abbydancer2003

We did Antarctica "drive bys" in 2010 on Princess, and 2019 on X.  Princess had top notch naturalists, Celebrity had a radio personality reading wikipedia.  I've done a couple of cruises on the Sapphire, and she's one of my favorite Princess ships.

Have a blast.

Quick update from the rest of today.  The flight was on time.  United now offers advanced meal selection in first/business class.  Last time I had the frittata thing that wasn't very good, so for today I'd ordered french toast.  It was apparently "Brie and Apricot" French toast.  Another thing I won't order again.  The brie in it didn't really go with it, and there was no syrup or anything.  The mango compote with it was good though.  

Note to self:  Simple is best.

Flight was on time, but the tournament that I was watching on Chopped wasn't over.  In addition to the final episode, I want to see who the last heat winner was.  There was about 2-3 minutes left on it when we started deplaning, so I sent Glen off and watched the end.  Hopefully I can see the finale on the way home.

As we were heading to the train to the terminal I looked at the hotel location, and realized it was less than 2 miles from the airport.  So I called, and they told me they did have a free shuttle, just call after we got our bags.  I don't know why I didn't know this before.  

Luggage to a while to arrive, but once it did, we found the shuttle waiting stop and within 12 minutes he was there, and we were in our room.  We were supposed to have dinner with friends from a cruise several years ago, but they had an issue with her parents, so we were on our own.  Driving to the hotel we passed a shopping center and a lot of restaurants nearby.  We decided to walk to one.

After getting to our room, checking out the concierge lounge and talking to my sister for a while, we decided to walk to the LongHorn steakhouse, a restaurant not found near us.  On the way out I asked about their shuttle and it will go anywhere in a 2 mile radius.  (Restaurant is, but we decided to walk.). However the port is about 5 so they won't take us there.

Before leaving, I checked to join the waitlist on the restaurant website, but it said a 0-15 minute wait.  SInce we were about 20 minutes away, I figured we should just go.  

20 minutes later, we arrived at the restaurant and the lobby was very crowded.  We were quoted a 20 minute wait.  You win some and you lose some.  However our wait was only about 6 minutes and it turned out that there were 2 10+ parties ahead of us, so they could get us in right away.  

We spent about an hour there having steak, salad, baked potato and iced tea.  They offered both sweetened and unsweetened iced tea, and our server was very amused that in the SF area, the only way in most places to get sweetened ice is by adding sweetener yourself.

We came back to the hotel, and I'm writing this, and as Glen said when I started, "It's only 6:30 our time".  However, we've been up since 5am, so I'll wrap this and say good night.  Tomorrow Arie and Cheryl join us around lunch time, and our adventure really begins.

Good Morning everyone.

Greetings from what's starting to look like my home away from home, the E gates United Club at SFO.  It's been two+ weeks since our last cruise, so I guess it's time to go again.  This time we're heading to Tampa, where we'll join the Constellation on Friday for a 12 day cruise to the Southern (and far west Caribbean.  It will be a new ship for us, which is, I believe our penultimate (I love that word) X ship besides the Galapagos to sail on.  (Millennium is the last).  We're also visiting 2 new ports, Colon Panama and Porto Limon, Costa Rica.  We also go to Cartagena Columbia.  We were last there on our honeymoon in 1998.  We booked this because our friends Arie and Cheryl @StartrainDD booked it and asked us to join them.  Seemed like a good idea, and we got one of the big Aqua sky suites, last one available (more on that when aboard).

We get to Tampa at around 5, and will have dinner with friends from Glen's very first X cruise back in 2017.  Tomorrow our friends will drive up from the east coast of Florida, and we'll hang out with them, and then board the ship on Friday.

Yesterday was just the normal packing, and last minute pharmacy run.  I did learn it's hard to find reef safe sunscreen in the Silicon Valley.

  Our driver picked us up at 6 this morning, and we got through security in 6 minutes, in spite of it looking busy.  We board in an hour.

I'll get mine while on the Constellation, earning even more points.

3 hours ago, krueg2828 said:

Can you take a picture of the menu?  I’m considering booking, but have dairy allergy and don’t eat gluten.

The last post was in September.  You can google Luminae menus, though.

They're very good about working with food issues.

On our Apex cruise, we didn't really miss the dedicated butler too much.  We got our morning coffee, "plated", Head Butler got our device connected to the TV, and that was all we asked for. 

On the other hand, I didn't feel there was anything special about calling the room steward a "Retreat Host".  All he did was standard stuff very well, laundry and made sure we had water in the room.  He never filled the ice bucket, but I didn't ask him to.

We have cruises booked with X, mostly under the old tips included promotion.  We booked one for 2025, one for 2026, and got 4 "book later".  Those will probably end up being refunded.  We prepaid the tips on what we have, and the price ended up being not a lot more than what we've been booking before they removed them.

By the time we get to the 2026, we should be zenith.  At which point we'll move to Aqua or elsewhere.  We're already branching out and trying new lines.

12 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

No way anyone would pay the sky high Sky Suite fares today without the lounge access. We booked an RCL cruise last year and when we found out their "Junior" suites had no lounge and very limited suite dining at Sky Suites prices, we canceled and booked on the Equinox for the same itinerary.

I booked one of the lower ended suites, because I wanted access to everything.  I think, pricing it out, It was a little more expensive per day than the next week in a Sky Suite on the Apex.  No butler, limited perks, but 2 room stewards, and I really wanted to try RC.

8 minutes ago, Terre said:

I believe he is.  Very nice guy.

Thanks - hopefully he's not going home in the next month.  (His FB page implies that he's not at the end of a contract).  He's a good friend.

Great review - we're on the Beyond in February.

Quick question - do you know if Daniel in Eden is from Romania?  If so, he might be our awesome Retreat Lounge Bar tender from the Summit in 2021.

10 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Limited access to Luminae....does that mean breakfast only?  😉

If they're suggestiong the Royal Caribbean model, dinner if space.

FWIW, on a cruise last year, we went to Tuscan on the first night with a discount.  They did tell me that because we had a discounted rate, we didn't get our Elite Plus discount.

8 minutes ago, Steve2024 said:

Has anyone received their points yet?  I watched it twice to make sure I got it.  I am hoping to get the points prior to January 14.

They'll show right around January 14.  Usually not before.

Very interesting thread.  I've got no set plans for Alaska at this time, but I've done it 7 or 8 times (we live in California so not too bad - closer than the Caribbean).  I also did the land portion of the cruise tour in 2021, when they opened their lodges because they thought there wouldn't be an Alaska season.  (There wasn't for the interior, just RT Seattle that year).

And like many of you I'm a hyper-planner.  DH says that if I think something is worth planning, it's worth over planning.  He doesn't want to hear anything until a month before because he's sure I'll change it.  So this is fun.

Some notes for you all.

First, Taku Lodge is an amazing experience.  It's great for Glacier viewing.  If it appeals, there's absolutely no reason to pay the ships price.  The office is right next to the pier, and the folks on your excursion will be a mix of how people bought it.  In other words, exactly the same.  They're great people.  We were supposed to go in 2020, and they honored that price through 2 rescheduled (2022 was the charm).  

And by the way, if you see an excursion that's easy to get to on your own, and it's the same price on the ship, book direct.  These are usually local operators, and if you book direct they get all the money, whereas through the ship, I'm pretty sure they take a cut.

In Ketchikan, I think you can buy lumberjack show tickets when you get there.  And something no one has mentioned - there's a Duck tour.  It leaves right from the pier.  I've never done it, but it's on my list.  There's also a salmon ladder that's interesting at the right time of year (when they're running).

Feel free to ask questions.

2 hours ago, wahooker said:

 

 

However, all were wearing Celebrity uniforms and name tags, so this is obviously some being paid either directly or indirectly through Celebrity, and the responsibility for making sure that the issue is taken care of is Celebrity, whether it is an employee or a contractor they hired.

 

 

I am very sorry this happened.  But just to clarify - Celebrity does not hire the contractors.  The check in staff work for the port.  The next day they will maybe be in a Norwegian uniform and name tag.  Celebrity does need to work with the port people to make sure this doesn't happen again.

I'd also send a copy to the port everglades port authority.  

Thank you.  We board in just under 2 weeks for the same itinerary.

1 hour ago, gordiej said:

 On the positive side, the red wine bottles we had at Blu were served at roughly proper temperature. (Prior experience is they're usually way too warm and always needed to be chilled on ice for a bit). 

Fun fact - people think reds don't need to be refrigerated because they're supposed to be served at room temperature.  They are, but that's room temperature in Europe in the winter prior to central heating.  So today, slightly chilled.

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I was just using it to hold a room until my Travel Agent was back in the office.    On both of mine it expired at 48 hours from when I made the booking and then was able to put it back on hold again.

 

This weekend I've been having trouble logging on.   I almost always have to put in my credentials 2x before it takes me to my bookings.  

I was able to log in, but when I went to look at my upcoming cruises in the Tier and Points area (I wanted to see where I'd end up with everything booked currently) it said I have 0 upcoming cruises.  Too bad, since I board the Constellation in 13 days, and have a total of 14 in the next three years. 

I've done it twice, once on Princess and once on Celebrity (Eclipse).  First time it was rough, second time "Drake Lake".

6 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 7-days is too short -- We really want 11-14 or more days.  

 

 If I have to do 7-day, we'll look for a back to back. 

 

That's what we're doing, more or less.  In January 2025, we're doing 7 days on the Sun Princess, then a night in a hotel, then 7 on the Ascent.

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

And doing them from Port Canaveral and Tampa, just like Carnival and Royal. For us a 7 day cruise is now too short.

Agree, and if I want a 7 day cruise, I'll do Princess out of Los Angeles - a one hour flight.  

4 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Jim, are you always the first one to log in after the booking has been made?

I know I am for us, and yet I had to use Glen's last name to bid.

4 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Yes, I did that, It keeps coming back with the booking is ineligible.  There's no reason for that, since I can do it for my February cruise just fine.

I figured it out.  It's in my husbands last name.  They're different.  I went ahead and bid.  We're in an Aqua sky suite, and I don't love the location.  I called to downgrade, but I'd pay more and lose considerable perks.

5 minutes ago, Joker54 said:

If you are indicating that you haven’t received moveup offers, there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason why some get those notes and some do not.

 

you can go to the moveup site and enter booking details and if your eligible you should be able to make a bid - it is the Solstice 

Yes, I did that, It keeps coming back with the booking is ineligible.  There's no reason for that, since I can do it for my February cruise just fine.

2 minutes ago, Joker54 said:

Solstice hasn’t been revolutionized, so no retreat deck like other ships.

Yes, I know that, but what does that have to do with not being able to bid?

13 hours ago, Joker54 said:

Just received a moveup offer for a 13 night cruise from Singapore to Australia. With all the recent changes going on at X I decided to dive into the terms and conditions and there is one sentence indicates to me that you would get nothing extra other than the room in a move up. Here is a direct quote

 

"Any promotions associated with the original booking will remain in effect. The Upgrade will not be eligible to receive any promotions or benefits that are applicable to the stateroom had it been originally booked at that stateroom category."

 

Seems to me that if you don't receive any benefits related to the new room that you would not get unlimited free dining in pay restaurants etc.....

 

The move up bid from a Sunset SS to the PH is reasonable, but we are not going to bid.

 

Curious how others read this

 

Cheers

If this is solstice, I didn't get it.  And I want to try.  And the agency is eligible.