phoenix_dream

Medjet Assist is absolutely an insurance policy. Its just a different kind of insurance you are buying. I agree it provides much more in the way of evacuation coverage but it is definitely insurance.

Have gotten lip balm in every suite I've sailed.

Sailed in Aqua probably 20 times. Never had that type of issue except on one cruise on Reflection where sometimes we had to wait 20-30 minutes.

Agree about Panama Canal except most (all??) of them stop in Columbia.

No

Our stop was cancelled, the entire itinerary rearranged, and an overnight in San Francisco added instead of one day.

Curious if you have actually sailed since all the cutbacks? I have 4 times and have seen little difference overall.

I've sailed in that area. Never had any issues with casino noise

Norway was amazing!

Bingo generally appeals to an older crowd and Celebrity does not want to market to an older crowd. Case closed. My opinion.

I'm confused. If they took some suites and renamed them Aqua Sky Suites the total number of suites nets out the same right? So don't see how this would change the Blu availability?

I can't answer for him obviously, but I can tell you what we do. We buy the GeoBlue policy only. We have some amount of general travel coverage through our credit card, as well as some medical coverage in our Medicare Advantage plan. Why do we not buy cruise or other general travel insurance? A personal decision of course. As I stated, our credit card provides some benefits. Beyond that we take the risk. We have taken close to 80 cruises total so far. Had we bought travel insurance for each of those trips it would have cost us WAY more than any expenses we might encounter if something goes wrong with one of our cruises. It is not the right choice for everyone and it depends on many personal factors. Having worked for an insurance company for 30 years (not a travel one, but general principles the same) I learned that insurance companies make lots of profit with people buying unnecessary, or excessive insurance. Again, not everyone has the same situation and for some it makes sense. I just urge people to evaluate all factors before deciding.

yes, we have an early flight out of LAX so not having to go through it again is a plus (although honestly it went pretty quickly we sailed in December out of San Pedro).

Honestly they are not that unaware that they would do something like that. I've done laundry on Celebrity probably more than a hundred times (I've done a lot of cruising since retirement and had a lot of free laundry due to Captains Club status), and out of all those washes only once did I have an issue and it was a small one - a pair of dark socks came back lighter than they went in.

In the US Medicare does not cover outside of the country. Anyone in that age range who does not consider carrying supplemental insurance is playing with fire. Some Medicare Advantage policies cover a certain amount, as do some credit cards. But for complete (or very good) coverage, you need a supplement. I personally do not buy general travel insurance for multiple reasons (one being fairly decent coverage on my credit card) but I always, always buy a medical supplement.

With Celebrity upgrading all their ships to Starlink I think you may find that the internet may pleasantly surprise you. I'm not claiming at all times, as it depends on location, weather, etc., but on ships with Starlink the internet is substantially better. Just did a b2b on Apex and while there were a couple days it was slower than others, overall it was considerably better than what I had experienced before.

Wow that is really irresponsible. In full disclosure, I confess when my youngest was in kindergarten or first grade we took him out for a couple days only. But we also contacted the school to get his homework or other assignments, and we made sure to sit down with him and make sure he did it. At that early age it was possible. I would not consider it as he got older, nor would I consider doing it for any great length of time. You hear so much about Covid shutdowns causing kids to fall so far behind (and this is NOT meant to start discussion about whether that should or should not have been done), but I suspect things like this are exacerbating the already bad situation. And as to cheaper times, deal with it. Take a cheaper vacation - I certainly couldn't afford fancy vacations when my kids were young.

No, I am on the 3/25 sailing out of LA. We do San Diego, then Ensenada, then San Francisco before heading south back towards LA. So I think we will end up going through immigration in San Francisco.

Thanks for all the responses. I should have said immigration I guess. Anyway, we sail out of LA, and hit San Diego, then Ensenada, then San Francisco before sailing south to Santa Barbara. Sounds like there will be some kind of immigration process in San Francisco.

Our cruise itinerary was changed to eliminate Monterey and as a result of this we visit San Francisco as a port stop (not final stop) right after stopping in Ensenada. I believe we need to go through a Customs procedure in San Francisco because of this? Can anyone who has sailed recently in a similar situation confirm this?

Hope this stays on the Celebrity pages for awhile as the ports of call section gets little visits. Our cruise itinerary has changed to eliminate Monterey, and now includes a San Francisco stop right after Ensenada. I remember years ago in a similar situation we had to do a customs check upon arrival. At the time customs officers came onboard and we had to all go through Customs officially, showing passports and so on. It took quite awhile. Has anyone had to do that recently? And in particular, has anyone experienced it in San Francisco? If so, what was the process? TIA

I've never seen one shut off on Celebrity. I did have one like that once at an all-inclusive in Dominican Republic of all places. The room was sweltering when we were out for the day, and we had to get up a couple times at night to keep it running. The room smelled so bad of mold/musk because of it, that I had to wash our clothes 3x when we got home!

- The A/C never shuts off on any Celebrity ship so no need for an extra card. - I agree to contact Special Needs department to get a fan. - How cool the room gets depends on the ship, sometimes the location on the ship, and the outside temperature. On some of the M class ships in particular in warm climates the room temperature did not always get very cool. If you book an AQ on deck 11 on M class in particular the cabins will be warm in warm areas as there is no overhang. - If you are in a cabin that is not cooling enough, ask for maintenance to come and check the A/C vent. sometimes they are not all the way open. We have had to do this a few times.

Sadly that is true. When they had to move Solstice we jumped on it right away and were able to book a B2B in a Royal Suite for roughly the price we normally pay for Aqua Class. I am thrilled beyond words to finally be able to experience a RS but very disheartened that the cruises are not selling well as they are frankly some of my favorites! I am not sure of why they don't sell but have several thoughts. First, California does not have the high number of retirees that Florida has to fill their sailings. Second, I think most Californians or those nearby feel that they can (fairly) easily just drive up and down the coast and spend more time in their favorite ports. Third, for those who are beach fanatics, nice warm weather and beautiful beaches are more likely to be found in the Caribbean year round. Last and not least, for the Mexico sailings I think concern about safety is a big factor. Now this of course doesn't explain how other cruise lines seem to succeed in this area (or do they? Maybe their interim coastal sailings - meaning pre and post Alaska - have similar issues filling their ships?)

The correct answer to the question is maybe. I've been on all the Celebrity ships(many times) except the two newest, and internet even on the same ship can vary dramatically day to day and sailing to sailing. In my experience basic internet, most of the time, did not allow me to do much. I could open my email, but could not open any links. I could see Facebook, but could not open any comments sections. I could not post to FB. I could not open Cruise Critic. Even on premium (which I am lucky to have now as Zenith), there are times when the internet is not up to par. This was true even on ships with Starlink, although overall it was substantially better the majority of the time.