mahdnc

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

I think that was in the early 2000's? In the mid-90's (I moved away at the end of 1996) I seem to remember seeing Horizon or Zenith docked at Port Richmond. It's possible it was Meridian as I saw the whole thing at a distance from Richmond Street or maybe it was I-95.

Do you recall the times when Horizon or Zenith would sail to Bermuda from Philadelphia?

Yeah, I was very disappointed for you. It really got gutted.

I will have to include a ruler with my food photos taken from my next Celebrity Cruise.

cruisestitch, please keep these posts confined to the PowerUp Points thread!

Yes, I would totally expect many people to feel this way. On the other hand, I would think that my earlier post is not a opinion that is held by only me either.

I understand, it's a fussy personal preference. I would like to see Celebrity bring back some 14 nighters in lieu of a few of the 10/11/12's. For me it makes maximum use of a two week winter vacation from work. I also grew to like the 14 night sailing's cadence: leave Florida and start off with an enjoyable 2 full sea days, followed by 5 Lesser Antilles ports, then a sea day in the middle of the cruise, then the ABCs, followed by 2 more sea days before finishing. Again similar cadence to the 10/11 night cruises although I think the 14 nighters were the only ones that combined the Lesser Antilles and the ABC's and you picked up an extra sea day as a bonus.

Personally I'd love to see the return of the 14 night Exotic Southern Caribbean sailings.

If you're saying you have a drink package as part of your Always Included cruise fare, you won't be able to take advantage of the 10% discount from Captains Club.

And I think it's 20% now.

Regrettably, I never got the chance to watch him perform live. May he rest in peace.

It may have been changed but not from this new version (Aug 30, 2023 Version 8). The older version (Mar 24 2023 Ver 7) already had that. Celebrity's website still has the old version posted: link After comparing the two versions side by side, I have not found any differences yet.

There's still a Captains Club?

Blackjack tournaments are not run like conventional tournaments. It is hosted by the Cruise Director who also is the dealer (for the times I have played). One table is set aside at the prescribed time for the tournament. 7 players at a time will seat and play 6 hands. They are given a set of chips at the start ($500). There is a minimum and maximum bet that can be made--I think the cap is lifted during the last hand. There is no surrender, no insurance, and blackjack pays 2:1. I am pretty sure you can split and double after splits as well. There is no rotation on who gets dealt first during each hand for the tournaments that I have seen. Again the CDs are running this and they are not hard core about it. So the player sitting at the first base chair always gets dealt first and the player at third base get dealt last during each hand. This gives an advantage to the third base player because he/she will always play last during each hand and can make a last minute decision on whether to play aggressively or play it safe depending on how the other players before him/her did. After the first table finishes, another 7 players will be seated and the same thing happens. And again and again until all the tournament participants have played. The top 7 scores advance to the final round. This gives a big advantage to the players being seated in the late rounds because they will have a pretty good idea of what score they have to beat to make the top 7 scores to move to the final round. It is also possible (but unlikely) that you could be the winner of, say, the 3rd round but if your score is not among the top 7 at the end of the qualifying rounds, you won't make it to the final round. By the way, you are allowed to play more than once if you wish but you have to pay the tournament entrance fee each time--something that Celebrity is more than happy to have you do. And you can even make the decision in the middle of the tournament. So I have seen players who didn't like their score from their play (say they were playing in the first round) and they then went to the cashiers cage, paid the entrance fee again and then played again before the qualifying round is finished. Not exactly fair, but like I said, the CDs are not hard core about running a normal blackjack tournament. During the final round, seating is chosen by each of the 7 players from the qualifying round and they choose in order of descending score. So if you had the highest score from the qualifying round, you get to choose first. After all 7 players are seated, they are each given the same fixed amount of chips to wager with. 6 hands are played and the player with the top score wins the tournament. The rules are essentially the same as before but I think there is no max limit that you can bet.

I am sorry to read this. While it is common for sales to be geographically limited, the fine print terms and conditions on Celebrity's website do not mention it. *Offer applies to bookings made between August 30, 2023 – September 4, 2023 (“Offer Period”), and applies to select sailings departing September 10, 2023 – December 27, 2024, excluding chartered sailings (the “Offer Cruise”). Labor Day Sale (“Offer”) provides per person savings on select new purchases of Drink Packages, Shore Excursions, Specialty Dining, Wi-Fi, Photo, Gifts & Gear, Casino and EFFY Jewelry, and varies by product, ship, and length of voyage. Drinks provides up to 35% in savingson classic and premium drink packages and excludes upgrades, Shore Excursions provides up to 45% in savings and excludes offerings at Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Private Journeys, Helicopter Tours, Transfers, Inside Access ship tours, Airplane/plane tours, Captain’s Club tours, Sailings with deployment changes, Charter and Holiday sailings, overnight stays, Extend Your Stay, Multi-day Adventures, and tours with less than 5 tickets; Specialty Dining provides up to 25% in savings and excludes Christmas and NYE Holiday sailings; Wi-Fi provides up to 55% in savings: 35% on Premium Wi-Fi Packages and 55% on Upgrade to Premium Wi-Fi Packages; Photo provides up to 65% in savings; Gift & Gear provides up to 35% in savings and excludes select products; Casino provides up to 40% in savings and EFFY Jewelry provides up to 40% in savings. Price shown at time of purchase reflects savings. Additional fees may apply to booking changes or cancellations. Shore Excursions can be cancelled or modified up to 24 hours prior to scheduled tour departure for a full refund, excluding tours involving flights, trains, special events, overnight stays, hotel stays, Multi-day Adventures and Private Journeys. Cancellations will be refunded in the original form of payment; onboard credits will be applied to guest’s account, and credit card, debit card, or other form of cash equivalent payments will be credited back to the original form of payment within 30 days. Offer will not be available onboard and is non-transferable or combinable with Captain Club discounts or any other offer or promotion. VAT is included in price where applicable. Offer is subject to availability and change without notice and may be withdrawn at any time. Celebrity reserves the right to cancel the Offer at any time, correct any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions, and change or update fares, fees and surcharges at any time without prior notice ©2023 Celebrity Cruises Inc. Ships’ registry: Malta and Ecuador.

Yes, perhaps Celebrity threw us a bone. But still......

I am sorry to read that you were among the passengers affected by the thrust bearing problems that afflicted M-class. Infinity had it the worst (multiple different sailings affected at different times) while Constellation was the least affected.

I am not surprised. The Flash Sale for items in the Cruise Planner (e.g. shorex, specialty dining) is however yielding some good prices.