TMLAalum

9 hours ago, letsgogogo said:

I like to go carryon only on international. And our total trip is 2.5 weeks. Just no room for anything not necessary. I just didn’t want to be in a glaring minority wearing a sweater with biz casual pants on any and all nights. 

We will be carrying on for our upcoming 3 weeks in Europe, although our cruise between land trips to France and Switzerland is on the Rhine!

We've done many European cruises on Celebrity. When we began with them, formal nights were definitely dressy, but since the change to "evening chic" my outfits now consist of black slacks, fancy flats or sandals and a glitzy top. I do observe that more cruisers on European itineraries dress formally even though that is not required. 

Posters on this forum may recall our tale of woe from several years ago. AirBerlin lost our luggage, after we stupidly decided to check our carryons! We scrambled to purchase clothing for our British Isle cruise and managed to survive without anyone giving us 😮dirty looks. A gold lame top changed up with a few silk scarves sufficed for me and DH found a few button-down shirts.

You will be fine! 

Thanks for the tip about the TWA hotel. I think we will head there for a leisurely lunch- perfect timing since our arrival time from CLE is noon. Don't mind having to go thru security again since we will have TSA precheck and lots of time to get to the gate since the flight to CDG departs 5:35pm.

We had a flight schedule change that now gives us over 5 hours in JFK before our flight to CDG departs. I believe we arrive from CLE at Terminal 8 and depart from there as well. Any suggestions as to how to pass the time? We are in Economy so no AA lounge access for us, but we'd consider purchasing access to one. We do have Capital One Venture, but sadly no lounge at JFK. We don't have Amex. We are carryon luggage only so schlepping into the city with baggage as well as the limited net time with the layover isn't an option.

Thanks

In searching for photos/videos of these forward-facing OV cabins on S-class ships, I notice that on one of the youtube videos there are 2 extra chairs placed in the open space in front of the sloping window.

Can't find that video or I would link it. But I sure hope that we get those chairs on our upcoming Eclipse cruises!

Thanks all for the tips on submitting our shareholder request electronically.

I must say that over the years, buying, selling, buying, selling, buying has worked to my advantage. 

I submitted a shareholder benefit request last year via fax redacting all personal information from my broker statement except that which related to RCL. I was ready to claim my benefit for two future Celebrity cruises via the link I'd bookmarked. Now it needs to be done electronically, so how do I do this without sharing the entire statement, which has other holdings besides RCL?

6 hours ago, wineoclock said:

Only Suites or sunset veranda are the cabins without IV I think. 

Plus the Deluxe Porthole Verandas.

We will be in 8101 on the Eclipse. Our only previous forward OV was on the Millennium Hong Kong to Shanghai and we did not notice any disturbing motion.

$900 NRD is too expensive for us. However, our 3 upcoming Celebrity cruises were booked onboard or with a FCC purchased onboard (1 personally and 2 by friends while sailing). $200 NRD for those, and losing that is likely less than the cost of travel insurance. 

21 minutes ago, chita said:

Sorry! Don't be confused .

Just did more research and found that all bed by bath cabins have been blocked off on my cruise.

Very strange

Because Bed by Bath cabins typically hold more than 2 people I find that those cabins may not show up as open (more $$ for the cruiseline for more people).Those cabins are preferred by us and I've found that requesting it directly with a Celebrity representative or travel agent, we can book it!

Even if there is a mahjongg set, what are the chances it would be intact?

The tiles are so heavy, but perhaps you can find a lighter weight travel set to bring aboard. 

The roll call for your cruise is where to post that you are looking for players!

Transatlantic: October 22, 2023 - Celebrity Silhouette Roll Calls - Cruise Critic Community

It annoys me that the big box only shows AI rates on their website!

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

Sorry I misread your post: both are angled. 6240 should have bed by the balcony

Correct, Geoff!

6242 has bed by bath. We've been in 6240, which was our only time with bed by veranda - that placement isn't our cup of tea. We chose 6241 for our last cruise for bed by bath; however, it was next to a machinery cabinet and noisy, which I didn't recall from its starboard counterpart. We didn't experience any smoke drift when in 6241 even though the smoking area is close below on Deck 5.

7 hours ago, ScottC4746 said:

I have a cruise in May 2024 to Alaska.  Our Sunday is a port day.  Will they have Catholic Mass on board or do we need to get ourselves to the local parish?

No Sunday Mass since over decade ago. Probably Mass on Easter or Christmas. We did have a priest aboard on the cruise we had during Lent 2019, but none on this year's.

Re: Local Mass in Alaska!

If in Ketchikan, the parish there offers a "port-to-pew" service to get to the service. When we were there in 2021, it was on hiatus due to covid so DH and I walked the 1.5 miles to the church. Be aware that Jackson St. is not a street but a steep staircase up to the actual street. Luckily, a kind parishioner brought us back to port. So take a taxi if the church shuttle doesn't run. IDK about Seward or Juneau.

@YoungDubFan

I should have noted your location! I was puzzled as to why a person from Ireland had to endure customs in the Netherlands! 

IMHO, I would just partake of the Indian cuisine offered at the OV during lunch!

To be fair, it's been a few years pre-covid that we had the Taj dinner.

Prior to our Avalon Romantic Rhine cruise we are flying into Paris! Thanks to an email notification from NS International this Tuesday that train tickets for our late August journey from Gare du Nord to Amsterdam Centraal were now available, we snagged the 35 euro standard seats on Thalys for a 9:22 departure, which BTW are now 48 euro🙃.

For those who would like to book Thalys tickets, I suggest doing so via the NS website, which requires name, email and phone for the booker and just names for those traveling with you vs. Thalys which mandates everyone's names, emails and phone #s using a non-user- friendly dropdown list for country code!

Train tickets for international trips by train - Fast & comfortable | NS International | NS International

@CruisingGator96

You and your husband can each bring 2 bottles of wine aboard without a corkage fee (unless you bring the bottle to the MDR).

if you chose to purchase drinks without the beverage package a gratuity will be added-unsure if it's been raised from 18%.

If there are more sea days than port days a beverage package might be worth it. 

Book the cruise as the filling in a sandwich. Spend at least a couple of days in your departure and arrival ports.

If your itinerary includes LaSpezia, my recommendation is to forgo any ship tours to the Cinque Terre, Florence or Pisa. Instead, DIY to Porto Venere, which is an exciting public bus ride from the port and provides a taste of the Cinque Terre, without the fighting the hordes of tourists in those small villages. 

IDK if it is still running, but we took a 3 island boat tour from there, had a relaxing lunch and explored. That day was one of the best we've experienced from any of the 6 Celebrity European cruises we've sailed. Porto Venere: Tour around three islands (porto-venere.com)

If you want a view directly down to the sea, then go far forward on Deck 6 on S-class ships. Look at a photo of an S-class ship to find forward cabins on upper decks that also have an unobstructed view of the ocean, because those directly above the Deck 6 forward have a slight blockage.

Finally got a blue chip club offer. Wanted to investigate pricing options but was stymied when asked to input my Blue Chip Membership #. Is it the same as my CC#?

@SeaCBear

I concur with your experience re: transferring. Confirmation from Celebrity that they received my request to move my booking arrived instantaneously last Thursday but nothing yet from u no who.

Annoyingly, the BBTA website does not show the cruise only fare, which is what we book these days. 

Can I use choice air for flights even though I have booked with a BBTA?

Also you can count forward or backwards from cabins that have the square, although that gets a bit tricky with AQ cabins since those don' sleep more than two.

We prefer bed by bath and were lucky enough to snag the only DPV available on Deck 8 forward on our recently booked Edge cruise.

$500 cash card "apology" from the BBTA came to us at the end of last month's cruise. Originally it was for $165, but we were sent an email from them after we'd made final payment indicating our cruise would be cancelled if we didn't pay a greater amount based on list price for the cruise. That invoice included the greater shop card amount. 

A phone call resolved the issue and the BBTA sent a corrected, paid-in-full invoice except for the amount of the shop card which was $335 larger! I think that was their way of making up for their mistake!