PH2

Having Miami as the only other port we've ever cruised out of, Seattle was a piece of cake. Only 2 ships versus 7, and the embarkation was so easy. We got slightly delayed because they were removing some COVID people from the previous sailing last, but it went fast. Also, they handed out these cards with group numbers and we noticed they really weren't checking so a couple we met on the ride over came with us when our group number was called and they got on about 10 groups ahead. As far as upselling, there were 2 stations set up outside the buffet entrance on either side of the ship across from the elevators manned with 2-3 people actively trying to sell specialty restaurant reservations. That's about the only "in your face" upselling we saw.

There were 4 when we did it 2 weeks ago because I think we answered Yes Yes No No.

We did our first Celebrity cruise on Solstice last week to Alaska. We were in a Sky Suite and had a fabulous time. That said, looking at the prices for a SS 12 months out will price us out of the Retreat for the foreseeable future. We will definitely not hesitate to cruise on Celebrity again, but it will only be where it makes financial sense. Since we're new to cruising, what makes the most sense is to book future cruises by itinerary and price on various lines and decide which lines we like the most for the price and narrow it down from there. We are considering a Princess cruise next (probably not until early 2025 though).

Same for us on the Solstice. Also had the same experience that our Retreat Host left 2 bottles of water (sometimes 2 bottles both morning and night) and chocolates on the pillow every night. Sounds like our Retreat Host wasn't as proactive but he did a fine job with the room, and brought us 2 blankets when requested (we cruised Alaska and used them on the balcony). We purchased 1 day of laundry service which was brought back the following day and not shrunk. But all we gave them were jeans, underwear and socks. Amazingly, I still fit into the jeans on day 8.

We did this exact cruise last week. Got lucky with the weather - Ketchican was in the 70s and sunny and Juneau and Skagway were 50s, overcast and only spitting rain from time to time. Also, the fog/rain cleared in time for the Dawes glacier viewing. Hope you have good luck as well. I'm jealous already and it's only been a few days since we debarked!

We were on the same Solstice sailing and while we were in the Retreat so we ate at Luminae most of the time, we also ate at Oceanview and Tuscan and enjoyed both. Can't comment on MDR. I also don't have any "back in the day" experiences to compare to. We had a fabulous time and ate good food - and too much of it. *shrug*

A couple other "hot button" topics I forgot to mention - Solstice still has the old Luminae menu (huevos rancheros and raspberry vacherin were on there), and we didn't observe anyone vaping in the casino, although we didn't spend a ton of time there. Oh, and we've had Bingo twice (today will be the second).

We're winding up our first Celebrity cruise (debark on Friday) and are in a SS. Here are my thoughts overall and experience with the Retreat team. Overall, we've had a fabulous cruise. We are not experienced cruisers and even on land vacations, do not seek out the kind of pampering and service we have gotten on this cruise. At times, it has been almost too much (our running joke is that I now refer to my wife as M'lady). Our "Retreat Host" has been fine in terms of making up the room, but we asked for the fridge to be emptied and ice once a day in the morning, and neither of those happened.. But not a big deal - I cleaned it out myself. We've been given 2 or 4 regular bottles of water each day. At present we have 12 bottles in the fridge. Never asked for anything else to be brought in, but we stopped by Michaels Club, asked for a couple Cokes and they were handed over with no questions. We didn't meet our head butler until the second day so that's probably why our requests to our Retreat Host went unfulfilled. One of our biggest gripes is that no one explained anything about what we do/don't get. Even the inconsequential stuff. There was an Effy locket on the desk and given all the other stuff in the room that was extra (drinks and what-not), we couldn't tell if it was a gift or a "you take it, you bought it" situation. It wasn't until day 3 that we found out about the charms they were giving away that went with the locket, which we then figured out was a gift. A few other newbies in line for charms said the same thing to my wife. Service in Luminae and other areas has been excellent. Breakfast room service was not served by our retreat host/butler, but it was actually early by 5-10 minutes both times and hot and correct. Minor gripe - they should serve room service tea out of the same carafes they use in Luminae so the tea does not taste like coffee because the hot water was in a coffee carafe. It was hard to drink. We've eaten a few times in Oceanview just because of timing and especially at lunch, we're not interested in a full dinner-like meal (steak, fish, full pasta meals, etc.) that take 45-60 minutes. It's been fine for buffet food, no complaints except the same complaint on every cruise - get a fresh omelet, never eat the scrambled eggs. Oceanview has been packed every time we've gone and we've had to search for 2 seats. But every station was open and full. Stir fry was good. A nice surprise we got (surprise to us, at least) was getting to observe Dawes glacier from the helipad on Monday morning. Fortunately the fog cleared, rain stopped and we got to within a mile of the glacier before doing the 360 viewing. We've only spoken to the head butler 3 or 4 times. That said, we don't ask for much and don't need much, but part of that is due to not knowing what we get in SS and not being pushy/particular about things. We do have 3 business cards in our room - head butler, retreat host and retreat concierges. Concierges set up our glass blowing class shortly after we embarked. I called the head butler at his request after completing the Canada customs paperwork and he answered and came down to our room within 10 minutes to collect the paperwork. He delivered the invite to the Retreat meet-and-greet with the ship staff and also accompanied a servicer who came to fix our doorbell (we didn't notice a problem but apparently room service did). Entertainment has been fine. I'm not much for showtune-y music but the shows were mostly enjoyable. A weak singer here, a hokey bit there, a God-awful arrangement of Walk This Way, etc., but nothing that made us want to walk out. The aerialists were the highlight. The comedian was "eh" - the magician was better. And frankly, the star of the show has been Milos Radakovich, the naturalist. Smart, funny, informative. Should have filled in for the comedian. We've been to 4 of his talks and his narration during the glacier viewing was terrific as well. I definitely think part of why Celebrity feels comfortable with both raising prices and cutting back is supply and demand, of course, but mostly a new supply of people like us who come in with little to no expectations of what we are missing (you don't know what you don't know) or what the "good ol' days" used to look like on Celebrity. The few people we've talked to who are new to Celebrity have had great things to say about the service and all aspects of this cruise, which we agree with. The wife wants to come back on a Celebrity cruise, even with the understanding we are likely priced out of the Retreat. So I apologize in advance for propping up the new Celebrity business model because we enjoyed ourselves and will definitely be back at some point. Sorry this turned out so long!

And the runway show from pool to buffet. That was actually the worst part on our Carnival cruise in February. The lack of clothing during meals in the buffet was unwelcome. On our Solstice cruise (Alaska), we've had a guy wearing a camo hat in Luminae and a couple guys in shorts and flip flops in Tuscan Grille. Neither of which really bother me but why publish a dress code if you don't enforce it?

Two days in and we've gotten 2 bottles of standard bottled water left for us in our SS on Solstice each day. We're supplementing that with Cokes from Michael's Club and that's about all we need in our fridge.

Interesting. I wonder if this applies right now on our cruise. I almost ordered a Woodford last night since it's my preferred Bourbon. But seeing as though I live about 10 minutes from the distillery, I'm not paying extra for the next week - I'll just wait until I get home.

Have not but maybe tomorrow morning since we have an early excursion. I'll report back if we do.

We are on Solstice in a SS right now. Asked for our fridge to be emptied and it hadn't happened by this morning so I emptied it myself. Last night in Michael's Club asked for 2 Coke Zeros and they gave them to us. We don't drink all that much but have several bottles of water and the Cokes in there. I also noticed that whatever the snack is that was supposedly among the stocked items was not in our suite when we checked in, so I'm expecting a charge for that and will be asking for it to be removed if that happens. Otherwise, we're enjoying ourselves so far. But this is our first Celebrity cruise (second overall) and first in a suite, so I'm sure we're not taking as much advantage of our amenities as we could/should be. Used the Retreat "team" in Michael's to book our glass blowing classes. That's about it.

We've only done 1 cruise, on Carnival this past February, and tomorrow with be cruise #2, on Celebrity. I went in not knowing a lot about the cruise experience in general and basically thinking Carnival was the Wal-Mart of cruising and came away impressed. Maybe it was low expectations? We booked one of the Havana Cabana rooms which have their own bar and pool area, so we didn't have to compete with the entire ship for space and deal with the crowds in the rest of the ship. We took my wife's parents so that room made a ton of sense given their age, but I also enjoyed the exclusivity, such as it is on Carnival, and if we do another Carnival, would book something similar. We thought the buffet and MDR were good, the hibachi restaurant was really good, and the burger and pizza stations excellent (as was the upcharge seafood station). There wasn't much in the way of entertainment but the comedians we saw were good (and switched up with at least 1 new one halfway through the sailing). Wife enjoyed throwing away money on bingo. It was definitely a party atmosphere (we sailed on Super Bowl Sunday), but it wasn't difficult with the Havana section to avoid the partiers. Service was perfectly fine. This time, instead of Carnival in the Caribbean with in-laws, it's Alaska on Celebrity just the two of us. That alone will make for a different experience, but I'm curious to see what the cruising experience is like on Celebrity compared with Carnival. We'll be in a SS.

Thanks. That's what I figured but I'm wary of text links and didn't know to expect it.

We're on our way to Seattle to board Solstice for a 7 day Alaska cruise. This is our first Celebrity cruise. This morning at the airport I got a text message from Celebrity (or so it appears) with a partial "We look forward..." message and a link. Is this legit? I've never gotten anything from Celebrity by text for this cruise and I never click on text links I'm not familiar with or expecting. Just checking with the group here - is this SOP for a Celebrity cruise? Or should I ignore/delete? Thanks!

The one I've seen where they are in Australia originally aired in 2014.

We've watched plenty of those episodes. I'll be on Solstice next week. IIRC, this episode they were in Australia. I also enjoy Air Disasters. Just to get a rise out of my wife, I usually watch one the night before a trip.

One other option, depending on how she paid. If she has a card with trip cancellation insurance, she might be able to recoup the entire amount of the cruise if she cancels. I'm actually considering this option right now due to a family medical emergency 2 weeks ago. DW and I are on the 9/8 Solstice sailing. Right now we're still a go with family's blessing, but that could change. If we have to cancel, I believe I can recoup the entire amount of the cruise under the Chase insurance policy.

I'm on Solstice in 10 days and the scheduled days/times do not have lunch on sea days (days 3 and 5).

Yes, that's the one!

Thanks for all of the detail! We'll be on the Solstice with this exact itinerary in 3 weeks. First Celebrity cruise, second one ever (and second this year!). We did a Carnival in February with the wife's parents and doing a Norwegian next January with my parents. This one is just us. Looking forward to experiencing Alaska!

We are on Solstice in Alaska sailing on September 8th in a Sunset Sky Suite. Our cost is $9200. Last week I did a mock booking for the same September 2024 Alaska itinerary on Edge in a Sunset Sky Suite, and the cost was $14,800. Supply/demand, yadda yadda, but even if we absolutely love this cruise (our first on Celebrity), it will likely be our last in the Retreat.

Hey, someone from PTC! I graduated from McIntosh years ago... OK, decades.

Looks like we picked the wrong time to start cruising with Celebrity! We go on our first Celebrity cruise in September to Alaska. And of course, we booked a Sunset Sky Suite. So, there's no possibility of cancelling because we're less than 40 days out. That said, I have a feeling we would not have used the butler service the way many others do. We are very much "DIY" people. We booked a corner aft suite mainly for the views. I know many people talk about never using their balcony, but we do. Often. In fact, one thing I'd really like is for more of these types of cabins to be available outside of the Retreat. But then why do that when they can advertise the Retreat experience and get people to pay $$$$ and then remove services bit by bit... Like many, regardless of whether I would use the service, I absolutely have an issue with being charged for an inclusive experience that, at the time we booked and then again at the time we were required to pay, included a service that is being discontinued. I suspect, from a business perspective, that maybe it was done this way to ensure they kept butlers on staff until the decision was made public. If they announced on July 1st that starting with any August sailings and beyond, sky suites would not have butlers, would that not have possibly affected staff who would have essentially been given advanced notice of their termination? I don't know what a typical staff contract looks like and who can terminate when, but if they can break their contracts, now Celebrity has an immediate staffing issue if X percent of them decide to leave before August. As far as what someone posted on the previous page about receiving an email touting the personal butler service, that's something I've noticed over and over with Celebrity. I still don't understand why, on the website, if I'm in my reservation and have a Retreat suite, Celebrity is offering me drink and other packages that I have no use for. The system should at least tailor the offerings to the booking I have. If I was a cynical person, I might even suspect they hope I buy a package I don't need...