TeeRick

My son and I would enjoy playing shuffleboard on RCCL cruises when he was younger. I have not seen this on any Celebrity ship.

I have not been able to find a "trip only" policy without medical benefits. That would be nice to complement my GeoBlue plan. Some people do this additional trip coverage by relying on their credit card travel coverage benefit (for free). Can you switch to one of those CC's? I think a trip-only policy would still be quite expensive comparatively if it existed. Because those trip cancellation or interruption benefits are the costly items and most risky to the insurance companies in terms of numbers of possible claims. Yes a Med Evac claim would be expensive but very, very infrequent so low risk to the insurance company.

It is actually two different things. I will speak for us. It is different for everybody. 1) We buy the GeoBlue medical policy (Trekker Essential) which is annual and covers all of your trips and vacations for an entire year. If you travel outside the US it is worth it, whether it is cruising or a land vacation. GeoBlue is a backup to our primary medical insurance. They have a health network in almost every country. It is pretty inexpensive. 2) For cruises, a separate travel policy is needed if you are worried about trip cancellation and disruption, lost luggage, the usual stuff. These do come with some medical coverage benefits too. Maybe for a single trip (cruise) this is all you need but it is generally very expensive. So we personally choose not to buy it. We are more worried about a major medical event and cost of that. The travel cancellation stuff is a risk we choose to take.

Ok no problem at all. I was just reporting on my policy from GeoBlue. There are different ones. I have the Trekker.

I have the annual plan for multiple trips. It covers $500k for Medical Evacuation.

Huge problem since the pandemic. There are a number of reasons. For cruise industry, it is also an issue beyond recruiting. It is also proper training.

Thank You @Georgia_Peaches.

I may be wrong but I do not believe they are purposely and actively cutting staff. It is just hard to recruit them and fill their vacancies. And there is a lot of shifting of experienced staff to a new build (Beyond, and soon Ascent) when it launches. And think about the number of huge new ships from all lines being built and launching. There is just not enough staff to recruit across the industry.

I agree that you need extra medical coverage to deal with possible medivac events and major uncovered medical expenses. We use GeoBlue for this and get a 1 year annual policy. Pretty inexpensive. As for trip protection, interruption, lost luggage, etc. the travel insurance for that is pretty expensive in general. Sometimes we do not get that and take the chance and self-insure. But it depends entirely on your own personal financial situation and level of risk.

With StarLink this is much less of an issue these days.

Very interesting! Did they also carry cassette tapes, plastic disposable cameras, laser discs?😀

You can find the payphone in the Sky Lounge on E-Class ships.

Yes this family hours policy is a good example of The Needs of the Few Outweighing the Needs of the Many. Reverse Spock logic!👽

I have not even heard the term walkie-talkie for at least twenty years. 🙂

Thanks for your bar reviews and rankings and providing your reasoning. I agree with the three bars that you list here. Love the World Class Bar. I would add the Martini Bar to my list but only at a time when it is not crowded, busy and noisy - ie, not early evening when everyone is there before dinner.

Dear @Wendylvs2travel there are a few other areas here on Cruise Critic where you can ask this type of question if you do not get the answers you need here. 1) Your Roll Call for your cruise 2) or this link https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/148-british-isleswestern-europe/ 3) or this link https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/544-uk-cruisers/ Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for your opinions. For specialty dining on Celebrity, the online reservations fill up quickly especially at the better times. Months before the cruise. Even for suite customers. Once we board, we go directly to one of the Specialty Restaurants. There are plenty of open times available. We were recently told by a maitre 'D on Equinox that they hold 40-50% back until people board the ship. Then release them. I think that is a fair policy.

I agree with all of you who support that the Solarium area should be adults only at all times. No Family Time hours. No cold weather exceptions. No kids in hot tubs. There are usually very few kids anyway on the cruise, but they have the whole pool area.

I sail both RCCL and Celebrity often. They are not the same. There are key differences in culture (amusement parks vs quiet adult oriented). A lot of comparative threads on these differences. Even on their newest ships. A big difference is the smoking policy (in the casinos). I agree they are both pushing cost savings in different and similar ways, and every cruise line is pushing this right now. Not sure why everything becomes boiled down to lobster (🙂). I find the number of posts and threads on this very odd - but maybe just me.

We every so often get a post that asks the question - "Royal just did this, will Celebrity follow?". They are two different cruise lines, even though owned by the same corporation. There are many differences. Celebrity generally does not automatically adopt RCCL changes. Does Princess or Cunard adopt changes by Carnival, even though all owned by the same corporation? No.

We were on Equinox recently. You cannot use it at the World Class Bar either.

They sometimes check on the first morning. Even so, they will let her in with you.

This is a short and sweet answer- and what the majority of people do.

There is a special Elite happy hour drink menu. It is a limited selection. Nothing premium.

Thank you, I value your opinion(s).🙂