kwokpot

That's one of the unfortunate eliminations of the E-Class ships, free single sex saunas. M and S-Class ships still have them,and even Revolutionized M-Class ships have them albeit 1/4 of the original size due to reconfiguring two locker rooms into the space of one. Celebrity isn't the only cruiseline to eliminate complementary spa facilities. Royal Caribbean and NCL have eliminated free facilities on their newest ships and even remove them on older ships when major refurbishments are done.

There are free saunas available to all passengers in the respective locker rooms within the spa/gym area.

Did you actually go through passport control? All we did was hand in the declaration form. No one checked anything, NOTHING.There was less checking than a Caribbean cruise!

Exactly. It would have been a lot smoother with more accurate crowd management in the departure deck.

We changed lines 4 times in 90 minutes. At least the line were in now is moving decently.

It's utter chaos. There are multiple lines without clear directions. The people in charge have been changing their minds 3 times.we are disembarking now

I was on the Ovation during the sailing in question and it didn't appear that we were too close to the shoreline. These are the photos taken on Wednesday, May 1st from my balcony. As an aside our disembarkation in Vancouver is delayed approximately to 7 hours due to a medical evacuation which diverted the ship to the San Francisco Coastline for a helicopter transport ( which due to the distance required a midair helicopter refueling maneuver) .

That should be the spa area. Every forward deck of the spa area has whimsical sculptures. Actually that's basically all there is, besides a couple of rectangular blocks that I assume are meant to be used as a sitting bench.

Hmmm. You should be earning tier points on funds charged to your onboard account even though it's going against OBC. You don't earn tier points on casino provided Freeplay. You can call BCC and find out how many tier points you earned on your previous sailings. Are you tapping and/or using your room card when you play the slots?

We are trying our 1st Holland America cruise in January (casino complimentary,of course).

While you may not have had any problems,that doesn't mean that it's allowed,which it isn't.

Exactly, or a bicycle. The views can be wonderful ( don't pay attention to the hunky guy😉).

Hmmm, that's interesting. Something new. That's why you never see anyone out there. A total waste of space.

A pocket knife/swiss army -type knife aren't allowed.

Exactly. To further clarify there's no open deck in front of the fitness center,so it's not like there's a staircase from the open deck 14 up to Deck 15

Yes,if you're Aquaclass and/or have a Thermal suite pass then you can access the forward outside deck in front of the Thermal suite. There never anyone there,so you'll have it all to yourself. You can get there anytime the Thermal suite is open.

Yes S-Class fitness centers have outside access.

That's a W-2G form,not a 1099. Please don't confuse the two types of tax forms.

https://www.thetaxdefenders.com/irs-and-gambling-w2-g-forms-casino-winnings-and-deductible-losses/

You're talking about a W-2G,which is the IRS tax form on gambling winnings(of certain types,like slot machines)of $1,200 or more. W-2Gs aren't 1099s. Those are two distinct IRS forms. They aren't remotely interchangeable.

You are confusing a Win Loss Statement sent by casinos and the cruiseline casino departments with a 1099. They are not the same thing. Casino winnings aren't reported on a 1099. Occasionally 1099s are sent for certain casino gift drawings. For example, on Carnival cruises, on an Ultra cruise where there's a drawing and guarantee winning of a gift or Freeplay, Carnival issues a 1099 for the value of the gift or Freeplay that everyone that signed up for the Ultra cruise will receives.

It depends what was meant by a 10K win from a Vegas trip. You can easily be up 10K without hitting a single slot jackpot; furthermore,table games winning of ANY AMOUNT aren't subject to W-2G reporting.

One of the mailings we receive.

Technically yes,in practice,no. Technically if you win $20 on a lottery scratch off you should pay taxes. How many people REALLY DO?😉

Quite honestly It's been a wild. We are both retired and my husband has been earning W-2Gs more than his annual salary ever was. We live in Philadelphia so Atlantic City is 1 hour away. We regularly treat the whole family to multiple comped rooms in both Vegas and Atlantic City, along with food and entertainment comps. Our basement is filled with casino gifts - do you need any luggage, foot bath,crock pots, or stick vacuums,lol? I think the party's over, though. We have re- evaluated our multiple Atlantic City trips and my husband has decided to pull back what he spends towards his gambling both on land and at Sea. On our current trip, which included a comped Carnival cruise from LA and the current Ovation cruise from Honolulu, he played very little of his own money and came out ahead from both his play and the Freeplay given. And on the current Ovation cruise he hasn't played any additional money besides the $1,500 Freeplay which we netted out $1,800.