happyyaya

We recently did Celebrity's “excursion transfer” to Heathrow. Picked us up at 8 AM at Apex in Southampton and took us to see Windsor Castle and then dropped us off at Heathrow. We did the same thing a number of years ago: took us to Stonehenge and Windsor. If your flight is late, this is an excellent option. Even if you’re staying in London for a few days after the cruise, which we were, it’s a great option. We saw Windsor and then took a taxi from Heathrow to our VRBO in Kensington (area of London).

We are also on this cruise and will continue back-to-back, Norwegian Fjords and the Arctic Circle. Have been on Apex before - a stunning ship. Be sure to take the time to walk around and see the art, sculptures etc. In fact, we've done the art and architecture cruise on the ship and it is wonderful. The 6 PM "Chandelier show" at the martini bar is very fun to see....as are the "flair bartenders" who perform at the same time. The Eden bar makes a wonderful "lemonade" for those who do not wish to imbibe, plus has excellent cocktails! We're in a sky suite and must say, as always, service is superb; food in Luminae is outstanding. Their vegetarian lasagne is excellent - unusual for many to pick I'm sure but really delicious! We often do lunch in Ocean View Cafe: today they had a "tower" of shrimp cocktail, a very large Caprese salad section with so many fixings. The variety for lunch is outstanding. Ports and excursions: We did a Cork City Walking Tour with a stop in a pub; elected to stay on the ship in Reykjavik since we've been there twice before and we'd booked a whale watching excursion....had rough seas the night before and that day plus rain so was nice to relax on the ship. Visited the Dynjandi Waterfall which was astounding. In Akureyri we did Celebrity's excursion "Siglufjordur Village and Herring Hey Days" which took us to The Herring Museum --- small town that had an economic boom with herring fishing, production etc and then in 1969, the herring literally left the area and the town fell on hard times.....now refocused to rebuild the old buildings, display artifacts, rehabbed an old factory to walk through and have a boat house that displays the old herring fishing boats. Anyone of Scandinavian heritage, associated with herring, would be enthralled with this excursion. Learned a ton. My husband loved the herring samples - I passed! We had a fabulous lunch at the city's modern hotel. Kirkwall, Scotland in the Orkney Islands does indeed have a free shuttle in to the center of town. Our goal was to see the St. Magnus Cathedral.....amazing! Be sure to go to the St. Magnus Cathedral Center behind the cathedral first to see their short movie on the history of this amazing structure, built in 1137! If you are a member of the Captain's Club (by points), the backstage theater tour is well worth it and amazing! The production numbers really show off the "abilities" of the stage itself....as well as the excellent cast members. If you are in a suite, the "small bites" breakfast in the Retreat Lounge is excellent! Cafe Baccio has the BEST apple turnovers and small chocolate tarts, free to anyone. The Aqua Spa Cafe has great smoothies, excellent light lunch options, and excellent light breakfast - available to everyone. Looking forward to leg 2 of our back-to-backs....hoping overcast skies that have been with us since day 2 will disappear.

Thank you for this running post! We will be on the Constellation in November...on a transatlantic. We'll be in a Celebrity Suite, cabin 8104. Never been on the Connie before. I notice on the deck plans there are two Celebrity Suites side-by-side and they are "connected." I have two questions for you: I know we'll have a quite large deck....but, is it separated from the other Celebrity Suite next to you? IE, is there privacy on the deck? And second, did you ever have meals brought in to your Celebrity Suite? Your photos show the suite is quite large with a nice dining area. Am assuming we could, occasionally, have dinner in our suite? Thanks in advance for answering. And especially for the photos of the Celebrity suite.

Thanks so much for posting photos. Love the pop of red in your cabin. Looks bright and cheerful and deck looks good as well. We’re looking forward to a cross Atlantic on the Connie in suite class. Looks like the ship’s common areas are beautiful. Can’t believe a shower curtain can bring so many complaints - they do give new ones for every sail. Some of us have shower curtains at home and do just fine with them … and a minor part of the cruise in terms of where your time is spent. Continue to enjoy!

Much of what others have said. Priority embarkation and disembarkation; priority to tenders if you're doing a private excursion; when booked in a Sky Suite we LOVE the Luminae and the ability to also eat in Blu; of course the larger room is a huge plus. Sky Suite comes with premium beverage package and wifi. Both very nice. Retreat lounge is fantastic: love their small bites for breakfast and going later, after dinner, to an almost empty lounge for a pre-bed small drink. Retreat pool area is also very nice. And I must also add, once, we came down with Covid and had to spend 5 days in quarantine....our larger room was FANTASTIC and the ability to have room service from the Luminae menu made all the difference in the world!

Just booked a Sky suite for back-to-backs on the Infinity in November 2025 in their Black Friday deal. It still includes premium drinks, premium wifi, and access to Luminae and the Retreat but does NOT include On Board Credit and does NOT include prepaid gratuities. That's quite a change.

We’ve always given end-of-cruise tips to our wait-staff including sommelier, butler and room attendant - and participated in the all-included fares. My understanding is the included gratuities went to these individuals and more crew. I fear eliminating the all included gratuities piece will hurt the crew and staff.

We've booked a Celebrity Suite on the Constellation. I know perks on various levels of suites can be different - and sometimes across the different classes of ships. Is one of the perks on the Constellation, for a Celebrity Suite, 1 or 2 nights complimentary in a specialty restaurant? Anyone know?

Oops...meant to say the Summit. Not the Constellation. See above.

Wait. We're in Aqua Sky Suite 6129 on the Constellation in October. First time in 21 Celebrity cruises we'll be in the Aqua class. I thought the deal was we could eat in Blu and if we wanted to, also eat in Luminae? We planned to eat in Blu the entire time. We're supposed to eat in Luminae? We love Luminae but wanted to do Blu this time.

....and last thing I'll write on this....why is it rated with a #4 advisory? Let me add....we are loyal Celebrity fans....have done 21 cruises with them and have 4 booked in 2024. We have only been disappointed, in all that time, with 1 meal and even then, wait staff quickly took it away and I had a different dish. We've enjoyed sailing on all class ships, most recently back-to-back-to-backs on the Beyond. So -- we'll just choose not to take a cruise with them that stops in a #4 rated travel advisory port. There are plenty of other choices.

Okay. Just looked it up. Royal Caribbean leases Labadee from Haiti. They do not own it. Another post clarifies further: "Labadee, Haiti is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines private peninsula on the north tip of Haiti. It's separated from the rest of Haiti by very high fenced barriers and armed guards." No thank you. Still very glad we shifted to Connie's Transatlantic and her follow-up.

Why is it rated as a #4 in terms of safety to travel to then?

Our Apex November 2024 Transatlantic cruise was recently cancelled. We'd planned to do a back-to-back with it for an additional 7 days. The new Apex schedule is now posted. The Apex Transatlantic now sails on October 23 and ends in Orlando. It continues on for 6 nights and includes a stop in Labadee, Haiti. Labadee, Haiti is on the U.S. Department of State site with a #4 level warning! #4 is a Do Not Travel warning; the highest advisory level of likelihood of life threatening risk. It was most recently updated in May 2023. All one has to do is read the very sad and frightening news about problems in Haiti. I am very happy I already booked the Connie's Transatlantic and add-on leg for November 2024. I know changes in butlers, cost for lobster, etc have been topics of interest here....but adding Labadee, Haiti as a port???? Hoping anyone who books this cruise understands it is under a #4 travel advisory.

We recently returned from three back-to-back cruises on the Beyond: June 26 to July 28. Fabulous and beautiful ship. Incredible production shows in theater - most especially the one entitled “Stage Door” which has won awards. We saw it 3 times, once on each cruise, and would go 10 more times. Incredible! Eden doe have shows also; not just music. Theater shows are at 7:30 and repeated at 9:30. Eden shows (a different group of artists) were at 10:45. We had one dinner at Le Voyage (specialty restaurant unique to Beyond). Presentation of food, ambience, service, were all outstanding and it was absolutely delicious!! Definitely exceeded our expectations. Eden’s dinner restaurant is excellent; Le Voyage far surpasses it. We especially enjoy an occasional lunch at Raw on Five and it’s reasonably priced alacarte. We walked through Ocean View Cafe several times and were amazed at the diverse selections available at lunch and dinner. The Mast Grill hotdogs are great!!! The Aqua Spa Cafe by the Solarium has a coffee machine which has decaf beans on top in one container and regular beans in another container. You push a button for what you want and it gives you a fabulous cup of coffee - a hundred times better than what’s standing in the large urns in Ocean View. The Eden Cafe breakfast options are outstanding and very few people discover this option: amazing oatmeal done your way: toppings can include strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon etc. Also have amazing cinnamon buns, various egg sandwiches, small bowls of muesli etc. Their lunch options are also excellent. You’ll have to check the daily planner though, as Eden Cafe is not always open. We were in a Sky Suite. But all of the things I’ve mentioned are available to any class of cabin. We’ve also done 4 different cruises on the Apex: also beautiful but does not have Le Voyage.