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Last month, Celebrity published for each ship a list of their obstructed view cabins. The list attempts to quantify the degree of obstruction. In some cases (e.g. Edge), there is a small photo showing what the view looks like. The information is published on Celebrity's trade website, The Celebrity Commitment, but it is spread out. I have taken the obstructed view cabin pdf file for each ship on the website and downloaded them to my google drive for safe keeping (in case the information is withdrawn). I then created an index with hyperlinks to each pdf file (I also got a bit nostalgic and listed Celebrity's 6 retired ships). Here is the link to the index. Please note that Celebrity did not publish a list for Beyond and Ascent probably because of their newness. Also the obstructed view cabin list for Solstice on Celebrity's website is the one that is listed for Silhouette. It may be a mistake or maybe the cabins are the same but they failed to change the name of the ship.

Like many people, we have suffered through 3 cancellations for our Singapore/Hong Kong cruises (2020, 2021, and 2022). Hopefully the 2023/24 cruises actually sail and with Hong Kong still on the itinerary. 2020 was supposed to be a family cruise, but this year our two adult kids will not be able to go so it will be just my wife and me. The small tiny silver lining is that it makes the hotel arrangements simpler and cheaper.

Zenith should get passenger valet.

Yeah, it is slow over there on that other board. I do not have any experience with this yet either although we are taking a Solstice cruise out of Singapore that ends in Hong Kong over Christmas and NYE. We plan on staying in Hong Kong after the cruise for 5 nights. From what I have read (and from talking to my parents who lived there a long time ago but have visited several times since), the big decision you have to make is whether you want to stay at a hotel located on Hong Kong Island or if you want to be in Kowloon which is the peninsula. There are pros and cons with both locations. All 3 of your choices are in Kowloon.

Yes, we can be more helpful if you tell us which port you are disembarking (I presume Ft Lauderdale or Miami) and which airport (I presume FLL or MIA) you will be flying out of. If I had a flight leaving that late out of FLL or MIA, I would consider renting a car for the day and depending on your interests go to Everglades National Park, Key Largo, South Beach, etc. Make reservations for lunch at a restaurant and/or perhaps an early dinner.

Wow, a very detailed review. Thanks for posting it. It wasn't clear to me what kind of Deck 6 cabin were you in. I am guessing that it was not a balcony cabin since you made no mention of a balcony (or I missed it in your 8,000+ word essay).. It's a shame about the high winds that you encountered during your stop at St. Thomas. The pier at Crown Bay is a bit inconveniently located. It could be worse, the last time we sailed to St Thomas (Jan 2014) Eclipse was the odd man out on a 6 cruise ship day and had to anchor at Charlotte Amalie, I couldn't imagine doing that and tendering with the high winds you encountered. You did a good job of money management/discipline at the casino.

It does vary (when shorex's become available), I would imagine. And I would imagine that it has been very inconsistent at various times when cruising restarted after the pandemic.

We have a Apr 2025 Transpacific cruise (Solstice) where excursions have been available for a few months now.

Check-in is done online through your desktop or mobile app. The earlier you do your check in, the more choice you will have on which time to show up. However as a Retreat Guest (suite), I think you can show up pretty much any time you want. My wife and I haven't done suites for over 15 years, so maybe someone who has can verify what I just said.

I do not understand what you mean by that. Can you please clarify?

That is my understanding as well. For our recent Transatlantic cruise this past October, we ended up buying an international plan for one month. The Verizon rep at the store told me that the international plan did not include cruise ships anymore and that changed recently (the Verizon rep was also a cruiser).

I don't think you are missing anything. My family and I are very internet hungry so we don't normally consider that option.

You booked a very nice ship and cabin class for your first Celebrity cruise. Awesome itinerary, too. I have yet to sail on Apex or her sisters. However I consistently read many good things about the Eden specialty restaurant. Be sure to book a dinner there--the earlier the better to get your choice of time.

You should be able to call before your cruise to have your reservation time adjusted. If none of your preferred times are available, you should go to the specialty restaurant as soon as you board to have it changed there. If you get there early enough, you will likely have some workable options to choose from.

whichever one you choose first when you first connect to Wi-Fi and set up your account. This is the menu screen that you get to choose from. The top menu choice in the screenshot is the All Included package with an upgrade to premium purchased before the cruise. The highlighted choice.is the loyalty based 90 free minutes.

when you connect to the ship’s Wi-Fi for the first time with your phone, you will be presented with this screen:

I very much enjoy reading your review and looking at your photos. Excellent job. BTW, that 200-500 mm telephoto (Nikkor, I presume) is a beast and not well suited for a cruise vacation. Thank you for the information on the Intercontinental. We will be sailing out of Miami 13 months from now and I am thinking of booking either it or the Marriott Biscayne Bay to get good views of the cruiseport. David

Yes, as the others have said, you have to call the Captains Club desk to get the loyalty discount and the pre-cruise purchase discount together. I am pretty sure that the discounting is manually applied, so be sure to check their math or at least understand their math.

Hi, Susanne! You are so right, I hope Hong Kong stays on the itinerary! With China and Hong Kong having opened up (Covid-wise), there is hope. If Hong Kong is a go, it is a pity that we won't be able to meet in person. Did you go on your January Eclipse cruises?? I meant to ask you whether you saw any scuba diving opportunities offered through the ship (I doubt it) or through independent operators on the various islands you were set to visit. David

I’m sorry you lost Bonaire as it is an awesome diving and snorkeling destination. We liked Curaçao however. Snorkeling and diving is good (better than Aruba, not as good as Bonaire) and the island is more commercially developed with more things to do than Bonaire. I know the Dutch crew on Reflection (the last time we went to the ABC islands in 2019) liked Curaçao the best because it was the most Dutch. Aruba was too American and Bonaire was too boring.

You can buy one wifi package and share it among several devices (you can share it with your partner). However only one device can be connected to wifi thru the package at a time. When you do log in to your package, you receive a warning that completing the logon will automatically kick the other connected device off the internet. It's pretty manageable that way. To get the Captains Club wifi package discount on top of the advanced purchase discount, you have to call the Captains Club for them to do it. You can't do it by yourself online (and get both discounts).

I am told it's very suite.

The balcony partitions are hinged and can be swung open and secured in that position by your cabin steward. This removes half of the partition as the other half is fixed. Solstice cabin 8107 balcony

Celebrity is offering free upgrade from outside to veranda cabin for select European and Caribbean cruises.

Thanks for posting your review. I'm glad you had a great time, but sorry about your tax thingee.