someguyfl

Thanks to this month's drop of 6 points (5 from the video and 1 from the "gift"), I've just hit 300 points, which means I now am officially at Celebrity "Elite" status. As far as I'm concerned, this is really the best 'bang for buck' level... Elite Plus doesn't really offer too much more IMHO, mostly just the second bag of laundry. Zenith does offer a lot more (complimentary wifi and premium beverage package) ... but with 2700 more points to go, it seems like I'll never actually get there.

I don't know what's causing the difference of experience, but I was on Edge a few weeks ago just after it had Starlink installed. I never saw speeds break 5Mbps, and honestly speeds where only slightly better than it was without starlink just a few months ago on Solstice. I even tried using it at 2AM, and there was no difference. Maybe there's a difference in geographic areas and Beyond is somewhere with better coverage. Maybe Beyond has more satellite antennas installed. Who knows, but as it is, it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal on their newest installation of Starlink (Edge).

I’m on edge right now, and asked the blackjack dealer how it worked on this ship. She said the table had sensors in it and knows exactly how much you are betting per hand. The dealer has a keypad where they are supposed to enter what you are betting on each hand, and they check to see how close the dealer is tracking your play to the sensors. will see if my play was enough to earn any offers. I was playing $25/hand for about 30 minutes… went to $400 loss at maximum and ended at $80 loss.

If you purchase the premium upgrade, you should have an order for it in the history area of the planner. it should also appear as PALL on your xpress pass.

If you’re okay with mostly just having internet when in ports… there might be Wi-Fi in the port, and certainly somewhere in town… but it isn’t necessarily going to be convenient. I’d recommend you get a prepaid esim for international roaming from a company like US Mobile. Probably for $15 or so you can get reliable internet in all of your stops for the entire trip. as long as you have a relatively modern iPhone or android, esim is probably supported. Apple first added support with the Xs and Xr, and therefore have it with the 11,12,13, and 14 as well.

Seems to be a purely theoretical point though -- I think every PUP promo in the last year has been in multiples of 10.

I've never been in a SV, but they look like great rooms on the E class ships. Was there any soot / pollution from the ship exhaust? As far as move up from SV ... They certainly allowed Move Up bidding *TO* SV for my sailing ... and considering it was sold out, that must mean they allowed pax in SV to bid for an upgrade as well.

I’ll also add that if you are concerned about move up… most likely the algorithm considers if your category is sold out and has others bidding on it. if for example aqua is totally sold out, but all categories below are not… and there are move up bids for aqua … and two sky suites available … and two people have equal bids of day $1000 for sky suite, one from aqua, and one from concierge … and someone else is bidding $1100 from an inside … likely the winners would be the 1000 in aqua and 1100 in inside. if aqua, concierge, and lower all have availability, it will likely just look at bids.

I'm now 3 points away from Elite ... Hopefully another decent Power-Up Promo comes up soon.

On M and S class ships, IMHO it's very clear that Blu is an upgrade over MDR. You can always order from the MDR menu, and my experience has always had excellent service. Yes the tables for 2 are close enough that you can talk to your neighbor -- but you don't have to if you don't want to. I've had food from both MDR and Blu menus, and Blu menu has always been great ... MDR menu has sometimes been great and sometimes not. Specifically, some MDR items tend to be overcooked. I haven't been on E class yet to comment on the experience there.

My last cruise on celebrity was in May on the Solstice, and prior to that was like 5+ years ago… so I can’t compare to the past. that said, the burger I had in May was thick and juicy… and I thought was surprisingly good.

Probably. I also never got a free upgrade from celebrity… but my first cruise with them was a Royal Suite… they probably think I’m fine to pay for what I want…

Thanks for sharing. I’ll be on the next sailing of Edge, so I was looking forward to some review of the launch of starlink on it. with that said, that speed test is much much much lower than I would have expected. On other threads where people are discussing it from other ships, speeds were like 50Mbps+. are the speeds consistently in the low single digits, or is it better on odd hours?

The porthole verandah absolutely does have a sliding glass door and a cove balcony behind the porthole in the hull. I personally agree with the OP entirely on this. While I know celebrity considers IV an upgrade over porthole, I don’t. To me, upgrades from porthole are either sunset or aqua (which yes has IV but also has blu and Thermal suite), or a suite.

954 is Broward County, Florida (ie: Fort Lauderdale). You probably need to add a country code. Call +1 954 266 1800

Why do you say Aqua isn't preferred on E class ships? And so-so on M? I've only experienced it on S, and thought it was great -- I'd imagine the Thermal Suite is superior to Persian Garden on E ... and looks decent on the pics I've seen of the revolutionized M class ships ... And Blu should be Blu across the fleet?

I mean, that sort of makes sense. The thermal suite / persian garden has value [and I end up paying for it if I'm not in AQ] ... and some people prefer Blu to Luminae. The last time I was in a SS (like a decade ago now) ... The butler told me that he was doing double duty as a SS butler and a Concierge Class "concierge"... The higher end suites have butlers which are more senior and dedicated to higher category suites only.

What happens when that happens -- does it failover to the old satellite system they had before Starlink, or just goes into an outage state?

Hi all, I just received this response from Celebrity to an inquiry on the status of Starlink on Edge: As of 11/04/2022 update: Starlink Roll-out schedule on Celebrity Edge is 11/11/22 (Go-Live) *Note: Can be subject to change Looking forward to hearing some first hand reports of this soon!

IIRC, when Celebrity changed the program over from the old qualification system to the new one, they multipled the number of points by some amount ... and also if the minimum number of points for your current level was higher than that number, they just set your number of points to that. I'm fairly certain after the adjustment I had less than 150 points, but was just barely Select, so they increased my points to 150.

So on an edge class ship, you can order from any of the 4 MDR menus at dinner time? Can you also order room service from Luminae or Blu if you are in suites class?

Are there Aqua rooms available? I'd say if a few are or becomes available, and you bid with something in the 'strong' range, you'll probably get it. If there are many available, you will get it with even a low bid. If it's sold out, there's still a fair chance if you have a strong bid as there are always cancellations. I just won a MoveUp from Porthole Verandah to Sky Suite S2, with only a couple sky suites left.

I wasn't putting effort to get to 100% exact, merely pointing out that most of the value is achieved at Elite, with very little at Elite Plus... and Zenith is so far off that it's probably not even worth considering for me. Yes the added discounts on internet/bev at Elite level over Select is worth something, but not as much as the Happy Hour benefit. Laundry and Gelato ... I never did get my free Gelato even after a bunch of cruises (though I will finally do it this time in 2 weeks)... And as I'm only Select, I never got to experience the Elite laundry benefits. I do usually get my suit pressed, though.

AI is no longer the default, and now costs extra again. So, the benefits of Elite happy once hour do come into play once again.

I'm at Select now, and should earn Elite after my next cruise plus some Power Up surveys that will likely come in the next month or two ... Looking at the list of benefits ... The only benefits I see any value in at Select level [all assuming a double occupancy cabin, and a 7 night cruise]: Free scoop of Gelato (value $10?) Discount on Beverage package (Value $100?) Pressing of two items per person (Value $30) Discounted bag of laundry per person (Value $20?) So ... $160... Maybe that's a 4% discount given the current prices. At Elite, we add One dry clean item (Value $50?) One free bag of laundry instead of discounted (Value $30 above the select level) Happy Hour alcohol (Value $300, being generous and assuming my wife drinks a bunch) So, $540 ... Maybe a 13.5% discount. Okay, this is significant. At Elite Plus: Complementary premium coffees - but I'll stil end up paying for Premium Non-Alcoholic package most likely to get access to the fresh juices and unlimited San Pellegrino. (Value somewhere between $0 and $50) Doesn't add much Zenith: Premium beverage included ($1000 value) Premium Wifi included ($300 value) $1300 additional value My point is, Select is almost nothing. Elite does have some value ... Elite Plus doesn't bring any value at all ... Zenith again has a lot of value. You want something that is half way between Elite and Elite Plus? What do you want that benefit to be - Complimentary high-fives from staff between hours of 8PM and 9PM? I sail on Celebrity because I enjoy the product, and I do think Elite will add some value once I get there... but I don't expect to ever earn Zenith. If there was a cruise I'd rather take on another line, I would. (eg: I'm considering Princess for Alaska in 2023 - I've already done it twice on Celebrity Solstice, but want to see some additional ports that Celebrity does not visit) I'd love it if they added some more benefit to the existing levels, but there's no reason for another tier, IMHO.