leaveitallbehind

A little fact checking: MSC is wholly owned by an Italian family as mentioned. It's HQ is Swiss based, but it is not Swiss owned. Costa's origins come from the Costa shipping company formed in 1854 in Genoa Italy. The cruise line was established from this company in 1948. Costa Cruises is currently headquartered in Genoa, IT. It is also a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. NCL was formed in 1966 by Norway's oldest shipping company. It is incorporated in Bermuda with its HQ in Miami. Cunard is in fact quite British with roots to 1840 with a British shipping company. The cruise line is headquartered in the UK. It is also a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. P & O has it's roots to the 1800's with a British shipping company as well. The cruise line was formed in 1977 and is also headquartered in the UK. It is also a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. Hurtigruten does have a majority share ownership since 2015 by the British Company TDR Capital. However it's roots trace back to 1800's Norway, and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. Celebrity was originally founded in 1988 by the Greek company Chandris Group. Celebrity became a subsidiary of RCI in 1997. They are incorporated in Liberia, and headquartered in Miami. BTW to note, some cruise lines may choose to incorporate and be headquartered in countries not of their origin. This is usually done as a business convenience and with regard to regulations, tax, and labor laws that are compatible with the cruise industry. This has very little to do with the atmosphere or on board cruising style of the cruise line. That may be based on cultural preferences or by marketing design.

Yes, but that would be RCCL, not Celebrity. And although they are sister companies under the RCI parent company, they are operated separately and independently. Perhaps Celebrity is just more superstitious.....

That in of itself wouldn't be of concern, but if your booking confirmation indicates a stateroom starting with "13" as the deck prefix, you may want to call whomever you booked it with - LOL.

I only did UDP once and that was in 2019, so I can't answer to the current hours you are suggesting. For the OP, I was answering just to the restaurants that in our experience had been open on boarding day for lunch, correcting as you identifying that on Mariner Jamie's was the Italian restaurant, not Giovanni's.

Then as @Engineroom Snipe indicates, it would be Jamie's v Giovanni's.

You don't mention what ship. But, yes, they are open for dinner. Chops and Giovanni's are for lunch as well.

Here are the vodkas listed by Celebrity by package: Classic: Absolut, New Amsterdam, Smirnoff, Wheatley Premium: Belvedere, Chopin, Ciroc, Grey Goose, Ketel One and Botanicals, Tito’s

In the US, at least, TA's don't have "allocations". And to the OP, it doesn't work that way. None of the mass market cruise lines I am aware of "haggle" their prices. They set them, modify them, and don't negotiate them. So your scenario, as you suggest, is purely hypothetical.

This is the second leg of a transpacific relocation cruise originating on April 14 in Sydney. It is not likely due to immigration concerns. The delay for boarding times may be the result of a planned Coast Guard inspection, which is done when ships that have been sailing outside of the US first reaches a US port. This takes place when the ship arrives in port and needs to be completed prior to the next departure. In this case that would be Honolulu prior to departing for Vancouver. The late scheduled departure likely is to accommodate this. This happened with us similarly, and was the explanation, with RCCL Ovation in April 2019 awaiting departure from Honolulu to Vancouver as the ship arrived from Sydney.

We have flown out of Vancouver before and the drive from the cruise terminal to the airport is about 30 minutes. Our check in time was about 1 hour from baggage check to gate. So base your timing on that, which would seem to me that 11:40 would be OK as long as you are out of the pier area by 9:00 or so? So I would plan an early departure from the ship to be sure. The biggest obstacle in our experience was on that particular cruise there was a labor issue at the cruise terminal and baggage recovery from the ship was an hour+ nightmare. We made our flights fine but as I recall they were early afternoon.

Interesting as we were not able to do so with our linked reservations this past December with our Oasis NYE cruise. Maybe I missed something in the app, but each one of us checked in separately as a result. No big deal as we were arriving at different times anyway.

Everyone's experience can vary and I am only providing ours. And we have been able to get earliest on the day of opening check in. To me, the earliest is nice but not to be sitting at midnight on my computer to do so. As you say, to each his own.

Correct. Each booking has to check in independently, so they should just coordinate times when each party plans to check in. We have done that a number of times and not had issues.

I am not disputing that many people prefer the earliest times so they do typically book the fastest. But it isn't quite as bad as Southwest check in and there have been several cruises that we have been on where we (for a number of reasons) did not check in until a couple of days after it opened and still got desired times. But certainly do so at an early convenience to be sure.

Yes. The check in typically is 45 days prior to sailing and when you do so, there will be 30 minute window time slot options commencing usually at 11:00 and running until the last ending 90 minutes prior to boarding. You don't have to wait by your phone (or other device) and scramble to be first in as each slot has hundreds of vacancies, but the earlier you do so the better your odds of selecting your preferred time.

If you are referring to Captain Kate McCue, she is with Celebrity and is the Captain on Beyond, not NCL.

Yes, you are correct, and my response was unclear regarding the planner. I meant only that it isn't applied by calling. Thanks for clarifying.

Good catch and you are correct. My mistake. It is Elite+. Thanks for correcting me.

Elites get a 15% discount at the specialty restaurants. When the Celebrity website is back up (currently down for planned maintenance) go to the Captains Club tab and open the tier benefits sub tab. Very simple to find. Not sure what you mean by calling in to get it, but it will be applied when you book the restaurants with your CC number. This can be booked by the planner - as with wifi.

...but there is no hardwired port to connect to in the staterooms, if that is what @Algoron is asking. All internet access is wireless.

Understood, deck 11, but which side was the question. I mistakenly thought portside but apparently per @Coralc I am incorrect and it is starboard.

...as the Celebrity app for its on board functions operates on the ship's wifi, which is a free service.

....unless you cancel the current booking (with whatever penalties may apply) and rebook as a new booking at the full new booking fare. That would likely not be a prudent move.

According you your reservation attachment it appears you have a Balcony GTY (XB), which is an OV balcony. If it was a neighborhood balcony it would say as such. You can upgrade your booked stateroom category to a new category once final payment is made, however you have to pay the difference between what you paid to the full amount of the new category (or current booked category higher subcategory) at the time you make the upgrade.

No it was RCCL. And it surprised us as well. But we were about a mile off the pier when a small boat came rapidly along side from the docks adjacent to the pier, and as it approached the ship slowed and crew from the open gangway assisted the couple onto the ship. I believe the port agent must have called to tell the Captain that a boat would be approaching because the crew seemed ready when they arrived. To add, a guy next to us on the upper deck was leaning over to watch this unfold when his sunglasses fell off his head and landed in the boat. The guy picked them up and after he got on board found his way up to where we were to return them. That is how we learned that they were drinking at a bar and lost track of the time. Apparently they paid the small boat owner to take them out to the ship. I know it sounds unbelievable but I can't - and wouldn't - make this stuff up! I also have a video of it somewhere on a memory stick.