vppro

I like Grand Case.  The water is clean and calm, no seaweed.  We usually make a reservation at Rainbow Café for Loungers and Umbrella.  The drink service is good and the restaurant is excellent.  We are going in two weeks.

Unless you heart is really set on St John I would recommend taking a taxi from the pier and spending your time at Magens Bay.  Not a lot of time to get to St. John and spend a lot of time there before you need to head back.

Magens Bay is easy to get to by taxi from the pier and there are many waiting to take you back.  The cost on you own is probably half the cost of the ship's excursion

Those are usually reserved for the cruise ship excursions

We like the beaches on the French side.  Grand Case beaches are clean and the water is calm.  Rainbow Beach club is nice to reserve chairs for the day and have lunch.  Very safe for a toddler.

The prices are in Euros but when you check out you can ask them to covert to dollars for cash or credit card if you prefer.

Does anyone know if I can use the AG Covid test kits sold at drugstores instead of buying the Binax test and still use eMed for the supervised testing?  Seems like the tests bought though Celebrity are much more expensive than buying from Walgreen's or CVS.  Thanks.

We were just is Roatan off the Edge and had the same restriction.  For a relaxing beach day we did the Little French Key excursion and were very happy with it.

We're leaving on the Edge tomorrow so any last minute thoughts are appreciated.  I've been following you posts all week.  Thanks for these updates.

November 22

My wife and I used the proctored test yesterday prior to our Edge cruise.  I used a laptop instead of the phone based on comments from others.  We were connected with no wait time, the proctor took us through the test in minutes and then we had to wait the required 15 minutes.  When the 15 minutes were up, we were immediately connected to a new proctor to review the results.  Luckily we were both negative and within a few minutes our Navica app had the test results with QR code needed to board.  For anyone that is anxious about this process like we were, it seems that everything is working very well and is easy to get through.

Does anyone know if there is a mini bus that goes to Elbow Beach as well?

If you are taking a cab from the airport, when they exit at 14A on the turnpike, there are several liquor stores on Broadway in Bayonne that you could stop at. Just do a Google search.

I've been to Bermuda a number of times and will be going again in July. I think you have too much planned for the first day. I would either skip the beach or skip going to the caves and Swizzle in. Ferry to St. George/Beach for a few hours/Lunch/Walk around town/Ferry back to Dockyard or Ferry to St. George/Walk around town/Bus to Swizzle Inn and Caves/Bus to Hamilton/Ferry back to DY after Harbor Nights.

The Dockyard Pastry Shop has very nice sandwiches and salads that you can pick up before you head to the beach.

That's a bit tight and would not chance it. Why don't you go to St. George on the first day? Going to Horseshoe and back on the second day makes more sense. We usually do Horseshoe on the last day followed by lunch and shopping at the Dockyard and still have an easy walk to the ship before departure

We've done July on the Summit 2 times and are doing a third this July. I don't think Bermuda is as humid as say Florida or the Caribbean in July and we found it comfortable. We had very good weather both times although any area in the east and south is subject to rain in the summer months. Celebrity does not draw a lot of young kids because of the lack of kid friendly activities so I would base too many kids as the main reason not to go. I do agree that the rates are higher in July.

There is a Elite elegant tea on one afternoon of the cruise. Nice but not what it used to be years ago.

My wife and usually eat at Bistro on 5 on embarkation day for lunch. Everything will be open for dinner

Sorry, really don't agree with your view on the MDR food. We have found over our sailings in the last 3-4 years that the food improves each cruise. The best one was our last on the Millie last Oct/Nov when the Prime Rib was to die for and everything else was perfect for our group of 8. The service was prompt and the sommelier was knowledgeable and attentive. The last few years we don't even bother with the Specialty's. Just wanted to provide another opinion encase people thought they may be eating food equivalent to a truckstop/diner or something lol

I'm not saying that the MDR food is terrible or truck stop quality, but it can be inconsistent. For me it's more about a restaurant feel at Blu as opposed to watching waiters hoist huge trays with massive amounts of servings on them, often times with food lukewarm and/or dried out. To each his own.

I don't think you will regret the decision. We are long time Celebrity cruisers and have seen the decline in the quality of food and service in the MDR as they try to say cost competitive in the marketplace. We have only booked Aqua class for the last few years, mainly because of Blu. We eat breakfast there each morning and dinner around 4 out of 7 nights and going to the specialty restaurants the other nights. Going to Blu feels like you are going out to a restaurant. The service and food are better than MDR. I'm surprised to hear you have no perks, even from your TA? Just about everyone on the ships have been on the free drink package lately. Usually your TA should give you some OBC from their cut of the commission. We will be on the Summit for the 7/11 Bermuda sailing. Enjoy!

Two years ago we had afternoon tea at the Hamilton Princess. It was a very nice service in terms of quality and the setting. I think it was in the range of $30 to $35PP.

We really enjoy breakfast and dinner in Blu. Very nice setting, feels like eating in a restaurant. The use of Persian Gardens on sea days is relaxing.

I agree that you need to do your research before hand to know if you are getting a good deal. I also agree that better deals can be had in St. Martin.

Will be in Antiqua in Feb on the Summit and looking for recommendations on where to have lunch. When visiting new places we like to try places popular with the locals. Thanks.