markeb

Where are you staying? This is (presumably) well rested at the end of your cruise, not exhausted after a day long flight? Agree with dropping your bags and exploring. Easy to do.

Not us. It was actually Royal, but they clearly weren't on a ship's excursion. We were on the second day of an overnight stay in Reykjavik. We were probably 30-45 minutes late departing already when a car came rushing up and what was clearly a 12 or so year old boy came running up to the still down gangway (everything else was in already). Apparently the family had sent him ahead to try to stop the ship from leaving them. Didn't work. The rest of the group drove up in a taxi 15 minutes or so later as we left the pier. This was after we'd watched a couple of other groups come driving into the parking lot and running with bags of shopping to the ship. They did make it, barely. Next stop was back in the UK two days later...

That'll do the "I turn the phone off and lock it in the safe" crowd a lot of good...

Post #209.

Again, all it says is “jean”. I’m sure the assumption is clean, but ripped and torn jeans are a version of fashion. “Designer jeans” is used for chic night, and not defined. A lot of high dollar designer jeans are ripped or torn. Sorry. Bored tonight and couldn’t resist…

No. Jeans are always allowed.

Where’s the fun in that? 😀

Yes.

I just checked. I'm past final payment on an AI Retreat booking. I have an option to buy a premium drink package (actually the classic as well). Even thought I have one. I'm with PTC DAWG. Give it time. You may just have to call. This is one of Celebrity's worst IT glitches, and really no excuse.

Boarding times don't apply to the Retreat. Unless something's radically different in Sydney, you can show up pretty much as soon as the previous guests clear, and they'll board you as soon as the ship is cleared for boarding, in most places that's been around 11:00, so you're good to show up at 10:30.

So you've just perfectly summed up the marketing quandary (almost failure) of Luminae on the E Class. The E Class was for all intents and purposes built around the Retreat. Luminae was designed to be the dining for the Retreat. There really is no true alternative. Their whole approach, market segmentation, targeting, etc., is for a Retreat guest who absolutely wants the menu offered in Luminae. There's no reason to have access to the MDR menu because that's not the guest their targeting. But the menu is somewhat adventuresome, and it's every night. Arguably there are plenty of choices for the guests they're targeting. But the actual guest isn't the guest on the storyboard. I'm not either, but I do like the Luminae menu. I can get steak, for instance, anywhere, and usually better. But sometimes you just want something to eat that's a little nice but not trying too hard. They didn't build that into the Luminae experience.

That I don't know. We've always been there 11:30-12:00.

Hours may vary by ship, but generally 11:30-1:30. Yes. The menu is available in the app. It'll be under "main dining" for most ships, and under "suites" for the Edge class ships I've looked at. If your sailing is well in the future, look at the current sailing of your ship.

That's actually delicious. I've ordered it. Hence my question. Luminae tries to be an upscale adventurous menu. The sauce on the lobster sounds interesting to me; I'd much rather have the choron sauce that butter, although I don't get excited about lobster in general. Much of what they serve in Luminae is French inspired and that means sauces. And I find the variety exciting. It's fine that you don't. It's a challenge with the entire Luminae concept. Upscale dining for their upscale Retreat experience, but sometimes you just want something simple prepared and served well. That's something they don't do as well.

Can you elaborate on that? Your tastes are your tastes, but what specifically did you not enjoy in Luminae and what specifically in the MDR was tastier?

I'd argue Luminae lunch on embarkation day is one of the best perks of the Retreat! Sit down lunch with table service. No wrestling in the OVC...

The only thing you gain checking prices after final payment is frustration. Just don’t do it.

I have vivid memory of random, useless knowledge. I think it was 2019 and I believe you were trying to do dinner and a show while in NYC. That was a restaurant I threw out because they’re spectacular and have open seating in their lounge. After that the random useless knowledge fails!

Those are all Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) nations and you're on a closed loop cruise. I'd normally tell you to go to travel.state.gov and look up the requirements, but Antigua and St. Kitts would just confuse you (and me). The information from the State Department is for air travel and private sea travel, with caveats for cruises. Antigua and St. Kitts WOULD require six months if you weren't arriving by cruise ship. But you can cruise to them with a birth certificate and a valid state or federal ID. For Antigua, you need 6 months on your passport to get a visa, but a US citizen arriving and departing the same day on a cruise ship doesn't require a visa and they go silent at that point on passports. Didn't look at St. Kitts. There's no time issue for Barbados, St. Marten, or St. Lucia even if arriving by air. Not an immigration lawyer and haven't done this myself. There are people (including on this thread) who have. Look at the US state department sites for the countries your visiting and the sites for the countries themselves. There's usually a separate, and frequently unobvious, section for arriving by cruise ship. I'm pretty sure you're fine. If you're really concerned and have a certified copy of her birth certificate, take it as well. Belts and suspenders kind of thing.

They sail in 11 days...

What are your ports of call? Do any of them require 6 months? That’s really the only question. You can reenter the US (essentially) on the day your passport expires as a US citizen. There are a handful of port stops that will require a 6 month expiration. Most of them will also require a passport so the birth certificate and ID won’t work. Edited: Celebrity and their lawyers like to imply “must” when the actual guidance is “recommended “.

They should be in the app by venue. The drinks tab is just the packages. But when I just looked at Infinity in particular there were a lot of items that weren't populating, especially for the dining rooms. That's where the much of the wine should be. Summit is fine so I don't know what's going on. What are you looking for? Wine would normally be listed with the dining room menus, for instance, as well as Cellar Masters and the Rendezvous Lounge among others. Beer can be all over the place and harder to track down, but there's a decent sample under the Constellation Lounge. If you're looking for cocktails, the only ones in the app are specialty drinks. A well drink (gin & tonic with house gin, margarita with house tequila, etc.) will be whatever the upper limit is of the classic package. Most call drinks (Hendricks and tonic) will be somewhere between $12 and $17 (upper limit of premium package). And most of their specialty drinks look to be $15-$17. The martini bar is pretty much universally $17, although I'm sure there's something over the limit if I look hard enough. If you're not seeing things on your sailing, go to the current sailing or try a different ship. The wines won't be exact anyway even for your ship. But it'll give you ballpark sample.

Yes. John Bull is listed on www.rolex.com as an authorized dealer.

😁 I don't know about Celebrity. We used to cruise over spring break when DW taught and the whole East Coast took the week before Easter as Spring Break. There were always services of some sort, but I have no idea who performed them. We should have gone, but we didn't, and usually the Spring Break cruises ended before Easter.

That looks fun, but not exactly an ecumenical Easter service...