LB_NJ

I thought QG was anytime dining with fixed tables. How do you do large tables? Just curious as I previously said we do a 2 top to avoid the issues and we booked Brittania. I do have a friend who will be doing their first real cruise on the QE in QG and they prefer a table for 2.

That's simple.

I will be on a 10-day cruise so there is still a requirement for a COVID test. I am thinking of doing an at home test the day before boarding the plane. Has anyone done this? How do you show the results before boarding?

However, you can't drink the bourbon from the duty-free shop on-board. I assume that if you buy a bottle of wine at a silent auction you can drink it onboard. Also, whether you buy at a silent auction or off the menu is there a 20% gratuity added? I am guessing yes.

How was it?

Anyone try the World Wine Tour this year?

Does Celebrity do wine bin ends at a reasonable discount?

Are bin ends typically the higher priced wines or also the under $100/bottle?

Would the QE have similar (although perhaps a smaller list) of single bottles?

If I bring a bottle onboard and bring it to the MDR ($25 corkage fee?) or buy a bottle at dinner and do not finish it will they store it overnight for dinner the next day?

Once, upon entering a terminal for embarkation they were handing out notices showing 2 ports had changed.

Does Celebrity do Black Friday sales on drink packages? I know Royal typically does.

I understand you have already booked however, the QM2 is really the ship for a TA cruise.

Where is the smoking section on Celebrity Constellation? Don't want to book a veranda anywhere nearby.

The experience has definitely gotten worse. After the restart tried Royal, twice. Never again (bad food, too crowded). We also tried Celebrity Summit and it was OK. Nothing great however we enjoyed ourselves. Good enough that we booked a cruise on the Constellation. If the cruise on Constellation is as good, we will continue booking Celebrity. We will also try Cunard. If not, we will try Oceania (our favorite) before we give up cruising altogether.

We normally try to get a table for 2.

This year I traveled on Celebrity once and Royal twice. I have 2 cruises booked on Celebrity and will never travel on Royal again.

The blog on the Celebrity site says "All your basics are covered with the Classic Non-Alcoholic Package, like fresh-squeezed juices, premium coffees and teas, and bottled water."

I looked at it but decided against it because you can't pre-choose the wines. Wine by the glass (what is in the drink package) may or may not be to your liking. Wines by the bottle gives you more choices. Really only makes sense if you are into wine. In which case you are probably better off bringing on your own wine and paying the corkage fee. A GOOD wine shop is likely to have a much better choice of wines at a better price then what they have on-board.

So, some of the days 9PM was available?

Trying to decide if I should buy the classic non-alcohol drink package (we don't drink enough for the alcohol package). Current price is $14 + gratuities per day (pre-cruise). To me it is just a matter of $ as I will buy what I want on-board and the pre-cruise purchase is just to save a few dollars. My estimate is 2 (single expresso shot) lates or cappuccinos per day, 2 bottled waters per day, and maybe 1 soda a day plus a fresh juice every other day. We will be traveling on Constellation in January out of Tampa if that makes a difference.

It is hard to tell in advance how easy it is to get a reservation once onboard. If you are flexible with both time and date it should be possible to get once you are onboard. However, some things, like chefs table, have limited availability.

From Cunard's website it looks like testing requirements are posted only 90 days out. I am guessing this is due to the changing nature of the pandemic. However, it gets a little difficult to plan for future trips. Any thoughts?

The Celebrity provided obc should show up in cruise planner. When you check out be careful to actually apply the OBC. There will be a place to specify how much OBC you want to use for the purchase.

You can always use them as regular Covid tests.