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That was exactly my thought and, since there's no verifying who drank what after the fact, what's to stop someone from claiming they didn't get that bottle of wine they were charged for? I know there is always some percentage of loss in F&B to account for errors and problems, but this seems like it could easily be abused if someone was dishonest.

We actually booked the Volendam for a one-way Boston to Montreal in August 2024. It's going to be a "test" for us because we don't actually have a balcony and it'll be hubby's first time without one. I think the itinerary is marvelous and we wouldn't have much time to spend on the balcony anyway, but right now I was looking at airfare and it's astronomical! (It's always higher to get to/from home, but these fares were eye opening!)

The Beyond is a gorgeous ship. Hubby and I went on it last December and it was decorated for Christmas. Just beautiful. Eden was our favorite place and it's a great option for spacious ocean views with lots of solitude, but during the day our favorite hang out was at the Sunset bar on the starboard side. Lots of seating with shade. As for things to keep your teen busy, I suggest downloading things to watch beforehand, just in case nothing appeals on the television. What we do (and not for teens, but us) is bring a traveling backgammon set, to which we've added a sennet (old Egyptian game) "board". The set we got was inexpensive, but it's made of leather and rolls up into a nice bag. If you like board games, it also has a side for chess. The activities at the pool can be fun, if sometimes silly. There were some races that hubby participated in that were LOL funny. I'm sure your teen would enjoy those even if they don't want to participate. Except for the lack of forward views, there are a ton of places you can get away from the crowds and enjoy sea views and peace. I'd suggest looking at a tour video on YT and then do a tour yourself when you first get on. Scope out the places that look like your style. I generally use AirBnb for places to stay as we prefer to be near things to see and do, but out of the hustle and bustle. Uber's definitely the way to go to and from the Airport and port. We often fly into and out of Miami so we've done a ship's tour which included a water tour around all the ridiculous mansions in Ft. Lauderdale and then dropped us off at the airport. We ended up being the only passengers going to Miami airport so that was crazy (it was a large tour bus). As for the ports, we did a tour in Aruba that included a trip to the cave system there which was very enjoyable and not really strenuous. In Grand Cayman, we did a self-driving jeep tour that was a ton of fun (my girls on the tour were all 17 at the time and the moms drove). It wasn't a self-tour, we were in a long line of jeeps, but it was a good time. I honestly can't remember if the girls would have been allowed to drive on that tour. It was over a decade ago now. (Wow! Can't believe that. Time flies.) In Curacao, it's a beautiful, colorful area. You could get a walking tour brochure and tour yourself. I haven't been to the beaches so cannot tell you about those. I'm sure you're going to have a fabulous trip!

We were on Beyond in December and stumbled across the Traveling Gamblers. We struck up a bit of a conversation mostly because I was astounded at the number of $100 bills that were being fed into a slot machine. So we asked. They gave us their card. I admit I haven't gone to their channel because we both still work and cannot spend our lives at sea, plus we cruise for the ports and wouldn't want to spend our cruise in the casino, but to each his own. I'd definitely listen to their perspective, though, because they do spend so much time on board. I edited this to add: Everyone has to decide for themselves what is important and what provides the most value for the cost. Some people have to cruise in suites and I can imagine that those folks would be dismayed by the costs on Celebrity (I know I am and I've never cruised in one and probably never will). I am hopeful that all the cruise lines will restore a lot of the services and quality that they offered pre-covid once they've done something about their massive debt. I will not hold my breath on that happening though because just like airlines and baggage fees, they end up making a lot of money with the changes. And all corporations are in business to make money. I tried HAL for the first time this year, specifically because I wanted hubby to see Glacier Bay. I enjoyed HAL. It was very relaxing, but I missed some things that I take for granted on X, especially all the live music. Having said that we have X booked for a partial Panama Canal transit in March and HAL booked for a Boston to Montreal and then nothing. For the first time in ten years, I don't have any cruises booked, nor any intention to book one. And it's not because I don't enjoy cruising or I'm upset at the changes, but hubby wants to do Egypt, so that's our 2025 plans. And my kids want to do a family trip to Europe (Spain & Italia), so we're discussing those things. Once we retire, I'm sure we'll get back to cruising, but there are other things we'll be doing, too, especially because we'll have the time. Lastly, people generally provide reviews when they're upset and very rarely when they're pleased. I haven't written a review on CC in forever, which is my bad because I rely on folks to do that. I would rather tell customer service right then when I'm unhappy so that they can fix it, rather than wait until I'm off to complain. That's just us. Statistics are always fascinating to me, but I also always take them with a heaping helping of salt. 😉

We did a tour, possibly that same one, back in 2015 that visited the caves in Arikok. If your tour has a stop at an Aloe "factory", then it's very likely the same tour. I don't think the tour into the caves is particularly "strenuous", but there are some stairs. If you can navigate stairs and walk half a mile to a mile without being exhausted you should be fine. It was a good tour and we had lots of time to stay at a beach afterwards. We made our own way back to the ship since we wanted to stay at the beach stop longer than the tour did.

Thank you both so much! I guess this way no one gets left behind and, as you said, the cruise line loves the monopoly! I'll definitely book the ship excursion since the locks and the entire canal are one of the biggest reasons for this cruise.

I didn't want to start a new post about this and hopefully my question will help those who click on this one. We're doing a partial transit on the Celebrity Beyond so will be going through the new locks on the Atlantic side. But hubby and I really want to see and experience the old locks. Is the cruise ship tour the best or only way to do this? I generally prefer private tours because they have much fewer people, but in this case that doesn't really seem to be an option. Thanks so much for your help!

The extra points are nice, but I book it for cabin location. On our Hawaiian cruise in May 2022 on the Eclipse, we had a cabin on deck 12 so we could walk out and be at the pool. The buffet was one deck up. Everything was right there. After reaching Elite, still won't be there after the Panama Canal cruise in March sadly, it'll depend on the cost, but likely if it's not that much more, I'd still book CC for the location. The embarkation lunch is nice, too.

I've only been cruising for ten years (I don't count that Aegean "cruise" way back in '96), but to me the cost of cruising hasn't changed as much as people think. Well, I guess it hasn't in "normal" rooms as I can't compare suite pricing. But I found the pricing for our 12-night med cruise back in 2017 on Brilliance of the Seas: $4600 with $324 OBC. That's it. No other perks. We had a nice slant balcony and no other perks. So drink packages, tips, specialty dining, all extra cost. It was a fabulous cruise and we were happy with the value and love the itinerary. But I really can't complain about my upcoming 11-night Panama Canal on the Beyond which is $5800 in Concierge Class and includes grats, classic bev package, and wi-fi, plus $325 OBC. And our last cruise was to Alaska on HAL where I got hubby a Vista suite (nothing like the Retreat perks, but a gorgeous huge room). And that was only $6100 with all the perks except grats and $400 OBC. Am I glad we tried HAL? Yes. Am I upset with X? No, but we have another HAL cruise booked because the itinerary was better. The ship is going to feel small though, but we're doing it for the ports. I think it depends on what you're cruising for, which, for me, varies on when and where and why. I'd definitely do Royal again, but that's for our large group cruises where we have folks of all ages. The ship ends up being the destination because it's about us getting together rather than the ports. But hubby and I want to try new places. And we both can't wait until we're retired and can see Antarctica. If you want an elevated, luxurious vacation, then that's going to be spendy and you have to decide what matters most. I'm not sure why folks who want that aren't doing cruises on those luxury yacht lines. The pricing seems in line with other luxury lines and you're on a very small ship with all the perks having so few passengers can provide. Just my thoughts.

The one thing I haven't seen mentioned is getting a port after dinner. Since you like good wine, you should try port. It's lovely with a bit of cheese for your dessert! I also agree with folks about trying new things and brands. I didn't used to like gin, but I learned that I just didn't like Tanqueray or Beefeater, but I love so many others. The Zacapa Old Fashioned is indeed a lovely drink. It mostly depends on what you're in the mood for. I save bourbon and red wine for the evenings. I generally drink Aperol Spritz by the pool or during the day, but you might not like it since some folks find it bitter. It's definitely got more of a bite than frozen cocktails, but it's light and refreshing. Perfect for poolside, imho.

Isn't the $20/day including gratuities a better price than my 10% CC's discount? Or does the 10% apply to the $20? Does anyone know? Our cruise isn't until March so I'm going to wait to upgrade until I see what "discounts", if any, Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday bring.

We just got off the NA in Whittier on the 3rd of September and thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. Our land portion was amazing, but we did not do that through HAL. This was our first HAL cruise after many RC and X cruises. We would definitely (and are) cruise with HAL again. We were in a Signature Suite, #6113, on the starboard side since this was a northbound cruise. It was wonderful to have such a spacious room. The bath had two sinks, a jetted tub, and a separate shower. Because this cabin was at the point on the ship where it widens, we had a large slanted balcony. We watched a lot of the scenery from our balcony, but always went forward when the bow was open to get those views as well. As someone else pointed out, you can hear the naturalist inside your stateroom if you turn the tv to the bow camera channel. We loved Deck three where we could stroll around the entire ship. We did that many times and quite often I would go down to three to walk outside to go forward to get to the coffee shop. Even when it was cold and windy, that just felt better than walking inside because there were almost always gorgeous views. Our room steward informed us there is only a single service a day, we chose morning and that worked out just fine. I do admit I would have liked my ice bucket refreshed twice a day, but never really saw my steward to request that. The ship was in good repair. I'm not one to nitpick rust or a bit of wear, both are unavoidable, but everything worked perfectly. As far as the food, which is always subjective, I enjoyed the breakfast and lunch buffet. I was glad it was not self-serve and didn't mind the lines. But those things really got to my husband. He didn't feel like there was as much variety and there were lines everywhere. There were but they moved quickly. We did have to hunt for a table fairly often, but turnover seemed to be fine with the staff bussing empty tables quickly. Room service was prompt and I actually liked the frittata better from room service than the MDR. We had anytime dining and wanted to sit alone, but rarely had much of a wait even without reservations. The food was good. Some of the bread was very good, but most were just okay. I did like that the portion sizes were small (they weren't but Americans are so used to huge portions most would call these small) so I was not stuffed when leaving the MDR. We went to Pinnacle Grill on embarkation night. Since we were celebrating hubby's birthday, we went all out, starting with the table side G&T, two appetizers each (because I knew about it in advance it did not bother me, but I do prefer that they raise the price and not charge, it feels to me that it "cheapens" the experience) because hubby wanted both soups and I wanted the crab cakes and the candied bacon. Everything was delicious, though I was a bit disappointed in the wine selection (if I had known they had Conundrum white at Tamarind at the time, I would have asked for it). Hubby got the Delmonico and I had the tenderloin with lobster dumplings. Everything was amazing, but far too much to eat so dessert was "to go" and neither of us finished our steaks. Honestly, as good as they were, I could have eaten just appetizers and been happy. We also ate at Tamarind and that was fabulous! I wish that we'd gone earlier in the week so that we could have tried to go twice. Lovely, attentive service with an incredible array of Asian flavors. I have to say I think Tamarind is now one of my favorite restaurants at sea. As I said earlier the wine list was underwhelming and the cocktails were pretty standard. I did enjoy the novelty of a G&T served over glacier ice and hubby liked the smoked old fashion, but I mostly drank Aperol Spritz because we didn't find anything particularly inventive. We pretty much stuck to Ocean, Pinnacle, and Tamarind bars so you can decide for yourself. Lastly, the entertainment was disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the musicians in BBKings and the group in Ocean Bar were great, but there just wasn't enough of it. I'm used to live music in multiple venues all day long so was disappointed at the limited hours for it. We did enjoy the enrichment talks, but noticed the lack of classical music. I know HAL is working on that, but they could at least hire a classical trio to play during the day without having to contract with Lincoln Center. Sorry this was long, but I wanted to give you my honest impressions. If you have questions, just let me know!

We really liked the aluminum bottles. They were a good size to fill up from the water from our ice bucket for excursions. So we'd have ice cold water available for free. Single use plastic really should be done away with and it will once petroleum gets too expensive, but for now, this is what happens when we're in transition and people don't like change. I bought stainless steel bottles and we take them with us empty to get through TSA, then fill them at the water stations most airports have readily available. I hope Celebrity would do that. They could provide a bottle as part of the drink package like Royal does for its soda option.

A very long time ago, more than 27 years ago since I was pregnant with my oldest child (I didn't yet know it, though) we flew to California and rented a car so that we could visit Yosemite and other places. We spent 3 days with our bags chasing us. The airline made sure to deliver them to us, no matter where we were (and that was multiple cities away from the airport by the time the bags caught up with us). The airline gave us money the first day to buy clothes and such. I have no clue if any airline would be that accommodating now, but they went far above and beyond back then. Then I have the opposite story. My bags went and we didn't. We got stuck in Madrid for 3 days with only our carry-ons. This was way back in 1992, to give context. We had to live out of carry-on. We managed. After 9/11, all bags are supposed to go along with the traveler. We all know that doesn't always happen and flight disruptions increase the chances of your bags not arriving with you. My advice is and always has been to pack as much as you can in your carry-on so that you can live a few days out of it. Your luggage should find you or you'll meet up with your luggage by then.

Hubby and I took a Blue Chip Club "free" veranda this past April. We decided to cost out not getting the bev package at all. (I figured out it would have cost us over $1300 for our 7-day cruise! With three ports!) Because we paid so little for the cruise (taxes and port fees) and I wanted to do the exercise to know if the drink package makes any sense, we didn't buy it. Hubby drank as he saw fit. But he likes straight bourbon or Scotch and the Classic fails him. I love good wine with dinner and all the double macchiatos and sparkling water I can handle. I didn't avail myself as I normally do and we came in a few hundred dollars under the drink package cost. That let me know that if I want to indulge in my favorites (which are not always alcoholic) the drink package works. And upgrading is worth it when upgrading from AI and applying the Captain's Club discount. My ;tldr is you will be fine with the classic package, but not if you like higher end wines and bourbon.

We loved the Beyond. And I feel like Celebrity still offers a good value, when I buy far enough in advance. But I don't buy suites. When we cruise, it's generally for the ports so we don't need all the suite extras, thus we're unwilling to pay for them. But as far as I can tell prices are staying fairly consistent in my experience. I have branched out. We've tried Princess and I'd cruise them again, if the ship and itinerary and price point were to our liking. I have two HAL cruises booked. The first, Alaska, I booked HAL specifically because I wanted to be able to do it up right for hubby and make sure he saw Glacier Bay. The second I compared a Boston to Montreal (round trip) on Celebrity to a Boston to Montreal (one-way) in HAL. The HAL ship is much smaller, but the itinerary is much better, so we went with HAL. I know folks, especially on CC, are very attached to their favorite lines. And I appreciate the perks on Celebrity (so close to Elite, but not gonna make it before next year sadly), but none of them are worth not even looking at other lines. Celebrity is still our favorite, but we haven't been on HAL yet, so can't compare. The reason folks cruise are as varied as the people cruising. I know we all like to complain, but each person values different things and they have to make their decisions on what's right for them. We'll see what I think once I'm retired and have more flexibility. I still doubt we'll cruise more than twice a year because by then we'll have the freedom to do some of those longer cruises and I think I've about got hubby to agree that we can sail to Asia or Australia or Europe instead of flying.🤞

Thank you! I think we'll definitely opt for doing laundry and taking less. It'll help to have clean clothes for the land portion, too.

I asked this on our roll call, but haven't heard back. We have 6 days on land after the cruise so 2 weeks. And I know I need layers, but I'm wondering if I can skip bring a dress or dresses for the "formal" nights on HAL? I'd love to save bringing heels since I won't use them at all after the cruise whereas my flats I could use. What did you see when you were on the ship? I seem to remember Alaska was more casual in the MDR than I'd seen before, but that was on Royal and was in 2018.

That's a great value! Too bad we will barely be back from Alaska so couldn't take advantage of it. Thanks for doing this!

Thank you all for the information. It's weird, but it eases my mind to at least know what I'm supposed to do and when. So that's one thing checked off... a million more to go! But, seriously, am I the only person who overly stresses over packing and being terrified I'm forgetting something important?

So glad to hear you had a great cruise! I'm getting excited for ours now. I do have one question and hope you can answer. We have anytime dining and I'm used to being able to make reservations in advance for my dinner times, but I cannot for the life of me see how to do that. Is that something that's only available once we're on board? I just get a bit stressed if I can't schedule these things in advance (yes, I'm a control freak, 100%). Thanks! I look forward to the rest of your photos!

I think you've gotten a lot of good answers from others and I cannot speak to Carnival as we haven't yet been on that line. I started on Royal and have done many cruises there, from the Caribbean to Alaska and the Med. I like Royal, especially for multi-generational trips. I do think the experience has greater variation on Royal than Celebrity between the ships and classes of ships. I love the radiance class and those are very similar to Celebrity's S- and M- class ships. We're not big on the mega ships even though Harmony of the Seas was a destination in and of itself. When it's just hubby and I, we prefer Celebrity. Celebrity just suits us and we come home rejuvenated by the experience, not exhausted. I now work from home full-time and the crush of people and the noise level on my last Royal cruise got to me. To be fair to Royal, it was a class of ship I don't particularly like, the Voyager class, and it was a 4-day cruise which was 100% booked, so atypical and can be termed a "booze" cruise. (It is funny that I don't care for that class of ship when I've been on it 3 times, though 2 were back when I started cruising and I never noticed the actual ship I was booking on.) As for specifics on the Equinox, which was our first Celebrity cruise, back in November 2018, it's a beautiful ship, well appointed and easy to get around. It feels elegant, but not over the top. Understated class. All of the venues were great, but I particularly enjoyed getting to make a glass piece myself and watch the sea flow by with a really good glass of wine. All of the bars are amazing and fun places to be. There's the Lawn Club with it's real grass. We received amazing service at every turn with a truly helpful and accommodating staff. They clearly enjoyed their jobs. I know that was pre-COVID, but we cruised on the Eclipse (a sister ship) in May 2022 and our experience was similar. I think you'll have a wonderful time aboard the Equinox.

I'm almost positive that it is your Captain's Club #. I have never seen anything else.

Thank you for this info. I've never heard of that app before, but I'll definitely look into it!

If you're having trouble, try accessing the web site in a "private" or "incognito" window. Those should work when your normal browser window is having trouble. If that still doesn't work, try a different browser. My default is Firefox, but then I try Chrome, and lastly try Edge. If you're on an Apple device I'm not sure what the alternatives to Safari are, but I'm sure they're out there. Best of luck!