looks so dreary now. And while sitting at the Café drinking coffee I noticed the bottom of one of the hightop yellow chairs was hanging down to the floor. And I said to my wife "now why couldn't they just fix that if they weren't going to replace the furniture." Now that was a complaint AND an observation!

Martini bar still also looks the same but you become so mesmerized by the bartenders doing their juggling tricks (plus the buzz from a martini or two) that you don't notice the same old décor 

Lastly, the production shows are the same as on the other ships....nothing new. We've seen them before so we didn't care to repeat it. There were a few good guest entertainers but that's about it.

All in all we had a wonderful time, met some great people from all over, saw some great places and have a lot of great memories.

PoolSlider you're right. I should have called it sparkling. Can't call it champagne unless it's from France. 

We were served Domaine Chandon Brut Champagne when we are on the premium package.

11 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

What worries me more is the overcrowding once all of these additional cabins have been added after the ‘revolution’. Some of the M class already have had several extra cabins added since their inception (the interiors in the centre where the library used to be and the conference rooms etc.), and now the added Aqua and suites. I really don’t want them to feel like Reflection did when we sailed on her.

Don't forget that after the last refurbishment of the M class ships (Solsticetizing) they added deck 11 Aqua cabins aft just over the Sunset bar.

18 hours ago, AuroraRose said:

I am very interested to see what they do with the sweet 16's; please post an update after your cruise!  

I will report back. We love the size of those balconies!!!!

8 hours ago, AuroraRose said:

I think this is true based on a dummy booking I just did for AQ on Mille in August next year. We are booked in a sweet 16 and I keep price comparing to see if it's worth upgrading. Today I did a mock booking and the first suggested AQ room that came up was 1024. When selecting "Choose my stateroom" I see 1024 selected, and it shows me a map of the current pre-Revolution deck 10 that has no staterooms on it. See screenshots attached. I thought it was an interesting data point. The list view shows 13 available rooms to book on Deck 10.

Interesting. We will be on the Milly (in a Sweet Sixteen also) on the February 16, 2019 sailing, just after the refurbishment, so we will see first hand what actual additions have been made to her.