Sailing12Away

Depends on the RCC ship. We were in an owners suite on Jewel of the Seas and only had access to a lounge with limited bar service a few hours a day. That was it, nothing else included in that suite price.

Our first Celebrity trip is coming up on Thanksgiving this year. Is it possible to prebook dining reservations now for Luminae on embarkation day (Thanksgiving)? I'm used to NCL where you don't need reservations for the Haven restaurant. Considering that embarkation day is the holiday, I'm guessing lots of folks may be wanting to dine there.

Can anyone recently on Summit confirm if the Retreat elevator is working to the sun deck? MIL is in an accessible Retreat cabin and can't do stairs..... just seeing some rumblings on other sites that she won't be able to get to the sun deck at all.

Thank you for sharing. Always helps to hear first hand to manage expectations accordingly when comparing line A to B. We'll be in a Celebrity Suite, with MIL in an accessible Sky Suite across the hall, so we'll get to see 2 different perspectives on sailing. Her first time in luxury, though we're used to the Haven experience. So again, will be interesting to see her thoughts compared to ours when it's our turn to sail on Summit.

Certainly tagging along with you on this journey as we're Sapphire status with NCL and trying Celebrity for the first time in November. I'm sure there's more similarities between the 2 lines than differences, but curious to hear your thoughts as you go. Besides trivia - what else is going on around the ship? That's one of our biggest concerns as there's only so much trivia we can do before getting bored...

That's unfortunate to hear. We're sailing on Summit this Thanksgiving with my MIL in an accessible Sky Suite. We intentionally booked that room for her thinking she would have an automatic door as she only has use of one arm and may be using a power scooter on the trip. If it's a regular door, not sure she'll be able to get in/out of there on her own.

Opposite for me as well. Living ~20 mins from JFK (on a good day) we have access to tons of airlines with each of them making multiple stops here all hours of the day. Even pricing things on our own, the BOGO is always significantly cheaper and so far we've gotten excellent flights. Our last trip in Feb/Mar we flew first thing in the morning to LAX direct, and was on an 11:30am flight home from Miami. Almost missed the flight due to their shoddy transfers program, but that's another discussion for another day. First time using them for international air is coming up in September, so we'll know in about 2 months how those flights look. But took a 1 day deviation on both legs just to be safe for that one. Too many moving parts with international to risk it. But that is truly BOGO - price on our own for decent flights is $1100/pp, NCL is charging us $900 for both of us. I see a bottle of chateau rothchild in our future with those savings...

We've sailed in the Haven on NCL a bunch of times, so we're familiar with the types of snacks we can request from those butlers. But is there a cheat sheet already created of the types of afternoon treats people have received previously on Celebrity?

Link worked fine for me and my sailing. When are you sailing?

Does anyone have an updated copy of this letter since the switch to Coke products? I thought some of the liquors had changed as well.

FWIW - my next cruise with NCL is coming up in September, so still too early to see my flights from them. But I've been price checking for both myself (JFK departure) and my sister (ORD departure) to see what options we may all end up with. For our flights (JFK-REK, then LHR-JFK) - Delta has nonstop flights for $1100/pp, and the cheapest flight I see is much less ideal with 1 stop in each direction including an airport change going to REK (the nonstop to REK is 5hrs, this flight makes that 5hr flight a 15hr experience) - that price is $718/pp. NCL is charging us $900 total for both of us. For my sister and family doing the same thing, but out of O'hare, United has a bunch of nonstop flights for $1100/pp, and the cheapest flight is $778/pp and includes 2-3 stops (the flight to REK would go from 6hrs to 24hrs, LOL). NCL is charging them $750/pp because they have a group of 4 and the B1G1 is only for the first 2. So yeah.... the NCL flights are not always great, but honestly you need to do research first to see what else is out there. If there are better flights on your own for similar prices, it's a no brainer to take that control back. But in our case, we'll be saving several hundred dollars between the 6 of us and have very good odds of being on those nonstop flights because of where we're each leaving from. United is a big hub for Chicago and JFK, well, nearly every airline goes here so we have tons of options. Tons of options = good flights at low prices. For folks at smaller airports, may the odds forever be in your favor. (and if I've now jinxed myself and we end up on those 15+ hr long flights, I will be sure to report back here on that and how I will NEVER sail with NCL again, while demanding a 200% FCC for the stress and anxiety...)

Just curious.... with your meals you tend to include photos of the apps and desserts, but not the main. Is there a reason or just an odd coincidence? Is dining at Blu free for all retreat and aqua guests, or only free for aqua class and the retreat guests can order from there - but would have to pay?

Not to keep derailing this thread further, but our hydroponics garden worked so well we had to transplant our jalapenos the other day. You can see the little hydro setup in the back, but these suckers grew so quick they were tipping the whole thing over so into separate pots they went. Still have my baby lettuce and mint in there, and the lettuce is perfect (Tom Thumb variety) - just a few leaves each week that go on my burgers, tacos, sandwiches, etc and keep coming back. We had actually started the hydro garden 2 weeks before our Panama canal cruise (see.... I got us back on track) and had some small sprouts before we left. Came home to nearly ready to eat mint and lettuce after just those 2 weeks. I'm a fan of lazy gardening.

The Murphy is they big brown wall to the right of the table. So if one took the Murphy and the other the sofa they would be very comfy. Plus, even though the room only has the one bathroom, you're right next to the general observation lounge bathrooms. So not ideal, but convenient for a quick tinkle if the room potty is occupied.

Reminds me too much of times square.... so many lights, so many people.... makes me itchy and twitchy just thinking about it. Where's the ship with a nice sky friendly dark zone on the upper deck? Out in the middle of the ocean and still can't see the millions of stars.... The more trips we take the more we're interested in smaller ships that can get to hidden gems without 5,000+ other people there at the same time.

NCL was trying to charge us $300 for transfers ($150 each) to go from Reykjavik to the port, then from Southampton to Heathrow. So if it's an even split, it's about $75 per leg. We dropped the transfers and will find our own way there for less. Sick of the NCL transfer issues and long delays.

You gotta be in it to win it. As the sail date gets closer, keep checking prices. It may end up being better to just outright upgrade instead of waiting for the bid if the gap in price closes further. We've put in full max bids before for the top tier Haven rooms and didn't win them. Lots of factors to consider, but if you're comfortable with the price and it's cheaper than just upgrading on your own, throw your hat in the ring and hope for the best.

Do a true price comparison based on what is important to you. Our first Celebrity trip is coming up in November. Their Retreat area includes all the bells & whistles, but at a cost. We don't usually care about internet, fancy coffee drinks, etc. So for us, we're rather have the lower price with NCL's Haven and add on what is important to us. The deeper I dive into the world of Celebrity, including their boards here on CC, the more I realize they're the same as NCL. Same complaints, same issues, same spotty internet service, same disagreement on food quality. If the itineraries are the same and price for what is important to you is about the same, try out NCL and see for yourself which is a better fit for you.

Did you consider staying 1 day post cruise? Look at the flights. I don't know what date your going, but NCL will not book you on a flight earlier than 11am to make sure there's enough buffer for you to catch the flight. Looking at random dates, your options to go from REK to SLC with flights leaving after 12pm are limited. NCL will always book cheap flights, which means 2-3 layovers if you're not going in the 'right' direction or to an easy to reach city on the coast. Usually after flights are booked your options are limited. If you find a better flight on your own, it's up to you if it's worth the extra cost to just book a one-way home at your own expense.

We have different definitions of 'significant'. When we sailed our one and only RCC trip, the drink package cost us $59/pp/day - and that was after a 'sale'. With NCL it works out to about $20/pp/day. Free? No, I suppose not, but certainly much more affordable than any other line.

That's why I think of it as a cabin benefit, not person. If it was a person benefit folks would assume it was per person. Whereas $50 per cabin = $25 pp when 2 in the room. The really icky part of the 'deal' is that if person 1 doesn't feel like doing an excursion, there is no credit issued at all. It's only tied to person 1. So I guess in that sense your thinking is more correct as the cabin would get nothing if person 1 doesn't go on an excursion.

The TLDR version: $50 discount per cabin at each port of call. I think if you were adventurous enough to do more than one excursion it would be per excursion. But yeah, their marketing is not great. Nothing free about it as NCL rarely offers excursions for <$50. So just think of it as $50 off at each port.

I'm in the camp that 99% odds are it was taken/discarded by the airport and not an NCL crew member.

Not sure how this is even a fair comparison. A balcony with no perks, vs a Haven suite for the same price. I would love to understand why in the world anyone would consider the balcony on RCC instead of a Haven suite for the same price. That's insanity. Jump on the Haven suite and don't look back.

Here's a photo of the HH cabin on Joy. Similar layout to the HI and HJ, but the HH is a "family" room - so it has that extra curtain that can be pulled to separate out the room for a little privacy. Plus in addition to a pull out sofa, there is a murphy bed as well that some have said is a bit more comfy than a couch bed.