mahdnc

You are welcome. The link to the photo review was wrong. Here is the correct link:

Yorkey's Knob, Jan 2018 We took the GBR cruise back in Jan 2018, so my information is a bit dated. When Solstice overnighted at Yorkey's Knob (Cairns), the last tender from ashore was scheduled to leave at 10:30 pm local time. Tendering was then scheduled to resume at 7:30 am the following morning. However there were passengers like my family that had made independent arrangements at Cairns and we needed to be off the ship early in order to be there on time. So with little announcement/advertising, Celebrity arranged for a couple of very early tenders to get us off the ship. No guarantees that you will see that arrangement on your cruise, but you should inquire if this is of value to you. Hopefully for you, the tender/shuttle schedule is what Jim posted earlier. If you are interested, here is link to the folder of all the Celebrity Todays that were issued during our 12 night GBR sailing. Also I published a photo review of our cruise that has some information that may be useful for planning even though it is dated and on a different class of ship.

Good night. Have a great cruise day tomorrow!

Not to sound ridiculous, but you are right—Luggage Valet is awesome unless, in the very rare event, your bags are missing or lost. We’ve used it a couple times and it was great. I’ve read only one account on Cruise Critic where bags were lost. You won’t know of the problem until you arrive at your destination airport and because of the multiple players involved, it was an accountability nightmare. AirTags would be helpful here.

What a start. Have a great cruise! I’ll be following along but don’t look at me for accountability! Maybe take an Uber to the airport when you disembark….

I am disappointed for you.

Sorry, my attempt at humor crashed and burned.

However I know I’ve had reservations about some of the onboard entertainment in the past.

Correction: one blue footed boobie on my Xpedition key card.

Perhaps Celebrity was only interested in knowing what you wanted! Like a survey.

There were no Apple Watches for sale during our Solstice cruise in January

It might have been gray. It was a muted color. The keyholder we got on Xpedition last November was blue (and our key cards had two blue footed boobies printed on it).

We usually cruise in regular veranda category cabins (most recently on Constellation in Oct/Nov 2022) and have not gotten one of those keyholders in a long time. When we cruised in Aqua aboard Solstice this past Dec/Jan, we got a tan keyholder. So my guess is that you will not receive one if you are in an OV cabin.

they also have the cutest sniffing dogs!

That’s because Celebrity has not issued anything for them.

Here is a list in case you find this helpful: link. I am sorry, but I just noticed that the list doesn't include Beyond. I just checked Celebrity's website and they still don't have an obstructed cabin list for Beyond.

I prefer Havensight over Crown Bay as well. Then again the last time we were at St Thomas, we had to tender…

Yes, it is a very strange feeling, indeed.

We have taken our two kids on 14 Celebrity cruises starting with our first cruise on Century back in 1996 were they were 3 yrs old (daughter) and 7 months old (son). We chose Celebrity for the following reasons: 1. Celebrity does a very nice job with kids. Our two children loved the kids program. 2. When we go cruising, choosing a line that is "best" for kids is not our number one priority. As someone posted earlier, this is the same reason we took our kids to the national parks when they were very young. Katie at Mt Rainier National Park, 1993

I agree. I like the Hawaiian topography and culture better. Standard of living is higher, too.

For us we saw the biggest reduction during a sale over the Christmas holidays for our 14 night sailing this April.

This is news to me and although you have gotten this information from two different agents, I find it difficult to believe that it is correct. I am glad that you were able to work around the problem.

I appreciate that! I trust your cruise went well?

Thanks. Fortunately we did not book that tour. I was under the impression that you had taken that tour based on the issues that you cited.

I was just looking up your tour since that tour is offered for our Summit cruise in April which calls on Colon for a full day and then we cross through the entire canal to the Pacific Ocean on the next. I noticed that the details in the tour description include a warning about delays getting back to the ship because the ship may be delayed transiting through the locks. Perhaps that is what you suffered? Of course for us, the language doesn't apply because Summit will transit the Panama Canal on the day after we call on Colon which goes back to your point about inadequate tour descriptions.