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Yes, Cafe al Bacio was open. There isn't an OV bar listed on the planner and I'm trying to picture where it might be on an M Class ship. I've always just gotten my drinks from the Sunset Bar when I'm in that area.

How many bars are normally open when the ship is in port? Don't most of the bars not usually open until 4 or 5 on a port day? Just looking at my Constellation daily planners from my last cruises. The pool bar and the sunset bar usually opened starting in the morning. Sometimes (but not always) one other opened at 1. But otherwise, they opened at 4 pm or later.

Giving people who don't share your religion something religious isn't necessarily positive for the person you are giving it to. And crew are way too polite and depend on tips/survey responses such that they aren't going to tell you if they are offended or uncomfortable.

Sure can, as long as it is one of your 2 bottles of wine per person. FYI - If you drink it in a lounge or restaurant and you don't have a drink package, you might be charged a corkage fee. (No corkage fee if you open it in your cabin. You are free to carry glasses of champagne to anywhere on the ship.)

I don't follow how either of those examples (or anything I have seen on CC) is "not allowing other people to have an opposite opinion". In both cases, aren't they just someone expressing an opinion. Or should we not allow them to have their opinion? You can read on to the next comment to find one that is more helpful to you. And if certain posters regularly make comments you don't like, you can ignore them. And if you get to the point where you don't find any comments helpful, you can go elsewhere to get your information. The only people on CC who have the power to allow or not allow comments are the moderators who can remove individual comments, entire threads, or lock threads.

If you always like to eat early and you are not on an Edge class ship, you may want to try to switch to early dining with a group that size. Then you would have no wait, you would get the same table and the same wait staff every day.

Will you miss having access to the spa? Would you normally upgrade to the premium beverage package and/or premium internet? Both Blu and Luminae give you that specialty dining feel so how much is access to Luminae really worth to you? Would you make use of a butler and/or concierge? Do you want to have access to an exclusive lounge (Michael's) or are you the type to prefer exploring the rest of the ship? Do you like to take advantage of room service (which is still free to suites)? We personally have really enjoyed the Retreat on the Constellation which is not revolutionized but you may be different. Maybe think through some of these questions to see if the value is there for you.

@Cdncruisecpl It looks like you joined CC this month. I don't know if you were reading the boards anonymously before then but Celebrity started making changes in earnest shortly after the new year that I think really hit home for a lot of cruisers that love Celebrity. Posts have been more negative than usual. And people's responses to posts has been from the perspective of an unhappy customer which I suspect is why they are questioning happy posts even more than normal (although I still think there is a lot of balance here if you look for it). I still enjoy reading these boards because I think there is value in hearing others' experiences although I always filter it through what is important to me and what I look for in a cruise before assuming my experiences will be the same.

Yes, I have seen quite a few instances where people express skepticism against fairly new accounts where the first post is negative.

Celebrity's website still shows Grand Cayman at least for the March 9 and April 6 sailings. The FB post I saw was from someone panicking because of something they saw on a third party website (a website that has not been 100% accurate in my experience) and had not received any actual notice from Celebrity. Have you seen something different?

I personally don't like Carnival but we occasionally end up on Carnival cruises because that is our closest cruise port or they get us to a port that we want (like Progresso to see Chichen Itza). I prefer Celebrity because it is a quieter cruise, they handle my dietary restrictions better than most, they have good cabin sizes, and they get me out on the ocean. We cruise all lines but we keep coming back to Celebrity because I think the product is better than other lines. I personally don't think anyone (but the cruise line) benefits from you being loyal to a particular line so encourage you to give Celebrity (or other lines) a chance.

In a Sky Suite, I would book ahead of time. But if the times you want aren't available or you want to make changes once on board, I have found that the Retreat Concierges are more helpful than the butlers for reservations. They seem to have direct access to the system.

Buffet or the pool grill. Sometimes Sushi on 5 (specialty) has been open for lunch embarkation day.

ALLINCBOGO60 looks like the current promotion for refundable fares, all included (buy one get one 60% off) SVOBC OFFE related to an onboard credit offer

Move-up bids There used to be some last minute cruise only guarantee suites but I don't know if I have seen them lately. Possibly some casino rates? Your invoice should let you know whether you are one of those exceptions.

This is all about supply and demand. For some reason, every cruise we look at the difference is much greater and so we have never booked Aqua. For our January 2025 Ascent cruise (7 day), the difference is $1,400. The difference is even greater when you consider the fact that we don't make enough use of the AI to justify the cost of it. Taking away AI from the Concierge Class fare (but adding in gratuities), the difference is $2,270.

Assuming your booking isn't one of the few exceptions, all suites including Sky Suites of any kind get the premium beverage package, premium wifi, and gratuities included. Your invoice should have codes that list all these benefits.

You can have an amazing time on any cruise. Just go into looking for the positives and you will find them. Even with the cutbacks, there is still a lot of good about a Celebrity cruise.

To add to what others have already responded, you do not get a refund for the days missed.

I'm curious what cruise you are on where check-in opens before final payment. I thought final payment was usually 75 (or more days) out and check-in is usually 45 days out.

I agree. For my last few cruises, when two prices were listed, the cheaper priced one was still as large a martini as I remember. I had assumed the higher priced ones only might make sense for those without a drink package. I don’t think I ever saw one ordered but most I saw seemed to have the drink package.

The Celebrity app tracks that you have done each step in the process (video, listen to horn, muster station). After checking in at the muster station, we always open the app to make sure that third part shows complete. I would assume watching the video in your stateroom would also record that you did it. (On Princess, we learned that only those who have their medallion in the stateroom, and it must be in your assigned stateroom, when the video runs get credit for it.) The technology is aldrin place to track this.

On the Carnival Ecstasy, there was no video (at least that I ever found on the app or tv). We just went to our muster station at our convenience and watched a short presentation by staff (which they were continuously repeating as new groups came in). This article makes it sound like this procedure is somehow unique to RCG. They all at one point had some combination of either video or (on-demand type) presentation and check-in at muster station. Even NCL was that way a month or two ago. I think the issue many cruise lines are running into is compliance. It’s easier to find everyone if everything shuts down at the scheduled muster drill time. It likely takes a lot of staff to get the stragglers under the system since the restart. I suspect that is the reason some are going back to the old way.

I have used Mixbook a number of times for photo greeting cards and been very happy. I was tempted to do the Mixbook offer I got from Celebrity in December but just procrastinated and ran out of time. My Dad has made many books with Blurb that I have copies of so am familiar with their product and appreciate the comparison.

I have not gone out of the terminal Celebrity uses in Miami so I can't speak to that specific parking garage but leaving terminal A a couple of weeks ago was a breeze especially since we walked off. We had a 12+ hour drive and were able to get an early start. When we drive, we always park at the port for the huge convenience of your car being right there at the end for a quick exit.