Auntiemomo

If you are flying into Newark, taking a taxi or Uber would be around half the cost of taking the Celebrity transfer, plus you wouldn't have to wait for the transfer to fill up.

I booked the 3-night specialty restaurant on an upcoming Eclipse sailing thru my cruise planner, and no gratuity was added.  Must be a mistake.  I would call someone at the Captain's Club and have the gratuity moved and reinstated to your available funds in the cruise planner.  If you didn't book with the cruise planner and paid by credit card, I would call, cancel, and rebook thru a live person.

We had an oceanview stateroom booked on Deck 3, and we got upgraded at the pier to a concierge stateroom on Deck 8.  What a pleasant surprise.  Got all the CC amenities, including embarkation lunch and champagne.  We had initially tried to bid for upgrade to FV and AQ, but bids were rejected. 

One of the medical officers told me they are using the deck 3 staterooms for crew overflow.  Quarantine if needed was on Deck 2 and Deck 7.  Don't know where on the ship.  I asked out stateroom attendant how many cabins he had, and he told me just five.  They have more crew than pax.

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Wasn't the Diamond lounge always a place for like minded cruisers to meet and never about the free drinks.😇

To some, I suppose.  😉

Yeah, it's just a meeting place to meet others, but they do serve apps.  The 5 drink vouchers is all you get, but you can use they from morning to night.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who looks forward to lobster night because they serve beef tornados fillet steaks or something of the like.  

7 minutes ago, Beachlover1989 said:

We're doing this next week!  I didn't think you could take drinks and snacks off the ship?  Did you buy them in town?

There are plenty of convenience stores, shops, markets, etc., in the town.  It's when you get outside the town they are very scarce.  I usually bring a small travel cooler.  I fill it up with ice before I leave the ship for beer/soda/water.  You can take water off the ship.  They're probably in those stinking cans so once you open, you can't put the top back on after taking a sip like the plastic water bottles.  

We bid on a FV and AQ for our Constellation sailing leaving 14 Feb.  There were 11 FV's available at the time, so we bit one click above the minimum.  They are now all gone, and I haven't been notified whether or not I got one.  Maybe they are holding out until 2 days before notifying us, but I doubt it.

We also bid one click above minimum for an AQ stateroom.  There are several A1 and A2's available as we speak.  Haven't heard anything.  Waiting in anticipation and hopeful we get an AQ stateroom, just to be able to dine in Blu.

1 hour ago, keesar said:

 

On our cruise to Alaska on the Solstice,  we had Maine lobster. However, the price of real lobster in the North Atlantic has nearly doubled.  What was really a nice surprise was at one of the ports, they brought aboard fresh king crab legs, salmon, cod, and halibut.  Can't beat that!

We were in Hobart, Tasmania, on Solstice and they brought fresh fish on board, but only for those who dined at the evening buffet.  

33 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

What I've learned from the "science" around this virus over the last 2 years:

 

1) a person ceases to transmit the virus when eating or drinking; however, the minute this person stops eating or drinking, virus transmission begins again and must mask up.

 

2) a person ceases to transmit the virus when smoking at a casino table.  However, the person starts transmitting again after the smoke clears his/her lungs and so must mask up.

 

3) a politician ceases to transmit the virus when doing a photo op, but all those around said politician must stay masked up because they do not have the virus cessation capabilities of the politician.

 

4) covid restrictions have kept the daily case count in the US to a manageable 1.5 million per day at the peak.  don't forget to send thank you notes to your local covid restriction bureaucrats. 

 

There must have been other lessons learned but these have stayed with me.

 

 

When you walk into a restaurant, you must wear your mask so covid won't attack you.  Once you reach your table, you are immune to covid, so you may remove your mask.  If you have to use the restroom, you must put on your mask to walk around those sitting at the tables who are already immune, and then head to the restroom.  Science is a wonderful thing.  😉

Yes, there's another thread on this also.  Celebrity just needs to update some of their pdf's.

For Bonaire, why take a ship's excursion?  We rented a golf cart and drove around the island at will.  It was great fun.  Bonaire cruisers.  Google them.

We leave on the 14th -- Yipeee!

Their "celebrity-healthy-at-sea-protocols.pdf" has not been updated to reflect this new change.

5 hours ago, kearney said:

When you say first and third... where are you counting from... the hump or the non-hump section? I keep forgetting when I book...

Counting from the straight part of the hump that jets out  - the 10 cabins on the hump - 1st and 3rd going both forward and aft of those 10 cabins.  Same with up forward, the 20 or so cabins forward coming aft to a small hump of 2 cabins.  That would be the 1st only.

1 hour ago, Algebralovr said:

I thought it was UP TO 30 items that fit into one bag.  And the 20 items was for sailings with limited water, not shorter in days.

Not my experience.  I sent out 30 items in two bags.  The 20 items was for a sailing to/from Bermuda.  There were no water restrictions.

15 hours ago, OBX-Cruisers said:

I have not been successful getting stockholder OBC credit from RCL or Celebrity on last 2-3 attempts so stopped trying.  The reason I have always been given is that there was a $50 credit or some other perk already awarded for my cabin.  Much more successful on HAL where Carnival (owner Co.)  does not have the same rules as RCL.

Be happy you have been awarded.

They've changed it in the last year or so.  You can now combine share holder with other OBC you have been given to book.  I would keep trying.  It's your money to spend.

Actually, it's 30 items per person, not one bag.  It's 20 items on some shorter sailings.

5 minutes ago, Cruising to Retirement said:

Sailing Mariner of the Seas on 2/12, just got an upgrade at $50. per person ($100. total) for a Spacious Outside cabin on 12th deck from an small Inside Cabin on the Deck 8... Now I would like New Updated Luggage tags-  Any chance ??  Thank You and Stay Safe... 

Get them to write out your luggage tags at the pier when you drop off your luggage.  If your cruise doc arrive on time, you could print them out.

On an upcoming sailing next week, yesterday I bid on a MoveUp from an OV to a FV.  There were 11 FV's back aft available.  This afternoon I looked at inventory, and there were 8 available, and just a few minutes ago, there were only 2 available.  So they are busy  as we speak.    I'm not optimistic I will get one of the two remaining, but holding out for an AQ MoveUp that I also bid on.  Inventory appears to be fairly stable at this point.

6 hours ago, BAYA said:

On Mariner departing Jan. 19th it was not self-serve. Someone was there to serve us. I prefer when it's self-serve but just grateful to get decent coffee in the DL!

Some of the servers don't seem to understand when you tell then you want a double cup (it's too hot to carry with just one cup), a double espresso, then an americano on top of that.  I prefer to do it myself.  😉

2 hours ago, sydbarrett said:

Is there anything good in Ravenna that is walkable from the port? I'm staying in Venice a few days before the cruise but wouldn't mind poking around Ravenna before we embark.

It's probably a 20-30 minute taxi ride from the terminal to Old Town Ravenna.  It's a very nice town with some great restaurants.  

How about giving some stateroom numbers -- from _________ to __________.  That would help in giving you some advice.

What happens if you don't receive an invite to bid for an upgrade?  I have an upcoming sailing that is around 1/2 or 1/3 full and have not received an email to bid.

1 hour ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

6143 and 6144 are not suites.

OK, you're right, but they only connect to the two Penthouses back aft.