cocosmum

Booked on a 15 night cruise from Auckland to Hawaii April 2025. This is part of a longer cruise from Sydney to Vancouver and our first cruise with Princess so reading all I can about the ship 🙂 A few questions for our experts please! 1. Because we board on day 5 of the cruise, are we likely to have issues booking the Sanctuary for an occasional half day? I've read you can't book until you board and am guessing all the spots may be taken by the time we arrive? Any work arounds?? 2. Is smoking allowed in the Casino? I read somewhere that is it completely smoke -free on cruises out of Australia and New Zealand. Can anyone confirm please? 3. The Retreat. Would appreciate some info please. I know it's adult only, but is it noisy, crowded, hard to find a seat etc. or is it a nice place to relax? We don't always enjoy the party atmosphere at the main pools (fun sometimes though), so hoping the Retreat would be a good alternative when we still want to enjoy the pool and sunshine. Appreciate your help, thanks!!

Thanks for your time doing this review. It seems the 800 travel agents on board has stirred up some ill feelings - see other posts on this board. Hopefully no other huge groups like that for a while. We're boarding on 7 April and have just received our luggage tags etc. so getting very close!! Excited to be trying Celebrity for the first time.

Thanks. Given we can't check in to our hotel until the afternoon (although they will store our bags), we don't mind staying on board until as late as possible - such a hardship I know!! Is there anyway of getting a late disembarkation time and hopefully with less people there should be more Ubers around.

Thanks for your thoughts and photos. We board in April so all very relevant and much appreciated. When we disembark, we're staying at hotel in FLL for a few days. The plan was to grab an Uber/Lyft from the port but it sounds like they may be hard to come by??? If we pre-ordered for a certain time how do you make sure you're actually off the ship at the right time?

@Rick&Jeannie - Just FYI - not sure if it's a country specific thing or what, but when I book a cabin thru the Princess website I have the option to tick if I want an automatic upgrade or not?? Just as an update, I rang Princess and have booked an actual cabin on this very FULL ship - yay!! They did have a couple of extra ones I couldn't see on their website so worthwhile for us anyway. I did have to downgrade from a deluxe balcony to a standard balcony but as far as I can see the only difference is we won't have the small couch - correct?? It's on deck 11 (Baja) and towards the aft so quite happy with that. We'll stick to that so no upgrades for us this time 😀 Thanks for everyone's help on this, I daresay I will be back with lots more questions as the time gets nearer!!

Thanks @Wishing on a star - good idea but no luck. When I do a dummy booking for 3 people in a deluxe suite it shows absolutely no availability for the whole ship - eek!! Because this cruise is just a leg of a longer cruise (Sydney to Vancouver) I'm now wondering if they're holding back cabins for passengers who want to book the entire cruise? I'll keep trying 😀

Thanks @janetz, that's reassuring. Not really worried about it but good to have an idea of what to expect.

My husband and I are looking at booking an Auckland - Honolulu cruise April 2025. After some research, it would appear the best decks are 9-14 which are quieter with cabins above and below. I get sea sick so even though I manage this well with medication, ideally I would still like to be on a slightly lower desk and mid ship if possible. We generally do our own booking but when I try and book a deluxe balcony cabin through the Princess website it states all the mid-deck are 'sold out' and gives me ONE option for E720 and that's it!! I generally like to know exactly what cabin we're getting especially as this cruise is 15 days. E720 seems to be over the Vista lounge so not sure about that?? What do you guys think?? Are they really nearly fully booked this far out or are they holding back cabins?? Maybe I should call them direct or use a travel agent in this instance. Would love your thoughts😀

Thanks. As @Itchy&Scratchy mentioned I am only referring to the MDR. We have made reservations at the Tuscan Grille on the first night at 8pm but wanted to take a more relaxed approach to the MDR and just go when we were ready to eat - usually between 7-8pm for us. These times do not appear available thru the app on most nights although I managed to book a 7.45pm on day 2. Will just have to be patient if there are long waits I guess. (Worse places to wait!)

Sailing in April from FLL and have booked 'anytime dining' as we enjoy the flexibility of just showing up when we're ready to eat. I'm seeing on the app that 'bookings' are open for specific dining times although they are mostly at 6pm, 6.15pm or after 8pm - nothing much in the middle. My question is - is there much of a wait if we just turn up?? I can't see the point in booking 'anytime' dining if I also need to lock in a time for each night??? We certainly don't mind a short wait or to be given a buzzer so we know when our table's ready but don't want to have very long waits each night. Thanks in advance!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to put all of this together😀

Thanks for posting. We are cruising on the Reflection in April so reading as much as I can!! Is the Tuscan Grille breakfast only for CC / Aqua passengers? We're in a sunset balcony but not CC. Thanks

LOL - hope it's still there in April 😛

Happy to pay the upcharge for Villa Maria wine - just hope it's still available. That is a great offer for the Premium drinks package but hubby is happy with the beer available in the classic range and I can still find lots of beverages I enjoy even if they don't have the wine 😃

Thanks for your help everyone 😀

Thanks everyone. So if hubby goes to the bar to order his beer and my (hopefully anyway lol) Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc (see transatlantic thread) then he will need to take my card as well as his? IF my drink exceeds the price allowance, is he able to sign for me? Re the punched holes, I seem to remember years ago Carnival stopped doing this at Guest Relations and you could only get it done in the Casino - go figure! Thanks @NutsAboutGolf for the lanyard link - will check that out 😀 Appreciate all your help. Looking forward to trying Celebrity after P&O, Carnival and Norwegian.

Hi everyone, First cruise coming up with Celebrity in April from FLL. We have the Classic drinks package and I wondered what the process is when ordering a drink?? Do we need to wear a lanyard (and is the card pre-punched with a hole?), just carry the card or have they moved to wrist bands yet?? If just using the card, do we sign for every drink or is the card simply scanned?? Also, as it's my husband and I travelling together, can he order both of our drinks together or does he need to take my card with him to the bar? Small details I know but I want to be prepared!! Thanks for your help.

We're sailing April 2024 so eagerly digesting all the information! Did they have any laundry specials during the cruise and do you remember the cost please??

OP mentions 6 nights in his post - weeks in the heading a mistake I would think 😀 (I wish though ....)

When you say you tipped in cash at the end, who did the cash actually go to? Did you tip your waiter or pay at the main reception area? So, no tipping after each drink is delivered? Thanks

Thanks everyone. @NutsAboutGolf - yes itinerary shows a 'depart' at 3.30pm from FLL so assuming that's correct? Slightly off topic - we leave Bimini on our last day at 6pm and dock at FLL at 7am next morning. It's such a SHORT distance so do they just go really slow or go via Cuba or somewhere - lol ???

Thanks everyone. We love a nice sandy beach so think we'll stick with Nachi

Thanks everyone. It's really great to hear your thoughts. I think we'll book Tuscan for the first night even though we leave FLL at 3.30pm and won't see much. It will be a nice relaxed evening and then we can explore further the next day and maybe look at the Lawn Club grill for lunch sometime.

Booked on a 6 night Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale in April - trying to plan well in advance!! We would like to try one of the specialty restaurants and have decided on Tuscan Grille. The views look great and the food reviews seem excellent. I have special offers in my booking and the one for the first night of the cruise is cheaper than the other nights. As I'm booking early, I still have the option of a few different dining times although they do seem to either be around 6.00-6.30pm or 8.00-9.00pm nothing much in between. Anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of booking the first night? If another night would be better - which night? After a sea day, port day, last day etc.? Thanks in advance everyone.

Thanks @c-leg5. Good to know about the time difference - I hadn't thought of that. (We depart Fort Lauderdale) Probably not ideal for the ships which dock at 7am as this would only be 6am in Cozumel and the beach clubs may not actually be open yet (have I got this right?). I goggled the port schedule times and they are all shown as EST so even it says we arrive at 11am maybe that is actually 12 noon in ships time?? So confusing! We will probably book at a beach club but just out of interest, how much would a private driver cost for 1/2 day roughly? @bguppies - thanks for all the info - wow! I have been checking You Tube and Nachi Cocum looks like it would be a great fit. Nice and quiet with good food reviews etc. Every video I looked at shows lots of shaded seating available, and while I'm sure this is not always the case, it has provided me with some reassurance we would still get a nice place to relax even with our later start. The other beach clubs also look great and if we ever take the rest of family we would probably consider them!!