mjb1683

We just had a great experience with Gold Coast Car Rental.  
 

Great car and the experience was super convenient.  

We stayed in Fort Lauderdale at the Marriott Harbor Beach (great facility).  Gold Coast provides transportation from the hotel to their office and when we were done with the rental, we were able to leave it at the hotel valet and they took it from there. 
 

I am usually not a fan of renting cars, but Gold Coast was able to make the process easy.  It’s great doing business with a local business. 
 

The Assistant Cruise Director told us on Tuesday evening (when we inquired about the lack of karaoke), that Captain Kate was social distancing because Celebrity did not want to take the chance of her getting sick because that would mean that they would need to cancel upcoming cruises. It seems like someone is getting their lines crossed?

If you have seen Captain Kate, has she addressed the disaster that was embarkation?
 

If a tree falls down and there is no one around when it it does so, does it make any noise?  If karaoke was scheduled but not advertised, how could we attend it?

You might think activities are plentiful, but we would disagree.  Just like we might disagree on a dish in the MDR.  
 

We are on this cruise now.  
 

Let me begin by saying that the crew has been the best we have ever encountered and we are both veteran cruisers.  The food has been excellent from the first meal we had to the lunch we just enjoyed.  
 

However, we are very disappointed with the lack of activities. They “roll up the sidewalks” a little after 11:00 and the ship gets very quiet.  There has been no bingo (big disappointment for us).  We spoke to the assistant Cruise Director about the lack of Karaoke and we were assured that there would be 2 sessions.  Nothing listed on the app or in the “Celebrity Today”.  
 

There was one later activity last night.  Ralph Harris is a great comedian and he did a 10:30 show.  He is (without a doubt) one of the best comedians we have seen on a cruise.  We can not recommend him enough. 
 

When Ralph Harris’s show was over (at approximately 11:15), there was little going on. The “Celebrity Today” indicates that the Martini Bar is open until 2:00 but in reality, it rarely gets past midnight.  

I also must note that Captain Kate has been missing in action, no sightings.

We will be preparing a detailed review when we get home but will be happy to answer any questions before we get to that.  

Let’s be clear about a couple of things:

We are on the ship, so we have first hand knowledge.

Testing was abandoned with over HALF OF THE PASSENGERS NOT BE TESTED (sorry, the all caps was needed for emphasis).  This was a classic example of lack of planning and leadership. 
 

We witnessed three people being taken to ambulances.  
 

Celebrity staff did hand out water, iced towels and cookies after people had been in line for hours.  It was like draining the ocean with a tea spoon. 
 

Captain Kate did make an announcement apologizing.  She said that Celebrity does not control land based operations.  This is complete BS as they are on the ones who ordered the testing. 
 

Captain Kate did say that we would be getting on board credit (but failed to mention an amount). We should wait for a letter detailing the plans.  I will try to update.  
 

I know that there are some Captain Kate fans I think this board. I am not trying to burst their bubble or be mean (to Kate or others), but her leadership was not great today (it failed).  I do not need jokes, I need someone to own what happened and explain why testing was started and then abandoned.  
 

I will try to update. Stay tuned. 

We are currently here in line, some thoughts:

1.  We had a 12:00 Check-in slot.  We arrived at 12:02 and at 2:30 we are only moved some.  We estimate that the line for testing will be at least another hour. 
 

2.  There were people who were leaving the ship as late as approximately 1:00 PM. Not sure what the holdup was but we were told that they were waiting on test results.  We saw no one taken off the ship in handcuffs.  
 

3. We have personally witnessed one person pass out in the line and another person is being taken away in an ambulance.  It is just going to get much worse. 
 

Frankly, it’s a disaster. 

5 hours ago, bnurick said:

Here is the future cruise booking onboard specials. A boost to your stateroom credit.

 

 

I am somewhat confused about the offer to upgrade to the Indulge Package. 
 

From what I can see, it is $60 per person, per day.  So to upgrade two people the cost would be $840 ($60 per person for seven days = $420 - $420 multiples by 2 people is $840).  
 

I understand that we would then get $800 OBC ($400 per person).  
 

Could we use the $800 OBC for anything, including buying chips in the casino and then cashing those chips in?
 

I am a Diamond Member at Caesar’s and a Gold Member at MGM.  
 

Does anyone know if Celebrity will match those tiers and if so to what level?

 Thanks for the insight and happy sailing. 

2 hours ago, mjb1683 said:

Any more suggestions on how ringing someone who could use and save some serious money? 

I am sorry for the typo. It should have read:

“Any more suggestions on how to find someone who could use these and save some serious money?”

Any more suggestions on how ringing someone who could use and save some serious money? 

I would be willing to sell these for $250. 
 

I am 100 percent positive that they are Cruise First. 
 

I have also been told that you can only use one Cruise First certificate at a time.  Thus, you could not buy two $300 certificates and combine them. 

My understanding is that NCL is currently only selling $300 certificates for $150

Would the fact that I have bonus money available make it more worthwhile?   I understand that NCL is selling $300 Cruise First  certificates for $150.  I currently have a $500 certificate that I would sell for $500

I seem to be confused , can anyone tell me the difference between Cruise First and Cruise Next

I know that selling certificates is not permitted in this forum.  However, I do have some Cruise First certificates that I would be interested in getting rid of (due to work schedules, an NCL cruise is just not feasible right now).  Does anyone have any ideas on how to go about selling them? Thanks everybody for your help!

Hi Shadowmeboy!

Great review so far!

Just curious, what is in the “thank you bag”. We love the idea and might do the same?

We are cruising in a balcony room on the Dawn in August. We have been on Celebrity before and loved the pillow menu in Concierge Class.  

Is is there anything similar on NCL? Are body pillows available?