Algebralovr

I didn’t bother with the spa for years. The last few crises, we’ve had a LOT of OBC that was nonrefundable and the spa was a good place to spend it. I’ve had a couple of very good massages on board. I’ve also started getting my vacation mani/pedi on board. My salon doesn’t offer them, and the price at the other spa in town is nearly as high as on the ship. P I don’t trust the “nail shops” in town to sanitize sufficiently. The one on board is at least well sanitized. Additionally, the foot massage that is part of the pedicure is usually very good, better than what is given in town. I simply pick a port day for a better price, and do a spa instead of an excursion.

Every Celebrity cruise I’ve been on has had a spa raffle. It is USUALLY between 4 and 5 on sail away day. A couple of times I’ve seen it held at an alternative time, and on our last cruise they held a second one. You must usually be present to win. If you go for a spa tour shortly after boarding, they will give you a ticket and tell you when to be there.

You’ll be fine! My daughter and her hubby are sailing on Celebrity Beyond to celebrate her turning 29 and Elite on the same cruise. We took her on her first Celebrity cruise at 20 in 2014. Took her and her BF on a holiday cruise in 2015. They bought their own honeymoon on Celebrity. Folks of all ages are on Celebrity cruises. There will be fewer younger folks on longer cruises, but anything 10 nights or less? You’ll be fine.

At the present time, the soda guns are not being used and the ships are not stocking the materials needed for them. They are distributing Coke products in cans. You also need to be aware that the available choices may be rather basic. Coke Diet Coke, Coke Zero (not always both, it depends on what they can get) Sprite Sprite Zero Club Soda Ginger ale Don’t be surprised if something isn’t available due to supply chain issues.

They started the fee to attempt to curb abuse. My son and DIL ended up paying it on Millie a couple of weeks ago. She was horribly sea sick (and wouldn’t listen to advice) and woke up about 3am and wanted pizza. They ordered pizza and paid the fee. Son just was glad they had plenty of OBC to cover it. I was glad I had gotten them an indulge package. 🙂

Hi all! I’m back from our family cruise on Celebrity Millennium with the fam, and have recovered from the trip home. Long flights! Scooter was THRILLED to see us when we got home. We are now working on PA and tasks for him. My RA is worse, and has settled in my lower back and hips. If I drop stuff, I can’t bend over much of the time, so Scooter to the rescue! He is happy to do those tasks around the house, 🙂 Not so happy to do PA at Walmart and be on perfect behavior. He’d rather be able to get pets from all. 🙂 We are sailing on Reflection for Thanksgiving, but leaving him home. That lawn on the S-class celebrity ships is just too much for him. I don’t even plan to get off the ship for that cruise, just enjoy someone else cooking and cleaning, getting some sun and doing nothing. We are doing the Panama Canal in December, and while Princess has approved me bringing him, I’m undecided. I’ll decide a couple of weeks out. Easy to cancel bringing the dog…. And Princess will be HAPPY NOT to have him. Hope you all are well.

I’m just fine with the cruise line continuing to require a negative test to board. It isn’t that expensive, and at least it means that people who are definitely positive can’t board. If people were truthful about how they feel, it would also help. If you’ve had symptoms of something for the last day or two, why the heck are you boarding a cruise ship? The issue is that if people don’t lie about their health, they lose a LOT of $$$$. Cruise ships (and airlines) should be more forthcoming about FCCs if someone cancels the day before or day of IF they have proof of illness from a medical provider.

We just got off Millennium yesterday. Before the pandemic, we left laundry on the bed ready to go when we left the stateroom to run to breakfast. Came back and the room would be done, laundry gone. It always came back the next afternoon. This cruise, it pretty much always took two days. We embarked on Friday, May 27. Sent out laundry the next morning. It was Monday evening when our room was done at dinner time before it came back. Meanwhile, we sent out another load on Monday as well as a last bit on Tuesday. The Monday and Tuesday loads both came back during evening room turndown on Wednesday evening. We are Elite Plus, and planned for laundry when we packed. By Monday dressing for dinner, we both noted that if laundry didn't come back that evening, it would get interesting. 🙂 We had been traveling since Wednesday evening.

Because wine is VERY subjective. I've been perfectly happy with bottles of 2-buck-chuck over the years even when others commented that "This wine is MUCH better". Better is subjective. They offer what F&B says they can offer, what the revenue manager says they can offer. Sometimes the Celler Master and F&B decide to offer an "upgraded" bottle and other times they don't. Heck, their wines are quite over priced as it is. The Chateau St. Michelle Risling that I like was sold for $5 locally at the supermarket when Celebrity had it priced for $8 per glass or more. That was years ago.

For one of mine, I simply noticed the amount of OBC was higher. For another, I got an email,still a third I didn’t get an email but when I called to ask for an updated guest copy, it was listed. we just never know.

I bet Oakland will be a rock star for this trip! We are heading to Vancouver to sail on Celebrity Millennium to Alaska later this week. Scooter is staying home. His skills have slipped. My fault. We spent so much time at home, and my recent cancer diagnosis isn't helping. So, I'm rarely out of the house without a human supporting me. Scooter does help at home, but doing way less public access. SO, he is going to be boarded. He loves it there... it will be fine. Plus, without Scooter along, we can do an excursion to go see the sled dogs! We missed that the last time!

We are so sorry for your loss. He will be missed.

A lot of the crew were in quarantine because they were new, as well. They had been scrambling to get crew on board. Got a LOT of new crew. The covid test thing is how they are doing it now. If you made your reservation before the November date, or if you buy if from Celebrity, they hand it to you after you are off. So, if you need a covid test to be able to fly, you need to take your own from home, and test the night before from your stateroom using the ship's wifi. You'll need the faster Stream package to do so.

The last time we saw a bag of free laundry on a B2B was 2016. After than? We’ve been on B2B, but not gotten free laundry. I asked at one of our more recent ones and was told they did away with that perk on B2Bs. We didn’t need it, but our friends did.

The last couple of cruises I took, they said the internet package ended at 7am the morning we docked. I would not expect Surf to be sufficient to use the eMed test. If you don't want to upgrade to Stream for the entire trip, then I would at least upgrade the last day, or pay for a one hour upgrade the last day. If you are Select or better, you might be surprised at what the cost is to upgrade ahead of time if you call Cruise Enhancements. I was QUITE surprised at the cost to upgrade from Surf to Stream and then to add a second device.

We like the Fre’ sparkling as well. The others are acceptable, but the sparkling is good. I’ve gotten a bit of a look of shock from one of the sommeliers but that is his problem. He wanted to sell bottles. Paid a lot more attention to those who bought bottles.

It is a new change, to add a gratuity to the specialty restaurants. Instead of raising the prices in the US, they add a gratuity. They changed the wording as well. The cover charge used to include gratuity and now it is added.

Exactly what I bolded in your statement. All the people I have spoken to are thrilled to get back to work. Now, many of the people I saw pre-pandemic have NOT returned to work the ships, but MANY of those are women who decided to start families once they realized how long this would go on. I see them kissing their husbands goodbye and posting with photos of their babies, showing off their babies to their former colleagues. Then, once on board, I meet new people on their first contract, MAYBE second. They are learning the ropes. They are looking forward to making $$$ and sending it back home. As for mothballing Solstice and Eclipse, I'm sure that was considered, however those ships had a number of bookings on them for Alaska. I don't blame Celerity at ALL for staffing up the ships and sailing the planned cruises into Alaska. It is a multi-faceted issue. They need staff for the ship, but they need to have a ship ready to go to have a place to put the staff. They have factors holding recruitment events all over. One of the Serbian Future Cruise Managers posted a hiring even on her FB page earlier today. They have a recruitor going along the Adratic to hold hiring events this week and next. The tend to be able to get I-95 Visas from European Countries easier than Asian. I expect to see a whole bunch of new hospitality people show up. One of the MDR Asst waitress I am aquainted with had gotten a job as a hotel front end manager in Croatia while unemployed last year. As soon as Celebrity offered to bring her back, she jumped on it. She said she makes MUCH better money working as an ASST Waitress than as the front end manager in a hotel in her hometown. I'm guessing many others will join her in trying out the hospitality service on the ships for a few years. Just a matter of time to get them hired. AND if they join a ship already in Europe, they don't need an I-95 right away. That gives Celebrity people to do the job while in Europe. They can deal with the Visa issue over time. Also, we all know that the US State Dept will be easier on Europeans who are ALREADY ON BOARD than on Asians not yet on board.

I honestly would simply go on your cruise and enjoy yourself. We did Reflection in November 2021 in a Sky Suite, had a great cruise. Then Summit in a regular balcony (booked an oceanview) in December 2021. Again, great cruise. Then Reflection in December as well (the NYE cruise) in a regular blacony. Ship had about 1700 - 1800 guests, felt like a party finally, but we had amazing service even as we watched people disappear and eventually reappear due to possible Covid exposure. Then we were on Silhouette in February. Had a fantastic cruise. We had a Move-UP upgrade to a Sky Suite, and LOVED that particular Revolution, but if I had missed the Solstice Deck? I'd have managed (although it is my favorite place on many days). Loved the way the aft by the Lawn has been re-worked and would have spent more time there (with less wind) on sea days. Friends just disembarked from Silhouette in a Concierge Class room and had a good cruise. If they had not? I would have heard about it. He would have told me ALL about the issues had they had any. And they have been on Silhouette in both pre- and post-Revolution cruises. They closed Michael's Club and made it into the Retreat Lounge quite a few years ago. They carved the Suite Dining Room, Luminae out in what... 2014? Michaels club was about the same time? I've been on M and S class ships both pre-Suite Retreat and post, sometimes in a suite, often not. It is ALWAYS a good product.

Absolutely they do! But the Air Carrier Access Act says that it is for a WC first and foremost. By the Way, if you gate check mobility equipment, §382.125 …provide for the checking and timely return of passengers’ wheelchairs, other mobility aids, and other assistive devices as close as possible to the door of the aircraft, so that passengers may use their own equipment to the extent possible… Also In order to achieve the timely return of wheelchairs, you must ensure that passengers’ wheelchairs, other mobility aids, and other assistive devices are among the first items retrieved from the baggage compartment. While no definite time limit on this exists, the DOT has repeatedly ruled that a wait of more than 30 minutes is unacceptable. Further, the law requires that your wheelchair be returned as close as possible to the aircraft door. Gate agents will often insist that you wait for your personal wheelchair in the terminal, so as to allow them to board the next group of passengers onto the aircraft. Remember, a delay in the return of your wheelchair is always the airline’s fault, often a violation, and you are under no obligation to forfeit your right to receive a personal wheelchair in the jet bridge.

As an FYI, if you are flying, and happen to be on a 737, there is a wheelchair closet that fits a collapsed manual chair. On 737-800’s, it is at the front of the plane, and older planes at the back. If you ask at the airport gate, they are supposed to allow its use. One issue is that if you choose to ask to use it, you end up usually being last off the plane, as they wait for the aisles to clear before getting the chair out of the closet. We needed to use it a few years ago when traveling with my dad, and his manual chair broke as we were disembarking from the ship. We got him off the ship, and when we arrived at the airport, the airline didn’t want us to check the chair due to the damage. I asked that we store it in the closet on board, since we were in a 737-800. They didn’t want to but finally allowed it. There wasn’t really any other way to get the WC home. it was a stupid plastic part near one of the wheels. Annoying but repairable once we were back in Missouri. A WC bag would have saved a LOT of hassle.

I did Reflection in November and December 2021 and only good things to say about Celebrity Reflection. One of those groups was on our ship in December. The performers had been exposed and were in isolation, so no production shows. We had the Beatles tribute group instead. November was low, only 850, but December 26, 2021 had over 1700 guests. Our November cruise was only the 3rd cruise held upon opening Reflection, so had trainers on board making sure the crew were up to the task. December, the trainers had left and it was a decently full house. All of Deck 6 was off limits, either for new crew in quarantine, or people in isolation after exposure or testing positive. Same with Deck 3 rooms. They were set aside for isolation.

This is exactly the issue. Heck, if the establishments in the US can’t get people in the door to work, why are we surprised the cruise lines have a similar issue? I know how hard they work!

I believe it is a reflection thing, or at least with that particular captain. The captain was VERY visible on that ship, always around. He made a comment at the Captains Club reception I went to about the “Boys in Blue” and the amazing job they did at the pool. I think that was the NYE cruise. We were amazing with their work as well, between the way they put out towels and made pillows from towels, and met people as they left the pool to provide a towel. Out of over 20 cruises, many of them on RF, that was the only time we experienced that particular service. We wrote comment cards about a couple of the pool attendants and they thanked us for them the next day, and they remembered our names when we were back 4 weeks later. THAT said a lot to us!

I think it is a mixture. In 2019, we had booked Thanksgiving week for 2021. The four of us who went go had a great time on a newly opened ship with 850 guests. It was the 3rd sailing since opening. But, in Sept, when we realized that neither of our kids would be available for the Christmas/NYE holidays, and we were going to celebrate our 30th, we decided to spend it on a ship. So we booked Summit to se a friend in the crew, followed by Reflection again for NYE. Got good fares for the holiday period, and had a great time. The NYE cruise on RF had over 1700 guests. However, as the cruise advanced, the crew were disappearing like crazy due to exposure. We are getting ready to head for Millennium. We booked in February, while on board Silhouette. In early April, I asked my kids to join us. We booked 2 more rooms after final payment. So, I think it is a mix. Many sailings have been booked for a while, and many others are last minute. The cruise lines accepted our bookings, believing they could staff the ships. So true about Hoppen and the horrible furniture! Meanwhile, I’m not surprised about the disappearing staff. That would also explain something I saw in February. A bus with what looked like seafarers pulling into the hotel I was at, with a couple of what looked like guards accompanying them… the guards handing out room keys and giving a lot of instructions. My guess it is to avoid the crew disappearing into theUS, since they are liable for fines when it happens. Also, it sometimes happens that crew are given restricted I-95’s. Depending on where they are from, they may only be allowed to join the ship outside of the US, and then never allowed liberty on land even when they do get to get off the ships. I recall a few crew who commented about it years ago. It had to do with them being on their first contract, not owning property back home, and such. They just were not allowed to leave the ship for any reason in a US port.