letsgogogo

On 8/28/2022 at 4:00 AM, the penguins said:

I entirely agree with tipping extra for an extra service and we do it on every cruise.

The suggestion in this case was to offer a "little something" in order to get what you want which , in my opinion, changes a tip to a bribe. 

Ummmm methinks a bribe is paying someone to break the law, commit a crime for their benefit, or something that causes real harm to others as a consequence…like say cutting the liver donation line. I’d hardly call slipping a $10 bill to a service worker to look out for your dinner table preferences…a bribe. I always tip my cabin steward $50 on day 1 as a down payment for outstanding service. If this cabin steward is especially helpful above and beyond others in my cabin class who did not tip on day 1, does this make my tip a “bribe?” After all, there’s no guarantee that the front tipped employee will deliver. Come on. Tipping is (typically) a means to better or personalized service. I tip again at the end of the cruise if service was great. Sorry y'all. This is life. Your choice to not tip more or more often does not mean my tipping in advance is a bribe. It’s hospitality service we are paying for when we tip. Not money laundering or human trafficking. 

1 hour ago, ScottC4746 said:

Sounds like the X is a very welcoming and inclusive line. 

Few Celebrity passengers are first timers with X. The majority have already cruised on Celebrity multiple times. These passengers are accustomed to and comfortable with sailing with lots of lgbt+ clientele. They are not shocked or upset by men dancing together. You have nothing to worry about. Side note…our first cruise was an Alaskan sailing on solstice. (Yes, we were the first timers.) On one evening a ton of straight married guys were quite tipsy and attached themselves to our group of gay newly made friends on the ship.  We had quite a fun night in Quasar, the on ship disco. (They figured out we like to have fun!) plenty of flirting but all well behaved. If anything, the rare straight passengers who are uncomfortable with out lgbt people would likely be uncomfortable realizing that they are the only straight people uncomfortable with the gays. Pro ise…You are going to have a lovely trip. Our second sailing on Equinox in the Caribbean was no different. 

Online boarding opens around 45 days before sailing.

Move Up Offer goes out around 60 days before sailing. Be sure you are subscribed to Celebrity's marketing communications through your phone line profile or you will not receive the move up bid notification.

The next level suite up depends on your ship. Depending on how booked various categories are, your move up notification will include options to bid on one or more Of those categories.

For a 5 night sailing I wouldn't pre book more than 1 night in a speciality restaurant as you're missing out on the fine dining experience you are already paying for in Luminae. See if you enjoy a celebrity and then try more speciality restaurants on longer sailings in the future. 

I know this doesn't answer your question (somebody else who knows will do so.) but may I ask what you bid for what type of cabin? Which sailing? Trying to gauge whether my current bids in a sailing next month might be successful. 
 

57 minutes ago, ScottC4746 said:

Our first Celebrity cruise is Friday.  How is the tolerance for an Alaskan cruise for same sex slow dancing in the bars? 

Very much so. Nobody will bat an eye. And there will be plenty of gays on your ship doing the same. 

On 8/13/2022 at 7:28 PM, closecruiser said:

I thought I read something that it changed from 2 per cabin to 2 per person.  Is this correct or wrong.   Thank you.  

Correct. It changed to 2 per person. And if you have a drinks package there is no longer a corkage fee if you want it served in a dining venue. 

On 8/11/2022 at 6:02 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Pretty close, but it is a quality version which requires a Premium beverage package. There are 3 types of German Riesling that I’m aware of, Riesling, Spatlese and Auslese (ice wine which is a dessert wine), and it’s the sweeter of the white Riesling dinner wines.

Close!  Riesling is the grape. Kabinett, Spatlese, and Auslese are industry legal categories which indicate the level of ripeness (and sugar levels) the juice has prior to fermenting. German wine regions are cold. So ripening is the challenge. Higher sugar in grapes means higher ripening and higher (relatively) alcohol content. This has nothing to do with sweetness of the wine. It also doesn’t necessarily indicate quality. Lower sugar means higher acid which makes for very food friendly wines. Higher sugar juice has lower acid which can sometimes mean wine that lacks a crispness. Dry styles and sweet styles are made with all 3. (There are actually more than these 3 categories.) Main difference is stopping fermentation early maintains the sugars for sweeter wine.  Fermenting all the way means a dry wine as all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Icewein is something else altogether. Grapes are left on vines to ripen until fall frost hits. Highly concentrated sugar is retained when the frozen grapes are pressed. This makes a lovely syrupy dessert wine. 

On 8/12/2022 at 5:23 PM, grandgeezer said:

These are the same tenders used in the case of an emergency. If there is a weight limit, they shouldn’t even let the person on the ship if he can’t get on the tender in the case of emergency.

Thanks for your judgyiness while not answering the OPs question. Very helpful. 

The industry has come a long long way and continue to do so. But let's face it. The reality is there's nothing particularly environmentally sound about a gasoline or LNG powered ship traveling the seas for no purpose other than fun. 

On 7/28/2022 at 10:24 AM, Cruisegoer said:

Well unless your rubbing up on someone on a mainstream cruise I don't see what the risk is. 

It is now suspected that it can spread through respiratory means as well. Info from CDC is evolving because it is not behaving like the 2 main strains known in Africa. We got first dose yesterday. 2nd dose is 2 weeks before we sail. 

Should we book this sailing now? Or wait another 6 weeks in hopes that they are offering more OBC or other promotions only available while booking on board?

How did it go?

13 hours ago, trickiedick said:

Celebrity suggest this virtual testing service.   Its been bad luck for me    Tests never shipped even though I paid for expedited shipping  No real answers or assurances.   Anyone have similiar experience.   I am holding out they will arrive, but may start to make alternative plans

 

I ordered a few weeks ago directly from the celebrity site. I received them about 5 days later. 

On 6/9/2022 at 6:09 AM, drakes2 said:

Why would someone pay for a balcony cabin and not use it unless they just like to look outside. Seems a waste of money.

If it’s cold. If it’s raining. 

On 6/17/2022 at 3:15 PM, Whinenowine said:

The best quality-to-price ratios are Tuscan reds, I think.  In particular Chianti (which has come a long way since the faux straw baskets of 40yrs ago) and Brunello.  You can get world-class wines for very reasonable prices.  Given the quality and the high quantity of many of these wines, I'm surprised X and other lines don't carry more in their cellars.

 

I’d second all this for La Rioja wines from northern Spain. Particularly nicer bottles with some age on them already. Such complex and interesting food friendly wine for the money. 

On 6/13/2022 at 8:58 PM, neverlaysup said:

Just bring 2 bottles from home. I love my California Cabernet and nothing on any Celebrity ship is really that special. Just rummage through the cellar and bring some of the good stuff. Even with the Premium drink package, we bring wine from home.

It’s now 2 bottles per adult not per cabin. So bring along 4 bottles!

5 minutes ago, D. B. said:

We were not impressed with the Menu and mostly ordered from the MDR menu.

 Also, we found that Blu was cramped and noisy so we would not bother spending the extra money again for Aqua over a normal veranda stateroom.

Hmmmm. Say more about what you didn’t like about the Blu menu. I have a move up bid for a summit sailing and now I’m second guessing. 

2 hours ago, renji said:

that would be wonderful, but I think what people have been saying is even if there are no premium wines by the glass, they are not offering alternatives but suggesting that you buy a bottle. which seems unfair....they have plenty of bottles and should make a substitution.

Totally agree with you there. 

In many ways, assuming they opened other options to serve as premium, it’s actually more interesting. Might be able to try a wider variety of wines by the glass that normally are only sold by bottle. So many people are Decoy Cabernet fans and were irritated it wasn’t available. Why have one's heart set ONLY on one big chewy (dare I say mass produced) Cabernet? There are so many others to discover.

3 hours ago, gozzy said:

We are thinking of doing a Transatlantic next April. We need some help to choose between the Constellation or the Reflection. Both are similar itineraries ending in Barcelona where we want to spend some time after the cruise. Is there pros and cons between either ship that would help us make our decision . Is there a advantage to be on either the starboard or port side when doing a west to east crossing ? We would appreciate any input. Tks Gary

I’d vote for reflection for only the slightly larger ship and more specialty dining options given the longer itinerary and more sea days. 

11 minutes ago, Dancing Shoes said:

My dress shoe is an open-toe sling back that I will wear.  Can't decide if I want to bring canvas tennis shoes for other nights or an open toe/closed back sandal.  It will be Alaska.  Start packing soon.

 

Since you said you can’t decide… 😏. Canvas tennies perfect for daytime and evening at the buffet. Less so for MDR in the evening or specialty restaurants. 

46 minutes ago, ScottC4746 said:

Well, I am 57 so it is an old term that fortunately isn't needed to be said very often.  No need for code words any longer. 

Scott, Solstice to Alaska was out very first cruise and one of our best trips ever. We met a whole group of super nice guys ranging from late 20's (two newlywed bear cubs) to a few in their early seventies including a German couple. Plus 3 other couples In their 50's. We all ended up going to dinner together most nights after shenanigans at the martini bar. One couple had a suite and even hosted a little soirée for the group. We all just clicked and it was super fun. Even went in some excisions together. Alaska tends to draw a lot of married people and longer term couples.

When we cruised Equinox for an eastern Caribbean sailing it was quite different. A lot of the gay passengers were couples who had just started seeing each other. They were less interested in group socializing outside of cocktail hour. They were all very nice but they were not interested in making new friends as they were preoccupied with their new romance. Could have just been the mix of people on that sailing.even so, there were several longer term couples and while we didn't hang out with them regularly, they were kind and welcoming. 

Anyway I just know you are going f to have a great time. 

On 10/18/2018 at 9:42 AM, dfwguy said:I would not hesitate to complain to mgmt  if you get harrassed by a redneck bigot.  

This is just not going to happen. It's not. 

You two are literally killing me with the cuteness. 

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Wow a bit of stereo typing for sure.    I guess all the straights like to eat early.   Lots of them will even drink with us gays that choose not to drink at the Martini bar. 

 

OK..no insult intended - just got carried away.

 

I'll never forget walking into a large restaurant in Queensland, Au  with a big sign -  No Fags this side  (meaning of course cigarettes)  it did catch my attention.

Jim, again...my apologies. I didn't comment in any way on when straight people eat. My comment was made based on my experience of the Celebrity cruises I have been on. Before my first cruise, a gay travel agent I met on a forum and who was on my sailing had given me some tips on how/where/when to connect with other lgbt on our cruise. He and his husband cruise celebrity exclusively and shared from their experience. Met on embarkation day at the martini bar which is sort of known as a meetup spot. Met about 12 - 16 really nice people who coincidentally or not, all had select dining in order to keep evenings unplanned, and to enjoy cocktails and hanging out for a few hours before going to dinner when ready.  Noticed this same trend on our second celebrity sailing. The gay travelers on these cruises who wanted to connect with other lgbt passengers all somehow knew to find each other this way, and we consistently spotted them all at dinner late, sometimes joining each other and other times having their own date night.