Gracie115

I think the Celebrity Suite is far superior to a Neptune suite which is only one fairly large room. Not only a separate bedroom, but 2 separate entrances into the bathroom, so no one need be disturbed if more than 2 are occupying the room. 2 large flat screen TV's one in the bedroom, one in the living room. The balcony is far larger, especially on the S class hump cabin CS's. Walk in closet on the S class, full dining area with table and chairs on the M class. We were in a Neptune Suite on our one HAL cruise, I think it compares far closer to a Junior Suite on Royal, although it does not have the walk in closet that the JS has. And as you said the perks FAR outweigh what you get in a Neptune Suite. Luminae, the Suite restaurant and Michael's(or now called the Retreat) Lounge are wonderful. I will say the HAL now has "Club Orange" which is a separate dining area that Neptunes have access to, but can also be accessed by anyone willing to pay the up charge. HAL itineraries are however FAR more varied than Celebrity, which is really too bad as we love the Celebrity brand.

Yup that’s what I’ve been saying…… it’s crazy

I wish I had that much trust in people, unfortunately I don't. I do believe the vast majority will do what is right, but there are always, always those that won't and this "protocol" makes it easy for those very people to slide by.

Well that's just crazy....trust in 2-3000 people most of which you know nothing about. At this point they should either leave the requirement of a proctored test, or one done at a medical facility or just eliminate it entirely. I don't care which, I've been vaccinated, boosted and boosted again, but to say you just need ANY test done anywhere with out any medical assistance is goofy and just time consuming for no real purpose. I or anyone can take a test and use the same one for everyone in their group.... goofy.

On the X Website for Italy departures AFTER Sept 5th

For UK, Barcelona, Italy these are the testing "requirements" as of Sept. 5th. Seems pointless with no proctoring required. This is direct from the X website this morning: Sailing Testing Requirements: All guests ages 2 and older must present a negative COVID-19 test result to board their sailing. A negative test result from any commercially available test, including self-tests, will be accepted. Tests do not have to be monitored or proctored. Test results may be presented as a printout, screenshot or photo of the test result or the actual test. Pre-Arrival/Embarkation Covid-19 Test Vaccinated Guests: Must test negative for COVID-19 within 2 days prior to sailing. Unvaccinated Guests: Must test negative for COVID-19 within 1 day of sailing.

That may be but I'm bringing my EMED tests along anyway for our Apex cruise just in case

That's right I forgot about that. Makes me wonder if the cruiseline is trying to help EMED and other labs that may have a large supply of tests available???? This testing protocol is just silly. One person could take a test and then photograph the results 6 times, or however many are in the group, and turn that in. Wonder who thought this up?

These are the new "testing" requirements for sailing out of Italy as of September 5th, and all I can say is "why bother at all" if they don't care how the test is done or whether it's proctored or not.....crazy. Sailing Testing Requirements: All guests ages 2 and older must present a negative COVID-19 test result to board their sailing. A negative test result from any commercially available test, including self-tests, will be accepted. Tests do not have to be monitored or proctored. Test results may be presented as a printout, screenshot or photo of the test result or the actual test.

Is room service available all day long?

On a TA I would pick the Reflection. Even though neither has been "revolutionized" Reflection is about 10 years newer, has more specialty dining venues, the Lawn Club, and many other things that Connie doesn't have. We like the "M" class ships but on a TA the ship with more of pretty much everything would win out. We've done a TA on Reflection and unlike others never found Luminae overcrowded. Michael's would get busy right around 6PM but was quiet other than that.

A lot of mention here on what entertainment is available on the smaller ships, what about the Marina & Riveria and now Vista? We don't need to be constantly entertained but like to have some music to listen to in the evenings. Do those ships provide that?

We will be on the new Celebrity Apex in October in suite class and therefore eating in Luminae. We've always found it excellent, but this will be 1st cruise with them since 2019 so hopefully the quality will still be there. I do agree that Celebrity MDR has taken several steps back in recent years, but Luminae kept us going back. We are looking forward to this cruise but also looking forward to next year's Oceania cruise, our first one.

Thank you for the detailed answer.

I am new to Oceania and while I suspect they do not have fare reductions as some of the mass market lines do I thought I should do my due diligence and confirm this so I don't miss out on potential savings. So here goes, if you book your Oceania trip and at some point before final payment you see a lower price advertised on Oceania website for the same category and same cruise are you able to obtain that lower price through your TA or Oceania direct? We've had occasions to save substantial amounts on other lines but have heard that Oceania does not do this? True or not? Thanks for any help.

Only TA we have used in the past was with the "big box" store. Because we have looked at Oceania over the years, I'm sure at some point over the last 20 years I must have probably clicked on something on the website that said "send me a brochure" and the avalanche began... lol🤪

We've cruised about 30 times. More on Celebrity than any others, but also HAL, Princess, Royal. They just don't send out brochures the way Oceania does. I don't remember the last brochure I received from any of them frankly. I do get a quarterly bulletin from Princess from their loyalty club, Celebrity now sends that out digitally and pretty sure we've never gotten anything from HAL, but we only cruised with once. Don't get me wrong, aside from the massive waste of paper it creates, I really don't care. It is helping to fill up the landfills.

Booked direct...just transferred to TA 2 days ago......

Received 8 this week alone. We have never sailed on Oceania and have been receiving them for years. We finally did book 2 cruises with them in the last month and the number seems to now have increased. 😱😱 I can count on one hand the number I have received from Celebrity in the last several years. A couple of hands for ones from Viking and Regent. I could fill a warehouse with the ones from Oceania. There is a definite disconnect going on somewhere in the marketing department.

Great song!!

It has been in our experience, hopefully that will continue on our first Oceania cruises!!! I'm sure I would try to politely state that the conversation is inappropriate and if it didn't end I would ask for a different table.

Wow, I would have been really upset if this had happened to us. I don't know that I could have remained silent with that kind of incredibly rude behavior. Sorry you experienced this, hopefully it never happens again. Politics isn't a conversation for a table of people who don't know each other, and frequently even those who DO!! I think most people know this, thankfully.

Thank you!!

Is it possible for someone in a Penthouse Suite to make reservations for 4 with the other 2 people not being in a suite?

Love it!!!