mahdnc

Have an awesome cruise!!

Our upcoming December Solstice cruise has a 50% discount for drink packages but the Classic to Premium upgrade price is discounted only 5%.

We have been on Solstice twice so far and really liked the ship. Every time I read about the mediocre menu in the MDR, I swear that I end up buying another specialty dining reservation....

We will be on Solstice in Dec/Jan and am disappointed to read your post. Fortunately it is a very Asia port intensive cruise so we at least have that. Did you try Murano?

When the FV/UV cabins are first released, Celebrity requires a minimum of 5 passengers to book it--and since Celebrity's reservation system cannot handle 5 passengers, the booking has to be called in whether you are booking direct or if a TA is doing it for you. Ironically as large as the FV/UV cabins are, their long and narrow shape make it almost impossible to sleep 5 if a roll away bed is required. Eventually the 5 passenger minimum requirement is dropped in order to sell any remaining inventory. The timing on when that requirement is dropped is quite variable and can be a year in advance of the sailing. My wife and I were able to book one for just the two of us 6 months in advance of our Transatlantic sailing last year. Again, congratulations on your free upgrade from Celebrity.

I think you are right (again). I think the initial suite conversion attempt/rumor was with Constellation and not Millennium/Summit that I posted earlier.

Thanks. I thought that I had heard that, but I guess I am wrong.

On Celebrity's website, they do have advertise a Sunset Suite on Infinity. It is priced in between a Celebrity Suite and Royal Suite. The pricing for the particular sailing that I looked at was a bit more expensive than a Celebrity Suite.

Yes, we have only cruised in the UV (formerly FV) cabins on Millennium class. So I am sorry to see these particular cabins get converted into suites on Infinity. I am also concerned that this will occur for Millennium, Summit, and Constellation. In fact I think there were reports in this forum that Celebrity attempted to do the FV to suite conversion when Millennium and Summit were first Revolutionized a few years ago but in the end that attempt was aborted. We have a UV booked on Summit for our Panama Canal cruise this coming April. Unfortunately that may be the last time we are in one. We will see. Constellation FV 8166, Nov 2022, Transatlantic sailing

Congratulations on your good fortune. When Celebrity converted Silhouette's four Family Veranda cabins into suites, passengers that had already booked the cabin as an FV did not receive suite status when the cabins were re-categorized. I believe they could get it only if they paid the fare difference which was sizeable. I am fairly sure that Infinity was the only ship that did not receive the Starlink upgrade. I presume that this will be taken care of during the dry dock.

Because the cabin is long and narrow like a bowling alley, there are not a lot of options for putting in a proper suite level bathroom. There were essentially no changes made to the Silhouette Horizon Suite bathrooms when they were converted from FV. I am guessing this is what will happen here.

Some people take this loyalty stuff seriously: Ex-Hostages Get Frequent Flyer Benefits

I am impressed that your TA had the records to verify the mistake. Since my wife and I don't drink much, I would accept their reimbursement offer--although I think they should front some of the money in the form of OBC. However that may not be satisfactory for you. What did they say about the gratuities?

I don't see how the Captain's Club would help here.

Making us book cruises with them to earn loyalty points is just so unfair.

Occasionally I will write in "Eggs Benedict" on the breakfast card and have received it every time including our Constellation cruise last October. However, I am impressed with your creativity.

Yes, on all three ships, there was the storage area located right above the bed. So bring the collapsible cubes! Solstice, Cabin 8107, Dec 23 2019, Sydney Reflection, Cabin 8107, Jan 4 2019, Ft Lauderdale Eclipse, Cabin 8107, Dec 28 2013, Ft Lauderdale

Yes, a magnet will stick to the cabin walls on all three ship. Coincidentally those are the only three S class ships we have sailed on. The last time we were on Solstice was a Christmas cruise and we used magnets to hang our stockings! Solstice cabin 8107, Dec 26, 2019

There is no spoon.

If they are like this dog, I would be ok with it: New Zealand Border Control Dog boards Solstice during our first Kiwi port of call.

Sorry, but I didn't see this until now--over a year later! In case someone else is interested, the answer is that when you purchase a hot glass class for two, you only check one passenger in the Cruise Planner as you saw. So one passenger ends up buying a hot glass class for two. When you get on board, you can then declare who the second person is.

Elite, have four Celebrity cruises booked that we will take because of the attractive itineraries. We expect our November Galapagos to be fine which will make us E+. We will see how our December Far East sailing on Solstice goes to decide whether we will book again. We have a couple of long expensive land vacations (skiing, Fiji diving, and exploring all the national parks in the Alaskan interior) in mind that we keep putting off in favor of doing cruises on Celebrity. We will see.

Our waiter during our Solstice New Zealand cruise in 2019 told us that the Baked Alaska parade was removed because of a fire incident involving Baked Alaska on Infinity. Apparently he was on board for that.

You're welcome. It's a surprisingly good video.

I saw this 5 minute video in the Wall Street Journal last month and thought it was interesting enough to share here. Much of it describes how Wonder of the Seas docks at Port Canaveral (answer: very carefully): Captain Explains How He Docks the World's Biggest Cruise Ship