lx200gps

Exactly right, that's the one I remember from the Enchanted last September. It makes it pretty obvious how bad the current layout is, with that hot tub and those "sofas" taking up valuable real estate that could be used for more loungers. All the more so given that the area they occupy is prime shade area, while the loungers on the outsides are often in sun.

The Sanctuary is usually booked IMMEDIATELY upon boarding, and the best loungers are snapped up very quickly. Yes, you actually reserve your specific lounger for the period you are reserving, and it's yours, no one else can use it while you have it booked. IOW it's not a free-for-all like the pool deck. When booking, you will "...wander about.." as the Sanctuary manager shows you the remaining available loungers from his/her list. On our last few trips, to warm-weather destinations, getting decent Sanctuary loungers has been almost impossible, at least for sea days, despite our being Elite status and being among the very first to board. On the Sky a month ago, the Sanctuary was completely sold out even before arriving passengers even boarded, as the B2B folks from the previous sailing were allowed to book loungers on the preceding trip.

Correct. Power strips are fine as long as they do not have any form of sUrge protection. If they do, they stand a very good chance of being confiscated if found.

Hi Nancy, and welcome to Cruise Critic. As most folks have said, it's best to fly in the day before, which is what we ALWAYS do, but if you absolutely have to fly in the day of your cruise, there's one other option to look in to. In addition to JSGLOW's excellent summary above in Post #8, you should also look into your cruise line's airline connection options. They typically offer airline flight options to get you to your cruise, usually the "day of", but they usually offer one huge benefit, and that's a guarantee that if you miss the cruise departure due to airline issues, THEY assume responsibility for getting you to the ship at the next possible port. The cruise line airline programs, are usually competitive with booking the airfare yourself, give or take a few $$$s, but also offer some other benefits like delayed payment, easy cancellation etc, making them worth investigating. Still, it's always best to fly in the day before ;o)

Loungers are also $30/day/PP if purchased for an entire week

FWIW, when we boarded the Sky at T2 a few weeks ago, they didn't use the 2nd story "lounge". Boarding was so early that we sat in the first floor waiting area and starting boarding from there. The B2Bers went on first, followed by us Elites, then Platinum etc. On the other hand, when we boarded the Sky in November, they did use the 2nd floor lounge.

Humble apologies, sorry I offended you.

I believe you'll find that it's actually the Bernoulli Effect at work, i.e. air pressure drop, more than temperature. Cold showers still cause the curtain to pull in, don't they? The air is "pushed" away by the water from the shower, causing a drop in air pressure in the tub/shower due to the increased speed of the air escaping from the shower. This causes the curtain to be drawn towards the area of lower pressure, the tub. The higher temperature, therefore lower pressure, has a bit of impact, but it's mostly due to the increased air velocity which causes the lower pressure.

We were on the Sky two weeks ago, as we were on the Sky in November and the Enchanted in September, each time in a Mini. We actually had no issues with the shower curtain, the tub was large enough that the curtain never "intruded" on our space.

The online LA taxi estimator has it around $70 + tip. Ubers start around half that amount

Very new Uber user here, you shouldn't have ANY problems getting one at LAX. You could even get on the Uber app now and do a mock booking to see how many there are driving around. We used the system for the first time a few weeks ago in Fort Lauderdale and it's amazing to see how many Ubers are available, and to watch as your car approaches you. One cautionary note about LAX, you'll need to take LAX-It into account. A few years ago the airport moved all taxis, rideshares etc to a separate pick up area near Terminal 1 called LAX-It, and that's where you would catch a taxi or an Uber, NOT at your terminal (which if you're coming in Air Canada would be Terminal 6). You'll have to get on a shuttle bus to the LAX-It lot before calling your Uber. Only the most expensive Uber variants (Uber Black) are allowed to pick up at the terminals, most have to use LAX-It. Read all about it... https://www.uber.com/global/en/airports/lax/

Residents of a "retirement home" probably expect far more involved and regular medical oversight than a tiny ship like this would be able to offer. And what about serious illness or accidents while on board? Even before your $$$ medical insurance kicked in, allowing you to be flown 10,000 miles home to Canada, you'd have to be treated locally wherever the ship is docked. Sorry, this isn't a retirement home I'd want to live in.

$US30K per year to live is a 135 sq ft cabin? All yours, enjoy the trip ;o)

You're quite welcome, have a great trip. The Regal (and her sister, the Royal) are our absolute favorite ships, you will have wonderful time.

Minisuites always have a sofa (at least everyone we've ever been in). A 414 seems to be a great location, with a slightly larger balcony, near mid-ship and away from stairs and elevators.

Excellent, thanks for the encouraging advice. I figured that selecting the early slot would be best, as it is on Princess, so I imagine X will be quite comparable. We'll probably just head to Murano when we got on board, but as it's only our second ever Celebrity trip, we have no status so no boarding priority.

Interesting thread, thanks for starting it. We're on the Equinox in May, and have the 4-Dinner package. A few questions: 1) We well know the rule of racing to the specialty restaurants immediately upon boarding, as we do that all the time on Princess. When we visit the first restaurant, say the TG, will they be able to book all our other meals for the other restaurants, or do we have to visit each one in turn? And which of all the specialty restaurants would be the best one to visit? 2) We prefer to eat very early, when the restaurant opens, to free us up for the evening. Does anyone have experience with trying to book the very first "slots", would we expect to be able to get the first sittings in every restaurant? I'm seeing folks reporting they never have problems getting their preferred slots, and I'm seeing others report big problems getting their desired times.

That why pilots have been the phonetic alphabet for hundreds of years ;o) Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc instead of A, B C etc.., it's built in to the psyche of every pilot from day one of our training. FWIW, on the Sky a few weeks ago, a number of times I overheard a waiter asking a guest for their cabin number, only to be answered with "312", or "724". The poor waiter, for the hundredth time that day, patiently asked the guest what deck they were on.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. There are so many problems with this app that there is a forum sticky on it. It is currently at Rev 3 with 191 PAGES of comments, so yes, lots of us have issues with it.

On the Enchanted Princess out of Brooklyn last September, the Disembarkation Groups sheet we received a few days before arrival showed 10 different "Princess Transfers" disembarkation times available. Six were for LGA with times between 7:30AM and 9:20AM, two were for EWR, at 7:55 and 9:05, and two were for JFK, at 8:05 and 9:15. These are disembarkation times though, and not necessarily the departure times of the shuttles to the specific airport.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. You'll need to be a LOT more specific as to your itinerary, dates, etc for anyone to be able to help you.

We did the Canada/New England trip back in September on the Enchanted. You will definitely be sailing out of Red Hook, AKA the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. You won't be sailing out of the much more convenient Manhattan Cruise Terminal. They want everyone out of their cabins by around 8AM, and off the ship by 9ish

Further to my comment above, I should point out that we never made it clear to them that we were on a schedule, such as having to meet a showtime. Had we done so, no doubt they would have expedited things.

We were on the Sky in November, and again a few weeks ago and we ate in Sabatini's, four times in those two weeks. Service in Sabatini's was VERY slow each time, to the point where one night we missed the early theater show, despite sitting down at 5:30. On one of those meals, we didn't even see the waiter until we'd been seated for half an hour. We also ate in the CG four times and service speed was pretty much pre-pandemic normal, as was service in the Bistro. Food quality in the Bistro was top notch, Sabatini's and CG was hit and miss.

We've had flights that early a number of times. We did early walkoff with our bags, were among the first off the ship to beat the lines, and were at FLL easily well before 8:30. That assumes all goes well with the ship's arrival into PE of course.