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Thank you, that explains why it tasted awful then! I'll take some Twinings with me!

Brilliant pics, what camera are you using? I'm debating taking my 10yr old DSLR camera with me which takes great photos but weighs a ton! Also I know you said you were very disappointed with your English breakfast tea...as a Brit, I need a couple of cups in the morning to start the day off, did you notice what brand tea they're using? Do I need to bring my own Twinings tea bags and just ask for hot water?!

Great trip report! Following along here in interest as we are on the same itinerary later in Sept. If you crossed under the Canakkale Bridge in the early hours, obviously that cruise along the Dardanelles Strait was in the dark, how about the return journey? Ship should supposedly be leaving Istanbul at 1pm, will it reach the Dardanelles Strait before sunset or will it be dark for the return leg also?

Apologies if this has been posted previously, but I did a search and came up with naught, so thought I'd share! https://www.houzz.co.uk/pro/celebritycruises/celebrity-cruises I think the contest to win a cruise has ended, but there are plenty of photos of Beyond, interviews with Kelly Hoppen & Nate Berkus and some insight into their design ideas for Beyond, plus some style tips from them. Also if you click around under 'projects' you can find some of the furniture pieces they used on the ship. I know some people don't particularly love the styling/decor on Beyond but personally I think it looks fantastic. The sunset bar in particular I think looks the perfect place to sit, relax and enjoy a few cocktails and from photos/videos stands head and shoulders above the sunset bars on any other X ships.

I'll never forget a trip to the US 20 odd yrs ago with a vegetarian friend of mine, we went to a drive thru Burger King and asked for a veggie burger. "A whaaat" 'a veggie burger, yano, vegetarian, no meat' "err, ok then". Picked order up, went back to where we were staying, friend opened burger to find a piece of lettuce, tomato and pickle between the two pieces of bread...nothing else! Back on track though, last time I ate in Blu there were occasions when I had an appetiser that was so nice I asked for another one, plus I think twice I couldn't decide between two mains so they brought me one of each. Did I forgo dessert on those occasions...absolutely not!

It's not the most obvious place in the app to switch sailings - it's the right hand icon at the top of the main screen, a sort of rectangle with a circle above it, then choose 'select a different sailing' and then 'get more details on ships we support', choose Reflection and then pick the current cruise. You can then look up menus for all the restaurants for all 11 nights plus the daily planner has all the activities for each day of the current cruise. Reflection seems to be alternating between the 10 night Italy/Greece/Montenegro itinerary and 11 night Italy/Greece/Turkey route all summer, so if you're on the 10 night one wait until July 15th and you should be able to see menus/activities for that itinerary. If you've had enough hen recently hopefully the lamb, veal and ribs on hen nights will be decent alternatives!

In the app if you select the current Reflection sailing, which is an 11 night one, it shows all 11 nights of menus. There doesn't seem to be any repetition of menus although I think they might have gotten a special deal on cornish hens as that dish (or slight variations on it) does appear 3 times lol. Sherry glazed, roasted and roasted wild (do they go and make a fire pit on the lawn or something?!).

The vast majority of people in Europe probably have no idea what the CDC is and/or don't care. If the majority of cruises in Europe seem to be back up at or near capacity without that information being available then I'd hypothesise that the majority of people cruising couldn't care less about it lol. PS I'll be on Reflection a month later, take care of her for us! 🙂

Exactly this. As other threads involving people pointing this out and telling others to stop moaning about covid have been reported by the covid police and shut down, for fairness (to the 98% of people who just don't care anymore and/or are trying to get excited about an upcoming holiday) can we please shut down all the threads with people moaning they caught covid on a ship. A couple million people in the uk had covid last week, including me. 99.99% of us caught it somewhere other than on a ship. Tbh I'd have rather caught it on a ship than down the supermarket, at least I'd have had some fun beforehand! Oh and I'm sorry OP, but you're being unreasonable expecting Celebrity to go against their policies and refund your money simply because you suddenly got scared about covid. If it was the rule that anyone could cancel any cruise at any time for absolutely any reason and just say "oh but covid" to get a full refund, Celebrity wouldn't be around for much longer. Businesses cannot operate like that.

5pm at Heathrow maybe, but you were on your way to Rome where it would have been 6pm....so all is good!

The UK site currently has 9% off premium and 9% off classic drinks packages. I'm in same position as the OP, fully paid but it's not been 'unbundled' in their system so it shows full price for both classic and premium packages for me. I'm wondering if there is a 9% discount on upgrading currently, or if because both packages currently have 9% off so the price differential is roughly the same, the upgrade price will be the same. I'm guessing it'll need a phone call but I don't have time for an hour on hold right now lol They really should sort out their IT systems so people wouldn't have to call in for something so simple as this!

Yeah, if a UK taxpayer wins £10,000,000 on the lottery here in the UK, that's all yours to keep, tax free. Same with all gambling winnings, either from a casino, online betting etc.

To the best of my understanding, this only affects US citizens or citizens of other countries when sailing in US waters. Most other countries don't tax gambling winnings!

According to Celebrity it should be in dry dock this October. Whether it's being revolutionised or just a more basic renovation I'm not sure. Anyone know how long other ships which have been revolutionised were in dry dock for?

I would be a little wary of that website, it appears to be a scam. I cannot find anywhere else where it states you must fill out a passenger locator form for entry to Turkey. It looks like you once had to, but you don't need to now. I've checked several UK airline websites for their travel advice if going to Turkey and they all state there are no requirements. I've also checked official UK Home Office (govt) guidance on travel to Turkey and it states there are no covid related requirements. Same with Turkish Airlines. https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us/announcements/coronavirus-outbreak/turkey-travel-rules/ https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/turkey/entry-requirements https://www.jet2.com/en/flights/safe-travel/travel-requirements/turkey Even if that 'ivisa.com' website simply made an honest mistake and forgot to take down that the passenger locator form is required, it's an absolute scam to try and charge people to fill it in. When it was necessary, it was free. Also, a visa is not required by a British citizen to visit Turkey (citizens of different countries may have different requirements, best to double check). "British Citizens travelling to Turkey for tourist or business purposes are able to travel without a visa for visits of up to 90 days in any 180-day period."

Where does your cruise start from, I'm wondering if that's the case for all cruise departure ports? Or maybe 'Sam' doesn't know what she's talking about? Their website doesn't 'suggest', it clearly states a COR replaces the pre cruise test! We originally thought it was 90 days (below from Celebrity website states 180 days) and some in our party caught covid last week...we were about to pay for PCR tests/COR so we can avoid testing before cruise in a few months. So a bit of clarity from Celebrity would be nice haha For cruises originating in Italy: Sailing Testing Requirements: All guests ages 2 and older must present a digital or physical copy of a supervised, negative COVID-19 test result in order to board their sailing. Pre-Arrival/Embarkation Covid-19 Test Up to Date* Guests: Must present a negative Antigen test taken within 2 days prior to sailing. Testing at the terminal will not be required. Fully-Vaccinated** Guests: Must present a negative Antigen test taken within 2 days prior to sailing. Testing at the terminal will not be required. Unvaccinated Guests: Must present either a negative Antigen test taken within 1 day of sailing or have the option to be tested at the Terminal prior to Embarkation.  Guests who have recently recovered from COVID-19 may present a Certificate of Recovery and proof of the positive PCR test result taken between 11 and less than 180 days prior to the sail date in order to board. The Certificate of Recovery can be presented as an NHS COVID Pass, EU Certificate of Recovery or as a letter from a healthcare provider. In addition, you must still present a vaccination card. Please be aware that some ports of call do not accept a Certificate of Recovery for the purposes of debarking and enjoying the destination. We will not accept a Certificate of Recovery in place of a vaccination record***

Early 40s here, cruised with celebrity before and loved it, can't wait for our upcoming cruise on Reflection in September. We considered the Apex 10 night to Israel but went with the 11 night to Istanbul and Greece instead. Chilling by the pool, evening entertainment and casino is exactly what we are planning on and I think the pool areas on Celebrity ships are much more conducive to a bit of relaxing than ones on RC! If you upgrade to aquaclass (oftentimes the difference between standard balcony or concierge and aqua can only be a couple hundred pounds...definitely worth it) then you get to eat in Blu, where most of the tables are for 2. Great food, smaller restaurant, more intimate and great service. Aquaclass (and concierge) also gets you a bottle in your cabin upon boarding, water delivered daily and canapés brought to your cabin every afternoon, but as someone else pointed out, the canapes alone are definitely not a major reason to book. Even though Reflection is almost 10yrs old, before booking we watched a lot of recent videos, reviews, walk throughs etc and tbh it's looking really good for it's age. A lot of the decor, artwork, and general atmosphere of the ship seems timeless and still looks modern even today. We did look at RC but as someone else pointed out, a lot of the ships look more like floating amusement parks and that isn't our idea of a relaxing holiday! Whichever ship you choose with Celebrity I'm sure you'll have an amazing time, so go ahead and pick the itinerary/dates that work for you and enjoy yourselves!

Does anyone know if this also applies to those booked in aquaclass? When choosing whether you want cruise only or always included, elevate etc in the small print it states: †AquaClass guests that purchase the Elevate or Indulge package will receive Spa Credit in place of Shore Excursion Credit. Do you have to use it in the spa or does it just get added to your general OBC pot that can be used for anything?

I'd also read about the standard service potentially taking a long time, so I paid for the expedited service and had mine back in 3 days. Didn't want to risk it. I think the moral of the story is if you know you need a new passport before you travel next, if its within a few months just pony up the extra money (in our case in the UK, an extra £70) and pay for expedited service. £70 was worth not having to worry for weeks on end and potentially lose thousands on a trip I couldn't take.

Haha agreed. At least with the elephant there's the potential of it stimulating some philosophical debate rather than on the RCI ship I'd simply be complaining the gaudy colour scheme was giving me a headache. OK, admittedly the convo on the Beyond would probably be more along the lines of "anyone for a top up" "hmm I think we've had enough, we're seeing elephants"

Everyone is different, but from what you said I think you would probably prefer Celebrity over RCI. After a lot of research, reading reviews, watching videos etc and considering other lines for our upcoming Sept cruise, we went with Celebrity. We had wanted to go on Beyond but we couldn't all get our time off work to match up with the sailing we wanted, so it'll be the Reflection for us. I've sailed with Celebrity before and absolutely loved it. These two photos of the pool decks of the newest RCI ship (Wonder of the Seas) and the newest Celebrity ship (Beyond) sum up (to me at least) the fundamental differences between the two lines. One of these I could quite happily sit out at with a book and cocktail in hand, relaxing and chatting with friends. The other is full of water slides, rather garish colours and large metal bright orange palm trees!

That will be me in a few months. I will not be wearing a mask and I will most definitely be holding a drink while in the theatre! 🍸 🍹 You are obviously in the minority, as you stated, so to expect everyone else to change their behaviour to appease you is actually the definition of selfish. I will bite my tongue and not say exactly what I'm thinking, let's try and keep this amicable lol. However, I don't appreciate being called selfish and disrespectful for simply trying to enjoy myself on the first holiday I'll have been on in 4 years. Its frustrating enough that we will probably have to go through the hassle of getting tested in a foreign country before we board (we're hoping that requirement is dropped before we sail), but if its a requirement obviously we will have to. However, we will most certainly not voluntarily wear flimsy masks everywhere on the ship just to appease a handful of people who are still scared of catching covid. I say all this in an effort to as nicely as possible, request that those with similar views as you just stop and think about how everyone else feels. I don't want to be on holiday with people looking at me like I'm some sort of leper just because I'm not wearing a mask. It's ridiculous. If 95%+ of people are not bothering to wear masks, then maybe the <5% who are wearing them need to understand and accept that there's nothing wrong with that. We are all paying a lot of money to go on holiday and to enjoy ourselves, and for those who aren't retired it may well be our only break from work all year. After not having to wear masks anywhere in our country for the last 4 or 5 months, don't expect me to voluntarily do so for 2 weeks while on holiday! There shouldn't be any animosity between those who do and don't wear masks when not required. If you're genuinely that concerned about catching covid, and I understand some people might still be, then maybe cruising isn't right for you. But you're just as likely to catch it at home in the supermarket or restaurant etc.

Reflection should have had at least a bit of a refresh by December, it's scheduled for a 2 week dry dock in October I believe. Or at least there are no cruises scheduled for 2 weeks. With the S1 suite on Reflection at the moment, you're paying more for the other perks which come with it rather than the cabin itself. S1 is pretty much identical to other veranda cabins on the ship, but they're a little bit wider. Is that itself worth more money, I'd say definitely not, but we all have our own priorities. The list provided by terrydtx seems like a lot, but realistically some of them are just fluff and others might not matter to you. Personally I don't care about reserved theatre seating once a week, neither do I care about priority boarding or disembarkation. Afternoon canapés in your cabin, you get that in AQ class anyway. I would probably not use the services of a butler, nor would I need a concierge to book me a place in a restaurant (what's the difference between talking to the concierge and talking direct to the restaurant lol). On the Reflection, Michael's lounge is still just that, yes its for suite passengers only but some people dont particularly like it. The ship also doesn't have a retreat sundeck. When it comes to Luminae, that again comes down to personal taste. I've read and seen a lot of people's reviews where they prefer Blu over Luminae. I'm booked in AQ on Reflection in September. There was a considerable price difference between AQ and an S1 suite which in our mind definitely wasn't worth it. We would rather save the money, stay in AQ and pay for a few specialty restaurant nights, the extra 15/day for premium drinks and there would still be money left over to pay for all our shore excursions! If the itinerary of both cruises that are being considered are roughly similar and don't really factor into the decision, I would probably book AQ on Apex. I've not sailed on it yet but definitely want to (or Beyond). Don't forget most balconies on deck 12 on Reflection have a large overhang, again, personal preference. I'm sure you'll love whichever you go with though!

You know the Reflection is the same as Equinox and Silhouette, except it has an extra deck/half deck and a much better sunset bar? Curious how you find the layout on it so much worse when 95% of it is the same?

If it gets much worse we will have to start measuring on hold wait times with a calendar!