BigTorino

I wonder if the prepaid tips on the drink package is yet a way for X to pad their pockets? I am a little fuzzy on the detail, but it was my understanding from talking to a bartender that they only make the tip % (dollars and cents) on the specific drink I actually order and not out of the tips I paid when buying the premium drink package included in the Retreat.

No, we tip because they actually teach us how to play. If you play against the house the dealer will educate you and you'll walk away with a new skill.

This is an interesting point. I wonder if crew always earns less money in for example Australia (since that was your example) than in the Caribbean or North America? The crew is international and they get assigned ships depending on where there is a need.

Not at all, we tested at a hotel in London before heading to Southampton to board our cruise. Logged in on eMed's website.

Free of charge - true, but tip is not a food or item charge, it goes to the crew providing you with a service.

I found it fascinating that our PRH could always find us wherever we were. They must use facial recognition? Or we were just very easy to spot since we were one of very few families onboard traveling with a young teen.

I'm not sure I would want to pay extra for an upgrade on a port intensive Alaska cruise. The retreat lounge doesn't have windows. Everybody has access to the front upper deck for viewings if the ship is not revolutionized. Cheaper to just pay for your extra bar set up and specialty dining up front. The main thing I would value is a good veranda. Just a thought...

Celebrity knows how many of their crew test positive because they test crew once a week. If crew positivity rate is any indication, they know. It may not be a perfect sample however, because close contacts among the crew also get quarantined. Maybe you could elaborate on that? You seem to know a lot. It sounds like stopping pre-cruse testing could be disastrous for crew health. Thanks!

Our PRH Clayton went above and beyond tirelessly on our last Silhouette cruise. But we were very mindful when asking him for services that he also had 12 other suites (on different decks). His contract had been forcibly extended twice, due to lack of staff. Crew appreciate when we treat them as fellow human beings too and with the respect they deserve. There simply were many tasks we were able to do much faster for ourselves than having to wait for our PRH. I know the concierges encouraged us to use our butler/PRH but it was just easier and faster to do it ourselves. That fact did not in any way detract from Clayton's willingness to help.

I was sure relieved that we had pre-cruise testing on our Scandinavian cruise on Silhouette now in June. Despite pre-cruise testing, we still had over 1% COVID positive cases after a week, and that with only 910 passengers onboard! I can only imagine how bad it would have been without the pre-tests. A couple of fellow Roll Call folks were in isolation, and one person apparently real sick too. On a lighter note, we scored an onboard move-up due to someone else's pre-test misfortune. Bet this wouldn't have happened without COVID testing either. Hope X keeps pre-testing for all of our benefit - especially in keeping their wonderful crew safe. COVID isolation takes a serious financial toll on them. Cruising right now is a gamble I'm willing to take.

Thank you for posting and very sorry for your loss. Don was so helpful and he will be missed.

That doesn't make sense! In that case why would they have guests or crew test at all on/pre cruises from Southampton? I thought testing was done for Celebrity's protection. They would hardly want to sail ships with high COVID counts on board for all kinds of reasons. Now this can still occur. I have read numerous posts of people testing positive days after debarkation, B2B or not.