Royal Caribbean cruiser moving over to Celebrity

[Mum2Mercury]

4 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

Yes, but it's sort of sad that after booking a cruise that includes canal transit for multi thousands you have to spend more to get a good front view. 

Whereas, a single day pass to the Thermal Suites is something like $40 + mandatory gratuity.  

[Mum2Mercury]

4 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

We did a partial transit but booked an excursion offered by Celebrity on a smaller boat from Gatun lake that did the rest of the canal to the bridge of the Americas.. Well worth it in my opinion. 

That's what I'm inclined to do.  I'm waiting to reserve until I'm onboard a Royal ship next month -- and booking that excursion will be my #2 priority.  

4 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

They may have already done the transit. 

Could be.  I've been to the canal (multiple times), but it's been a very long time.  

4 hours ago, doghog said:

I agree. We like the E class ships as well as the M&S class ships but IMO, Eden would have been a perfect location in the front of the ship. But ship designing is way above my paygrade. 😉 

Yeah, seems logical to me, but often people "in the know" have reasons for the things they do.  I know my students often demand, "Why don't we do it this way?" ... while I have very good reasons for the plans I've made, and they can't see it (or, more often, are looking for a shortcut).  

 

 

Edited Friday at 08:43 PM by Mum2Mercury

[LeeW]

Recommend going through old locks on a smaller ship than Beyond.  Radiance class on Royal or Island/Coral Princess.  Normally ships enter the locks at sunrise, lock up to Gatun Lake, drop the passengers with shore excursions (including the small boat through the rest of the locks), and lock back down.  Then they wait at Colon until all the shore excursions get back.  I'm not impressed with outside viewing areas on Edge class ships.  When going through the locks you want to keep moving around to get views from different angles.  And if you only doing this once you should see the mules in operation on the old locks.

 

Partial trips from the Atlantic side actually can have better excursions than through trips.  Especially Costa Rica.  Excursions on Pacific side can often be 8 hours or more, with a lot of time in a bus.

Edited Friday at 09:21 PM by LeeW
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[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Could be.  I've been to the canal (multiple times), but it's been a very long time.  

I have been multiple times too. First on Island Princess. After that the ship did not matter, I did Celebrty Summit once to Panama, the ship did not do the locks but we did canal excursions from Colon, twice I did a boat excursion that went from Gatun Lake to the other end, once the train where you don't see much but it is air conditioned. The small vessel can be hot on deck. Some people did an excursion to an Indigenous village. Some took a bus to Panama City. 

[Mum2Mercury]

19 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I have been multiple times too. First on Island Princess.

Our canal experiences have been quite different, as this'll be my first time on a ship.  

 

I'm feeling good about our plans for the canal day -- and that was our first priority for this trip.  With that sorted, I'd like to move on to some other questions.  After all, y'all've been so helpful thus far!  I'm getting kinda picky here, and my topics stray far and wide: 

 

- Does the Muster Drill work the same was as Royal?  You watch the video on the app, then visit your muster station once you're onboard.  

- Do we have to request a paper copy of the daily newsletter?  

- My husband loves soft-serve ice cream (we rarely have ice cream at home) by the pool, but I'm thinking they don't have that on Celebrity?  Instead they have ice cream in the buffet -- is this no charge?  -- is it open all afternoon?  

- Do people dress up more for dinner on Celebrity?  How many "formal nights" would you anticipate on an 11-night cruise?  

- Do they have lobster night just once /cruise like they do on Royal?  

- I'm trying to make a list of no-charge food venues -- I'm talking food only:  The 4-part MDR, Ocean View Buffet, Cafe Al Bacio, Eden Cafe and Mast Grill.   

- I've seen a mention of cooking classes on Celebrity /specifically in Eden.  We both love to cook, and this might be something we'd enjoy -- can we get solid info on this beforehand?  Dates?  Specific items they'll be cooking?  

- What's the late night show in Eden?  Do you need reservations, or is it a walk-in thing?  

- What're the must-see shows?  

- What is this Magic Carpet spot?  Just another bit of deck, but it happens to hang over the water?  

- Any suggestions for night-before hotels?  We are close enough to drive, and we often stop 30-40 minutes out from the port.  Prices are cheaper a bit farther out, and 30-40 minutes is nothing to drive "day of".  

 

THANKS for any info you can provide on my picky questions.  

[doghog]

30 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Does the Muster Drill work the same was as Royal?  You watch the video on the app, then visit your muster station once you're onboard.  Yes.

 

- Do we have to request a paper copy of the daily newsletter?  Celebrity Today. No Also pillow chocolate. You also don't have to choose between morning or evening cabin service by the cabin attendant like on RC. 

 

- My husband loves soft-serve ice cream (we rarely have ice cream at home) by the pool, but I'm thinking they don't have that on Celebrity?  Instead they have ice cream in the buffet -- is this no charge?  -- is it open all afternoon?  No charge. Yes

 

- Do people dress up more for dinner on Celebrity?  How many "formal nights" would you anticipate on an 11-night cruise?  Celebrity calls it Evening Chic. IMO, yes. I've seen it listed as 3 nights on Celebrity's website, but only 2 when on the ship. 

 

- Do they have lobster night just once /cruise like they do on Royal?   Yes.

 

- I'm trying to make a list of no-charge food venues -- I'm talking food only:  The 4-part MDR, Ocean View Buffet, Cafe Al Bacio, Eden Cafe and Mast Grill.  Spa Cafe 

 

- What's the late night show in Eden?  Do you need reservations, or is it a walk-in thing? Walk in. Celebrity doesn't do reservations for any shows.  

  

- What is this Magic Carpet spot?  Just another bit of deck, but it happens to hang over the water?  Bar in the day, restaurant in the evening. 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 06:22 PM by doghog

[Northern Aurora]

Just to expand slightly on  the post by @doghog -- the Magic Carpet is also the tender platform.  At tender ports it is lower down to water level.  It makes tendering much easier, particularly for those with mobility issues. It can't be used if the seas are rough.

[Mum2Mercury]

THANKS for all this information!