AmberCascades

I hope you enjoy your first Celebrity cruise. We usually sail Concierge or regular veranda (depending on which costs less at the time). We have only ever used the services of the Concierge once. I think we had to change some dining reservations and were going to be out for the day or something, so we asked if he could do that for us. A Concierge isn't like a Butler. Butlers will do all kinds of things for suite guests in their cabins but the Concierge is there more for help with external things like specialty dining or help with tender tickets, etc. Does that answer your question about the actual Concierge?

On a 7 day cruise there will be 2 chic nights, usually day 2 and 6. We've seen tuxedos, long gowns, kilts, kakis and polos, cocktail dresses, nice jeans and a shirt, and somewhere in between. We don't dress up as much as we used to due to luggage weight - we are more in the cocktail dress, nice pants and shirt crowd - but it's lovely to see others wearing their full bling. If he wants to wear his tuxedo I say go for it!

We always get a table for two. Most of the tables are very close together, but after a brief nod and "hello how are you", we and our surrounding neighbours go back to chatting with our respective mates. Occasionally there will be a 2-top that's by itself but they are rare and in high demand.

You are allowed to bring two bottles of wine per person on embarkation day. Other than that, they will likely confiscate it if you bring it on from ports and hold it till the last day. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, but it doesn't seem to matter which itinerary. Our first cruise to Alaska they confiscated my husband's tequila. The second Alaska cruise we told them we had a case of beer and showed them and no one was interested in taking it.

We take photo ID, seapass, copy of passport, one credit card and some cash. Another thing we take off the ship is the daily with the Port Agent info on it. We always plan to be back at the ship at least an hour before the all-aboard time, but stuff happens, so I want to be able to contact someone if there's an issue.

We've been sailing Celebrity since 2013 and the MDR has never been open on embarkation day, other than for Concierge. Were you Concierge, or in a suite perhaps?

You can probably book your own excursions for less money. We did the Taku Lodge 5 glaciers flight and salmon bake. It was about the same price as the ship, but we got a much better time than Celebrity was offering. Their office is just down the street. We also took the blue bus (at the dock) to Mendenhall Glacier. No need to do that through the ship. Vendors in Alaska will be reliable as they have a very short tourist season and they don't want to get a bad reputation. They know we talk about them. 🙂 Other than that, ship excursions sell out quickly in Alaska so if you really want to do something, book it now.

Very true, but we are so happy that we can now get free laundry mid-cruise. lol Happiness!!! We also had a very nice time getting to that tier but the main reason we love cruising Celebrity is that they made us feel like royalty from our very first cruise, when we were lowly nobodies with zero status. 🙂

It's been a while since I've done a cruise out of Vancouver, but I'm pretty sure I had to go to US customs somewhere at the port. I'm Canadian, flying from one Canadian airport to another. The only time we've gone through US customs at the airport was when flying into the States.

Correct.

You can take the elevator straight down to the boarding level. We've never had any issues with line-ups or chaos from that port.

I looked again and finally found it. Your chic nights are days 2 and 6. Hope you have a great time!

There are usually 2 on a 7 night cruise. I think (but can't say 100% for sure) that they are usually on day 2 and day 5 (or 6). Do you have the Celebrity app? It might say on there.

I'm not sure what the definition of "designer" jeans is. I agree that a clean, new looking pair of jeans looks nicer than those with designer holes in them. I don't think ladies are allowed to wear shorts in the MDR in the evening. Capris maybe, but I'm pretty sure they say "no shorts" in general in the evening.

Where do you draw the line? Or, more literally, the hem? Are "tailored shorts" always a specific length? Are those shorts the Hooters girls wear "tailored"? To be more specific they'd have to say "a tailored, pant-like short with a 20" inseam". But what if the wearer has really long legs and a 20" inseam is a short short on them? You see how this can be a slippery slope. 😜

It's allowed in the buffet. Otherwise, maybe a vacation at a beach resort would be better. Honestly, pants and a polo shirt can't be too difficult for most people to manage, can it? What do you wear to work? To a nice restaurant in town? Dinner with the in-laws? I have never seen shorts and t-shirts in the MDR in the evening. I have seen people sent home to change when they arrive for dinner dressed like that.

They are going to wear the same shirt every night and use it as a napkin??? Are they also going to "soil" their pants in defiance, just because they can? Unfortunately self-respect can't be legislated. I did see one guy wear the same shirt for most of the cruise. I don't know if his luggage got lost or what. I only noticed because it was a vibrant plaid print. He didn't smell very good up close. Yes, I have seen people turned away for not adhering to the bare minimum required of them.

Celebrity doesn't have theme nights. There might be a white party. Or there might not. 🙂

In another year there may be even more changes. Maybe they'll be good, maybe not-so-good. Since we started cruising a mere 10 years ago there have been changes to smoking policies, dress codes, no more midnight buffets, no more sea day buffets, to name a few. There was a huge uproar at the time and now we don't usually hear much about those things. We will adapt. Or we will find other ways to vacation. I do wonder if a lot of the cut-backs and extra fees have to do with events over the last few years. We notice price increases and staff shortages in our own day-to-day lives. Hopefully things will all settle down and sort themselves out by the time you cruise next year.

The best part of Celebrity, for me, has always been the crew. They are awesome and amazing and always make me feel so special. We've done sky suite, Concierge, regular balcony and oceanview. We have never felt "less than" anyone else, no matter what cabin we were in. If there are fellow passengers who look down on others based on their level of accommodations, that would be their problem, not yours or mine. 🙂 I've not seen such snootiness though. Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

I doubt they would charge you for them if they are missing, but you can just mention it to your cabin steward anyway. They can make a note and will likely bring them to the cabin at some point.

Always. They recommend it and we always bring it with us. Because you never know. 🙂

Sure, but those people need to be on call and at the dining room. Maybe they would all go to the RS department if no one showed up in the MDR, but how would anyone know where to allocate the staff? Would they understaff the MDR in case a bunch of RS calls came in? How would they know, in advance, on any given night, who works in RS and who works in the MDR?

I wonder if this change has anything to do with the ability to find and train staff. I have read some posts where people feel the ships are understaffed or filled with trainees. Where I live there is one restaurant chain that isn't even doing delivery anymore as they can't get anyone to do it. It's dine-in or pick-up. s it possible they don't have the staff to do all this running around the ship? Imagine if every guest, for some reason, wanted room service? Maybe the fee is to encourage people to go where the food is. I know they do the continental breakfast, but they have lots of time to get those orders ready and organize the deliveries. Just a thought.

I'm sorry for your loss. Fortunately I've never had to test this out. We do check our email nightly in case anyone wants to get us for any reason.