Stem to Stern

The best was on a recent Celebrity sailing when I witnessed a rather robust gentleman strolling into and perusing the Oceanview Cafe without his shirt on. And of course, he was eating off his plate while he perused. You just can't make this stuff up.

Postcard from Florida: Dear @GenerationX, Hello from the Sunshine (???) State!! Not necessarily enjoying the neighborhood sites while dodging a few raindrops. Lots of new art installations around town since I last visited including randomly placed automobiles and airplanes completely surrounded by water. Been touring them via kayak. I don’t wish you were here. xxxooo PS Not sure what your post cruise plans are, but you best confirm everything is still a go.

My vote would be for the Sunset Verandah. I know not one of the choices. Hee hee. We were on deck 7 on Connie last year and loved the deeper, larger, partially shaded sunset verandah. We probably spend way less time on our verandah than some, but I am a sucker for that wake view and sound. Enjoyed the verandah more on sea days. 8046 will be cool being able to look forward and back. Larger verandah is a plus. I overthink these things too. Now where is that trip report?? I have been waiting for the blow by blow on your adventures as well as the photo journal on Slim’s cruise wardrobe.😀

She is currently doing another one?

Wishing you safe and timely travels to your ship. Another Live nail-biter, but I am safe and comfy on my sofa on the dry coast of FL living vicariously through you. This would be the first I have followed one of your reports. I love this class of Celebrity ships. Curious how empty yours will be considering this odd repositioning and the current FLL air travel mania. Cheers!

I am thoroughly enjoying your report especially all of your great early morning shots of the beautiful spaces around the ship.

Thank you for posting these links. We were on this same sailing, so I will definitely read through your review. I guess we liked it. We did almost the same cruise same ship three years later and had an equally enjoyable time. I love my ABC's. I never really gave it much thought, but maybe Equinox would be up there on my list of favorite ships.

I don’t show any points on my Azamara account. I am Discoverer, but my level is showing as Adventurer when I log in on my computer. On my mobile devices I don’t even see that much. Based on the notes on the Az website, I think we just need to be patient until they complete their web transition. We need to have faith that they will just eventually show up. In the FAQs it says previous cruises will show up in June. They are first dealing with higher priority issues involving customers that are sailing in the near future and their details related to their upcoming cruises like correct balances and booked excursions. The transition away from Royal Caribbean turned out to be a much more involving challenge than what they had planned for. There is a thread over on the Az boards about their website. It reads much like a lot of the Me Too threads on the Celebrity boards.😂

Thank you for your reply. It seems like Marina and Riviera have more than enough indoor and outdoor public spaces to negate any perceived deficiencies of an inside stateroom. We were on our first R-class ship (Azamara) and I found the ship as a whole a bit too cozy at times. There were four sea days. Our balcony went unused for the most part. We like to mingle with others. The cabin size was not an issue for either of us. How frequently do the cabin-upgrade sales come up?

I am curious about the inside staterooms on Riviera. Have you every sailed in this category? I have only ever been in an inside stateroom once, but I am willing to give it a try to keep the journey budget within reason. The trouble will be convincing my other half that he doesn't need a balcony on a port intensive cruise.

My thought is you only live once and what better way to see Alaska than from a corner aft verandah. If you google “ Celebrity family verandah stateroom” there are a bunch of You Tube videos of this stateroom. The Summit one should look just like yours. I toured an unrevolutionized one on deck 7 on Connie and was blown away by all the space. If I remember correctly that one had a long private hallway not properly depicted on your deck plan in your post. The people that gave us the tour said they couldn’t hear anyone knocking at the door because it was so far away from the actual stateroom.

I spy something pink. And I am not referring to your cocktail.

I am no maritime expert. I have yet to book a sailing on an Edge-class ship and probably won’t until this issue is rectified. In my 15 cruises on 11 different ships across five different cruise lines I have never encountered such noise as recorded in the above video.

Bon voyage!

Hmmm. Is that anything like having double sausage on my Egg McMuffin. Breakfast of Champions! If nothing else it should definitely temper AA's egg fail. However, I must say the fresh fruit looks delightful. I'm left wondering what adult beverage the girl in the movie you were watching was enjoying? On another note, if your FLL plans are not yet solidified and you have never been there before, then you should really try to pass by Casablanca Cafe. It is a lovely, historic venue. The outside spaces are a bit cozy, but the views of the Atlantic are incredible. The people watching is kinda fun, too. https://casablancacafeonline.com

Hi Charla. Wishing you safe and seamless travels en route to your embarkation port. I must say I did a double take when I read the last two words of your topic title. I nearly mis-read suite as something else. Anyway, I will enjoy vicariously cruising through your experiences as I have to wait until December before I step foot on a ship again. However, I will be on a boat this summer in MA on a whale-watching excursion. It will have to suffice. Raise a glass for me.

Lots of Az cheerleaders on the boards, so that might be why you don't see a lot of moaning about the on-board experience. I was on board Onward in December 2022 for the first time. So, it has been a minute and perhaps things have improved. We liked the smaller, more intimate ship size, but we were disappointed in the main dining room service experience the first night. The situation improved once we found a more zealous wait team. There might have been a shortage of crew at the time. Deck cookouts included replacement of loungers with 4-top tables leaving a serious lack of loungers available on a sea day. For a more port-intensive itinerary we would consider the line again as it would purely be a floating hotel.

Ha ha ha! The coconut soft serve is what caught my eye. Oh, and the $0.00 on the cash register. Hee hee.

@GenerationXDon’t forget to pack your long gloves and other Gatsby gear. Love that look of a bygone era.

Except for lunch on port days.😉

Brilliant. Question regarding this new program: Are both passengers in a stateroom required to elect the fasting package or can one choose it while the other opts to eat? Can I book with the classic fasting package and upgrade to premium once on board?

Upon boarding Celebrity Reflection in the western Mediterranean in 2019 we found ourselves amongst a large group of Abraham Hicks enthusiasts. I have no idea how many of them were on board. Abraham-Hicks Publications - Law of Attraction Official Site Since we were mostly using the ship as a floating hotel, their presence did not really have an adverse effect on our on-board experience. We did not find this group encroaching on the public spaces. I do not recall if we ever encountered any of the venues closed off specifically for their use. They mostly kept to themselves although there was one member of their group that we had pleasant engagement with. This is the next one they have scheduled on Celebrity Reflection later this year: Greek Islands and Malta Cruise | Global Event Productions (lifejourneys.net) Another cruise in the Caribbean several years ago we encountered a group that brought their motorcycles with them on the cruise. It was cool to watch them take their motorcycles on and off the ship at some of the ports of call.

I would tend to agree with above. That $5K would buy a lot of drinks, internet, and specialty dining every night. You can't put a price on the aft view and sound of the wake. I have a question about 6120 on the starboard side of the ship. I just want to make sure I haven't booked a suite on board Summit with a really bad view of lifeboats or other obstructions. Anyone have photos? Also, this isn't the side that the smoking deck is on, is it?

Thank you for your report. I will have to try the yellow beet risotto. Sorry about the salty greeting you received in the Sky Lounge. Good to know the rest of the crew was in better form. Question for you: I have always been curious about the verandah of this particular Sky Suite adjacent to Celebrity Suite 6104. Did it seem less private? It seems like it would be from the deck plans and how the added Celebrity Suite verandah extends out from the ship. Do you have any pictures of your verandah to share? Thanks again.

Hi Maris, I just finished catching up on the start of your review. I am looking forward to reading the rest of it as it unfolds. When this one is complete, I plan on having a read of your other two previous reports in your signature. Your writing style and photography are both wonderful. Cheers!