gatour

1 hour ago, ScottC4746 said:

Tell me more about these ducks?  I don't remember them on the Solstice.

They have been around for years, but in the last couple of years they have blown up on the different cruise lines.  You bring a rubber ducky type thing and "hide" it for someone else to fine.  All good clean fun for those who participate.

In regards to the door decorations.  While we haven't ever directly done it, I say go for it.  If it makes you happy.  Plus I do enjoy seeing them.

The indirect time we just happened to book a cruise over our wedding anniversary date, so I ordered the cabin decoration package.  It include a door decoration.   

The right hand cat on the ottoman definitely looks Tonkinese.  We had a rescue cat that looked similar looking and we called him a Tonkinese.  We got him as a kitten and lived for 18 years.  He was very friendly and would even answer to his name.

I am contemplating on doing a first ever Celebrity cruise on Beyond next year.  Western Caribbean with a stop at Coco Caye.  It will be a one year post liver transplant anniversary trip.  We are on a kind of on a budget, so I am leaning towards booking an inside cabin.  So any information you provide about the ship/entertainment/food experiences would be appreciated.

Enjoy your trip. 

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Thanks. I thought maybe it was something in the soil but perhaps it is just genetics. I never heard of pink bananas and pineapples before. 

Every so often I see ads for pink pineapples, never tried one and hadn't thought where they come from. My guess genetics.

39 minutes ago, Pratique said:

I get it. I'm just not satisfied to be content with the status quo. Maybe others are. I think we can do better if we want to. Maybe I'm a dreamer. This bridge collapse should be a wake up call. But if nothing changes, then it will probably happen again. There are companies who have profited from being innovative and delivering a higher demand product or service. Maybe Amazon is an example? I read about shippers who are frustrated with having their cargoes kicked off of the ship to make way for more profitable loads. So there are plenty of folks who would be interested in seeing some good competition, maybe driving innovation through more efficient ships that can reach more ports. Just spit balling because when I'm a cynic I tend to just sit in a rut.

 

EDIT to say "duh" Disney spends tons of money for things that may never be needed (amusement safety wise) and the competitors (smaller amusement parks) don't, and it has paid off in spades IMHO. But I get that international shipping is a different beast.

So after the Sunshine Skyway bridge disaster, why weren't dolphins/bollards added to the Key Bridge.  The owners (taxpayers) didn't feel it was worth the cost.

As Chengkp75 said how many private companies increase their expenses over competing companies unless they are forced to.  Many of the safety features now common in cars were mandated by gov't rules/regulations that applied to all companies in the sector so all of the companies were impacted similarly in regards to costs.

Disney spends tons of money because they are able to charge more than your roadside amusement park.  That is not their competition.  Universal is their competition and I imagine their safety  budget is similar to Disney.

In a perfect world, yes it would be nice that everything is perfectly safe but I am a pragmatist.  To make something 100% safe could also make it cost prohibitive for anyone to actually buy the product.

As you know there are many ways to mitigate risks, so you go through the risk matrix and figure out the most cost effective way to mitigate a particular risk.  In this case, it may be more cost effective to have a one time cost "harden" bridges instead of mandating ship have triple or more redundancy.

Many times I have a general idea of when, about how much I want to pay, and the itinerary.  But not a very specific date, exact ports.  Since different ports charge different fees the end costs may vary.  Two different ships may sail similar itineraries but not exactly the same,  for example one port out of three may be different.  It makes it easier to compare these two cruises if the total mandatory costs are put upfront instead of only showing after you gone through almost all of the booking process.  This makes it easier in the decision making process.

Hotels nowadays, advertise one rate but once you dive into it the resort fees and now parking fees show up later.  Two hotels of similar quality and even next to each other may show different rates, with one being higher but once you dive into each you find the "less" expensive hotel, actually costs more because of a vast difference in the resort fees.  Makes it a pain to compare apples to apples in choosing a particular hotel stay.

If something is mandatory, it should show up in the upfront advertised price, so the consumer doesn't have to spend and inordinate amount of time in deciding on which to choose. 

So far in Florida no mention of being worried about it this year.  I imagine Coca Caye would be the same with some variables.

8 hours ago, captainannoyed! said:

I agree with the OP.  I’ve stayed in cabins from inside all the way up to the Royal Suite, and this is something Royal really ought to do something about.  In particular, I really believe that in full suites should have extended TV options.  At a minimum, there ought to be the ability to access entertainment apps that people already have at home.  In a full suite, shouldn’t a passenger be able to log into their own Netflix using their own account?  I think so.

Licensing has a lot to do with this.  It is basically how many channels that RC wants to psy licensing for.  They must not think it is a differentiate enough  from other cruise lines to pay the licensing companies for additionsal channels.

In regards to offering suites more channels.  The licensing is a per ship basis and not a per cabin basis.

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

The timing of the dry dock is not really up to RCI - it's mandated by the timing of the initial delivery of the ship.

Yep.   I didn't want to dive into all the variables that go into the timong.

2 hours ago, davidrlewis2302 said:

It's a shame they can send her to Europe, do the dry docking first, then commence the summer season in Europe.  

Instead they do the summer season with a ship that desperately needs a bit of TLC first.

I watched her leave Miami last month, she's in desperate need of a paint!

Dry docking is up to availability of the actual dry docks.  They have to have an opening in their schedule.  This may not match up with the cruise line desired timeframe so the cruise line has to adjust accordingly.

Skipro62. Thanks.  That is the type of answer I was looking for.  I think this should keep her happy so I can work on her in good conscious.  😀

Potential first time Celebrity cruiser but have sailed on RC, Princess, Carnival, Disney, HAL and Cunard.

Looking at what is offered on Celebrity.  I am eyeing a Western Caribbean run on Beyond.

I am a as long as I am on a cruise I am happy person.  However my wife likes to keep busy by attending shows and other activities.  Things like musical reviews, show, comedians.  Would there be enough of these type of things to keep her happy?

1 hour ago, laurieal said:

I asked around and for this sailing most bar will have Heineken 0 and some of them will also have O’Doul’s

Thanks. 

In regards to eating sushi with fingers.  From my understanding it is perfectly acceptable to eat sushi with fingers in Japan

Since you are spending so much time in lounges can you take a gander of what brand(s) of non alcholic beer they have available?

Not being judgemental before my liver issues and transplant 8 weeks ago.  I would spend a lot of time in lounges reading and enjoying a glass of wine or a mixed drink.  Now that is not an option for future cruises so reading and enjoying mocktails and NA beer is in my future.

2 hours ago, Twin Dad said:

Can’t even wear Keens closed toe with the locking pull string tightened.  I’ve seen tennis shoes tied so poorly I don’t know how they stay on!

My tennis shoes always become untied and they stay on even for the 10k walk I used to do once or twice a week.  Now I am limited to about a 1 1/2 to 2 miles while I recover from a major surgery, but they still stay on even untied.  🙂

23 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

You’d be fine I imagine. 
 

I should have included a smiley face.  I was being a bit facetious, as you would have to look really closely to figure out that they are fake.  It really doesn't matter to me if I have to go barefooted.

On 4/25/2024 at 4:07 PM, raudacruise said:

My first visit to Stingray City was a Celebrity excursion in a huge, overcrowded catamaran.  Crazy mob scene.  Never again.

 

I have since used Captain Marvin (small group in a powerboat) and Stingray Sailing, another small group.  Both are outstanding.  I’m booking one of these next spring.

 

http://stingraysailing.com

 

http://captainmarvins.com

 

 

Stingray Sailing is what I have in mind as it is closest to what we have done in the past.  Do you far beforehand do they open for booking?

3 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

A large busness with hundreds of thousands of customers can afford to test. And it is not retro. iOS 16 is still supported. iOS 16 was incremental. It should take minimal effort. IOS 17 has been out less than a year so requiring it is short sited . There are thousands of apps that still get updates and run as far back as iOS 13. 

Sure they can afford to test, but on the bean counters hat.  It is a cost center so a possibility for an expense reduction which increases net revenue.

Other companies have different business models that include updates "certified" for prior versions of OSes.  Not saying that Celebrity (RCCL) is right or wrong, just that their business seems to be different.

On 4/24/2024 at 9:03 PM, omahabob said:

This is the part that gets me. They already supported iOS 16, so there was no expenditure necessary to support it. They spent money to exclude it. I can see it if it was a really old OS that gets very little use among customers, but it isn't. More people use 16 than use 17, so that simply isn't the case.

There is a cost going forward.  As they make tweaks to the app.  They have to do retro testing to make sure the tweeks work on prior versions of the OS.  They have decided to stop doing this testing for versions of OS prior to IOS17

Wonder what they would think about my Sketchers.  They are slip on but have fake laces 

5 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

you can call them in advance of your cruise and get the match. We did that for me and my husband before our very first X cruise earlier this month. So, on our very first Celebrity cruise we were already Select.

Thanks,  haven't quite that far.  Still need to run this by the wife as Celebrity will be new to us.  I am pretty easy going, get me on a ship that is running an itinerary I am interested in and I am happy, my wife on the other hand....    😉

Thanks for the information.  If all goes well, I will be celebrating my one year post liver transplant.  I understand about the differences between ship provided excursions vs book on your own, and have it both ways on other cruises and other ports.  Just making sure that a catamaran tour would still be available, since I like it better than the motorized pontoon barge boats.  And yes I know they may not put up the sails because of no wind but definitely better experience than the barges

I haven't been able to make any trips for the last year and half, and still can't go internationally until my one year point, i.e. 2025.  We love to cruise and haven't been to Grand Cayman for several years.  I found a cruise on the Beyond that stops at Grand Cayman and Coco Caye, that was reasonably prices.  We have done the Eastern/Caribbean runs so often that we generally don't do excursions, but Sting ray city never gets old and we like Coco Caye.  Looking at trying a different line that had reasonable prices.  This one intrigues me.

Somewhat related question.  I have never taken a Celebrity cruise.  If I book a Celebrity cruise does my RC ststus mstch start on the first cruise or the second cruise.

At one time you weren't considered psrt of thrir loyalty program until you took your first cruise.

New to Celebrity but veteran Royal Caribbean cruiser among other lines.

One of my favorite excursions is a catamaran ride to and back from Stingray City in Grand Cayman?  Does Celebrity offer this?

I looked on the Celebrity website but I don't think they have lozded the brochures for the time frame we are contemplating for next year.

How do you like the mid day time change?  Several years ago we did a eastbound QM II TA where they changed the clocks at night.  I liked this as I am not normally a breakfast eater so missing that to get sleep was not a big deal.

I started my cruising life sailing on Carnival.  It was a bit startling when Carnival started reusing names.  At least they tacked on Carnival to the reused names.  Makes it easier when I am perusing the Carnival bkard to figure out if someone is reminiscing about a ship I sailed on years ago or the new version.