Basic Celebrity cruise questions - first timers!

[Hilaurennn]

Hi everyone, 

 

Yesterday, we booked our first cruise with celebrity and we'll be on the apex for 11 days. So excited! I have some very basic cruise/celeb cruise questions I'd love help with please. They're very basic I'm sure so no judgement please!

 

1. If we want to book speciality dining, is it best to do so pre cruise, or is there usually enough space for us to book a table on the day? 

 

2. If we are cruising as 2, do we get seated on a table for 2 with the included dining or will we get seated on a table with other cruisers? Is there any way to ensure we just get a table for 2? 

 

3. How much luggage can you take with you? 

 

4. Can you take non alcoholic drinks and snacks with you? 

 

5. When arriving at a destination, how do you know how far you are from the 'centre' or If you'd need to arrange transport? 

 

6. Am I correct in saying there are no reservations for shows? Is there an unwritten rule to show up x amount of time before to secure a seat? 

 

Thank you so much!

[WELDON]

Hello,

I will answer as best as I can.

 

1. Celebrity runs sales on excursions and dining. So if you book pre-cruise, you will save money.

2. Call Celebrity and request a table for 2.

3. Take as much luggage as you want.

4. You can take snacks. Never took any beverages.

5. Each port is different. Many ports are in or close to the center. Some are a distance.  You can try asking on the CC boards for the info you want. 

6. No reservations for shows. There are always seats available.

[Cruise a holic]

Agree- best to book dining and excursions on line- watch for sales- check often- especially around holidays.  When on board,  with a dining package, go to a restaurant representative- they are typically sitting outside restaurants or go to any specialty restaurant to book times/dates.  

 

If you have anytime dining, never a problem.  Wait on line at the selected restaurant and request a table for two- with fixed dining, as said above call celebrity or if you are dealing with a TA ask them to handle on your behalf.

We always take as much luggage as we want depending upon the lenght of the cruise- we store our suitcases under the bed after unpacking.

We typically do not bring snacks- food always available and junk food snacks are sold in the shops.

Typically at each port, you have a pretty long walk to the main area- you can get a taxi if you want to go to a specific location.  It varies by port.  

Unlike Royal, no show reservations are necessary, except for the comedy club.  

 

We did a b/2/b on the apex last January and absolutely loved it.  It is a great ship.  Don't miss dining in Eden.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[Hilaurennn]

Thank you both, that's very helpful!! I have a few more follow up questions for when you're free please 

 

1. Do the menus for each resteraunt ever change or do they stay the same? Can you view these menus anywhere before booking? 

 

2. Is the evening dining in the included resteraunts all table service? Or buffet? 

 

3. I have fixed dining for 6pm. Would I just show up to a resteraunt or need to book? 

 

4. Is there an app to download or is that once you're on the ship? 

 

5. How does breakfast and lunch work? Is this just in 1 resteraunt or do you have the same choice out of the 4 included resteraunts? Or is this just buffet? 

 

Thank you! 

[39august]

Dining room menus changed nightly, but some dishes are available every night.  Just ask for a table for two when you arrive at the dining room. Dining rooms are all table service. There is a separate buffet on an upper deck. Menus are in the app for your cruise. These will not be accurate until you are actually on the ship, but a look at current menus will be helpful. You can download the app before boarding. Breakfast is available in the dining rooms each day and lunch each sea day. Buffet is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. 

[CruiseRQA]

1.  I would book specialty dining as soon as you are able.   Reservations seem to fill up fast and often there are not available reservations once you are onboard - at least in my experience. 

2.  E -class ships like Apex do not take reservations for MDR.   However if you just ask for a table for two you will be accommodated.   Probably won't be a wait if you dine early or late.   Could be a short wait for a table for 2 from 6-8, again, in my experience. 

3.  As much as you'd like but keep in mind the rooms are small and the suitcases go under your bed.   Your room steward will try to find a place for extra bags if needed.

4.  Yes and yes.   Don't really see the need for bring snacks onboard the Apex however!

5.  Your room steward and wait staff are a great source of information about this.   They may provide you a map or you can get one at the front desk.

6.  No reservations taken for show seating, however I have never had a problem getting a seat.   If you are very particular about location if you arrive 15 minutes early you will have your pick of seats. 

 

You will enjoy the Apex, when are you sailing/ 

 

[upwarduk]

Maximum weight p.p is 90kg as per the web site.

 

The maximum luggage allowance for guests boarding our ships is 200lbs (90kg) per guest, (with the exception of Celebrity Flora, Celebrity Xpedition, Celebrity Xperience and Celebrity Xploration), however, airlines also impose their own luggage allowance, with which you must also comply.

Edited December 27, 2023 by upwarduk

[CruiseRQA]

And for part 2 and adding to 39August's helpful info: 

 

1.  Menus change every day but there are a few choices that are the same every day.   Download the app and check it out!

2. MDR is table service as are all the specialty restaurants.   

3.  Despite having a fixed time of 6pm, dining in the MDR on Apex is not by reservation, you can show up anytime.   Celebrity needs to fix this. 

4. Yes, download the app!

5.  Breakfast every day in the buffet or MDR.  Lunch everyday in the buffet but only on seadays in the MDR.   Protip:  lunch is available at times in some of the specialty restaurants.  Added charge but often easier to get a reservation than dinner. 

[awhfy]

Main dining room is included in your cruise fare as is the buffet

 

you can download the app now, it won’t fully populate until you board. 
 

a dining room will be open for breakfast every day & for lunch on sea days

 

pack your case with what you think you’ll need, then remove half.  Just remember that men need long pants/dress jeans& a collared shirt for all the dining options (except buffet). 
 

enjoy your first cruise 

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by awhfy

[Cruise till you drop]

30 minutes ago, Hilaurennn said:

 

 

3. I have fixed dining for 6pm. Would I just show up to a resteraunt or need to book? 

 

E class ships do not have set dining times and everyone is on anytime dining.  So you’ll have to go into the app to book your dining times for each night separately.

 

Unfortunately Celebrity system will still give you those fixed times and that is definitely confusing (non E class ships have fixed dining as an option)

[Cruise till you drop]

1 hour ago, Hilaurennn said:

 

 

3. How much luggage can you take with you? 

 

 

As a seasoned cruiser, don’t ask the question like this as you will tend to overpack, which is easy to do.  There are threads full of people saying they usually bring twice as many clothes as they need

 

The real question should be what’s the basics that I need to bring to minimize the amount of luggage I need to bring on a cruise.

 

Key things to think about is it’s ok to wear something twice on a cruise.  No one will either notice or care.

[Margarita Jane]

1 hour ago, Hilaurennn said:

4. Can you take non alcoholic drinks and snacks with you? 

You can bring canned, non-alcoholic drinks onboard. Celebrity told me I could bring as much canned soda as I could carry! We brought 2 twelve packs of soda on our recent Ascent sailing because I drink caffeine-free, diet soda which is not always available onboard.

[mom says]

1 hour ago, Hilaurennn said:

5. When arriving at a destination, how do you know how far you are from the 'centre' or If you'd need to arrange transport? 

The easiest way to find out is to use Google  Maps or Google Earth. You can also check out the Ports of Call forum for each of your ports.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2 hours ago, Hilaurennn said:

How much luggage can you take with you? 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/58-first-time-cruisers/

 

lots of "what to pack" questions answered.

[Hilaurennn]

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied.  Lots of really helpful answers and I feel better prepared already. Very excited! 

[trentmister]

Can anyone tell me if reservations for specialty dining are usually available on embarkation day? We are traveling with 3 couples total ... I'm late in the game to get reservations at our preferred specialties. (First time cruising since January of 2020 and things have changed a bit, first time on Celebrity with a group.) Also when I do find one available for 6 people, it requires prepayment. We'd like to use our OBC, but are afraid if we each make our own reservations we won't be seated together. On another related question, if we would purchase the 3-night dining package, is the only way to make reservations once on board? What if there is no availability? 

[Dawnspring]

11 minutes ago, trentmister said:

Can anyone tell me if reservations for specialty dining are usually available on embarkation day? We are traveling with 3 couples total ... I'm late in the game to get reservations at our preferred specialties. (First time cruising since January of 2020 and things have changed a bit, first time on Celebrity with a group.) Also when I do find one available for 6 people, it requires prepayment. We'd like to use our OBC, but are afraid if we each make our own reservations we won't be seated together. On another related question, if we would purchase the 3-night dining package, is the only way to make reservations once on board? What if there is no availability? 

If you link your booking numbers then you will be able to spend their OBC as well. As you said “reservations “ plural I’m assuming you are booking for more than one night so you can book in different names. 
 

alternatively, if any of you have enough onboard credit to float the transaction then you can ask guest services to adjust all the accounts when you are onboard. 
 

you can even make some or all of the booking with a card and then ask for them to switch it to OBC onboard. It’s their discretion whether they will honour the online price or charge you full price. When I did this for excursions, I was told that guest services had to do a cancellation, refund and rebook at the onboard price but that the excursion desk had discretion to honour the online price, and they did. Obviously any OBC shifting around needs to be done with both cabins and sea passes present at the desk. 

[horseymike]

Those who responded covered the questions quite well.

 Just wanted to add a little personal side suggestion, if you like things like nuts , chips , Cheetos , Doritos etc…. We have always brought some onboard with us.

There is always food around to eat , but we like having a little stash of our snacks in our cabin.

[zitsky]

I advise you to book specialty before the cruise.  Otherwise you may be eating at 8 or 9 PM.

[Hilaurennn]

Hi everyone, I have a few more questions please!!

 

1. Celebrity formal nights - What exactly are these? Is it just compulsory formal dining? And how formal are we talking? Is everyone super fancy? 

 

2. WiFi - We are not going to go with the WiFi package. Can you still access your TV with WiFi? I'm guessing you may be able to watch Netflix and things but do you have to pay? 

Talking of TV, do you have access to prime, Netflix and can you screencast from your phone? 

 

Thanks!

[dateacher]

2 hours ago, Hilaurennn said:

Hi everyone, I have a few more questions please!!

 

1. Celebrity formal nights - What exactly are these? Is it just compulsory formal dining? And how formal are we talking? Is everyone super fancy? 

 

2. WiFi - We are not going to go with the WiFi package. Can you still access your TV with WiFi? I'm guessing you may be able to watch Netflix and things but do you have to pay? 

Talking of TV, do you have access to prime, Netflix and can you screencast from your phone? 

 

Thanks!

1. There really is no formal nights but you certainly can wear formal.  Even on the dressiest nights, the majority of people are in nothing more than nice slacks/pants and top.  There will be some people in gowns and tuxes but they are in the minority.  

 

2. You don't need wifi to watch tv but there are not a lot of options.  As far as access to your premium channels, I don't know because I have never tried.

[Mrdell]

2 hours ago, Hilaurennn said:

Hi everyone, I have a few more questions please!!

 

1. Celebrity formal nights - What exactly are these? Is it just compulsory formal dining? And how formal are we talking? Is everyone super fancy? 

 

2. WiFi - We are not going to go with the WiFi package. Can you still access your TV with WiFi? I'm guessing you may be able to watch Netflix and things but do you have to pay? 

Talking of TV, do you have access to prime, Netflix and can you screencast from your phone? 

 

Thanks!

You will be able to watch TV but only the stations that are supplied by the ship. Without WiFi you will not have access to Netflix, Prime, or any other streaming service. From past experience there really isn’t much decent programming to keep you entertained provided from the ships stations.

[CruiseRQA]

As others have said:

1.  For better or worse, there are no longer "formal nights" on Celebrity.   They call it, IIRC, Celebrity Chic.   This means that if you want to, this is the night to dress up.   There will be few gents in a tux or suit with their lady in an appropriate gown, but not too many.   Most are just wearing what they do every other night, nice slacks and a polo for the men and equivalent for women.

 

2.   There is a TV in your room with some sports, movies and news.   You won't be able to stream on your phone without WiFi.   But don't waste time in your cabin watching TV!   Get out and about the ship.  Sit outside in the sun with a book, or walk the track.   On your app you will get a list of all the daily activities and so find some of those things to do.   You can watch TV at home!

[Hilaurennn]

2 hours ago, CruiseRQA said:

As others have said:

1.  For better or worse, there are no longer "formal nights" on Celebrity.   They call it, IIRC, Celebrity Chic.   This means that if you want to, this is the night to dress up.   There will be few gents in a tux or suit with their lady in an appropriate gown, but not too many.   Most are just wearing what they do every other night, nice slacks and a polo for the men and equivalent for women.

 

2.   There is a TV in your room with some sports, movies and news.   You won't be able to stream on your phone without WiFi.   But don't waste time in your cabin watching TV!   Get out and about the ship.  Sit outside in the sun with a book, or walk the track.   On your app you will get a list of all the daily activities and so find some of those things to do.   You can watch TV at home!

Thank you for this! I missed your reply and started a new topic. 

We were planning on downloading a few bits on our phone before so no WiFi is needed and then screen casting, do you know if this is possible? Although tips noted, we will absolutely be out and about but would love to watch a pre bedtime movie :)!

[Difiroa676]

Is it allowed for children to wear shorts while dining in the MDR?