lexmiller

12 hours ago, Stumptowngal said:

I am on the Edge now. I walked a lap on decks 5 through 11 today for exercise since it is so windy. I saw maybe 5 doors decorated total: a Congratulations sign; a happy birthday or anniversary sign and one Alaska theme.  There were a lot more doors decorated when we were on the Ascent in February. It seems that people might want to consider the option of putting them up inside their cabin on the magnetic walls. Then you’d actually get to enjoy seeing them more.  

Oh trust me, I decorate inside as well!  We always come armed with hook magnets for the inside, so that we can hang our tote bags, oft used jackets/wraps, etc but also affix my art work from the various on board drawing classes - just as if I was in 1st grade again!  We also usually buy a magnet in most of the ports, so those go up on the inside walls as well.  

I love them!  I found an Etsy dealer who has magnets in the design of the new Edge Class ships; I ordered two, one for our Ascent cruise in June and one for our B3B on Apex in July.  You can customize basically everything on it, including adding all of the ports of call, the year, a saying, etc.  But overall, though Celebrity is not Disney - on who's ships the passengers definitely go more "all out" with door decor, I do find that Celebrity passengers are lightening up and embracing door decor more and more.  It's especially fun to roam the halls on a self guided door decor tour on holiday cruises.  We've been on two Halloween cruises with Celebrity and some of the passengers were very creative with their doors.  

52 minutes ago, MikeMary4449 said:

FYI: There is/was Captain Vittorio Cantu, whose hometown is Venice, Italy!

OK, so my mind is being systematically blown with all of this non-Greek (or American woman) Celebrity Captain news!!  Thank you!

On 5/13/2024 at 10:34 AM, cruisestitch said:

You must have missed Captain Jerry. I believe he was Norwegian.

Yes, missed him as well!  40+ cruises with Celebrity but for us, there've only been Greek men and one American woman😂

On 5/6/2024 at 11:02 AM, Bexpo said:

We went through the largest locke in the world last night!!!

It is located at the mouth of the North Sea Canal with a view of Fort Island: IJmuiden Marine Lock. The lock is 500 metres long, 70 metres wide and 18 metres deep.

Our captain is super delightful and charming. Captain Nigel Smyth - He has an Irish lilt accent.

Sorry, you said the Captain is Nigel Smyth?  This is the first I've heard of a Celebrity Captain NOT being Greek - or an American woman, Captain Kate McCue!  Interesting, and a news flash to me!

23 hours ago, markeb said:

 

I've actually seen changes between the time the daily planner was printed and the actual activity/event the next day. The app is frequently, but not always, more accurate. Apparently the daily planner is actually edited and printed onboard by the cruise director's staff, and the app probably relies on IT support off the ship. A lot depends on when the change occurs.

Weather can force a change in venue for an activity, that obviously isn't listed in the paper copy nor the app as it happens too fast.  And that has not been our experience, ever, regarding accuracy - the paper has been the gold standard and has been referred to as such by crew.

24 minutes ago, ScottC4746 said:

I have seen several threads on here, which I cannot find, stating they do not show any activities or menus for their cruise.  I too noticed that as I am repeating my previous Alaska cruise going the second week of the season instead of the end of the season as we did in '22 and could fully plan a month or more ahead of time.  The response was:

The information varies depending on ship and sail date. We also adjust or modify some setting on the Celebrity App. Hopefully will be available before you set sail, but it is not you will find it on embarkation day.

We always only trust the printed daily planner placed in our cabins every night for the next day.  We in fact have been told by several "in the know" cruise crew, on several of Celebrity ships, that the only thing to trust is the printed page.  The app is not often updated and is often, wrong.  

16 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

 Isn’t Eden aft?

YES, I just commented on my total brain meltdown, my directionally challenged brain let me down (again) so it's the porthole verandas which are aft, port side, which are just above the Eden smoking area, which are the concern for the possibility of smoke wafting up.

15 hours ago, helen haywood said:

Yes, @lexmiller, Eden is aft.

YES, DUH!!  10 Edge Class cruises, I knew that.......Thank you!  BUT STILL, there are Porthole Veranda cabins AFT - that is still my concern.  Except for my total faux pas, stay with me here, there are porthole verandas aft as well as forward, so the porthole verandas that are AFT PORT (not starboard - I had myself completely turned around) - would have the concern of the smoke.  

My only concern about these cabin, the ones which are forward, starboard - is that they are positioned above the smoking section outside Eden - meaning, the smoke from the smokers, if you've got your balcony door open, could waft up there, effecting your outdoor experience.  Anyone comment on that?

3 hours ago, bEwAbG said:

Facebook.  It's not forbidden to say it.  Not sure why people think otherwise.  CC just doesn't want you to steer people from here to roll calls on FB is all (don't join a roll call and tell people to join them on your FB roll call).  It's in the guidelines.

I've had to be very careful, as I have indeed seen posts deleted by using that name that shan't be named.  So many times I've wanted to be very specific about not only the always-more-active-than-here-on-CC roll calls, but also the info packed ship specific threads, like the one about Summit - not the roll call for this impacted cruise, but the ship specific thread.  

6 hours ago, cruisinlawn said:

what would be the source of the story? TIA

More first hand accounts from the people who are on board, who are current passengers - who have been personally effected, and are hearing first hand the announcements, etc.  There have been a few of those on this thread, definitely, it's just that there is more information, more accounts, more insights, on the other site - the name of which is not supposed to ever be mentioned here on this platform or comments containing such a reference are deleted.  That other site is simply easier to use, more user-friendly, very much so - which is why in general, in a case such as this, you'll find more info.

4 hours ago, hcat said:

like what?

@hcat definitely check it out, too much information to repeat and it's not my story to tell, but I can direct you there.   Lots of first hand accounts, many direct quotes from the captain's various addresses.  Some of the flooding appears to have been significant depending upon your deck and cabin location on that deck, the toilets being closed down, etc - many eye witness accounts.  

21 hours ago, Oville said:

It’s all caused by weather.

The loss of power and the broken water line were not caused by the weather. There is an active thread about this on another social media platform with many, specific details.

I brought a box of wine onboard (yes, there are some outstanding boxed wines!) and there was no problem whatsoever, no question, no comment, no notice of it, nada.  Honestly, the folks who are screening your bags, as I mentioned in another thread, are most concerned that you're not bringing your weapons or hibachi grills onto the ship.  Tasking them with being the wine police is "a lot" and I am pretty sure there is some unofficial flex here - depending upon the individual screener.  

On 3/29/2024 at 6:14 PM, Giulia said:

Lots of good options. Thanks all.  We were gifted some excellent wines so may bring 4 and hope they will deliver on last day of first leg. I may call and will report back here what I'm told.

Please report back on this forum, thank you!  I've read many many differing points on this - that at the end of the day, it really depends on who is screening your carry on bags at the port.  I've read several times that again, depending upon the individual screener, that they really don't care to take the time and stop you if they happen to notice that you have 2 bottles in your bag. See what I mean?  The screener doesn't even know who you're with, or what the makeup of your traveling party is.  They're happy not to see a weapon or an iron or a hibachi grill in your carry on, so if there are 2 bottles instead of 1, they may not care at all, as this could be your partner's allowed bottle......personally, I'd put 2 bottles in my carry-on, and your partner, who may be in a different security line, 2 bottles in his/hers.  Worst case is that they take 2 bottles and save for your next cruise.  

We LOVE all of the game shows!  To us, the game shows are one of the reasons we love Celebrity - sure we could sail Regent, but there's nothing "fun" about the luxury lines.  And conversely, we also will not sail larger lines - Celebrity has the perfect balance for us - fun activities, amazing entertainment - especially the theater production shows on the Edge Class ships, excellent crew, excellent food, "fancy" but not stuffy and on and on.  We are now a bit over 40 cruises with Celebrity, with 8 coming up.  Getting involved in the activities on board we feel is what contributes to having a great time - we have met so many people on all of our cruises which have contributed to our enjoyment, many of whom we have maintained friendships.  More than a few times, we've boarded a ship on the first day and an Activities Team member will recognize us and come running up to us, so happy to see us again - that's a lovely experience.  Back to the particular games - we love the YES/NO game - you are questioned by one of the Activities Team members and have to never use the word 'yes' or 'no' the entire 3 minutes.  We have been on a few cruises where the time was reduced to 1 minute in order to give the passengers a chance, lol, as it's truly hard!  My husband has done so well, that he often turns the tables and becomes the one asking the questions of the team member, and gets them to say the forbidden word!  Get involved!  Usually every night, there is a game show at 8pm, between the two theater shows - timed so that you can do the game show and see the theater show.  Every night, 8pm, is a different game.  The Activities Team members work so hard on these activities, and they do a fantastic job.  Get involved, don't be a wallflower - your cruise experience will be vastly enhanced. 

10 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Is Apex the ship with the noisy cabins?  Perhaps they are slowing it down to minimize the noise?

The complaints have been for Ascent, and lots of them.  But they are resolving, cabin by cabin, as the passengers report the banging issues.  I can only speculate that perhaps it's an issue with Edge Class ships out of the gate - the sounds/noises/banging??  I have no idea, but as the ships get a bit older the complaints are minimal.  In any case to answer you directly, it's been Ascent that has had the recent complaints (thus my theory, since Ascent is the newest ship!😇)

16 hours ago, Lena11033 said:

Its a little bit worrying I have two cruises with Apex this year, although one of them I haven't received a email for modified itinerary yet

Definitely not all itineraries will be effected - will depend upon distance between ports and how long it takes to get where Apex needs to go......

On 2/17/2024 at 10:28 AM, cruisestitch said:

We did not get any sort of brochure about shore excursions.

Oh, that's VERY unusual!!  Never NOT gotten a substantial printout in our room of all of the shore excursions, and our most recent cruise was on Apex in November.......wonder if they're phasing the shore excursion printouts out.......as long as they never do away with the printed "Celebrity Today" daily planners!  The app is unreliable and I've been told many times by many different Celebrity Life Activities team members, to always defer to the printed word vs the app - unless of course there is a rain situation and something needs to be moved inside at the last minute.  Well, thanks anyway!  I was hoping to get a firmer grasp on what Celebrity is offering as far as Mardi Gras directed activities - tempted to do my research (which we of course always do anyway!) and plan all of the parades, etc, on our own but to have reserved seating and bathroom usage is tempting.  The transportation aspect that Celebrity would provide to the parades is not important at all to us as we are big walkers, and know how close the venues are to the port......and the 2025 excursions are not yet posted, we will continue to monitor the website.  

Does anyone on this cruise still have the shore excursion booklet which is given to you in your cabin on day 1 of the cruise - and if so, would it be horribly difficult to take a few photos of the NOLA offerings and post them here?  Thank you!

11 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Same... I'm in a similar situation life-wise to you and your hubby, but we just have a single chunky 85lb pit mix. She's a couch potato so finding a sitter for her is easy and hubby gets to join me on our trips. Condolences on the loss of your furry loved one.

 

I'll be tagging along in this review as we're booked for next years Mardi Gras trip. Right now we're booked in an aqua class cabin. Since this ship hasn't be retrofitted yet, we couldn't justify the cost to go into the Retreat, but will keep an eye on pricing in case that changes. We figured with aqua we would still get Blu for meals, so considering it a lite version of the Retreat.

 

You mentioned earlier something about Sky suites not having access any longer to the lounge. Did I read that right? Do they not have access to Luminae either? We've only sailed once with Celebrity, so still getting used to the tips/tricks vs what we're used to with NCL, and it seems just when we think we understand things they go and change it again.

Chiming in here, as we are veteran Celebrity cruisers - if you have ANY classification of suite, you absolutely have access to the Retreat Lounge/Michael's Club and Luminae, the suite class exclusive dining venue.  You also have access to any suite exclusive deck, which on the Edge Class ships is a major deal - private suite only pool and incredible outdoor decks, really amazing actually. 

12 hours ago, hcat said:

Finally caught up on this review..We are thinking about a New Orleans  cruise from Tampa itin,  but would prefer jazz over Mardi Gras as a theme.

 

I've been there on a business convention,  but not  with my husb.. Fav spots were the French Quarter (great architecture, and history),   excellent dining and a must do trolley ride to Garden District!  Paddle wheeler was fun too..

 

sad about BELLA.. but she is over the Rainbow Bridge..to re-unite some day!

 

And I love this dress

 

About you preferring a jazz theme - are you aware of the jazz charter cruises - for instance, one just ended on Summit, looked amazing!!  It's held every year, the dates for 2025 are out:  January 28, 2025 - February 4, 2025 on Summit, out of Fort Lauderdale.  The lineup of big jazz names is astounding!  The website is thejazzcruisedotcom.  I have a good friend who sailed the one which just ended, and it was pretty incredible.  Since it is a charter, I'm not familiar how that works, ie I am pretty sure you don't earn Captain Club points, and you don't book it through Celebrity.....

Thank you to all who are posting this real time Celebrity information - super helpful for our planning for our next year's Connie Mardi Gras cruise!  Please keep it coming!

We are booked on Connie for next year's Mardi Gras cruise, 8 night - still 2 overnights in NOLA, arriving 10am March 3, departing 5pm March 5.  Thank you for your insights and observations!  And of course, deepest condolences on the loss of Bella.  Can you say anything more in depth about the excursions offered by Celebrity to Mardi Gras itself, ie, are tickets to parades on offer with guaranteed seating, things like that?  You did refer to one excursion to a parade, where guaranteed bathroom access at one of the hotels was a part of the ticket......I'd love to hear more about that, to see if we need to be booking things independently, etc, or if Celebrity has extensive ship offerings available.  We are veteran Celebrity cruisers, so we understand how all things shippy work, but we've never been to NOLA!  Also, just curious, ever been to Commander's Palace?  We are seriously thinking of booking dinner there......thank you!