GatorMomInNC

Does Celebrity require all guests to board together or can we check in and board at different times?

Okay, between the woman the uniform, the dogs, the "barred" doors and stone walls AND the people in black and white stripes...it took me a minute to figure out this was NOT a scene of someone being jailed for contraband. 😄

Well, as I mentioned, lots of Disney. We love Disney, they just have aged out. These days I take my nephew, who is under 10 still and he LOVES it. Disney is especially good with special needs kids - ADHD, etc.. Staff is very patient and well trained. Carnival - A couple when kids were much younger - one of my kids hated the kids club. The other was fine with it. Holland American - when the kids were pretty young - again, younger one liked the kids clubs; older one did not (I have since cruised HA on my own and love it!). Royal - just once, on my own last year, but never with my kids, although I had a couple booked but changed my mind. My son would see pix and wanted to go on RCCL when he was younger, but just never panned out, I always would end up switching to Disney because the big RCCL ships did not appeal to me. NCL -one with kids when younger, and the last one with them both was about 2 years ago as teenagers. They liked it the first time, but mainly they liked the cruise - we were in the Haven and they liked the private pool - they didn't use kids club much (very port intensive Med cruise). The more recent one, my youngest was old enough for teen club and that is all he wanted to do - made some great friends and had a wonderful time. I have been on NCL a few times - the solo rates are good, but I really do NOT like the layouts of their ships. So the only one they BOTH have liked (in terms of kids clubs/experiences) is Disney and Celebrity. My oldest is an adult now (20) and he has told me he would go with me on a Disney cruise, but when I try to actually plan it, he won't commit to going on a Disney cruise with his mom 🤪 To be honest, I think your child's temperament has more to do with whether they like the kids clubs or not REGARDLESS of the cruise line. My younger is social and easygoing, tends to like everything and makes friends easy. (Him, when younger: "I made a new best friend today!" Me: "Great, what is his name?" Him: "I don't know".) My older is more introverted, he liked it when the kids clubs were not overcrowded and he found it easier to make friends in smaller social settings.

I am not sure how I knew this, but I was aware of this last year when I did an Aus/NZ trip. I recall scrolling through the Aus and NZ customs lists before my trip, so perhaps that way, but honestly, there were a LOT of restrictions. Our first cruise began in Sydney, ended in Nz. Saw and sampled lots of great honey on the trip and in the week before the cruise in Tasmania, but avoided buying any. I remember asking a couple times - if I by this can I take it with me to NZ and the merchants were always honest and told me no- but didn't advertise it. I waited until I flew back to Australia, completed my 2nd cruise, then purchased honey at the Sydney airport to bring home to my co-workers. Australia also said you had to have all your medicine in labeled bottles. I was traveling for 5 weeks and wanted to put them all in a pill dispenser to save space, but I brought them in the bottles. No one even looked at my medicines when I landed in Sydney the first time, so I condensed them for the rest of the trip and it wasn't ever an issue on any of my subsequent flights/cruises.

I am platinum on Disney and have spent close to 100 days on Disney ships and it is my favorite cruise line. However, my kids are older now and don't want to travel with me at all, let alone Disney. Honestly, if it was affordable to go solo on Disney I would be cruising it three times a year, but alas, they don't have great single rates. Anyway, my kids loved Disney, of course, but when we would go on other lines with them I was always a little worried. However, we did ONE Celebrity with my kids in 2015 - they would have been 8 and 11. It was to Alaska in September on the Solstice. There were less than 20 kids on board, that includes infants to teenagers. For kids in their age range - 7 to 14 - there were maybe 6 kids and they all hung out all the time. My kids LOVED it!! They only way I got to see them on sea days was to track them down in the cafe at lunchtime and sit next to them and the counselors - it was practically a 1 to 1 ratio! They did a magic show and the captains young daughter and wife were on that cruise so he came to it. They still have very fond memories of that cruise. They got a backstage tour and a tour of the bridge.

Yes, I have paid in full. And pre paid most things already, and will likely prepay gratuities. But I know I still need to present a physical card....

Maybe I am just paranoid because I read some posts where people did some seemingly minor thing and their whole cruise got cancelled, but.... If I have lost my CC which I have linked to my cruise, can I just call Celebrity a week or two before the cruise and give them a new one? Do I need to go through my TA? I can't find my CC but I think it might show up (and I know the number and CCV and everything by heart); not ready to call in and ask for a new one, but I will need it physically to board (I assume) so will have to call before we sail.

That is exactly what I was hoping...but they put it on the crew's account, correct, don't just give it to the crew in the foreign currency? I could do that directly, but I know that after our cruise the ship does not return to the countries we visited (not immediately, anyway, maybe next year), so the crew has no more use for a few dollars of the currency than I do.

I believe in the past (pre-covid) that there have been times while cruising where I had foreign (well, non-US $$) left over after visiting a country, and I was able to bring to guest services and they would put it towards my onboard account. Does Celebrity do this? My cruise has 3 countries, and I have purchased some spending money for two of them (Chile and Uruguay) and I was wondering if I can do this if I don't spend it all once we finish the ports in those countries.

I am interested in this package, but the most discount I have seen so far is 10%. I estimate to break even I would need a 25% discount, but unlike the alcohol packages, the price never goes down. Has anyone seen the zero proof drop to 23-30% off? My cruise departs in 7 weeks.

When I went to purchase it only required me to purchase one, not a separate one for my sister. So when I purchased I didn't think it was a concern that I was just buying for myself. Compare this to the drink package, where you cannot purchase just one. My sister does not intend to use the perks - we can board separately, eat lunch separately, go to shows separately. She doesn't care about any of that. I do think that would be unfair (to pay for one and both use it). I already had the premium wi-fi 2 devices purchased, and that we do intend to trade off using the devices, just as we were going to do (and from what I can tell is allowed). The only other thing she will benefit from is the free room service since we are in the same room. After I purchased this I cancelled my wi fi, then found out that (supposedly) both people have to buy this, but they approved the sale, and of course she hasn't purchased it. I'm waiting to see if the premium 2 device wi fi goes back on sale again - right now it is ~$100 more than I had it reserved for. Also, this Premium pass is now sold out on my cruise, so I guess my sister couldn't purchase it even if she was willing to pay for it (which she is not).

Thanks. Right now I have Prem Pass for one booked. I am nervous now that somehow they will try and make me purchase two (not an option - my sister's budget prohibits this); or cancel it, and now I have lost my discounted wifi/2 device. Not much I can do however at this point. I would think that if you are not allowed to purchase for just one, that they wouldn't LET you do so (just like with drink packages).

Well, i just looked at the FAQs and it says both have to book!! But unlike the drink packages, it doesn't require both to book when you add to cart. And, I already cancelled my 30% off wifi ,which is now only 20% off...so I am anxious and confused....

This just became available on my April 7 cruise and I booked it. Under "VIP Packages". It was the same price (for just me) as the premium wi-fi 2 device package I had already purchased for 30% off. Since it was included AND no room service charge. ,it seemed a no brainer. But, I only booked it for myself (not my sister, who I am sharing a room with). So the other perks - priority boarding, tendering and disembarkation - will not likely be used as I don't want to strand her. If they try and tell me now that we both have to book I will be very upset ,as I already cancelled my discounted premium wifi.

If I purchase the 2 device package, can I be on my Ipad and let my sister get on her Ipad? Then later can I be on my phone while she is on her phone? They don't care who the devices belong to or how many you have, correct? You can just be on any two at any given time?

Aus/NZ was big on my bucket list and I did it last year when I had a sabbatical. Fantastic - I want to go back; even with 5 weeks I could not see it all. The flight was horrendous, even from LA. But you might want to consider what my sister did - she booked to Honolulu, overnighted, and then went on to Sydney. It was a nice breakup, made the flight a little more manageable, and she spent the night in a hotel overlooking Waikiki.

Looking forward to your final wrap up and wanted to thank you again for the time and effort you put in. I hope someone on the current cruise or upcoming cruises on the Eclipse has time to do reviews also- it is great for someone like myself who is cruising on the Eclipse in a few weeks (albeit a different itinerary in that we don't do Antarctica).

Some things to think about: The first one is going to cost a little more in airfare as it is 2 one ways (or a flight back to Santiago from BA). Falkland Islands is the most missed port in the world, with a 50/50 success rate of actually docking. So I would take that out of the equation - they both include it and the chances you won't actually get to go are the same for both. For that reason, I would choose the first one; Punta Del Este isn't that much of a benefit since you are already going to Montevideo (no offense to Punta Del Este); it looks like you get a lot more scenic cruising in the first one.

Thanks so much for your review and photos. We are going on the Eclipse in 9 weeks, so I found this especially informative. We are NOT going to Antarctica - our cruise is from Valparaiso, around the Cape Horn, and then up to Buenos Aires. I am opposite from you in that I LOVE sea days- I cruise in part just to have days with nothing to do and escape from my very hectic normal life. So lots of sea days is a plus for me... I am the type who has done 14 night trans-Atlantic cruises with mostly sea days and skipped getting off in ports just to spend more time on the ship 🙂 I would like to do a cruise to Antarctica some day, but I don't think I will do the "expedition" cruises. I understand they are more for purists, but I think I am okay with a typical cruise on maybe Holland, Princess or Celebrity. For one, the expedition cruises are SOOOO expensive - I could pay for a couple years of my kids college for the cost of one cruise! For another, I am fine with looking through binoculars and viewing scenery from afar - I am not in great shape and looking at the traipsing around on the land I am pretty confidant I would twist an ankle or hurt myself in some way. But, after reading about your experience, I would probably look for a cruise that has more than one port day in the Falklands (if those even exist) and a few more cruising days in Antarctica, to increase the chances that we would get to port and get some good weather on the cruising days.

If you start a thread/trip report please let us know. I have so enjoyed this - the pictures, the information, it has been great and greatly appreciated.

Oh, that would be so great! Fingers crossed. Our flight to Santiago (we go from Santiago to Buenos Aires) leaves 9 weeks from today.

More great photos! Those penguins are sooooo cute. We are sailing on the Eclipse in April but I am concerned we won't see Penguins since it is past the peak season.

more great photos!! Puerto Madryn is one of our scheduled stops in April so I am curious what you will be doing today and interested to hear all about it!

Great pictures!

I love it!!