terrydtx

Your other options are Mast grill and possibly Sushi or Raw on 5, but they are not always open for lunch on E Day. You can check in your app to see what is open for lunch on E day. In the past room service was available after 5pm on E Day, not sure about now. The new room service charge is $9.95 + 18% gratuity.

You are correct sorry for the confusion, my bad.

I read recently that US airlines make more net profit on checked baggage fees than any other line item.

Only on the newer Pinnacle Class ships, the other ships in the fleet have a section in the MDR reserved for Club Orange.

They could go the route of the airline industry and charge for checked luggage brought onboard.

Have you checked in for the cruise? If you have your boarding pass should have something lik "CALL" on it which means have the standard AI package. Not sure how BCC handles invoicing but our Celebrity invoice always shows our AI package inclusions. The new pricing to upgrade to the premium drinks package will cost you $30pp per day plus 18% in tips.

It has not been open for lunch on E Day for years. Only Concierge class and Zenith Captain Club has access for lunch. For Suites, Luminae is also open for lunch.

I agree, but they were good for an early morning chuckle or two.

We have done 3 cruises in the past that had GC as stops, but only once did we make it there, the other 2 our stops were canceled due to bad weather and high winds. We will be there in June on the Equinox, maybe X will have this sorted out, but I am not optimistic.

The Always included in all suites is Premium drinks (up to $17) and premium Wi-Fi plus gratuities.

On Celebrity Edge Class ships and the older ships that have been Revolutionized Michaels Lounge is called the Retreat Lounge with a full-time bartender and free drinks, no matter what drink package you have. On E Class ships on the Retreat sun deck all drinks at the bar on the deck are also included no charge. The E Class ships were built with the Retreat and were not an add on retrofit, so they have a more elevated Retreat experience. Luminae is a completely different menu than the MDR and they have the ability to do special orders as the kitchen is not part of the MDR kitchen. Non-suites guests cannot buy into access to Luminae as you can do with Club Orange. Having said all this and as a suites guest almost exclusively with Celebrity, the line is now pricing future cruises to the point that the Retreat is no longer the bargain it once was compared to Neptune suites. I am seeing pricing for entry level Sky Suites on X costing more than HAL Neptune suites for similar itineraries. Many loyal X suites customers are now looking at more premium lines because of future pricing specially in the higher suites.

Are not sodas and bottled water available in the OVC with meals?

I would hope you could get the water and soft drinks in OVC with lunch.

Again unless the policy has changed, the NRD on Celebrity only had a $100 fee that was not refundable, the balance could be switched to another cruise or be a FCC. We have done this several times post Covid.

I am surprised they do not have the same coolers in the Apex Retreat lounge. We will be in both the Equinox (stops in GC) and the Apex this summer both in the Retreat.

The Equinox has a big cooler for access by passengers in the Retreat Lounge 24/7 when unmanned and on previous Equinox GC postings, suites guests said they were able to get beer and wine from the unmanned cooler.

This something we can all seriously doubt, if this had been true it would have been all over CC and social media. Not one word from anyone else that all the bars were closed on a Sea Day. The only instance I can remember reading about was on an Oceania cruise last year that while cruising in the waters of Saudia Arabia where local laws did not allow for any alcohol being served in their territorial waters.

That is my plan on the Equinox in June. We will also have access to the Retreat Lounge cooler full of chilled beer and some small bottles of wine.

We are booked on the HAL Koningsdam Coastal California cruise RT from San Diego in November with a stop in Monterrey. We had planned on a private winery tour in Monterrey. I guess that stop is going away, but I would be happy with an overnight in SF so we could do a day trip to Napa.

It is not so much doubting anyone's word as it so contradicts what has been posted previously at GC. I have seen all too many times that people post on CC before they verify the situation they are reporting.

We were in Venice last August for a cruise on HAL that departed from Trieste. Compared to Pre Covid, Venice was so much nicer, the canals were clearer, cleaner and didn't have the old stench of sewage from having the lagoon and grand canal churned up by the mega ships.

Have you physically been up at the pool bar to see if it is open or closed? It has been open on all other GC cruises this year.

Unless things have changed very recently it is 90 days out for final payment on O and the deposits are 100% refundable with no $100 fees deducted prior to FP.

Before Covid we got a prescription for Tamiflu during the flu season to take with us. Never had to use them.

We consider HAL to be more of a competitor with Celebrity, similar sized ships and demographic, X being a little younger. I would put Princess in more of a competitor with RCL, bigger ship and more kids and families.