terrydtx

It was this way on our September Apex cruise too, all MDR's were anytime dining.

This was true on our Apex Cruise in September too.

Jim, We are down to 28 days before we board the Edge for our NZ cruise. Your pictures and stories make us so much more anxious to be on the cruise, Thank you for this blog.

If you get a move up bid to the Retreat you will get much more than a bigger, nicer cabin. You get access to the Luminae suites restaurant, the Retreat lounge, Retreat sun deck (E Class) and all the other Retreat amenities. A person on our Edge cruise roll call for our cruise next month just got their move up bid from an IV verandah to a Sky Suite for $1200pp, this was a lot less overall than booking the SS to begin with would have cost. A SS on our cruise is currently going for about $6500pp, a standard IV cabin is about $3100pp with all included so with the added $1200 move up bid that SS cost $4300pp.

I booked CO on our Volendam cruise primarily for the upgrade in our Vista Suite from B to A meta category which paid for the CO cost. We would have booked the A level VS without CO anyway. Also we have 4 tender ports and the priority tendering was important, because we are booking mostly private tours with early departure times. On the Koningsdam last month the extra CO entree were some of the best dishes we had for dinner. I also liked never having to wait in line for guest services as well. So CO really didn't cost us anything and we got the midship VS we would have booked. All the extra CO benefits are just gravy for us.

If there was a way to add more specialty restaurants like Tamarind to the older ships along with dedicated Club Orange dining rooms, there would be no need to build newer ships, IMO. We sailed on the Koningsdam in November with CO and fell in love with HAL again. CO provided more of the elevated level of service we are used to with the Retreat on Celebrity. We are booked on the Volendam with CO next year, not for the ship but the itinerary of the cruise. Other than the Volendam next year, it would be very hard for us to book any HAL cruise that is not a Pinnacle Class ship.

The best part is the upgraded steak is cooked to order when ordered, it is nor precooked like the rest of the MDR food.

I get so many emails every day from Celebrity making it easy to overlook the move up offers. That happened to me on our cruise next month on the Edge, I finally found it by doing a search in my email folders. We passed on the MU as the pricing was way too high and we had such a great deal on our Sky Suites when we booked in 2022. Currently a SS is priced 40% higher that what we paid. There are several on our Roll Call who are still waiting for their move up approval and we sail in less than 30days.

That is why some never get the move up offer. Also if you booked under a group rate or discount my understanding is you are not eligible for MU.

Exactly, complimentary free upgrades are almost a thing of the past, Celebrity is making huge money off of the move up program.

We sail in a Sky Suite on the Edge in 30 days and we never got an email for this cruise or the following B2B one. We got one for our SS on Apex last September but everything we asked for didn't show up when we boarded. No requested pillow and the bottle of red wine requested was a bottle of cheap terrible champagne. I wouldn't worry about the email you can always get what you want from your room attendant.

This is a quote from Celebrity's website and no corkage fee if you have a drinks package. On the Apex in September, we had no problem bringing back to the ship one bottler per person at most ports in Europe. Is there a corkage fee if I bring wine to consume onboard? When consumed in a shipboard restaurant, bar or dining venue, each bottle shall be subject to a corkage fee of $25. Corkage fees do not apply to guests who have a Classic or Premium Beverage Package.

Why ae you wasting your time and money on a crowded overpriced Celebrity Shuttle? We always use Uber and last June it cost $24 with tip total for 3 of us to go from the ship to FLL airport. Celebrity wanted $16pp for their shuttle.

I agree and since most of our NZ shore excursions include wineries, our plan is to bring wine back to drink on the ship. We have the PDP so we should not have to pay any corkage fee, unless that changes. We have been drinking and enjoying a lot of NZ and Australian wines here at home for the last year.

Hopefully they will have this sorted out by the times we board next month.

The wines by the glass are outrageous, can you confirm that the PDP has a new cap of $20? Even with 20% tips included the bottle and glass pricing is just ridiculous.

Yep those are all reasons why we are looking at more HAL cruises and one other reason is Club Orange with, IMO, much better food choices on the newer Pinnacle Class ships. On HAL we can book a Neptune Suite on similar itineraries as Celebrity for less than a Sky Suite.

We have to agree with you, the only theater shows we go to is if it is a good comedian or magician. No silent disco or Club for us. We like the pampering we get in the Retreat and could acre less about CC or Officers parties and meetings unless they are in the Retreat Lounge. The martini bar has become just too congested and crowded at night to bother wasting our time there too. We do not need to be entertained all day so they pool games and bingo groups are not our thing either. On our HAL cruise in October on the Koningsdam, we discovered a music venue, Billboard Onboard, that we really liked. It has two dueling pianos with 2 good and entertaining singers playing off each other, doing popular songs and show tunes from the 60, 70 and 80's. We found ourselves going there every evening after diner, I wish the E Class ships had something like this. It also had an excellent bar that we liked in the afternoons for a quiet and uncrowded drink.

But the lunch hours are very limited from noon to 1:30pm generally.

I read earlier that because in Aus/NZ all prices had to be inclusive of tips and taxes, so prices on the Edge had been raised to include both. At the same time the DP limits were raised to $12 for classic and $20 Premium.

I really like that shirt.

Celebrity would rather make huge profits doing 4, 5 and 6 day cruises with her, just like Carnival. Shameful IMO.

Jim, good to know, I organized a private tour in Port Douglas for our cruise next month. We are doing a tour of the rain forest and I am the only passenger in the retreat of the 8 of us on the tour. I was hoping the Retreat Hosts would let us do what your group did and all go together to the tenders, we have a long tour and need to start early.

They are all SKI vacations too. SKI=Spending the Kids Inheritance. LOL

Some just can't accept that no more ships will be revolutionized, I have heard this from more than on senior officer while on a Celebrity cruise. That includes finishing the partial 2019 revolutionizing of the Equinox.