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I am not the OP. We ask for what we need. I was merely pointing out that there is a marked difference in the staffing levels and it shows. And this is across all of the lines that I've been on since the pandemic, so I made an observation. Not sure why it seems to have irked you.

Less available means that I do not see them to make any requests, like wine glasses or an ice bucket or extra wash cloths or hangars. Nothing extravagant, but much easier to do if the person is around somewhere and not frantically trying to finish their extra workload. Well, I happen to disagree especially for what a cruise costs, but you do you.

I WFH full time now and don't bother wearing anything but sweats. What I've done for cruises is to buy BetaBrand pants. They call them Yoga dress pants, but they have all styles. They're as comfortable as leggings, but dress up nicely. Paired with camisoles and button up tops or cardigans, they made great day to night wear in Alaska last August. They're so comfortable I wore them hiking through Denali and then wore them for dinner in the evening. Just a change of top and change out the hiking boots for a pair of black flats with some bling and instant chic! I'm sure you'll be fine. The best thing to do for any cruise to a colder climate is to take layers. And the good thing about camisoles is they take up almost no room. A variety of colors under a black button down will serve you for multiple days.

I've noticed that our stewards, and not just on Celebrity, are less "available" because there are fewer of them. They have to clean more rooms. It's a problem but the cruise lines don't seem to care. I miss the days of chatting and getting to know our steward. I still tip, generously because they work so hard, but it's very frustrating that this is one are the cruise lines seem to keep slashing. Fewer stewards, one cleaning a day, etc. I don't need my cabin cleaned twice in a day, but the evening turn down, refilled ice bucket, and fresh towels was always nice. And we used to get chocolates on the pillow every day! I do hope once the lines work off most of their debt, they'll hire more cabin stewards.

Yep, that's our sailing, too. The roll call is very active.

While I don't book solo cabins yet, I'm very disappointed in Celebrity for this policy. And, honestly? We booked Holland for Alaska last year and have another Holland book for this August. The ship is much smaller, but the itinerary is fabulous. I love the Celebrity ships and their service, but Holland was very good (missing live music around the ship, but hubby and I can enjoy the sound of the sea instead). So, why give business to a line that needs to figure out their model, especially with something as egregious as charging a single more than a double! We don't have a cruise booked after this August's cruise. We're both wanting unique and more in depth travel than a brief stop at a port can provide. Unfortunately, neither of us are yet retired so the length of our vacations are limited. Still, until cruising, and especially Celebrity, figure themselves out, we'll be doing land tours.

We're probably on the same cruise, you might ask others on our roll call. We've booked Dora for our excursion as she gets high marks and you're with the guide and driver the entire time. If you don't speak Spanish, I'd definitely do a guided tour. Also, most of the travel advisories often sound apocalyptic even though the places are actually quite safe. I know we had folks scared of getting off the ship in Mexico last April in Mazatlan, but we had no trouble, just grabbed a taxi and went. As a caveat, my husband speaks fluent Spanish and we've traveled all over, mostly self-guided. You have to do what you are comfortable with.

We'll need a coffee for sure and yummy baked goods for the trip sound amazing as well. Thanks!

She's up north, around 193rd & Broadway. I honestly have no clue how long it would take. NYC is still confusing to me as it seems so much larger in person than on a map. I'll just schedule an Uber to make sure we arrive by 4am. Bagels and coffee sound like a great plan. We'll just drop off the luggage and then do that. I know I'll need the coffee just to be upright at that time of day (especially as it'll feel an hour earlier to my Central time body). Because I am a planner I did book the tickets and we got exactly what you suggest: 2 together facing direction of travel without a table and right before the Cafe car. That part I might reconsider, though, because I don't want to be disturbed by lots of folks heading to the Cafe car. Thanks again!

Thank you all so much! There's a 5am train that arrives at 9am. It's very early, but my daughter assures me that there won't be a problem getting an Uber at 3am or so. It's just weird for us Plains' state dwellers who aren't used to things being open at that hour, but I don't want to make her take us at. And since it's a Tuesday, I think the earlier departure just makes sense to avoid NYC traffic. I'm sure hubby won't have any trouble sleeping on the train. I hope the same for myself, but anxiety might not allow me to rest. (I have travel anxiety until I'm to my destination.)

I was wondering about that. And, like I said, I'd never do that if I was flying in. Thanks!

I know this topic is from Delaware to NYC, but we're looking at the opposite direction: going from NYC to Boston on the day our cruise leaves. I can get an Acela for $60/person and arrive in Boston South by 11:30am when our cruise departs at 3pm. It seems pretty safe, but I would never take a flight the same day. Our daughter lives in NYC so we'll be spending a few days with her before and this saves us lots of money on a Boston hotel (plus flights are cheaper to NYC than BOS). Since y'all seem to be seasoned Amtrak riders, what do you think? Is this too risky?

Ship: Beyond Length of Cruise: 11 nights Cruise Sail Date: March 11, 2024 Date email offer received: 12/13/2023 Captain’s Club Tier: Select Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: TA Current Cabin: C2 11239 Bid? Yes/No: Yes If YES - Bidding Details: Cabin Category: Aqua Class Bid Offer: $250/person Notification Date: 12/13/2023 Accepted / Rejected: General Comments (offer details, etc.) I've never done a move up because I pick my cabin and am generally very happy with my choice, but we've never done Blu, so I thought I'd put in a "weak" bid and if it's accepted then great! I am surprised that they're sending out offers as the cruise was sold out for the longest time. But now that it's past Final Payment, I'm guessing they have rooms to fill. Here are the other categories in the offer: Edge Villa: $4500+ Royal Suite: $3600+ Celebrity Suite: $2250+ AquaClass Sky Suite: $1100+ Sky Suite: $1000+ AquaClass: $150+

Thank you! We did the CarrieB before and loved it. But we haven't done the water taxi. I also didn't know there was a free shuttle. All very good information!

Thanks, I did an estimate and decided it wasn't worth the worry so I hired a car service. It's not that much more for the peace of mind.

Thank you both.

I know this post is about FLL, but what about MIA? Thanks to flight changes, our flight home out of MIA on a Friday from PE is at 11:30am. If we do self-carry and walk out, will we be able to get a taxi to MIA and make it in plenty of time? If so, any idea how much it'll cost? Thanks.

Well, to be fair, they sold us that transfer when our flight left at 1:40pm, but with flight changes, we're now leaving nearly two hours earlier. Since you reminded me of that, I thought I'd check and it did say "for flights after noon". So we miss that cutoff. So, Uber, then? Or are there taxis already waiting? As long as we do self-carry, we're always off very quickly. But I hadn't realized about it being Friday. I don't think I can get AA to move us again, but 11:30am seems doable if we do it ourselves.

First, we arrive on X into Port Everglades. Our flight leaves out of MIA at 11:25am. I currently booked the cruise line's transfer, because it was heavily discounted over Black Friday. But now I'm wondering if we'd be better off just taking an Uber? We like doing self-carry off as it just saves so much time, so that's not an issue. What do you think? It's a Friday morning, so I suspect the traffic will be worse than on the weekend, but I'm not that familiar with the area. Second, we're staying at an AirBnb in Las Olas, right off Las Olas Blvd, about a mile from the Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale (to give an idea of where we're staying). We won't have a car, so were looking for suggestions for things to do, particularly Sunday. We arrive by 11am on Saturday and our AirBnB has a lovely pool, which I'm assuming we'll use instead of the beach as it's March 9th, so spring break. Bad planning on my part, but it's for my birthday, so we're kind of stuck. I'm hoping that the host at the AirBnB will let us drop our luggage off early since check-in isn't normally until 3pm. But that leaves us with a few hours. I'd also love a suggestion for where to dine on Sunday night, which is my actual birthday. Thanks so much for your help!

I'm sorry for dropping off the face of the earth and not replying before now. Life happened. And yes, that's the date of our sailing. I haven't had a chance to think about CO, but I was thinking moving to a C cabin might be worth it merely because we have an OV that's on the lower promenade and I'm not sure what hubby will think of having a window out to the deck. I'm thinking just a regular OV might sit better with him.

Thank you. I was scratching my head trying to figure it out.

In my recent experience on the Nieuw Amsterdam, it was not worth the cost to upgrade to Elite from Signature. There just weren't enough more expensive wines available for me to get our money's worth. With what few cocktails and glasses of wines we did get, we definitely didn't break even. We did upgrade in a bar before we ordered anything. They were very flustered, but got it done.

I used HAL's laundry service mid-way during our Alaska cruise and they did a great job with my clothes, all of which are cold wash, cool dry. I agree that I wouldn't send anything with rhinestones on it because those are far too easy to ruin, but I was so pleased with the results that I'll definitely be using the service on our next HAL cruise. It just makes packing so much easier. And, I hadn't thought about tipping. So that will definitely happen next time. Thanks for the suggestion!

I'm still very new to HAL as we've just completed one cruise to Alaska on Nieuw Amsterdam. But I booked a Boston to Montreal cruise for next August on the Volendam. We're in an ocean view D category room and the booking came with Premium HIA. My first question is how do I book Club Orange if I wanted it? I don't see anything in my cruise that even mentions CO. I don't know if this makes a difference, but I booked with HAL and then immediately moved the booking to my TA. Thanks.

We're on the Beyond in March and were on her back in early December. We didn't do any specialty dining in December and didn't miss it. For the upcoming cruise, since it's a milestone bd cruise and 11 nights, I booked Eden, Fine Cut, and Rooftop Grille. Most of the cost was covered by OBC, but I would have still booked Eden since we loved the place previously (not the restaurant, obviously, but the area and bar). I would say whether or not they're worth it depends on you. We had really good meals in 3 of the 4 MDRs back in December. (Didn't have a great experience in Tuscan but loved the others.) I believe we dined one night in Raw on Five because we both love sushi. I can't imagine that Dinner on the Edge could ever be worth that cost honestly. We've done Le Petit Chef previously on an S-class ship and I don't see the appeal in doing it again. I'd suggest buying a package if you really want specialty dining, but the big drawback there is that you can't pre-reserve your meals. If you're already in AQ and have Blu, I'd skip specialty. I am assuming that you can eat in MDR in addition to Blu. As you said, it's a new ship and a holiday sailing, I'm sure everything will be a great experience without. Our ship was decorated for the holiday and it was truly gorgeous.