CNSfromHI

I've seen this $40/bag option available for pre-purchase on our next cruise and wondered if it's a deal, as well. I've intended to "do the math" based on receipts from our last cruise, but suspect I will arrive at your same conclusion. Thanks! cjr

I hope everything goes smoothly for you, @sunviking90! cjr

No, when we booked our next (upcoming) cruise, the $200 we paid onboard ($100 per person) at the end of our September cruise was the only down payment we had to make. That was part of the attraction/reason we committed some dough right away. cjr

We did the same during our cruise in September, i.e., on the last full day of our cruise, we plunked down a minimal deposit as part of the "Book Now or Book Later" deal. For that, we literally only received a paper receipt showing our names, the $200 deposit, and a confirmation number on the transaction. Once we returned home, our Celebrity account did not "show/reflect" that deposit, and it showed a weird, non-specific "future cruise" date of 2099 or something wayyyy distant. Ultimately, we again booked our next Celebrity cruise by ourselves online (within one week!) and our deposit -- and, more importantly, the onboard credit -- were applied to our reservation. Bottom line, Celebrity does a poor job of making things easy online. We just took a sort of leap of faith, armed with that silly paper receipt and an email confirmation in case anything went sideways. Hopefully, you will experience the same! Hope this helps, cjr

We used Celebrity's flight thing for our cruise last fall because it did offer the best cost that also met our arrival/departure needs. (No CC points for that, however.) That said, we did a lot of comparison shopping first, and this was an international trip. Honestly, a few CC points won't influence our airfare decision for our next cruise (this spring) either. But if the Flights by Celebrity airfare proves best for us overall, scoring a few more points will be a nice perk. cjr

Unfortunately, is does seem like Celebrity has throttled back its CC-point earning opportunities vs. a year ago. But every little CC point adds up! cjr

The Alaska opportunity offered 30 power-up points, i.e., three CC points. cjr

Me too. I knew I could ask our butler to bring me coffee every morning, but I tend to rise at different times in the morning -- generally early -- and when I'm up, I want that first java cup quickly. (I never bothered using the kettle and those instant-mix tubes in our room.) Anyway, I enjoyed getting two hot steaming Americanos each morning and then quietly sipping them before my wife awoke. cjr

During our September cruise, our butler made it clear that he would restock our little fridge with soda, bottled water and/or beer at "no charge" if we asked him to, but bottled wine was not part of that. I don't have enough cruise experience to know if that's typical or varies by butler, though, but I definitely recommend asking. cjr

This is the last opportunity I received/took advantage of -- although I also received an email Nov. 10 to earn 5 CC points if I book airfare through Flights by Celebrity between Nov. 11–Dec. 01. Might still do that for our March 2023 cruise. cjr

This is really the only reason to use the phone-version of your room key, i.e., you've forgotten/lost your SeaPass cards. Even if you carry your mobile about all the time, as I do (the Celebrity app is handy for much more than just the key thing), it's still wayyy easier to wave your cabin key in front of the door handle than to unlock your phone, launch the app, scroll to the "key card" thing, etc. Bottom line, though, is you will have a choice to use one or both, whichever you prefer. cjr

I just learned the hard way after our September cruise that turning off cellular (iPhone) was not enough. Shift your phone into Airplane Mode. cjr

This was our experience, as well. We found that not every "round" showed up on the app once we got to know a bartender or two 😃 cjr

Our Celebrity cruise departed August 29 and we received the "Guest Ticket Booklet"/e-docs late p.m. on August 11 via email, so your time frame is similar. I know others here on CC have other experiences – and, like you, I wanted those docs sooner, too – but hopefully yours will turn up shortly. cjr

My two cents: Turning off cellular on an iPhone (I have a 12) does NOT prevent you from racking up roaming charges and other unexpected billing nonsense -- a hard lesson I learned after our September cruise courtesy of AT&T. 😡 As I've since learned, and as others have stated here, Airplane mode enables use of WiFi and Bluetooth without the unpleasant billing surprises. cjr

We used Flights by Celebrity (FBC) to book our round-trip flight from the U.S. to U.K. in August. We did so after checking the many travel sites for a long time after booking our cruise. Ultimately, FBC offered the lowest cost. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any issues -- such as delays, cancellation -- that might have required FBS's promised customer service. cjr

I stressed about this very thing before our recent cruise in September. The info Celebrity offers on its site was specifically vague enough to leave me wondering, and the advice here and elsewhere varied. Here's my experience: In the MDR, on Chic Nights, and during the evenings generally (after 7:00 p.m.), I wore black or khaki pants, with either a polo-style shirt or one by a designer whose name rhymes with "Pommy da Llama" 😃 (Not sure if mentioning the name would violate the CC rules.) Anyway, while I didn't pack a suit, sport coat or dress shoes for this cruise, I did not encounter any issues with staff or someone else complaining about my clothing. Also, on a few days, we returned late from excursions and decided to grab a drink or two before heading to our cabin despite wearing shorts, T-shirts and, probably, a tired, long-day aspect on our faces 🤣 Again, no problems in our experience. I generally wear Wranglers and have no idea what comprises "designer" jeans, but I saw many folks wearing jeans in the MDR and on Chic nights. That said, a significant percentage also wore suits with ties, tuxes, dresses, evening gowns, etc. Paraphrasing @SusieAV8R, wear what's comfortable. To that, I add: hedge your bet and bring an outift that essentially qualifies just in case you think "Uh oh" once you're at sea. Hope this helps, cjr

Before our cruise in September, I thought using my iPhone to unlock our cabin door would be cool/handy. (I also wear an Apple watch but never even thought about using it to do the same thing, but I like that idea.) Anyway, I found that to use your mobile, you need to pull out your phone and unlock it (requiring either a fingerprint or face ID), launch the Celebrity app, and then hold it near the door... Bottom line: I found it easier to just use my SeaPass card. Even if you could use your watch, there would still likely be some sort of additional step(s) to authenticate now. It won't be as simple "wave it near the door" thing, unfortunately, given Apple's emphasis on OS security these days. BTW, I found the same thing to be true of the Celebrity app's "remote" feature to control your cabin TV. I found it easier/more functional to use the actual TV remote. Hope this helps, cjr

Same here about Aussie FB; I'd forgotten how fun it is to watch because of its non-stop action and (seemingly) ruleless play. 😃 We watched one match in the casino bar with a mother/father and son from Australia -- the latter was REALLY into the match because the sport was somewhere in its playoff system at that point, i.e., win or go home. Until you mentioned it, I'd forgotten that college football was also available during our cruise on a channel or two. I don't recall which ones, though, but hopefully you'll find enough offerings during your cruise! cjr

This is true based on our Silhouette experience in early September. We only noticed this after the folks in the room next to us started accumulating multiple room-service trays each day outside their door. In the evening of Day 10 of our cruise, the captain announced that the ship had surpassed a certain positive-case threshold (I don't remember; perhaps 3%?) and recommended that passengers start wearing masks when in elevators, public areas, on excursions, etc. This prompted us to start wearing masks again but also to ask about the quarantine process. cjr

We cruised aboard the Silhouette in September and there were plenty of entertainment options. Those are listed in a newsletter called "Celebrity Today" that you'll find in your room or outside your door each evening. There were usually ~60+ options listed each day. As for dining, we too selected anytime dining but also visited Craft Social, a pub-like place with very good food; the Luminae, a Retreat-only place; and Sushi on 5. There are many others onboard, but we tend to keep odd hours and, very often, would just hit the Oceanview Cafe for something quick when convenient. As far as casual, the Luminae is not; and shorts are "not allowed in the evening hours" (so they say but we returned late from two excursions wearing shorts and wandered about for a drink and to unwind, and nobody seemed to care.) But "casual" is relative and, if you don't mean shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops, then know that I wore a collared polo shirt and black or khaki trail pants in the evenings; no suit coat or tie, although many passengers dress to the nines, as the expression goes. Hope this helps, cjr

Our cruise in September was aboard the Silhouette and the TV in our room was a Samsung. cjr

Apologies for the tardy reply! We booked all of our excursions through Celebrity. Our ports in Iceland comprised Akureyri (7.5 hours) and Reykjavik (24 hours). We booked the "Nature, Folk & Flora" excursion for Akureyri and loved it. It's a tour-bus based excursion that stops at a number of spots around northern Iceland, including a botanic garden/public park; a cafe/outdoor museum sort-of place where you can explore an old church/graveyard and step inside preserved homes with their grass roofs; and, the showstopper, the incredible Godafoss waterfall. Of course, along the way between stops, we saw incredible vistas and scenic landscapes that make Iceland unique. Also, our guide was a lovely woman from the area who recounted its highlights and history with a dry wit that kept everyone chuckling throughout the excursion. In Reykjavik, we took the "Golden Circle with Lunch" excursion. This, too, is tour-bus based and offered our only opportunity to visit the country's interior. There we visited an energy plant and learned about this Iceland's zero-emission, clean-power; enjoyed a private lunch at a quaint guesthouse; and witnessed the raw power of Earth's interior courtesy of a spot housing numerous geysers, fissures, fumaroles, etc. The excursion concluded as the sun sank on the horizon at Thingvellir National Park, which is an ecologic wonder and situated on two of the three tectonic plates running through the island. Sounds geeky; trust me, this is something not to miss if you enjoy incredible scenery. The next day, we took the "Discover Reykjavik" sightseeing tour, which visits the iconic Hallgrímskirkja church; the Perlan observation deck, which offers 360-degree views of the city; an outdoor museum preserving numerous Icelandic homes, service buildings, a church, etc., that demonstrate both the ingenuity and resilience of early settlers; and the National Museum of Iceland. This final excursion visited a lot but felt a bit rushed, given its time limitation. The previous day's Golden Circle tour proved the opposite; it's a lot of bus time but, again, given the parameters of the cruise, it was our best option to visit the interior of this amazing country. Hope this helps! cjr

As mentioned, Craft Social is the onboard sports bar on Silhouette. I'm an English football (soccer) nut so I scouted this place a.s.a.p. so I could keep up on the Premier League action. The place has a nice pub-feel and numerous flat-screen TVs on the walls, but I found the seating at the high-top tables uncomfortable. There's no foot rest on the central table spindle, so I had to keep my feet tucked under my seat along the chair rails and often found my leg snoozing on me. Also, the tabletop is small and between pint glasses, app-plates and then meal stuff, it's a wonder we didn't drop something to the floor. (Our waiter was somewhat inattentive and didn't clear stuff much, but to be fair, it was busy.) Anyway, if you get there early enough (before a big game), I recommend sitting at the bar or in one of the niche areas along the wall (a small table with seats around it and a TV on the wall). The food was very good; the beer selection fairly mundane -- at least on draft. Eventually, we found that the casino bar offers more comfortable seating, plenty of TVs, attentive service, etc., and watched a number of matches there. Finally, the TV channel selection on board is fairly limited, but Sports 24 offers Premier League, Aussie Rules FB, rugby and other sports. I can't speak for NFL games since I didn't try, and the NBA season had not started yet. Hope this helps and sorry for the tardy reply. cjr

I just signed into the Celebrity site with no issues (iMac using Firefox) and on my iPad using Safari. BUT, on my iPad, I went to my CC page and it loaded just fine, but then went black and said there was an error, reloaded the page just fine, went black with error message, rinse, repeat... Something's not working on iPads, possibly? cjr