rebeccac

Not like you have a choice. 🙂 It is usually a fairly small amount. And it will happen even if you have a drink package.

All restaurants that require a fee are covered although the a la carte ones will have a certain dollar limit to them. You can get the details in the terms and conditions of the dining package.

If you ordered a drink at a bar/restaurant before the ship is 3 miles out, you have paid the Florida tax even if you didn't realize it, it goes right onto your shipboard account.

I wouldn't say there was loud music everywhere. Admittedly, I did not spend a lot of time by the pool (too crowded for my tastes and not enough shade). I am also sensitive to loud noises and the only time I used the earplugs was during shows/performances and during Scarlet Night (I only went to the part in the roundabout, not the part by the pool).

The pros of anytime dining is that you can change your time depending on what you have going on that particular day. The con is that you may have a little wait for a table if you are eating during prime times. This is what we always choose and it has worked out well for us (although we have not sailed Celebrity post-pandemic). The pros of set time dining is that your wait staff gets to know you and what you like. Also if you have any major food allergies/dietary needs, you will not have to keep explaining them every time. The cons is that you are bound to a set time and if you miss it, you will likely end up at the buffet which is not necessarily a bad thing, as I find the Celebrity buffets pretty good.

Always a good idea to bring your own supply of bandages and OTC medicines. Much easier (and cheaper) that way.

Which is actually the same as NCL, you can use on board credit for excursions, you just have to wait until you get on the ship to use it that way.

I learned that lesson on the NCL Getaway, when it was so loud in the piano bar that it was literally making me feel nauseated. Admittedly, I may be more sensitive to noise than most. I went to bed before the pool party on Scarlet night, but DH (who wears hearing aids) could not turn them down enough where he could bear it. I'm kind of glad I turned in.

You may want to bring some earplugs. It can get uncomfortably loud. I wore them for the indoor part of Scarlet night and I understand from my DH that the poolside part was even louder.

The July 8 sailing had around 1100 sailors.

My biggest piece of dining advice is to book Test Kitchen when you have plenty of time. It is a long meal (somewhere between 2 and 3 hours). Very tasty and definitely worth doing, but unless you are a very light eater, you may still be hungry afterward. We ended up sharing a pizza afterward. I had wanted the ramen, but I had not realized that at night, they switch from their regular menu to a single option, which that night was a duck ramen which I did not want since I don't eat meat.

During our recent cruise, the cost was $500 per cabana. Since we are early risers and got to the beach club shortly after we could disembark, we ended up being the only people in the rockstar area for at least one hour, so a cabana would not have been worth the cost for DH and me as we had our pick of loungers. Even after that, it filled in very slowly.

Just out of curiosity, what would happen if you replace one of the names with someone who wants to travel solo and then the original person still on the booking is just a "no show"?

We're only sailing as a couple, so the cabanas were completely out of the question for us price-wise, but just out of curiosity, if you book a cabana, they sell out (which all cabanas are gone for our December cruise) and then find a lower price, are you guaranteed to get the new price or is it possible that other people have since gotten on a wait list and you could loose your cabana all together once you cancel your original booking?

The only time I even consider it, is if the price is REALLY close to the cost of purchasing the internet. Even then it is still generally going to be significantly cheaper to just buy one internet package with however many devices you think your family will use at once.

Personally, we avoid the pizza at Sorrento's.

You may also want to ask this question/do a search in the Florida homeports forum.

Somewhere around 48 hours before your cruise, you will be locked out of your cruise planner, so just be sure that whatever you do (or cancel and re-do) happens before that time.

I think the VV tram will drop off at a few locations. On our return from the beach club, the tram did stop at a shopping area.

While there were other things that we enjoyed, the food is the number one reason to at least give VV a try.

Of course, those 1000 people are not just in the US and due to some sort of local laws, there were a certain amount of slots that had to go only to Spain (maybe 50, but I can't quite remember).

All of the cruise lines are taking a while to completely process refunds. We cancelled a Royal Caribbean cruise in December. We got the cruise fare as a FCC in about two months and some of the pre-purchased items were refunded quickly, but the port fees and taxes took 5 months and there are still 2 items we pre-purchased that have still not been refunded (that will involve yet another call as soon as I am able). 14 days is nothing about now. Yes, all lines should be quicker. Patience is the word.

We just got off the Scarlet Lady. I will agree with others that every restaurant is "specialty restaurant" quality, but for no extra charge. The casino is smallish, but the nice thing (for me) is that it is non-smoking (there is a smoking room nearby if needed). VV doesn't really have mini-suites, but you may be able to get some of the starter rockstar suites for close to the same price range which would definitely come with more perks than a mini-suite. They didn't have a stand-up comedian, but there was a nice mix of different types of shows/music. I would have spent a huge chunk of my time in the hammock on our balcony if I hadn't gotten a really bad sunburn day 3, but at least I did get to try it out before that. We have sailed Princess and really enjoyed ourselves, and we wouldn't hesitate to book either Princess or VV.

Although, the nice part about the two ships in the Caribbean from Florida in the winter is that Scarlet will be doing the shorter itineraries and Valiant will be doing longer ones. We just came off a 5 day on Scarlet and it was not nearly long enough.

I misunderstood. I thought the original cancellation was due to the pandemic.