Tom-n-Cheryl

Just for clarification - I wasn't saying I had a problem with lifeboat #13, but rather an inconsistency with Celebrity.

Happy Ending... So, two weeks goes by in a flash (as does two months, years, etc)! Getting off the Reflection this morning, it was nice to see that the skies were clear 🙂. We left the ship, heading towards baggage pick-up, at 7:30ish, amongst the first off who were not self-assist. We easily located our 3 bags and rounded up a porter. Swiftly through customs and out into the real world we went. I left Cheryl with our bags as I went to board a shuttle to the parking garage. Prior to getting on, I heard the woman (who seemed to be somewhat coordinating the parking garage shuttles) say "everyone here for the Palm Garage". I assumed she meant both garages (Palm, and the overflow Northport/Convention Center garage), but I asked to make sure.... Nope, these shuttles are only for the Palm Garage. I mentioned that I had parked at the Northport garage two weeks ago during the storms. She said "OK, let me work on that - wait over here". Within 5 minutes I saw her go over to one of the shuttles which was in queue, speak to the driver, then switch with them, getting into the drivers seat and pulling it up to the curb just for me! Off to Northport in a private shuttle bus, lol. Once there, the place looked familiar from two weeks ago, with one exception... NO PEOPLE! Much less hectic, compared to my earlier cluster photo 🙂 Now, I recalled the general part/side of the garage where I had parked, but I was not sure if I was on level 2 or 3. With nobody else needing the elevator, I stopped on both to lookout. Let's just say that it was easy finding my vehicle! But wait, there's icing for this cake... I had my parking ticket, printed two weeks prior. I suppose that the automated exit payment booth is not configured for people staying for two weeks at the convention center parking. When I scanned the ticket, the display said "Invalid ticket". I thought, "oh no, there's nobody here to help with this and the gate won't open, and it's a Sunday morning". Fortunately there was a help/call button at the payment booth which I pressed. Within a few seconds I explained the situation to the person who answered. She asked me to read her the ticket number, which I did. She said "Ok, Thanks, have a nice day", and the gate opened... no payment required apparently! So, for all my troubles on 11/20, I managed two weeks of free parking and a private shuttle. The sun always comes out! 🙂 By 8:10 we were on the road. Tom

I've noticed on most ships, they opt to skip labeling any decks as #13. I'm not superstitious (though I've been known to knock on wood - just because, lol), but this caught my eye on the Reflection last night as we left Tuscan Grille. There it was - a sign showing the way to the lifeboats, #13 included. So, if they're willing to skip labeling a deck as #13, do they think anyone would have an issue being told to board LIFEBOAT #13 ? !! I suppose, if it should come to that - any port (errr, lifeboat) in a storm ! Tom

One of my gripes with more and more restaurants nowadays. If they sit someone 24" away from you, they might as well be at the same table! We prefer to dine alone or with people we know - not via roulette... Tom

That rings a bell 🔔 ! Someone waiting for debarkation this morning mentioned that he was changing ships today. Not sure if that's accurate or not Tom

John approached us yesterday evening in Michael's to ask if we wanted our Seapass cards from the prior sailing back. After a bit of discussion, he asked if we'd like to have him print the new style cards for our collection. Our butler was Regine. We only had drinks a few times in Michael's, the bartender was an older Jamaican (as I overheard) gentleman, but I didn't get his name. Tom

I'm not sure it was even noticed. I'd say there's a good chance that a number of the crew have not been brought up to speed on this. Though, full disclosure - we did not receive the new style cards until yesterday (last day of our cruise). Tom

Perhaps this has been pointed out already, and I'm not sure about other cabin categories, but now there are two versions of suite cards, one with the standard two tone colors, and another with a burgundy stripe - to signify top suites. Tom

Much thanks to all the replies - some very good observations 🙂 Docked in Pt Everglades now, breakfast then debark. Cruises always end ! Tom

We've sailed in several suites, most RS+, on Solstice class ships. I was just looking at an RS on the Edge and could not help but be shocked by the (difference in the) size of the balcony. Aside from that - what's the general consensus on here regarding pros/cons? I mentioned something to the person working at the future cruise desk, and was assured that the Edge class ships are by far the most popular. From what I've read on here from time to time, I'm not sure if all CC'ers feel the same way! Tom

Good luck Tom

Thanks for the heads-up. I suspect business must be good ! Tom

Yes, but I doubt they're differentiating between the two. Tom

But of course 😁

The previous tests were with my Pixel 6 Pro, the following (just conducted) were with my Dell XPS laptop: Without VPN: With VPN: It's pretty cut and dry to me (and the latency on the VPN here was pretty impressive) !! Tom

Probably not to the garage we're at! But, yes, when it's adjacent we've been able to enjoy that benefit at multiple ports. $20-40+ goes a long way. Tom

This article helps to explain what I'm experiencing. It would appear that the VPN helps to bypass bandwidth throttling, onboard at least! Tom

OK - I just tried another speed test site. Pretty clear difference. I ran this twice, within just a couple of minutes of each other. Twice with VPN on and twice with VPN off. Each time the results were within 10% of each others, and quite different between the two! Strange Things Are Afoot At The Circle K, Ted !! WITHOUT VPN: WITH VPN: Tom

Due to unknown reasons, those two sites will only work in either the VPN environment, or the standard. Both of them have issues working in an alternate format. Also, I've tested over multiple hours back and forth and have noted a distinct difference. So, apples to apples is not possible with those two speed test sites. And I can't use my app for speed test.net with the non-VPN site.

On the Reflection now and we're experiencing much poorer "streaming" internet than on the same ship in February. In February, though, there were only ~900 guests compared to ~2,777. Internet speeds most of the cruise were in the 4 Mbps range. For this cruise, I was measuring about 0.7 Mbps (700 Kbps). Later on, it seems to have dwindled down to lows of 0.05 Mbps (50 Kbps), which are like old dial up speeds. At that level, many sites will glitch out - especially yesterday when it cut out completely many times. This morning I tried (w/laptop and Pixel) going through Hotspot Shield (VPN). After several attempts I was able to connect, and measured speeds from 1-2 Mbps. It still cut in/out from time to time, but sites were definitely loading faster. It's interesting that some speed test sites are apparently blocked by Celebrity, when not using the VPN, or have altered functionality. Not being fully aware of the specifics regarding VPNs, but knowing that it encrypts the connection and can have it go through a US (or other) ip address for purposes of accessing location blocked websites, is a byproduct of the encryption process speeding things up (by bypassing Celebrity filtering and site blocking)? Without VPN: With VPN:

BTW - horrible internet service on the Reflection... Started the week at an already low of 0.70 Mbps, and the last couple of days have been as low as (OFF-0, to 0.05Mbps)! Drops the connection a lot at those crawling speeds... They've giving away too many internet packages - beyond what they can support. Tom

Sorry - Corrected that to show as terminal 25.

You'll park at the Palm Garage (walking distance) unless you get there after it fills up, in which case you'll have to find/drive to the Northport garage and take a shuttle back. On this map I've circled terminal #29 (where the Reflection docks... and no parking), terminal #29 and the nearby Palm parking garage, as well as the back-up Convention Center parking @ the Northport garage. Tom

Same here, and in February as well. Tom

Happy to continue with feedback/thoughts. 🙂 Tom