Mark_T

The final JCVI advice has not yet been issued, but unless it changes from the interim advice, the UK Autumn '22 vaccinations will be for the following groups: Residents in a care home for older adults and staff Frontline health and social care workers Everyone 65 years of age and over Adults aged 16 to 64 years who are in a clinical risk group

Just take a look at the list and see if anything you drink regularly is not covered... For example, Baileys is not on the classic package, similarly Guinness is not on the classic list either, nor are the better gins, or the large Martinis served at the Martini Bar. So in general there are plenty of perfectly drinkable options on the classic package, but if there are specific brands you prefer then you may need to think about an upgrade. There is no Baileys alternative though so for my wife this isn't even a question 🙂

I used to fly into Venice on a weekly basis for business, it is not a destination where I'd ever plan to fly in on the afternoon of a cruise departure day. Personally I'd be trying to change the flights, there is a reason Celebrity have the last pickup at 1pm...

After reading some of the comments, just to be clear, housekeeping will still be making twice daily visits, this option just slightly changes what is done on the evening visit, but to be frank, in our experience, it wasn't possible to tell that they had actually done anything less than they would normally do... So worth doing for sure, but don't rely on it meaning fewer visits or much of a difference in time spent in there...

I've seen future cruises in the app only showing a default menu set for the first 7 nights, that isn't unusual though, it usually fills out just before the cruise begins.

Hmm... I can't speak for Blu, but Luminae certainly shouldn't rotate back to the start if the cruise is 10 nights long, there are more than enough different menus to cover 10 nights without a repeat. It will happen if you are on a B2B with 2x7 night cruises though...

$20 USD doesn't feel particularly 'outrageous' ...

I guess 'Raw' would be the nearest equivalent?

That is a rather different problem though, failing to put out the bags for collection isn't the same issue as getting completely the wrong tag numbers for your requested disembarkation method.

The UK end of that 'Big Box store' doesn't seem to do ocean cruises though, so not likely to be the problem.

Exactly, that is our final check that we have the right tags for the disembarkation option we selected. Mistakes happen, but that sheet is a great way to verify.

The Celebrity app is a great place to find answers to this sort of question, it shows the following for the current cruise: Smoking areas include Outdoor next to Eden, Deck5 Aft, Port Side; Sunset Bar, Deck 15 Aft, Starboard Side;Outdoor next to the Pool Bar, Deck 15 Midship, Starboard Side

I'm at least a little worried that it is the other-way around, we were always told that the up-charge included the gratuity, and we would usually tip extra anyway. Now they are explicitly adding 18% to the charge I suspect that many who used to tip extra will stop doing that, so I hope the 18% really is going into their tip pool...

It is no help now of course, but we always verify the tag numbers against the provided list to make sure we have got what we asked for. That is where I'd expect to find them as well, with any luck...

Luminae has 15 daily menus I believe, so yes over a 14 night cruise you should get to see most of them. With two 7 night B2B cruises you may not be so lucky 🙂

As long as your account shows an OBC balance you can use use it for pre-boarding bookings, but not all OBC shows up before boarding so you do need to check the balance. Also when making a booking you do have to specifically elect to make the payment using OBC, if you do not do that it will be a CC charge. Can't explain why your Tuscan reservation would have vanished though...

Do not depend on that to make any difference at all to the level of service and frequency of visits to the cabin. We tried this on a cruise last year and despite checking that our request had been noted (.. and eventually receiving the extra points) there was no perceptible difference to what was done.

Unless something has changed post-Covid, as a Retreat guest, you do not need to go to the Theatre to collect excursion tickets, you just go to the Retreat. The Host will collect your tickets for you and then at the right moment, escort you, and others waiting in the lounge down to the security point, past any lines that may be waiting so you can immediately disembark. Felt a little awkward at times, but certainly made it a much easier process.

These days I would expect this sort of request to be a 'red flag' that could see you really in quarantine, or at the very least requested to get a test on board...

I'm not totally surprised that some people have been considering ways to limit their exposure to crew and passengers during a cruise, but to me at least that would seem to render the decision to cruise in the first place somewhat flawed... To answer the question though, I would not expect this to be an option.

There are really only two exceptions that come to mind... When escorted from the Retreat to go ashore for excursions, you will get moved past other guests who may have been queuing for a while, which can cause some friction. On Chic nights there will be reserved seating in the theatre, which seems to irritate those not in suites to the point where ignore the ropes and move into the seats anyway, leaving the Butlers with the distasteful task of coping with that if necessary. For the rest, it is really just the Retreat itself and the forward sun deck where 'revolutionized'. The experience outside of the Retreat is far from '2nd class', so don't let the little differences annoy you and just think of how much more has been paid to get those rather small features...

As soon as you cancel the reservation, the method of payment is reversed, so any OBC goes back to your OBC total, and anything paid by CC will eventually go back to the card. Do be aware that with a dining package you will not be able to make specific reservations before you board, so if you have any special dates that you want to guaranty, it is often better to book those individually....

There are sometimes promotions, and as people found out recently, price rises, so it doesn't always pay to wait...

All is fine, the only problem is that your promotions have not been 'unbundled' yet, so the website can't see you already have the class drinks package so it doesn't offer you the upgrade options. It will take a phone call, but the agent will be able to fix this for you...

Just keep in mind that it comes at the cost of needing to be agile enough to step high into the bath to use the shower... so it is not a good exchange for everyone.