Algebralovr

The Family Veranda rooms are being converted to suites as a ship goes through Revolution. Not all of them, but on the S-Class ships they typically are. On ships where they do exist, they are usually reserved until the last minute for families of 5. They must be booked by a TA over the phone, as in the TA has to call Celebrity and book over the phone for you. Or, the passenger must book directly over the phone. The guests have to provide the names and info for all 5 passengers when booking before a few months out. If they are not sold at final payment, they are usually opened up for under 5 people. On S-Class ships, they are a separate category, between a CS and a RS suite, and have some but not all the perks of the RS.

In the US, the foreign crew still need an I-95 work visa. They also have to complete the I-94 when they first arrive in the US.

I don’t believe it is that at all. I believe the issue is work visas, availability, and the like. For staff from 1st World Countries, it is easy to get a visa. Some places, not so much. One of the hotel managers is a citizen of India but his wife is from a different country. He spend much of the stopage in his wife’s country. To get back to the ship, he had to get out of his wife’s country, go back to India, get an appointment with the US Embassy in India, and have his visa approved. I heard from his friend that it took him 3 months to actually get to the US to the ship he was supposed to be on. This is an established employee, who has been with Celebrity for 20+ years, and simply needed his documents renewed. A lot of the population has just not gone back to working for others. Plus, people on the lower end in the US are doing more gig jobs that W2 jobs. Every single place in my town is hiring, but they want people in the employer’s terms. They will only give 20-25 hours a week, no benefits, but want completely open availability. Lots of people are saying no way to that. I know a gal who used to be a housekeeping manager for a large hotel. She was laid off a few months into COVID, after working for that hotel for over 12 years. When they called her back, she said no. Now, she is running her own business, cleaning people’s homes and small businesses, making more and doing it on her schedule. I know exactly the new retreat manager you are speaking of, he comes from the UK and was shadowing the retreat manager on Silhouette in February. I’m fairly certain he was hired because he was from the UK. It was easy to get him the right visa to work on the ship. The powers that be decided he had sufficient experience that he could be trained. They had him scheduled for be trained for nearly 3 months before taking over as Retreat Manager on his own. There were other personnel who might have been promotable, however they had been working since restart and needed vacations. Meanwhile, that 3-stripe trainee was available, interested, and from the UK. It is MUCH easier to hire a person from the UK or any EU country than anywhere else. I’ve got a friend who is a 3-Stripe. I was joking with him that one of these days I was going to run away from reality and join the crew. My area is training and development. I design training, and over see it. I joked but said that I’d probably never pass the physical. This friend responded that with my passport, it wouldn’t matter. They would hire me no matter what and waive the physical requirements. That is what is going on. For those of you complaining that the lower level officers aren’t helping out? I’ve seen the opposite. I’ve seen plenty of 1, 2 and 3 stripe officers jumping in where needed. I watched a 2 stripe doing inventory and restocking bar after bar. I saw another jump in at Al Bacio making drinks, and a second jump in to run the register. Most of those officers do jump in where needed.

I know they have been struggling. We were on Summit in December and met Daisy in the Retreat as the Retreat Concierge. We boarded Silhouette in February and found a note from the Retreat signed by Concierge Daisy….. hmmm same person? When we actually got to the Retreat area, we found a different person was acting as Retreat Concierge and we were surprised. We asked, and learned it WAS the same Daisy… she had been transferred from Summit to Silhouette due to a shortage of staff, since Summit had had most of her winter cruises cancelled. She was supposed to be concierge, however they had a shortage of Retreat Hosts and she was willing to slide over to Host and let someone else act as Concierge. The Retreat Concierge was trained to be Retreat Concierge, but was also Concierge Class concierge as well as Captain’s Club host. The new staffing is that there are supposed to be 2-3 people acting as Captain’s Club/Concerige host, and doing both jobs (Capt Club and Concierge) and a separate Concierge and manager for the Suites. Due to illnesses and such, the sailing on Silhouette ended up short one Retreat Host, even with Daisy filling in (it would have been 2), they had only one Retreat Concierge instead of 2, and only 2 Captains Club/Concierge hosts instead of 3. Plus, the Suite Manager was stuck with a shadow. A guy was shadowing her for the entire cruise learning the job of a Suite Manager on Celebrity. He was coming in directly from a hotel in the UK to be a Suite Manager on Celebrity, having never worked on a ship before. I vocalized that someone coming in directly as a 3-Stripe officer having never worked on a ship seemed a bit of a disaster when there were experienced Suite Concierges who should have been given the opportunity to be promoted having worked their way up. I got a quiet nod from the celebrity staff at that comment. They would NEVER actually say anything but you could tell… Anyway, they are doing their best. There are a number of the Luminae waiters who are studying for the job of Retreat Host, but it takes time for them to study and take the book tests, then shadow the existing Hosts while they are actually on rest time, etc.

@atexsix I would lean toward the WC if you don’t want to haul both. He can always push his WC like a rollator, them when he gets tired sit and you push. I’ve seen people use a WC like that in the past.

There were staff members in Skagway guiding people along. If he doesn’t need the lift, and can do a few stairs, he will be fine. Otherwise, go to ShoreEx as soon as your board, and speak to the manager there. Alaska seemed no worse in regards to the gangway that the Caribbean, which I’ve done in a WC. There are ALWAYS some crew available to assist in embarking and disembarking. If your father is using a WC, they will push him on and off and assist as needed. We are doing Millennium in a couple of weeks. I’m debating taking my WC. I’m no longer bound to it, and I can walk, until I can’t. Dizzy spells are the worst, and if I take it along, I can at least be pushed to dinner and such.

In Skagway, the train is VERY accessible. They have a lift to take a WC from the ground into the accessible car. You are limited to that one car, which is fine. We were directed to that particular car in 2018 when we took a last minute cruise on Celebrity Solstice, and took my service dog along. There were only a handful of people in the accessible car, while the other cars were full. Worked out well. Follow up with Shore Excursions on board so they make sure that car is part of the train. We did a whale watch in Juneau and made arrangements ahead of time. If you cannot transfer and do the steps into a bus, make sure to book through the cruise line in advance. Tell special needs with the cruise line that you want to book that particular excursion and that you require a buss with a WC lift, and need to be in a boat with only a ramp. Allen Marine DOES have a boat they use for whale watching that was all ramp and no steps. Again, follow up with ShoreEx on board so that they communicate your needs to the vendor. We made GREAT use of the concierge on that ship. He emailed ShoreEx and then followed up for us and we had a fantastic cruise.

Thank you @Northern Aurora! I had been looking in the Alaska boards but could not find anything. Since it is supposed to be a Celebrity specific charter, I asked here hoping for info. The early morning announcement during breakfast is good to know. A bit concerning, as well. Lol

The Coastal Classic train is the public train on the Alaska RR. Celebrity and Royal do a chartered train from Seward to Anchorage, which is what I’m asking about. I know it leaves in the morning from Seward, and is a chartered train. I had to buy it from Celebrity. The eDocs specifically mention limited storage for luggage, so I’m concerned about space for our carry on bags and my wheelchair.

The water from the sink in your bathroom will give you the same water served from a pitcher in the dining room. It is safe to drink.

We found the water in the cans tasted fine. There are a couple of different vendors used. One of them does can spring water. Another is actually Coca Cola and they use the same filtered water used to make canned coke. Most Municipal water supplies in the US have water that is just fine to drink, and typically safer than spring water. That which is canned or bottled from municipal water supplies is usually run through an RO system before being bottled. As for the ship water, it is water, from the sea, that goes through a desalination process then an RO process. It passes through a number of filters before being tested and treated to drink. It is perfectly safe to drink. It is routinely tested by the government agencies when the ships dock.

What can anyone tell me about the train through Celebrity from Seward to Anchorage? We are booked on an upcoming cruise on Celebrity Millennium, which docks in Seward. I booked the train to transfer to the airport. I understand it is a full train charter. What time does the train leave? When does it arrive in Anchorage? Does it arrive very close to the airport or is a shuttle required? If close, how close? Do we simply put our bags out the night before then see them again in Anchorage? Or do we pick them up in a warehouse in Seward then turn them in again to board the train? The eDocs said there is very little room for bags on the train. How little? We usually each have a carry on sized bag when disembarking. Mine will be full of medication. I will probably also have my wheelchair. Will this be an issue? I can walk, until I can’t. The eDocs said we needed to collect our bags at Anchorage by 3 pm. We have three couples in the group. The first couple flies out about 7, the last about 10pm. Recommendations on what to do? Where? I looked on the Alaska board, and everything is about ports of call and what to do, but saw nothing about the transfer.

She had a refresh, but she didn’t get the full treatment. The full treatment would have included making the upper front of the ship into the Suite Retreat, which they didn’t have a chance to do. They didn’t take her back to the bare metal in the staterooms, but they did do a lot of updates. I’m sailing on her in February 2023, and not worried at all about being in a “tired ship”. It will be just fine.

Having been on both Equinox and Silhouette post-Revolution, I'm wondering if they might not do an Equinox type of update to Reflection. So, not the whole thing, but set up the Solstice Deck to be a Retreat? They could add the bar up there fairly easily. I'll look for photos from the Oct 31 sailing! We are going to be on her Nov 20. If I remember correctly, Reflection was originally scheduled for sometime in 2023, so this is actually doing some work on her a bit early.

Each room in the Suite Class has both a stateroom attendant and a Retreat Host. The gratuities are higher because you are tipping the Retreat Host, aka butler. I'm fairly certain the officers in the Retreat are salaried.

I'm fairly certain the dry dock is right before the TA. Celebrity is advertising a 10 night roundtrip from Rome on Oct 7, then nothing from Oct 17 to the TA on Oct 31 which leaves from Barcelona. This lines up perfectly with what we were told by the Suite Manager in February. Reflection lands in Port Everglades Nov 13, there is a full ship charter starting Nov 13, then the first public sailing in the Caribbean is Nov 20. There are no holes in her schedule in January or February.

If you do not have proof of negative test, you'll be denied boarding. I recommend you find somewhere to get a rapid test ASAP so that you have results to provide.

Michael's Club is the Suite lounge, and definitely no retreat deck. She has a dry dock scheduled in October (i think) and we are all wondering if she will receive some upgrades then. Her last was in 2018, so this is a litte bit earlier than planned originally.

I had a long conversation with the beverage manager on one of my recent cruises. They are simply struggling to get many supplies. The supply chains are broken. For example, on one of my cruises last fall, they didn't get a couple of the flavors of tea that is usually in Al Bacio. They also ran out of Coke Zero and were subbing Diet Coke. The issue is that they are not allowed to simply take a van and go to Sam's Club when they get to port... they have to go through their supply contracts. Meanwhile, suppliers are allocating to different purchasers. So, while Celebrity may be ordering 25 cases of a wine per week, due to allocation, they may only receive 12 of that wine, because the supplier also needs to supply to many other sources. We all simply need to be patient. For me, I upgrade to PALL because I want San Pelegrino and an occasional Martini Bar drink. Still worth it.

I'm pretty sure the free drinks for Elite are between 5 and 7pm, not 5 and 9pm. They are a limited menu, and available at bars.

If there are two last names on your room, try the other one. We’ve had that be an issue. My daughter retained her given name, and hers never works, while his does.

I have been able to participate in Zoom meetings while on Celebrity ships with the Stream internet package. I tried for the first time on Solstice in Alaska in 2018. Been using it ever since. Always fun to show my work colleagues where I’m working from that day. 🙂 So, the proctored eMed tests should work fine. If a sea day, you might need to use it super early or late.