Mike.s

12 hours ago, MindiLou said:

Hi

is it true that once on board Celebrity, you can go directly to your cabin?  I know on Royal, you have to wait until around 1pm in order to get in.  
 

 

Yes and it's one of the many things we love about Celebrity, so nice to be able to drop your hand luggage off as soon as you're on board ((OK after you've got a drink and completed your Muster drill!!)

Just seen the latest results, beat the markets expectations and reinstating the dividend

https://www.rclinvestor.com/press-releases/release/?id=1715

Royal must be due to report their next quarters figures soon, perhaps we'll get an update then

17 hours ago, twangster said:

Radiance and Serenade both have a cruise that end there in September of 2025.

It's the Radiance sailing that's caught our attention.

11 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

@twangsterWell that certainly changes OPs situation! LOL. Good point!! Both American and British Airways fly nonstop out of San Diego to London. It’s still not worth the hassle in my opinion. Even taking Amtrak from SD to LA only takes you to Union Station which is no where close to LAX. 

Thanks @Ryan79, wasn't aware of the direct flights from San Diego to LHR, certainly no need to go via LAX now.

Do Royal offer transport from San Diego port to LAX, looking at a West cost cruise that ends at San Diego, would need to get to LAX for the flight back home.

We're on this, our first transatlantic, hoping the weather gods look favourably on us.

We didn't need to make a reservation for dinner, just turn up. On our sailing Blu wasn't open for lunch and we didn't try breakfast.

We loved dinner there and can't wait to try it again.

We stayed just outside Venice and used the Royal Caribbean transfer, worked out well for us.

We asked the cabin steward on arrival and one was provided later that evening, this was on Celebrity but I would imagine Royal will also provide them on request.

On 6/16/2024 at 3:14 AM, Kelseylovestocruise said:

In Venice this summer I am staying at the Hilton Garden in Mestre. I chose it because it is newer, on good transportation lines into Venice, has AC and a pool. All important to me in Italy in August. I’ll let you know later this summer how good it is. 

We stayed there last year, very convinient for getting into Venice, has a bus stop right outside the hotel, the hotel reception sells tickets.

24 minutes ago, nickpants said:

Yeah, I think this is the first step.

Lets hope so, it's the only way we'll get near to Pinnacle/Zenith

15 hours ago, KristiZ said:

Do it! Here’s my blog from right before the pandemic (so there may be some post-covid changes but not enough to worry about). Zero issues with the language. There are some great itineraries out that way and Spectrum is lovely! 
 

 

Loved the blog and we've taken the plunge and booked sailing from China, looking forward to a different Royal experience.

On 1/6/2020 at 6:48 AM, KristiZ said:

- I loved the Asian flavor of the ship! Granted, I've lived in the region for nearly 6 years, but please please don't let the fear of the "culturally enriching" cruise stop you from exploring the area. And all signs point to Royal investing more and more in the region

Thanks for a wonderful blog, we were sitting on the fence regarding cruising on Spectrum from China, we're now booked

Currently it's $81.99 a day, claims to be buy one get one 50% off

18 hours ago, Disappointed321 said:

2 suitcases broken costing us $500 at port calls for new ones.

Did you report these the Royal, we had a instance where our suitcase was damaged and Royal paid for the repairs, they offered a replacement case but we opted for a repair as it was part of a set. Yes I was annoyed they damaged it but happy they did all they could to make things right.

Hopefully the forum can help us, we're keen on a cruise from China on Spectrum but concerned on which of the activities we'll be able to join in (we only speak English).

I appreciate the shows will be more song and dance and the dining options will be slightly different but are any of the quiz activities in English or will we be watching the quiz rather than joining in it?

Any information from those who have cruised from China would be much appreciated.

We did this on a Celebrity sailing from Tampa, we got off withing minutes of boarding, security showed us out via a side door in the terminal as everyone else was boarding. When we returned we just showed our card and walked straight back on the ship.

1 hour ago, PeanutButterStout said:

They are cleaning everything and enforcing hand sanitation prior to enter food venues. 

They should be enforcing hand sanitation before entering food venues irrespective of any noro breakout. My personal pet hate is the entitled people who body swerve the hand sanitizers outside the WJ.

On 5/8/2024 at 9:56 AM, Chili said:

It looks like Princess is pulling another ship out of Australia. With Virgin gone there must be a market for a third Royal ship.

https://www.travelgossip.co.uk/product-news/grand-princess-to-homeport-in-san-juan-for-winter-2025-6/

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/princess-cruises-to-homeport-two-ships-in-southampton-in-2026

Looks like Princess is committing more ships to the UK market, would happily trade one of them for an additional Royal ship.

1 hour ago, Chili said:

It looks like Princess is pulling another ship out of Australia. With Virgin gone there must be a market for a third Royal ship.

https://www.travelgossip.co.uk/product-news/grand-princess-to-homeport-in-san-juan-for-winter-2025-6/

Sadly Royal only seems interested in putting more and more ships on short trips in the Caribbean

12 hours ago, Last Lion said:

Okay sports fans what happens in a loyalty program merger in this case?

You’re Diamond Plus on Royal. You are closing in on Elite Plus on Celebrity.

Way up on both lines so a lot of points earned on a lot of cruises on both brands.

If a merge were to happen, would loyalty to both brands be recognized by adding 

up both point amounts to put you at or near Pinnacle level? Or would you be kind

of shortchanged and given a Diamond Plusy level?

Asking  for a friend!

 

We must have the same friend, they wanted me to ask the same question (OK so we're, sorry they're a little way off Elite plus)

Having the same issue on both Royal and Celebrity apps, changed the password on Royal, for the same one I had previously, on Celebrity I get a HicUp message saying we can't change your password right now. How can a company this big be this bad when it comes to IT.

They should be ashamed and embarrassed.

10 hours ago, billdauterive said:

It's not that it's a ship to be avoided, it's that it was already home ported in Galveston last year. It seems like a step back going to the same ship (even if it really isn't because of the upcoming amp).

Could be a lot worse, we're getting Independence back again, not really a step up from Anthem

57 minutes ago, michaelp1446 said:

Royal has No sailings out of Amsterdam in summer 2025. The deployment schedule was released last November for Europe. What you see is what's available.

Very disappointing for sure. Celebrity would be your best bet if you want to stay in the RCL family. 

Sadly the whole 2025 Europe deployment is very disappointing, feels like Royal is only interested in short sailings to CocoCay

Just listened to the latest webcast from Celebrity, in the Q&A session Laura Hodges Bethge was asked about updating the ships that missed their upgrades due to the pandemic. She confirmed they are looking at updating the Solstice class ships but was non committal re the Millennium class ships, stating they were nearer the end of their life. Sad as we love the smaller ships, we're hoping they don't follow Royal by building ever larger ships.