CNSfromHI

We stayed overnight at this Holiday Inn for our cruise last autumn and I highly recommend it. It's neat and clean, offers friendly service, it's not terribly expensive, and they don't mind people camping in the lobby after checking out until they can board. The best part is the location, as the photo from our hotel window shows 😀 As far as transportation, we used Heathrow Shuttle, a private-car service, both there and back. Comfortable sedans both ways, courteous professional drivers, door-to-door service, etc. Hope this helps, cjr

We had these in our suite last autumn and they were excellent. Far better than the smaller/compact set I would have brought along. That was aboard the Silhouette, however. cjr

Even though we like/use the app, we still received a printed newsletter every day last September on the Silhouette -- either in our room at some point or in the "mail slot" outside of our door. I'm not sure we even had the option to say "no thanks" to the paper version, but Celebrity makes it easy to recycle all of it regardless. Hope this helps and enjoy your cruise! cjr

I received this email yesterday around 5 p.m. here (Central), and it's the first CC offer I've received since October that didn't involve airfare, credit cards, booking a special CEO cruise, etc. cjr

During our Silhouette cruise in early September, we only experienced one staff member ask us (more than once) to leave a positive review for him post-cruise: the butler for our suite. While neither my wife nor I were particularly impressed with his attentiveness, we were both cruise noobs, and low maintenance in general, so we wanted to give him a positive review by name afterward. This is what he led us to expect; something asking about him/his performance specifically. Instead, the survey each of us received was generic, i.e., it asked about general experiences in various areas. Ultimately, we each left glowing reviews in the "anything else" (or whatever it was called) box at survey's end to mention him by name, and a few others, who stood out to us. On our next cruise, I intend to pay more attention and note those staff members whose service warrants attention. cjr

This was our tag last September... cjr

I hired a private car both to/from Heathrow/Southampton for our cruise last September, @walkersandtalkers, and I recommend it. On our final day (Sept. 10), we docked at 6:00 a.m. but disembarked at 8:45 for a 9:00 pickup. (I used a company called Heathrow Shuttle; I have zero affiliation with them and receive no benefit by mentioning them.) Our flight home left at 2:25 p.m. that day, and we arrived at Heathrow with more than enough time to check bags, go through security, explore a few shops, and even enjoy a nice late-lunch at a pub-style place in the airport (as well as a pint or two 😃). This cost more than passage on a train or coach, but jumping into a comfortable private car outside the Southampton cruise terminal and then stepping out right in front of the Heathrow airport terminal door -- with plenty of time to spare -- proved worth it in order to make our flight. Hope this helps, cjr

I'm like you and fretted about luggage tags, too, before our cruise in August. In our case, we didn't receive the e-doc PDF until 10 days before our cruise departed. Glad you received yours and hope you have a wonderful cruise. cjr

We've booked two Celebrity cruises entirely by ourselves, both online, and the second one was "pre-booked" using the "Book Now or Book Later" thing, but we've had ZERO problems so far. I hope your experience proves likewise! cjr

This is how I handle it. Given Celebrity's "tips included" thing, offering anything more was up to me and, when I chose to tip more, I wanted it to go to each person whose attentive service I appreciated. Therefore, I always handed him/her a cash tip and said "This is for you; thank you." I'm certain that some servers will still share that cash with others on their shift, but some don't. At the very least, I've overtly expressed my appreciation for exemplary service. cjr

I've seen this $40/bag option available for pre-purchase on our next cruise and wondered if it's a deal, as well. I've intended to "do the math" based on receipts from our last cruise, but suspect I will arrive at your same conclusion. Thanks! cjr

I hope everything goes smoothly for you, @sunviking90! cjr

No, when we booked our next (upcoming) cruise, the $200 we paid onboard ($100 per person) at the end of our September cruise was the only down payment we had to make. That was part of the attraction/reason we committed some dough right away. cjr

We did the same during our cruise in September, i.e., on the last full day of our cruise, we plunked down a minimal deposit as part of the "Book Now or Book Later" deal. For that, we literally only received a paper receipt showing our names, the $200 deposit, and a confirmation number on the transaction. Once we returned home, our Celebrity account did not "show/reflect" that deposit, and it showed a weird, non-specific "future cruise" date of 2099 or something wayyyy distant. Ultimately, we again booked our next Celebrity cruise by ourselves online (within one week!) and our deposit -- and, more importantly, the onboard credit -- were applied to our reservation. Bottom line, Celebrity does a poor job of making things easy online. We just took a sort of leap of faith, armed with that silly paper receipt and an email confirmation in case anything went sideways. Hopefully, you will experience the same! Hope this helps, cjr

We used Celebrity's flight thing for our cruise last fall because it did offer the best cost that also met our arrival/departure needs. (No CC points for that, however.) That said, we did a lot of comparison shopping first, and this was an international trip. Honestly, a few CC points won't influence our airfare decision for our next cruise (this spring) either. But if the Flights by Celebrity airfare proves best for us overall, scoring a few more points will be a nice perk. cjr

Unfortunately, is does seem like Celebrity has throttled back its CC-point earning opportunities vs. a year ago. But every little CC point adds up! cjr

The Alaska opportunity offered 30 power-up points, i.e., three CC points. cjr

Me too. I knew I could ask our butler to bring me coffee every morning, but I tend to rise at different times in the morning -- generally early -- and when I'm up, I want that first java cup quickly. (I never bothered using the kettle and those instant-mix tubes in our room.) Anyway, I enjoyed getting two hot steaming Americanos each morning and then quietly sipping them before my wife awoke. cjr

During our September cruise, our butler made it clear that he would restock our little fridge with soda, bottled water and/or beer at "no charge" if we asked him to, but bottled wine was not part of that. I don't have enough cruise experience to know if that's typical or varies by butler, though, but I definitely recommend asking. cjr

This is the last opportunity I received/took advantage of -- although I also received an email Nov. 10 to earn 5 CC points if I book airfare through Flights by Celebrity between Nov. 11–Dec. 01. Might still do that for our March 2023 cruise. cjr

This is really the only reason to use the phone-version of your room key, i.e., you've forgotten/lost your SeaPass cards. Even if you carry your mobile about all the time, as I do (the Celebrity app is handy for much more than just the key thing), it's still wayyy easier to wave your cabin key in front of the door handle than to unlock your phone, launch the app, scroll to the "key card" thing, etc. Bottom line, though, is you will have a choice to use one or both, whichever you prefer. cjr

I just learned the hard way after our September cruise that turning off cellular (iPhone) was not enough. Shift your phone into Airplane Mode. cjr

This was our experience, as well. We found that not every "round" showed up on the app once we got to know a bartender or two 😃 cjr

Our Celebrity cruise departed August 29 and we received the "Guest Ticket Booklet"/e-docs late p.m. on August 11 via email, so your time frame is similar. I know others here on CC have other experiences – and, like you, I wanted those docs sooner, too – but hopefully yours will turn up shortly. cjr

My two cents: Turning off cellular on an iPhone (I have a 12) does NOT prevent you from racking up roaming charges and other unexpected billing nonsense -- a hard lesson I learned after our September cruise courtesy of AT&T. 😡 As I've since learned, and as others have stated here, Airplane mode enables use of WiFi and Bluetooth without the unpleasant billing surprises. cjr