CNSfromHI

My wife and I loved our last cruise and already knew we wanted to book another one while onboard. After hemming and hawing, we visited the "Future Cruise Vacations Team" very late on our last full day -- truly, I think they were minutes away from closing the joint for the day. When we sat down, we told the kid exactly what we wanted to do (pay now, book later) and he quickly took our $200 deposit, gave us a quasi-receipt and a Silhouette magnet (which still hangs on our 'fridge 😁). It was only after we arrived home that I noticed the one-year offer only included the enticing OBC if booked within 90 days. Ultimately, it didn't matter for us because we booked our next journey quickly, but lesson learned. cjr

Last week, I purchased pre-cruise a 50-minute "deep-tissue muscle massage" for my wife (total secret; an onboard surprise 🥰) for roughly $170 before the addition of "gratuities," which brought my total to ~$210. Is your $170 then/$190 in January @39august the total cost, if I may ask? If so, then that is a big jump. 🥲 I'm curious but not complaining, though. I always remind myself that this, and cruising at all, is my choice. 😃 Still... Thank you, cjr

Totally agree! cjr

Per your thread title "Do we need to bring a copy of our Covid vaccinations?" Celebrity recommends for our upcoming cruise the following under "Documentation": If you are vaccinated, plan to carry your vaccination documentation with you while in port should local authorities or businesses request it to help facilitate entry and/or experiences. Sounds more like a request, but as others have commented, there's no reason not to, just in case. cjr

Notifications do not work like you might expect, though, based on our last experience. There was no audio alert on our mobile phones (iPhone), or even an indication on the app's icon on the home screen. Instead, we had to open the Celebrity app and then click the "chat bubble" icon in the upper right just to see if anyone (my wife, in this case) had replied. I hope the Celebrity app has improved since last fall, but if not, I won't use that feature during our upcoming cruise. cjr

I love the virtual safety-instruction aspect now. On our last cruise, we completed all of the required safety stuff via the Celebrity app before boarding. All we had to do was physically arrive at our muster spot so someone could check us off of a list. Easy-peasy! cjr

As recently as last month? Wow! cjr

Apologies, I didn't notice that the terms had changed since September... Below is the flyer from our "future cruise" booking last year, which gave us "1 YEAR" to book -- but only 90 days without losing the OBC, which I didn't realize at the time, hence my comment. Apparently the cruise biz has picked up in the past six months so the time frame has been shortened 😆 cjr

We booked while onboard last September for a "future cruise" and the deposit was $100 per person. One thing I didn't realize is that while you have a year to book a cruise, you only have 90 days to use any of the OBC you might get when you plunk down your deposit. We ended up booking our next cruise within seven days of the last one, so it wasn't a problem 😆 but it's still nice to know. Also, attached is the "future cruise" page from our guest ticket booklet, received 02.25.23. cjr

Non-current models, limited device-types and less-than-competitive prices is what this longtime Apple-user saw after checking out the stock aboard the Silhouette last fall. (Same holds true for GoPro devices and accessories.) Best to buy elsewhere and use your OBC in better ways. cjr

We spent a lot of time in Silhouette's Casino and the Casino Bar during our last cruise (September 2022) and -- at that time -- neither the bar nor the casino was ever crowded, even on Chic Nights. Things might have changed by the time you board, @jargey3000, but based on our last experience, I don't think the casino's patronage/action will keep you up during the wee hours. cjr

Not sure what you're expecting but I was confused, too, on our first cruise. The Celebrity "Daily Planner" thing will show you (once onboard) everything available each day. The "My Calendar" only shows the stuff you've actually paid for (i.e., excursions, dinner reservations, etc.) or other things Celebrity requires, such as reporting to your muster station when you board. Initially, I was excited about using the Celebrity app to add personal/non-ship things to the app's calendar but, unfortunately, that wasn't possible. cjr

You should receive a printed daily brochure, "Celebrity Today," either in your cabin or outside your door (depending on if the steward can get into your room) that shows everything going on each day. The photo here shows the last page of one of our daily brochures... As @Jim_Iain notes, the Celebrity app offers the same functionality. I preferred the app; my wife liked the printed piece. It's obviously up to you! Otherwise, making dinner reservations in advance is generally less expensive, but once you board, you will probably encounter many staff members asking you to make reservations for this-or-that place, as well as other special events. If you do make a reservation onboard, I suggest making sure you bring a receipt. We signed up for a wine-tasting thing on our last cruise and, when arriving a few days later, we were not listed and the receipt saved the day, so to speak. Have fun! cjr

Last autumn on Silhouette, we found two Bigelow tubes in our bathroom. It's more of a Vaseline-type balm vs. a waxy Chapstick, but my bride really liked it. cjr

As someone who will board another Celebrity cruise on Monday, and having waded through this thread, I can't help but recall the recent Viking v. Celebrity "lobster-size" thread, the "nothing but water and bread offered by the OVC" thread, and other stuff. I find some value in this site but fully expect to thoroughly enjoy my latest journey. Trust me, if my experience falls significantly short, I will share my thoughts here. Otherwise, as usual, I take what I read with a healthy grain of salt. cjr

Just checked these out and will give them a try, @garyl62. Thanks again. cjr

Unsure if every mini-fridge is the same across every Celebrity ship, but based on our fridge last autumn, don't expect the volume of a college-dorm mini-fridge (if you're familiar with those). Ours was roughly the same width as you look at it, but much shallower. The door offered space for a few beverage cans/beer bottles in terms of their width/height; and in the body of the fridge, we could stand a few wine bottles and several soda-size cans and/or Celebrity's bottled H2O. But if you have leftovers from a meal, it might prove challenging to place them inside (again, based on our experience). At best, I could place a side-/bread-plate inside unless I was willing to insert it vertically 😁 Definitely couldn't store a dinner-size plate. Finally, our mini-fridge kept things cool, but definitely not cold. Hope this helps, cjr

She should sign into her Celebrity account on the app so you can text each other via the app – which only works aboard using the ship's WiFi. The Celebrity app (as I last experienced it) only allows messages between registered passengers, and even then, only those approved by each user. Also, that function in the app is fairly lame, unfortunately. You can't receive an audio alert, or even a visual alert on your device, if someone messages you through the app. Instead, you must open the app on your device and then navigate to the "chat bubble" in the upper left. Hope this helps, cjr

I bought a pack of 8 clear-plastic luggage tags with seriously sturdy metal tag-cables from Amazon that are specifically for cruise luggage. Pretty inexpensive and also reusable. To me, it's much easier/more convenient to print/fold/insert the cruise tags you'll need at home and just affix them to your bags before heading to the port. Much nicer to just drop-and-go than to wait for them to be generated/affixed amidst the maelstrom of baggage-craziness around the kiosk, IMO. cjr

I don't think your question is stupid, @Germancruiser. I didn't find the cabin tap-water on our cruise had a bad taste or smell or anything like that, but I did tend to drink the bottled water (or even the melted ice-bucket water). You can definitely drink the tap water, but with so much other H2O available, there's really no need to. Thinking about it, though, I wonder if that's just because we're so conditioned now to bottled/filtered water? cjr

We departed Southampton last fall on Silhouette and we couldn't check-in via the app until roughly 30 days before departure. We're from the U.S., and most folks on this site say check-in starts about 45 days prior, but hopefully this gives you some idea... cjr

Not to hijack this thread, but I've wondered if peeps generally bring/pack their own bottles from home or buy them in the port city before boarding? We'd hoped to do the latter last autumn but it just didn't work out. We'd like to bring some from home next time but, if we do, what's the best way to pack them? Thanks for any advice, cjr

Ah, I think I do recall the same-day up-charge now that you point it out, but we fortunately didn't need it last time. Still, thanks again for pointing this out. And my wife just bought a new "super duper" hair press similar to the type you show for our cruise. Hers works as both a straightener and as a curling iron somehow. 🤔 It gets hot enough that there's a built-in fan feature that I can hear on a different floor when she uses it, so it is odd that these things are allowed but not an iron. Think I'll see if I can use this hair press to remove wrinkles in my clothing in two weeks... six-inches per pass 😆 cjr

Seriously, Jim? My wife is nutty about "wrinkles" in clothing (including mine) and hates that she can't bring an iron aboard. Thus, she likes to send things to the laundry for pressing -- at whatever exorbitant cost. We must have missed that up-charge last year, and I haven't seen any "small print" to this effect, but it's good to know. Thank you! cjr

@Team Stag reminds me of something else we did: we used the ice-bucket melt to fill our bottles. Not trying to be "super green" here; just seemed wasteful to dump melted ice-water down the drain every morning. cjr