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That was one of those things that disappeared when COVID happened. When they had it, it was primarily in non-U.S. markets. It could always return. You'll just have to monitor to see if they bring it back.

Too funny. I've asked it a few technical questions related to my line of work. Lots of answers exist on the web but several times now the engine has compiled a series of right answers but put a conclusion that is not supported by the facts. It's a fancy search engine that isn't really thinking, of course. Another forum where I post has had people producing answers to every topic at hand to see what the AI has to provide. You quickly see that it's following a pattern for how it collates and presents info. Correct sometimes, incorrect others, somewhere in-between more than it should.

I agree completely, if that was not clear by my initial comment. I also think X doing regular sweeps to clean up after people would help, too. The problem is you never really know. I've seen it go both ways, even late in the afternoon. I also think it is unhelpful when X staff put fresh towels on the chairs. It would be much clearer if everyone needed to retrieve a towel and then pick a spot. Timed rentals would be even better. Chair hogs are not unique to X or even to cruises, of course; there are plenty of things X could adopt but haven't.

"No reserving deck chairs. Unattended items will be held at the towel stand" From another photo on the thread where the original was posted. Seems a bit useless to me if there isn't a time component and enforcement involved. Is there an official rule associated with this? Or just random depending on how the attendant feels that day? IMO, it should be a hard and fast time limit and they should make regular sweeps of the deck. I contend that half the time the "chair hog" chairs are really people just leaving used towels without any intention of reserving the seats (especially as the day wears on).

Those are the Captain's Club levels. Preview = 0 points (hasn't sailed before). Classic means you've sailed before but it's the first level of the club. https://www.celebritycruises.com/captains-club/tiers-and-benefits

Nice fantasy about pretending to be Security but that seems like something that could get you put off the ship if found out or reported. I would treat your previous experience as an anomaly. Not sure what any other solution would be? Not your job to confront unruly passengers. The only recourse is to let the ship handle it. If Guest Services doesn't work, keep escalating. You shouldn't confront them yourselves. If they ask if you complained, act surprised at the notion.

Surprised they haven't changed to the "up-to-date" definition by this point to require the boosters that cover the variants.

My suspicion is that these charges appear when someone who is good at their job takes over the stateroom and reports the current contents correctly, which means that the charges appearing on your folio might be from someone who sailed weeks before you. If it's really the stateroom attendants doing it now, that seems like a cost-cutting measure, too. Would be more consistent to have dedicated people doing that job. There is zero incentive for the stateroom attendant to do a good job with this on top of the other stuff they have to do (and more rooms with less help at that). Really, they should just empty the fridges and stop trying to use them to generate revenue. Have a grab and go type kiosk with that type of stuff in it (that costs money) instead. These after-the-fact charges just breed ill will with customers who didn't really partake.

Seems easily doable to me. South Beach is about 6 miles from the port. You should budget 45 minutes travel time if on a weekday because traffic could be bad, especially if you're leaving during rush hour (7-9am). Without traffic, it would be maybe 20 minutes. Just budget enough time for the return trip to be back before they close the ship. A walking or foodie tour through any company that does shore excursions is what I would look to do, unless you want a beach day. The ports of call board may have some good ideas as well. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

The nuance of this request versus the other is that this OP wants to downgrade her package and upgrade her husband's package at no cost (since she is downgrading hers). I'd be very surprised if they would agree to that. In the other thread(s), people are still paying to move the one package to premium.

I believe the answer is yes, but the function on many websites that have it usually only shows up when someone is available to answer it. You'll need to call in and wait for an agent like everyone else. Or have your TA do it if you booked through someone. You are correct that their website today is no better than it was in years' past. Definitely a frustration with them.

Private chat is not enabled on Cruise Critic.

Not sure who this news story is trying to convince to do what. Guess they're trying to guilt the cruise company into paying something but every cruise contract I've ever signed has been clear on who is responsible for what if you need to depart the ship. These people gambled and lost, or they didn't think anything bad would happen. Just not a risk you can take when traveling, especially as you age, unless you're prepared to sit on a chair outside a hospital in a foreign country. If the boyfriend is recovering, it would probably be cheaper to let him get better there and then have them both fly home on a regular flight. Hopefully all ends well for both.

I have you both beat: my grandparents not only had a phone box like that (well into the 1990s), the inside had been retrofitted to have a rotary dial.

This thread was started last year but someone resurrected it with a new question.

The Infinity first launched in 2001 so it is one of the older ships in the fleet. It is a M-Class ship if you want to research what all that means. It is a smaller ship than the newer ones but lots of fans of that class. Not sure which cruise in March you're referring to (there are several that month) but go to the roll call boards and search there. You will probably find one for this trip. If not, start one. That is going to be the best place to chat with people who have booked it. There may be companion threads for people who booked the same itinerary but for different dates. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/196-celebrity-infinity-roll-calls/ Lots of ship photos here: https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/celebrity-infinity-196/ A recent video walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mn7aALVTuY That is just a random one I picked; there are lot more if you just do an internet search.

If it could be a problem that affects your breathing, then you should take a fan.

X has this weird way of booking in which parts of the reservation get added and reversed over several days after you are confirmed. If you happen to look at your record when this is happening, it can look funky. I suspect that people who pay at the time of booking are getting ensnared in this. Basically, the payment doesn't get applied until after they do all of these ins and outs and something is triggering the system to automatically send these emails that balances are due. There's probably a "right" way and a "wrong" way to do this on their end to keep this from happening, which of course is a bad way of doing it. Where I work, we have one report that if you run it in an attempt to generate a list of people who meet certain criteria, it triggers an auto-email notification to employees who have pending items in the system & you have no idea that it's doing this. It's a useful tool and only a handful of people can even access it, but you have to know to not run it unless you want that email to go out. Something we manage around with a business rule as it doesn't have a big impact internally and zero impact externally. X should care enough that they would address this but they apparently don't. They'd rather waste time and money fixing this when it happens rather than improving the systems so it doesn't.

The problem really is that basic hygiene isn't the driving factor with a respiratory disease. I know lots of people felt cruises were being unfairly targeted early in the pandemic but it's still true that congregate settings put you at more risk of catching COVID. This is why you will still get put in quarantine if you test positive on the ship. It is what it is at this point. Everyone should be prepared with the notion that your chances of getting it are increased and have strategies for dealing with it if it happens. Luckily treatments today are better than they were when cruising was suspended.

If you all have iPhones, Wi-Fi calling is natively built in. You may need your carrier to unlock the function, though. For Android, you'd need to research the device. You should test all of this before you go on vacation. You can do this from your home by just turning your phone to airplane mode, connecting to Wi-Fi, and then trying to make or receive calls. If it doesn't work, then you need to contact your carrier to see what the next steps are to get it activated. Apps like WhatsApp or Google Voice you can test in advance the same way. Probably not a bad idea to test a couple different options and make sure everyone has them on their phones with any accounts needed already set up. Your original question as to whether it always works on the basic package? Reports vary. Some people say you can but many others say you have to upgrade. If you find it doesn't work on basic, you could always upgrade to a higher package once on the ship.

It depends on the fare they're paying for the lower room. On a 7-day cruise, add $1,400 for two people and I can see someone booked in a regular room getting close to the price of a sky suite on some itineraries. I never represented that this is true for all trips and of course there would be lots of caveats. I just don't buy that it's a great deal all the time. It's really a way to wring money out of those who want to add a bedroom to an existing suite.

That program to extend full retreat privileges to guests is also $99 per person per day for the length of the cruise. I bet in many cases the price differential isn't a substantial savings over everyone booking a retreat suite in the first place (and could even cost more). Since they seem to cap the number people who can do this, I bet all-in price is looked at when they're deciding who is eligible to book it in addition to capacity.

I believe Celebrity calls those beds that fold down from above an "upper bed" or "upper berth." Usually a triangle on the deck plans, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure that the Edge class ships have these at all but worth looking at a deck plan. A trundle would roll out from under the sofa bed. One person on the seat area and one person on the trundle makes a "Double Sofa Bed." I'm not sure that I've ever seen a traditional fold-out that would sleep two people; maybe on some of the older ships.

Past reports are that if someone is traveling solo in Aqua Class, they may be allowed to invite a guest to join them in Blu. Only exception that has been reported. Otherwise, no guests. Retreat guests paying for others to join them in Luminae is not guaranteed. Just like retreat guests being able to dine in Blu is not guaranteed. X gives themselves flexibility to manage demand.

You should read about the differences in classic versus premium. The all included is classic. If you want anything on premium, you either pay the difference in price per drink or you can upgrade to the premium package. But your classic package does include water (non-premium brands) and sodas (everything, they serve Coke products). https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/onboard-packages/beverage-packages/compare-packages