ScottC4746

I will chime in with this as did happen on our last X cruise. First night someone was in MDR in tshirt and jeans and the rest of the cruise they were spot on with the dress code. Now before everyone sucks all the oxygen out of the room, this was a very nice tshirt with a small business logo and very clean very nice looking jeans. We ended up having drinks with them later on the cruise and turned out their luggage never made it to the room until sometime after dinner. Other cruises on other lines I have seen people in polos and nice jeans the last night because they did not plan too well. Everything was packed before dinner and sitting in the hall way and that is what they had left. I always plan on what I wear the last night, unless it is formal night which normally isn't done, that is what I wear the next day to disembark.

First, my condolences for your loss. I did some research and navigated to the insurance and seeing you are from NJ pulled up that information as some states have more protection than others. It appears it is covered for a total refund i.e. cancel and walk away but I couldn't find an exact answer to your request. They did show, "Where To Report Cruise Vacation Cancellations Contact your travel agent, Celebrity or the Program Administrator IMMEDIATELY to notify them of your cancellation and to avoid any non-covered expenses due to late reporting. The Administrator will then forward the appropriate form(s) that must be completed by you and the attending physician (if applicable). The Administrator can be contacted at 1-800-797-4516 or 1-516-342-7262." Rather than taking from fellow cruisers who may or may not be familiar with the plan I would telephone.

I may avoid the "food" waste this time and tell our cabin steward we are not interested in them.

I see why people are basically selling everything and moving onto a cruise ship.

We have talked about doing a Cunard (C) cruise but I have hesitation. First I have severe social anxiety to the point I signed up for a support group and never attended because of it. If you don't suffer from it it can be debilitating, if you do, you will understand. DH and I are very blue collar, but we strive very much when in public not to put on airs, but to follow the rules of etiquette to a T. One thing I am concerned about, besides not having fancy enough clothes, is the restaurant situation. While we would live to be in a Queen's Grill Suite, we could only barely afford Britania. Does this mean Britania is one step above the buffet, which photos look like is nothing to sneeze at either. What about the public spaces and lounges? If they do the dining rooms this way do they do the same with the rest of the ship. I picture Titanic less the icebergs and sinking. I have friends in Houston that rave over C, but because of what I pointed out I am hesitant.

Our first was on Solstice in 2022 and they were awful. Any improvements? We sail in 16 days on Edge.

Ah my dream cruise, but alas not in our budget. Just love the idea of those small ships. Keep the reports coming.

So last night DH and I were talking that we want to cruise more and instead of doing all the X ports alphabetically as we noticed we end up on the same ship we got off of, we will do the ships alphabetically, so after doing Solstice first, Edge second, our next cruise will be on APEX. Thoughts on her?

I didn't find it a long walk. But what I don't find a long walk, an older person or one with limited mobility may feel like they are walking end to end. Here is the link to the deck plans for the Solstice. Celebrity Solstice Deck Plans | Celebrity Cruises

We did open dining on Solstice always arriving around 6 PM and always got the same wonderful waiter with our same wonderful two top by the railing overlooking the lower dining room on the solstice. In fact, our waiter loved us so much that he kept an eye out for us and when he saw us he was practically tripping over himself to get to the hostess station to make sure he got us. One night he even kept saying his table number over and over running to grab to menus and seating us himself. We may try 6 PM fixed on our next cruise. With open dining it wasn't until the second or third night we got paired up with our favorite. While fixed is also at 6 PM, this way we don't get stuck with a bad waiter.

I was on Solstice in 2022 and the lifts are in two banks mid ship plus one towards the front. Only the mid ship ones go to floors up to 14. The front ones go 3 - 15 and then you have to ascend stairs to 16 which is just the solstice deck with deck chairs. It should be noted that while there are retreat suites, the Solstice is not revolutionized so there is not a retreat deck. Back to your question, we found the center elevators packed at times because they overlook the atrium and suspended tree. We only took them to go up and walked down.

My apologies then.

Preaching to the choir, I know that.

That's cool. Is that a digital sign?

We sailed on Solstice and no issue getting a two top. We were usually quickly seated in about 5 minutes or so around 6 PM. Now that they seem to be taking one two story dining room and breaking it up into four distinct dining themes on most ships, not sure. We will find out on the Edge in 16 days.

And as far as that goes, the activities sometimes are wrong. Go with the printed schedule in your stateroom for the most accurate.

Although two years ago we noticed a couple of guys in shorts in the MDR for dinner. I will say they were the nicer dressy style shorts but still...

We (2) are booked on the Anytime Dining, sail out on 31 May of this year and we were going to try to reserve 6 or 630 PM the first night on the app in the main dining room. I tried all four and it kept offering 9 or 930 which is way too late for us. When we first sailed two years ago on Solstice, we never reserved during the entire trip and always walked up around 6 PM and was always promptly seated. If we just walked up around the same 6ish PM, does this mean that that nothing is available until that late?

We are in our late 50's, me pushing 60 more than DH. We left RCCL for a smaller ship that is affordable. We tried HAL and we are too young, but beautiful ship and attention to detail. Loved the customer service. They have trivia which we love, but no prizes. No problem getting a 2 top in the MDR. We tried Celebrity and we were hooked. Unfortunately their trend seems to be infinite verandas which we will have on our cruise in 20 days but heard it is a love hate thing. The more we read about them we already hate them. While it makes a beautiful streamlined ship, if it says balcony we want a balcony. No trivia. No problem getting a two top in the MDR. This leaves us with RCCL. Their ships have grown huge. This scares us because we can just imagine the lines and crowds for everything, but it seems as they grow they have added more bars and comp restaurants to help. We aren't really pool people, so that deck is a waste to us. Not sure how often we will be able to get a two top in the MDR. What can you all say/suggest to encourage us back? How can we learn to embrace bigger ships.

Thinking of doing a 7 night on Apex in two years. This would be our first Apex cruise and trying to get a real verandah without getting an expensive suite. This leaves the Sunset Verandah. Our last aft cruise was a pre-covid on HAL in a Neptune aft corner. You could smell the fumes in the stateroom, it was noisy from the engines, and the room vibrated all night. The room was beautiful, but it scared us from aft rooms. It was very nice to be able to see both sides of the ship from behind. How are the Apex aft rooms?

It is per day all or nothing i.e. cannot say I want it just on sea days. As I recall, bars are closed on disembarkation day and you are limited to what is in the buffet.

If this happens, there will be five of us DH, myself and three others.

Oh that's right My Time is not assigned. We always do My Time. Early seating you are rushed too much from ports and late seating I am chewing on the furniture by 6 PM.

I always print out the express pass as a backup just in case the app has connectivity issues.

I saw the cruise next year I have my eye on with Celebrity makes a stop at Coco Cay. I am one of those people that all I have to do is think about spending time in they sun and I will burn. How much are the cabanas, what is included with them, and what is the price?