Definitas

Sadly, it was a sneaky erosion of the Elite perk because they dress it up to give the impression that they are premium minutes but in reality they are not. It’s possible to send photos etc but it needs patience and, of course the free minutes tick away quicker because it takes longer to send and receive attachments. You can use the Elite minutes over the first few days , depending on your usage, and then look at upgrading for the remainder of the cruise. I usually tend to forget to sign out and burn them away unintentionally. The internet staff will usually reinstate them if you ask nicely.

Elite internet is NOT premium wi-fi. It is basic wi-fi with the streaming block that is applied to the basic internet removed. This allows uploading and downloading attachments but painfully slowly. I had this explained to me by the officer responsible at the senior officer get together. On our last cruise on Beyond I did a side by side comparison and it was extremely evident that the complimentary elite minutes are significantly slower than premium wi-fi.

The original speciality restaurants on M-Class ships were some of the best at sea. Unfortunately the bean counters at Celrebrity decided to close them in order to accelerate their race towards the bottom. We ate twice in Ocean Liners during its last week on Constellation and it was fabulous. On the last night even the staff were in tears. I haven’t been in le Voyage yet but none of the others come close

Beyond was lengthened compared to other ships in the Edge class so the Apex cabin probably doesn’t line up in the same place

Does anyone have a photo of the obstructed view from 6160 on Beyond please?

We did it on Eclipse back in April and it was spoiled by extremely poor staffing and presentation. Some of the food flavours were excellent and the chefs had clearly put in a great deal of time an effort. However it was served in what was described on the menu as “family style” which simple meant that they brought everything out all at once. This was very poorly thought out because there simply wasn’t room for it all on our table for two. Worse still, it was served in cold dishes so the food went cold almost immediately which ruined it. There was no sommelier working in the restaurant and so once we had drunk our first glass of wine there were no staff to get us another because they were busy waiting tables. Overall it was a very disappointing experience. We were offered a free lunch the next day but we had plans so declined. Experience on Celebrity has taught us that food, particularly soup, is often served lukewarm because it has been placed on a cold plate and we have learned to brief our waiters that we like our food hot and served on a hot plate but sadly, on that occasion, we forgot. The staff in Sushi seemed bemused by our lack of desire to eat the cold food and didn’t seem to understand the principle of not serving hot food in cold dishes. It’s particularly ironic because plates for salad in Ocean View are often very hot because they are constantly put out for use direct from the dishwasher.

No Zacapa this year on Beyond or Eclipse. They are substituting Brugel Anejo or Bacardi 8, neither of which come close

Coverage is not great in some areas due to sparse satellite coverage. The best performance I have registered is 4.5Mbps but have also seen values in Kbps. I have a newspaper subscription and downloading it has been challenging to put it mildly. We are just aft of midship and Wi-Fi strength in our cabin is very unreliable so I tend to go to one of the central areas if I have a specific need for internet. Our Elite Plus minutes were painfully slow. I had previously thought they were the same as premium minutes but now know they are not. Elite minutes are basic Wi-Fi with the downloading block removed. It was impossible to download my newspaper using elite minutes even in the iCafe

We will be in the same situation. We mostly like to just get off the ship and have a wander round. We also like beaches. Any suggestions for things to see in port at all of those three locations would be greatly appreciated

We have b2b sailings on Eclipse next month and the MDR menus are still not showing (except for deserts!) When do they normally get populated?

Hi. It wasn’t insufficient and I was pleased to hear Zacapa is available. However, nobody has yet replied about the beer availability and I would definitely be disappointed to have 6 weeks without a decent beer. I’m particularly interested to hear what resupply they may have down there in Sydney

I’m still hoping to hear from someone who is currently on Eclipse

I found one but not the other. Hopefully someone on board will come up with some up to date information

Thanks. I’ll take a look.

Is there anyone out there who is currently on board or recently cruised on Eclipse sailing from Australia. We are due to make final payment soon for b2b cruises from Sydney and would be very pleased to hear what life is like on board currently. We experienced constant shortages on our last couple of Celebrity cruises across the board. For example, menu choices were not always available, wines listed for the premium package were not available and when we were offered a very good alternative it was not available the next time. I am also a craft beer fan and virtually all of the IPAs listed on the drinks menus were unavailable and even the more common imported beers were unavailable. We were also dismayed to see most drinks being measured out, particularly cocktails, which often lacked the impact we have become used to from Celebrity over the years. I also really like Zacapa rum and, although listed, it was never available. The constant reason given for the shortages was that there was a problem with supply chains but I feel that is becoming more of an excuse rather than a reason. I have been reliably informed that the drinks shortages were still apparent last week on Beyond but I’m hoping that resupply down in Australia will be better. A first hand report would be very welcome

You’ve missed the point. We are cruising b2b from Florida in Jan/Feb and can’t wait. However, the rules for transpacific cruises are different and the itinerary means going through immigration in Singapore, twice in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Canada so it is a much bigger picture

Thanks for that very comprehensive explanation. I fully expected there would be an underlying reason other than almost symptom free Covid and I agree 100% that it’s very important to be aware of all the rules for the ports of call (not just the health ones).

I may email the executive nearer the time if there is any ambiguity in the Celebrity protocols, which happens. There is zero chance of the second option and if more rigorous rules come back into force because of a new winter Covid surge, we may well cancel. We are due to fly via Singapore, which previously had very strict test and quarantine rules including enforced quarantine in government mandated facilities, sometimes segregated. If that were to be reinstated we almost certainly wouldn’t risk it. We have had Covid (wife twice) and are not worried about it at all. However, we want to have a reasonably good understanding of the situation before we make the decision on final payment. We also have very comprehensive travel insurance so, once we are committed, we will then just go with the flow. We may even be lucky and get Covid again a few weeks before travel because reinfection soon after recovery is very rare. We had recently recovered before a Caribbean/transatlantic b2b earlier this year and it was great not to have to any real Covid concerns.

Life is too short to shy away from cruising!

Who prescribed the Paxlovid? We’re they aware of your husband’s issues? Over here the guidelines say that there are potential issues and it should only be taken by people with co-morbidity such as suppressed immunity and only under medical supervision.

Which is why I asked the question and the lack of first hand responses is reassuring but it would be more reassuring to learn if the risk assessment for enforcing disembarkation was influenced more by other factors than by Covid. I’m still waiting on a response from the Australian couple (which they may not wish to make). We have until January before we need to make final payment for our B4B cruises so I will be keeping an eye on things to see if there is any indication of a trend

No, completely the opposite. I am concerned that rules may tighten up over the winter and that passengers may have to disembark to quarantine rather than doing it in their cabin

In the case of the man in Vancouver the next port would have been in Hawaii

Another subscriber quoted me in another thread saying they were on a a b2b Vancouver-Akaska-Vancouver-Australia on Eclipse and made to leave the ship in Vancouver so couldn’t join the voyage home to Australia. She said it was due to husband having covid and only mild symptoms