someguyfl

Realistically speaking, for a 7 day or longer cruise, I think most people would probably get the best financial bang-for-their-buck if they got the Zero Proof package and paid a-la-carte for alcoholic drinks... Most people simply just can't drink 5 alcoholic drinks per day for 7 days in a row without feeling pretty terrible. I certainly can't... but I do have a friend who can, so I certainly know that some people like that do exist. With that said, A lot of the benefit of what you're paying for is the freedom to just order when you feel like it and not worry about signing receipts. It might sound trivial and tacky, but it does change your behavior. Without the beverage package, I'd probably never think it's worth it to pay $20 for a drink, fill out a receipt, note a tip, etc ... I'd probably just end up having zero alcoholic drinks on an entire cruise. Alternatively, if I have the Premium beverage package, I'll probably end up having a glass of Port after dinner, and one or maybe two cocktails or glasses of wine through the day.

I will admit that I've been on a number of Celebrity cruises where all the heated loungers were taken very frequently. I'd go into the Sauna almost every day, and it was the same at least half the time... I personally tried it and didn't care much for it. My wife liked them more than I did. Personally I much prefer a sauna that actually gets hot enough to make me sweat... And it's a nice gimmick how on the S and E class you can see the ocean ahead while in the Sauna.

I'll be boarding Eclipse on the 23rd in Valparaiso and doing B2B on the Buenos Aires to Antartica cruise afterwards. I suspect there are a lot of people doing B2B or B2B2B on this set of itineraries. Would you mind asking the Retreat host if they know how many B2B they are getting on the next two legs?

You mean the heated loungers were taken? I've never seen the Saunas full ...

Something very unusual happened for you ... Every time I've been either in Aqua class or paid for an unlimited Thermal Suite package (which is every time I've been on Celebrity), including in the last year ... there has never been a time I was denied access to the thermal suite. I showed my room key, said I wanted to go into Persian Garden/Thermal Suite, they took my room key and gave me the key to the Persian Garden/Thermal Suite.

I don't need quick/external charging for the Camera. I tend to do just fine with a single battery on my sony A7 III just plugging in a USBC into the camera and letting it charge that way. As far as I'm concerned, the fewer charging bricks and cables I carry, while still being able to charge things reasonably quick, the better.

I feel like I'm going to be stuck at Elite for life. Just hit 304 (thanks to some PUP this year) ... and I have 28 days of cruising in Aqua class next month which will get me to 444 ... but with still another 306 needed to hit Elite Plus, that's more cruising than I've already done!

For anyone looking to buy a charger for charging a bunch of devices, and trying to avoid having so many extensions and bricks etc ... https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-165W-USB-C-4-Port-Charger/dp/B09PMDZWZ6 This charger has 4 USBC ports on it, is capable of maximum of 100 Watts per port, and will intelligently share the power among the ports ... doing 100/60 with 2 ports active, or 60/45/30/30 with 4 ports active. In that 4-port mode, that's enough to charge two 16" Macbook Pro and two iPhone Pro Max simultaneously. Perhaps not at the fastest possible charging on the laptops, but certainly fast enough for 99.99% of use cases. In my case, I'll be using one of the ports to power a Magsafe Duo charger which will allow charging both an Apple Watch and an iPhone simultaneously... With this setup, I figure that I'll need at the most 1 additional charge port if I need to charge two laptops and two phones and an Apple Watch while also powering a travel router. Perhaps I'll need to charge my Sony camera at some point, too ... but the likelihood that I would need to do that at the same time as 2 laptops and 2 phones ... seems fairly low.

What happened when you requested the Binoculars? And, what went wrong with the Thermal Suite?

Meh. I consider hotel USB-A ports to be completely useless at this point. Charging on them is so slow that it's not worth the effort of plugging in and carrying an extra set of USB-A cables. Also keep in mind that plugging into random USB ports is also a security risk, as there have been hacks demonstrated in the past where simply plugging in to what you think is a public charger can compromise your device. The only case I'd even trust those USB-A ports is for something like charging an electric toothbrush or a Qi wireless charger that has no data connection between the charger and your phone.

I'd agree with what others said - the amount of data typically included on cellular roaming plans is very small, with very expensive overage. Read the fine print. Also, make sure your cell phone plan allows roaming onto it. The last several cruises I have been on, my T-Mobile plan showed "No Service" even with Roaming available. Personally, I just pay for the premium wifi service, and with that, my T-Mobile connects to "WiFi Voice", and I'm able to talk/text on my regular cell phone plan over that with no concern about cost, and the speed with Starlink is pretty good nowadays. From what I've heard, the basic wifi blocks many sites, and is mostly just good for email and some text services like WhatsApp... but I haven't used it personally.

Blu, Thermal Suite, Pillow Menu, Upgraded shampoo/conditioner [though it's in a large refillable bottle mounted to the wall rather than small bottles]. Binoculars. Umbrella. Upgraded bathrobe. Yoga mat in room. Some additional options on the room service menu vs the non-aqua room service menu (but there's a delivery fee now). IMHO, the food in Blu is the same quality as it was pre-covid... but of course opinions will vary, and some people didn't like it pre-covid -- I did, and still do like Blu as of my most recent sailing just under 1 year ago. I'll be on board again in 2 weeks, and will see if my opinion has changed.

Boarding process is also much better now with the online checkin. I did an Alaska cruise last year and it was something like 15 minutes from stepping foot in the door at the terminal before I was on the boat. The process of disembarking was also much better than in the past. On that Alaska cruise, CBP in Seattle just kept announcing "Please hold your passport up over your head as you walk by so we can see your passport". Literally they just saw the cover of the passport and that was it. Could have been someone else's expired passport. Also last year, I did a Panama Canal cruise, and disembarking from that, they didn't even ask to see that we had a passport. My last two cruises pre-covid, they were stopping everyone, inspecting the passport, asking about what we bought overseas, etc etc ... multiple-hour-long-line. Not sure why CBP became so much more lax in recent years (or if I was just lucky).

Wow, brutal ... I dont think they actually enforce that rule that way currently, many people will be very upset if they actually start to.

You know, I had never looked at this too closely before... For places like Alaska, this can exclude many excursions since many involve helicopters (flights) or tourist trains... And they don't provide specific language on cancellation for those excursions?

I live in the Orlando area, but I used to live in Miami. I've cruised out of Fort Lauderdale and Port of Miami many times, but I'd say that given the choice, if you are flying in anyway, Port Canaveral is a far better location. The area around Port Canaveral is much lower traffic and I go there to watch Space-X launches, and it's not unusual to see people on cruise ships in the port getting to see a launch while they are waiting for their ship to sail. I couldn't imagine just going to the area around Port Everglades just to hang out - it's a traffic nightmare there. If you're looking to add some beach time to your trip, New Smyrna Beach is right next to Port Canaveral and has miles and miles of beaches, and it's one of the few places in Florida that have waves suitable for surfing. And of course, Orlando has all of it's famous tourist destinations, and is rapidly becoming a "foodie" city as well. The only benefit of FLL over MCO for cruising is if you are just planning on going straight from the plane to the boat, FLL is closer, or if you absolutely must have the glitz of Miami ...

USB-C is what the EU mandated, and what the newest iPhones have. But even on older iPhones, there have been USB-C to Lightning cables for many years.

Agree that USB-A makes no sense in 2023, but it would be nice if hotels and cruise ships started installing 2-port 30W USB-C chargers bedside, which would solve for almost anyone's actual charging needs. Personally at this point I've eliminated 99% of USB-A from my life, with the only exception being for charging a water-flosser which uses USB-A for it's charging brick and a weird proprietary plug on the flosser side. At this point, it seems pretty unlikely that anything is going to replace USB-C for the next 5 years at least, and probably much longer.

You prefer Virgin Kahlua and Coke over Virgin Rum and Coke?

The correct way to order it is "Virgin Rum and Coke" or "Rum and Coke, Virgin". Also with that said -- I personally don't drink Soda, and haven't even had a sip of it in probably 15 years. I don't even remember what Coke tastes like. But ... it's so cheap, the idea of them nickle-and-diming for Soda and not even including it in the Classic beverage package seems really tacky. IMHO, it should just be part of the base beverages without even the classic package, but, what do I know.

Did you try calling to get more specific details? And, personally speaking, given what Celebrity charges for excursions, I'd look for an independent scuba shop and pay for a 1:1 dive instructor. I did this in Bonaire, saved a bunch of money compared to Celebrity's pricing, and I'm sure I had a way better experience, too.

I barely drink alcohol, but on a cruise I might have 1-2 drinks per day. I do have a lot of the premium non-alcoholic drinks (eg: premium bottled water, premium coffees, smoothies, etc). To me, the question is either premium non-alcoholic package (aka: 'zero proof package') + ala carte for all alcoholic drinks, or premium alcoholic package. When I'm on vacation, to me, the whole value of cruises is to have some time where I don't have to worry about what things cost, don't have to sign receipts, just order, enjoy, and go... The Premium package may not make financial sense for me, but it does certainly add to the enjoyment of the cruise.

I agree with you ... I suspect the answer, given the conversations on other threads ... is that some people are very picky eaters. I'd bet that there's a unfortunately a sizeable group of people who would say that if the menu had Filet Mignon, Lobster, Mashed Potatoes, French Fries, Spaghetti with Meatballs, and Caesar Salad every night, with no other choices, that the menu was superior to what Blu offered today. Personally, I rather enjoy having the rotating variety of fish, meats (including both steak and lamb), fowl (including chicken, duck, and squab). I also try to limit my carbs, so the idea of being able to have a variety of protein choices every night is actually pretty amazing.

Honestly it’s impossible to make a “healthy choices” restaurant menu which satisfies everyone’s unique goals. There are certain foods which obviously shouldn’t be on the menu (eg: anything deep fried, excessive refined carbs)… but beyond that… Some people eat very healthy vegan diets. Some people eat very healthy carnivore diets. Some people eat very healthy keto diets. Some people eat very healthy diets with timed carb loading. Some people limit salt. Some people try to get more electrolytes (including salt) Some people try to limit red meat. Some people try to maximize red meat. Michael Phelps ate a lot of McDonalds when he set the record for most ever Olympic gold medals. The menu at blu certainly is possible for nearly anyone to eat a reasonably healthy diet with some amount of self control in what they order. For that matter, the same is true for Luminae, MDR, or the Ocean View cafe. When im on celebrity, I don’t eat at the spa cafe much because the portions are too small and don’t have enough protein. I’m not going to grab 10 plates. It’s not accurate to say that’s the only example of A healthy menu.

From our ship tour, the head chef said that Blu, Luminae, and the Speciality restaurants all operate their kitchens such that your order is cooked when you order, so they have a lot more control over how cooked something is. For MDR, things are cooked in large batches, and therefore less control. Since some items will cook more than others due to thickness/hotspots etc, they need to time it that the least cooked item is safe, which means that the most cooked item from the batch will be a bit overcooked. As far as ambiance, both Blu and Luminae felt like a fine dining restaurant as far as decor, wait staff training/attentiveness, wait staff uniforms... MDR's food from my experience certainly isn't bad, but I'd say it's much more like a banquet hall than a fine dining experience. I'd say that Blu is probably worth around $35/dinner and $15/lunch.