sofmall

To my mind it's more a matter of an area that's supposed to be a quiet and relaxing area for adults, now being used by kids. I adore kids, I was a teacher and have much loved grandkids, but I'd still rather see an area that was adults only, remain adults only. Sometimes we value that peaceful time.

Having tried a Carnival cruise a few months back, and experienced feral drunken behaviour on the part of adults, and kids (not all, but a certain element) running crazy all over the place, no supervision from parents and giving cheek, it bothers me. BUT Celebrity is surely a different style of cruising so hopefully that sort of behaviour won't happen. I quite enjoy the Solarium between 5 and 6pm, and would hate it if during that time it's become a playground for kids whose parents are off having pre dinner drinks and chats. I wonder how it would work in the Millenium class ships, as there's a thalassotherapy pool in the solarium, and I seem to remember that children under a certain age, or unaccompanied children, were not allowed to use the pool.

That's a start, I'll start searching for pics or videos of that cabin. Thank you!

I prefer the one you booked too. Would you remember what number that cabin was please? The ones with the top of the lifeboat look unappealing... all that bright block of orange colour and some seem to have writing on them too. Thanks for your info!

Wow, the window on the Panoramic is wonderful, and I never even knew about that category. For our Edge cruise I've booked the Deluxe Porthole View with Verandah because the Infinity V. doesn't appeal after reading reviews. Next time I'll be looking at the Panoramic cabins. On Celebrity Infinity I'd booked one of the oceanview cabins with the huge windows and we absolutely loved it. We had a beautiful view the moment we entered the cabin, no matter where we were. No balcony rail or doors or balcony furniture to interrupt the view and we loved it more than a balcony, which we usually book. But I read of obstructions witht the Panoramic cabins! Are they all obstructed or is there a secret few that are more desirable.

🙂 A new travel partner sounds a bit extreme. 🙂 I'm a night person married to an early morning person - I also have fibromyalgia so sometimes NEED more rest - and although we haven't travelled yet in an infinity cabin (we booked the porthole verandah) I can see the point of those who say it's harder when one sleeps in and the other chooses to relax on the balcony if up early. It is rather different from a hotel, as if it has a balcony it's a traditional balcony so one can be out there whilst the other naps. We do tend to get up at the same time when cruising as we don't want to miss out on anything! Can't wait to be back on a ship, and the fact it will be the Edge is an extra thrill!

Thank you! I expected a clickable link to lock it in, but I guess it's the registering that automatically did it?

I registered and watched the webinar, which I found quite interesting. I thought there'd be something to click at the end to lock in our points but there wasn't; it just said the webinar has ended. So how do I claim my points?

OH YES! Back to back on Celebrity a couple of months ago and those cakes and pastries were heaven! At home I only indulge on special occasions, but on cruises I indulge lunch and dinner time if the dessets and cakes are good... and I certainly did! Came home to find I weighed close to 2kg lighter! So now I know the secret to weight loss I'll keep doing it! 🙂

Yes, I've seen that sometimes too, but it doesn't allow you to choose your own cabin, at least that's the impression I have. Choosing our own is important, did a guarantee once for the heck of it and ended up very very forward.... couldn't use our balcony at all as the noise was immense, constantly. Not the lovely swishing and slapping of waves, but loud metallic banging constantly! It was on RC Ovation and looking back we should have enquired about it as perhaps we could have been moved. So we decided to give Celebrity another go and recently did two in the Mediterranean. Loved it! Have 2 more Celebrity cruises booked, but miss NCL and would book again in a heartbeat if the promotional package wasn't compulsory.

No. 2 wouldn't be the worst idea, but we do love the beach and warm weather. No. 1 ... good suggestion but we leave on our month-long trip in 8 days so I think we'll let it slide.

No, that's not it. We use our card a great deal, and up until my husband sold his business last year he put a huge amount through on it business-wise too. We also ALWAYS pay it off totally each month. I think it's just a thing with Australian financial institutions, they don't want to give cards to retirees, no matter what. They don't say so, they make you jump through hoops in the application and then don't even give a reason for refusing. As I said earlier, we have a few friends who it turns out experienced the same thing.

After posting here I went back and sifted through the policies and Celebrity website, and got conflicting information. Does Celebrity even know what they're doing!: On one hand there's this: "You will be required to isolate onboard if you contract, or we suspect that you have contracted, COVID-19. You must have travel insurance which covers your medical care, quarantine and repatriation in the event that you contract COVID-19. We will provide a future cruise credit if you have symptoms of COVID-19 before you sail. We may refund all or part of your cruise fare if you test positive for COVID-19 during the sailing. Governments and public authorities continue to develop their policies and change their rules. Our own processes and procedures change in line with those policies. This means we may need to make changes to your sailing and/or what we require of you before and during your sailing with us." And also this (we sail in European Union, on 15 May and 24 May): COVID-19 Assistance* Book any Celebrity cruise that’s sailing between April 4, 2023 and May 31, 2023, and you’ll have the following reassurance at no extra charge: 100% refund for you, and your Traveling Party, if any of you test positive for COVID-19 within 5 days prior to the cruise or at the boarding terminal.** Pro-rated cruise fare refund for anyone who has their cruise cut short due to testing positive for COVID-19 or being suspected of having COVID-19 during the cruise. If the Celebrity cruise you book will sail from the European Union or the United Kingdom between you’ll also have the following reassurance at no extra charge: If you test positive for COVID-19 during the cruise, Celebrity will: cover the cost of COVID-19-related medical treatment onboard; you and your Traveling Party may stay onboard the ship for free to complete any required quarantine; and if you purchased Flights by Celebrity, Celebrity will help coordinate homebound travel arrangements for you and your Traveling Party, but without covering the cost.

Good suggestion. Just get credit cards that cover Covid! (who would have ever imagined..!!) We do have credit cards, my husband recently retired from running a business so all that is well in place. Just apparently not the best card for covid cover. We do have income, from a few sources which were all provided to the financial institution, just not income from paid employment. So retired is the dirty word, I'd say. 🙂

Get a better credit card 🙂 🙂 Tried that, though not the Amex... will look into that. Here we are, in our early 70's, self funded retirees, own a beachside home plus investment properties and Super, no debt, and we're not billionaires but we're certainly not broke!! So we applied months ago for a card that does cover covid in its Travel policies. We had to jump through hoops giving them more and more info. Finally.... they rejected us, no reason, said it could be our credit rating (gave us a code to open credit rating docs) or "something else". Well we found we had 100% credit rating. By speaking to a few friends they'd experienced the same thing. Rejection, looks like the something else is either age or being retired. Yet a young almost-kid who runs up debts on credit cards can get one at a drop of a hat!

Maybe it's different in the US, but here in Australia the travel insurance companies aren't treating Covid like other illnesses! We had our Commbank travel insurance all set up months ago for our upcoming Mediterranean B2B cruises. Then it became obvious, with the email Celebrity sent out including that we MUST have travel insurance covering Covid. We found our travel insurance covers Covid on the land portion but not on the cruise. So I'm trying to find a Medical Only policy that covers Covid AND on cruises (many don't for "multi night" cruises.... can't imagine a single night cruise!!!). I just got a quote for $870 for a medical basic policy that includes covid. Prior to checking it was a cruise, I had a $470 quote. Check CRUISE and wow, $870! I'm so over the way Covid continues to dominate thinking. On one hand bureaucracy says to move on, it's a part of life from now on, but on the other hand Covid constantly comes up as a scary dramatic event, as if we're still in 2020. When will Covid be considered another virus. We never had to take out med. insurance against sundry viruses, flu, colds... yet we still have to pay huge amounts to insure against an illness that is now part of life, and in many cases (our's included) milder than the common cold. Sorry... end of rant!

I started this thread not really because I wondered why not us, but because I was puzzled why it happens when I'm reading in the facebook group many saying they got a free cruise and don't go to the casino / don't spend much / don't buy art from the art auctions etc. They make it seem like the cruise fairy just drops by for them every so often. They make the newbie cruisers anxious because they had to pay for their cruise. 🙂 I'm forever doubtful, I've said there that cruiselines aren't being benevolent and that they have an agenda to tempt people to keep cruising with them. They're not trying to "reward" people for their loyalty. But still many seem to think that free cruises are likely, and get upset that the cruise company is rewarding some for their loyalty but overlooking them. I'm not bothered for a few reasons... we prefer longer cruises, often international; we're fussy about itinerary; I don't want cabin upgrades because before I book I study deckplans and if I choose a specific cabin I don't want to lose it to a so-called-but-often-not "upgrade". Unless we're offered a free suite!!! 🙂 Plus my daughter is a travel agent so we get a fare that's always very competitive.

Yes, you're spot on! I came to the same conclusion a good while back. We're not drinkers, we prefer to book independent rather than ship's shore excursions for the cheaper price but also for the smaller groups with personalised service, specialty dining isn't our "thing", we find that the on board shops rarely have something we want and need to buy, unless there's some Sheridan in the alcohol stock. We don't gamble. Before I met my husband he went through a period of playing Blackjack (not on cruises) and was actually quite good at it, but he realised there's better things he can do with his money and hasn't bothered with it for many years. So we're useless from the point of view of the cruise industry!

I've wondered too if sometimes the wife or partner, when they say they never/hardly gamble, is unaware that their partner might be having quite a busy time when they're not around. 🙂

That was a very interesting post. So I checked in my account and I do have those boxes ticked, so nothing to do there. No remarkable offers there either. I'm obviously not considered a desirable passenger for their purposes. Neither my husband nor I gamble and aren't about to start as I feel then we pay for our cruise in our losses. 🙂 We're not drinkers either! So we really spend little money on a cruiseship. Never mind, we'll just go on booking. We haven't been on a Carnival cruise in years - we sail with about 5 different cruiselines depending on itinerary - so are looking forward to seeing again what Carnival's about.

We're soon to go on a Carnival Splendor cruise out of Australia. We're Platinum level. I'm in a facebook group for that cruise and frequently someone starts a bragging thread about the free cruises they're offered. Either free or available for a pittance. They say they're emailed to them, or pop up in their online account deals. Many have booked a few cruises for maybe $200 a cruise, so they say. I'm curious... is there a reason some people are targetted with cheapie cruises? It's obviously not loyalty level. They don't pop up in my online account when I log in. The cruises I see there are really no cheaper than regular sale prices that appear in a google search. Newbie cruisers in the group are getting either exasperated they weren't give a free cruise too, or excited because they think free cruise offers will flow to them once they've done their first cruise. Others claim the offers are made to cruisers who spend a lot of time in the casino. Some gamblers agree, others with wonderful offers say they barely spend anything in the casino. There's a lot of bragging. A lot of disappointment from many... "why not us?" Can anyone throw some light on this free/heavily discounted cruise offer situation?

NCL used to be our favourite cruiseline and we are Sapphire loyalty level. However, now that the Free at Sea offer isn't an option, we'll no longer be booking. Celebrity is our choice now. We used to be able to book our NCL cruises minus the Free at Sea promotion. Naturally it's not really free, it's a gimmick. The alcohol package especially... naturally extra cost is built into the fare to cover everyone having free alcohol. But... we're not drinkers! Nor do we want the internet package anymore - now that my husband has retired and won't need to keep tabs on his business we want to enjoy freedom from that technology. The shore excursion credit is worthless as the ship's tours are mega expensive and we always book independent tours. The free specialty dining... don't need, we get enough of that with our loyalty level. So for us, there's no point. We'd be paying for perks that many might love, but they're no use to us.

Speaking only about how that worked in Australia, Sailaway meant you didn't choose your own cabin, but with the Just Cruise option you were able to choose. Just didn't get the perks you get with Free at Sea.

I see it as Sailaway, Just the Cruise, or Free at Sea all listed. Could be wrong as it's hard to read the details, but that's how it came over for me.

From what I've seen, from viewing US sites vs Australian, our fares are no where near the US fares. 😕 We seem to pay more for our cruises here. Currency exchange rate no doubt! And wow, the price on balcony cabins is very high. It often tends to be between $2,000 and $3,000 pp more than an oceanview. It is only since cruising has come back (and an NCL ship hasn't yet arrived back in Australia) that the option to book the cruise without the free at sea perks has been taken away. It was always there in the past, meaning here in our country, and apparently in Europe too.