MarkWiltonM

So nice to hear your daughter Shannon is doing so well.

We were on Rotterdam in April and had a great time. It was very similar to its beautiful sister ships Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam. We enjoy the Lido buffet on those ships a lot. Namo Sushi at Tamarind was also excellent on Rotterdam. In April, the main dining room service and food was disappointing except for the culinary council dinner (food good then, service still poor). Glad it's been better for you.

We have a friend on that cruise: Karen from Santa Barbara. She's a lovely, charming blond woman in her late 70s. Always a smile on her face. If you meet her, tell her Mark and John say hi!

We sail HAL and Celebrity interchangeably (along with Oceania). Love the buffet on HAL's Pinnacle-class ships. Much better than Celebrity, especially the baked goods. The food and service in Celebrity's main dining rooms has been a little better than HAL's on our last two cruises on each line (but none of these are very good). We went to Sushi on 5 last year on Equinox and it was really horrible. About the worst food I've had on a cruise ship. There was only one other party there and I'm not surprised. The sushi bar on HAL's new Rotterdam ship, Nami, Sushi, was awesome and the place was packed. Almost as good as the sushi bar on the old Crystal ships.

My TA also includes travel insurance or, alternatively on board credit. We usually take the travel insurance. To determine the value of it, ask your TA the name of the insurer and the name of the plan and then look up what it would cost you for the same insurance on a website like "Insure My Trip." Then you can see if you can buy the insurance on your own for less than an alternative benefit, such as OBC, if offered.

We are in a B2 cabin on Sirena departing PortMiami on Friday, 11/18 and returning Monday, 11/28. In order to plan our travel connections, I would like to know the approximate times we will be able to check in on 11/18 and the earliest and typical time(s) we would be able to disembark on 11/28.

Does this system work for Sunset Veranda cabins on Edge-class ships? Specifically interested in 9309 on Apex.

We always book Oceania at "cruise only" rates. We don't do a lot of shore excursions and when we do we like the option to purchase either the cruise line's excursions or a private vendor's. We don't drink alcohol but we do drink a lot of specialty coffee so Oceania is perfect for us in that regard. We like the included specialty restaurants too, and having a free washer/dryer at our disposal is appreciated. I have always wanted to try Viking (I am attracted to the ship's Scandinavian decor) but we can't go away for more than 10 days at a time because of family at home (namely, our dog), so we stick to Caribbean cruises near our home. If we go to Europe we don't have time to add a cruise to the time we spend on land. Unfortunately, Viking has very few cruises in the U.S., and when they do they tend to be longer than we can manage (15 days from Fort Lauderdale to Panama Canal and back, for example).

Glad my B2 stateroom will have a nice shower in place of the tub/shower combo.

We will be on Sirena for the same cruise. Our first time on Oceania. Also have Riviera and Vista booked.

The marketing BS does get tiresome, but as has been noted it's not just Celebrity. I would say you have to look often and perhaps be flexible. A couple of weeks ago we were looking at Edge-class Sunset Veranda staterooms for Caribbean sailings in 2024 and we were able to book on the Apex for about 60 percent of the price of Beyond for similar itineraries. The Apex is fairly new, the Beyond is even newer, but they are largely identical ships. Once you book something, check back frequently and do mock bookings to see if the price has been lowered. I did a mock booking for the current promotion and found it was $200 more than the previous promotion for our particular cruise but in a few months it may be lower (who knows?). Sometimes the "wave season" (January to March) has good deals on cruises and/or on specialty dining, Wi-Fi, excursions. Bear in mind that with so much inflation, prices are more likely to go up than down.

Yes, you can travel without a passport in this situation, but I would be very careful about your grandson doing anything in port other than a Celebrity excursion because if something happens and the ship leaves without him and he's in another country it's going to be a huge hassle. Could be the same situation in the unlikely event he becomes ill and has to be hospitalized in another country and the ship leaves.

If there is no excursion you can take the ferry over yourself. It's not a long walk from where the ship docks. Of course this won't work if you want to book directly from the cruise line to avoid the ship leaving you if there are any problems getting back in time. https://www.saintbarth.com/st-barts-boats-guide/ferry-ride-from-st-martin-to-st-barts/

So glad vaccinated guests no longer have to be tested. So bummed that unvaccinated people may be on board.

I am "Select" and tried a couple of days ago to get the 10% discount on a non-alcoholic drink package. The Captain's Club representative told me that the discount is only for alcoholic drink packages, but it certainly doesn't state that on the documentation with tiers/benefits. I was able to get at 25% discount on Wi-Fi.

In the past when I did this, I had to pay the port fees and taxes but was able to use FCC for the remainder of the down payment due. If your port fees and taxes are more than the down payment, that could be why you can't use FCC for any of the down payment. Or they've changed the rules.

I am contemplating buying a non-alcoholic beverage package in order to drink espresso, cappuccino, cafe Americano, etc. as well as non-premium bottled water. The Classic Non-Alcoholic Package is described by Celebrity as "Coca-Cola sodas, plus fresh and bottled juices, premium coffees and teas, and non-premium bottled water." The Premium Non-Alcoholic Package is described as "Coca-Cola soft drinks, premium bottled water from Evian, Perrier and San Pellegrino, specialty coffees and teas, non-alcoholic frozen drinks and smoothies, Red Bull Energy Drink and specialty waters from vitaminwater." In the first, less-expensive package, Celebrity's wording is "premium coffees and teas" and in the premium package they change the wording to "specialty coffees and teas." I won't use the package enough to warrant the premium package, and I've sailed enough on Celebrity to know that you either get free "regular" coffee from the buffet and dining room or you order specialty coffee (espresso drinks) in Cafe al Bacio or as a special order in the buffet or dining rooms. To my knowledge, there is no middle tier of "premium coffee" in between regular and specialty coffee. Am I missing something? If I buy the Classic Non-Alcoholic Package do you think I have to worry about whether this includes espresso beverages?

I just booked on Apex with fixed early dining but I seem to remember that if you want to sample all four of the main dining rooms you have to choose Anytime Dining. Is this still the case? If I keep fixed dining, how do I specify which of the four dining rooms I want to be in?

We just booked a 2024 cruise with the Cruise Only fare. I'm glad to see these back as a regular option because we don't drink alcohol. We drink specialty coffees but not enough to warrant paying the All Included rate. And we're fine buying the basic internet package. We try not to use our phones much on cruises except to communicate with each other via What's App and for possible emergencies back home.

"The finest cuisine at sea"? Our next three cruises are on Oceania, after sailing mostly on Celebrity and Holland-America. Food is the most important thing to us on a cruise, but we've only had really good, really consistent food on Crystal. But we love the buffet on the new HAL ships (much more than Celebrity's buffet), and we like the MDR food on Celebrity more than HAL (except for HAL's Culinary Council dinners). We assumed Oceania would be a step up from both lines. Sorry to hear your experience with Oceania's food is so hit or miss. If the food isn't good on our first Oceania cruise on Sirena, we'll cancel the next two on Riviera and Vista.

Does anyone know who Oceania hired to design the Vista's interiors? The renderings are beautiful. Can't wait to sail on her in December 2023.

I have heard that it's easier to get reservations in specialty restaurants (for those of us in lower-category staterooms) if you are willing to dine with others. If we say we are open to dining with others, does this mean that everyone at the table will order together and be served courses at the same time? My spouse and I don't drink alcohol and we therefore are not excited about the prospect of a longer, slower-paced dinner because the other guests at our table are enjoying pre-dinner cocktails followed by bottles of wine, followed by after-dinner drinks (not too worried about after-dinner drinks as long as we get our desserts and coffee and can exit quietly). In our case, would it be better to try to reserve a table for two, regardless of the time of the seating, and then once on board try to get an earlier time? (We like to eat early.)

We are taking our first Oceania cruise, on Sirena, in November, and are wondering about smoothies. Do they have these? Do they serve them in the dining room at breakfast? Are they an extra charge? Is there a menu?

We cruise on Celebrity and HAL, usually every other cruise is one or the other, and we see very little difference in the age of cruisers. I think Celebrity does have a few more youngish couples and families with young children, but not THAT many. Most of the passengers on both lines are couples in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. We started on these lines in our late 40s and are now in our mid-60s.

I meditate in the early morning hours and try to find quiet places on ships to sit but it's very difficult. Too often the only place that's quiet is my veranda (and then only if I'm up and out before the neighbors come out). We were recently on Rotterdam and I was able to sit outside Tamarind. A couple of times there was annoying piped pop music out there (as early as 6 am) but a few times it was quiet. It was hit or miss for sure, and I couldn't find any other place that was quiet on the whole ship. Maybe the crew like the music when they're working overnight? It would be great if there was a designated quiet time and/or place, at least in the morning and perhaps again in the evening. Who wants to go up to a deck to look at the stars and hear pop music blaring from the speakers?