kwokpot

It's actually a free feature now.

I think that's due to TA passengers being more experienced cruisers who may enjoy how the cruise experience used to be.

Actually it's free now. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/01/09/royal-caribbeans-onboard-messaging-system-now-free-heres-how-it-works

You can read through this thread which duplicates your question with all the answers you will ever need to your question.

What do you mean by that? No one is compelled to have WiFI, just like on Royal Caribbean. If you're concerned about using the Celebrity app for things like the daily planner and dinner menus, just like on Royal the App's complementary features don't need a wi-fi package in order to work, just like on Royal.

We were on the Ascent in Concierge two weeks ago and agree the standard Feather pillows are kinda flat. Tried to squish the feathers together but that didn't do the trick. We did ask and received a much firmer non-feather pillow. It is a thicker pillow so it may be too tall for sleeping for some people. I used it for sitting up on the bed and not necessarily for sleeping on.

We didn't particularly care for the pizza on the Ascent. For comparison we prefer the pizza on MSC, Carnival, and Virgin as far as cruiseship pizza goes.

THIS is what i mean when I say to rethink the types of clothes one takes away while traveling.

We had guys in shorts and T-shirts on the Ascent in the MDRs NOT on embarkation day.

I cannot vouch for this particular product, but we find just using the shower to steam some things helps to take out wrinkles. My other advice would be if you're adverse to spending money to press your clothes is to: 1)Rethink the types of clothes you bring on your cruise and 2)Try to be less set in a frame of mind that you have to press your clothes everyday whilst on holiday. Compromise is a wonderful thing. Lastly, many a times if I feel something in my suitcase isn't up to par and we are at a precruise hotel I would spend a little time using the iron in our hotel room to do some quick pressing. But nowadays I bring shirts that are considered 'iron free' so there aren't the same issues. These men's shirts are just as comfortable as the ones that aren't pretreated as no iron. In fact the blue flower print shirt I'm wearing in my Cruise Critic Avatar pic is a no iron shirt(Taken on the Summit). This is what I mean by rethinking the types of clothes you bring on holiday.

Thank you for posting your review. As someone who tries to post my cruise experiences I know how much time and effort it is to do this, so additional thanks for the effort! There hasn't been too many Jubilee reviews posted here on CC so I know people will be very interested in what you have to say about your cruise.

If you mean on a Royal cruise, yes, the 4 daily drinks vouchers can be used for anyone, and not only for the Diamond member.

An overlooked benefit is the special in-cabin benefit for Diamond Plus members with a certain amount of points.On our last Royal cruise we had two bottles of wine, one red, one white, in our cabin awaiting us.

I just hope you're not putoff with some of the comments here nor should you think you're an outlier. A couple of years ago a frequent cruiser and Cruise Critic contributor who only sailed NCL had the exact same dilemma for her first Celebrity cruise. She ultimately bought a couple of new things for her cruise and she thoroughly enjoyed her first Celebrity cruise and has since sailed several times more on Celebrity.

Probably the best use of this benefit of all the places Carnival regularly cruises from. We stayed 3 nights post cruise in London and then used the 2nd free transfer from London to Heathrow to go home. It worked so well since there was a transit strike that day we were to fly home!

You'll be fine with what you need from the Elite transfers. You're allowed two transfers and it doesn't really matter which segment it is. The distance is fine too. We used it from Dover, UK cruiseport to our London hotel which was a 90 minutes trip and would have costed us over $300 if we paid for it ourselves. We had a beautiful large Mercedes sedan and our driver was excellent.

I agree about Jamaica. Having said that what I find interesting is that the cruiseship employees we have encountered that are from Jamaica have been friendly, respectful, and actually go out of their way to interact with us. I could care less how they really think about us, that's not my business, as long as they treat my husband and I with the same respect as all other passengers. Jamaican cruiseship employees all seem to do that and I and thankful for that.

Cruise dress code topics will never cease and sometimes can be pretty eye opening. I was on NCL's flagship Viva in December after a 7 year hiatus from sailing with them and it was pretty eye opening what people will wear for dinner when there's no dress code. NCL has no dress code for any restaurant EXCEPT for their French restaurant, Le Bistro. I was pretty shocked to see guys going to the Specialty steakhouse, which mind you is a beautiful setting, literally as if they came directly from the main pool deck. Flip flops, board shorts, TANK TOP, floppy hat. That's how guys came to dinner.

7:30 and 9:30

For guys that don't like wearing pants and don't really have any what I would suggest is going to Underarmour and buying one or two pairs of GOLF PANTS. They are extremely comfortable, lightweight and easy to pack, and once worn are indistinguishable from traditional khaki-type trousers. Pair that with a nicer looking polo-type shirt and you can wear that outfit for the whole cruise. Photo of example from Amazon. Honestly this exact outfit, including shoes, would be totally fine for Chic Night on a Celebrity Cruise.

One major difference with the Martini Bars on all the E-Class ships vs the M & S Class is the E-Class Grand Plaza atrium has multiple levels of seating and the seating at Martini Bar is at different heights. This does make it a challenging space to navigate for those with mobility issues. Visually it's an unusual design; one end of the Martini bar with have high stools while the other side of the Martini Bar will have normal height chairs with the bar at dining table height. It is a bit awkward standing at the lower end of the bar and ordering a drink since the bartender is already standing at a lower level than you are, so you're kinda hovering over everything and need to bend over a little to talk to the bartender.

No longer shoved into the corner of the atrium.

What do you mean by not very welcoming? Starting with the Beyond, the Edge Class Plus ships (Beyond, Ascent, Xcel) are slightly longer which allowed the Grand Plaza to be enlarged. This allowed the Martini Bar to be moved more towards the middle of the atrium space so there's seating ALL AROUND the Martini bar, rather than the aft end of the bar closed off.

In other words you cannot use your Elite+ free minutes and, for example, the 35% Elite+ discount on a Wifi package. So the free minutes value would go towards the regular pricing for a 7 day wifi package, NOT a 7 day wifi package PLUS a 35% discount. It says so right on the Elite+ Benefits sheet.

If I remember correctly you can't stack the free minutes with the elite+ discount. At least I don't remember seeing that 2 weeks ago on the Ascent.