Miaminice

I go by the number of people here on CC and on FB almost boasting about removing grats. Some from European countries or UK where the gratuity system is different. Which IMHO is no excuse. Anyway - I had the feeling the number is higher. But in this case I´d love to be wrong.

I am a bit surprised that many many posters don´t get that the change is just for bookings made after October 4th - not sailings after that date! If already booked, you are safe. I am also surprised that noone (or I didn´t see it) mentioned that the OBC for Suite bookings is gone as well 🤔

I fear you are to optimistic about the mindset of most fellow cruisers. 😞 And again, the crew will pay the price.

No, you only gain the amenities of the higher class - like Persian Garden and Blu in Aqua. Access to Retreat and Luminae for Suite. All the perks like beverage package, Wifi, OBC, points per night etc. remain as originally booked. If you had no package, you will not get a package.

Mmmhhh, we had always heard that HAL would be equal to Celebrity. So we tried HAL on a Japan cruise for the better itinerary and the better price. We loved the cruise but were disappointed in HAL. Food in MDR was so so and repetitive after just a few days. Buffet was good though. We didn’t like the ship design at all and missed the open spaces inside and outside which we are used to on Celebrity. Although we are not party or bar people we were really surprised that we were asked to leave the bar at 9pm because they wanted to close. Bottom line: HAL wasn’t for us and didn’t live up to Celebrity at all.

No matter what you choose it will always be anytime dining on Edge class.

Regardless of what glitch happened on the ship the perk is still there and - unlike the happy hour - not excluded on embarkation day.

Thank you!

This is the way it used to be. I think it’s one of the reasons why they stopped doing the early – late seatings on E class. of course you were able to change. However, it wasn’t as easy as select dining.

The name change to "Prime" is just a sales pitch. Before it was just A1 and A2 - same thing without lipstick on the pig 🙂 Aqua is great - no matter if A1 or A2. On the contrary - on S class we decline the free upgrade because we prefer A2 locations over A1.

That´s not true! Aqua class gives you the right and option to dine in Blu. However, you are not limited to Blu. You can dine at the MDR any time you want. We almost exclusively book AQ - because of BLU. But every once in a while we dine at the MDR and made reservations. They were not cancelled. We walked up, mentioned the reservation... and went in.

The topic says Infinity

On S-class the A2 are better than the A1 staterooms, IMHO. We book A2s forward and choose a stateroom under the spa, Persian Garden, Salon etc. Very quiet!

When we sailed on Apex last time in October 2022 this was printed in the daily program. But there were no seatings. People who wanted to change early to late or late to early on the first day where told not to worry as there are no more seatings. it seems the times in the program are just as inaccurate as their IT system.

You also have that option when you book Aqua - and Blu doesn’t have seatings. it just shows the inaccuracies in their IT system. Celebrity stopped seatings on E-class because people were assigned a specific dining room when booking early or late. And of course that created a lot of work because guests wanted to change and also enjoy the variety. Anyway… if you prefer 6pm then choose 6 pm and/or just go at 6 pm if it’s anytime dining. No problem.

You are correct: Same rotating menu in all four dining rooms PLUS the regular daily classics PLUS singature items based on the theme of the restaurant. Menus can be found on the website or the app. Usually you can have dishes of one restaurant in the other. However, during peak times I heard them kindly refusing to do it. The are still dealing with a lack of staff. Early/late dining doesn´t exist on E-class anymore. They gave up on it after a while. It´s still in the IT system but not practised on the ships. You go any time you want. On all the E-class ships. BTW: the four dining rooms IMHO are a huge improvement over the big MDR on other ships and one of the great features of E-class. Love Apex - sailed on her 4 times - so enjoy!

I think first thing you need to know is that Eden and Eden Restaurant are different things. Same area but different decks. Eden Restaurant is fabulous. But it’s fine dining and you want to take your time - easily over 2 hours. Don’t choose a time which makes you rush to a show. It would e a wasted experience and waste of money.

To answer the easy part of your question first: You can let them know it´s your anniversary. I think even in the check-in forms. They will surprise you - most of the times with a cake after dinner. The card was a different story. I am trying to keep it short 🙂 I spoke to one of the lovely concierge ladies because of a totally unrelated matter. She looked up my room number, saw my name and saw that the booking was made in Germany which surprised her. I explained that the simple reason was that I am German and we live in Germany. She seemed even more surprised and said; "But you have no accent! I thought you were American." I smiled, we chatted a bit and I told her that we - my wife and I - had the same thoughts when we met many years ago. We met as seat neighbours in a plane from JFK in 2009 and started a conversation in English. We both have a 'history' with English, me American, my wife with British English. That time we chatted in English for three hours before we realized we could actually both speak German. While I chatted with concierge Katarina, concierge Crisha arrived and Katarina told Crisha with a big smile how my wife and I met. Since both loved our "fairy tail" story, I told them how the story continued... because my now wife and I said good bye after the flight without exchanging names and numbers. I still managed to find her again and now we are married for 12 years. Concierge Katarina and Crisha apparently both liked our love story and my wife and I later found the card in our stateroom. So the reference wasn´t to an anniversary but just to our time of being married. I know it is a long story - but believe me, this is the nutshell version 🙂

We usually use www.athens-mytransfer.de and have them pick us up around 8am. Last time in June from Infinity.

You´d think that some things don´t require signs but common sense 🙅‍♂️ Unfortunately there seems to be a lack of both...

Unfortunately not. I always used to take them home after previous cruises - just to throw them away at home. So this time I left them on board.

If you didn’t receive a positive info or found a charge on your credit card, don’t waste time on further inquiries. You didn’t get the upgrade 🤷🏻‍♂️

Well, I used to… when I was young 🤣 We live in the Black Forest near the Black Forest High Road which is a popular turf for motorcyclists. Many years ago I had a (real) motorbike as well and we often did tours to the nearby Alsace region and even to Tuscany once. Times changed, interests and hobbies changed and the motorbike just sat there without being moved for a year or two. So eventually I sold it. Even if we didn’t rent a standard motorcycle in Greece now, I have the license. So we were able to rent scooters with a larger engines - which was good in hilly terrain. And for Birgit sitting behind me, the larger scooters are also probably more comfortable than a standard motorbike. So in a nutshell - currently it’s just a holiday thing. And even then, this has been a first for quite some time. BTW in one of the shops Birgit overheard another lady mentioning that she was there by sailing boat. So I guess a charter.

You are welcome! Yes, Japan can feel “foreign” and unfamiliar at first, but it’s also very rewarding. We really fell in love with the Japan and its people after our first visit and we are really looking forward to our next trip.

Thank you! Consider the Paros Agnanti for your trip. We really enjoyed our stay there! I can offer you a teaser for Japan. Here are the travelogues of our two previous cruises: Japan on Millennium https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html Japan on HAL Westerdam https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/HAL-Westerdam-Japan-01/hal-westerdam-japan-01.html