Good news with Celebrity cruise. Report the changes

[Dolebludger]

We just got back from a cruise yesterday (not Celebrity) that disembarked in Miami. That will be our last time at that port for us. The cruise terminal was way understaffed, causing the worst congestion at such a facility that we’ve ever seen. The Miami airport is also a mess. It is spread out literally for miles and has no trains, trams, busses, internal carts, or people movers. It is thus unusable by people like us with even minor mobility disabilities. We won’t be back there, either. So I would count Celebrity’s use of other FL ports as a big plus.

[Luv2cruze me and u]

18 hours ago, RazMeister said:

I sailed CC at the end of Feb, Prime Rib was on the menu twice and lobster once....  On Lobster night, our waiter recommended ordering an entree and adding on a lobster tail.... No charge...  Only upcharge if you ordered the Lobster dinner and added on another tail....

Do you recall what night was Lobster night?  We do specialty dining at least three nights and I want to make sure I am not heading to get sushi on that night.  Thanks!!

[DaKahuna]

53 minutes ago, Luv2cruze me and u said:

Do you recall what night was Lobster night?  We do specialty dining at least three nights and I want to make sure I am not heading to get sushi on that night.  Thanks!!

 

Usually the last formal night, which is often the night of the last full sea day. 

 

[desiro]

On 3/29/2024 at 5:06 PM, C-Dragons said:

You beat me to it. 

Thank you! 👍

Me too - wasn't sure what that was about 😮 

[Jeremiah1212]

Heard from a friend yesterday that they may have rolled out the additional wine offerings on Beyond yesterday? Cannot confirm first hand. Although this is her fifth cruise since Christmas so I typically trust her feedback. 

[Oxo]

Just a question and not trying to be funny.

 

What is the big deal with lobster on a cruise ship?

 

Regardless of the cruise line we find that the lobster in the MDR is very small, lacks any flavor and never a Maine lobster. 

 

And now the lines are charging extra for a second serving.

 

Happy Cruising! 

[kirtihk]

On 3/29/2024 at 2:21 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

I'm a big fan of focusing on the positive so thank you!  And I think there are still deals to be had...even in this current market.  We just booked a 10 night cruise on Beyond with drinks and wifi for less than 4 grand.   Not in a suite but still an amazing deal, IMO.

So many variables: Per person or for 2? Balcony or other category?  Refundable or not deposit?  With pre-paid gratuities or not?  If answer is the former for all questions (especially for the first and second), then it's great!

Edited April 2 by kirtihk

[Milhouse]

On 3/30/2024 at 3:46 AM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Yes , you go to your cabin , because that is where you pick up your seapass 

We had a slight issue with that (seapasses accessible outside the cabin) on our last cruise.  

Someone incorrectly entered our stateroom (seapasses are obviously right there), yucked up the washroom 🤐 and kind of gave the cabin a bit of a lived in feel before likely realizing they were in the wrong room and got the heck out of Dodge.  (Would have been nice to have told the attendant they messed up so he could have quickly redone the room though, yeesh.)

 

Anyways, we kind of figured something was a bit off when we saw the envelope containing our seapasses was already torn open.  Our stateroom attendant and his manager were great though.  Cleaned and reset the room with nice follow-up with us.

[kirtihk]

On 4/1/2024 at 1:45 PM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

It is a  good place for second breakfast 🤣

And for Champagne (or Bellini) if one doesn’t not have a beverage package.

[kirtihk]

On 4/1/2024 at 3:57 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

 Not to mention omelets. 

 

Seriously, it is not and was not meant to be a replacement for the Ocean View Cafe breakfast buffet. 

 

And you are not allowed to bring any food from the Ocean View Cafe.  One time was walking with a boiled egg in my hand, and they stopped me from entering (it was so funny!!!).

[Gracie115]

3 hours ago, Oxo said:

Just a question and not trying to be funny.

 

What is the big deal with lobster on a cruise ship?

 

Regardless of the cruise line we find that the lobster in the MDR is very small, lacks any flavor and never a Maine lobster. 

 

And now the lines are charging extra for a second serving.

 

Happy Cruising! 

 

I agree with you.  Perhaps it is better in Murano's since they prepare it tableside, not sure since we haven't ordered it there.  Other than that it is just mediocre to me.  There are other entrees, when prepared correctly, (which doesn't always happen) that are better.  

[George C]

We got back a week ago from a music charter on summit in a royal suite, everything was great , had two dinners in Tuscan and 3 lunches In sushi on 5, along with two dinners at Le Petit Chef, only issue we had was with management at Le Petit Chef who wanted to charge us a corkage for the wine we brought from home. We then has concierge remove the charge , same thing second night but when I wrote on check saying I would not pay this fee since it is against celebrity policy did they then remove the charge . On a much more positive note we ordered several glasses of mer soleil Chardonnay which was a couple of dollars over premium package and wine steward did not charge us anything. Staff in retreat was fantastic so was service in Luminae and other restaurants. Celebrity staff meet us outside the ship and escorted us all the way to our suite . 

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 hours ago, kirtihk said:

So many variables: Per person or for 2? Balcony or other category?  Refundable or not deposit?  With pre-paid gratuities or not?  If answer is the former for all questions (especially for the first and second), then it's great!

I'm not interested in the IV's so we booked a Deluxe Ocean View which is a forward facing stateroom with a faux balcony set up...at least that's what I'm calling it.  The drinks package is the classic and the wifi is the basic.  Grats were not included but we prepaid them.  The deposit of $900 is nonrefundable.  All totaled, with prepaid grats and the aforementioned inclusions for 2 people is $4000.  Oh, and we are getting $350 refundable OBC, which more than covers the gratuities.  I've paid a lot more for higher categories and on E class, I feel like there is so much included in the regular experience that I didn't feel compelled, nor would I pay current prices to book a suite...

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 3/30/2024 at 5:32 AM, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

It's changed. I was able to do it on the Edge in 2020 before everything shut down. You can drop off your carry-on and get your seapass, but you are asked to then leave until they open completely.

 

On 3/30/2024 at 6:02 AM, RichYak said:

Yes. This new procedure began about the same time Celebrity was Revolutionizing older ships. As I recall, the process was implemented first on new and revolutionized ships, then expanded to unrevolutionized ships. You pick up your seapass card from the mail slot outside your cabin--not in the terminal, drop your bags in the cabin, then move about the ship until rooms are ready.

 

Just a datapoint, of our 10+ X sailings since the restart, only twice including this past Thursday was the room not ready but they came in and said you can stay if you want.  I'm not recommending people be hermits in their rooms but if one needed to take a quick shower for whatever reason, I'd doubt the stateroom attendant would kick you out

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 3/31/2024 at 8:41 PM, HopefulCruiser123 said:

I personally am THRILLED to be departing from Port Canaveral.  We will arrive a few days early and plan to do the Kennedy Space Center tour.  I know for some flying in and taking a cab, Uber or shuttle directly to the port is a priority.  I just am glad that we get to spend some extra time in Cocoa Beach!

 

Cocoa Beach is nice yet I'm just pointing out, could one make repeated visits to the Kennedy Space Center even if it's just annually (rhetorical)?  It's a bit of a pain to get to the port, shared shuttles are a complete wildcard to how long you may need to wait and private shuttles are expensive.  You can uber yet there are data points of folks getting drivers who were upset they needed to drive so far.  You also should book in advance to ensure you don't get high dynamic/surge pricing

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 4/1/2024 at 9:09 AM, Harrisonkid said:

I agree. Many car/shuttle companies to get you to and from Port C...and they are working on connecting a train between Orlando and Cocoa Beach 

 

While this will ultimately be a very good thing, it's a ways away and probably won't be cheap as they charge for check-in bags.  Right now they charge $10/bag but this will most likely increase once the train is operational in Cocoa Beach.  You can Uber from the Orlando airport to the port with a tip for about $65 all in if you avoid the increased dynamic/surge pricing while on the train you'd have to buy a ticket for each individual and possibly pay for checked bags

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 4/1/2024 at 1:28 PM, Dolebludger said:

We just got back from a cruise yesterday (not Celebrity) that disembarked in Miami. That will be our last time at that port for us. The cruise terminal was way understaffed, causing the worst congestion at such a facility that we’ve ever seen. The Miami airport is also a mess. It is spread out literally for miles and has no trains, trams, busses, internal carts, or people movers. It is thus unusable by people like us with even minor mobility disabilities. We won’t be back there, either. So I would count Celebrity’s use of other FL ports as a big plus.

 

We just got off of the Summit out of Miami yesterday, we didn't notice anything bad about the cruise terminal but absolutely agree that Miami airport isn't a pleasant experience.  The in-airport train is running again and they have a shuttle but it's the only airport I've ever seen congestion at every checkpoint including 100+ people in clear.  Miami is the home hub for American Airlines yet Atlanta is a much busier airport and the home hub for Delta yet somehow is less congested.  There is the option to fly out of FLL and we will strongly consider doing so the next time we have a Miami cruise

[George C]

31 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

We just got off of the Summit out of Miami yesterday, we didn't notice anything bad about the cruise terminal but absolutely agree that Miami airport isn't a pleasant experience.  The in-airport train is running again and they have a shuttle but it's the only airport I've ever seen congestion at every checkpoint including 100+ people in clear.  Miami is the home hub for American Airlines yet Atlanta is a much busier airport and the home hub for Delta yet somehow is less congested.  There is the option to fly out of FLL and we will strongly consider doing so the next time we have a Miami cruise

We flew out of FLL last week after our summit cruise, much more convenient time .

[kirtihk]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I'm not interested in the IV's so we booked a Deluxe Ocean View which is a forward facing stateroom with a faux balcony set up...at least that's what I'm calling it.  The drinks package is the classic and the wifi is the basic.  Grats were not included but we prepaid them.  The deposit of $900 is nonrefundable.  All totaled, with prepaid grats and the aforementioned inclusions for 2 people is $4000.  Oh, and we are getting $350 refundable OBC, which more than covers the gratuities.  I've paid a lot more for higher categories and on E class, I feel like there is so much included in the regular experience that I didn't feel compelled, nor would I pay current prices to book a suite...

 

That’s really good.  It was a typo in my text: parts should be switched in my first question.

 

We have a very similar situation with booking for 12-day Millennium cruise from Singapore to Tokyo (March 3, 2025).  We paid $5,264 total (cruise fare, port charges, tax, included classic beverage package, wi-fi, included gratuities (we booked this trio combo before Celebrity removed gratuities from it), refundable deposit), the lest expensive Aqua category (free upgrade to the next category) and $200 (book onboard) OBC.  It was a group booking with our cruise agent.  The regular price through Celebrity at that time was $8,600.  A few days ago I looked and saw over $13,000 fir the same category with the same other items!

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

There is the option to fly out of FLL and we will strongly consider doing so the next time we have a Miami cruise

 

 We used Miami airport once and never again. 

 

 Our last cruise was out of Miami and it was (1) cheaper to fly in/out of FLL than Miami.

(2) hotels were cheaper in FLL than Miami and (3) with the money I saved on 1 & 2, we still came out ahead after including the cost for Lyft (including tip).  

 

 

[Dolebludger]

The problem we encountered on 03/31/2024 at the Miami cruise terminal was that there was only one person checking passports, whereas this part of the terminal is set up for ten. Lines were long and crowds were large. Cabs were scarce. 
 

At the Miami airport on that date, we inquired about trains and busses, and were told that there weren’t any running then, and they didn’t serve the area of our gate anyway. Accurate info? IDK, as it is difficult to get info in large airports. But that’s what we were told. There were no “people movers”. We saw none of those electric carts in the over five hours we were stranded there. 
 

This did not involve a Celebrity cruise. We took another like this time. But we probably will cruise Celebrity again in the future. And the fact that Celebrity is going to other ports and airports is good news to us.

Edited April 3 by Dolebludger

[Kandtcruisers]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I'm not interested in the IV's so we booked a Deluxe Ocean View which is a forward facing stateroom with a faux balcony set up...at least that's what I'm calling it.  The drinks package is the classic and the wifi is the basic.  Grats were not included but we prepaid them.  The deposit of $900 is nonrefundable.  All totaled, with prepaid grats and the aforementioned inclusions for 2 people is $4000.  Oh, and we are getting $350 refundable OBC, which more than covers the gratuities.  I've paid a lot more for higher categories and on E class, I feel like there is so much included in the regular experience that I didn't feel compelled, nor would I pay current prices to book a suite...

 

Please let us know your opinion with this cabin.  We almost booked one but went with a sunset veranda.  However, if the review for this ocean view is good, then this may be in our future, and save a few dollars.  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Just now, Kandtcruisers said:

Please let us know your opinion with this cabin.  We almost booked one but went with a sunset veranda.  However, if the review for this ocean view is good, then this may be in our future, and save a few dollars.  

It a good way to get your steps if you want a slice of pizza , it like 900 steps to OVC and back 🤣

[Stem to Stern]

3 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

It a good way to get your steps if you want a slice of pizza , it like 900 steps to OVC and back 🤣

I have extra-long strides, so maybe only 850 steps for me?🤣🤣🤣

[NMTraveller]

9 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Heard from a friend yesterday that they may have rolled out the additional wine offerings on Beyond yesterday? Cannot confirm first hand. Although this is her fifth cruise since Christmas so I typically trust her feedback. 

What were the additional wine offerings?