MamaFej

Then again, many of us paid for a full glass. According to many recent reports, X decided to take out some of the contents of the glass for those of us who are not in suites. I'm cautiously optimistic that my glass will be more full than empty on my upcoming cruises. I hope the same will be true for everyone else's glass as well. .

We were B2B2B onboard Summit late last summer when the announcement was made that the vaccination requirements were being ended. We had three different crew members tell us that they decided they would finish their contracts and not come back. They (and their families) did not want to be stuck on a ship with increased risks of outbreaks and maybe exposures to new variants that their own vaccines might not protect against. I imagine there are folks who didn't originally come back because vaccines were required. I don't know which group is larger. I don't pretend that the folks who mentioned their feelings to us are a statistically representative sample.

In my experience, they appear on or around the 14th of the month after they are earned. I expect the points from this past week's webinar to appear near the 14th of March.

I truly appreciate all the different perspectives. We have never tried an AI, and we've only had three cruises from which we did not fly to the embarkation and/or disembarkation port(s). Before we retired, we only did on two cruise vacation. These days, due largely to the expense involved in flying to fantastic locations, we tend to string together and/or include multiple cruises on trips that we fly to (and/or from). We leave for an 82 day, five cruise trip on Saturday. We have two more big trips with 3 and 2 cruises later this year, and a 6 cruise trip next year. So far, we have one two cruise trip in the planning phases for 2025. Maybe we will incorporate AIs at some point. Maybe we will do a trip that is just an AI someday. I am so grateful to all the people who share their experiences and opinions about different types of travel. You all help me to learn.

I've always said that our kids have had more experiences than things. They are 20, 23, and 27 now, and all very grateful for the experiences we gave them. We still occassionally travel with them, most recently in 2021 to celebrate our 30th anniversary, one college, and one HS graduation. We are hoping for anohter big family trip in 2025 to celebrate a 60th birthday, a 30th birthday, 2 Masters degrees, and a bachelor's. Because they are all so genuinely appreciative, Mom and Dad heavily subsidize the kids' travel costs. If they weren't, we wouldn't.

Welcome, @TwinMamainMN! I'm so glad you have come to join us here. You are creating wonderful memories for your children, and yourselves.

The cool kids get married in August, so I'm not surprised you did, too. 😁

We have discovered that we are not Sit by the Pool or on the Beach at a Resort folks. We need to be more active, as well. different strokes for different folks. As for RVing, we drove our old one to 49 states and parts of Canada. Our new one has been as far north as a few miles from Canada in Montana and as far east as Alabama. We were camped along the Pacific Coast in SoCal last week. We now alternate between long trips and several days to a few weeks in one place. I love the variety that both cruising and RVing afford us. You might be interested in joining the Cruisers who love to RV and RVers Who Love to Cruise thread in the 55+ forum. Don't worry if you haven't reached 55 yet. I started the thread well before I was, and nobody smacked me. This used to be my profile picture here (and probably will be again).

We were camped along Rincon Beach in Ventura County, CA last week. Anacapa Island reminded me of the silhouette of a cruise ship. Time to get back onboard!

I think I'm in cruise withdrawal! As I have walked around RV parks lately, I've really been noticing how many names of makes and models of RVs remind me of cruising. Sometimes, they call to mind names of ships like Reflection, Oasis, and Pursuit. Sometimes it's names of dining rooms or lounges like Symphony (which I think is a ship, too), Rendezvous, or Windjammer. Sometimes it's names of places we've cruised to or visited (or have booked to visit) on trips that include cruising like Tuscany, Outback, or Sahara. Yup. I'm in withdrawal. Good thing we will soon leave on an 82 day trip with 57 nights of cruising! We have 125 nights of cruising and lots more RVing planned this year. Retirement is a good thing!

I had to run off to my second cardiology (Electro-Physiolgy) appointment of the day toward the end, so I have no idea what the Beach, Red, Cheese, Amalfi Coast bit is about, but I actually enjoyed the parts I did get to watch. Life can be very short. Enjoy as much of it as you can while you can.

I agree. Two of my kids teach middle school. The student productions at both schools are much higher quality than the first many webinars. This one was leaps and bounds better than previous ones, and was acutally interesting. I appreciated the captains speaking off the cuff, joking, and even laughing. I'm glad I didn't just have it running in the background this time. Well, I started out that way, but kept hearing things that made me tune in, so I eventually just actually watched.

Uh oh! LLP went Off Topic druing the webinar. I wonder if people will have a fit. 😉

And they are generally quite friendly. Many folks may think it's silly, but one of my favorite things about Celebrity is that, almost without exception, every crew/staff member you pass will greet us. Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. I always reciprocate. I have also found that most passengers on X greet each other as well. I grew up RVing, and still do. RVers tend to wave at each other when passing on the road. Experiencing something similar while cruising makes me happy. And extra tipping? Yes, that's part of the cruising experience for us. I respect that extra tipping is not necessarily part of the experience for everyone. I do NOT respect removing auto-gratuities. It is simply part of the cost of cruising at this time, whether anyone likes it or not.

I thought that solo passengers could participate in Move Up by paying twice the bid amount. I hope that the cruise works out well for all of you. I wish we could talk my dad into coming with us sometime. He can afford it, we just can't seem to convince him that he would not be a burden or distraction. I'm so happy you will have this experience. Enjoy!

Is it possible for the FIL to put in a Move-Up bid that would be less than the $2k to move to Aqua? Would OP be able to help financially to increase the odds of that happening? I do not pretend to know the family dynamics, nor if this was already tried. I mean no offense, I'm just offering a suggestion of what might be options.

Mine has 2121 fewer points than I wish I had.

We appreciated the expanded RS menu on our 2019 cruise in Concierge on the Reflection in June of 2019. I suppose it's just another example of X's inconsistency.

Kotor, obviously. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Welcome! I imagine that you will find that most posters here on Cruise Critic are friendly and helpful. While I have not sailed on any Edge class ships, and cannot help with most of your questions, I can offer a bit of advice for the day you sail into Motor, Montenegro. I am so grateful that another cruiser told us about what a beautiful sail-in it is. Based on her advice, we got up very early and went up to a top deck to enjoy the views. We were on a ship where all folks were allowed on all deck areas. You might consider editing out the links you posted, as promoting travel agents or sites with cruise booking deals is not allowed on this forum. I'd hate to see your thread removed before your questions are answered. Also a wee warning: cruising can be addictive. It's a wonderful addiciton to have.

Congratulations, Eagles and fans!

Pork in one DR and beans in another?

Pretty darn exciting so far.

From the FAQs: Viking vessels are generally nonsmoking. In order to accommodate guests who choose to smoke, there is a designated outdoor smoking area on the starboard side of Deck 8. All other areas of the ship, including your stateroom and veranda, are designated nonsmoking areas. Smoking restrictions also apply to e-cigarettes. -------- We did not notice smoking when we were onboard last August.

Absolutely! Next month, we are flying to the South Pacific/Australia/New Zealand for a five cruise, five flight, seven hotel, twenty-nine tour, eighty-two day trip. Almost all of this was pre-paid before X instituted the new fees and cutbacks. We are going in hoping not to be disappointed, but well aware that we might be, based on current reports. We will reevalute our other six booked X cruises after these. We spent decades living very, very frugally in order to have the retirement of our dreams. We are determined to enjoy it. We hope that cruising with Celebrity will continue to be something that we enjoy.