bigbenboys

4 hours ago, the penguins said:

I believe that  E Class is a different as there is now no fixed dining on that class of ship and any way it's not relevant as the OP is not booked on an E Class ship.

Yes that is my understanding also about E-Class ships.

Yesterday there were 2. A few days earlier they had Music Bingo. I dont know how many in total. 

It has been many years, but I remember it taking 2 hours to get from Bangkok to port.

Just checked google. "Most cruise ships dock in Laem Chabang, about a 2 hour ride away from Bangkok"

1 hour ago, marycruz said:

Were you on the Silhouette as well?

No. Eclipse, Apex, and Solstice in the past year.

X has given cabin attendant and butlers more cabin to manage. Also X lost well trained staff like many business. It will take time for staff to get up to speed. 

We have over 50 cruises and about 38 with Celebrity. Our cruise on X last year the Oceanview was getting better. The Prime Rib was good in the MDR. The beef in Luminae was bad. Our June cruise Oceanview was very good. Still the beef in Luminae and the specially Restaurants were bad. We are on Solstice right now and the Oceanview is very good. The beef in Luminae and Murano were very good.

2 hours ago, bigbenboys said:

We are doing LPC tonight on Solstice. We got to be there in 15 mins. Not sure the cost as it is included with our suite.

Overall the meal was very good. The short ribs and the desert were really good.

We are doing LPC tonight on Solstice. We got to be there in 15 mins. Not sure the cost as it is included with our suite.

Friends are wanting us to try Silver Moon in January. 11 nights Deluxe Veranda Suite for $17,600. June we were on Apex in a Sky Suite for $12,000. Right now we are on Solstice 7 nights in a RS for $9000. It does seem like the prices have doubled from what we paid 5 or 6 years ago. Same with business and 1st class flights to Europe, at least from the west coast. 

We did Azamara once. The ship was just to small for us.

28 minutes ago, rrraydon said:

January is my first Celebrity cruise. I status matched my D+ to Elite +. 

 

Elite breakfast?

 

Any other info on perks as Elite Plus is greatly appreciated (I did not purchase a drink package). 😊

https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/images/Captains-Club-Benefits-Brochure-12-2023.pdf

Complimentary cappuccino, latte, tea, espresso

Discount on Wifi packages and upgrades and complimentary premium minutes 35% or 240min

happy hour 5 to 7

Elite/Elite+ Breakfast I think 8am-10am, continental breakfast free drinks like mimosa, bloody Mary's, cappuccino, latte

What can make the difference is if you move up to Sky or Celebrity suite you keep what perks you have with your original booking. If you get a Move up bid to Royal Suite or above there are perk that come with that suite. 

We have sailed in Aqua in both locations. If your going with deck 9 then I would book starboard side around 9088. You want to avoid under the Oceanview cafe. I would also avoid port side near the inside cabins. We have not had any problems with noise from above.

Deck 11 are nice. Great location dock the back stairs to the Oceanview Cafe and the Sunset bar. Avoid cabins near the forward and aft doors. The photos are from the Summit deck 11 cabins 1114 and 1116. We had a drain on one of your balconies. While it does rain in Alaska. If sailing in May or Sept better chance of rain. We leave tomorrow for Alaska out of Vancouver on Solstice.

Just now, mcatmcat said:

Yes I was assigned 830pm with them, thanks for the help. Btw is room service included? 

Free room service

45 minutes ago, mcatmcat said:

Thank you so much for the help.

im also traveling with my family, so you think I can do Luminae and also also MDR @830pm?  I want to eat at Luminare but join them at 830pm later on, I don’t want them to be alone. 
for the free premiums drink, I didn’t have a package before, can I order drinks at anytime anywhere, or is it only at The Retreat Lounge or Michael's Club where all your drinks are free? 

Did you have assigned dining like 6pm or 8:30pm or were you in Select Dinning? The reason I ask is if assigned dining Celebrity might put others in you seat. Talk to the maitre d in Luminae when you board.

Your drinks are only free in MC or The Retreat Lounge. Outside of MC or Retreat you will have to pay for drinks with your Seapass card.

You keep your wifi and drink package from your original booking. You have access to The Retreat Lounge or Michael's Club where all your drinks are free. It is fairly new that your mini bar drinks are free. Your assigned restaurant will be Luminae. No reservations required. Luminae is open on embarkation for lunch 12 to 1:30. Know that your in a suite you can ignore assigned check-in time.

1 minute ago, stvntra said:

Actually, yes, we are! 🙂

 

So are we. We have done it once before. We have 3pm booked. See you on the ship.

One more thing. Are you doing the ziplining at Icy Strait Points. It takes two Gondola rides to get to the top.

2 minutes ago, stvntra said:

Thank you SO much bigbenboys.  Yes, we will be on the Solstice this Sunday out of Vancouver.  These photos are AMAZING, thank you SO much for sharing!!! 🙂 The picture of the boat helps as well.  I am not sure when we would get back to Alaska again in the near future, so I felt like this was one of those maybe "once in a lifetime" excursions we HAVE to do while we can! Will you be on this cruise as well?

Yes, we will be driving from Seattle up to Vancouver on Saturday. The photos are from June 2022. If you want, stop by and say hi. We are on deck 10 suite 1239. Richard and Randy

2 hours ago, stvntra said:

Hi again - it's me, your friendly excited pest! 🙃

 

I just booked the Hubbard Glacier Wilderness Exploration while we are in Hubbard Glacier.  Has anyone booked that on your trips by chance? I was just wondering if it's worth the money and if it's a great experience.  It looks like a great time, and we are SUPER excited about it, but thought I would get others' opinions here as well, so I have some insight ahead of time if possible.

 

Thanks in advance as always! ☺️ Only 2 days to go!!

Any chance your going to be on Sunday's Solstice out of Vancouver also? I have not done the Hubbard Glacier Wilderness Exploration, but have been to Hubbard Glacier at least 4 times. Everyone I've talk to after the tour really enjoyed themself. You board the boat from the cruise ship. Sunset in Alaska and Hubbard. 3rd photo you can see the boat you should be on.

4 hours ago, zitsky said:

  We’ll go to the Retreat lounge and they tell me someone will hold our luggage for an hour or so while we have lunch.

 

 

While it has been a couple of years since we were on Millie out of Seattle. We were able pickup our Seapass cards when dropped our bags off in our suite. 

1 hour ago, Sascol said:

In other words, pick 3 o’clock, but show up at noon?

We normally show up at 11:30. Onboard about noon. Then do the muster drill check in. Then off to Luminae for lunch. Luminae lunch can open as early 11:30am and closes at 1:30pm. 

Last June we had friends join us in Luminae for dinner. I dont remember the cost. We asked the Luminae hostess if we could invite them. She said yes. But said best if you show up early for dinner. Same with dining in Blu, show up early around 6pm.

1 hour ago, imescaping said:

Yes, but they said it is not possible to trade without penalty. 

I would talk to your TA and see if you can do a 3 way calling with Celebrity. It just seems unusual to put 4 people in a cabin designed for 3 people. Penalty is normally $100 pp, but that's for things like changing your cruise dates. Normally you can change cabins within the same category without a fee. If your changing category's there would be an additional cost. Is the penalty from Celebrity or your TA?

5 hours ago, zitsky said:

In the Retreat how do you order breakfast now?  Through WhatsApp or through the TV?

I tell the butler what we want for breakfast on the 1st day. We have the same items delivery every morning at 7am by our butler. I did not use WhatsApp on our last cruise.

21 hours ago, Italy52 said:

@bigbenboys.  Thanks for your response.  We also have left from Canada Place many times as we are big Alaska cruisers.  The "boarding rush" for us is the excitement that our cruise is finally here.  We just completed our 37th cruise to Alaska and can't wait until we return. 

I just got a phone call from Celebrity Retreat Concierge for our up coming cruise a week from tomorrow. She said Celebrity normally starts their check in process at 11am at Canada Place.

9 minutes ago, doghog said:

We don't sit on the armrests. Must be the reason the chairs themselves are comfortable to us. 

The guy in the blue shirt does not look comfortable.