baytraller

Jim could you please list upcoming cruises

Hope to read reviews of other Cruise Lines

Will reviews be on Celebrity or Cruise Line you will be sailing

Have enjoyed your great review all the best

Cheers

Peter

This is now a very different situation to before Covid

Out attendant told us that he now has to handle all the luggage for the 15 staterooms that he has responsibility. 

So how difficult do you want to make his job. Also remember leave your stateroom in the morning is now 7.30AM . There are no longer enough crew to have the ship ready for early boarding. On our last cruise the ship did not start boarding until 11.45AM and guests with late check-in times were being told to go to the end of the line. If you are in a suite then board at any time.

We were in a Sunset Verandah Suite were out attendant only had one suite.

So many different stories - now  it seems luck plays a part with embarkation and dis-embarkation experiences. You arrive early and board quickly or have to wait a long time and you could find your bags outside your stateroom in the morning.

We will be in a Sunset Sky Suite on Celebrity Solstice starting 19 October 2023.

Both small and in our 70's and 80's and drink lots of water and some soda for a 15 day cruise maybe 100 bottle and cans. The distance from the lift to our suite is quiet considerable.

After watching the Retreat video maybe Michael's Club could be renamed the Celebrity Bottle Mart .

A revenue option for Celebrity could be renting drink trolleys to make it easier to take bottle and cans to our suite.

Will now be taking our wine coolers with us. Is this now the way Celebrity treats elderly guests who pay thousands for a suite.

Still unclear why room service not able to deliver complimentary  drinks.

3 hours ago, RTShaker said:

On my April Millennium cruise I tried this and when I cashed out the voucher was only for the amount of the slot winnings. The balance went back to my OBC.

When you receive the 10% bonus via Cruise Excursions before boarding you are only able to cash out slot winnings. If you load $100 + $10 (bonus) you must continue to play until all the $110 has been used - any leftover amount will be lost .

This may be what happened

If you load $100 of OBC - how do you know when you have bet 50%

Are you able to accumulate the 50% with multi sessions

Just received email from Azamara for our 6th of February cruise

From Sydney to Perth on the Quest

Testing:

To strive for a COVID-19 free environment, guests will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test upon embarkation. For this sailing, the COVID-19 test can either be:

PCR: Test date no older than 48 hours prior to embarkation and must be demonstrated by showing a test result certificate issued by a medical practitioner; OR

Antigen: Test date must be within 24 hours of embarkation and can be demonstrated by showing either the test strip itself, a test result certificate issued by a medical practitioner, or a picture taken of the test strip result with a date stamp.

For Guests that cannot present a negative COVID-19 test upon embarkation testing is available in the terminal or on the boarding deck for $59 USD.

Boarding will be denied to those guests who test positive or cannot provide a negative COVID-19 test.

Cheers Peter

We will be on the Quest for the cruise starting 6th February Sydney to Perth

We have done Singapore to Sydney on the Journey and the seas down the west coast of Australia were very very rough - were on the Celebrity Eclipse in December and seas were close to 4M the day before reaching Sydney . Sea conditions around Australia and New Zealand can be extremely rough.

Have cruised 30 times with Azamara felt the review was well balanced, it seems some people only what to know the good.

Maybe you should watch the review of what Celebrity has introduced from the 1st of January - link below

Cheers Peter

The Covid testing requirements in Sydney are defined by the NSW Government

I believe Perth will be the same as document states

Eastern Seaboard and Western Australian Cruise Protocols

We will have only a self administered Rat test result plus photo evidence (same as when we boarded the Celebrity Eclipse ) for Azamara Quest

The documentation may not be clear but boarding Celebrity Eclipse in December was very straightforward  as stated above

When boarding another line in Sydney the Australian official asked for 

1) Proof of Vaccination

2) The actual negative RAT test (self administered)

Also had photo showing the date and time, negative Rat test and photo ID

But did not ask to see photo

Cheers Peter, will be on the Azamara Quest on 6th of February

Have just completed our first Retreat sailing on the Eclipse

She was in good overall condition - but was disappointed with Michael's Club

Evening Canapes - nuts

Small size

Meet Senior Officers was crowded and noisy

Many Officers were kneeling on the floor to communicate with seated guests

Also Ensemble Lounge in need of refurbishment

Several guests were expecting separate Sun Deck area

Next sailing will be on the Solstice

Which ships have been revolutionized

Peter

Click "cabin pictures" on the right side the link below

Find the cabin numbers for sunset cabins

Each deck has pictures and videos for that deck only

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/deckbydeck.php?ship=Celebrity-Eclipse&deck=10

Peter

The link below is a good site for deck plans

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/deckbydeck.php?ship=Celebrity-Eclipse&deck=10

For pictures and videos select cabin pictures on the right

If there are no pictures or videos for the cabin type you are looking for

Change decks as the cabins are the same but on a different deck

Peter

Thank you for all the valuable information

Peter

Will be experiencing the Retreat for the first time on the 9th December on Eclipse have booked CS.

Have read a number of post which have indicated that you are able to select from Blu and MDR menus on both M and S class. Due to food allergies the Luminae menu is sometimes limited. Have also read that the fish of the day and Salmon are always available.

Asked the Retreat Suite Shoreside Concierge this question via email and received the following reply

"Please be advised that as Luminae offers its own exclusive menu, we do not offer the menu selections from Blu or the Main Dining Room to be delivered in Luminae."

Is this now the case, would we be able to dine at Blu or MDR (anytime selected)

Are you able to make a reservation at these restaurants for date and time.

Peter

How does promo work with slots.

3 hours ago, Michidoeme said:

 

Anybody else has same issue ?  Or how does your tel nr show up if you try to make courtesy booking - as  + 1 …. or  00 1 …. ?

Any help much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

Have that same problem, rang Celebrity and went to "problems with the Website"

Was told to try another browser, log out for 10 minutes and clear cookies

Absolute waste of time

The only option is to make a booking  while not logged in and file out all the information. Then edit the booking as most of the information also seems to be lost.

Cheers,

Peter

Thank you for all comments so far

We are looking at 3 different cruise dates, 1665 is only available on one cruise 

2115 looks to be the next best - had noticed that suites under the entrance to Oceanview

were first booked.

Have checked the S-Class cabin post, does anyone have more information

There are very few options available

Most suites are under the Oceanview Cafe and Bar

On some cruises only the handicapped Suites are available

2130  2132  2134 and 2136 are these good and could Celebrity ask you to move

Also available 2115 and 2137

Deck 11 Suite 1665 looks good

Cheers Peter

My first post for such a long time . Being in Australia with the country locked down to International travel.

Have B2B cruises in late October/November booked Athens to Dubai  at about $300 (Australian) for Category 5 Oceanview with $900 OBC each. This price is at the top of the what is for us a nice value cruise.

But the price for Australian/NZ cruises at this stage are about $500 per person per day for category 5 Oceanview.

Have booked B2B Celebrity Eclipse (Retreat) with specialty dinning, priority boarding, Premium drinks package, high speed WiFi

$800 OBC per cruise, and access to various areas for Suite guests only .

Suite is under the Cafe, so will take earplugs and noise cancelling headphone

The price $480 per person per day 

Some of the Celebrity cruises have no Aqua or Retreat cabins available.

While Azamara cruises have few bookings

Peter

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23216-royal-caribbean-group-acquires-remaining-interest-in-silversea.html

This was only a matter of time - is this Bye Bye Azamara

Maybe they will be sold to a new cruise line - not a Silver Seas fan, cruises are over priced just like Seabourn

But who knows in the current environment what is going to happen to cruising

We are just taking weekly holidays in Australia, last week Sydney and maybe Brisbane in a couple of weeks

Keep healthy and find new options, life goes on and for most of us oldies the finish line is getting closer

Lets hope we meet all cruising friends again sometime in the future

Peter and Trish

Journey now close to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9200940

Peter

Journey now seems to be heading to Singapore .

For those looking to plan future cruises - please note that it is unlikely any cruises will occur

in Australia for at least 12 months. There are currently criminal investigations into the Ruby Princess.

Over 600 passengers have covid-19 and about 20 have died

Cruise ships are not the flavour of the month and one of the top news stories.

Australia has some the most stringent restrictions in place

Australians may not be allowed to fly overseas until 2021

But for a country of about 26 million people

have less then 50 new covid-19 cases  per day for nearly 1 week

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/coronavirus-cases-data-reveals-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704

Have been following the Journey as well as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ships since leaving Australian waters

Most seem to be heading to Denpasar (Bali) at the moment

There was a major transfer of crew between these ships in Sydney

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9200940

Quest has now docked in Muscat

We are booked on the 28th March Quest cruise

No direct information from Azamara  regarding this cruise - but as 17th has been cancelled

The cruise is likely to also be cancelled

Any information from those onboard would be appreciated

Peter