sptrout

We have sailed on MSC twice out of Miami, both times in the YC on two different ships. We felt at the time that the YC was great and certainly on par with Celebrity at least when booking their SS1 level. But, that was the good old days when the YC pricing was competitive with Celebrity's SS cabins. Then MSC jump their YC pricing up over the top of even Celebrity Beyond's SS cabins by a considerable amount so we switch back to Celebrity for a 7 day Beyond cruise this past January. Bottom line price was much less than MSC's YC. 

This coming January we are once again booked on Beyond for an 11 night cruise that is less than a 7 day MSC/YC price; much less. The pricing is really a crap shoot never knowing who is trying to be competitive, but for now Celebrity is much less for similar cabins and experiences. However, we got a real good price on our upcoming 11 night Beyond cruise; surprising good fare. Never know in this crazy pricing war. 

Just now, Turtles06 said:

 

The itinerary you posted above shows the ship is in Colon from 5pm-9m, not earlier.  The ship will have done its partial transit before that.  Could you please post the description of those excursions, and their times?  Thanks.

I am not Turles06, but in their absence I will answer your question. Ships that do a "partial transits" enter the Canal through the first set of locks (1 of three locks at least in the old lock system) and then stop/anchor in Gatun Lake. At this time any passengers that have ship booked tours (and only ship booked tours) will disembark and be transferred over to a docking area on land via tenders or (Port provided tenders?). At this time you will join your tour and then later join your ship that is now docked at the Port of Colon. 

You will only go through the first of locks and do not sail any farther than a couple miles into Lake Gatun for disembarking tour passengers. Later the ship will pass back through the locks and then sail over to the Port of Colon, which is close by. Any passengers on tours will not join their ship until it is docked in the Port of Colon. I highly recommend that you take a tour otherwise you will spend all day just waiting on the ship, but able to view the return trip through the docks. Probably a boring day for many folks that would otherwise be able, if capable of, a land tour.

A "partial transit" is kind of a play on words. The Panama Canal is over 50 miles; a partial transit will be around 5 miles. Therefore, without some kind of land tour you will miss most of not only the Canal, but of the country of Panama. Kind of like sailing into the Port of Miami, sitting in place for a few hours then sailing back out. Did you actually see Miami in this made-up scenario? 

42 minutes ago, patterson3 said:

This is very helpful! I always wondered what the difference between a partial and full transit were.

About 50 miles different. A full transit is the best if possible, but is usually a longer cruise than people can take for either time or money. If doing a partial transit make sure to take a tour of some kind to see more of Panama. A trip to the Pacific side of Panama is interesting since you you see among other places the old U.S. Canal Headquarters.

We have been to Panama 5 times or so and the first time was a full transit. It was a 14 day cruise from San Diego to San Juan. Cruise ships were not allowed to disembark passengers at that time, nor did the ships actually dock anywhere. A long day that was mostly just sitting in Gatun Lake waiting for our turn to pass through the final set of locks. A long day, but unforgettable.

If docking in Colon do not roam off by yourself more than the area directly visible from your ship. Colon is an industrial port city and is not a tourist destination. A ship's tour to about any place would be better than roaming around on foot through the city.

I agree with "miched" that unless you have seen the E-Class Thermal Suite that you may want to look before you buy. Another problem that we have smashed into is that when we buy a cruise pass we have never actually went to the spa (E-Class or S-Class) every day of the cruise. I think that we have left money on the loungers, sort of speak, every time. 

Also agree with miched that the loungers are not as nice as the S-Class Persian Gardens' loungers due to the issues miched mentions. We also had problems with the loungers not being available without a short wait.

We have an 11 day Beyond cruise coming this January and the price for a spa cruise pass, as of a few days ago, is nearly $400 p/p. My wife who is the biggest fan of the loungers in the spas instantly said no way. No disagreement from me. We will be looking at other options to spend our considerable OBC. 

It is sad that Celebrity has not improved the Spas in the E-Class ships. With all the high tech stuff all over the ships the spa is a let down. The spas on MSC (newer ships) & Princess (Regal Class) are much better.

Nothing to do with cruise drinks, but for home if you like wines; checkout Dry Farm Wines.

Very good wines from Europe, mainly France, that all have no more that 1 carb per 6 oz serving and less than 12% alcohol. We have been buying wines from them for a few years and have been totally satisfied. Not cheap, but not many low carb wines that are good. 

https://www.dryfarmwines.com/

Possible, but not likely on S-Class ships in our experience. While on Beyond there were waits of a few minutes a couple times likely due the larger passenger capacity and more sea day. Also, just two more beds than S-Class. 

If you are relatively sure that you will use all the days of your cruise to visit the PG, then purchase in advance for better pricing. We have purchased in advance the last several cruises and for various reason never made it to the PG all days of the cruise. Probably "left money on the table" sort of speak. We have an 11 day cruise on Beyond this coming January, not decided if we will buy a cruise pass or not. Besides the E-Class ships Thermal Suites (not called PGs on E-Class ships) are not as nice IMO as the S-Class ships. Will decide when they open up Thermal Suites for advance purchase (not available as of yesterday).

6 hours ago, jenal42 said:

Thank you so much for everyone who took the time to respond, and for helping clear that up. I agree, it's a bit of an odd system and doesn't make it very clear what the time slots are for. I have had a look on the forums and noticed that there can be some issues with the heated loungers being full for long periods, but hopefully it will work out. We have a sea day on the first and last day so I expect those will be the days when we stand and stare pointedly at anyone who has been in a while🤣 

I do not recall ever having to wait when sailing any of the S-Class ships even on the Reflection. The E-Class ships only added two loungers to the larger ships. IMO, the E-Class Thermal Suites is kind of a let down compared to all the other areas of the ships.

2 hours ago, hcat said:

I appreciate  all the info.

we are headed back to A Q class on Ascent.  Hope to make a few visits to the Thermal suites. 

 

 On  EDGE, I recall that the heated lounger srea was narrow and had glass windows  often making it too sunny to enjoy. But some of the other areas were nice   Big miss by not including a true T pool...!

If the Ascent is like the Beyond then the narrow, and close to the glass, will be the same. For us, the S-Class PG is better than the E-Class Thermal Suites. 

There certainly was on the Beyond.  Signs on the wall saying the maximum time allowed. The Spa was very busy and there are not enough loungers for the number of passengers on Beyond. 

We may be talking about two different things.  There are time limits for the loungers in the Spa (if needed), but not for purchasing cruise passes. The website is weird; what else is new.

AQ Class still has full access.

If I remember correctly the time limit was 30 minutes. There was a couple times when we stopped in and all the loungers were full. We just waited a few minutes and the room opened up without any staff intervention. There was no indication that the staff was timing anyone. 

You are correct, if a cruise pass has been purchased you can come and go as you wish. If the PG is full when you stop by, you will have to wait, like anyone else, and hope that they enforce the time limit on the beds (no limits if not full). The time that must be picked when purchasing online is not enforced or even considered when you go to the PG. We had the same question when we pre-cruise purchased the Spa on the Beyond this past January. We went whenever we wanted. 

"prim8keeper" posted excellent suggestions. I would only add that we have bought every day cruise passes on our last three or four cruises including Beyond this pass January. Every time we have "left money on the table" sort of speak by not being able for various reasons to visit the spa each day of the cruise (usually miss 2 days). We have an 11 day cruise this coming January again on Beyond, and I am not sure that we will buy cruise passes, although we do have a lot of OBC to burn. Will see....my DW has not voted yet and she is more of a spa fan than me.

IMO E-class spas are not as nice as earlier Celebrity ships. Princess "Regal" class (our last Princess cruises) and newer MSC Ships both have spas that are much nicer than Celebrity's ships. As prim8keeper said, you may want to check the spa out before buying a total cruise package.

I have an old (5 yrs.+) Samsung Tab 7A using Android V12 and it is running the Celebrity App without any problems. I just checked the Celebrity App to make sure and it still works. Nothing special about this tablet, about as low on the capability pole as you can get. It other words, it was a cheap Costco buy, but is fine for running basic programs. 

16 minutes ago, kathynorth said:

On our last couple of cruises we used a multiplug adapter that we plug into the outlet by the desk. The cpap cord is long enough to reach this adapter without using the extension cord. We just unplugged the cpap in the morning and wound up the cord so it was out of the way during the day. 

I tried this in our last pre-E-Class Sky Suite and it almost worked as you described; just needed a couple more feet. Would have likely worked in a non-suite cabin.

Just now, mahdnc said:

 

Nice Bird of Paradise flower in your avatar!

Thank you. A picture from our front yard. It is a battle to keep a BoP alive all winter here in Houston most winters, but we have been successful for the last four years. The plant is huge now, almost too big to protect from winter freezes. 

The non-E-Class ships do not have AC outlets near the bed and the others have posted their solutions. In my case, I just lived with the ugly extension cord taped to the floor. Not a big deal to me or my DW. 

My purpose for this response is that you mentioned a battery for overnight use. CPAP machines can take a considerable sized battery especially if the humidifier is turned on. You may have run into this problem if you have battery backup at home (AC power primary). Without the humidifier you may find a battery large enough to travel with can get through the night. I have a battery installed at home that is connected between the APAP's power brick and the ResMed APAP machine. In this configuration the APAP has nearly instant switchover power if there is a power outage at night. This battery is rather small and designed for those users that need CPAP therapy for long overnight airplane trips. I have not tested it to find out if it will last 8 hours either with, or without, the humidifier turned on. No long power failures since I bought this battery solution.

If interested I can find the model and purchasing information. Although I do not know for sure that it will last 8 hours, or that it can be recharged totally during one day. 

We dined at both Eden and Le Voyage during our January cruise (all other meals were in Luminae). Was not impressed with Eden, but many here on CC will disagree. Maybe just us that night.

Le Voyage was the best dinner that we had all week. The food was excellent and the service was over the top. I have already made reservations for two nights on our 11 night cruise this coming January. 

Whatever you decide book early, both fill-up especially Le Voyage since it is very small.

16 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Has that changed lately? I thought he was on Virgin Voyages.

Could be, but I think that I would have remembered that. Also possible that she did not say what ship he was on; short discussion on this subject. Remember more of what Captain Kate said about herself and her background in how she became a Captain on Celebrity's ships. She has a lot of experience; very impressive person and we got a chance to talk to her while she was near Le Voyage (we were headed there, she was not). Very nice lady!

11 hours ago, jwlane said:

Royal Caribbean? 

I don't think so. She told us the name of the ship, but I do not remember it. 

2 hours ago, Fish7 said:

Is that a temporary break, or is that her last cruise with the Beyond? We'll be sailing on the Beyond in July. Do you know if she'll be the Captain in July?

During a Q&A meeting that Captain Kate hosted during our 1/8 Beyond cruise, she was asked a similar question. Her response was that she is the Captain of Beyond for as long as she wants it and it sounded like that will be for a very long time. She even added that during her "off" time she may stay on the ship as a regular passenger. Her husband is an Engineer Officer on another Celebrity ship and when timing allows they do take vacations together otherwise she may stay on the ship. She never mentioned if her and her husband have an actual home somewhere on land.

Anyway, that was my take away from her responses. I know that it has been reported here on CC that folks have seen her on the ship when she was not the Captain. If I remember correctly, she did confirm that she does stay onboard from time to time. An unusual life that few of us would want, but she certainly is dedicated to Celebrity Beyond, her husband, and her cat (not necessarily in that order LOL).

Celebrity did sail out of Galveston a few years ago for 12 day Panama cruises that stopped in Colon. They used the Galaxy for these trips and only for couple years. Great savings for us since we live on the north side of Houston. No airfare and pre-cruise hotel costs meant that we got to book a Sky Suite for the first time. The C-class ship's had huge verandas almost has big as the cabin, the table outside could easily seat four maybe six people. Great experience, but spoiled us forever, only small suites since that cruise back in 2005

This experience is probably why Celebrity will never return to Galveston IMO. Only real option with all the competition, is going to the places that are 10-14 day cruises. 

BTW - - May not make any difference, but I made our reservations on Celebrity's website not via the App. Odd that our later cruise is open for dining reservations, but earlier sailings are not.

Update: I just booked two nights in Le Voyage a few minutes ago, so reservations for the restaurants that you want should be available to reserve now.

I cannot give you answer, but I would try to reserve as soon as you decide which restaurant(s) you want to go to and which nights. 

We were on the Beyond for its 1/8/22 sailing and we were in the Retreat so we were already eating well. For something different we went to Eden & Le Voyage. For us Eden was just okay, mainly just for the view; food nothing special.

Le Voyage on the other hand was outstanding both in food and over the top service. Just by accident we came across Captain Kate just a few feet from the entrance to Le Voyage (she was not going to Le Voyage). We talked to her for several minutes; what a nice lady. Really got the night off to a special start. Anyway, we are booked on an 11 night Beyond sailing this coming January (maybe right after yours??), and we plan on reserving two nights in Le Voyage. No interest in any others since once again we will be in the Retreat. 

I need to start checking Le Voyage availability for our trip soon as it does sellout early. Small restaurant with very limited seating so not surprising that it sells out.

24 minutes ago, Nachosdelux said:

this is not a TSA regulation (no check in prior to 3 hours)

 

some airlines have this rule, and it can vary from airport to airport, and even from terminal to terminal at the same airport (JFK for example)

 

Totally unrelated, Delta did in fact (as did Amex Centurion clubs) institute the 3 hour rule for their clubs, to reduce crowding.

Thanks for the correction. I guess I assumed it was a TSA Rule, nobody said anything different. Being at an airport more than 3 hours prior to checkin is unusual for us and likely is one of the reasons (maybe the only reason) that we had never had this problem before.

Fort Lauderdale's airport is rather small for the huge bumps in traffic on certains days and times. Being unable to checkin and at least get rid of all our luggage made for a long and uncomfortable morning and early afternoon. At minimum, any airport that has this rule should warn travelers ahead of time not to show up early.