JeffT237

I had actually read that as well, however we booked later than we normally do when we cruise and this was the only balcony that was available at the time.

Here's my take having just returned last night from the northbound Alaska itinerary on the Summit in Aqua Class on deck 9. I went back and forth on this very decision. I loved our location on deck 9, we didn't get any noise from the pool deck as we were in cabin 9052 under the solarium. Very quiet for us. We used the Persian Garden in the spa regularly and the hot tubs in the solarium so the location was ideal for that. However I did not like the over hang. It was great for the rain which we did have in the forecast for most days but in reality we had only a couple days of a light rain. IMO it really obstructed the view above and especially to the sides where you see the supports. I've attached a few pics that show the obstruction. What steered us away from deck 11 was the lack of covering for potential rain and we're just not big fans of being at the back of the ship. Having now sailed on the Summit (this was our first celebrity cruise) is that the Aqua Class cabins are not in the best location for the upcharge, I feel they should be on a lower deck personally. None of this by any means ruined our cruise, we had an amazing time. We enjoyed Blu on the Summit so you'll get that with either choice. We really had a great experience with Blu, the staff and food exceeded our expectations. When we sail again with Celebrity we'll book an Aqua Class cabin with Blu being a big reason why. Hope that helps!

Yes they did show better on the pics than to the naked eye. But it also depended on the location, they were definitely more vibrant from my balcony than on deck, on deck had more lights on than my balcony. But being on deck 9 with the big overhang obstructed some of the view. They were hard to take pics of, using night mode on the iPhone requires having to hold the phone pretty steady for a bit. I deleted more than I kept, but I spent most of the time just viewing them from different locations. I also used the auto correction feature which brought out more the green color.

My original post was meant to share what many of us felt was an unforgettable moment. That’s it. 2 things can be true at once, first many included myself were very appreciative of the announcement to see the northern lights. Second there were probably were some who were inconvenienced. It doesn’t mean those in the pro announcement camp are not “considerate” neighbors like has been indirectly suggested. Judging by many onboard today, it was the talk of the day. At the pool, at the wine tasting we went to, and at our breakfast. It’s like the first thing everyone talked about, “did you see the northern lights?” Sorry to cause such controversy. The irony of this is my wife does have a medical issue which her health does better with proper rest and sleep. When the announcement was made she was the one who practically pushed me out of bed and her way to get to the balcony to see the lights! Yes I realize she’s only one of 2000+ passengers on board. Sorry for our behavior but how about we just agree to disagree.

Yes, an officer made an announcement over the PA at 11:30pm, not sure if it was the Captain as I was sleeping to your point. Personally my wife and I were grateful he did and it appeared a lot of passengers also appreciated it. We have a balcony on the starboard side where they were visible and a lot of passengers we could see came out to view as well. I went up on the 11th deck and there were also plenty of passengers and crew enjoying the lights. I can’t speak for everyone, I’m sure there were some who didn’t appreciate the wake up call, but it looks like many enjoyed the viewing.

We were fortunate enough to see the northern lights from the Summit this evening. This is our first night on the northbound itinerary out of Vancouver, an announcement was made about 11:30 that they were visible.

For those who have sailed recently to the Hubbard Glacier, how were the ice flow conditions and was your ship able to get close? We sail next week and are debating booking the Hubbard Glacier & Wilderness Explorer small vessel excursion. We realize conditions change often. Thanks!

My concern is this appears to be more than just a one time event, it's been reported now that the power failure has happened on at least one other sailing. I feel for all that have upcoming cruises on the Summit, we experienced a generator issue that impacted the propulsion on our 1st Alaskan cruise on Princess 2 years ago, the issue remained the whole Alaska season until dry dock. We were notified 1 week prior. Severely impacted the experience as we had multiple itinerary changes and missed ports, it was disappointing overall. So this appears a smaller scale but still causes headaches as you don't want to deal with this pre-cruise and with the unknown of any potential impact. We are looking forward to our second Alaska cruise in August which we are calling our Alaska re-do to experience all we missed on our first one.........it is on the Summit! 😥😬

Mine is still showing $13.99 per person, Summit Alaska August 2024

Also it depends on the ship and itinerary, we recently returned from the Harmony and spent much less than that for an ocean view balcony cabin with those add ons you mentioned. We do not purchase the drink package when we sail on Royal Caribbean, we purchase drinks a la carte and do not come close to what the DBP would cost the 2 of us especially when using our on board credit. When we cruise with Princess we do purchase the Princess Plus and agree, it's a much more reasonable price than Royal's drink package and based on what we drink we find value in the package. I also would agree with others that say use a good TA, we always receive a good group rate that's lower than Royal's price as well as perks like pre-paid gratuities, speciality dining vouchers and on board credit which we use for our drink purchases. For us it has always lowered the cost of our cruise vacations.

So I signed on at midnight ship's time when check in was available and received an 11:00 time, I believe that's the earliest. Once we got through security we sat in a lounge with everyone else (wasn't that crowded) and shortly after that they began boarding, Key and Suites followed by loyalty status. It was quick, we are Platinum and the time from the first group called to our group was just a few minutes. They did check the boarding passes for the groups they called, so from the Key passengers to us in Platinum it was just a few minutes.

We were on the Harmony out of Galveston 3 weeks ago, Uber dropped us off at 10:20 and they were already allowing passengers to enter the terminal. We were quickly through security and sat in the lounge for maybe 10 minutes before they allowed passengers to board. We were on the Royal Promenade by 10:45 making dinner reservations, it was quick.

Totally remember that, it was $18.99 pp/pd and everyone including the seasoned cruisers tried to grab it knowing it was a mistake. Once it was discovered and rescinded the feeling was oh well, Royal made a mistake and they should honor it, and they did. I don't recall many customers who got it at that price taking a forgiving position towards Royal.

We were there last year on the Wonder and the Odyssey was also there. The island did look pretty busy in the public areas, we were in the Beach Club so it was much quieter.

We just returned from the Harmony that had a stop in Roatán. Our group felt completely safe and had an enjoyable time. Did a beach and snorkel tour, no issues at all.

In our experience with my type 1 wife who has to bring extra supplies, and devices as she wears an insulin pump and wears a CGM it really varies when it comes to security and TSA. She also brings juice boxes and snacks. Some of the time it's not an issue, we've learned to get to the airport even earlier than most. There are times where she is pulled aside and everything examined, and there are times when the TSA agent is more familiar with diabetic passengers and it goes quickly. Sometimes a supervisor has been notified and involved. Just a heads up, it seems every time is a little different. As far as embarkation day, never any issues.

So true

correction, we "don't" use the elevators

If you want to share, is he type 1 insulin dependent diabetic or a type 2 diabetic and manages his condition with diet and medication? My wife is type 1, she was diagnosed over 30 years ago and travel has not been an issue for her. The reason I ask is although similar they have different needs that you may need fulfilled prior to the cruise with the special needs department. For instance refrigeration for the type of insulin he's on or how it's delivered if he is on insulin. Or special dietary requirements. In addition to contacting the special needs department, if you haven't done so I'd make sure to check in with his medical team especially his endocrinologist for any info that is specific to him. As others have said, we walk a lot, use the elevators and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate....especially if you're flying. Love this, so very true. My wife's condition has never slowed her down and she's been very fortunate to be in good health despite her condition.

Yes, the question was answered on post #2. But this is a tipping thread, it must go to the minimum required 10 pages of opinion and rants, or post gets locked....whatever comes first!

It's better than 3 years ago when everyone was an expert in immunology, virology and epidemiology!

I have never heard that a B2B Alaska was not allowed, I thought it's actually a common practice. I'm interested to hear the responses on this.

I cruise on multiple lines, so I browse multiple boards.....many posts end up relating to or commenting on tipping at some point. Yes not all, but many. The arguing in many times is sensless, most of the cruise lines all have their recommendations and have moved to daily gratuity amounts being charged to cruisers onboard accounts or offering the ability to pay them pre-cruise or add them into a bundle package. Most of the lines also allow the removal of the automatic gratuity, they discourage it but their own policies allow this. They almost always end up in a debate on the cruise workers pay structure, tipping cultures in different parts of the world, virtue signaling or the living wage debate in America. And nothing solved.

Jumping in late, but the original question was about the cost of Wi-Fi and a glass of wine? Got to love CC, all the posts almost always end up in an endless and unsolvable argument about gratuities!

We ended up taking this cruise, 45 minutes from our home because we had some FCCs we received after the Crown Alaska issues . We really took it because it was a new ship, local and not expecting much from the California Coastal Itinerary and we absolutely loved the ship and itinerary. As native Californians we've been to all of these places but it felt different on a cruise. Cruising under the Golden Gate bridge was awesome, taking a van day trip to Sonoma/Napa for wine tasting was one of my favorite excursions as we had a great group of guests who all hit it off tons of fun, lunch and shopping in Santa Barbara, San Diego we have family there that we met for dinner and as I said Ensenada stayed on the ship to enjoy. We will sail this again, we still enjoy our other lines and Caribbean & Alaska itineraries, but this really was one of our favorite cruises and it's local!