Bruin Steve

Not sure which itinerary you are doing...Infinity does a couple of different variations. There is plenty of "historical", not that much "biblical" (not much of the bible took place in Greece...though you likely get to go to Kusadasi--which is in Turkey--from which you can visit Ephesus..."Ephesians"). I'd highly recommend , when in Mykonos, you find an excursion to Delos--it's an incredible archaeological site. In Santorini, you can visit the ruins of Akrotiri--supposedly the lost "Atlantis". On Ephesus, find something that tours you through the Terrace Houses. Athens, of course, is loaded with history--especially the Acropolis...but try to book a few days pre-cruise...there is a wealth of archaeological sites outside of Athens--Delphi, for example...or many sites in the Pelopenesse (the peninsula south of Athens) where you'll find things like the incredible Mycenae, the amphitheater at Epidaurus, the Corinth Canal and more...You can find companies that will put together a private full day tour through this area for you. IF you go to Rhodes, stick to Rhodes itself--an ancient walled city and skip the urge to go see Lindos--unless you want to hike up a steep cliff to the citadel. Greece is an archaeologists and historian's dream cruise! Have fun.

We live within an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half from the port, but often when cruising out of San Pedro, we'll stay at a hotel the night before for various reasons. We have stayed at both the Crown Plaza and the Doubletree. I recommend either and those are the only two hotels in San Pedro I'd recommend. Both are nice but have different plusses and minuses. Hotel policies might change from time to time, but when we've stayed there, both had hotel shuttles. The DT shuttle is free to or from the cruise terminal and they will even shuttle you to restaurants in Downtown San Pedro for free (though a tip to the driver is appropriate). The DT is a little under 3 miles from the cruise terminal. It is in a very scenic location--at the small craft marina--but there is little around it in the way of restaurants--other than the 22nd Street Landing (Seafood). The Crowne Plaza is in the heart of Downtown San Pedro--only about a three-block walk to the cruise terminal. The CP has a shuttle, but more recently, they started charging $5 pp each way. If you don't want to walk, you can get an Uber easier and cheaper. There are several good restaurants within about two blocks of the CP. If you're only in town for a very short visit and just looking for convenience, you cannot beat the CP.

https://maketraveleasier.com/PortValet/Order

Assuming you won't have a car and have no need to go visit Hollywood or other far-flung tourist sites, I would just Uber post-cruise to Santa Monica and check in to a hotel in the prime area of Santa Monica--near the Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica Pier and Palisades Park. Maybe take a bus or Uber from there to Venice Beach, stroll along the Boardwalk (or, if you are in athletic shape, rent bicyces and ride the bike path from the SM Pier to the Marina and back)...then hang out at the SM Pier, walk along the edge of Palisades Park for the sunset, have some dinner somewhere in SM and stroll the Promenade in the evening to enjoy some of the evening street performers... In the morning, it's a short 10-mile Uber ride to LAX...

I'm going to call AT&T and try to find out how much data we normally use. We have an unlimited plan so it otherwise doesn't matter, but I'm sure they have records. My other concern would be how often it's not usable. Can't use it while in port...but also can't use it if not far enough out at sea (the website says 9-11 miles in one place and 12 miles in another). With our itinerary--Southampton-Bruges-Skagen-Warnemunde-Riga-Tallinn-Helsinki-Stockholm (overnight)-Visby-Klaipeda-Ronne-Kiel-Copenhagen-Aarhus-Oslo-Kristiansand-Haugesund-Olden-Alesund-Bergen-Amsterdam--will we all too often just be too close to shore? Yes, I assume they'll want to be in international waters in order to open the shops and casino--but, when most of that is closed, what keeps them form being close to shore?

If you got lost reading that, you probably will never be able to read AT&T's website and understand that in any case, so you'd likely be of no help anyway. 🙂

Typically, of late, when cruising on Celebrity or Princess, we've booked "all-inclusive" deals so we haven't worried about WiFi onboard. But, when cruising on Royal Caribbean, of late, all we've done are 7 or 8 night cruises. And, being Diamond Plus Crown and Anchor, my wife and I each get "2 Days" of free WiFi. And, how it's worked out, it's been enough for us. After all, we don't stream stuff...or live on our cell phones. We just use it to check email and visit a few regular websites--like CruiseCritic.com, for example...We're too busy relaxing, eating, drinking and enjoying the cruise to deal with a lot of internet stuff. So, ordinarily, on a 7-night cruise, one of us signs onto the internet for a couple of 24-hour periods early in the cruise and the other nuys a package for the "remainder of the cruise" about 3 days from the end. We get one day credit charged for each of those first days and we get the other two day credit applied to that "rest of cruise" package--which, surprisingly, covers the entire cost...so, basically, five of seven days are covered with no charge. Then we take turns sharing the accounts--one logging on when the other is finished using it. Supplement that by grabbing a little free WiFi in port when we find it--often in restaurants, often in the cruise terminal. So, never really a problem. But, coming up next July/August (2024), we've got an unusual situation. We will be on B2B segments of the Serenade "World Cruise" in Europe--15 night followed by 9 nights. The people going on the entire World Cruise get free Voom included in their deal--but those of us on shorter segments do not. AND, the C&A Diamond Plus perk doesn't care if your cruise is 3 nights, 7 nights, 15 or 24...It's 2 free days per cruise no matter the length of the cruise. And, currently, on sale, the only package I can purchase is $18 per night...So, purchasing WiFi for the entire 24 nights would run $432 total for a package. I believe I could get the C&A perk deducted from that on each segment--so, remove about $72. Still a cost of approximately $360 for one device for the voyage. Now, we have our cell phone service with AT&T and I see they now offer a package on various cruise ships--including the Serenade of the Seas. It's a 30-day deal. Only good while ON the cruise ship and at least 12 miles out to sea (otherwise, you need a separate more expensive international package for land). Cost is $60 for "Basic"--100 minutes of "talk", unlimited text and 100MB of data...or $100 for "Plus"--unlimited text and talk and 1 GB of data. We have a fairly port-intensive itinerary--only 3 at sea days in 24 nights of cruising, all in the Baltic and Norwegian Fjords--so I am not sure if that 12 mile restriction will cause a problem. And, instead of being able to access the internet on our laptops or iPads, we'd be restricted to just using our AT&T connected cell phones (and, unless we buy two packages, we'd have to share one cell phone for access). Also, I have no clue how much "data" we use--or would use under these circumstances--there are substantial charges for going over the allowance ($10 for each 100MB or frction threof over the allowance--and my wife may play some online games for which I have no clue if they eat up data--none of it makes a difference here at home). And there appear to be a few inconveniences with remembering to turn on and off "data roaming" when on the ship and off. Sounds like a good alternative to the high priced ship WiFi...but I'm not sure... Anyone have any experience using this service? What are your thoughts and comments? Any other issues I'm not seeing? Thanks.

I OFTEN book when the schedule is first announced... Of course, my record NOW, thanks to Covid, is my upcoming March 28/April 9 2024 Japan cruises on Millennium. We originally booked those--or their several annual predecessors--back in NOVEMBER 2019!!! By the time we cruise on those, we will have booked and put down our deposits 52 full months earlier!!! Of course, Celebrity will have had our deposit money for 52 months...OTOH, we'll be cruising at 2019 pre-pandemic prices...

Though still two months out, I just registered via the website. And, yes, there was a check box to indicate any baggage fee exemption followed by a box in which to type in the reason for the exemption. I clicked the box and then typed in my info regarding my AAdvantage Million Mile Gold status which gives me two free checked bags on Alaska Airlines. I assume that someone has to personally read those explanations typed in with the checked boxes and then follow up to make sure fees aren't charged. I'm hoping that all goes smoothly.

We are planning on using it when we do our Quantum cruise in August. We are flying on Alaska Airlines--who, normally, charge for luggage with an economy fare...HOWEVER, since I'm and AAdvantage Million Mile Gold member, Alaska gives me two checked suitcases free of charge. Will there be a problem with this since they otherwise charge? Or are we okay? IOW, does the system account for the loyalty program perk? Thanks.

We're staying the night prior to our Quantum August 21 cruise at the Fairfield Inn Downtown. It's less than 3 miles to Pier 91. Our cruise leaves on a Monday. My plan is to just not worry about it. The cost, no matter how we do it, should be minimal. I usually just click onto both Lyft and Uber and pick whichever is less...but I would take a taxi if that works out as well.

YES. Every ship we've been on since getting the CPAPs. Call or write ahead of time, they will leave a gallon jug of distilled water and an extension cord (if necessary) in the cabin....though, sometimes, they seem to forget it and you have to call the Guest Services desk.

Thanks. So...similar to what we had on Symphony? Just one side only? Still not ideal with the outlet on one side...BOTH my wife and I use CPAPS...and since the cords aren't quite long enough, we still needed to ask for an expension cord (and had to use a multi-outet adapter) to plug both units into the one outlet.

Trying to connect a CPAP seems to be a different problem on every ship. On many ships, such as Navigator of the Seas, there are no outlets anywhere near the back of the bed...so I've had to request an extension cord...and string it all along the walls, clear around the cabin. On Celebrity Apex, we found an outlet right at the nightstand. Why can't all ships be designed like this? On some older Celebrity ships, we found the lamp on the nightstand plugged into a Euro outlet right behind the bed...which worked well since I have an adapter that turns a Euro outlet into two outlets--one Euro, one US...So I could unplug the lamp, insert the adapter and then plug in both the lamp and the CPAP. Now, this August, I will be on Quantum of the Seas for the first time. Before I call RCCL to request an extension cord, the question is whether or not there are any usable outlets for a CPAP in a standard balcony cabin... Anyone know? Thanks...

Some of us like to get on the ship as early as possible to maximize our cruise time...and we absolutely abhor the buffet. Do not want to stand on line to amass food from large trays that have been picked over by 500 others before you. The perk is AVOIDING THE BUFFET.

Standard double room

They're not overly large, but not the smallest I've had in a European hotel (That distinction goes to the Hilton Stockholm!). This last visit (both pre-and post-cruise), out rooms were L-shaped and the luggage was easily out of the way in the "L". No problem walking around the bed or to the bathroom. Rooms are all differently shaped and sized as it's an old building. The only room we've had there we weren't overly fond of was not due to size, but the fact it had stairs within the room...Had to walk up to stairs to the part of the room that fronted the door to the bathroom...not easy to deal with that in the dark. But, the last three times, we haven't had that--I think it's just the rooms in the back right corner of the building.

Many "sources" are worthless since they have no real information or are merely helping to spread false rumors. These sailings are NT "getting itinerary updates". During all of the nonsense going on with this thread, Celebrity HAS tweaked ONE of my itineraries SLIGHTLY...as in the ordinary course of business: On the April 9 itinerary, back on May 16, they changed the departure time out of Kobe from midnight to 5 am! Not a big deal as it's only about 20 miles between the ports. Affected Sailing: April 9, 2024 Again, the cruises are "ON". Business is proceding as usual. There is NO "at a minimum there is a chance" situation going on here. Couls you, perhaps, admit that, as a LIKELIHOOD, there is NOTHING really unusual going on here at all--at least beside the overbooking/cancelation thing that they have already admitteed to and acted upon?

Again, cruisemapper is in NO WAY official. It is just someone's website where they pick up whatever info they happen to find. They don't have a lot of info on Japan because 1) The official port websites haven't been updated since the pandemic and 2) Celebrity's website, for various reasons, isn't showing all of the information on their Asia cruises. The ship iusn't just disappearing for three months. They didn't arbitrarily charter three months worth of cruises that were already sold out. They aren't doing a three month drydock somewhere. And they haven't scheduled some other itineraries during this time period in some other part of the world. The cruises are "ON". We are sailing on two of them. We have booked air and hotels and shore excursions through Celebrity...as is NORMAL. I have been in DIRECT CONTACT with Celebrity regarding these cruises several times during all of this imagined controversy. There is nothing clandestine or subversive going on. Quite simply, Several cruises during this time period have been SOLD OUT for years. Celebrity mistakenly, due to IT error, double sold some stateroom categories and have had to cancel a large number of bookings. They currently have EVERY stateroom booked...and they have a long list of angry canceled customers they would try to appease before ever taking new bookings. Which is why they don't show the cruises on the schedule for "Find a Cruise". They DO, however, show these cruises on their website on the individual accounts of those booked on the cruise...and they show them on their app as well...along with full ability to book airfare, hotels, shorexes, dining reservations, drink packages, etc. These cruises were sold out, in their earlier incarnations,, years ago...since they have been canceled each year for multiple years during the pandemic. But, with Japan finally lifting restrictions, they are NOT canceled for 2024. Adding to the booking crunch, the cruises were returned to the Millennium after having been scheduled for the Solstice for the prior two years...meaning about 400 fewer staterooms for lift-and-shifts from a cruise that was already sold out on the larger ship. The bookings were so backed up that Celebrity decided to leave the ship in Asia and added an entire season of cruises beyond April--when, in prior years, the ship was scheduled to do a Transpacific and then a season in Alaska. It is all very simple. Conspiracy theories notwithstanding.

We've found both. Depends on the particular assistant cruise director or crew member handing the assignment. Some are lazy.

Pataroo, you may want to hop over and join the Roll Call for the April 9, 2024 cruise...here: It has been a very active roll call with a lot of information, commentary and exchange of ideas all related specifically to this sailing. It is one of our B2B cruises (along with March 28) and we definitely expect everything to be going full steam forward. We now have both air and hotel booked directly through Celebrity.

"Low price" is a relative term. Everyone has a different concept as to what is "low". And prices at ANY hotel, anywhere in the world, vary greatly depending on what dates you are booking it for (prices at many hotels vary high season to low season, some vary between weeknights and weekend nights) and they vary even more depending on WHEN you book them...It's all supply and demand and often go up over time...booking very early often gets you a much lower price. Some cities are far more expensive than others. Also, everyone has different standards. We generally will not stay in a hotel that doesn't reach a certain level of quality or that isn't in a prime location. Other people are willing to stay in what we consider pretty substandard accomodations or in some inconvenient locations. It's all a matter of personal preferences and standards. When we travel to Tokyo in March, we are staying in what is rated a 4.5 star hotel in an excellent location--and paying just over $300 US per night with breakfast for a "superior" room. As far as I can tell, for Tokyo, that is pretty much a bargain. In Barcelona, we stayed at the H10 CP this last time for under 200 euros per night including breakfast. For Barcelona, that is a bargain. Of course, each time, we booked the hotel several months ahead of time. Could we have found lower cost accomodationseach time? Probably less. But there are always trade-offs. I am fully convinced that spending a little more on a nicer hotel in a better location is worth every penny. Other people may be willing to stay in some questionable accommodations just to save a few dollars. But it is up to everyone to find that level with which they feel comfortable.

The story you get from RCCL agents varies by who you talk to. And they've changed the policies over the years. We just went through a C&A adventure with our upcoming Quantum cruise. Some background: My wife and I are Diamond Plus. We have two daughters, now in their 30s. When they were young, we took them on a lot of cruises...AND, from the age of 10 and 12, we always got them their own cabins--FULL PRICE--often balconies, even an Alaskan cruisetour in their own suite as teens. One cruise we took just one daughter as the other's school was in finals and paid FULL fare for her cabin even though she cruised as a "single". NO REASON I CAN SEE why they should be "reset" at 18 when their cabin was not just 3rd/4th berth in ours. THOSE should count no matter their age. I've spent more money on their behalf with RCCL than a lot of Diamonds who went on cheap 3-nighters in inside cabins in the off season to get to Diamond. Anyway, the older daughter, in her early 20s, went on Mariner of the Seas with her college roommate. She was DIAMOND for that one and her roomie got the benefits as well even though she'd never cruised before. Those were the rules then. When we took the daughters on a cruise in their mid/late 20s, I called RCCL to check and they told us daughter #1 was Diamond, but daughter #2 was not! Really? I got nowhere with the agent...Called back the next day, got another agent. Same story. I asked "So, when we all go for drinks in the Diamond Club, should we just have the other daughter sit out in the hall outside the Diamond Club door and wait?" The agent changed daughter #2 to Diamond. Now, the girls are in their 30s. We're treating them and our sons-in-law to an Alaska cruise on Quantum. Daughter #2 called C&A and, no problem, they made HER husband Diamond as well. Daughter #1 called and the agent she got told her that not only couldn't she get hers upgraded to Diamond, that, somehow SHE wasn't Diamond! Seriously? She has been Diamond on TWO cruises now as an ADULT prior to this. They pulled me into the call as a three way call. The agent wanted us to jump through all sorts of hoops. We asked to speak to a supervisor. We got transferred to the supervisor...explained in about 30 seconds what the problem was...NO PROBLEM. She confirmed daughter #1 was Diamond and promoted SIL to Diamond as well. Now we're set. One issue I discovered in all of this is that our daughters don't necessarily have the same point totals we do...but they weren't reset to zero either. Only thing is that, though they have that Diamond status for life, they won't get to D+ or to Zenith until their point totals get all the way to the needed numbers...and RCCL has at least one of the daughters actually short of the 75 for Diamond...so she's a little farther away...We're not going to worry about that. For the time being, we can all at least for the time being, we can all go to the Diamond Club together.

We were just on a cruise where one team kept winning all of the trivia games with some unreal scores--even getting correct some really obscure questions to which NOBODY possibly could have known the answers. Finally, one day, several people objected to a question where the host obviously had the answer wrong. But, again, this one team scored 20 out oif 20--even the clearly wrong answer. When someone showed the host the Googled correct info, one of the women on this winning team blurted out "Well...THAT was the answer on last week's cruise!". At tht point, we all knew how this team seemingly knew everything. The rest of us puzzled about how some people could take so much joy in "winning" anything based on having the answers ahead of the game. Between that and the people googling every question on their cell phone using their wifi package and the people grading their own papers and writing in the answers as the answers are given (Yes, we've seen both), it makes me want to never play Trivia on a ship again. As to the original point of the thread, we've gotten that $100 before...but, with our upcoming B2B Millennium Japan cruises, since we booked back in 2019 and lifted-and-shifted multiple times, we don't even remember if the $100 was ever discussed or accounted for...but, considering we'll finally get to do the cruises in 2024 and considering all the people who just got shockingly canceled, I've decided not to push the issue or otherwise mess with the deal. Not over $100. We don't want anyone messinfg with the bookings.

I'm relieved to hear they are not just arbitrarily downgrading people with chosen booked cabins (Though we're on two upcoming Japan Millennium cruises where they arbitrarily--well--due to THEIR errors--CANCELED people with chosen booked cabins). On our Japan cruises, we've had to fight for our cabin assignments several times--through each of several "lift-and-shifts"...but that was through moves from Millie to Solstice and back to Millie. Frustrating since we carefully choose our cabins for location, balcony size and other factors...and that exact assignment means something. Yeah, pay close attention whenever you make changes to your booking--because, even then, as far as I am concerned, there is no excuse for moving you unless you've requested it or, at a minimum, consented to the move.