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Posts
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Joined
About Me
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Location
Toronto
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Interests
MEDIA: movies, videogames, reading, music
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Favorite Cruise Line(s)
RCCL... but listing to X
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Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
Caribbean
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bruzin_for_a_cruizin's Achievements
50+ Club (4/20)
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Complimentary Tier Match at MGM Las Vegas
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to chamima's topic in Celebrity Cruises
I am currently Bonvoy Silver, RCL Emerald and MGM Pearl. I travel to Las Vegas every January. When I return, my status reverts to Pearl, so I have to call in to MGM Rewards and have my RCL Emerald status matched to MGM Gold. The room offers are good, but saving the $50/night resort fee is worth GOLD. My RCL status has tier matched me to Celebrity Select, but that gets me pretty much nothing of any value. I can send 2 shirts for pressing, I guess? And while my status is Select, my points are zero so I still have to "earn" all the points to get to Elite. Some may find value, but outside of eliminating resort fees, tier matching has provided nothing of any value to me. -
Celebrity removes loungers from balcony?
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to Salf777's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Keep up the pressure! Demand a response from Celebrity Executives! I believe that most dumb/bad/customer-hostile decisions made by US companies are almost always due to liability issues. If that's the case, at least own up to it, and don't hide behind that stupid and clearly not-the-case "safety concerns" excuse. I book SV cabins on E-class ships exclusively, and a big part of that choice is because I know those balconies are large enough to support at least one lounger along with the table and chairs. Will I get a refund -- even partial -- now because the experience on my next sailing will be diminished? Who wants to take that bet? -
Celebrity removes loungers from balcony?
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to Salf777's topic in Celebrity Cruises
This is why we can't have nice things. People suck. -
Do we need to know how to swim for the baths?
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to Derbie's topic in Tortola
I'm on the Apex Nov 30 sailing, which includes our first visit to Tortola. I do see two ship excursions: The Baths, Swim and Snorkel (which indicates a 300-yard swim) and Explore Virgin Gorda Baths (which has no mention of a swim, but says "Participants must be able to walk down an inclined 300 yard trail over stones and wooden steps.") My wife is not a strong swimmer, so I suspect the first option is totally out for us. Can anyone with knowledge confirm the second option doesn't have a long swim required? -
Currently holding 180 shares @ avg price of $79.89 after I sold off 20 shares at $133. I don't really need the cash right now, but I'm thinking of selling 20 shares a day every day it stays above $135. Doing the math, if I sold 100 shares at $135, I would pocket $5500 in profit. I would have to take 55 cruises to make that back in Shareholder Benefit...
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Single best Tortola recommendation for 50 year olds
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to Spencer71's topic in Tortola
This is a great thread. Thanks for the input. My wife and I will be visiting Tortola for our first time this November on Celebrity Apex, and I was hoping for a "uniquely Tortola" activity. Looks like the Baths is it! We are scheduled to be in port from 7:00-2:30. There is a ship excursion to the Baths for $110 p/p for 4 hours, departing at 7:30. Looking at the ferry schedules (Ferry schedules (sensationferries.com) and speedysbvi bviferries I'm deducing that Celebrity is using Speedy's and placing passengers on the 7:45 ferry from Road Town, returning on the 11:30 from VG. That's really the only ferry schedule which will work with our port times. Understanding all that, it seems as if the ship excursion will be almost 2x the cost of booking the exact same trip directly. So, some questions for you more-experienced travellers: 1) Are my assumptions correct? 2) Is 3 hours at the Baths sufficient for the experience, or should I just look to go to a beach nearer to Road Town? 3) What is the ferry ride like? My wife did not have a good ride on the Cozumel-Playa del Carmen ferry, and I'd rather not subject her to 25 minutes each way of retching. -
Beyond - Best Infinite Verandah (IV) location?
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to rodndonna's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Yeaahhhhhh.... you might want to do a search here on the IV cabins. As @highway180 says, some here love them, and RCL has built them into the Icon-class ships, so there must be some amount of demand for a larger cabin with a big window. If your expectations are properly set, you should be fine. If you're expecting a balcony in the traditional sense of the word (or in the dictionary sense of the word! LOL!), you'll be disappointed. -
Beyond - Best Infinite Verandah (IV) location?
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to rodndonna's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Why set yourself up for what will likely be disappointment? If you had originally intended to get an SV, and you do "love afts," why would you spend your hard-earned vacation dollars/time on a cabin category which most self-affirmed balcony-lovers most assuredly do not enjoy? With all due respect, OP, curiosity seems a poor excuse to intentionally potentially self-sabotage a vacation! Go with your first instinct. The E-class SV cabins are spectacular. The E-class IV cabins are a disappointment to most (although some people like them, and others do all sorts of mental gymnastics to convince themselves they like them). -
The satellite-broadcast sports on-board tend to more International matches: a lot of cricket & soccer. On our last cruise, I had hoped to catch some NBA basketball, but only one game was picked up, as the other TVs had cricket.
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Scuba Excursion through Celebrity Questions
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to hevnsprncs's topic in Celebrity Cruises
I did the GC/A/B/C itinerary a few weeks ago, diving in each port. For GC I used the ship excursion, as it is a tender port and I didn't want any issues. I also used the ship excursion for Aruba because of our late arrival in port, but Bonaire and Curacao I booked privately. In Grand Cayman, the operator was a short walk from the pier. The boat was in good repair, and the group was only 6 divers, which is what I would consider my upper limit for a "small group" excursion. The diving was satisfactory (Meridian Drop-off and Lonestar Ledge), and if the excursion could be had at a decent price, I wouldn't hesitate to book it again. -
Sunset Verandah on the Edge - questions?
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to debfed65's topic in Celebrity Cruises
We were in SV 8332 on Beyond just a couple weeks ago. There was no lounger upon embarkation, but we asked the stateroom attendant to bring one. He hemmed and hawed, but when we returned to the cabin after dinner, there was a lounger. There certainly is space, even with two chairs and a side table. SV is now my favorite cabin category. I wouldn't sail in an IV for free (well, maybe if the drink package was included!), and the SV is quiet and peaceful. No issues with soot at all. As they say, "Wake View is the Best View!" -
Beyond does have a pretty spectacular Elephant sculpture, though...
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Aruba or Curacao for an experienced diver?
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to Advanced Diver's topic in Scuba and Snorkeling
Harris' recommendations are always spot on. I'm heading out on Beyond next week for a GC/A/B/C cruise where I'll be diving at all four port stops. For Curacao, I will be diving with Caribbean Sea Sports because I didn't want to do shore dives there since we're also diving Bonaire. I've never dived Curacao on earlier visits there, so I'm hoping for a good experience with this operator. -
Celebrity November and Black Friday Event Flyer
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to mahdnc's topic in Celebrity Cruises
I know that all of us CC citizens look at the various cruise line sales the same way. "Bemused" would be the polite way to put it. I just don't understand how they can continue to get away with it. I am always surprised general vacationers are so obtuse they can't figure out "40% off each guest!" is pretty much the same as "80% off second guest" or "kids sail free!" or whatever nonsense verbiage the cruise lines use to promote their non-sales. It's all the same. The best strategy remains to book far in advance using one of the larger group-booking agencies and monitor pricing for a possible price drop. -
Shareholders Credit/Royal Caribbean Shareholder
bruzin_for_a_cruizin replied to Miss Studio's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Does anyone know if there's a way to check Order History to see how purchases have been billed? I'm fairly certain I applied for the shareholder benefit, and pretty sure it was in my account and applied to the excursion/dining purchases I made. But Order History doesn't break that down, and my memory is awful these days.