Tom-n-Cheryl

That's the way I feel - with regard to suites on Celebrity ! As much as I like their product, I'll sit on the sidelines for now. Tom

I guess we've been lucky, hundreds of times. ! ! ! I'll just stick with what's worked in the past (LUCK - LOL) Tom

Yep, but when they "give me" two nights of specialty dining each sailing (based on our loyalty status - and one of those dinners includes wine), I can forgive them for that. Plus, we always have a beverage package as part of our booking, so I'll just mosey over to the Haven bar and get a couple of glasses to bring back to our cabin. One way or another, all cruise lines will pick your pocket... 😉 Tom

Two words (when considering MSC): Yacht Club That's the only way to fly, errrr, CRUISE with MSC -- IOHO !! Tom

Jump on the Rotterdam, and try it out with us (Thanksgiving '24)... nice 12 night itinerary 🙂 Tom

Perhaps they need to train the dogs to sniff out people "smuggling" those onboard... lol Tom

I have my calendar marked for the 13th of this month (that's when my Elite offers go live apparently). They've always ended up being dates/departure ports that don't work. Add to that... now they must also be on the Mardi Gras or Celebration (according to Cheryl) 😄 For the most part, my alternate offers (free suite or balcony, a few hundred to a couple thousand in free play or OBC) tend to be better - and apply to MANY more sailings. Though, when I've sailed on my own promo (not Ultra/Premier/etc), I tend to get lost in the mix of all the "invited" guests - and either never have the host come by to say hello or, when they do, it's too late for them to offer up very much (already having specialty dining booked, and no desire for spa treatments/etc). Now, if they'd comp a cabana @ Loft 19, that would be SWEET ! 😉 Tom

It's good to know that I'm not an anomaly!

This is really "FUNNY"... > I have not sailed Celebrity in nearly 8 months > I do not have any Celebrity sailings booked, mainly owing to the out of control pricing on mid/upper tier suites, and the fact that the Blue Chip Club has not sent an offer my way in over a year. > When I call them, they no longer offer 60% off, but rather 10% off their full rates (meaning that I'd pay more going through them than taking advantage of a promo) > TODAY I see I have a BCC offer coming in the mail > and TODAY I discovered that Celebrity is trying to sneak smoking (well, vaping is the SAME in my book) back into their casinos. The smoke free casinos on Celebrity are one of the biggest draws for me ---------------------- So, what's going on - I thought that bookings were supposedly quite high, but now they're reaching out to me after a long hiatus, AND they're trying to lure vapers into their casinos? WTH ! ? Tom

I intentionally charged up a good $10k on our last Celebrity sailing (no fees in the casino for us that trip) with my 3% (cash back) card on account. That was an easy $300. I would have charged $1M, if only my CC had that limit ! 😉 Oh - and I managed to take most (all?) of the purchased $ home with me too, after putting it into play. Tom

We've been in the Presidential, and a few weeks ago in an aft corner (deck 15). Prior to that once on Deck 9, and another time on deck 12. On deck 15 there's only a minor amount of noise from above, nothing to be concerned with. It did seem like we got more than our fair share of water on the balcony that persisted throughout most of the morning due to washing decks or glass above? I never really figured it out, but it happened on most days. Perhaps it rained overnight, every night! When we sailed in the Presidential (second sailing of the Mardi Gras), the head of restaurant operations (I believe that's who it was) contacted us onboard and offered assistance with dining and room service. I don't think we really did anything special that sailing as we already had all of our specialty dining booked.

Tell me, and we'll both know ! 😉 Tom

I see you've been on the Rotterdam - we're giving them (HAL) a try next year (12-nt). They had the Pinnacle suite available, so we grabbed it - in celebration of our 40th anniversary. Should be fun !! Tom

Yep - balcony food in general. Being on the balcony makes it special indeed - sort of like eating a steak (or such) at 30,000 ft !! Neither of these were for breakfast - but, still !! (reflection of port in outdoor "fireplace") Tom

Deck 9 - Breakaway 🙂 Tom

How did you know that ? !

Was THIS the fellow? BTW - he left Royal Caribbean a couple of years ago too... Tom

LOL - I'm probably more likely to get an invite for MGM Noir (and I have not been to an MGM property in several years)! Tom

Funny guy - favorite line from him: Oh, this your wife, huh? A lovely lady. Hey baby, you must've been something before electricity.

Mardi Gras - Presidential Suite. A couple of the Captain's Suites we've stayed in on Carnival had a second bath (or 1/2). Now that's a nice thing to have! Tom

Aquatheater ? This was our (best): -- with the exception of giving up a certain amount of privacy, and shade! Tom

Since it was a new ship (to us) we went to the one on the Celebration last month. The hors d'oeuvres they were bringing around were quite impressive (variety and quality). Though we had 5:30 reservations (steakhouse or Rudi's), so it was more just temptation! Tom

For the most part, we skip those parties now. It's, basically, a waste of good cruise ship time !! Tom

.. and then there's Zenith on Celebrity (3,000 points). For those that make the grade, premium beverage and Wi-fi packages are yours for life, or until they change the program. FWIW, I'm at the next tier down w/1,500 pts (Elite Plus, which begins at 750) so I'm barely half way there, and don't ever see hitting that "pinnacle" 🙂 It would be nice to see some level added in between, but that's likely not in the cards. Tom

That was my recollection as well. We cruised on the Liberty over July 4th in 2012, and I think we were their first Diamond guests (they rolled out the red carpet for us on that sailing). It was my 50th birthday and 50th Carnival cruise to boot!