Happy Cruiser 6143

That's the only brand I've heard of. What is your recommendation for other brands? Will check them out. Thanks.

Many things can happen between now and May. I had a SS booked on the Summit last fall and was thinking of canceling as I knew I would not be able to negotiate the tub to take a shower. Lo and behold, a RS opened up and I quickly grabbed it, thanks to the alertness of one of my roll call pals. Fingers crossed for you!

I don't understand why you would want to dine in the main dining room when you can dine in Luminae. You can order off the MDR menu in Luminae and you will get much more personalized service there. The MDR is huge and noisy. It has both set dining times and open dining times.

Personally, I think the surveys are too generic to be useful. I write notes to the hotel director about people that I feel to be outstanding employees while on board. Once when the two waitresses in Bacio were being literally run off their feet and an officer came to help them I specifically told him how lucky he was to have them working for him. When I had a problem getting the points for my double points cruise and had correspondence with the president's office about that, I started out by praising by name those who had made my cruise special. I think that's more meaningful for the employees than a generic survey.

Good luck getting 6145 or 6146. They sell out immediately. Because of the tub issue.

I had the same experience when returning from a recent trip. Taxi was cheaper than Uber or Lyft. And definitely cheaper than my usual private car service which was unable to pick me up that day.

The tub/shower combo in the sky suite is the same as the celebrity suite. Definitely an accident waiting to happen. No grab bars. And no jacuzzi.

Your room steward should have provided the beach towels. Or you can just go up to the pool and get some.

Whenever I've sailed solo and paid a single supplement, I've received double points. So I would have received 100 points for that cruise. Plus the Go Green bonus which would have been 5 points.

It's certainly worth checking out. I agree, $1500 for both of you is cheap if it's round trip. I haven't flown coach to Europe for over 20 years, so I'm not a good one to opine on this. Can you do nonstop from Charlotte to Barcelona and from Venice to Charlotte? Nonstop is always better if you can get it as it gives the airlines fewer chances to lose your luggage.

I would say that the Borghese Gallery is a must when in Rome.

Definitely 3112. 9001 is way too far forward. You'll get cable noise when anchoring and lots more motion.

The fact that your current itinerary only allows two days pre- and post-cruise is a major problem. The way to leverage the time and money invested in overseas flights is to stay in Europe longer. Although I will tell you that those Adriatic ports on that cruise are spectacular. Maybe do some comparison shopping with Celebrity Air. They will generally have better deals than booking directly with the airlines, but it is important to comparison shop. Where you get the real bargains is on the open-jaw tickets--flying into one airport and returning from another. On a couple of cruises I took starting in Barcelona and ending in Venice, I saved over $4,000 on the return trip from Venice (used miles for the trip to Barcelona).

As others have said, there are so many places to see, you'll want to make more than one trip. Just pick one area and concentrate on that. If Italy has always been on your bucket list, then start there. You can do pre- and post-cruise excursions.

Nope, absolutely no noise. Great cabin!

Best whale watch I've ever been on was out of Cabo. Lots of whales up close.

What a surprise.

Once upon a time I had a stateroom attendant who figured this out right away. Not since then. Maybe I need to kidnap Pramod!

I've sailed on Celebrity with a passport having an expiration date two months after the return. Not a problem and we went a lot farther afield than Mexico. I get that they "encourage" an expiration date of six months, but it is not a requirement unless countries you visit require it. And I did verify this with Celebrity prior to the cruise.

When you get home, order a bottle of Monday and give it a try. It's been over forty years since I drank real gin, but I think Monday makes a very nice gin & tonic.

She apprenticed under a pro on our fall Summit cruise!

Imagine that--functional cupboards. What a concept. My Hoppenized RS on the Summit had upper things that were made to look like cabinets in the living room. On closer inspection, they were just blocks of wood attached to the wall. There were tiny cupboards at floor level. As if they weren't already too small to hold anything, they had a shelf in the middle, thus rendering them totally useless.

I suspect you could bring on your own bottle of Monday alcohol-free gin since it's not booze. Tonic for a mixer is widely available on the ship.

All the areas you mention are free to you with the possible exception of whatever small pool you saw on an upper deck--not sure what you are referring to. If it's the main pool (which is not large), it is free to you. As far as I'm aware, there is not a pool in the Aqua Class area. Anything connected with the spa will have a fee involved. Be sure to check out the thalassotherapy pool--it will be great for your recovery.

Thanks for checking, Jim.