Wookie01

No Terry, she is making her way to Australia for the summer 😉

You’re getting on as we get off 🙂 We are in a Sky Suite and I will share my thoughts on service etc during or after the cruise.

Edge is now in Marseille dry dock. Watched her arrive yesterday on the Vessel Finder website. Looking forward to boarding in Sydney in around 9 weeks time 😀

thanks 🙂

Do you (or anybody else) happen to know what the diamond on the Dec 21 cruise means? We are on that sailing and I am just curious, thanks 🙂

We have our first Sky Suite cruise coming up in December and we recently received an email from Celebrity inviting us to 'personalise your upcoming Celebrity Edge cruise'. One of the items specifically included in their email was complimentary in-suite espresso & cappucino, so it will be very disappointing if this is not the case and I WILL be pointing this out to the head butler (or whatever they are called) if this service is not available.

We have our first Sky Suite coming up in December and we were contacted by The Retreat by email stating "Your action is needed to help us personalise your upcoming Celebrity Edge cruise".

Can anybody advise where tenders load/unload when ships are anchored in Athol Bay, Sydney Harbour please? Apparently our first stop in Newcastle has been cancelled and instead we will leave the OPT and anchor at Athol Bay for a day, so curious where the tenders will operate to and from. Thanks 🙂

Good to know, thanks for that 👍🙂

Thanks appreciate the assist, unfortunately that info doesn't show on our reservation, just says refer to your TA. Seems that I will need to request a Celebrity confirmation from the TA. 🙂

Yes we have a payment statement from our TA thanks. I am just a little paranoid and want to see proof that Celebrity have received it also. I would hate for something to go wrong and miss the cruise because of a 'miscommunication' or some such 😉

The payment went to the TA's payments system via a direct debit, that avoided $250 in charges for using a credit card 🙂

Hi all, Just made final payment through our TA (in Australia) for our upcoming December cruise. Does anyone know how/if I can see that final payment has been received by Celebrity and that we are all settled please? thanks, Graham

facepalm

Having been a delighted resident of Docklands for over 14 years I have to respectfully take exception to your characterisation. Waterfront living at its best with lovely views, excellent transport and immediately adjacent to the city centre. There are plenty of restaurants, both small and large, that are a delight to dine in. Docklands is a fine blend of city and inner suburb. The free tram service around the city and Docklands makes visiting Melbourne easy, and why be cooped up in the concrete jungle of the CBD when you can enjoy the parks, waterfront and relative openness of Docklands? Just my 2 cents worth 😉

Better still clearly tell them that you don’t want these items, and if they won’t remove just take a picture of it stacked in the hallway outside your cabin. What happens to it after that is not your responsibility as they have been clearly told.

This seems to be a really interesting comment. Does this imply that the next set of changes will be to remove Retreat amenities from Sky Suites?

From my point of view all of this pro and anti 'the rumoured change' is irrelevant. If you booked and paid for a promised level of service and inclusions then that should be honoured. If Celebrity choose to remove butler service (or anything else currently offered) from a suite category then they should clearly announce a date at which the change will commence. Any cruise bookings after that date know what to expect and can book accordingly. My wife and I are about to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary on the Edge this Christmas on a New Zealand cruise. This will be our first, and most likely only, suite experience as her health is such that this will most likely be our last cruise and/or extended trip. We have had this 'once in a lifetime' celebration booked since November 2022 and it is very much a special event for us. Ridiculously expensive at almost $20K AUD, but worth it as a final indulgence to celebrate a life well lived. If Celebrity are now going to screw around with the entitlements and inclusions AFTER we have booked it then I am just disgusted. 😞

We haven't stayed there yet, but will be this December for the night before our cruise on the 21st.

This is the answer that I received from Celebrity regarding this. "With a normal sailing, dining is typically loaded about 10 – 15 months in advance. However, with Holiday Sailings like your upcoming Celebrity Edge cruise on Dec. 21, 2023 – sailings that encompass Christmas and/or New Years - the dining is generally loaded much closer to the sailing date. Historically speaking, for the past 2 years our Holiday Sailings are loaded around September/October, so about 3 months before sailing."

Sadly in the U.S. the minimum wage for staff in the hospitality etc space is a pittance, virtually slave labour. Their employment system forces customers to be 'secondary employers', subsidising a large part of the workers' wages. All this so that the rich can get richer at the expense of the workers unfortunately. 😞

You should be fine with credit cards etc in those locations. Darwin and Cairns will be hot and humid, Uluru will be warm to hot and extremely dry. If astronomy interests you then I believe there is a great tourist nightsky facility at Yulara. I was lucky enough to spend 6 weeks working as an amateur astronomer at Yulara during the Halley's Comet visit in 1985/86. Enjoy the cruise and your land content 🙂

To some extent this also depends on where your land tour is going. If it is going to very remote locations then some cash may be wise for 'just in case' situations, but as others have said you can put virtually everything on card for the vast majority of situations. 🙂

This is the response that I received to a dining question for our Christmas cruise out of Sydney this coming December. "With a normal sailing, dining is typically loaded about 10 – 15 months in advance. However, with Holiday Sailings like your upcoming Celebrity Edge cruise on Dec. 21, 2023 – sailings that encompass Christmas and/or New Years - the dining is generally loaded much closer to the sailing date. Historically speaking, for the past 2 years our Holiday Sailings are loaded around September/October, so about 3 months before sailing." Hope that helps 🙂

The same price? Rydges Superior King Harbour View room is $422 while the Four Seasons Deluxe Full Harbour room is more than double at $893?