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It's been hard to find much information on sailing with Celestyal pre-cruise. I thought it might be helpful to future cruisers to report from our experience. I keep a log of our travels and hope to post the log daily or as time and internet connection allows. Here is the pre-cruise background: On the first day of our fourth week in Greece, we embark on the Celestyal Journey for 14 days. This is actually three short cruises booked back-to-back. When we booked (a year ago!) there was no option to book as one 14-day cruise. They did open that option later, but then the only cabins in our categories were far forward or aft. There was no financial advantage for us to change the booking(s), so we left them as originally set. The only time I found a fare lower than what we booked at was during the one day “Leap Day” sale on February 29. That was, of course, long after final payment. We booked the “Enhance” fare which includes all sorts of things; hopefully that inclusion list includes some decent Greek wines. Why did we choose Celestyal? We had booked an earlier cruise on Celebrity Infinity for “Israel & Egypt.” We didn’t want to fly all the way to and from Athens for just an 11-day cruise, so we ended up building a 38-day adventure around the Infinity, including the 14 days on Celestyal. Things happen and the Infinity cruise became the “Best of Greece.” There is only one port that is repeated (Rhodes) and Rhodes has enough to offer for two visits. All six of us traveling together agreed to stick with the Infinity and the rest of what we planned, so here we are! We are “Familiar” with the Journey as we sailed this ship in her previous life as the Holland America Ryndam. We are looking forward to seeing the changes made in her new life. One thing we know did not change is the wonderful promenade deck, where our inside cabin, #6104, is located. We found it frustrating trying to gather information before the cruise, as we have not sailed Celestyal before. Very loosely our documents say check in is from noon to 16:00 (4:00 PM). We intend to leave our hotel by taxi at about 11:00 and we will see what happens.

Have a wonderful trip Abby & Glen! I want to see the photo of Glen when you lead him to the Royal Suite!

The dealer saw it go in too. But for $1 I wasn't making an issue of it!

They replaced the drink but claimed they couldn't find the $1 chip.

Hi Jacqui! Hope all is well! We've been busy planning some far in advance cruises! June 29, 2025 Nieuw Statendam 28-Day Arctic Circle Crossing: Greenland And Iceland we are staying on for the next cruise: July 27, 2025: 14-Day Wild British Isles: Ireland's West Coast In between these two cruises we should become five star... Also: April 12, 2026 Westerdam 29-Day Japan & North Pacific Crossing Collector All the best!

The log did not end where it ends on the review page. Oh well...

For any interested here is the link to my log/review of this cruise. Until next time! Princess Enchanted Princess Cruise Reviews (2023 UPDATED): Ratings of Princess Enchanted Princess (cruisecritic.com)

Sorry to hear of everyone's troubles getting out. We left the ship at 7:35, waited 40 minutes for customs to take our photo (didn't even look at our passports). It was the Florida Turnpike that was closed about an hour North of FLL due to a tanker truck explosion. Our driver takes the Express Lanes of I-95 and we were home at 10:30. We did have some slow going, likely added 20 minutes to the trip. We very much enjoyed the cruise. I submitted my review and will post the link here once posted.

LA Cruiser, thank you for posting today's daily. Have fun in Rome. We board today!!!

28-Day Arctic Circle Crossing: Greenland And Iceland (hollandamerica.com)

There is a unique "Arctic Circle" cruise departing Rotterdam late June 2025. 28 days, Norway, Greenland, and Iceland...

If you have a Celebrity Visa card from Bank of America I discovered a special offer this morning. It reads: Points Rewards Credit Cards Earn an additional 2 points for every $1 spent on purchases made on 11/09/23 ET. This one-day offer is good for the first $2,500 in purchases up to 5,000 points. That’s on top of the rewards you’re already earning. I received no e-mail about this. I happened to log in to my account this morning as I have final payment approaching and wanted to see how much I needed to charge to get my next $50 OBC. This in essence means that any Celebrity purchases made on Thursday Nov 9 we get FOUR points per dollar. So for me that is another $50 OBC on an upcoming cruise. Check it out if you hold the BOA Celebrity card.

Still a valid question but of course as soon as I posted I received a response from Vallarta Nature Trips so we are all set.

I admit that at this point I am frustrated by this port. We've been there before but it has been many years. I wrote to two companies that offer tours (Wildlife connection and Vallarta Nature Trips) and they are both non-responsive. We begin our travels in just two days, but I have been working on this for literally months. Does anyone know if snorkeling type of tours are available at the dock? If it makes a difference, we are scheduled for Sunday October 15. Thank you all!

We really wanted to do this experience on our Eurodam visit in a few weeks. Wildlife Connection has been less than responsive to multiple e-mail attempts to set this up for four of us from the ship. 😞

Thank you all! Looking forward to boarding another DAM ship!

Yes, this was American Airlines. During the Covid slowdown AA quietly changed their policy and flight changes will not be refundable unless the change is more than FOUR HOURS. We will certainly use American only as a last resort for future international travel.

For purpose of this response, I am assuming you are booking round trip flights. The one big "Advantage" of booking through FlightEase is that you don't need to pay for the flight until final payment for the cruise. That also means that if for any reason you end up cancelling your cruise before final payment, the air will be cancelled as well so you don't lose the air $$$. If you are booking with a US carrier, you can select seats. Many foreign carriers do not accept seat reservations until the airfare is actually ticketed. We have that situation with flights next June coming back from Amsterdam on Air Canada. The airlines have travelers in a vise these days. We just had our first outbound flight for a November trip canceled, creating a 6 hour stop over (instead of 2 hours), and the airline will not refund so we could book with another carrier. These flights have been booked since January, and NOT through the cruise line. If it had been with flight ease, they likely would not have been ticketed yet (cruise lines ticket about 45 days before...) so still changeable. Others will say they want to be "In control" of their booking, and there is some validity to that as well. For one-way flights, the fares are often (not always) more economical through the cruise line. As you can see there is no "Right answer." You need to go with the best choice for you and your party.

Hi Mary Ann & Bill! Curious if you have ever visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park? We are in Vancouver next month on Eurodam. I found this information: "Free shuttle leaves from Canada Place Way near the information kiosk. 8:30 and then every 15 minutes." Great to be following your adventures once again!

HI Jacqui! We are also booked on this 28 day adventure. HAL needs to update the description as we no longer have Bermuda on the Itinerary, stopping instead in the wonderful Azores at Terceira. Thanks for all you do!

I have many areas where HAL is not what it once was. However, one thing they are absolutely doing right is planning l o n g e r cruises that either begin, end, or (even better) are round trip from the US. The worst part of traveling these days is the air portion and if we can avoid that or at least keep it domestic or one way I am willing to forgive some of the other shortcomings. Every upcoming HAL trip we have either begins or ends in Fort Lauderdale. I can put up with one way air when needed but are trying hard not to have two long flights on a trip. Further, as others have said, we love the crew and for cooler climate trips the covered pool is a huge plus!

Hi Jacqui! Hope you are doing well. We just booked the 21-Day Panama Canal on Eurodam, Seattle - Fort Lauderdale October 7, 2023. We have friends onboard and they invited us to join them, so here we go! We are also on the 15-Day Mediterranean Passage on the Enchanted Princess leaving Civitavecchia on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2023 and returning to Fort Lauderdale. Thank you as always! Arie & Cheryl

Check Southwest. Currently a sale is on and the bags are free.

Saturday, May 6, 2023; Cape Liberty, NJ – Disembarkation The alarm was set for 6:00. I was a little surprised that we had not yet entered the harbor. I went down to El Bacio for the last set of beverages. We were approaching the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, so I went up to deck 11 to take a few photos. We left the cabin for the last time a little after 7:00 and went to the Oceanview for breakfast. We watched the longshoremen tying up the ship while there, and then headed to the Tuscan Grill embarkation lounge to wait for our disembarkation. We are in the second independent group with an estimated 8:55 time, which should work well for our 10:00 Avis reservation. The first group of luggage tags called included our #24. Getting out was so quick and easy, just a photo was taken and out the door. Calling Uber/Lyft was an issue. Both kept saying “Looking for a driver…” After 15 minutes or so we gave up and reluctantly went to the taxi line. We were quoted $75 plus $5 tolls, $80 total. What a complete rip-off, but, okay… The driver gets us to Avis at EWR, and I hand him the $80. He says the charge is $84 as it’s $75 plus tolls and the toll is $9.00. While I haven’t driven the NJ turnpike in a while I know that is a lie. Later I looked and exit 14B to exit 14 during peak hours with EZPass is $3.08 according to the NJ turnpike website. I found another $5 and then he asked for a tip. Well, sorry, but no. Avis gave us a very nice upgrade to a Lexus, but that sporty sedan was not going to work, so we ended up with a Mitsubishi Outlander. There was quite a line to exit (as the express exit lane was blocked) and we were on the road at about 10:20. Thus ends the cruise report. Summary & Conclusion: This was another very nice Celebrity cruise. It was certainly nice being on a ship at about 60% capacity. That alone makes a good argument to repeat this cruise in the future, as it seems it would rarely be filled. A few things I haven’t really talked about that I think Celebrity can do better. One is smoking. Celebrity is pretty restrictive about smoking, which is terrific for us. However, the two major smoking areas are both in spots where folks need to pass by or through all the time. I don’t really have a suggestion on how to relocate the deck 10 smoking area, but the deck 4 area is right next to the doors, and a lot of that smoke comes into the hallways around the glass elevators and into the starboard side of the Rendezvous. This was strong enough that it made us relocate in the Rendezvous more than once during the cruise. If the smoking area was moved further from the doors, this wouldn’t happen. Entertainment on this cruise was generally terrific. I love that Celebrity stays committed to live music in all the venues and in the showroom. The best of the evening shows was Emily Koch, followed by December ’63. I love the fact that Celebrity employs at least eleven young artists for their cast, but they need better things to perform and Celebrity needs to better balance the vocals and instruments. Our stateroom was functional but had less storage than our room on the Constellation. I’m not sure the ‘upgrades’ done just before the pandemic were all that effective. We certainly did appreciate all the USB charging ports. On the evening before disembarkation, I received a Celebrity marketing e-mail for this summer’s Alaska cruises. Well, sure, I would be willing to go to Alaska again. We would even be willing to do a B2B. A quick check shows that the airfare would be more than double the cruise cost, and that is in economy. Sorry, Celebrity, we won’t be making that trip, as much as we would love to. The same issue (airfare) is keeping us from a Europe trip this summer. Special crew members who really made our cruise special include our dining room wait staff of Ronald, Mayra, and JV. Zin at the pool bar, Claude at Café El Bacio, and Evan at the showroom entrance all gave us outstanding service. The lack of pool maintenance on the hot tubs and T-pool is very disturbing to us. That seems like it shouldn’t be a big deal and if they’ve really been in that situation since last August that is rather sad. We did not find dining to be diminished despite all the cruise critic reports. Perhaps some of the early year cuts were reversed. Service in most venues was terrific but there are times when it is hard to get service in the Oceanview and in the Rendezvous. The final rating on my scale up to 5 stars would be 4 stars.

Friday, May 5, 2023; At sea #6, the North Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina to New Jersey After staying up so late we slept until about 7:30. I went down to El Bacio and Claude saw me coming. The group in El Bacio is terrific. When we returned to our cabin last night our laundry had been delivered so we put all that away. Most by just having it ready to pack, nicely folded by Celebrity. We enjoyed an Oceanview breakfast and then visited El Bacio for another round of better coffee. Passing the doors to the outside deck it sure did get ‘cold’ outdoors, with temperatures now 61 degrees. We ran into our friend who had come from the casino. She still has OBC to burn and does it slowly on the slots, often losing a little and every now and then coming out a bit ahead. We chatted for a while about family matters and confirmed we would meet at 2:30 for a final round of Catan. We perused the “Clearance” sales in the shops, and like most recent cruises found nothing to procure. We walked the lido deck looking for Zin, but he was not at the pool bar. The two guys who were there looked cold. We quickly made our way back to the Oceanview where we played Splendor for two for a couple of rounds. The Oceanview was having their “Extravaganza” today and they did do it up right. There was a chocolate fountain with skewers of fruit, marshmallows, and mini munchkins. All kinds of nice cakes were also available. The carving station had three items, roasted Turkey, Roast Beef, and Roasted Lamb. It was a terrific lunch. Our friends came up to see the lunch but still went to Luminae. We played the last game of Catan for the cruise and DW was victorious. Several crew and guests stopped by to ask about the game. After the game one of our friends still had their ‘match plays’ to use in the casino and unfortunately he lost all three tries. ☹ Having ended the prior day just ahead for the cruise, we did not make any casino donations this day. We did watch one of our friends playing a bit on two of her favorite slots. We still really don’t understand the slot machines. I can understand the table games, but the slots are just entirely random. We returned to our cabin to begin packing. The process went very fast and we were soon done. We went down to the Rendezvous lounge to listen to the dance band. Although we were there for 25 minutes, no bar server ever came over. Elite and above who do not have a beverage package really pack the bars at 5:00. We found on our last cruise (no beverage package) that the casino bar was a ‘better bet’ (pun intended) for the Elite happy hour. Dinner was terrific with DW enjoying the Drum fish and I enjoyed the spareribs. JV kept our wine glasses filled but I had to make sure to empty mine at one point so I could tell him that I “Finally emptied my glass” for him. He got a good laugh from that. We said our farewells to our wait team and everyone in the dining room said they hope to see us again. Robert said he talked with one of the other servers who remembered us from last June, so he knew we sail the Summit from time to time. After dinner we went to the 7:00 show. Evan, the server at the portable bar, had DW’s ‘special wine’ ready. He has taken great care of DW’s wine needs the last five evenings at the show. The show was a second performance of “December ’63.” This show was not as good as the first one, but it was still enjoyable. They said they are staying on for the first part of the next cruise, so they will be happy to perform to a full theater as the next sailing is sold out. We visited the Rendezvous for the last time to meet our friends. We had a nice conversation in between their dances. Finally it was time for them to go to dinner and for us to finish packing, so we said our “Farewell until we see you again.” We stopped at Cellar Masters for one last beverage and then returned to our cabin to finish packing. We put out the two large suitcases for delivery to the terminal in the morning.