bigbenboys

1 hour ago, Pennstatedj said:

Another vote for Carlos, he gave me a different red each night. 

Also, what Jim said. Not the first night have Decoy, or Mer Sol for white. 

Mer Sol is my go to wine. Last year I heard X was having problems getting Mer Sol. So I brought my own. The sommelier in Luminae said they were down to only a few bottles. Lucky for me they had loaded more Mer Sol on the ship in Seattle.

8 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

Actually, lots of things offset prices; look at their stock!  I sold mine and made thousands, after I added it to my booked cruises and OBC!   Love Celebrity, but not “married” to the company.

 

I do not know the name of the movie, but could have Googled it, I guess🤑

LOL, I have X stock, just the required 100 shares. I made final payment on our Sept cruise. I had forgot  about the OBC. Thanks

Question: What movie is the line. "all my money is tied up in cash."

As CD rates are much higher now 4% to 6%. Does that not offsite some of the higher cost for cruising.

One other factor to consider. M Class ships have limited specialty restaurants. So if your booking a Royal Suite or above you have specialty restaurant dining included in your booking. E Class ship has more specialty restaurants.

When booking a suite. Overall I like the M Class best. When sailing Asia or Alaska I like M Class. If I'm sailing where it is sunny, Med or Caribbean I like S Class ship. I only book E Class for itinerary. E Class Luminae has a limited menu. Other class of ships you and also order off the MDR menu. This is not the case on any E Class ship.

Celebrity has been changing the libraries in to inside cabins on some ships. Here is a photo of Celebrity Edge's library. I seem to remember someone saying the cart is gone from the Edge now.

On 3/7/2023 at 2:32 PM, CuseJeff44 said:

But that doesn't solve for the fact there still seems to be an expectation of a cash tip. The pre-pay vs charge to room isn't the dilemma, I am fine with either. It's that it appears there is an expectation for 2 sets of gratuities which seems to make things more complicated than ever

While we do give additional tips when warranted. I've never had staff talk to us about tips. What I hear from staff is you must give us a 10 on the survey. Our room attendant got additional tip for going out of their way to make a nice birthday cruise.

19 hours ago, jelayne said:

Blu offers the mystery meatloaf, it been there for a number of years.  Resembles dog food. 

Well, I thought the Blu meatloaf looked like Fancy Feast cat food. I just wish I had taken a photo of the meatloaf. Each piece was shaped into a round tin.

2 hours ago, prmssk said:

I understand that but Chic Night has not actually happened yet. And I have seen plenty of inaccuracies in the app even after the cruise started. 

We did 3 cruises last year. X had Evening Chic on all sailings. Evening Chic only applies to the MDR. Not specialty restaurants, Blu or Luminae. I dont know about this year. Maybe it is gone because of Celebrity's new Relaxed Luxury.

Back in January when X made changes to the buffet and MDR not having prime rib. I sat back and looked at the 4 cruises we had booked with X all in suites. April was to be South America cruise. We had done this cruise before, but we did not get to go to Iguazú Falls. Our May cruise was to be a New England cruise. We had done that cruise before also. So I call our TA and said cancel both cruises. The Sept cruise is a Pacific coast cruise. While we had done this cruise once before. I got a CS for a good price. Maybe X will have their act together by Sept. I decided to keep this one. My MIL and her sister decided to join us. TA just made final over the weekend for our Sept cruise. Our last cruise for the year was to be LA to Chile16 nights in a sunset suite. It was to be a birthday cruise as I'm turning 65. I canceled this one also. I want to give X time and hope things get better. I did book Iceland for next June. 

So we booked a land trip to Playacar, Mexico. Had a great time. We are now going to spend my birthday and Christmas in England visiting friends.

I've talked to friends that have sailed this year in suites and they have enjoyed the food and their cruises. Their is a whole world out their to explore. I've been to 75 countries. Cruising is great, easy, enjoyable. But not the only way to enjoy a vacation.

7 minutes ago, Sigyn said:

I should have added that I opted for a guarantee sky suite, not one where I picked the room. That saved us a total of $71 pp per day. 

As to your guarantee sky suite. Their are 3 types of sky suites now. Were you able to pick not cabin, but what type of sky suite you wanted. I think I know the answer. 

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

Thanks.  Millie is not perfect but it might work for us.  I don’t understand some of the design changes that they made that appear to give you less storage.

 

Did you use the Retreat sun deck at all considering your location?  Since there is no bar I wonder if anyone provided drink service?

 

My partner doesn’t understand that if you want a specific cabin, you need to jump on it.  Sure maybe it goes on sale but that happens.  Maybe we can get a price reduction before final payment.

Solstice sky suite does have a lot more drawers space over Millie. We now travel more on the lighter side. While I do dress within X dress code. I wear grey jeans every night with a polo or short sleeve shirt. Gray jeans and long sleeve shirt on Evening Chic. I might even wear the same shirt twice.😨

Yes we ate lunch at the Retreat sundeck on Millie. There was a total of 6 of us for lunch while in port. The Retreat sundeck was staffed with 2 guys. We ordered drinks and lunch. The Retreat is one deck up from the Sky Lounge. Maybe the drinks came from their. 

As to when to book. I'm with you, book early. Now that X has changed the deposits for suites you might see more suites available for longer than in the past.

4 minutes ago, Sigyn said:

My husband is a project manager. I get it. 

 

We're paying $507 pp/pd for our 7-day Alaskan cruise on the Millennium for a Sky Suite, not counting the $900 in OBC we received. That brings it down to $442 pp/pd. 

We did Millie Seward to Vancouver last June. It was our favorite Alaska cruise. We have sailed Alaska many times. Enjoy your trip. 

13 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I’ll look at a few other sailings such as Beyond.

Why are you looking at the Beyond. I thought you were looking at Millie for Asia? X has Millie and Solstice sailing in Asia.

We have done 4 cruises in Asia. 3 on Millie and one with Princess. Personally I like Millie. I would be comparing Millie to Solstice. When we cruise Asia it is more about what we are seeing at each stop. Not what specialty restaurant or Glass blowing are onboard. 

We have 3 cruises booked with X. Eclipse Celebrity Suite $492.52 pp per day. Apex Sky Suite $633.86 pp per day. Eclipse Celebrity Suite $885.80 pp per day. I did not factor in OBC of $800 per suite.

X changed the rules as to wine. I want to say about 1 year ago. It is now 2 bottles per person. If in doubt bring a copy of your E-Doc page.

X is consistent with being inconsistent.

38 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

MUNI is far cheaper.

Might be cheaper. But do they have open air upper deck. Does the bus have guide to tell us what we are seeing. Do they have multiple languages to choose from for ear buds.

The following photos from M Class deck 11 AquaClass  cabin 1114 &1116.

5 hours ago, zitsky said:

You’ve stayed in Sky Suites on deck 6, yes?  I understand lifeboats are one deck below.  Did that bother you at all?  Were you happy with the view?  Were the Sky Suites you were in quiet?

 

Thanks.

No, we were aft of the life boats. The view was fine. Better view from Aqua deck 11. All 3 sky suites were quite. Here is a video from from sky suite 6122.

Photo from 6122

Personally I dont book cabins or suites that are all the way forward or all the way aft on any cruise ship. We never had any issues with M Class ships with sounds or motion. We have stayed in Aqua cabins 1114 and 9175, sky suites 6120, 6122 and 6132. 9175 is a AquaClass cabin, but it did not have the shower wall.

30 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Every day?

See post # 3

I spent a month in Navegantes, Brazil. There are wineries in the hills outside of Navegantes. I was told that Italians and Germans immigrated to Navegantes and started producing wine. Navegantes was the 1st place I had white chocolate and strawberries pizza. We had a port stop near Navegantes on our SA cruise. You might check the shops before you start your cruise. Remember you can bring 2 bottles of wine each now on embarkation. My go to wine on X is chardonnay Mer Soleil reserve. 

Just put our list together of nights on X. Total of 185 nights.

2014: 33 nights

2015: 26 nights

2016: 19 nights

2017: 36 nights

2018: 26 nights

2019: 17 nights

2021:   7 nights

2022: 21 nights

1 hour ago, ChucktownSteve said:

 

I'm curious. How do you assign a ship's crew member to a job 40 miles away? 😄

My involvement with lean was in the aircraft industry. 

My favorite walk in Ketchikan is Married Man’s Trail.

https://www.experienceketchikan.com/creek-street-ketchikan.html