phoenix_dream

I recently sailed on Eclipse to Alaska. I beg to differ on your assumption. They announced that our cruise had the highest percentage capacity of any Celebrity sailing since restart. The ports were the busiest I have seen in years (and I sail Alaska often). So don't get your hopes up that Congress will do anything about revising the law again. People love going to Alaska. If they require testing and vaccination the ships will still fill up.

That looks amazing! As it happens I will finally hit Zenith after my upcoming September cruise on Summit. Can't believe it is finally going to happen. Cynical me thought for sure they would change the requirements before I got there (and even as I write this I am getting nervous as I am justhisclose but not there yet LOL). Wondering - is there a Zenith lunch served on all/most cruises or was this just because there are apparently a lot of Zeniths on this cruise?

The continued strict testing and vaccination rules are due to visiting Canada. That will not change until Canada changes its rules.

Exactly. If the ports require it (like Canada) then it will be required.

Usually it's a couple of days before disembarkation. Sometimes they will make exceptions - you can ask your room steward.

I have never heard of a weight limit on a tender and never had issues with a couple family members in the same weight range. Some shore excursions, yes, but never a tender. As Mark_K says however, maybe if they are using a non-Celebrity ship for tender there could be a weight limit. I suspect as Skagway has never been a tender port before, they might be being creative in using local boats to get people ashore. I guess it's possible there could be a weight limit because of this, but I really doubt it. Hope it works out for you.

I can tell you when this was happening early in the restart, it meant you had to take a Celebrity shore excursion or you were not allowed to disembark at all. Not sure if it has changed since then but I doubt it. At the time we didn't want to risk riding in close contact buses or being identified as a 'close contact' of an infected person and being quarantined for a couple of days until we tested negative so we just stayed onboard.

Good point. I think that is the reason.

Unfortunately, having unvaccinated people onboard could absolutely make a difference to anyone who is vaccinated. If an unvaccinated person gets seriously ill and has to be taken to a hospital, the cruise ship will then need to direct itself to the nearest hospital. Could mean changed ports, could mean cancelled ports. That definitely affects everyone. Yes, it could happen for other reasons like heart attacks and the like, but having unvaccinated people and much more lax testing requirements definitely ups the odds this could happen with a Covid outbreak, Several unvaccinated people get seriously ill and then it hits the news (they love drama) and then the cruise industry tanks again. That is actually a real possibility IMHO.

They stopped doing that weird interaction stuff. That said, I find the E class beautiful, but more emphasis on style than function and comfort. I prefer the more traditional but will sail E class again in suite class if the price is right.

I want to know why US changes are only for LA to Mexico cruises? If Celebrity is confident this is the right move why only one infrequently used port? Mind you, I am one who is very unhappy they are dropping the vaccination requirements. How many seriously ill, rush to hospital so ports get canceled incidents will it take before they rethink this?! Personally the change I was hoping for was to be able to quarantine in your own cabin, like you do for noro. That would lessen the inconsiderate people refusing to self report and therefore spreading the virus around.

I had to smile also. In 70 or so cruises our worst seas were 30' in the Gulf of Mexico and one night heading to Cartagena the seas at night were so rough I couldn't dare getting out of bed. Have had some rocking on the Pacific coastal but never that bad.

You are right that there used to be a corkage fee. Now there is not if you have the beverage packages mentioned. Fairly recent change.

The bottom line is it depends - on the ship, on the maitre d', on the capacity of the ship. Most likely will allow on M class as opposed to the other two classes. We personally enjoy just about all of the Blu menu and specifically book AQ for Blu unless we can afford the suite price. In addition to the dinner, we like eating our breakfast there - much nicer than the buffet for sure, and usually better service than the MDR. The "classics" such as chicken, salmon, strip steak, caesar salad and others are always available. Unfortunately the waiters don't always advise people of this so if in doubt ask. I suggest looking at the menu a day or two ahead and if you can't find anything you like ask the waiter if you can order from the MDR that day. Even if they don't commonly do it with advance notice they might. Do keep in mind that on some ships the kitchens are not close together so if you are asking last minute you are taking the waiter's time away from waiting on other guests. If you are on one of those ships to be considerate it's nice to plan ahead or only do it if the dining room is not busy.

I'm with those who say do it on your own. Very easy (and I am not the bravest about these types of things). Just make sure to time it so you have plenty of time to get back to the ship as traffic near sailing time gets crazy in St. Thomas.

Pacific Coastal is my preference of the two, but I really like the Mexican Riviera ones as well. Do need to be more careful about where you go when in the Mexico ports.

Interesting observation. I do think the personalities in general are a bit different in different areas of the country, although I've never encountered any issues on my many Pacific Coast or Mexican Riviera cruises. Let's leave it at that 🙂

To respond to the OP - I think there are some differences but that's what makes it fun. There aren't as many people from Europe on these cruises, maybe because it's further to fly? There are many more people from California, and usually fewer Canadians than you often find on Florida sailings. Age-wise I think it's about the same as other cruises of similar length, perhaps a little bit younger crowd as California does not have as many retirees as Florida does. The ports are very different as well. After awhile to me just about every port in the Caribbean feels about the same (I know that's an exaggeration and I have my favorites and least favorites, but in many ways if you've seen one you've seen them all). I think in the Caribbean (with some exceptions) it's mostly about the beach, snorkeling, etc.. In Mexico I think there is more culture to enjoy. There are areas of Mexico that truthfully are more dangerous than you will find in the Caribbean. Not trying to scare you off (love these cruises and have one scheduled in December) just be a little bit more aware of where you are going and don't wander away from the tourist areas. If you can explain more what you mean maybe we can provide better input.

I won't argue the point as I'm not sure what you mean? The people in California? The crew onboard those sailings? The people in the ports?

I miss the 14 night deep southern Caribbean ones also. But what we do (and I know not everyone can or wants to) is just book more back to back cruises. After being to the Caribbean so many times I really don't care if I visit the same ports a week or two apart - especially if they are the ABC's as those ports are great. I do wish they would bring back the 14 nighters though I don't think they will. Why? The average age group was quite high compared to shorter cruises (when in my 60's I was often in the youngest 10% onboard!) and Celebrity is trying to attract younger folks because they tend to spend more on fancier dinners, photo packages, shore excursions, etc.. than those of us " of an age" who have been there; done that and don't feel the need to do a lot of the extras. (not saying none or never, but in general)

Do I like how the OP planned to address his/her issues? No. But enough has been said about that. I do think it is Celebrity's responsibility to notify passengers of changes before the sailing, so as to give them time to make a decision to cancel or try to negotiate another cabin. It's unfortunate that people need to follow cruise boards like these to discover that if they are in a deck 3 or deck 6 cabin (or wherever else depending on the ship) that they may be moved due to quarantine rooms. If this cabin was changed last minute due to an increase in Covid isolations on the prior cruise(s), then that's just bad luck, but should have been communicated nonetheless even if just a day or two before. If it was changed some time ago then there is really no excuse for not notifying the passenger.

you have to ask for it. Why they don't automatically do it I don't know, but we have never had an issue getting it when asking. If you booked a TA, have them do it. If not you need to contact Celebrity.

We have sailed 9 times since restart on 7 ships. On every ship if no premium wines were available in our wine type (cabernet or similar red) the sommelier has offered us premium level wine that is normally sold by the bottle, by the glass, except for a couple times where they suggested a wine normally sold by the bottle that was not as expensive, but we liked it. On one ship we had to raise a bit of a stink first, but once we did that we had no issues. On other ships no issues at all. We sailed in AQ and Sky Suites if that matters.

I may try that.

So am I the only one who paid good $$ for one of these cruises, never got the email even though I cruise regularly and gamble enough to be Onyx (which I know is not too high a level), and is more than a little unhappy that others are getting the same cruise for free?!?? Note, I am not mad at those taking advantage of the offer. I would as well. Just seems very unfair to those who paid for the cruise. If someone earned it by playing, fine. But just randomly giving away free cabins?