Charles4515

You don't need Uber XL. I only have used Uber XL from FLL when we had three paasengers with one luggage and one carry on each.

This is a case of YMMV. We walked to the port easily with luggage, from the Doubletree. One 26 rollable and one carry one roller per person.

Yes research is nessecary when booking private tours. Not just for the price. I don't want to share a bus with 30 people. A small group is a lot better so I may pay more but is usually is not much more unless it is really private like a two person tour. Ship tour is a lot easier. I enjoy doing the research. I spend a lot of time doing it and learn a lot about the ports before hand. I can understand that research is not everyones forte. I even do it for friends and family members for trips I am not going on.

The buffet at Barefoot Beach is better on RCI than the regular buffet. Don't know about Celebrity because I never did the Barefoot Beach buffet there. The regular buffett at Labadee on Celebrity was better than the regular buffet at Labadee on Royal but that was 5 or so years ago so I can't say if that will be the case in 2024. The buffets are provisioned by the ships. All food is brought from the ship. That is why the buffets are not the same.

My experience is that most private tours are both less expensive than the ship tour and better than the ship tour. However at some ports it is worth paying more if you have the budget and to use something like TBL but it is not necessary to use TBL or spend $600 to get a better tour than the ships tour. She was pushing TBL which is certainly worth it but there are many local tours that can be booked independently that are quite reasonably priced. Our small group private tour of the Hermitage was actually a reasonable custom add on to a more general private tour that we did because of our personal interests. We had a nice ride in a Mercedes too. We also got a stop added at the synagogue in St. Petersburg. The private tour without the custom add ons would have been less cost than the ships tour.

I thought the food and beverages at the Perfect Day Coco Cay after they built the dock there were a big improvement. Pre Covid RC they planned to re-make Labadee into a Perfect Day type experience. I don’t think that plan has progressed.

Well if you don’t like beaches it’s not for you. There is a dock now. So if you tendered you have not been there in a long time. The pushy vendors are in a section that can be avoided. If you enter their area they are still desperate. There is a zip line and roller coaster. There are cabanas, some over the water. It has been changed a lot since they built the dock. ( the guards have better automatic weapons too and military style uniforms) I like Labadee because I like beaches, swimming and on the beach sitting on the beach. Since there is a dock now I don’t feel like I have to stay for the whole day. Return to the ship when we feel like.

Most of those travel writers for magazines are not paid, they get comped so they don't get to go on a cruise unless that happens. You can't trust a lot of what they write about anything. They want to keep getting the free travel. That is why they are writing for travel magazines.

You should have done private excusion at Cartagena. The street vendors are still a bother but the private tour guides make an effort to keep them away.

Never had that experience in many times at Labadee over the years. The bazaar can be easily avoided. All the food and drinks are sent over from the ship. So if your experience was form a Royal ship it won't be the same if you go from a Celebrity ship. The two times I went from a Celebity ship the food and beverages were different than Royal provisioning and higher quality.

Labadee has been redone several times since then.

When we did St. Petersburg we booked a private excursion for four of us to the Hermitage. We got to see the artists we were interested in. Those on ship sponsored tours were running around in groups of 30 with wireless headphone. Even independent tours which were groups of 12 while doing better tahn the ship tours were not getting a personal experience.

I don't do cruise sponsored excursions anymore either. Have not for years. The cruise lines like to scare passengers about missing the ship etc. I research the companies and use ones like TBL that have guarantees about returning us to the ship on time.

No. The arrival card is not for cruise passengers. It is only for air travelers. On the that website you have to click on the form to read that visitors by cruise are not required to fill out the form. Bad design......

Do you like beaches? History? Fishing? Golf? Water activities? As it is your first t time you might want to do a taxi tour. Take a look at these two websites. https://www.gotobermuda.com and https://www.islandtourcentre.com You can order free brochures and maps from the Go To Bermuda tourism website and the Island Tour Centre has many of the available excursions.

X has always charged about 3 times as much for the same WiFi as RCI. My theory is that since it has been an all Included option they want to claim they are giving passengers a $240 value not $100. I would crise on Royal and pay $85 after discount and then $240 minus Elite Plus discount on Celebrity because I did not book any of the all included options.

Starlink does not have full world coverage yet. In areas without coverage Celebrity has to fall back to the older satelites. Starlink is still launching and has launched over 3000 satelites of a planned 12,000 in initial buildout. Hopefully Starlink coverage will improve if Elon does not waste too many billions on Twitter.

I don't recall it ever being free like the other the poster says under Chandris and I joined under Chandris but recall fades with time. I do recall paying the the $35 after my first cruise on Celberity which was under Chandris. I recall geting a credit for $35 sometime after they made it free. I have the leather luggage tags but I don't use them anymore because they are too nice to use the way luggage is handled.

Celebrity is transitioning to Starlink just like Royal has been. Both lines will be finished installing by 2024.

i forgot to plug Fun Golf. It is at the Dockyard and it really is fun for chidren and adults.

Founders on Celebrity was because we paid $35 to join Captain's Club then they made it free. So to distinguish the old paid members from the new members they designated us as founders. At some point they gave us a credit for $35. Royal had their own program which was free. I don't recall the name. I cruised on both cruise lines before RCC aquirerd Celebrity. We were all against Royal taking over X . We thought they would ruin Celebrity. They did ruin Celebrity but it was a slow ruin. We got used to it. In hindsight though if Royal had not aquirred Celebrity it would have been swallowed up by Carnivore. Look at what Carnivore did to Princess. Princess used to be on par with Celebrity. Carnivore really downgraded Princess.I loved Princess before they became part of Carnival. Now meh.

Of course they are going to claim they are humane and doing great things but bottom line is that dolphins are wild animals. It is not natural for them to be in captivity. Also Dolpin Quest is a profit making busness. Although I will answer questions about Dolphin Quest I don't like it. A Bermuda triva fact. There was a dolphin show at Blue Hole that ended is scandal and was closed down. Mistreated and dead dolphins.

I am Elite Plus and I still receive all the PUP emails which don't do me much good in addition to a couple of Celebrity offers every day, , Captains Club, Blue Chip Club emails. I don't dare change my email preferences as I am in fear of it all stopping. My Royal Caribbean offers stoppped coming 8 years ago despite calling them often for 5 years to get them to send me offers. Call centers promised to fix but always failed. I gave up trying to get those. Instead I watch for RCI sales on Twitter.....Celebrity/Royal Caribbean IT is a mystery to me and them.

I average two emails a day from Celebrity which is overkill. Sometimes more as a Captains Club or Blue Chip email too. But I have my email set up with rules so that the Celebrity and other cruise line emails are not in my primary email folder. I don't get notified and I have to open the folder to see if I got any emails from cruise lines but checking the folder once a day works for me.

I have not found pool crowding to be an issue on Celebrity. On Carnival and NCL it varies by ship but it can be really bad. An NCL ship like Breakaway the pool area if not in Haven is limited. Princess on Caribbean class ships it can be bad. Royal Caribbean has large pool areas so never been an issue. Never been an issue on HAL.