mahdnc

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.

Yeah, good point. That release date is obviously a typo.

If and when it is apparent that Xcel is going to finish ahead of schedule, I imagine you might see those pre-inaugural sailings offered.

I hope you have a nice cruise, Ruth.

Sorry, the URL I posted is messed up. Here is the correct one: https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/Deployment/CEL_2025_26_Itinerary_Reference_Guide.pdf

Both times we sailed on Solstice shave been from Sydney. It is an awesome city and Sydney Harbour is so picturesque. I guess we were lucky as we have never had a problem with embarkation however I can see how the traffic to the Overseas Passenger Terminal could be bad during peak times. Also the space for traffic around the OPT is especially tight. Tendering at the Great Barrier Reef ports is a very long process, indeed.

I have not seen a Celebrity or RCG number associated with the food cut backs. However in this Seatrade Cruise News article that was published earlier this month, NCL reported that they cut food cost per passenger by nearly 30% since 4Q2022.

Thank you for your review. We will be sailing on her for the 3rd time next month (the first time since the cutbacks). How were the ports you visited?