terrydtx

We originally booked a Category B Vista Suite close to the aft end of the ship on the Volendam for $4100pp, With CO we upgraded to a Category A Vista Suite located midship for $4347pp. That upgrade was worth $494 total ($247pp) and CO cost us $550 total. We also got the Early Booking Premium HIA on both bookings.

On the non-Pinnacle class ships CO gets you a special podium to enter the MDR, usually with no waiting and you get the extra CO entree item menu. CO passengers get seated over any non-CO people waiting in line for the MDR. If you are on an itinerary with tenders you also priority tendering with no line waits or tickets needed.

A normal drydocking for routine required and mandated maintenance, usually 2 weeks in length, should not be confused with a major Revolutionizing dry docking that takes 4-6 weeks to accomplish. As has been said many times, by Celebrity, the Revolutionizing of the remaining non-E Class ships is on indefinite hold. The Edge for example, is currently in a 14 day drydocking in France for its 5 year mandated routine maintenance. Some carpeting and furniture replacement plus adding a full service bar in her Retreat Lounge are also being done during this drydocking.

Playing the cabin upgrade game, if done right, can pay for most or all the added $25pppd and all the other benefits are then free. We have sailed Celebrity in their Retreat Sky Suites 4 times since Covid and HAL 2 times with CO and CO comes closest to providing us some of the suite amenities of Celebrity for way less than booking a Sky Suite on them. We played the upgrade game correctly on our Volendam cruise next August and for the 11 nights, CO cost us a total of $55pp and we got the Vista Suite we would have booked without CO.

Only 190 miles separates the Canal from Gaza and the Edge could be a nice big target for Hamas rockets. But it is not my call and I am sure Celebrity would not go there if there were any safety issues.

I can't believe that she will still sail the Suez Canal with the war going on.

I was also able to finally get into FE a few minutes ago.

I have the same issue trying to access FE on both Edge and Chrome browsers. This has been all week and the problems with HAL's IT department get so frustrating. We have booked air for next year and I need to access the flights to add our FF numbers. When I called FE I was told they do not know about any problems accessing the site and that it must be on my side, but after reading this thread I see it is not just me.

Jim looks like we were. 89 more days before we board her in Sydney.

Here is a dry dock picture posted on another social media site.

Thanks, we will look into doing that, we have 3 days in Sydney before our first cruise.

Thank you for the information, we have the same cabin for both legs and we have already booked a walking tour of the Rocks for the morning we are in Sydney.

Are you on the August 20th Volendam cruise? If you are we are on the same cruise.

12 and 10 nights.

The Retreat Hosts on the Apex last month told us about adding the bar in the Retreat Lounge on the edge during this dry docking. I was no aware the Edge did not have a full service bar. The Hosts said this had been planned for some time for the 5 year dry docking after Celebrity realized they made a mistake in the Edge Retreat lounge design that was fixed on subsequent E Class ships.

We were in Malta last month on the Apex and our private tour got canceled due to the guide getting Covid the day before we arrived. We ended up hiring a private taxi for a 4 hour tour, there were many of them at the pier for hire. We also used Uber to go to the Hypogeum after our taxi tour. Ubers were very inexpensive too. We used Tours By Locals for the tour that was canceled. Unless we have OBC to burn we do not book sip sponsored shore tours anymore as we are so tired of being ripped off by the,. Here is another private tour group we use all over the world for shore tours, usually 30-50% less than ship sponsored tours. The BEST Valletta Tours and Things to Do in 2023 - FREE Cancellation | GetYourGuide

We got the $100 discount for our B2B Edge cruise for Aus/NZ in January when we booked in February 2022 and the same SS cabin for both.

My experience as well.

Forget the HAL bus transport. Get a private transport for less cost. Last year HAL wanted $69pp from the ship to the airport and we got a private transport for just the 2 of us for $45pp. We used Bob's Limousines in Rome. Also we didn't have to wait for the shuttle bus to fill up before we left for the airport.

We booked a aft facing Verandah on the Koingsdam for next month. After we booked I had CO added and there was not a higher Verandah category cabin available so we were given $100 OBC instead which was just fine. For our Volendam cruise next year we booked a Vista Suite B category close to the aft and upgraded to a Vista A category midship which was the exact location we wanted. The difference in cost for the two Vista categories almost paid for the CO.

we are also in a SS B2B.

We board her on January 13th in Sydney.

Get both, check in and boarding are basically the same thing. Once checked in you board when boarding begins.

We don’t cruise on HAL for the entertainment as we know is pretty lame. Lol

Thanks Dave, we booked CO more for the upgrade and priority tendering and boarding, as our cruise will have 3 tender ports in Canada. We should be able to live with the other issues you mention. How was the Volendam otherwise for your cruise? We have CO for our Koingsdam cruise next month and I hope we will enjoy the CO dining room.