mahdnc

We were 16th and 17th in line for an upgrade to Business Class on a flight that's pretty much full.

Unfortunately, no diving this time. I tried to book a dive trip independently for our stop at the Bahamas, but the outfitter's schedule didn't quite work with the ship's docking schedule. The ship does not offer a dive excursion, so we're snorkeling.

We are in a corner FV. So, yes, main dining room for us!

There are quite a few roll call members that were on the cancelled Constellation WB TA's from a year or two ago.

Cathy, My wife and I are flying together. I have now corrected that error in my first post. But no kids, so yes, second honeymoon! However we will miss not having the kids with us. Right now, I am missing my dog as our dog sitter just picked her up and drove away with her.

I understand that the TA roll calls are quire lively. The one for this sailing was no different. We had approximately 120 members (25 doing the Europe-TA B2B + 1 doing the TA-Caribbean B2B). I invite all of them to post and contribute to this Live Thread.

Hi. Coming this Saturday, my wife and I will be board Constellation for her sailing across the Atlantic from Civitavecchia to her winter home port in Tampa (15 nights). Constellation will be the 4th of 7 Celebrity ships that will be coming back from Europe. For us, this will be our first TA and the first cruise without the kids since they were born 27-30 years ago. It will also be the first time we have sailed on Constellation. We have been on the other 3 Millennium class ships. My wife and I will be flying nonstop from Chicago to Rome today and will stay in Rome for 5 nights. We have been to Rome before but only as a stop during our 2007 Med cruise on Millennium. So, we are looking forward to spending some real time there. We are currently packed and ready for the taxi to pick us up for the drive to ORD. If you have any questions about the ship, etc during our voyage, please ask.

Points just show up without any prior warning. However this thread is useful for notifying you when points start showing up and when the next opportunity to earn points comes up. See you on board in 8 days!

Finally. 5 points showed up in the past hour. 98 total Club Points from the PUP program over the past ~2.5 years. Averages out to about a 12-14 night cruise (balcony) per year which is equivalent to what we had been doing pre-pandemic.

no change in club points for me, yet.

Is there a limit to how much you can buy?

We received a similar notice that our times at 4 of our ports have been changed (reduced) for operational efficiency reasons. This is for a Dec 2023 sailing on Solstice.

It has been pretty well documented on a few threads since July that the Blue Chip Club is offering complimentary cruises to extremely low level members. Our son--a lowly Pearl member with only 40 points--has received two emails for free cruises. Once in July and another in September. For reference, Pearl is the lowest of the 5 membership tiers and it spans 0-2,499 points. Although crazy and insane, the offer is quite legitimate. It is probably an attempt to fill empty cabins without having to reduce published fares. There is no obligation to gamble on this cruise; in fact the humorous thought is that you may not want to gamble much to keep yourself eligible for the next free offer. The complimentary cruise is a perkless cruise-only deal and the fees/taxes are not covered.

As you know, the higher pricing is because of higher demand and not due to a higher operating cost.

Yes, the cabin walls on Equinox and her sisters are magnetic. Here are 3 photos of the magnets we put to use on the walls in our Solstice cabin.

Clear to me as well.

Last year, Celebrity actually published a schedule for when each ship would be decorated: link

I'd be Zenith by now.

I am watching the presentation right now. The video scenery is very nice. The only problem is that it is motivating me to plan a big land vacation to Alaska and stay several nights each at Denali, Katmai, Lake Clark, Wrangell St Elias, and Kenai Fjords National Parks. Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic may have to wait for another life.

There was a time (15-20 years ago) when questions posted on this forum about getting connected onboard (how to do it, pricing) was met with few useful answers but a lot of editorial. Thankfully that has changed.

I just checked and I am not having any problems with Celebrity's website including getting signed in and viewing my cruise planner. I am using the Chrome web browser on my laptop PC. You may want to try a different web browser.

Yeah, we are on the upcoming Constellation TA with the same issue. We are bringing the binaxnow test kits with us and will find a local pharmacy in Rome as a back up if need be. The testing requirement unique for TAs (and TPs) is causing some worries for some on our roll call who have the TA as the second leg of a B2B. No testing required to get on the first leg, but then you have to get tested (and pass) if you want to get back on the ship to cruise across the Atlantic. It would be nice if Celebrity dropped the TA requirement, but I think things are pretty much set for the Oct sailings.

For comparison, here are some Wi-Fi speed measurements that I took using the Speedtest app on board Solstice (Jan 2020, Tasman Sea) and Reflection (Jan 2019, Caribbean Sea). Most of the measurements occurred on sea days. The two sailings were before Celebrity began splitting their Wi-Fi into basic and premium offerings. The result at the top of the photo was taken at an airport lounge.

Yuck. Well pretty soon they will take away the actual ship and give us VR goggles. I am sure the Retreat VR goggles will be nicer.

We will be in an aft corner FV on Connie starting on Oct 22 for 15 nights, so I can report back with current first hand info. We have been in an aft corner FV 4 previous times on Connie's sisters and I can tell you that, yes, the corner FV on Connie will have the solid bathtub wall that blocks the view in that particular direction. The views in the other directions are not obstructed. There is a great deal of protected area on that massive balcony that shelters you from the wind. The balcony area furthest from the balcony door is more exposed and so it can be more windy. Balcony for FV cabin 8166 on Infinity, Jan 6 2017, Montevideo Uruguay.