mahdnc

How are your accommodations? If you plan on addressing that at another time, I can wait.

That’s awesome. I’m going to be spoiled.

Very nice writing. I take it that Xpedition’s WiFi is pretty good?

Take a guided tour of the iconic Sydney Opera House or better yet, attend a performance there. If you’re adventurous, do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb for the amazing views. If you don’t want to put in that kind of effort (or pay that much), you can get very impressive views from the observation deck of the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon. Take a passenger ferry across Sydney Harbour and visit the Taronga Zoo Sydney to see kangaroos, wombats, koalas, Tasmanian devils, and of course the amazing platypus. If you prefer to see them naturally in the wild, you can book a tour with companies that do that. Or you can even book a hotel room at the zoo if you’re interested in seeing koalas from your balcony or you’d like an after hours tour of the zoo. The Botanical Gardens of Sydney are very nice. Great place to do some walking and located near Sydney Harbour. My wife and I enjoyed strolling, shopping, and eating at the Rocks Market which is open only on Saturdays and Sundays. It is located right next to the bridge and the Rydges Sydney Harbour hotel (another reason to stay there). For astronomy geeks, the Sydney Observatory has tours and viewing through their telescopes in the evening. Everything I mentioned above is very close to Sydney Harbour. However a popular place to visit that is outside of Sydney are the Blue Mountains. Also be sure to enjoy formal Afternoon Tea at one of the many locations in Sydney. The Park Hyatt has a very nice one if you want views of the Opera House and harbor (with prices to match). The Tea Room at the Queen Victoria Building has marvelous ambience and will make you feel that you are in London even though it is located in the Central Business District of Sydney which means you’ll also have shopping opportunities. There are many other outstanding Afternoon Tea places in Sydney, those were the two that we have experience with. During our next visit, we may try out The Tea Cosy located at The Rocks.

Rydges Sydney Harbour is recommended by many. Its pricing is pretty good and it is located almost right next to the pier. The Park Hyatt Sydney is the nicest and closest hotel to the pier if price is no object. We’ve stayed at the Sydney Harbour Marriott the last time we took a cruise from there on 2019. We are thinking of staying at Sebel Quay West when we sail out of Sydney in 2025

The iLounge rarely has the current generation models for sale. 2 years old is a bit much.

That’s why you have two of them. Good luck.

A year ago we were on her for the westbound TA. No iPads or much of anything back then other than accessories. Hopefully things have improved.

The cabin categories are fairly well defined and described in Celebrity’s website if that is what you are asking. Look under “Our Ships”.

The Captains Club one category cabin upgrade has to be called in (by you or your TA if you are working with one) and requested at the time of booking in order to get it. There is no mechanism for getting the upgrade when you book online. You may already be aware of this: only certain categories are eligible for an upgrade. Here is a chart showing those cabin categories. Good luck!

Thank you. I hope your embarkation goes smoothly today. Have fun.

I don't know if you have time to answer this: what did you think of today's Celebrity guided tour of Quito et al? Bad, good, decent, great? The reason I am asking is that we have a full day in Quito on our own on the day before the Quito tour. I am hiring a private guide for that day. I am mulling over some choices on what to do that day. If you thought today's tour was pretty good, I will probably have our guide take us somewhere else outside of Quito..

I hope she brings me.

I agree that it is a good approach. Could have really used that option in 1776.

it’s a drag

You are right about that. In the past Celebrity has made seemingly big design changes as new ships were being produced within the same class although there needed to be adequate time to incorporate the changes. When Century came out in 1996, virtually all of the cabins that had balconies were limited to the suites and the balcony craze had already taken hold. When Galaxy came out in 1997, she had a deck that had balcony cabins and Celebrity thankfully put in more than 4! I know that ships in the past have been retrofitted with balconies, but if you look at a photo of her, you can see they are not retrofits. Also somewhere along the way, someone saw fit to add an extra deck of cabins to Reflection when she was built whereas none of the 4 predecessors in her ship class have it (thankfully).

Those cabins will be popular stops during cabin crawls.

This is for the Apr 9 2025 Solstice sailing....

I also recommend the Behind the Scenes Tour. My wife and I took our first and only tour a year ago on one of our many sea days during our transatlantic cruise on Constellation. We received a lanyard (which you wore during tour) and a small piece of rope tied in a special knot. Of course we also walked away with memories and photos.

Good morning. Nice view. My wife is a Marriott Platinum Elite member. I’m believe/hope that will get us access to the Executive Lounge when we arrive next Wed.

Hi, Rebecca. As you already know, we will be taking the sailing after yours (Southern Loop). Have a great time and put that D500 to good use! David

Thank you for the information. Now if Celebrity could get our CC discount to show in the prices of the cruises....

If I read your post correctly, it always has been like that--you cannot get an assigned dining time when you buy a specialty dining package. That is the tradeoff for getting the package discount. When you get on board, you can then nail down your specific dining times. If you buy specialty dinners separately, you pay a higher price but you get to pick your time based on availability. As for as lunch is concerned, it sounds like you are talking about the "Specialty Restaurant Trio" dining package which is for 2 dinners + 1 lunch. The product description makes that pretty clear. Usually the trio dining package pricing takes into account that lunch should be cheaper than dinner. The other package is the "3 Night Specialty Dining Package" which is for 3 dinners.

Hi, Kim. Thanks for posting your review and the nice photos. It's good to hear that you were satisfied with the compensation that Celebrity offered for your one-day-late cruise. David

When her retirement was announced, she said that it was time or something like that. Her retirement occurred when the new Celebrity president was installed. I guess it wasn't really time for her to retire after all.