Al Horner

One point that is missing is how the cruise lines have changed their MDR formal evenings. I have been cruising for about fifteen years. In that time, I have seen the cruise lines really reduce their effort during formal nights. Now, other than photographers taking over-priced pictures, what distinguishes MDR formal nights from any other night? The waiters don't dress any different. There is no special live music (different than any other night), no special food or desserts, no special decorations, etc. Maybe if the cruise lines made it special, more people would be willing to dress up.

It’s actually not immediately obvious; you’d think it would be part of the Shore Excursions section of the Cruise Planner, but you won’t find it there. Only place you’ll find a link is on the home page of the Cruise Planner, and all that really gives you is some basic info that’s similar to what’s on the page I linked earlier. There is also a form there, which you can fill out to request further information.

Well said!

My husband wears a tie to work everyday, so he doesn't want to wear one on vacation.  He'll be in a button down shirt and dress pants. 

All across the fleet, Celebrity is non-smoking in the casino.  ? 

We were on the Symphony in May. Normally, we don't eat dinner in the Windjammer but we did on the last night of the cruise. All the way in the back of the WJ they had this Mongolian type service where you pick out your ingredients for a stir fry and it was absolutely amazing. Actually, it was better than our local Mongolian restaurant. Three thumbs up!

I just want to provide my experience a couple of weeks ago on Harmony of the Seas. We had the 3 night dining package and there was someone in the terminal by the waiting area making reservations. We lined up and made all of the reservations before we boarded. We didn't find out until day 3 that he confused our reservations and never booked Jamie's for us and instead changed the time of Wonderland. We had to go to guest relations and had very few options to make a reservation at Jamie's on the day we wanted.
Moral of the Story: Double check to confirm that your reservations were indeed made by either calling guest relations, checking the app, or calling the restaurants themselves.

Thanks for the follow-up! We're staying in a pair of inside cabins, so it'll be interesting to see what they provide on an itinerary that has no beach-type days at all.

Lastly, another major difference is in the announcements.  There is a 10am sea day announcement where the captain gives you a nautical & weather update, then the cruise director mentions some of the activities for the day, and that's it.  Nothing else interrupting your day reminding you about sales or activities or events.  On port days, we got an announcement when the ship was cleared and when we were ready to sail away.  No pier runners either day, no announcements for missing guests.  
We did have a medical emergency where the captain announced we were returning to St. Maarten to drop off a passenger that was ill.  The next day when leaving St. Thomas, the captain did give us an update on the passenger letting us know he was doing well and was on his way back to the states for medical treatment. 
So that’s about all I can think of for now.  I may come back and add more as I think of other things.  So by now you’re all wondering “will they sail Celebrity again?”  YOU BETCHA. We loved it. Did we miss the mini golf, rock wall, or ice skating?  Nope. What about Crazy Quest, Broadway shows or belly flop contests at the pool?  Nope. Will Celebrity replace Royal for future cruises? Not completely.  But we will look at both when booking 2021 and out.  We’re at the point where we feel we’re ready for something different, and Celebrity can offer us islands that Royal doesn’t, sailing different grouping of itineraries that we’ll enjoy.  We are at the point where we only cruise for the ship, the itinerary or a specific group of people. We’re back at sea in December on the newly amp’ed Oasis - looking forward to venues we haven’t experienced yet (like Playmakers) but not looking forward to yet another stop in St. Maarten.
Happy to answer any questions or talk more about Celebrity cruising!! 

I'm putting together a cruise recap post that I will put up in the next couple of days.  It'll be a sailing Celebrity through the eyes of a Royal cruiser kind of thing.  Keep your eyes out!  

Looked through it. Unfortunately that blog hasn’t been updated since May of this year, when the owner promised one blog post a week after not posting for 6 months. I have to assume the site is more or less dead at this point. ?

I'm not inherently a dishonest person... but I always just move the towels if I don't see anyone on them after about 15 minutes (I only do it when there are no personal items). The ONE TIME someone came back, we had been sitting in the seat for over an hour, so I simply told them there were no towels present when we showed up. I reminded them of the policy and told them their towels must have been removed by staff. Maybe not the most honest thing... but neither is not adhering to the very obvious rules...

I like to help the greater cruise community.  
I find a chair for myself that is available.  Then as I have observed an area for a while, I move chair hog stuff and return to my chair.  Some innocent person comes along and starts using the now empty chair.    Chair hog returns and confronts innocent person who can honestly claim they didn't do it, the chair was unused.  
Walking to breakfast if I notice a series of hogged chairs that are still hogged when I return from breakfast I grab the towel and drop it off somewhere.   Chair is freed up. 
I consider it a community service.  

I'm merciless with chogs.  On my last cruise, there were 4 sorta suite "cabanas" in the suites-only area that folks staked out at 8AM, clipping towels to chairs.  They'd literally be empty 90% of the time I walked by... hour-after-hour.  After seeing one empty for over an hour I just un-clipped their crap, folded it up on a table and made myself at home.  After reading a book for ~2 hours, I had an indignant couple ask me to leave "their" cabana.  Nope.  Take your stuff and find an empty one (if you can dislodge one of the other chogs).  If you really want to, complain to a crew member that I "took" the cabana and see how far that gets you.

The best solution will be to put some kind of timer on the chairs like parking meter which will go red if was not reset after 30 minutes ...  maybe if it will be digital timer were you will wave your cabin card , after a certain time they can announce the name of the person and tell them to come to collect there stuff from the guest services ? 

We always went by the napkin. If it was left on the chair, then the diner wasn't finished. If it was put on the plate, then the diner was finished.
 

We always went by the napkin. If it was left on the chair, then the diner wasn't finished. If it was put on the plate, then the diner was finished.
 

We always went by the napkin. If it was left on the chair, then the diner wasn't finished. If it was put on the plate, then the diner was finished.
 

Interesting options. I'm sure there will be plenty of interest. But I'll pass.

Not that I've come across, but honestly I haven't searched.  I try to check in on the Celebrity part here as often as I can, but my first Celebrity sailing isn't until next month...so I don't have much experience to offer yet.  LOL 

We always went by the napkin. If it was left on the chair, then the diner wasn't finished. If it was put on the plate, then the diner was finished.
 

We always went by the napkin. If it was left on the chair, then the diner wasn't finished. If it was put on the plate, then the diner was finished.
 

They call is "Chic night", I was on Summit twice this year.  Basically a nice pair of pants and collared shirt for men, nice pants/dress/top for women.  Most dressed like that, some went all out. Depends on what you feel comfortable doing.  We went with nice pants etc and it was fine.  Enjoy your cruise!!! 

You can check out this forum on the site and maybe find some great tips on Celebrity!   https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/forum/12-celebrity-azamara/
Also, @monorailmedic from CruiseHabit has sailed a bit on Celebrity and may have some tips on his site for you!

Royal Platinum cruises will be provided Captain Club "Select" benefits when sailing Celebrity.
https://www.celebritycruises.com/captains-club/tiers-and-benefits