DaKahuna

Glad to see you got one of the high balcony tables. Guess they do not have enough for all the suites as we had a low one on our B2B.

Guest Services or the Concierge can provide you with a form to fill out to use to give tips to specific individuals. We use it quite often for someone we do not see on a regular basis, e.g. the sushi chef at Izumi, that goes above and beyond.

My favorite rendition is still Dolly's that she sang in "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" .. Love that movie.

@Sea Dog Thank you for taking us along on this adventure with you. I thoroughly enjoyed reading you post, especially the review of the various drinks. Makes me wish our next cruise was sooner than next February.

I have always wondered why this is called Whitney's son by most everyone when Dolly Parton wrote and sang it first in 1973 and Whitney did not perform it until 1992.

Your best bet is to let the sommelier know that you have the premium beverage package and let them make wine recommendations for you and see what he or she offers. I have been given some that were not on any list and were very good.

The Block for Explorer of the Seas (#280) that I ordered on 9/20 arrived yesterday. Still waiting on the block for Quantum (#350).

College and Pro games were show in the pub. I don't remember them being advertised but they were there. Watched Alabama beat Texas, much to the disappointment of many of my fellow cruisers. Roll Tide, Roll.

We prefer dinner in CK over Breakfast and lunch. On Oasis and Quantum class we will only book a suite so we can eat in Coastal Kitchen versus booking a balcony and the UDP.

When we boarded the Quantum, we completed the muster drill and went to our room, this was before noon. I opened the firedoor so we could get to the room and pick up our keys. Ran into our stateroom attendant who told us the rooms were not ready yet and told him we knew but wanted to drop off a few things and collect our Sea Pass Cards. We then proceeded to deck 12 and again, opened the firedoor, and proceeded all the way aft to the suite lounge where we hung out until noon when Coastal Kitchen opened and we went up for lunch. By the time we finished lunch the cabins where ready. Right or wrong I do not know but we just wanted somewhere comfortable to wait until we could get to our room and the suite lounge was the very place we found that. Of course there was no service or anything other than coffee or tea from the machine available but that's okay, the chairs were wonderful.

Trumpter Malbec is my 'go to' when I want a wine to go with a nice medium rare steak or lamb. I find it pairs so well, and as you said - it's covered by the drink package or C&A drink vouchers.

Good point. I have been very pleased with the zoon as well as the Pano features on my 13-Pro. It's a shame you will not receive yours before you next cruise. Can't wait to see pictures you take with the 14. I am going to pass on upgrading and wait until the next iteration (15??) before I upgrade.

That's great news. You guys are going to love it. Which ship did you book? Our last Celebrity cruise was 12-day Southern Caribbean on Silhouette in March/April of this year. Some of the things that you will find different is that unlike Quantum where Coastal Kitchen is open for lunch on port days, Luminae is not open for lunch on port days. What we would do depends on the ship. On Reflection there is no Resort Sun Deck so we would have our Personal Host (formerly called Butler) bring us sandwiches and eat on our balcony. When we were on Silhouette which had a Resort Sundeck we would have lunch up there or in our room, depending on weather. There is always the Ocean View Cafe (Celebrity equivalent to Windjammer) as well. Drop me an email if you want additional details, recommendations, etc... Just my username @ gmail.com

I have adopted my iPhone Pro Max 13 as my go to camera. I no longer bring my DSLR and or my point and shoot. The camera's on the phones these days are amazing.

I understand. We have been fortunate that we have not sailed on a ship that we would not want to back to again thus far.

Jim, How long ago was this? As you know we did a B2B on Reflection this past December and had a very wonderful cruise. We never waited more than 2 or 3 minutes to be escorted to our table in Luminae and we simply just walked up to the Maitre'd's station each night around the same time.

Google is your friend. -- https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/qualifications-special-pricing To qualify for a police/fire department rate, an individual must qualify under the following: At least one guest in the stateroom must be an active or retired employee or volunteer of a local or state law enforcement agency, fire department or Emergency Medical Services unit in the United States or Canada So, I would say yes, retried LEO is included.

Ours were posted to our accounts about 8 days after the end of the cruise.

One of the things we like best about the Solstice class vs the Edge Class Michael's Club/Retreat Lounge is the ability to sit at the bar and have a discussion with the bartender. We did a B2B on Reflection last December and loved the conversations we had with Cranston. He was simply a fountain of knowledge. We then sailed on the Silhouette and found the Retreat Lounge differences to be minor but distinct. We missed the large wall of refrigerators on Reflection most of all. Having to bend over and get a can of soda or bottle of water from the low refrigerators was not to my liking. We did like the fact that there were snacks available in the Lounge, although we did not often take advantage of them. I thought it interesting that the Retreat Concierge on Silhouette had a podium rather than a desk. It was nice to be able ot sit down when working with the Concierge on something that took a few minutes rather than having to stand the entire time at the podium. When we sailed on Edge the Concierge there also had a podium vs desk so I guess that is the direction that Celebrity is going. Bottom line, I cannot say one is better than the other but I can say the Michael's Club felt warmer and more comfortable to us. Our next sailing is on Millelinum and will be our first time on that class and looking forward to how that experience will compare with our Solstice and Edge class experiences.

Yes, Celebrity is a step up from Royal Caribbean, except for variety of entertainment. Both true -- Celebrity does offer a booking rate that does not include the drink package, wifi, and prepaid gratuties so it is possible to do a comparable price comparison. I think that having the perks package included in the cruise price just makes it a whole lot simpler. I am not sure i agree that RCL has better perks. The Unlimited free drinks for Elite (which you get for being Diamond or above on Royal) at most all bars. Granted the drinks are limited to certain beers, wine, and bar stock liquor it's still a good thing. Free. bag of laundry, free access to Persian Gardens on one port day, etc.. are pretty good perks. But I do agree - no one basic line has them all. However, if you really want to be spoiled, sail in a Suite on Celebrity.

I loved that promotion. We recently received 56 points for a 7-day B2B in a Grand Suite on Quantum of the Seas. (7x2x2x2 = 56)

I agree 100% -- $tar%ucks has always tasted to me like cheap beans over roasted. The only way I have been able to drink it is in a frappuccino. At one time I did find a nitro cold brew that I liked. As I once said, the only reason I would ever go into $tar$ucks is that it is one of the very few places you can walk into and order a "tall hot blond" without getting into trouble with the law.

These are had questions to answer because the areas are so subjective. We've never sailed the Fjords but have sailed quite a bit on both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. In our experience/opinion both the food and service on Celebrity is better than on Royal. Celebrity usually has a higher staff to guest ratio than Royal. As far as rooms go, take the example of a veranda on deck 8 on Celebrity Equinox, This room is 194 sq feet. On Anthem, balcony stateroom range from 177 square feet to 198 square feet. For a given cruise there will be less children and more older adults on Celebrity than Royal Caribbean. Entertainment on Royal is much more varied as there are larger venues but like food and service, this will be subjective. We have seen excellent shows on both lines but we have also had some that we would not recommend on both as well.

Peter Ritz on Quantum was outstanding. It was interesting to see how he energized the crowd and how to crowd in the Schooner bar seemed to increase each night as the cruise progressed. The last night of the first leg of our B2B was standing room only. The first night on the second leg it was easy to find a seat. By the fourth night of the second leg it was back to standing room only.

Thanks. I have always wondered that both when no sailing in a suite and when sailing in a suite. I think Celebrity, unlike Royal Caribbean, at least on the Solstice class ships, makes it sort of covert since they simply walk you out the back door to Michael's Club/Retreat Lounge, onto the deck instead of through the ship and past the line of those waiting to disembark.