handbellplayer

4 minutes ago, EatonDoolittle said:

Looks like you started at the Pan American pier. For day stops, the ships use the Old San Juan pier, on your map just across from Walgreens.

Pan American is for ships using SJ as a home port. 

Thank you so much for the clarification!

Now I’m confused. Am I using the wrong location?

I have booked an independent excursion in San Juan.  The meeting place is Plaza Colon. Will we need a cab or is this within walking distance of the cruise dock?

9 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Absolutely agree.  I would pay maybe $35 pp.  

 

We thought about Hideaway but decided to head to our usual antisocial spot on south beach all the way to the right.  Quiet and free with shade.

Maybe we'll try that this time.

Thanks for the advice everyone.  We've enjoyed the Oasis lagoon on our other visits, and will probably try there again.

13 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

I'd like to hear other thoughts as well. Isn't Hideaway Beach limited to a certain number of guests to improve the availability of finding chairs?

That's the kind of info I'm looking for.....

27 minutes ago, CruisingHogFan said:

Beach Club….

No, thanks.  We paid <$80/pp for it when it first opened....not worth any more than that IMO.

We will be visiting Coco Cay on Adventure the end of May.  We'll be sharing the island with Icon, which arrives 2 hours before us.  Since the Coco Cay expansions, we've never had any trouble with crowding, but I'm concerned this time.  Hideaway Beach passes are selling for $22.99/pp during the current "sale". For those who have been to Hideaway and/or been at CC with two large ships, would we have better chance of finding decent seats (we prefer pool to beach) at Hideaway?

29 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I have only ever been asked to show my check in time once in 15 cruises and that was right after start up.

Good information to know - I've never paid any attention to whether they check.

41 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Are you trying in the app or on the website? The website makes you do all steps before you pick a time. The app you can pick what you want to fill out first.

I used the app because the web site was saying check-in was not available at the time I tried.

9 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

A tip for next time: Go into the app and snag a time for all guests. Then later go back in and fill in the rest of the info.

I tried that - it made me answer all of the other questions before it would let me proceed.  The only thing it let me skip was the photo.

Last night, shortly after midnight, when checking in for my upcoming cruise on Adventure, I had an experience I've never had.  It gave me a 10:30 check-in time and when I entered my husbands info (5 minutes later), the earliest time available was 11:00.  Would it do any good to call C&A and try to get it fixed, or should I just be resigned to boarding later?

We were on a B2B on Mariner (PC also).  They had us all wait in a lounge until all of the other passengers had cleared the ship.  We were escorted to the terminal where we were cleared through Customs/Immigration and then escorted immediately back on the ship.  Very quick and easy.

29 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

No, that is only available when you first book. After that, you have to call.

Or call your travel agent, if you used one.

6 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Do they have sugar free hot chocolate? Packets maybe to make my own with the hot water from the dispenser?

I know they had packets of hot chocolate - I didn't notice any that was sugar-free.  Probably not - there are not a lot of light or sugar-free options in cruise eating venues in general.

Continental breakfast items like pastries, muffins and doughnuts. The best thing is the coffee machine. 

29 minutes ago, doghog said:

Not our experience. The LA (not GS) took care of everything sometime on the first leg. TAD everything reflected our new tier level before going to the B2B cruisers gathering point that morning. Seamless. 

The LA took care of everything except printing our new cards. Had to go to GS for that, but we were able to do that before the new passengers started boarding, so it only took a minute. 

Talk to the Loyalty Ambassador on the first leg.  Then go to Guest Services early on the second leg.  They will print you new cards and assure that your new benefits are in effect for the second.  We just di this on a B2B on Mariner (D to D+).

Does Quantum class not have a Playmakers?

1 minute ago, cruzsnooze said:

your ports are an unincorporated territory of the United States.

I don't know what "unincorporated" means in this context.

We are sailing on Adventure in May.  Our ports of call are San Juan, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Coco Cay.  If we can't dock at Coco Cay (it's happened to many of us), we'll never leave the US.  Doesn't that violate the "visit a foreign port" rule?

I just booked an independent excursion in Christiansted, thinking that's was where the ship docked.  I just realized that that we dock in Frederiksted.  (I know, I should have checked first!!)  How far is the trio between the two?  Will it be easy to get a cab and how much should I expect it to cost?  Should I be at all concerned about getting back to the ship on time?  The tour ends at 2:00 and we don't sail until 6:00.

14 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Have you been to St. John?

There should be a ships excursion (if not sold out) a catamaran, with all included, that goes over to Honeymoon Beach.

14 hours ago, Threeplusone said:

Just went to St Thomas last week and went sailing with Sailing the Cosmos. Highly recommend! They are a small operation and I’m sure could work out whatever you want. Book directly through them. It was the highlight of our trip.

I'll take a look at both of these. We have been to St. John once, but on a different kind of excursion.

44 minutes ago, Oxo said:

I know this is Celebrity CC. I am cruising on the Beyond in July. I am Elite + on Celebrity.

 

However, I think that RCI has a much better perk than what Celebrity has done to the new Happy Hour since they cut the number of nights they have HH. 

 

Here is what RCI does as you all may be interested. If you don't drink, then it does not apply to you. Just like if you don't cruise, this does not apply to you.

 

The RCI Crown Lounge:

They have a good free coffee & cappuccino machine which is open from very early in the morning and all day .

There's continental style buffet breakfast, pastries, breads, ham, cheese, cereals etc. 

Happy Hour, between 4-8, there's a hot and cold hor d'oeuvres buffet, but if there's a lot of Diamond and up members on board they sometimes exclude Diamond during these hours. 

In the old ships where its in the Viking Crown lounge it's a nice quite place (except during HH) out of the sun to sit and watch the sea go by.

There's a concierge there to help with any problems or queries  like a mini guest services.

Most people use their Diamond and up free drink vouchers so no $$ spent at most bars, lounges, MDR and Specialty Restaurants anytime during the day/night.

The ships officers often come by to chat during HH  which can be interesting.

Finally as in any lounge you can meet interesting people 

Thank you, but we are very familiar with RCCL perks as we are D+.

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

No problem getting Elite HH drinks at the Martini Bar on the Ascent. My experience on all four E-Class ships is there isn't a problem. Furthermore the excluded bars are clearly listed on the Elite benefits sheet (see attached photo) in your cabin and I have never seen the Martini Bar listed as an excluded venue. Having said that the issue some people may be having is the Martini Bar on E-Class ships only seem to have large martini glasses and the martinia that are part of the Elite HH are served in smaller glasses.  So you have lazy bartenders that don't want to make and serve Elite HH included Martinis in their existing barware. 

Great!  This is exactly what I wanted to hear.  The martini thing on the Classic package seemed to confuse the issue on Edge as well.  I only drink one martini a day - a chocolate martini is my end of night drink - and I'll be drinking it in the Martini bar long after Happy Hour is over!

Edited to add:  The reason I don't know the answer to this fairly simple question is that this only our third cruise on Celebrity.  We are Elite because we are D+ on Royal.