Team Stag

Antartica on the Equinox.  Second would probably be a transpacific via an S-Class ship.  And third would be Best of Japan.

2 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

Not new, they did the same on our Edge cruises on the first day of the cruise.

I’ve never experienced that at any point on an E-Class ship. Maybe I just look trustworthy LOL. 

46 minutes ago, Alakegirl said:

Not on Celebrity M and S class ships….no card reader at the door

Just returned from the Reflection. Retreat host ask for and scanned both our cards when we entered. Not sure if that’s new or not; but i don’t remember it in the past. 

12 minutes ago, ScottC4746 said:

But what about the live thread being posted?  Is it because it is the first week? 

Stressing this won't be a fun cruise.  It WILL be relaxing however.

We just returned from a cruise.  We were used the app during the week prior to make plans.  Heck one night they had an 80's party schedule (and many of our role call brought 80's outfits) just to find that on sailaway day it had been replaced with a late night comedian show.  Same thing with menus - we signed up for speciality dining to miss some of lesser favorite dining room menus only to have them all on wrong nights.   Just sharing our most recent experience.

Don't trust the app until boarding day.  Some stuff is accurate, a lot of it is garbage.  Much of the data you see weeks before your cruise is populated from the current cruise that ship is on.

On 5/24/2024 at 12:36 PM, Dolebludger said:

I’m waiting to what is in the mini bar (and how much) in SS and CS from someone who has cruised after the “enhancement”. It seems from reading this thread that it included only a one time fill of soda and beer on a complementary basis. (Not great on longer cruises.) And for the record, lines like Regent include refil of these items on request, plus spirits and wine.

I just returned from a 3 day cruise on the Reflection in Sky Suite.  The butler explained to us (on Friday) that the mini-bar is now included with the suite.  He also mentioned that this was a policy change from the last cruise (basically they didn't get it).  Now I have sailed before where and understood the mini-bar was not included; however many Butlers offered to stock it during the trip.  So I wasn't sure if that was what he was referring to simply helping us but after reading this post it sounds like communicated change.

Our starting fridge had what seemed to be a standard package (2 cokes, 2 diets, 2 heinekens, 2 perriers, 2 bottles of water & maybe and evian water too (although I think that was on the counter).  Our butler did ask if we had an preference - my wife like Sugar Free RedBull and I like vitamin water in addition to coke & diet cokes.  When we came back from lunch our new drinks were added.  It was only a 3 day cruise but on Sat & Sun during the day at some point the drinks were refreshed.  I didn't drink the beer so not sure about that one.

13 hours ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

I just booked a suite for the Equinox was debating.  Can't you eat in the MDR also or at Blu?

Can’t comment on Blu but one nice feature of a suite on the S-Class (Reflection & Equinox); the wait staff in Lumanie will give you the MDR menu. So you can eat in Lumanie with a variety of choices. 

I am not typically an Aft fan.  Similar to you, I prefer to be forward.  We sailed on the aft on a Reflection cruise in Nov 2021.  There was definitely a mechanical knocking for most of the trip (I'm pretty sure it was a bearing).  This was much different than the normal shimmy an aft room can feel while under power.

Now to be fair, this was one of the first cruises the Reflection had since returning to cruising.  IDK what kind of maintenance had gone on during that time or how often they opened the throttle.  It seemed to get better as the cruise went on & never bothered my wife; even when I asked her about it.  I'm hoping it was just a one time thing but we did book a short S-Class cruise with an aft room in a couple weeks to find out (before booking a much longer cruise on the aft 2 years from now).

5 minutes ago, DennysDad said:

Can you get away with khaki pants and polo shirts every night? Or does shirt have to long sleeve?

Polo & Khaki meets the requirement.  You will be fine with that.

I don't know but if I had to guess, I would say yes.  The laundry department is not going to be busy.  Most of the cruisers will be doing the 4 OR 3 day cruise. And I can't imagine them bringing dirty clothes on board with them 😂😂.   It would be a bad strategy to only get on with one alternate outfit and then wash day 1 clothes.  😂

I've seen turtles in Cozumel, Costa Maya, Bonaire, Grand Cayman, & Curacao although this was during scuba diving.  I do think that if a turtle hears 40 people jumping in the water to go snorkeling they probably are heading off to quieter waters.

We saw this little lady in Cozumel earlier this year. 

In 2019, my wife & I were looking for a short weekend getaway cruise.  We chose another line due time restrictions and needing to be able to sail from Port Canaveral.  We found an NCL cruise that we throught was a really good deal but expired at 12:00 mid.  So we called our travel agent (who was traveling) and at 11:00 p.m. when we didn't hear back we booked it online.  The next morning - we woke up to a 48 hour Flash sale and shocker - it was the same exact price 🙄

I feel like Celebrity has taken a page from that book.  They have their price & now play a constant shell game with how they advertise their price.  Buy one get one 75.  But one - other passenger 50%, etc etc but at the end they all come out the same price.  My recent cruise (before final payment), I saw it was $100 cheaper.  So I call the TA & she confirms it but it reduces my current OBC form $200 to $75.  So basically a net $25 gain to stay with what we had (knowing my wife will spend at least $200 on board).  I feel like it's just trying to create confusion and force the customer into a sense of urgency to book "to get the best deal".

My Tip for the first time on the ship is don't over research it.  Don't spend hours on Cruise Critic, don't youtube videos, don't ask for a bunch of "what to do".  As we get older and with the benefit of technology, seeing things for the first time in person and allowing ourselves to be "wowed" is becoming more and more rare.  Just go and enjoy the excitement of something new experienced in person (which was a tough lesson for me to learn growing up with the motto of Be Prepared 😁)

My choice would be the Equinox.  First, you seem excited about Aqua; so go do it.  Also, being a holiday cruise, you should expect it to be full.  I find the S-Class ships have more smaller venues which makes the ship not feel as full to me vs the E-Class where you just have a giant martini bar & eden bar.

Ultimately, you need to try to figure out what kind of cruise you want to have.  We are doing a 3 day Reflection Cruise in a couple weeks & we know we are going to party.  We have steam to blow off and that's going to happen.  So for us - MDR and more likely the OVC or Room Service will be our dinners of choice.  The idea of sitting down for a large delicious meal after being in the sun all day after too many adult beverages would be a waste of money for us.

We love the specialty restaurants & the great selection they have of them on the Reflection.  As you can see from this post, there are multiple different opinions on their favorite (ours is Murano followed by LPC based on the show / menu).  Now, if you are celebrating a special occasion - a specialty restaurant is a GREAT way to do that.  Speciality restaurants also tend to have excellent service & a step up in food from the MDR as well (although we find great service lots of places with Celebrity). 

As others mentioned, you need to pick a time for check in. If you go to your cruise planner, you will see when Check In opens.  If you want an early boarding time, I strongly advise you check in on that first day.  Especially with a 3 day cruise, most fellow passengers will want to maximize time on the ship.  Enjoy the cruise!

13 minutes ago, Harborgirl246 said:

I am not spreading misinformation! Two separate passengers on Ascent  FB page right now reported this. 

I'm sorry - this was not intended to be directed at you.  It was a simple observation of things that I read on the internet (especially between here and the book).  We see it regularly that people can have complete opposite experiences on the same cruise.

13 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

some will say anything without any confirmation at all. 

Now that's a 100% accurate truth bomb.  I read some postings & just wonder if they are paid by other cruise lines to spread misinformation.  😂

I agree.  Although my take is things were never as bad as some made it out to be.  Some became hyper focused on one element and allowed it to influence their trip or they were convinced of shortcoming without actually stepping on ship.  I also believe that things in some areas are not as great as others claim.  Reality is hanging out somewhere in the middle.  Everybody cruises a little differently; so things important to one may not even make the next person's radar etc.

It's been interesting to see some posters who swore they were done with Celebrity forever continuing to hang around.  Either going out somewhere different wasn't as glamorous as they thought or all the new opinions of positivity brought them back.

I thought the Equinox had one of those little step down areas off the Sunset Bar.

4 hours ago, Boxerlover2 said:

I can confirm butlers are back for Sky Suites on Edge as of today’s 13 March sailing. Our butler, Albert, came to introduce himself. He is taking care of 26 suites across multiple decks. 

So the butlers are back. But still have way too many rooms to efficiently handle all their rooms effectively. So they will end up focused on some rooms that either are the loudest, the neediest or the best tippers. But no way that 26 rooms are getting the full butler treatment as many claim on this board.
 

So basically the same as before the change. One overworked person with the butler title….time for the new complaining to start (I barely saw my butler, my room service took 90 mins due my butler busy with other duties, etc etc)

Is it possible your TA is confused Aqua with Aqua Suite?  That would explain the pricing difference the TA sees. 

As far as the classics, they have them available from the Luminae kitchen.  On our last Apex cruise, my wife had French Onion soup and I had Escargot at least 5 of the 7 nights. Caesar  salad and steak was always an option as well.  Or simple chicken breast too.

Now if you are looking to order a specific dish (like Beef Wellington - if they even still do that) from the MDR menu; that would be more of a special request.

We dove with Neal Watson in September.  I agree with you that their outfit is professional and provides a fun low stress experience.

My only warning would be - look over your equipment closely.  Since this was a short cruise for us; we only brought regs and mask.  My BCD tank strap came undone twice and I saw several other tanks floating due to bad tank straps.  One person had some problems with their reg and needed replacement mid dive.  Some of their equipment has seen a lot of action.

5 hours ago, RichYak said:

I would be very surprised if this ended up being true.

I agree with @RichYak.  You will have one Chiq Night on Day 2 (sea day).  I will almost guarantee that.  No way that they give you your other Chiq Night 2 nights later on an 8 night cruise.  I'd wait until you get much closer to the cruise to allow the App to update itself.

They will also have the location, time and date on the app for your cruise as well.  Look under the heading of "Loyalty and Suites".  Under my recent cruise it was offered from 12:30 to 2 and did include the Short Rib (but no burger - I love a burger 😁).

As others have mentioned, we find it a very relaxing way to start the cruise.  We also find the bar service much easier than waiting at other places around the ship as everyone is rushing on.