rodndonna

I recall liking it because I thought being on a cruiseship "helipad" would potentially be the only chance I would have to do so (with a drink in my hand no less!) You are right though, the "sail away" aspect was nothing I recall as being interesting.

We're in the process of booking a cruise for 2026 - with still a relatively small number of cabins booked. What is glaring though with that small number of booked cabins in key areas, is that they alternate. Really obvious how the bed by the bathroom is by far the preferred layout.

Thanks! You must be onto something because every room on deck 8 that you recommended is gone but one - 8254 - so we put a hold on it until tomorrow when our Celebrity cruise consultant is back.

We are looking to book the Beyond for our first Edge class cruise for January 2026 and have almost full selection of cabins. We had initially planned on an aft (sunset) balcony but am so curious of the love/hate relationship with IV's that I think to see what all the fuss is about and experience what is the most contentious feature of Edge class ships - we just have to book an IV and see for ourselves! That being said -we want to book a good location. The only thing I know I care about is having the sofa nearer the window. It appears the rooms alternate with regards to that layout (please correct me if I am wrong on that). Other than that, I just look at the Celebrity deemed "Prime Concierge IV" rooms and they seem to be higher and towards the front - as an example cabin 12151 is on the Prime. I guess they are picked as prime because they are near stairwells and higher up? Am I safe to generally pick from Celebrity deemed "Prime Concierge" locations (as long we it has our preferred layout with sofa near window)?

We did Concierge once (our only Celebrity sailing to date) but it was a result of the cabin location, We didn't know we were concierge until we got to our room (it was an aft balcony). Like others we would never have paid for the perks (didn't use most of them) it was purely to have the aft balcony (on the Summit). We had a sail away event on the helipad, that was kinda cool .. the only perk I really recall using/enjoying.

So when you were unhappy with your room steward's performance and you brought him to tears.... tat was somehow helpful for his stress level in your opinion? HAL is not unique in the way they compensate their crew. We are just off an NCL cruise last week and it has a similar compensation policy with daily grats, and crew are working every bit as hard as crew on HAL ..as are crew on Carnival, RCL, Celebrity, Princess ....so are you just on a mission to save HAL crew?

It's not clear to me why you are spending so much time and effort on this thread trying effort to convert the rest of us? As we have all been stating on this thread... go on cruise lines that have policies you like .. and you now state you are doing that - great! Why are you here trying to convert others? Why can't you just accept that we are OK with HAL's crew compensation policy so we sail with them (hence we are the HAL forum). Edit: I just checked you activity - stopped after 5 pages.... exclusively chatting on HAL who you don't like and not a single activity on your 3 other cruise lines that you are sailing on? I just don't get it ....???

Thanks, will try to avoid noisy locations based in reviews. We always use a white noise app on our tablet ... at home and travelling so that usually helps if we pick wrong or get bad neighbours, 😃

Thank you all! We've decided and Edge class it is for this cruise. 😃 Probably the Beyond 😎

You keep ignoring the fact that the crew compensation is via "gratuities" rather than salary as it is beneficial from a tax perspective providing them with higher compensation at a reduced cost to us. Clearly, it seems to work well as the majority of cruise lines use this policy and the majority of guests are OK with it. As long as your definition of "topping up" is in addition to daily grats, great, otherwise you are undercutting crew and trying to justify it because you don't like the cruise line compensation model.

We are looking at booking a Caribbean cruise for Jan 2026 with Celebrity and am trying to decide between Solstice and Edge class. We have sailed Millenium once and loved it and have booked Constellation. The cruise we are looking at booking for Jan 2026 would be geared primarily to ship experience. Am drawn to trying the Edge class but wondering if we should just save a few dollars and book Solstice Class. We would be taking an aft balcony, so the Infinite Verandah thing doesn't come into play. From purely a ship experience - are there any compelling reasons to pay a little more for Edge class ? If we go Edge, should be just go all in and book Excel?

Ahhh... that's different. Please let us know what you find out.

Although we've not done this, we've thought about trying to do a self golf-cruise experience. Have never though about having the clubs anyplace other than the room though. Would it not be abit of a hassle to retrieve them? We would be 2 sets but would likely attempt reduced sets and carry bags, which maybe would fit under the bed or snugly in a corner. Following as I'd like to read what responses you get.

No wonder Food Republic was kinda empty on our Viva cruise last week - never realized it could be used with FAS 🤔

Or the obvious solution, you should cruise on cruiselines that don't collect autogratuities.

Uuummm....like .....pretty much the majority of us......

Before passing away in 2019, my sister lived in London for over 30 years, and having visiting her annually and taken numerous hops from there to other European cities, I gotta say my experience differs. If you are so adamantly against the policy of HAL and other American line policies with regards to gratuities, why not just sail on a cruise line that includes gratuities? Why sail HAL when you are adamant they are mistreating the crew? If I thought a cruise line was mistreating the crew, I certainly wouldn't give them my business.

So are you saying you leave the total of the cruise equivalent of the daily gratuities in your room in a cash envelop for your room steward? And then because you want to use a European approach while on HAL, I guess then feel OK that you are not tipping for dining or bars (because that is not common in Europe)?

Cost aside - I voted YES (we were the sister ship Viva), BUT, we are not "main deck pool" people so that helps. LOVED - Ocean Boulevard!!, Indulge Food, Locals, and the nicest inside cabin we have ever had. We had great sunny southern carib weather all seven days (although ship forecast was rain the entire week) and is a great ship for that. Also, I think we were always the most admired ship in port (a first for us as usually we are the ones always oggling other ships with envy when in port).

Well - I stand corrected - I just received a "welcome home" email form NCL with the offer I have had showing in my account 😃

We are just off a cruise last week- so thought - maybe we got one?! We didn't, but, I do have a $100US off welcome back offer on my account 😃 Is that standard? I find it odd they don't email to tell you when there is a discount there.

Aside from the early emergence from Covid when all airlines were having issues, thankfully we seem to be much luckier with airlines than the average CC member. In the last year we have had multiple flights on AC, Westjet, and Flair. They've all been on time (or early) with good service 🙂

Similar to San Juan - just got off a cruise embarking from there and drinks while in port have the additional tax applied to your on-line account.

We got tired of buying a new cartridges (always before a cruise!) and dumped our printer about a year and half ago. We have since done multiple cruises (mostly HAL, Celebrity and with NCL last week) without printing anything. They have tags and will just write your room number on them if you don't bring tags.

Thanks Trinity, The Viva was the same - very few kids on our cruise (same amount as we encounter on HAL or Celebrity). We had tried to get into the Vibe thinking we might need a childfree zone since it was a full ship, but happy we didn't get in because we really didn't need it (spent our time primarily on deck 😎 Am thinking of pointing them to looking at RCL. Disney seems too pricey for a cost conscious family testing the cruise experience. We've sailed CCL and have enjoyed them, just not sure it would be a good starting experience for them as newbies, but maybe the newer ships. You sound a lot like us -we can do any cruise line and make it work. Just a little more stressful when family asks - what line is best for us? 😉