AbbyCruiser45

Im a planner too 😊 there are plenty of YouTube tours of the Apex or you can also look at the Edge (nearly identical). The Beyond is the same class of ship, but has more changes, so don’t look at those videos. Here’s a link to a trip report I wrote up on my Edge sailing in 2021 with pictures and some tips:

I sailed NCL Sun a few years ago. It was fine, just fine. Celebrity is fantastic, so don't expect that level of surface. I felt like on NCL, there was a lot of nickel and diming on board. Nothing I gave into, but they were constantly advertising upgrades and sales onboard. There was also one meal that was inedible to me, and I am not hard to please at all. After that meal, I stuck to the steak option, and that was cooked great. So I think if you go in with appropriate expectations, it'll be okay. I do agree with others, though, that island hopping is very manageable. I'm looking at 2024 Celebrity options for Hawaii. One route has three days on the big island (one overnight in Kona and then one day in Hilo. So I am thinking of spending time in Kauai on my own and then time in Oahu, where the ship leaves, on my own. So I'll have a good amount of time on two islands, and then still see Maui with an overnight and the Big Island with three days in port. Then we'll get to enjoy the peace and relaxation of sailing to Vancouver. This would definitely need to be about a 3-week trip, though.

Yes, and they get a little cranky if you try to deviate! It was the most sass I've ever gotten from an X crew member. I think I asked if I could add a banana to one of the smoothies. He expressed that they would not do that but just this one time. Of course, I said it was not necessary then, but he begrudgingly made it. They weren't busy at all either. It made me not go back to the smoothie bar for the rest of the trip!

Thanks for the response! That is such a pain but makes sense. I'm a nice wine person, but my partner is fine with bottom-shelf whisky and coke 😂 I'm not sure over $300 total would be worth the upgrade. I'll try onboard, and if not I'll pay the difference each drink.

Jumping on this thread with a question-- we have the classic drink package. I see online that I can upgrade it, but it only gives the option to upgrade both people in the room. If we upgrade the package onboard, can we only upgrade one person?

If you can swing two balcony rooms financially, that is the way I would go. I sailed with three adults in a balcony two summers ago, and it was really tight. This was on the Edge also, which has the Infinite Verandah, so even with that extra indoor space, we felt like we were on top of each other. The sleeper couch was also not that comfortable for an adult. If traveling as a family with a lot of grown children, I always prefer 2 people each in 2 inside cabins compared to 4 in a balcony.

It's my favorite time of year too. I actually just finished my Ph.D. at UTK, so I'll be moving soon. Luckily just to the Atlanta area, which is plentiful in Dogwoods too and close enough for weekend trips.

My parents, who are avid Celebrity cruisers, just got off a river cruise with Viking. It was hit or miss with them. They thought the food and wine options were incredible, but service was lacking compared to Celebrity. Like you (from what I've gathered), they are also pretty independent travelers, so they were sometimes frustrated by the pace of the group tours. Sometimes fellow guests would be late delaying teh whole tour, othertimes it was just too slow. It doesn't make sense to turn down the group tours, given that they are included in the decently steep price of the trip. To quote a member of their tour, "I am not sure if I can handle another 10 AM port wine tasting." I'm not sure my parents will book again, unless the destination is really tempting.

Not at all. I sail inside only because that is what I can afford, and even I don't notice a difference. I only do notice a small difference when we sail Edge class because non-suite guests don't have any outdoor forward space. But on the Infinity, you do have outdoor forward space. Even so, it's not really an issue for me.

The buffet should have a drink station open 24/7 with basic drip coffee and tea. That is how it was on the Edge and Equinox.

Guest services will move you due to noise if possible, OP. My sister was in an inside cabin and it shared a wall with a food services corridor. Starting around 5:30 in the morning, she heard carts rattling up and down the corridor (not main hall) for room service. Every time the door to the corridor opened and closed, it shook the length of the wall in her cabin. She tried three nights out of eight dealing with it, but it was every early morning for about 2 hours. She went to guest services to ask about moving rooms (to another inside room) and they moved her to a concierge balcony room. I was sailing with her but in another inside cabin...I was quite jealous.

This was when they were in Bonaire with a 6PM departure.

If that’s what he liked doing on NCL, then Celebrity would probably be a good fit. You’ll want to sail a Solstice or Millennium class ship (so not Edge, Apex, or Beyond) because those all have a sports court with basketball.

I hesitate even making this topic because I know people get heated about it, but I wanted to share some good news! My parents are on the Edge right now for a B2B. They did a Southern Caribbean 10 day leg last week and a few days ago started the 11 day Panama Canal portion of the trip. On the first portion of the trip, my mom said the buffet was similar to how it's been described here for the dinner service, just a lot of casseroles, pre-made dishes, etc. She also said that the MDR was much busier without the buffet absorbing maybe around 10-15% of guests per night. During this portion of the trip, they noticed the MDR was less busy despite the capacity on the ship being the same, so they went to Ocean View to investigate! My mom shared that there were more stations open and she confirmed this with crew. An officer in Ocean View said they have added back more stations to the buffet and had every single station open last night. Additionally, they'll plan to have the full buffet open on the Panama Canal day and they are working towards having Ocean View fully back for dinner. The officer confirmed the grill station was open last night and my mom said the pasta station was open and there were fresh vegetables. I've included some pictures she sent me. She sent a video for more detail, but the quality was not good because of her internet (I did get it though, which would have been unheard of without Starlink!) So don't shoot the messenger and I am sorry if this is not happening on your ship currently, but it looks like things are on the way up! Likely after a month of Celebrity getting slammed by poor reviews.

This is right! My brother in law is a marathoner so he is very familiar with those early hours! At least on both the Edge and Equinox, the gym was never actually closed despite posted hours.

You'll be seated in the same dining every night. However, you should be able to ask the maître d' to try another dining room. From my understanding though, all the dining rooms share the same kitchen, so you could probably just order off the other dining rooms' menu.

What month are you going? It doesn't actually get too bad outside, and I went early in the season (May). I was usually comfortable in long sleeves or a light jacket. The biggest concern is rain, but Rooftop Grill is covered. Sorry I don't know about the heat lamps!

Doesn't it vary by ship? I was on the Equinox this summer and there was an attendant giving out squirts of hand sanitizer at the entrance each time.

Just got an update from my parents onboard that the ship is rerouting towards Puerto Rico for a medical evacuation. It’ll still be an airlift, not docking. The captain is just trying to get closer for Coast Guard. My heart goes out to the impacted family on the ship and I hope everything will be okay.

I look forward to hearing OrcaGirl’s IV experience but can we limit it to her experience? There are plenty of other threads to discuss the various pros and cons on the IV without taking over this live thread to discuss them.

Read through the previously linked thread. The answer is "it depends on the ship". Some ships do, some don't. It'll be listed in the app under the buffet hours as "snacks".

My parents will be on this cruise (sitting firmly in the shade with a tall glass of Pellegrino with ice and lime). So I'm excited to follow along!

In case anyone was interested in an update: I tried reaching out to Princess while waiting for an email response from Allen Marine tours and they were no help (which I expected). I heard back from Allen Marine this morning and they said "We are still updating tour dates with the cruise lines, please be sure to check back on their website in the coming weeks." So if anyone else is in a similar situation, just keep checking back on the Princess page!

Thank you for this information!

That's good to know! Unfortunately, all the local vendors don't have a time available for when the ship is in port. I'll just keep an eye out! Thank you.