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The atmosphere on Reflection should be very nice for Christmas. The ship will be tastefully decorated. Most, but not all, of the decorations will be in the Grand Foyer area. Celebrity does hold parties on the ship for Christmas Eve. There will be evening dancing to live music in the Grand Foyer. However it is a restrained affair compared to the treatment reserved for New Year's Eve. Christmas Eve will be an Evening Chic night aboard Reflection. The officers will gather in the Grand Foyer during the evening to sing Christmas carols to the passengers (bottom photo). The main theatre will feature a holiday themed live show that evening. Here is the Celebrity Today for Solstice for Dec 24 2019 so you can see what other activities are traditionally planned. On Christmas morning, Santa Claus pays a visit to the Grand Foyer to hand out gifts to the kids. Here is the Celebrity Today for Solstice for Dec 25 2019 so you can see what other activities might be planned for your Reflection cruise. Your cruise is short and it sails out of Florida. That makes it a prime candidate for families and kids, so I would expect that the passenger make up will have a lot more kids than on your past Reflection sailings. Celebrity has begun publishing flyers about the holiday experience on board their ships during the last 3 months of the year including Christmas. Here is the flyer for 2021 and the flyer issued in 2022. To give you an idea of how the ship is decorated, here are some photos taken of Solstice at various times on Christmas Eve:

Good luck with your flights and cruise. We have cruised out of Sydney twice before the pandemic. What a wonderful port city. We did have a near air snafu with our first trip where our ORD-LAX flight was delayed because of winter weather (and a limited number of ORD de-icing trucks). We originally were scheduled to have a 4 hour layover but that got completely eaten up by the delays. United had to re-open the plane door to let us board our LAX-SYD connection (whew). Passengers who were supposed to catch their LAX-SIN missed their plane (originally a 3 hr connection).

Thank you. That makes perfect sense.

Here is a link. I would not be thrilled if this was adopted later by Celebrity, but given the cutbacks, anything is possible. Posted on Feb 28 in Royal Caribbean blog.

Yes, definitely book as soon as your excursion is available, because as others have said, the popular ones will sell out quickly. After you book it, you watch for announced and unannounced sale prices and be prepared to cancel/rebook the excursion to lock in the savings. The best sources to find out that a sale on excursions is actively occurring are either on this Celebrity board (usually the best), your roll call (useful if the sale is limited to just a few sailings), and sometimes your Celebrity email (I wouldn't depend only on it). Quite frankly, I cannot think of an advantage to delaying the booking of an excursion other than cash flow management. There is no price advantage to waiting to book until you are on board your cruise except possibly in very rare circumstances (e.g. expensive overnight shore excursion that hasn't sold out).

I read this four times and I don't understand what you are saying (sorry), but I am curious enough that I am asking for clarification. What I discern from your note is that you do not use open passages which is the "book on board, but pick out the sailing later" option? What does the dummy booking on a sailing you don't intend to take achieve for you when your target sailing becomes available?

I presume you aware that the aft balconies are one of the attributes that sets the Millennium class ships apart from the other ship's in Celebrity's fleet. They are extremely spacious. A large portion of the balcony is covered from above to protect from the sun/rain and affords privacy from above. Deck 7 aft balconies are actually about 2-3 feet deeper than the same balcony above it.

Our last cruise was on Constellation (TA) this past Oct/Nov. We stayed in aft cabin 8166 (FV) which is 3 aft cabins away on the same deck. That view from back there was wonderful. While you are waiting for someone who stayed there to give you feedback, I will post these views from the back of Constellation on Deck 8:

I found it. Thank you for pointing that out (or was this also discussed a few days ago?).

The last time I exchanged currency aboard a ship was on Millennium way back in 2007 (Med cruise). I had leftover Euros (like 150 or so) that I wanted to change back into dollars. I didn't think that the exchange rate at Guest Relations was that bad compared to the actual market exchange rate. I thought I had a photo of the posted exchange rates to compare with the market exchange rate, but I cannot find it. During our recently completed Oct-Nov trans-atlantic, I had about 150 Euros leftover from the trip that I forgot to exchange back. The Euro was worth just under a Dollar then when I got them. I brought them with me to Las Vegas a couple weekends ago and I exchanged them at the Venetian casino and I got an exchange rate of a Dollar for each Euro so I felt like a winner because I got back what I paid for them. The market exchange rate for the Euro had improved by then to $1.07 USD.

Thanks for posting--it was discussed a few days ago. You are right, it is pretty cool although the downside is that some of the listed sailing history (the older sailings) are no longer shown although they are correctly reflected in the Captains Club Point total.

Thank you for the details and the update. Enjoy your cruise!

There was a time when the words "cruise only" mentioned at booking time to your TA meant that you were not going to buy airfare through Celebrity.

Nice review on something that is rarely discussed. I learned a lot.

Yes, I would seriously consider moving up my flight by a day. Alternate airports near you may not be better. I believe we are supposed to get snow here in Chicago on Friday.

Yes, the "semi-annual" descriptor apparently refers to the length of the sale and not the frequency!

I don't believe Galapagos sailings have a non-refundable deposit option so they are unaffected.

No, the new stricter policy goes into effect with bookings made starting tomorrow. Bookings made today are unaffected.

While Celebrity is reducing the incentive to book refundable cruise fares, they are also tightening their penalty policy on cancellations/changes to non-refundable bookings. Beginning tomorrow, Celebrity will no longer issue FCCs for NRD bookings that are cancelled or have their ship/sail date changed. I posted this announcement as a separate topic but thought it was worth mentioning here. NRD bookings made prior to tomorrow are grandfathered under the old policy.

Effective tomorrow, "Celebrity Cruises will retain the full amount of the required deposit paid on Non-refundable rate codes (NRD) that are cancelled outside of final payment. Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) will no longer be issued if booking is cancelled, or the ship/ail date is changed on an NRD rate code". NRD bookings made prior to tomorrow are grandfathered under the old policy although the FAQs say you have to make a request to get your deposit back as an FCC (less applicable penalties/fees). Here is a link to the NRD FAQs along with a screenshot of the top half of the web page pasted below:

Here is a photo of the hump balconies on Solstice to judge by although it is possible there are design differences between the two sister ships. So it depends on your definition of the hump balconies. The forward slanted balconies on Deck 6 do not appear to be obstructed. The Deck 6 balconies on the hump (section with the white X on the balcony walls that is now gone) has no obstruction. The trailing slanted balconies on Deck 6 appear to be slightly obstructed by the small orange boat. Secret unannounced early 6 am tender leaving Solstice anchored near Cairns. Jan 8 2018

For comparison (since you are new to Celebrity) here is the smoking policy found aboard Solstice in Dec 2019: To see the full Celebrity Today issue, here is the link. You will find the smoking policy declared at the bottom of page 2. I don't have a scan of the Celebrity Today from our recent Constellation cruise (yet), or I would have just simply posted that to answer your question. Constellation is a great ship.

I was just on Constellation this past Oct/Nov. There were no indoor areas that smoking was permitted including the casino. I believe the only approved smoking areas were certain outdoor locations on the port side of the ship. Smoking is not allowed in your cabin or balcony. This is pretty much the standard experience for our Celebrity cruises in recent memory, Constellation and her sister, Infinity, enjoying some time together at Nassau. Nov 4 2022 Also I am linking a Celebrity Today (Dec 2016) issued on the first day of our cruise aboard Infinity (South America itinerary): link. The smoking policy is declared at the bottom of page 2 (reproduced below). Smoking was permitted only on Deck 4, Port Side (midship only), Poolside Deck 10 Port Side, and the Port Side of the Mast Bar located on Deck 11.

American and Euro plugs are located next to the stateroom desk.

If you buy single specialty restaurant reservations, you can choose from a menu of available dining times and dates. This can be done before you board. I have done it several months in advance through my online Cruise Planner. The actual lead time to make an online reservation is dependent on when Celebrity makes it available. For example, we have an upcoming Christmas/NYE Solstice cruise and specialty dining reservations cannot be made on line yet even though it is available for sailings before and after ours. If you buy a specialty restaurant package (several reservations which give you a price break) in advance of your cruise, you must wait until you board to make your dining time/date selection.