helenb

We are elite on both Princess and Celebrity, and I agree with your assessment. Our general comparison is: Princess is better for entertainment, Celebrity is better for food. This means that we like to take Princess when there are lots of sea days, and Celebrity when there are lots of port days. But we enjoy them both.

However, in the past (pre-COVID) we learned that there are 2 types of OBC: refundable and non-refundable. Promotional OBC is usually non-refundable, but OBC from your TA or credit card may be refundable. Non-refundable OBC is used first, and if there is leftover of refundable OBC, you will get a refund heck from Celebrity in the mail a few weeks after the cruise. Now it's possible that policies may have changed post-COVID... but you could ask at Guest Services whether any of your OB is refundable.

We will be doing this cruise on Solstice at New Year's. Looking forward to reading your observations about the ship, the food and the cruise, as well as anything about how things have changed from 2019.

The email I got was a general 'We're open to all cruisers' type promotional message. It was not related to a specific booking.

I'm excited! I put a hold on a cruise this morning in response to this email.

Thanks! Yeah, he should be fine with a glass of wine at dinner and a cocktail beforehand. It sounds like he can do all of that during the happy hour. He doesn't drink enough to take advantage of an alcoholic beverage package.

Thank you!

What are the free drinks offered to Elites? My husband is considering foregoing the beverage package and just bringing a couple of bottles of wine onboard and partaking of free drinks before dinner.