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One thing to note is that the Elite cocktail hour is no longer held exclusively up in there Sky Lounge. We visited there Sky Lounge once and the Captains Club Host(ess) is not there nor are h’ordeuvres served. This is across the fleet and not an M class only thing.

Yes and yes. Below is the Captain’s Club Elite card that was placed in our stateroom.

Thanks to Rahul of the Concierge Team and a HUGE thanks to Russell, the Maitre d’ of the San Marco Restaurant, a Cruise Critic Group Luncheon was hosted today by Celebrity for our roll call. The group luncheon was modeled after the ones I have attended on pre-pandemic sailings that were organized by the ship’s Event Coordinator for roll call groups. I was very sure that when I asked, I would be told that holding a luncheon for our roll call would not be possible because of how shorthanded the dining room staff was. And they are short handed and so I would not blame them. I first routed my request to Rahul, one of the three members making up the Concierge Team who sit at them Captains Club desk by Guest Relations. They do multiple roles including the Event Coordinator. Although he was not familiar with my request, Rahul said that he would pass it on to his supervisor. I told Rahul that I was expecting a polite, “no”. He told me that he is trained to never say no to a guest. Knowing that, I should have asked for something else! The MDR Maitre d’, Russell (on the left in the above photo), talked to me on the following evening after my wife and I finished dinner. She said that she could accommodate my request! She asked if the luncheon could be held at 11:30 am (30 min before they MDR normally opens for lunch) and if it was ok that we would all be seat in the existing tables in the center of the lower level of the restaurant. Of course, I said yes. We agreed to hold it today (Thursday November 3) which gave me ample time to get RSVP invitations sent out (above photo) in order to establish a final head count for Russell. I told her to expect 50-60 people. In the past, the Event Coordinator handles the RSVP reservations but I decided to handle this myself instead of delegating it to the Concierge Team since I don’t think they were familiar with the luncheon concept. RSVPs were either delivered to our stateroom by phone or were dropped off in a paper bag hung on our door. We had 93 roll call members indicate that they might be interested in attending the luncheon before we sailed. So invitations were sent out to their staterooms. We received 72 affirmative RSVPs. Most of them attended as I lost count at 60 wheel trying to count attendees today. The luncheon menu was the normal menu that day for lunch. We had two members tell me in their RSVP that they were vegetarian. When I informed Russell of this last night, she said that she would take care of them. Russell’s plan worked great. The Deck 4 dining room doors opened at 1130 am. When we were led to the center area of the dining room, there were Cruise Critic signs already placed on our tables (first photo at the top of this post). Very very nice touch!! There was plenty of dining room attendants for us and so service was excellent. Our group was very isolated from the rest of the MDR guests, so it felt nice and private. I tried to get a photograph of every table, but I can see that I missed a couple tables unfortunately. The important thing was that everyone who attended seemed to be enjoying each other’s company. Cruise Critic at its finest! And Celebrity, too. I am deeply grateful to Russell and her tremendous dining room staff.

I asked one of the consultants. The answer was “yes”.

The HDMI connections are there, I’ll have to see if you can select the input on the monitors. We brought a Nintendo Switch to connect to the TV. We haven’t tried connecting it yet, but we will. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

The current view from the aft:

I don’t know. If I think of it and if they’re not busy, I ask.

Some pictures from yesterday:

The old movies continue to be shown on the stateroom television. Von Ryan’s Express (1965) was on this evening. Juno (2007) was on last night.

To give you some idea, here is the shore excursion brochure for this years westbound Constellation Transatlantic sailing which I am currently on: link

So as far as blackjack goes, there were three tables in operation at the Fortunes Casino: 1. $6 table. Multiple deck. A continuous shuffling machine of sorts. 6:5 payout for a blackjack. You can double after splits. 2. $10 table. Multiple deck. Manual shuffling. 6:5 payout for blackjack. You can double after splits. 3. $10 table. Single deck. Manual shuffling. 6:5 payout for blackjack. You cannot double after splits. You had to play at the $25 and $50 table to get a traditional 3:2 payout for blackjack. Neither of those tables have been opening on this cruise due to lack of demand.

I played blackjack at the casino from 8-11 pm this evening. For those three hours I was the only one at the single deck/$10 table. In fact the casino was largely empty. The other two active blackjack tables including the $6 table had only a couple of players. The $25 and $50 tables were idle and not even staffed. Early on I figured it was because people were at the evening show, but as the night wore on, it was clear that was not the answer. I finally asked the dealer where everyone was and she politely told me that the European and Transatlantic itineraries have an elderly passenger demographic that go to sleep by mid evening. She said by midnight the casino is usually shutdown because it is empty. She also went on to say that it will change when Constellation beings its winter Caribbean season. That passenger demographic is typically younger, likes to party, and hits the casino well into the evening.

I played blackjack at the casino from 8-11 pm this evening. For those three hours I was the only one at the single deck/$10 table. In fact the casino was largely empty. The other two active blackjack tables including the $6 table had only a couple of players. The $25 and $50 tables were idle and not even staffed. Early on I figured it was because people were at the evening show, but as the night wore on, it was clear that was not the answer. I finally asked the dealer where everyone was and she politely told me that the European and Transatlantic itineraries have an elderly passenger demographic that go to sleep by mid evening. She said by midnight the casino is usually shutdown because it is empty. She also went on to say that it will change when Constellation beings its winter Caribbean season. That passenger demographic is typically younger, likes to party, and hits the casino well into the evening.

I’ve yet to see any favorable offers being made for specialty dining. I had the filet mignon two nights ago and my wife had it tonight. The steak was excellent both times.

Dessert at the Tuscan Grille:

I took the last two lemon tarts tonight

Current position: We are a day and a half from our stop at Nassau.

They are offering the usual incentive for booking on board. Up to $500 OBC depending on the cabin category and length of the cruise booked. I can send a photo of the flyer that has the offer later tonight. Or someone may post it for me. It’s the same offer that’s been out there for a while. Coincidentally, we just visited the Future Cruises department today to put down a $100 pp deposit that allows us to book another cruise 18 months from now—and qualify for the same OBC offer.

Antipasti board at the Tuscan Grille:

EIGHT: That is the number of kids under 18 years old on board this sailing. FOUR: That is the number of youth counselors on board. My wife and I went up to Deck 11 and dropped by the "Camp at Sea", the brand name that replaced the "Fun Factory" that we knew when we brought our young two kids on board Celebrity cruises many years ago. We talked to the camp counselor and found out the above information. I guess this is one department that is not understaffed. When we took our first M-class cruise (Infinity, 2002), the Fun Factory was located on real estate now occupied by the Aqua Class cabins on Deck 11 (Cat A1). Back then the Sky Lounge occupied the full width of the ship giving its occupants a view of the port and starboard sides.

Nice story! This morning I took a photo of the Chihuly from directly underneath the sculpture. Below it I am reposting the other photo I took for comparison.

Here are some photos from yesterday that I was unable to post until now (because of Cruise Critic this time and not from the ship’s internet connection). View from the Oceanview Cafe during breakfast: Halloween decorations at Guest Relations: I finally hit the blackjack table yesterday. This dealer was as beautiful as she was deadly: The San Marco dining room at lunch time. It looks empty because all of the guests were seated by the windows along the sides of the restaurant: A view from our balcony before dinner time: