Dec 13 Constellation B2B - East/West Caribbean (Holiday) Cruise

[FLCruiser97]

Ken, you mentioned that being on deck 9 was noisy during the day due to being under the pool deck. Is it unbearable noisy or just a little. DH likes to take a nap late afternoons and we will be on this ship next year in cabin 9082.

[Ken the cruiser]

26 minutes ago, FLCruiser97 said:

Ken, you mentioned that being on deck 9 was noisy during the day due to being under the pool deck. Is it unbearable noisy or just a little. DH likes to take a nap late afternoons and we will be on this ship next year in cabin 9082.

Just a very faint thumping, not a big deal. He should be fine.

[Ken the cruiser]

Had fun tonight at the evening show in the main theater, Matt and Lainie - Legends of Guitar, followed by an even better show, Motown Interactive Theme Party, with the Celebrity production show singers and dancers up in the Reflection Lounge.

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Some folks have asked about the rules for going ashore at the various ports we stop at on this leg. The ports are San Juan PR, St Maarten, St Kitts and Nevis, St Thomas and Nassau. Here’s the latest as of tonight.

 

[vickykay]

Thanks for 

posting this information.  So it looks like we can do independent excursions in St. Kitts.  We have read that one can 

purchase government approved tours at the pier. 

[riredsox]

Hi Ken,  have you been in Michael’s Club yet?  I’m looking forward to being in the ‘old’ Michael’s Club compared to the Retreat Lounge on Edge.  Jan 24th for us.  

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, riredsox said:

Hi Ken,  have you been in Michael’s Club yet?  I’m looking forward to being in the ‘old’ Michael’s Club compared to the Retreat Lounge on Edge.  Jan 24th for us.  

Yes, we played cards in there yesterday evening before the show. The next time we’re in there, I’ll take a picture of it. 

[wrk2cruise]

We will be in the Retreat on the 1/3 sailing.  How are the bar tender and concierges?

[Ken the cruiser]

We went on the Behind the Scenes tour this morning and here are some of the pictures we took. 
 

The below were the box lunches for the crew in their initial 2 week quarantine. 

[mkblinzler]

Ken

Thank you so much for your posts. We will be joining you on the December 23 leg and are so excited. It will be our second holiday cruise. I have looked at the activities through the app and I am excited to watch some movies. We did that on the Constellation when we were on our February 2020 cruise and it was so nice and relaxing. We are also looking forward to watching the Kansas City Chiefs football games as well as some of the college games. I’m sure I’ll find some time to do a little work remotely.

hopefully we can meet you on the holiday cruise and have a drink together. In the meantime we will follow you here until we leave next Wednesday for Florida.

 

Have fun!
 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, riredsox said:

Hi Ken,  have you been in Michael’s Club yet?  I’m looking forward to being in the ‘old’ Michael’s Club compared to the Retreat Lounge on Edge.  Jan 24th for us.  

Here’s a picture of Michaels with the concierge Liz.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

We will be in the Retreat on the 1/3 sailing.  How are the bar tender and concierges?

The concierge, Liz, in Michaels is super friendly and the service is impeccable as always. But, remember, there are only 408 passengers on our cruise. On the Xmas cruise, their estimate right now is around 1,400. But my guess is the passenger load on your 1/3 cruise will probably be like ours on this cruise. But I should be able to provide a better estimate towards the end of the Xmas cruise.

[Ken the cruiser]

On our next leg I mentioned earlier that we will be in an Aqua cabin. Well, our butler mentioned to us yesterday he was going to submit our names to be upgraded to a suite on the next leg. We told him we’d pay for an upgrade to a Celebrity suite, as it looks like a pretty cool cabin with great views, but we’d only take a sky suite upgrade if it was free as we’re kind of looking forward to our upcoming Aqua experience in Blu.
 

So, for those who have had similar offers from their butler in the past, what do you think our chances of getting either upgrade are? Right now there are only 2 sky suites available according to the X website. We think they’re pretty close to zero unless there are a bunch of last minute cancellations because of folks testing positive on their antigen/PCR tests.

[Ken the cruiser]

We ate at the Tuscan Grille tonight and the food was tasty and the service, as always, was impeccable! The best part was we weren’t even planning to eat there tonight until we negotiated a 2 for 1 deal with a crew member that was trying to get us to book a table there tonight!

 

After dinner, we went up to the Reflection Lounge and had fun watching Karaoke, and then went to the evening show, Soundtrack, and had an enjoyable time there as well. 😎

 

[Ken the cruiser]

General tidbit. Deck 2, port side, and it’s 60 Oceanview and 24 inside cabins have been designated as quarantine area where new crew members will stay for the first 2 weeks onboard.

[Want2Cruise 701]

On 12/14/2021 at 11:07 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

Some folks have asked about the rules for going ashore at the various ports we stop at on this leg. The ports are San Juan PR, St Maarten, St Kitts and Nevis, St Thomas and Nassau. Here’s the latest as of tonight.

 

Thanks. Appreciate you posting the guidelines. Hoping nothing changes between now and next week. Enjoy the rest of the cruise. 

[Want2Cruise 701]

23 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s a picture of Michaels with the concierge Liz.

 

Looks delightful compared to what they did with the Retreat Lounge on Summit. 

[riredsox]

13 minutes ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

Looks delightful compared to what they did with the Retreat Lounge on Summit. 

I agree!  I always thought Michael’s Club was the way a lounge/bar should look on a cruise ship.  

[Want2Cruise 701]

7 minutes ago, riredsox said:

I agree!  I always thought Michael’s Club was the way a lounge/bar should look on a cruise ship.  

Exactly. The picture actually makes me want to relax there, have a drink and converse. Looks comfortable and inviting. We used the lounge once on Summit to grab some waters before and after an excursion. That’s it. Oh, and the future cruise office met us in there for a future booking. That was the most uncomfortable 30 minutes sitting in the dollhouse furniture, and I’m a petite person. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have finally arrived at our first port of call, San Juan PR. Looks like the Millennium, Carnival Magic and one other ship at the other pier, which I can’t identify, are also here for the day.

 

 

[txtechmk]

Love all your photos.  Have a great rest of cruise!

[Ken the cruiser]

Just another little tidbit to pass along if you decide to book a “space holder” cruise while onboard. By default Celebrity booking software initially marks a cruise as nonrefundable when the onboard vacation planner initially gives you a quote for a cruise.
 

We didn’t realize this until we mentioned that we wanted to have the option of using these two 2024 bookings as “space holder” cruises just in case we see another cruise or cruises that look better down the road. The onboard vacation planner said “Oh, then I need to make some adjustments and the price will be higher.” That’s when we found out they were initially setup as NRD bookings. We said the higher price was fine as we wanted them to be refundable as long as the deposit was still $100 pp/cruise. We can always change them to NRD bookings just prior to final payment if it makes sense to do so. He agreed and said the deposit was still $100 pp.

 

If you don’t know what a “space holder” booking is, let me know.

Edited December 16, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[wrk2cruise]

On 12/15/2021 at 1:42 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

So, for those who have had similar offers from their butler in the past, what do you think our chances of getting either upgrade are?

 

I've not personally been in this situation but know some who have done an upgrade onboard.  I don't believe the onboard upgrade will be available until the MoveUp stuff is closed out.  But these days I think there are quite a few no shows for many reasons.  On our Sept sailing 3 sky suites were open and 3 of our friends were offered paid upgrades an took them.  The upgrade cost was below the min MoveUp bid but it was a couple days into a 12 day sailing.  I suspect free upgrade chance is slim to none but a paid Celebrity suite not out of the question.  The Celebrity suite on M class is very nice if you can handle the very large step into the bathtub.

[peanut head]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just another little tidbit to pass along if you decide to book a “space holder” cruise while onboard. By default Celebrity booking software initially marks a cruise as nonrefundable when the onboard vacation planner initially gives you a quote for a cruise.
 

We didn’t realize this until we mentioned that we wanted to have the option of using these two 2024 bookings as “space holder” cruises just in case we see another cruise or cruises that look better down the road. The onboard vacation planner said “Oh, then I need to make some adjustments and the price will be higher.” That’s when we found out they were initially setup as NRD bookings. We said the higher price was fine as we wanted them to be refundable as long as the deposit was still $100 pp/cruise. We can always change them to NRD bookings just prior to final payment if it makes sense to do so. He agreed and said the deposit was still $100 pp.

 

If you don’t know what a “space holder” booking is, let me know.

Please explain "space holder" cruises.

 

Thanks.

[wrk2cruise]

A cruise booked onboard to get the onboard booking OBC and $100 pp deposit that you really don't have any intention of taking.   Later you change this booking to another sailing that you want to take.   It is less restrictive than their Future Booking Certificate.   Just make sure to make it refundable deposit so there will be no fee when changing the ship/sailing date in the future.  When you do make the move to the desired sailing you can book at any prevailing rate either NRD or Refundable.