KathyC

I find it refreshing that the drink package is the same price fleet-wide, and it's not dynamic where I need to log on daily to check pricing.

That is going to depend on what time the ship arrives, and how long it takes to get through customs. Hard to say for sure, as it may be different by itinerary. What does the itinerary say? There is usually a time listed. My April 8 sailing says 7am.

Each ship has "the" bar to hang out at, and honestly it changes by sailing. On Summit, we rarely left the Martini Bar. On Beyond, we barely went to it and stayed at Craft Social instead. You find your bartender, and that is your place. We usually bar hop the first couple of days until we find our spot. Which bar we park at is usually fed by who we are sailing with.

Pre-shutdown, the Oceanview Cafe on Summit was amazing. There was a rotating station every night with some of the best buffet food we have had in our 31 years of cruising. The fresh made daily ice cream in Scoops was fabulous. None of that frozen chemical stuff that comes out of the machines for us! LOL Loved the map on the wall that told you where each section was and what they were serving in it each meal. Hand tossed pizzas, too. We're back on her in April, I hope things haven't changed too much. We sailed Beyond on October, and while she had some struggles due to staffing issues, we were not unhappy.

I think you are going to have to offer some type of documentation, otherwise everyone would just say "I can't drink" and take advantage. Did you check the website to see if it says? Now that the drink package is included with the wifi & gratuities, I am not sure how they change the price. My best suggestion is to ask your travel agent. If you booked yourself, you're going to have to call Celebrity anyway.

We're on Summit April 8 - come join!

Has the entertainment booking window opened yet? My inlaws are on this sailing, and they keep asking me questions...I haven't sailed Quantum class since 2015, yet they keep thinking I have all the answers. They are asking what they will need to pre-book. I told them probably anything in the theater. Anything else?

I would try reaching out to Royal on social media, maybe they can direct you to the appropriate department.

We just automatically take it out, when taking out our sea pass. But it's always looked at.

You will have to show a photo id to get past security at every island. So bring your drivers license off the ship with your sea pass card. I can only think of one or two times in the last 30 years of cruising we did not have to show the photo id. Security will barely glance at it, which defeats the purpose, but I think they trust the ships not to let anyone on that shouldn't be there, LOL. You won't need it at a cruise line's private island.

Now I can see it! Were you all in the Grand Plaza on Halloween? I fell like I definitely saw you all dressed up.

I can't see the picture?

We just got off Beyond, Capt Kate was only a passenger but she still was welcoming to meeting everyone and even did Bugnaked Trivia. Did you win?? That was the only way to hold her on our sailing.

OMG yes! Sorry I didn't see this post! We just got back. Did you love it??? I'm sorry I didn't see this post sooner, we could have met up!

Thanks for your honest words! We're considering a sailing in Aug 2023 on a Celebrity ship that takes us to some of your stops. I only know a little about that part of the world, so hearing about what's at those ports is very helpful.

We were on Radiance last month - have an amazing time! We didn't do the cruisetour before hand, but wish we had. Our favorite things about our sailing were the two train rides we did. We did Goldstar on the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Seward then in Skagway the White Pass Summit Railway. If we ever go back to Alaska, we'll be exploring the interior more.

We were on Radiance last month; hope you are having a wonderful time. The pub singer on our sailing was amazing, I wish I remembered his name. Lovely young man from Barbados. If you get a chance to hear him sing, do it!

I would absolutely LOVE to be on that itinerary!!

We sailed Summit after we hit Diamond and were hooked. Going on Beyond later this year. We don't have a need for those family-friendly activities anymore, and prefer the product that Celebrity offers. Music all around the ship all the time, superior buffet, multiple flavors of hard ice cream made fresh on board daily, no annoying announcements about activities or sales in the shops, free glass of champagne as you board the ship... I did a comparison post here on the boards after Summit. If you search you can probably still find it. We had two Celebrity sailings cancelled during the shutdown, or there would have been more in between Summit and Beyond. As a previous poster mentioned, each of the classes offer a different set of activities and experience. Even the biggest ships, the Edge class, are small compared to Royal's biggest ships. So think about which class on Royal you like the best and find a comparable size in Celebrity for your first.

I second the travel agent comment above. While some agencies do charge fees for things like changes (like Costco Travel for example) a good TA does not. They will be able to see cabins that you cannot from the regular booking website, plus have access to other cabins that you can only reserve by calling Royal (which the TA will do). They can also help with answering questions about entry visas and if they don't know will get the answer for you. Some agencies will also price check your reservation and secure you lower prices (which in turn lowers their commission but they do it anyway) so you pay the lowest price. If you book yourself, you have to do that check every single time on your own, and call Royal for a re-price yourself. The good TA will sit on hold for you, once again for no charge.

We were assigned tag #1 and were the third group to leave the ship. Self assist first, then the pinnacles/suite guests second. You are given a sticker to put on your jacket. Exit the ship when your number is called (our designated waiting area was in our cabin), gather your bags from the giant terminal, go through customs and walk your bags to the bus area. We saw a few people holding excursion signs, and you can always ask one of them for help.

We had that same problem today. Three of us standing together. The app worked on two of our phones, and not on mine. My husband was able to do his and mine from his phone.

We're doing that a week from tomorrow, getting off Radiance in Vancouver, taking an all day ship excursion that brings us to the airport. We have an evening flight, so also not concerned about getting there too late. I'll try to remember to come back and let you know how it went. If I forget, ping me and I'll get the notification.

Icy Straight is supposed to be the best port for whale watching. There is also a huge zipline there, the largest on the continent or something like that. Skagway's most popular is the White Pass Railroad, but they aren't crossing into Canada in 2022, so the offerings are limited.

We're scheduled to dock at that same Juneau dock area, when we are there on Radiance in a couple weeks. Only two ships in port that day, us and Ovation that comes later. Not sure why we are stuck so far out when there are a lot of empty berths, plus with gas prices running the shuttle buses must be expensive. I saw elsewhere online that there was a charge for those buses, if you didn't want to walk. I know you didn't get off, but did you hear from any of the other passengers that there was a fee?