someguyfl
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3 minutes ago, montythecat said:
You are so lucky to have Milos travelling with you.
He is a wonderful man and I am glad to hear
that he is as entertaining as ever. We discovered
him on a couple of Alaska cruises. If you get
the chance to have a chat with him on a one
to one basis. You will, I am sure, be enchanted.
I hope you have a wonderful cruise. It is our
favourite itinerary.
Yes, I did have a 1:1 chat with him, which was interesting.
He goes out of his way to make himself accessible by hanging out in the Sky Lounge almost constantly for anyone who wants to talk with him. Amazing amount of energy to do that all day.
It's also interesting how he is such an entertainer on stage, but is much more quiet/nerdy on a 1:1 basis.I'd assume he has done a lot of practice to become such a great entertainer. I've personally taken a lot of Improv comedy classes to learn how to have a better stage presence even though my natural mode is a lot more quiet/nerdy.
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On 12/24/2023 at 4:29 PM, mom says said:
If long lines at embarkation are a reason why you would cancel an entire cruise, have you considered arriving at the port terminal later in the day, after the initial scrum?
I have heard this advice before, and believe it may make sense for other terminals, but I suspect this is valid for Valparaiso and other 'exotic' cruise embarkation locations.
The reason why is because:
1) People who come earlier are much more likely to have done the early check-in (and therefore have a higher chance of being prepared for boarding at the terminal with their passport already scanned, already taken the medical questionnaire, bag tags attached etc .... Later in the day, the staff will be dealing with a higher % of people who need their hands held. There is very limited staff in a small location like this.
2) There is a concept in computer science referred to as "Head Of Line Blocking", which basically means that things can progress very quickly when most requests/users are easy to process, but if you have say 10 threads (staff processing customers), and 5 of them are dealing with people who need their hand held, the line will slow down even with plenty of 'easy' to process customers ... as time goes on, the likelihood of each thread (staff) being stuck with a difficult customer increases until eventually all 10 threads are stuck, and now the whole line stops moving, even if half the line has 'easy' passengers...
3) People are much more likely to try and do an 'excursion' before embarkation in a location like this ... go out and visit Santiago or Wine Country or a walking tour of Valparaiso or something like that ... and show up towards the end ... Probably almost nobody does this in Fort Lauderdale or Port Canaveral.- 1
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2 hours ago, zitsky said:
Who told you that Valparaiso was “seldom visited”? I don’t go often but I’ve been there twice in the last 5 years. Lots of South Americans might disagree that no one goes on cruises to Valparaiso.It's a fact that Valparaiso is a tiny cruise port compared to places like Miami, Seattle, Southampton, Civitavecchia, etc... The Celebrity Eclipse is *BY FAR* the largest ship to visit Valparaiso in 2023, and it only visited ONE TIME.
On any given weekend, they might have a couple of visits from smaller cruise ships like Viking, and maybe at the most one cruise ship with 2000ish passengers.
This particular route (Valparaiso to Buenos Aires or Buenos Aires to Valparaiso) is only done by Celebrity 2x total per year as part of repositioning.
It's Absolutely a rare cruise, and it's amazing that some people can't appreciate that they are getting access to something that is so rare and that not everything will be as smooth as you expect in highly developed markets.- 3
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A few updates ...
I've been eating dinner at Blu every night. I'm not really a big fan of Filet Mignon, nor do I eat Prime Rib too often... but I know these are frequently talked about on this forum, so I figured I'd give it a try.
Appetizers:
Blue Cheese Souffle (Blu menu) - GreatOrganic Roasted Red Beets (Blu menu) - tiny cubes of beets, mostly arugula ... I normally love this dish at restaurants on land, didn't care for Celebrity's presentation
Caprese Salad (Blu menu) - good
Tuna Tartare (Blu) - Okay, but I've had better on land
Salmon Tartare (MDR) - Good
Escargot (MDR) - Good
Cucumber Gazpacho (Blu) - Excellent
Kale crusted Mussels (Blu) - Good
Crisp-Fried Mozzarella Sticks (MDR Lunch) - Okay
Carrot Cumin Gazpacho (MDR) - I did not like this, DW did like it.
Entres:
Pan Seared Filet Mignon (Blu) - excellent (though I don't eat Filet often, so steak snobs may have a different opinion)Dijon Salmon (Blu) - excellent
Aged Prime Rib of Beef (MDR) - okay
Teriyaki Duck Breast (MDR Lunch) - excellent
Ocean View Caffe:
Salad good
Indian good
Protein choices good
Drink service slow
Overall about the same as every Celebrity cruise I remember being on in the last decade
Deserts:
Generally good in Blu (which afaik are the same as MDR)
Cafe Al Baccio cakes were hit or miss
Ocean View Cafe pastries/cakes hit or miss
Christmas special mango cake and pistachio cake were very good
Drinks:
Cocktails/Martinis as good as ever on Celebrity
Spa Cafe vegetable juices as good as ever on Celebrity
Cutbacks on the wine menu was noticeable. In the past I had an Ice Wine as a desert wine by the glass under the premium beverage package which is no longer available
The Taylor Tawny 10 year was acceptable but nothing amazing
Rosa Regale, I didn't enjoy it, but DW did
Coffee service at Cafe Al Bacio has had a line most of the time we used it, but we never waited more than 5 minutes or so. There was an officer helping out serving the cookies/pastries today to move the line faster since the staff was overworked. The coffee quality has been great, and DW has been having them make weird custom concoctions which they have been happy to oblige even with being busy.
Entertainment:
We missed the magic show 😕 hopefully it will be on the next cruise as well.
The naturalist speaker Milos Radakovich is very entertaining. I read a lot, so honestly most of what he says is not new information for me personally, but he speaks in a very entertaining way, and I'm sure for people who don't read as much, he is very informative. I enjoyed hearing him speak even though I didn't personally learn much.
We did watch "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" in the Celebrity Central room. Decent sound quality and projector (though a bit small). Seats are not super comfortable for a 2 hour long movie.The Staff:
It's clear they are short staffed, overworked, and have had a lot of turnover. Everyone is of course trying to deliver a great experience, but I'm sure it's not easy on them. I've also seen customers acting rude more than once, and I always feel bad when I see this ... I wish customers treated the staff better.
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36 minutes ago, mahdnc said:
Have a nice cruise! My family of 4's first Christmas/NYE cruise was on your itinerary but back in 2016. We boarded Infinity at Valparaiso on Christmas Eve and we spent New Years Day at Cape Horn. 15 nights later we would disembark at Buenos Aires. It was an awesome cruise, you will love it!
Be sure to note the times (from Celebrity Today) for when Eclipse will pass by the three visible glaciers as you sail down the Beagle Channel (I believe towards Ushuaia for you). For us it was very early in the morning (like 5 am) and that was the only time we saw any that close during the whole cruise.
Infinity docked at Ushuaia, Dec 31 2016.
Thanks for the advice! I’ve seen the Fjords in Alaska before, and remember the drill or being forced to wake up super early or miss the cool sights, but didn’t know when to expect those events on this cruise.
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Flight:
My trip started off in Florida, along with my DW. I flew on AA from MIA-SCL. Unfortunately all business class seats on this route were sold out months in advance. I tried using an American Airlines System-Wide-Upgrade certificate (Based on my frequent flyer status), but as the flight was sold out consistently and nobody missed their flight, I had to fly in my Main Cabin Extra seat as purchased.
I hate redeye flights, and I rarely fly in economy on long haul flights. This wasn't a fun flight, but thanks to a sleeping pill, I got 4 hours of sleep (better than zero!).
If I had a do-over, I would have flown MIA-EZE (Buenos Aires) and taken a short flight EZE-SCL, since there was tons of business class availability to EZE.
Santiago:
We arrived at the Hyatt Centric Santiago took the day easy in Santiago, recovering from the long flight. We walked around up to the entrance to the park to see San Cristobal Hill, but decided not to actually go up and instead to go back to the hotel and take a nap as we were both exhausted. After the nap, we ate at the french restaurant at the Hyatt Centric. Absolutely fantastic, and highly recommended to anyone who loves french food. Yes, I know, Kinda weird to eat french food in Chile, but it was amazing.
Santiago Day 2 - we planned to go back to actually enter the park by San Cristobal Hill ... unfortunately, there was a wildfire, and we were unable to enter the park. Instead we spent a few hours just enjoying the view at the Sky Costanera, the observation deck at the tallest building in South America. beautiful view. We had a few cocktails at the bar there, and enjoyed it as well. I had to take a few business calls (I'm never really on vacation), and ultimately that was my day. We had some Ceviche for dinner, which my wife enjoyed (I'm personally not a huge fan of Ceviche).
Boarding the Celebrity Eclipse - Day 1:
I had read in advance that the Valparaiso "Cruise terminal" was very complicated. Lots of negative reviews on Google Maps and tripadvisor... This is an industrial port which mostly serves cargo/container ships, with very few cruise ships (and the Eclipse is by far the largest ship which will visit in all of 2023... and it only visits one time in the whole year). I took notes from the comments/reviews and planned my day around what I learned.
I scheduled an Uber XL in advance. I scheduled it for a 10AM pickup (expecting to arrive at 12 Noon), with the destination set to "Valparaiso Terminal de Pasajeros" (in Spanish). If you pick "Valparaiso Cruise Terminal", it will point to the actual terminal building, but unfortunately the roads are not mapped, and it will therefore direct you to the closest road which is on the opposite side of a major train station... Since I picked "Valparaiso Terminal de Pasajeros" in Spanish, it actually directed my driver to the *actual* entrance to the port area.
The driver showed up 30 minutes early at 9:30, we got moving at 9:40 and as there was no traffic, we made it to the waterfront area very early by 11:20. The driver got a bit lost (The signs are very confusing, even for locals!), so we didn't actually make it to the cruise terminal until 11:40 - with the help of me pointing out on the map how to actually enter the port.Once at the terminal, a contractor who worked with Celebrity very kindly pointed out that the bag check was next to the terminal building and not inside - we walked over there and saw a long line of people who did not print their bag tags dealing with chaos ... I printed my bag tags in advance and had them all properly attached to my bags, so we walked around the long line, handed the bags over to someone with a Celebrity nametag, and were on our way back into the terminal in under 5 minutes.
Inside the terminal, we joined a long line marked "Check-in". After about 5 minutes waiting on the line and it barely moving, an employee walked up to us (at the back of the line) and asked if we already had an Express Pass from checking in online. We did. He scanned it and his iPad told him that we already fully checked in, entering our passport info and taking the health questionnaire properly... He informed us that almost a very small % of the passengers actually does the online check-in properly, and that there was no reason for us to wait on the Check-In line. He pointed us how to walk around the line and immediately get on the bus and head towards the ship. Within 5 minutes we were on the bus and moving.There is a 15 minute long ride through the port (which I found fun ... getting to see lots of industrial equipment moving around tons of cargo... maybe I'm weird). Then at the ship, a very short line to get on board.
Once on board, there is a long line to check in our passports (since it is a one-way cruise to Argentina). The staff inform us that only one member of our group needs to stay with passports, and the rest can enjoy the ship. I send my wife off to the room so she can drop off bags and relax a bit while I deal with the line.
After a few minutes, some staff member announces that we need to have the Visa form with the QR code given to us by the Chilean immigration when we entered the country. I already have mine properly folded in next to the identification page of each passport, so no worries ... but I hear what seems like the entire rest of the line say things like "I threw mine away, I didn't know I needed it" or "I have it crumpled up somewhere at the bottom of my backpack" or "My family member who left has it, and I have no way of contacting them"... So, there's a long line of people in front of me who are ill prepared, but once I get up to the staff, it's about 30 seconds to hand over my documents and get a receipt... I'm not sure what happened to the people who threw their Visas away.The line was about 45 minutes, and By 12:40 I'm at the room.
By 1:30 I've had a few Evian to quench my dehydration, and DW and I watch the workings of the port ... again, we are nerds, and find this fascinating for about 20 minutes.
At 2:00 we make it back to the room, our bags have been delivered. We start unpacking (we used compression cubes for the first time on this trip to make our packing more organized, and it worked fantastic! I highly recommend it!)
By 3:30 I am completely unpacked and my DW is mostly unpacked. I head down to the Martini bar to have a cocktail, and then back to the room to get a bathing suit and use the sauna for a bit. At this point, I look out at the line to board the ship and it is massive. Gangway is supposed to be up at 4:30. I talk to the first set of other passengers in the elevator back to my room... People are complaining "I'll never ride celebrity again! I can't believe how disorganized Celebrity is!" I respond "The port is very confusing, it's an issue for any cruise ship that comes here." They respond with more complaints ... I'm not really interested in losing my positive vibe, so I continue on to the room and then the sauna.I spend 45 minutes in the Sauna... and now I'm writing this post!
Dinner at Blu was great. We had a mix of orders from the Blu and MDR menus, and enjoyed everything.
The captain announced that the waves will be "mild" tonight and will be "rough" tomorrow. Compared to what I remember from my most recent Alaska cruise, it's already more wild tonight than what we had in Alaska ... will be very interesting to see the Drake Passage in a couple of weeks!For anyone who's read this far and is planning on doing this cruise (Valparaiso to Buenos Aires) or Valparaiso to Los Angeles in the future... If you plan things in advance, there's no reason for it to be stressful ... but if you don't ... well, it will be what it will be.
I'll post comments as I go if people are interested to read along.- 9
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4 hours ago, asnaleah said:
Huge wait time to return and others waiting to leave were massively delayed. Our excursion was fine, very enjoyable, but the 1 1/2 hour wait to get into the port was inexcusable. I don’t intend to ask the destination desk for compensation. However, I may ask to be refunded for our tour tomorrow.
Absolutely you should complain about it, and it'd be good if you got at least a token amount of compensation...
All of the cruise lines (including Celebrity) react to complaints. If you don't complain, they don't know it needs to be addressed. If there's some compensation, even a token amount, that means it's more likely for them to actually look at the issue.
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I’ve noticed this before and agree it’s less than ideal… but compared to the Edge class having the gym above the Thermal Suite, it’s not nearly as big of a mistake.
it’s really quite amazing sitting in the sauna, zoning out in a mindset of peaceful trance … and then someone drops (what sounds like) a 100lb dumbbell directly over you.
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What’s your review half way through the cruise?
Other than the supply chain issues, all is good?
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3 hours ago, asnaleah said:
So, we are now experiencing the dreaded “supply chain” problems. One week to go, and no blueberries or bananas. Also, the made for Celebrity Elegance Pinot Noir is no longer available. Raspberries have been gone since day 4. Maybe we will get more provisions in Equador.
That’s unfortunate. I suspected it might happen on this cruise as well as the following one (which I will be on), since it’s a one-off route for repositioning, none of the ports are going to be great spots for getting provisions.
The next one (which I will be on) I suppose is probably going to experience this even worse since most ports are tender and extremely remote and likely cannot resupply at all.
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3 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:
I'll answer the question with another question, how many would NOT book AQ class if Blu was NOT inclusive?
I absolutely would not book Aqua if Blu was not included. It is in fact the primary reason for booking AQ for me.
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6 hours ago, vjmatty said:
I actually like this better than a large MDR table with other passengers. Conversation is there if you want it but you aren’t tied to their service schedule. And you don’t get the same people every night.
I agree completely. I haven't cruised in anything below Aqua in many years, but the last cruise I had on Celebrity ... the other people at the MDR really had absolutely nothing in common with me, and the conversation was really boring. I found myself dreading having to go back to that table every day.
In Blu or Luminae, sometimes conversations happened with the adjacent tables, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes I liked the people, sometimes I didn't.Overall, I think the way Blu does things is the happy medium, and I'm happy that the Edge class ships have essentially made that the default for all 4 MDR venues as well.
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If it doesn't appear in the app / website, you need to call. If you have any sort of status that you can match to Celebrity, do that first, and mention your level (Classic, Select, Elite, Elite Plus) to the people on the phone in case there are any discounts which apply.
On Celebrity, the upgrade package is called Premium. Unfortunately for you, there was just a deep discount sale for Black Friday/Cyber Monday which was something like 50% on most cruises for the upgrade to Premium... but it's now expired.
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3 hours ago, keesar said:
You can book one night as long as you pay the going rate. If you have a package, you have to wait until you are on the ship. Then you are at the mercy of available days and times. I don't like to dine at 9:00 pm but others may like that option.
Is there really anything stopping you from reserving it at the paid rate for the one night and then canceling that reservation and instead taking it with the unlimited package?
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2 hours ago, hcat said:
You can enjoy BLU, subject to availability ..we preferred it to Luminae on BEYOND.
You are gaining a much larger room with a real balcony, abundant storage, and a soaking tub with shower.
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You will have Access to the Retreat Lounge, outdoor Retreat area/ mini pool and other suite perks, sep reserved area in theater the on Chic nite ..Plus a sep early boarding area, priority disembark...BUT no butler!
Thermal suite on E Class ships is not that great..so you probably did well!
We are glad we tried it once..no longer a mystery ! Hope u get a nice location!
I’m curious which thermal suite you prefer and why?
I think the thermal suite on E is better than on S because it’s both subjectively hotter in the Infrared on E than the lukewarm Finnish on S… and S also has the free Finnish sauna in the locker room which is much hotter then the Persian garden sauna.
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10 hours ago, LB_NJ said:
As an FYI, Celebrity does NOT go to Glacier Bay.
Also, I would ask in the Alaska forum how well the internet is at that latitude.
I was on Celebrity Solstice just after they added Starlink, for an Alaska itinerary.
Starlink worked most of the time, the only time we really ran into issues was when we were in the Fjords, and at one of the ports (I forget if it was Ketchikan or Skagway - it's the one that had the train excursion).
IIRC it was averaging about 5Mbps, which is enough to stream movies on Netflix or Youtube at decent quality.- 1
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7 hours ago, asnaleah said:
I checked with the Michael’s Club concierge (Chris) today and as I suspected, the ship is not at all full, however, they are expecting it to be full for the next leg, Valparaiso to Buenos Aires. Chris reports not too many B2B.Thanks for checking!
That's unfortunate about not too many B2B. As you said, the Valparaiso to Buenos Aires leg is basically sold out (and I'll be joining the ship there) ... That port is tiny and Eclipse is by far the largest ship that will visit the port in all of 2023, so I was hoping that there would be enough people doing B2B to take some pressure off the port.
I guess I will just have to be prepared for the madhouse 😉 -
I have had the butler unpack before, which is honestly a really luxurious experience. It's so nice to be able to just immediately go into enjoying the cruise on day one.
The only reason I even thought that this was a reasonable request is because of my (multiple) trips to the Maldives, where the butler assigned to me by the resort would offer to unpack and also to pack.
At the St Regis Maldives, for example, when they packed me up, all of my clothes were pressed and folded with wax paper just like a store would have done for brand new clothes...
I haven't asked Celebrity's butlers to pack me back up, though... but I'd consider doing it in the future.
I've also used the butler to get reservations for sold-out Murano.
In the past, they used to have a service where the butler would, on one night of your chosing, serve you a multi-course dinner on your balcony. IE: he would come and deliver the soup. 20 minutes later, collect the soup and serve the salad. 20 minutes later, collect the salad and serve the (hot) main course. 30 minutes later, the desert. Truly luxurious ... But unfortunately, they don't offer that anymore AFAIK. Maybe they do on the upper suites, but certainly not for Sky suites. -
52 minutes ago, PMT51 said:
Because, if you have the primium package you can.
I ask for top shelf in all my drinks, not that I can taste the difference, but because I paid for it and I can.
I agree, it's a really odd question why anyone would question it ... If you've paid for the premium beverage package, I think it absolutely entitles you to top shelf liquors in all your mixed drinks, regardless of if it's a Mimosa or a Bloody Mary or a Martini or any other cocktail. If your cost is $90/day (which plenty of people are paying that un-discounted rate), why should you expect anything else?
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25 minutes ago, critic2023 said:
Hi everyone! I have my eye on a couple itineraries from the newly released 2025-26 deployment schedule. Since they are a ways off, I'm trying to figure out when the best sales are and it would be cheapest to book. I am a solo cruiser and these ships do not offer solo cabins. I'm not opposed to booking a normal cabin on my own, but I've noticed that most of Celebrity's sales offer a certain discount for the second cruiser in your cabin, which obviously does not apply to me. Are there certain sales or promos I should wait for in general, or as a solo cruiser specifically?
Thank you in advance!
It does actually still apply to you, since there typically isn't much (if any) discount for single passengers in a cabin which was designed for double occupancy.
The way they price these sorts of things is (imho) a bit deceptive, but the reality is that it is better to look at a "75% off second passenger" as 37.5% off the price of the cabin...
BUT ... they also have some sort of a sale every single day of the year. If you watch it, they will often have a sale which "expires tonight at midnight! make sure to book it now", counting down the hours and minutes ... and then after midnight, it's a new sale which expires a few days in the future with almost the exact same pricing.Prices do fluctuate, though ... and can go both up and down ...I've heard that prices do tend to be lower for reservations booked in Q1 since there are fewer people booking at that point, but I've never really looked into if that's true or not.
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As you said, more children/families, more decorations ... Ships tend to be much higher occupancy (it's fairly common to have 100% sold-out).
Speciality dining reservations tend to sell out more.
Prices are typically higher, both for the cruise itself, as well as for add-ons like Excursions and Speciality dining.
They do have special themed meals for appropriate holidays (eg: Thanksgiving Dinner), and often have appropriate religious figures for religious holidays (eg: there are Rabbis on the schedule for Eclipse right now that it's Hanukkah).
On NYE, it's typical for them to have a countdown to midnight party, and a champagne toast.
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Yep, they started rolling out in November and at this point should be rolled out across the entire fleet... And just for context, I've looked at what the Eclipse has now in MDR and Blu and it seems to me to be basically the same as what MDR and Blu offered before the recent cutbacks...
So, depending on your perspective, it may be just a return to normal (if you've cruised with Celebrity in the past before this year), an improvement (if your first cruise was this year with the cutbacks), or just confusing if you've never been on Celebrity before.
IMHO, Celebrity's food quality at the included venues has for many years been among the best in the industry.
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5 minutes ago, doghog said:
Thanks for making my point. Everyone is different and what is value for one is not for another. We stick with the CBP and get everything out of it we want. We never try and drink to get our monies worth. 🤣
Of course. I'm certainly not making any judgement on people who make different choices on what they like to drink when they are on vacation.
It is also interesting how different people's needs are... for me, the CBP is almost completely worthless, because I'm not going to drink enough alcoholic drinks to get my value that way, and it excludes all of the non-alcoholic drinks I want.
Meanwhile, the friend (I mentioned in my previous post), he can easily drink 10+ alcoholic drinks per day, and never get wasted. I've seen him have dozens of shots of Vodka in a single night. To him, the Premium Beverage Packages are sort of a joke -- he knows he can [and does] easily "get his money's worth"... But, like I said, I think that's an extreme minority.
And, looking at anything on cruises, vacations, or measure as far as the best value proposition is always sort of a losing battle... The best value proposition is of course to stay at home. Anything beyond that is not a need, it's a want. And nobody can decide what you want other than you. -
Just now, doghog said:
Disagree for us. We would never buy the Zero Proof package. We don't drink any type of soft drink and don't want to drink a virgin drink. Five drinks over the course of the day and evening is nothing. Especially wine with the 5 oz. pours. I drink way more than my wife but we also feel the price we are paying (past and future cruise) is worth it to us.
I don't drink Soda either. The major cost for my wife and I would end up being all the premium bottled water (Evian, San Pellegrino). Cafe Al Baccio. Spa Cafe Smoothies.
Can easily end up with 6+ drinks per day of just that.
Semi-Live from Celebrity Eclipse Dec 23 2023 - Jan 6 2024 Valparaiso to Buenos Aires (Patagonia Holiday cruise)
in Celebrity Cruises
Posted · Edited by someguyfl
It was something like $150, and I gave an extra $10 tip (the maximum the Uber app allowed) for dealing with the complications at the Terminal.
The cost was less with Uber than if the hotel booked it (IIRC about $200).
It's been a hectic few days so I haven't had time to really write much, but I'll add some thoughts so far...
Celebrity certainly could have managed some things better: