MamaFej

@padgman1 was expecting @Whinenowine on the Solstice, but is getting me instead. Kinda lile expecting Caymus, but getting Two Buck Chuck. 😜😜 😜😜

I'm hoping that the folks who are certain that Butlers are being dismissed will share their sources. I am not saying these folks are wrong, I'm merely saying that I find it extremely surprising. On my 5 2023 cruises and 3 2022 Celebrity cruises, several crew members had their contracts involuntarily extended due to difficulty getting enough staffing. From what we were told, there have been backlogs with getting work visas for new and even previous crew members. Crew have been overworked (even more than usual) due to short staffing. I wish I remembered all the names of the people who told us these things. I do recall a few, including a Blu host we'd sailed with on two other ships whose contract was extended twice, and who was hoping she'd be released in time for her wedding. I truly do not understand why Celebrity is getting rid of Butlers, instead of keeping them on the team, allowing for adjusting to a dynamic workload. Even if they aren't keeping them on the team, why not offer them the opportunity to work in places where there are staffing shortfalls? Then again, I don't understand some other things Celebrity does lately.

This made me smile. Thank you for that! My dear friend, who is also my TA, orders a Rob Roy "up" every night before dinner. He always shares his cherries with his lovely wife, also a dear friend.

That is correct. Perhaps we will run into eachother on the Trans-Pac. Enjoy!

Your experience was definitely different from all 5 of our boardings. The staff were plentiful, delightfully friendly, and efficient, but not once were we told about the requirement to stay aboard. We were absolutely not alone in trying to disembark, and it seemed that the onboard security staff were a bit tired of having to tell people they couldn't leave. I'm very happy that your experience was different, and I think it would be wise if they went back to doing things that way. It defintely seems like a better way of doing things than having only one, fairly small sign. As we've disembarked after dropping bags multiple times on multiple continents in the past, it hadn't occured to me it would be an issue. In the future, I'll look into it before boarding. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Definitely! On our first turn-around day, we walked to the Opera House and bought tickets for a tour on another day. We also bought tickets to see the outdoor opera for a later date. It was remarkable! We were sitting in Sydney Harbour, watching an opera, with the Sydney Opera House in the background. We even watched the Eclipse sail away for the three day cruise between our Fiji, Tonga, New Caledonia cruise and our Trans-Pac to Hawaii. We will be doing the reverse Trans-Pac to get back for land time, then the circumnav. Fun stuff.

The turnaround letter, of course, does not come until well after you've boarded the first cruise. We now understand why the hotel offered to hold our bags when we checked out. I wish they had explained at the time. We live. We learn. We try to help others to learn. Folks on the later cruise Roll Calls, as well as on our upcoming October circumnavigation cruise have appreciated the heads up. Sone folks opted to reboard right after zeroing out. We chose to spend time in the delightfully walkable Rocks area and saw more of the gorgeous Royal Botanic Gardens each day. Our last walking day in Sydney was over a month and a half later than the first, and it was so lovely to see how the plants had changed with the season.

We did, indeed. It was beautiful. And, @Jim_Iain, if you decide to do this, you and Iain might consider volunteering to fly in separate planes. They needed one couple to split up, no one wanted to do it, but PapaFej and I agreed to. That led to both of us getting to sit up fron (as it looks like David did). We were able to take pictures of each other, and get quite a bit more window real estate. However, I'm confident that everyone else had great views, too. @mahdnc, if I'm cleared by my doctors to dive in time, I will. If not, I'm sure I'll enjoy the snorkeling.

Back soon... Singapore is acutally our last port. We were supposed to arrive 24 hours earlier. We will probably cancel that cruise in favor of more land time in India and in Singapore for the following cruise. We were doing 5 consecutive cruises, the second and third of which were Singapore to Mumbai, then Mumbai to Singapore, with plans to do different things on the second visit to each port on the reverse trip. Celebrity wins: they will get to sell our cabin at a much higher price than we were paying. We (sort of) win, too, as we will be breaking up the long stretch of cruises with some interesting inland time, then fly to Singapore to join the next cruise. I think. 🤷🏼‍♀️

You didn't ask me, but we did two sets of B2Bs in Sydney earlier this year. You can go back to the ship, if you'd like. However, once you are onboard in Sydney, you're onboard until the next port. We were not told this ahead of time, and there was only one small sign indicating this, that we did not see until cruise 3 of the total 5 we did. In other ports, we have boarded early, dropped off carryons, then gone to explore. We were so disappointed when we tried to disembark, and were not allowed to. If we weren't going to have more time in Sydney later, we would have been even more chagrinned. So, be sure to get some time in Sydney before, between, and/or after your cruises. Also, another thing you didn't ask me about, yet here I am: I have a recommendation for Airlie Beach. We did a flightsseing tour over the Great Barrier Reef/ Whitsunday Islands. It was the top highlight of an 83 day trip with many highlights. Our next trip there, we will snorkel and/or SCUBA dive, but the view from the air was absolutley the right choice for us for our first visit.

They claimed it was due to "port congestion" as if they hadn't booked the berth years in advance. And the letter said nothing about reducing port taxes due to the decreased time in port.

Admittedly without evidence, I am guessing that the "research" was done according to the same standards as that which led the powers that be to decide that passengers want vape aerosols in the casino (and adjacent corridor) and that replacing an overnight port call in Singapore with a Sea Day would "enhance" our cruise experience.

I do not pretend to speak for wineoclock. I have read many concerns about the lack of windows in Blu on E class. I would not be surprised if that is part of their calculus.

I'm intrigued by the idea of the MSC Yacht Club, especially with the loyatly status match. I have not yet found an itinerary and timing that has led me to pull that trigger. We've discovered in the last couple of years that we really like small ship cruising. We are okay with quieter nights and fewer activities. I totally respect that others are not. We love smaller ports, getting farther up rivers and into the interesting parts of cities, many more overnights, and other aspects. I suppose we are pretty darn lucky to even be able to consider such things.

We're sailing from Hawaii to Sydney on the Solstice, then, after some land time to visit Uluru and the Red Centre, we will be on the Coral Princess for a circumnavigation of Australia. It seems that neither of these cruises will entail what we originally booked and paid for. We've got 5 cruises booked on Celebrity in Asia early next year. I've spent quite a bit of time today trying to figure out a way to replace some of those cruises with better values. At this late date, I am striking out, as we got some pretty awesome prices by booking before the dramatic fare escalations. We will most likely cancel one and replace it with land time in India, partly because Celebrity took away an overnight in Singapore, replacing it with a sea day which they "are confident" will "enhance" our experience. They do not, however, intened to reduce the port taxes they are charging us. To steer back to the topic, our only Suite experiences on Celebrity have been on 2 Move Up bids as well as an onboard move up when Marlene, the Michael's Club Concierge pulled us aside when we reboarded a B2B, telling us she had a couple of no-shows, and worked with Revenue to get us an onboard upgrade at a very good price. Our butler/RH on Constellation in May 2022 was impressive. The two we had on Eclipse earlier this year were utterly delightful. I'd hate to see any of them devalued. However, I do see merit in the idea of a team, especially if there are a few passengers who monopolize one or more butlers' time. It could actually speed up response time in some instances, I suppose.

Absolutely! I must admit, it was enormously frustrating to have booked several cruises years in advance with the understanding that we would have room service included, then have it snatched away from us after final payment. Unlike before, when we used to have room service breakfast fairly frequently (and tipping nicely), we only did it three times on our cruises earlier this year, and only on days when we had early excursions. All three times, we were charged $12. All three times, the order was messed up. All three times, there was no time to rectify the situation, and we weren't thinking about it upon returning to the ship later in the day. It didn't seem right to call and complain the next day. Unlike before the charges went into effect, we never got a call asking us how our order was. I do think that people should be grandfathered into the cruise they paid for. Changes should be announced well in advance, with clear communications when they will take effect. Celebrity (and now, Princess) seem to be doing everything in their power to encourage us away from booking with them and toward booking with Azamara, Viking, Windstar, Oceania...

I understand every part of this response except "Sorry, but." I just can't fathom that part. I respect that you feel that way, and I do not intend to diminish your feelings. I just don't get it. *^*^*^*^*^* Edited to add: I had typed the above, then my phone rang, and I stepped away for a few hours. I had not read the intervening posts upon reopening my computer before just clicking to post. I have now. It seems I am most defintely not alone in my assessment of the arrogance. Upon further consideration, I think "I'm sorry" in this case is a colloquialism, more than an apology. I clearly need to sleep more.

Exciting news! Celebrity is now offering new fitness opportunities* *Fees apply Elite Plus and Zenith members save 15%.

We are retired and travel (including RVing) more than we are home. The majority of our cruises are during trips of 4-13 weeks. I definitely could not pack enough clothes for an entire trip of that sort, even I I owned that many. I think that different traveling and crusing styles lead to different needs and preferences. People do what works for them.

This is so true in my experience. My post in this thread #1971 is just the latest (and strongest) example of why an excellent TA is invaluable. It is sheer, dumb luck that I have him. I went to high school with his sister, he was two years behind us, along with my brother. We have become very dear friends, and have traveled together on 4 continents so far, with a fifth booked next year and a sixth booked together in 2025. However, I have seen how awesome he is to people without our personal connection. During the early months of the pandemic, he and his wife came to our back yard every day so she could swim laps in our pool for exercise. He was on the phone nearly the whole time every day, getting dozens of people home, and losing lots of money in commissions in the process. He even spent a couple of weeks working on getting a 16 year old kid and his racing bicycle home from Europe to New Zealand, via two continents and countless volumes of red tape. The kid was not his client, just someone in need of help. The kid's parents were friends of a client. I wish everyone could have someone as awesome as my TA in their corner.

It would be so cool to follow that with a Panama Canal cruise to get home.

Different strokes for different folks. I like all dirty laundry, including what I will hand wash, to be in the same place. I’d also never dream of taking a cabin laundry bag off the ship and to a hotel.

I also bring a pillowcase, but a pink satin one, as it works better for my hair than most. Pink, so I don't forget it. For laundry, we use one of these lightweight, collapsible baskets. On most lines, it fits, out of sight, between the couch and the balcony. On lines with self-serve laundry, it's easy to carry. We put detergent sheets and dryer sheets in the pocket. No stuffed kitty, however.

I absolutely do NOT intend this to be critical, and I hope it comes off as encouraging: if you ever have the opportunity, I hope you will consider visiting South America. I have very much enjoyed it. Alaska, however is my absolute favorite state to visit, and I've been to every US state at least twice, most several times, Alaska 4 times. Enjoy!!!!!

That's great to know. I'm a malignant melanoma survivor. It is extremely unlikely that I would ever forget or run out of sunscreen on a cruise, but I would pay whatever it took to get some onboard if I had to. Don't tell the cruise lines or their revenue partners that I said that.