the penguins

Specifically for the OP. If you have contact with the other members of your private tour check to see how many of them have priority tendering ( Elite and above). If it's most talk to the CC Host, explain the situation and see if the "odd" passengers can be issued with priority passes. If you are particularly lucky and a good proportion of the group are in Suites see if the whole group can be added to suite priority. In either case agree a specific place/time for you to meet up. We have had success with both these options. As always be polite not demanding and hopefully you will have the same success as we have had.

If you talk to the maitre de then each evening they will bring you the next days menu to select what meets your needs. If there is nothing that suits they will prepare something special for you - they just need the 24 hours to do it. Booking Any Time Dining also gives you more flexibility but if course not as flexible as the Buffet. The majority of passengers base dining times around the theatre. If you like the early show you eat late or, in our case we like the 9.0pm show so we eat at 6.30 which gives us a relaxed dinner and even time for a quick flutter in the casino. I am sure X will be monitoring the situation closely (just as they did with AI) so make your points in writing and, even they call you to discuss the issue, ask them to reply in writing. Good luck

From our experience and numerous other reports you can replace "may not" with "will not" for the App

Elite.

Judging from the pics the 3 extra people joining the line for Select Dining aren't going to add much to your wait time. Waiters in Select are happy to serve you quickly just tell them when you arrive at the table.

Also it's a long ride in which is one reason Port Stanley is often missed as the Captain must be sure that not only can the tenders get you in but, more importantly, get you back. We should have been twice. First with X, the port was cancelled 24 hours before due to rough seas being forcast. Second on a smaller expedition ship which docked right in the harbour just minutes from the town

All coffees., teas and chocolate are included with AI and as the OP is in Aqua they have AI. Wether it's worth upgrading to the beverage package depends entirely what and how much you drink over and above the Classic cost. As you only pay the difference in the cost not the full amount if it's just the odd drink far cheaper just to pay the difference.

Change your Butler😂

Which is one reason we book private tours so we can leave the ship without waiting, be back before the busses and still see what we want.

Size of bag is irrelevant as the Elite offer is restricted to a number of items (from memory 20). The offer is per person. The offer is for wash and fold. However if you write on the slip " please return items on hangers" it comes back as good as ironed. Don't forget the "please" as they don't have to do it

On our last cruise on Silhouette the Captain and other officers took great delight in saying there were over 1000 crew and only 800 passengers. The numbers have been given on all our 4 Covid cruises.

Please note that this is not what X guarantees. True it may wait for a period which will be determined by the Captain taking into account costs, schedules etc. What X actually guarantees is that if the ship sails without you X will get you to the next port at it's expense. Most good private excursion providers (for example Toursbylocals) will also pay to get you to the next port if they don't get you back in time.

Trust me if had you wouldn't forget her. Her briefings for B2B guests are legendary. Especially her "instructions" that unfortunately due to a change in local regulations all chocolate purchased during the cruise must be handed in and destroyed. One passenger responded by giving her beautifully wrapped box of very expensive chocs. Needless to say the box was empty. Julie's response was to deliver a bottle of one of the ships most expensive wines to the guests cabin. Of course the bottle was also empty.

Exactly as Silhouette but pre show. For us personally there was a little twist as when we arrived at the theatre the Officers were already lined up waiting to make their grand entrance. Several officers said good evening and as we reached the head of the line Julie, Director of Guest Relations, turned to the Captain and said in a loud voice "It's ok Captain we can start now as Mr and Mrs D have arrived". I know many regular cruisers know Julie and her wicked sense of humour especially during her performances in Liars Club. For those who don't she is also "the voice in the lifts/elevators" on most Celebrity ships and a few Royal ones. We also love her Moto in Guest Services of " If I can't fix it, it ain't broke".

On Silhouette always before the show. After seems odd as half the audience disappears as soon as the show ends to get to the bars, casino sky lounge or wherever. Frankly if you miss it you can see it on the TV.

A pleasure

Yes all coffees, teas, chocolate, hot or iced served in Al Bacio without alcohol are covered. All available as take aways. If you want 2 at a time to go you really need to have both cards with you or you could be charged for the second.

Sorry should have said it's the bar that was Cellar Masters before the refit. Now a much lighter more welcoming space with, as previously stated, lots of various sized TV screens for sports.

Wow a thread were everyone agrees - don't waste your money on the upgrade. Basic works for simple emails nothing complicated and it usually don't even allow you to post on Cruise Critic.

Or stick to AnyTime and simply pre book for 8.30 every night.

Craft Social, Deck 4 opposite the Martini Bar is now more of a sports bar with numerous screens showing sports.

A better and more recent example was X's decision to make AI pricing compolsary. Introduced as ships started sailing post Covid it received such a backlash (for example Captain Club hosts onboard had to submit details of "concerns" about AI every day instead of at the end of each cruise) that by December 2021 corporate head office replied to my complaint by saying " we appreciate that not every passenger wants or needs a drinks or internet package and we are working to correct this". It then took them a further 9 months to fully implement the change so that now only in Aqua and above is AI still compolsary. If you don't like the changes when you see them tell the Captain's Club Host in writing while you are on the ship and follow this up by a direct written complaint to Head Office. Ranting won't help just considered arguments and, if you consider it appropriate and you are prepared to follow it through, tell them that you will not book with X again until the buffet/main dining or whatever is reinstated in full. This worked with AI as we and many others did just that and switched away from X.

Our main reason for the switch was the price - X's decision at the time to have compolsary AI resulted in us and many others cancelling. X acknowledged their mistake as early as December 2021 but took until September 2022 to almost completely remove the "compolsary" part. Just Aqua and above now have no choice.

Usually as soon as you've booked

We will soon see. We have our first Princess cruise in March which still has a 24 hour buffet and a 24 hour International Cafe (coffee shop with more food options than Al Bacio). We switched to this cruise during X's experiment with compolsary AI back on X for the October TA.