tigervixxxen

There are now multiple docks in Cozumel, several cruise companies built their own so while it will be busy it’s not all 32k going through the same terminal/shops. 

5 hours ago, MMMCruiser said:

I have booked a cruise with X, round trip from Southampton, UK.  I haven't sailed from this port before.  Do any of you have any advice/information that you'd be willing to share here.   Does it make sense to just get a ride down there in the morning and stay in London, or is it better to just book a room right by the port.  I'm not sure when we can get on the ship - what time are Retreat guests usually allowed to board?  We'd like to board as early as we can so we can check out the ship before it is too crowded.  Never sailed with X before, so I'd love more details about any of this. TIA.

celebrity is known for very quick embarkation. If you never sailed with them you will be surprised. I have not been a retreat guest but we selected 11:30 as our arrival time when we did the check in on the ap and were easily in our room on the ship by noon. The earliest arrival time is 11 am I believe and you could probably try to get on board at that time, they don’t even check what your boarding pass says. simply put, you can pretty much arrive at your convenience. 
 

As far as when to travel to Southampton, that’s up to what you feel comfortable with. We usually prefer staying by the port but if you value a day in London more that certainly has merit. It’s a fairly lengthy (and expensive) ride, about 90 minutes and mostly along highways but we didn’t encounter any traffic. We stayed at the Harbor hotel and it was nice accommodations, just walked around the harbor a little. Not a ton to do there. Other hotels many people stay at are more in the town. All very close to the cruise port, 5-10 minutes away at most.
 

Why not try a 9 night cruise on the Equinox to Aruba in Jan/Feb?

We handle our arrangements ourselves. Twice I noticed a price decrease for our upcoming October cruise, I believe it was around March and May and got a reduction of about $600 each time. I just called Celebrity, it was quick and easy. I call early in the morning, maybe that helps the wait time. They made the change right away. There should be no concern with booking too early. As long as they are still selling your cabin category then you can get the price reduced.  

I’d guess the South Pacific 

Martini Bar is our favorite embarkation hang out. It’s not as crowded as it will be later on. As other have mentioned it’s a good time to make sure everything is in order so that the cruise begins smoothly. Any reservations or snags to iron out are good to get out of the way right when you board. 
 

my other piece of advice is to think about what you are bringing on the ship in your carry on. Celebrity is usually pretty quick with bag delivery but I like having at least one toiletry bag and an outfit suitable for dinner just in case the checked bags don’t come quickly.

I booked a cruise in 2022 while on the Silhouette and the only OBC given to us is what was referenced in the chart above. It’s a 17 night transpacific in a Veranda, so we get $100. There was no extra on top of what’s given based on the chart. 

There was a big Memorial Day sale, perhaps there will be a Labor Day sale. One note on the rebooking, they can’t just refund you the difference. I was told you have to buy the excursion again at the new price and the refund will be processed on the cancellation in like 7-10 business days. Also this won’t work for sold out excursions. So something to keep in mind.

The aft porthole verandas look to be deeper than the ones forward going by the ship deck plans. Can anyone confirm if this is true? Because I too am not all that interested in booking an IV. 

I am very confused about this too. It is now very difficult to compare because you can’t even look up specific shore excursions unless you are booked on a cruise. I have an excursion booked for “East Coast Highlights” on Raiatea and I had no idea it would be considered strenuous until my husband commented about it. The only thing is walking around some grounds. The whole excursion is 3.5 hours long with multiple stops, it’s not enough time for any sort of hike. I just don’t get it. Then on the other hand in St. Lucia we went on an excursion, I forget what it was exactly called since I can’t look anything up but the description literally said “take a stroll to view the Pitons” and it ended up being a 300 ft hike up a mountain. Stroll! And that one wasn’t marked strenuous. 

How much does it cost to play? 

I preface this by saying I have not been on Carnival since the pandemic but we found their food is actually creative and has flavor variety. This menu is trending toward assisted living offering. There’s really nothing beyond soup and salad for appetizer. The main entrees are just very basic and standard. If this is how it’s going to go on my upcoming Solstice cruise my husband won’t go to the MDR half the time. It’s not because we need an expensive piece of meat it’s because there’s probably only one item we’d each order. 
 

I don’t mind the surf and turf up charges, I agree with those who have said it’s at least an option over needing to book a specialty meal. The cheeseburger is one item and my husband would probably order it so that’s not an enormous issue either. It’s that I could probably count on one hand the number of dishes I’d be excited to order and that’s a problem going on a 17 night cruise. 

I did the Effy charm thing back on my sailing over New Years. There will be a daily giveaway usually tied to some jewelry event. There is a list somewhere of what each daily charm is, some are little gemstones and others are little cruise related items like an X or ship or a queen of hearts card. It’s a fun thing to try and collect but I didn’t quite understand what it was exactly until halfway through the cruise. They don’t really advertise “this is when you pick up your next charm” but just show up for whenever the event is with the nightly jewelry raffle and ask for the charm. They’ll probably give it to you if you show up after the event but won’t before. If you miss any charms they say you can ask on the last day but they didn’t have everything (I’m sure there’s a bin somewhere with them all for the next cruises but anyway). The gemstones were my favorite. I was on an 11 night sailing so maybe there’s a few cut out on shorter sailings but maybe worth asking if there’s some you are missing. I didn’t find the boutique folks especially helpful but it was fun anyway.

From the cabin choice maps on the Celebrity booking engine it appears like the deluxe porthole verandahs in the aft are not as narrow as the ones forward. Is that the case? I know I’m not trying to take those things to exact scale or anything but there’s a noticeable difference especially say comparing deck 7 forward cabins vs those in the aft. Also, how obstructed are the obstructed ones? It seems random that some are and some aren’t, is that the lifeboat that’s obstructing them?

Was on the Equinox over New Years and room steward said they didn’t do the laundry bag special anymore so I had to send few things sent out a la carte. Glad to hear that apparently was incorrect but I’m not exactly sure how to even do the $50 bag because there was zero mention anywhere of any sort of bag pricing and option. Was this something Celebrity tried to get rid of and brought back? Because I too would likely need one bag of laundry service over my transpacific cruise.

November 27,2016

Thank you. So they have released the 2016 itineraries and this is the only one to Panama?

She's might like this one,it is a bit longer than the normal run

 

http://www.carnival.com/itinerary/12-day-southern-caribbean-cruise/galveston/magic/12-days/js0/?evsel=J&numGuests=2&destination=all-destinations&dest=any&datFrom=052015&datTo=042017&dur=D3&shipCode=MC

Thank you. When does that one depart, I can't tell from the link. She probably would not be up for one that length but it's the first I've seen Carnival go to Panama at all so it's a start.

In 2011 I sailed on an 8 day Carnival cruise that stopped in Colon, Panama and DH and I had an excursion to see the canal. My mom was supposed to go on this cruise and backed out at the last minute. Ever since she's been desperate to book this itinerary again with Carnival but apparently they completely stopped offering this destination. She's very loyal to Carnival and is very reluctant to go on any other line (she would also prefer as short of a cruise as possible so the 8 day itinerary was perfect for her). I've been telling her for 4 years to choose another line but she keeps waiting for Carnival to offer this again. Does anyone know definitively if Carnival will ever sail to Panama again or not?

My second question is which alternative is best? I see Princess, Norwegian and Holland America offer a 10 day itinerary that is a partial canal transit. Any advice on how to guide her and make her feel comfortable choosing another cruise line would be very much welcome, thanks.