Team Stag

One element to consider is the size of you luggage. Walking on the cruise, the bags you carry on will need to go through an xray scanner with you. While the xray machine appear slightly bigger than the ones in the airport, they are not necessarily the size of larger suitcases. We were on a cruise last year, where someone tried to walk on with a large roller bag. It didn't fit in the xray machine & security basically had to open it and go through it piece by piece. Slowed down the boarding process as well as all the clothes & items had to come out of the bag. Personally, it was the not the way I would want to start a cruise.

I think Celebrity needs to allow the crew to fill out surveys on the passengers. Then based on your rating, it determines if they let you book future cruises. 😂

This is exactly how we are in my household as well. I enjoy cruising and find it a great way to have a relaxing vacation. My wife constantly wants something new & different for vacations.

For us cruising began to lose the sparkle a while about 5 years before Covid (nothing cruising did - just expanded to different types of vacations). But came back to Cruising because it was a vacation that I knew I was guaranteed to return to the states even if I got covid (vs an airline requiring a negative test). We have lowered our expectations based on short staffing, supply chain issues and other challenges seen in the travel industry; and have had 3 amazing cruises since restart. However, eventually that pendulum will swing back to where the expectations will be raised some in the future. And that may influence the sparkle. But at the moment, we have been very happy with cruising.

I'm curious if you found the $15 higher end steak to be a higher end steak / worth it (although I think the term worth is subjective)? Rephrase - was it good enough that you would order it again.

Check out Pro Divers - St Kitts. Their scuba shop is very close to the cruise port. They have received a lot of good reviews from others who have dove with them. You also may want to check out the scuba / snorkeling page on Cruise Critic for more information. (Its under the heading of Cruise Discussion Topics).

You may want to post this question on the Scuba & Snorkeling Page (its listed under the Cruise Discussion Topics Page). They might be able to give you better feedback about this Dive Shop or other operators for your to consider.

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

I agree with OP 100%. We do not care for the IV or all the open air places on the E-Class. We did try it again in a suite & it felt like a completely different experience. We will only sail E-Class going forward when a suite is possible. My wife loves the art and design of E-Class but the balcony (and good AC) is too important of a part of our cruising experience. I also prefer the smaller bar areas than the giant open bars like the martini bar or eden bar on E-Class. Reminds me of those hotels near big convention centers (which then reminds me too much of work - the opposite of vacay 😂). But in the end we have choices which is great. For us now, the S-Class is our preferred ship.

We didn't get to pick. They were pre-assigned. However, they set them up around 9 a.m. So after I finished breakfast, took a walk up there, talked to the attendant and told him where I preferred to be (I wanted to be able to see the tv to watch the afternoon football game). He was very accommodating. Those that rent them for the week though - will have the same ones throughout. So you may not be able to move to the exact one you want.

There is also a difference between a 4 day cruise that runs Thurs-Mon and a 4 day cruise that runs Mon-Fri.

I don't know about that specific suite you are asking about but we were in a very forward sky suite last year (July) and it was one of the smoothest cruises we have been on. Captain Kate shared at her presentation that they have a new stabilizing system in the front of the Edge boats that really make them smooth. This was a Caribbean cruise & those rarely get overly rough.

Without going full nerd on you, I will try to explain what you are seeing. Web designers now have the challenge to build sites that work on desktop (Laptop) and then on mobile devices (phone, tablet). They use to build two different sites. Now they use programming to detect the size of the window to show. The hamburger obviously is a way to concise your overhead menus. So if you really like the hamburger, then simply shrink the window size on your laptop to a smaller rectangle and it will force the computer to think you are on a tablet. See below:

Not sure if it is still this way but in the past, if you had a Peloton Membership - it was free. You just needed to log into your account on the bike. If you didn't have one, then there was a small daily fee. Again, I haven't sailed in a couple months; so this may have changed since then.

The technical term for that is "the hamburger" 😂. Typically only available on mobile devices (Phones, tablets etc.)

While I may take heat for this response, here's how I would answer that: 1) If I was feeling crummy 2 or 3 days before departure & tested positive, then I would not board the ship assuming Celebrity still had a policy in place to lift and shift or receive future credit for what I spent. 2) If I tested positive 14 days in advance of the cruise, felt crummy for 2 or 3 days and then had 7 days with no symptoms (while isolating for the length of time per CDC instruction for my vaccine level etc, etc, etc.) and still tested positive 2 days before boarding - then I would most likely go on the cruise (after an in depth conversation with my traveling party /doctor ). 3) If I feel fine 2 days before the cruise (and I'm not required to take a test), then I am not taking a test for testing sake. All assuming that all pre boarding restrictions (test and health questionnaire) had been lifted. Keep in mind - this is one person's opinion on a fictitious scenario where I would also need to weigh in the details of where I'm going (what continent), what ports etc. And I have not run this by my other half who may have a vastly different answer for me.

In my opinion, I think it's time to drop the testing before boarding. So much happens in the 48 hours from when you test negative to the time you get on the ship; who knows what you might pick up during that time. Between airports, cabs, hotels or whatever you are doing combined with getting on a ship with people from all over the world who have just gone through the same travel experiences to get to ship; the odds are astronomical that you can completely keep Covid off the ship. And that doesn't even factor in what you expose yourself to (or other shipmates expose themselves too) when you get off at ports. Living in Orlando and someone who travels a fair bit for work, the amount of people I see in airports, theme parks, sports stadiums, rock concerts, etc - all without required negative tests 48 hrs before the event (or even vax requirements); shows that a lot of people have moved on. At this point, the pre-board test is antiquated in how a majority of society is living today.

The small fault in this logic is last July, Delta was just appearing & Omnicron was not even on the radar. Also (only speaking for the US now), society was in a different place. Some locations still had really strict regulations with office / restaurants etc. A lot of companies still employed travel restrictions for employees as well as countries were still super strict (Canada comes to mind). I would wager those willing to go on cruises in June / July of 2021 was a much smaller population than currently today. There were a lot of wait & see vs today where many more are willing to cruise. I went on a July cruise last year as well. It was one of the best cruises I've been on. It was nice not having to test to get on and I agree the communication was excellent from ship's leadership (Capt Kate in particular). The best part was walking up the gangway and seeing the employees smiling faces as they said, "You can take that mask off if you want". It was great.

I'm curious the improvements of the Apex to make it better than the Edge?

I agree with this sediment. If I had to pick one, it would be the Equinox.

I was thinking the same exact thing. I popped on here from a little afternoon relief and it seems every post is frustration and complaints. Kind of makes me miss 2 years ago when almost every post was "I wish I was on a cruise boat". It's time to accept that the Celebrity we all knew and loved pre-pandemic is not the one we visit today. The challenges that every business is facing (supply chain, rising fuel expenses, staffing shortages, etc); they are facing too. My kids are a little disappointed we aren't going to my favorite restaurant for fathers day. They are only seating 50% of the restaurant because they don't have enough employees to serve the entire place. The other night, my local watering hole didn't have my favorite craft brew because the delivery guy didn't show this week. I travel a lot. We see it in the airlines, the hotels - its everywhere. It's not the experience it once was. It is what it is. And it's the new normal for the time being. I hope it gets better soon; but until I see it change locally, I don't expect it to change on Celebrity. I get everyone's frustrations. Cruises are not cheap. Whether you are working or retired, that is real money coming out of your pocket. And you buying one thing & expecting one thing but in the end you are getting something different. No easy answers.

^^^ This should be your first step in the process.

Having done both class of ships as well, my thoughts are similar to the OP. I enjoy the more small bar areas like the S-Class ships have vs the large bar areas of the E-class. The E-Class bar areas simply feel like a large hotel bar similar to what you would find near convention centers. That fact combined with we enjoyed a real veranda and the sky lounge is one of our favorite areas of the ship; we will only book the E-Class in a Suite. S-Class we are plenty happy in a Veranda or above. Everyone has their own criteria and of course port stops play a large part of that as well but this our travel and cruise strategy currently.

I'm also a saki fan. I typically go to Raw on 5 with that purpose but do typically order at least one dish (like edamame) or my wife will get something to try. No one has ever given us a hard time or made us feel unwelcome by doing this. We typically tip well too simply because we know we are taking up a table but as others have mentioned; we have never seen it with a wait either.

If the desserts offered don't meet you need, I suggest a drive by of the buffet after dinner. We normally always stop by at some point following dinner for later night dessert treat.