phoenix_dream

For what it's worth, both Astoria and Victoria are great ports to visit! There's a wonderful maritime museum in Astoria and a very cute town to walk around among other things. Victoria has so many great things, including my favorite, Butchart Gardens. I understand the disappointment as I am really sad about our cruise missing Monterey. I used to love Seattle but last time I cruised out of there (admittedly a year and a half ago) it was really run down and not a great experience. Hopefully it is better by now.

I understand. But I've been there a number of times and seen most of what you mention at least once if not more often. So I get that makes me lucky, but I don't have a real desire to try to book a tour or to rent a car so the extra time rather than Monterey is pretty useless to me. I realize it might be a lucky change for some, just not for me. At the same time, I definitely admit that it is much better than missing ports entirely and having another sea day. I booked this cruise because I love visiting so many nice US ports. For sea days I book the Caribbean.

Well, it's happening. Our March 25th cruise has cancelled Monterey. And on top of that they completely re-did our schedule, changing dates of call, and cut a few hours off of several other ports. They added an overnight in San Francisco, which frankly does nothing for me (and I know, it's not all about me, some people love that part). Very frustrating and very disappointing.

We finally hit Zenith last year, after 30 years and 70+ cruises, so obviously Celebrity is our go-to. In the past we have sailed with Royal Caribbean, Princess, Norwegian, and Carnival but all except Royal have been many years go so I'm not sure I could really compare fairly (although will NEVER sail Carnival again - if I won a cruise I'd donate it - seriously). So Royal would be my second choice, but only if we were doing a family cruise with kids. It would be nice to go on a luxury cruise line, but I am prone to seasickness so I am not very fond of the smaller ships. Not to mention the costs.

So glad you were able to make the cruise, and I am enjoying your report. We are sailing the 18th and 25th B2B in our first ever (and likely our last with current prices!) Royal Suite. If you are willing to share your actual cabin number that would be great but if not I understand. Sometimes things like the whirlpool bath are different cabin to cabin. I'm also hoping for a great butler. Just had a B2B on Apex in a Sky suite and our butler (not to be named) was let's just say not the best. Hoping for a better experience this time! Sorry to hear about the mix-up in Tuscan. That is just unacceptable! You pay a lot of $$ to get the perks in a RS which include specialty dining. They should have found some way to accomodate you, or given you some extra OBC or something to make up for it. We sailed on Solstice in a sky suite last December and had a great time. I am not much for remembering faces, but I remember that Mar and Ken were very good in the Retreat lounge. I don't recall much of the entertainment, some of which may have changed by now anyway, but I remember not being too thrilled with the production shows. But having cruised 70+ times on Celebrity I've seen most of them several times anyway so happy to skip them. Hoping the lounge entertainment is good. Recently we've found there seem to be a lot of classic and stringed instrument performers. That's good for a day or two but it gets old after awhile. So fingers crossed. Anyway..........enjoy and keep that info coming!

In my (admittedly limited) experience they will be between 10 and 20 guests - usually in a small tourist van.

Depends on how/if you use your balcony. We spend a lot of time on our balcony reading and relaxing, so we would probably pick the bigger balcony even with an obstruction. I am guessing the obstruction is that there will be a lifeboat off the bottom half of your balcony.

Good point. As it happens on Apex though (and I know you specifically mention M and S so just making a general comment), any bar except sometimes Craft Social was wall to wall people. Yes, there were a handful of chairs available in Eden, in the least desirable locations. But other than that, there is no nice big Sky Lounge or Rendezvous bar with lots of seating to help ease this problem

That's so strange! I've never heard Silent Disco taking place there, and usually they start at 10pm rather than 11. Glad you gave feedback to Guest Relations. Too many folks complain (here and elsewhere) but don't try to handle the problems onboard where you would have better luck.

I was there as well. Both cruises were very crowded, with the second one having 200+ more passengers and as you say many more kids. I found it very frustrating as we could never find seats in any of the bars with entertainment before dinner. They were jam packed as early as 5 pm. We were fortunately in a suite so were able to hang out in that lounge but they only had music a couple of times. I don't like to pay that much $$ and not even be able to sit in the popular bars. I just can't figure out how they get so crowded so early - do people just go there and drink all day?!?! Give me an S or M class ship anytime!

On our last overnight visit in January, they ran all night but on a reduced schedule. We did not go out at night so I don't remember the exact timing.

I've sailed this cabin on Eclipse. I keep some notes to help me choose in the future. My notes say it has a larger balcony, but there was window washing equipment off to the side (my notes are not clear if this was forward or aft). That may or may not be the case on Solstice. I didn't make any comments about being bothered by noise, which I would have, had it been an issue.

I can't imagine why a swim suit or swim trunks would not be appropriate in that environment.

After I commented I noticed that on another thread someone who sailed Solstice in January said you could not order the standard MDR classics menu in Blu. Others here are saying you can. We often dine in Blu and Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, and French onion soup are our go-to dishes almost every single day. Would love to hear some more feedback on recent cruisers on Solstice or any S class Blu restaurant for that matter as to what they have experienced this year.

Will it cost Celebrity money to change the policy back? If so they will change it back. If not, it will stay. To me it's simple as that. What I am more concerned about is Royal going to one daily room service. Not a huge deal, but it's nice to have both. I can see Celebrity considering that one as it does indeed save them money.

I have sailed in AQ on S class many, many times. I have never had any major noise issues. Depending on location, at times I have heard some reshuffling of deck chairs in the very early am. On occasions when I was under the area where the band played, I could hear the band from my balcony but it was not excessively loud. On one occasion (don't recall the cabin number) we would hear the thump, thump base sound in our cabin while the band was playing. We are early to be folks so it was a little annoying. But no major issues.

yes you can, and some people have used the hair straighteners like mini-irons as those are not allowed.

I was curious about this so did some research online. All I could find was that they might have some impact on norovirus if applied for 10 minutes or more. Since that is not likely to happen I'm not sure these are any better than any other wipe or sanitizer. My unscientifically trained mind would suggest, however, that wiping with any wipe might actually remove the virus particles from your hands. But killing the virus? I don't think so.

Agree! I always carry my Lactaid tablets, but having dairy free cheese (or yogurt) would be a big benefit!

I would always pick S class over E class. Beautiful ships but I just feel they are not as comfortable as S or M class. Also the Sky Lounge for viewing would be a big advantage on this particular cruise.

Curious why you think that, especially considering many are likely booked with nonrefundable deposits? Also, even with ships capacities not full, on all the many sailings I've been on recently the suites were all full, and most of them sold out before move up came into play.

Just did some cruise shopping this morning. This year and last we were able to swing sky suite cabins. For next year we booked a b2b in Aqua which cost more per day than any of our suites. Very disappointing. We have 8 cruises booked for this year. Next year so far we have 2 and that may be it. We love cruising but these increases are substantial. That said, many of the suite categories we looked into were fairly booked up. So some people are able and willing to spend the big bucks. We'll see how long that lasts. With all the new ships to fill one wonders if this pricing can survive. And I feel it unlikely they will sell ships anytime soon as there is no market for them IMHO. And then there is the challenge of ports like Bar Harbor, Key West, and Monterey and others overseas who want to limit or eliminate port calls. Wonder how that will factor in over time?

Agree. Solstice was one of the ships getting a lot of freebies. Am I the only one not very happy at all about this?? Not talking about people who earn cruises from their gambling, but those trying to be lured back for free while I'm in the next cabin, very loyal (Zenith) and paying full price? Don't blame the passengers for accepting the offer. It just rubs me the wrong way.

Keep in mind, however, this can change based on the maitre d. Some allow it and some may not. Exception is that you can always order off the mdr classics menu.