SebagoSue

So here I go...."telling" on myself.  Sheesh...
I made the rookiest of rookie mistakes.  I double-booked (overlap) cruises !  I still can't believe I made such a stupid, rookie mistake but I sure did !
When I booked our annual tier casino cruises yesterday, I booked the 9th and the 16th of March B2B on SY.  All was well until I realized that we had JUST booked a 10 night EX cruise (an instant casino comp from leg #1 of this trio) for 3-20-25.  That means that I would still be ON SY when it was time to board EX.  OMG, the panic !  I felt like I was going to be sick.  I had JUST spent HOURS on the phone with Club Royale to get these 2 bookings (plus fix another comp that had gotten totally FUBAR, but that's another story....) made and now I had to go BACK and move the March 16th to March 2nd.  I was fully prepared to have to pay a $200 fee to move this cruise but it had to be done....moving the EX cruise was not an option since there was no other 10 night cruise in the casino offer to choose from.
I got BACK on the phone with Club Royale and honestly, it could not have gone more smoothly.  No change fee, she simply changed the sail date and that was that. I didn't deserve such an easy fix to a TOTALLY avoidable blunder on my part. The only problem was that there was a very small upharge for upgrading from the interior offer to the XB, Ocean View Guarantee for this sailing. For this particular cruise, the XB was slightly more than the 4V (which is the way it usually is.....I just got super lucky with my original bookings) but I gladly paid it to have my mistake behind me.  In retrospect (this is not an excuse....just an explanation) this pricing upcharge is the reason that I originally chose the 9th and 16th instead of the 2nd and the 9th.  The fact that I was already booked on EX never entered my pea brain.  Anyway....crisis rectified.  We are still on B2B on SY but slightly earlier than we were, originally.
UGH

I didn't expect our certs to show up until this afternoon (according to the release schedule) but they both showed up early this morning.
I spent ALL morning on the phone (we are in Falmouth and I used the ship's phone to call) BUT we ended up with some great results.  I was able to book both Dan's and my Prime comp cruises for B2B SY sailings (Miami) and we were able to get XB (ocean view balcony guarantee) for -0- upgrade as the XB category for our cruises was lower than the 4V interior room on both of our cruises !!!  We are on 3-9-25 and 3-16-25.
I am not a huge fan of ANY kind of GTY but in this case, it will be worth it, no matter where our OV balcony is. Yes, we will have to change rooms but we saved probably $1000 by opting for the XB over a chance to choose our cabin.  ANY balcony will beat ANY interior !
So be sure to check and see if the cost of an upgraded category is actually less than the interior fare, which is most likely what your offer is based on, if you are Prime.

You can use offer code 24Tier3 if you want to go ahead and see the full exclusion list.  http://clubroyaleoffers.com/CertificateOfferCodeLookUp.asp
 
Summary:
No Icon at all (even Feb/March)
No Christmas sailings
No New Years sailings
No Thanksgiving sailings
A lot of Summer exclusions
A few very random exclusions (like 1 Oasis and Odyssey in Sept)

Okay…upon further investigation, I found the nonrefundable note on both of the excursions, the 3 night dining package and the embarkation lunch for my 4-5 EX sailing.  Interestingly enough, that note does NOT appear on the purchase of the Hideaway reservations for the second third on our EX B3B (4-14).  For anyone else interested in looking, go to your “Order History” and open the reservation.  This is where I found the notes.
 
I find it hard to believe that they are going to implement a non-refundable policy on excursions.  On their private island experiences?  Maybe.   I really don’t see how they could enforce a nonrefundable policy without stating that information clearly at the time of purchase, so I think this is a glitch BUT it is a strong hint that this might be coming.  Not a fan…

Going to echo what others have said as well. I have sailed both, and Wonder has the better restaurants/venues, but Symphony has the better shows. Both ships are great, I would happily sail either one again, I have future bookings on both actually. For me, if I had to pick between the two, it would come down to price, itinerary (if that matters), and ease of travel to the port.

When I dined in CK I tipped as I go. I have always utilized this method. I never know if I will see anyone again.
On one cruise I wasn't feeling very well on the last night so I was grateful I took care of everyone. On another our usual person was sick, so if I had waited they would have missed out.

I know exactly how you feel.  After many years of wrestling with the whole tipping minefield, I have decided to treat it just like any other of life's mysteries - The only control I have is over what I do....I cannot control what happens beyond that.
We tip-as-we-go ALWAYS.  That is the only thing that really works for us.  You NEVER know if you will see the person again who has served you so tip while you can and forget about it.  I canNOT control what happens to the money once I leave it on the table or, in some cases, give it directly to a server.  That is beyond my control.  I do what I should do - I tip - what happens after that is none of my business.  I trust that they have an equitable process worked out where those who need to get tipped, will.  If they do not, frankly, it's not my problem.

Just wanted to resurrect this thread to give a heartfelt thanks to all of you for your advice. Nityam was simply amazing and set the standard for which our future genies will be judged. I want to hope he enjoyed us as well. Considering he wasn’t calling security on us, we were an improvement over the previous passengers at a minimum. lol
 

First one of the night

Ask and ye shall (probably) receive

I agree with everything @SMOKEY0202 said, it’s definitely personal preference.  But unless you love going to the spa, $2,600 would buy quite a bit of specialty dining as well as perhaps a one day spa pass.  I love all the specialty dining restaurants on Celebrity ships, so for me, I’d go with the regular veranda and add specialty dining.  

I always say night 1 is the best night for specialty dining because the welcome abord menu is boring and usually it is chaotic. Think about it, most of the staff has spent the day preparing the ship for new guest, they are tired and learning the new pax preferences. So mistakes and long wait times can happen. Specialty restaurants don't deal in volume, so it is a much more relaxing experience. 

@ScottDAny of the Edge class ships would be a great way to try Celebrity.  I would expect the XCel to be most like Beyond or Ascent, which have some changes from the Edge. Also, I would liken Edge class ships more to Quantum class than to Oasis class in size and feel.
Celebrity is very adult oriented.  While you might see a few children, there aren’t many except for Holiday cruises.  
Typically there are shows in the main theater at 7:30 and 9:30 each night. There are also shows in Eden around 10:30 and other events, games, etc in The Club throughout the day.  You won’t find a pub singer or lots of late night action as on Royal, so for some people it may be too calm.
We find Celebrity to have better food than Royal in all venues. 
if you like to sail in suites, the Retreat experience is amazing.
We sailed Celebrity for the first time last year and going forward we will be splitting our cruises about 50/50 between Royal and Celebrity as we love the activities and entertainment on Royal and love the relaxation on Celebrity.
@Matt did a great review recently of his Thanksgiving sailing on Apex and talked about the differences between the two lines.
if Xcel is a great deal for the maiden voyage, I say YOLO book it!

Oh no. I admit I've complained about this a few times myself. I certainly don't begrudge anyone their earned or paid-for perks, but when you combine suite perks and loyalty perks, that waters down the perks for everyone. There has to be a better solution. Whether you're a suite guest or Pinnacle guest without a seat in the lounge or really slow service due to overcrowding, the outcome is the same for both types of guests. 
 
 

There are 3 ways to get a “free “ cruise in the casino.
1.  Earn at least 1500 points on any cruise.  This is called an “Instant” reward.  These are the cruises listed in the QR codes found in the casino.  The level of the offer depends on your level of play and your losses.  You can earn an instant reward every time you cruise if you earn the points required.  Certificates earned on the same cruise can be combined (see @Pattycruise comment above).

2.  Earn 2500 points over a 1-year period from 1 April of one year through 31 March of the following year.  This is a tier level (Prime) reward.  You can claim this free cruise any time after ~15 April…or when the new casino year starts. Each tier level player gets 1 of these per casino year.  
3.  A random offer that comes through the mail, email or on clubroyaleoffers.com. These rewards are called “Monthlies”.  Monthly offers are based solely on the level of play and losses from your most recent cruise.

#1 also has some bizarre sub-categories that can be very confusing.  For instance, if you earn  a certificate for less than 1500  points, sometimes there is a complimentary offer associated with it but in order to use it for a complimentary cruise, you must have purchased a Next Cruise Open Booking.  Without the NCOB you will only receive the $$$off associated with the certificate.
Also, ANY instant reward comp cruise, regardless of its value, requires a NCOB in order to receive the “free play” bonus associated with it.  No NCOB, no free play.
Clear as mud ?  Yea, me too.

Sorry….been slackin’ off the past couple of days.
Nothing of interest to report.  Tonite is the last night on Radiance  We will be in Tampa tomorrow and we will be disembarking with our luggage first thing,  We will meet Gavin, the Concierge Lounge Concierge (something’s not right with that title…) at 7:00 in the Photo gallery (Deck 5).  Hopefully we’ll be walking off shortly after 7:00.
Speaking of the photo gallery, Radiance still has the old timey photo stands with thousands of hard copy photos to go through to find yours.  SUCH a waste of time and money !  I can’t believe that in this day and age they are still analog with the photos !  I hadn’t seen that in years.  Just WOW.
We finally got to the Cinema to see a movie !  I kept meaning to do it for the past 8 days but finally did it last night.  We saw “Haunted Mansion” a Disney movie based on the Disneyland/ World ride.  It was very cute and we enjoyed it.  The only annoying thing was they had subtitles for the hearing impaired and it was very distracting.  I kept trying to ignore them but caught myself reading instead of watching !  Ugh.
After my first night of success in the casino, the rest were awful so I quit going after the first few days,  They’re really wasted points at the point in the casino year so I will hold onto my money in preparation for 4-1-24 and the start of the new casino year.  We’re not getting any offers anyway so why bother  ?
We will be home one whole night before heading down to PoM to board Oasis (or Oasish, as I call it) for 7 nights going to Labadee, PDCC and Falmouth.  I can’t recall the last time I was in Falmouth.  It’s been a while.  At least we will be driving to Miami on a weekend rather than during the week.  It’s a BIT of a break to the horrid traffic.  This cruise (one of Dans casino comps) is the one and only time we have ever received a complimentary upgrade on a casino comp.  Not sure why….but the offer was for an interior and I asked them to price an upgrade to a Central Park balcony.  When the rep came back on the line she said they had authorized a complimentary upgrade.  Woohoo !  So this cruise cost us nothing but taxes, port fees and gratuities.  We are in a CP with double balcony (12229).  I didn’t even bother to do a RU.  We actually really like the double balcony CP so we’re happy.
So tomorrow is laundry and re-packing day.  Off on another great adventure !
 

short cruises are great if you can drive to the port. We have 3 nighters on Allure, Utopia, and Reflection booked this year but can easily drive. They are a nice taste of cruising in between the longer itineraries that require a week off work. 

Well, I may have a $hitty room but I was a winner in the casino tonite so I’m happy !
😂😂

We just got back from our sailing on Allure with Nityam as our genie. You have nothing to worry about he is fantastic and extremely detail oriented! I think they are a little backlogged with communication pre cruise because of the increased turn over with guests now that they are doing 3-4 night sailings. It won’t affect your experience, once on board. 
 
we were instructed to book chefs table or hibachi in advance if we wanted them as was stated by someone above. 

Quick review of Samba Grill.  It was ok, not great, not terrible.  We used a BOGO so it was a good value.  No WAY would I ever pay full price for it ($39.99 + 18% grat.).  We already knew to skip the first few “courses” (chicken, sausage, pork etc) and skip str8 to the pinaha and filet.  The sides were very lame and the “buffet” was pretty pathetic.  The pinaha and filet were very good but not “melt-in-your-mouth” good like they used to be on Allure at the beginning. Dan also had lamb chops, which he enjoyed.  As I have always maintained about any Brazilian steak house, if you’re not a big meat eater, (as I am not), this is not the place for you.  I left full but not stuffed.  We will not be going back on the next leg and as far as I know, the Samba Grill on both Allure and Radiance will be replaced during their upcoming dry docks.  I think they’re both going bye-bye.  That’s my impression, anyway.
Today is day 4, so tomorrow is back to Tamper for turnaround day.  The next leg is 5 nights and will be going back to COZ with an additional stop in Costa Maya, which one of our favorite ports of call.  We’re going to Mahahual to get massages on the beach !
Dan is going to the casino to spend his points.  If I have any points, it would be too few to worry with so I’m staying in the room to pack up for our room change tomorrow.

Just booked our first Celebrity cruise.  March 23-29 2025 on Reflection.
 
 

Good morning from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.  We are on our way to COZ (our only PoC on this leg) and the weather and ocean are beautiful.  I felt absolutely no motion whatsoever until this morning, where there is a bit of "sway" but in a good way.  This kind of motion makes me sleep like a baby.  ..not that it's time for a nap quite yet !  
Just a bit of an update on the ship's condition.  I have to admit that our balcony furniture is in very BAD shape.  It looks pretty rough.  The metal on the surface of the table is peeling and it looks...bad.  The chairs are ok but the glass on the balcony is so pock-marked that it is opaque.  I really don't think there is anything that can be done about the balcony glass except to replace it but I know that is NOT going to happen.  It's unfortunate.  Otherwise, I am still not seeing any horrible signs of age.  The elevator buttons are in pretty bad shape but appear to be working.
Breakfast this morning in Chops.  Very good as is typical.  We met the Suites Concierge this morning.  Gavin.  VERY nice and friendly guy.  He chided us for not coming to the Happy Hour last night.  We almost never go into the SL in the evenings.  But it's nice b/c they have their own bar, which is very unusual for a SL.  Maybe we will muster the courage to go tonite.  Happy Hours are just not my "thing".  I'm really REALLY bad at small talk.
I am on Deck 5 in the Voom area where there is a small semi-circle of maybe 8 computers.  There are -0- computers in the Crown Lounge (I checked yesterday) and there is 1 sad computer station in the Concierge Lounge which is in a TERRIBLE location and sure to be traffic impedance if a chair were to be pulled up there.  I will not be THAT guy.
We briefly stopped by the casino last night.  OMG I have NEVER been in a casino that was THAT full.  I'm sure there was some kind of safety [occupancy] violation occurring (something that I automatically think about, given my profession).  You literally could NOT walk anywhere.  I am not prone to claustrophobia, but that was BAD.  If we are going to do ANY gambling on this cruise it will have to be during the day.  I suppose there are probably a lot of casino comp-ers (a group of which we are definitely a part, BTW) on these shorty cruises.  They were ALL in the casino last night !
While in the SL this morning we met an officer (I'm embarrassed that I did not get her name) who is in charge of the upcoming dry dock.  She told us that, as we suspected, there would be very little cosmetic/guest area work that would be completed....mostly it will be engineering and operational stuff.  This is, of course, standard for dry docks.  Apparently there will be some work done in the SL area as she was there to discuss this with the Concierge.  We didn't stay for the tech-talk.  I guess I did not realize that the second half of our B2B (2-26-24) will be the last cruise prior to dry dock !  They will be going to Freeport, which will be a pretty easy trip....compared to the big ships that have to go to Europe or Asia.

The pulled pork “enchilada” (Dan insists that it’s a chimichanga.  I claim it’s a burrito.  In any case, it is NOT an enchilada) was surprisingly good tonite.  It’s usually a bit dry and tough but tonite it was moist and not too chewy.  Dan had his usual carne asada.  Both of us were happy with our meals.  In addition, I ordered a second entree (fried tofu “taco” which certainly was not a taco.  Go figure…).  I usually enjoy dishes with tofu but this was as tasteless as anything I’ve ever tried.  My point in even mentioning this is that they brought all of our entrees at the same time without a question, so I think the prohibition against multiple entrees at the same time has been lifted.  I predicted this from the very beginning.  I must be psycho…I mean psychic.
The internet has returned to its awesome self now that we are back at sea.  I was a bit apprehensive about the internet on this older, smaller ship but my concerns were unfounded - with the exception our of time in port…and I don’t blame the ship for that crappy reception.  I seem to recall some technical explanation as to why port reception, in general, sucks.  Back up and running and surprisingly dependable.
Dan decided to saunter up to the SL to catch the tail end of Happy Hour.  I wasn’t feeling it so I came back to the room.  He is now back after downing a shot of Avion, some new and wonderful tequila that the “court” was raving about last night.  I had a life-changing encounter with tequila years ago and learned a powerful (and painful) lesson.  I steer clear.  Had a similar encounter with some limoncello in Italy a number of years ago and avoid that as well. 😵😵‍💫
So, we’re on our way back to Tamper, where we will turn around for another go.  Sea day tomorrow.

Sorry for another photo-less live blog….but b/c we have not sailed on Radiance in MANY years, I thought I would post a few thoughts.
1.  Driving…arriving PoT.  Our drive from Port St Lucie to the Port of Tampa is about 3 hours, give or take depending on traffic.  We have made this trek 4 times now and I swear, we have not gone the same way twice, yet !  …and the drive home is never the same as the way we got here !  …but this morning’s drive was fairly event-free.  We ran into a bit of traffic around Disney (go figure) and again on I-4 W heading into downtown Tampa.  Par for the course.  Handled w/o issue.  I really do love the PoT.  It’s easy to get here, easy to park and VERY pleasant to board.  I will say again, as I have many times, the terminal staff in Tampa are the best out any port we’ve ever encountered.  They are NICE and so helpful.  We arrived about 9:45, were taken immediately to the Suites/ Pinn hold pin and checked in, sitting down, by the most wonderful lady - the same gracious lady that checked us in last time we were here.  Our wait was minimal.  By 10:45 we were onboard. During our very short wait we (I) attended to our safety videos and got the much-appreciated “Complete” banner.
2.  Onboard.  When we first checked, there were no staff doing the muster station check-ins so we (I) went str8 to our room to snatch our room keys.  Right where they should be.  Perfect.  When we came back down, staff was doing the muster station check-ins so we finished that up.  Yippee.  Also present in the hallway was a lovely lady pimping specialty dining so I asked if she would be able to do our BOGO rezzies and she said, “yes”.  Wow.  I’m on a roll !  She let us do Giovanni’s tonite and Samba grill on night #4.  I hope I don’t regret the Samba thing. It’s been a really long time since we tried Samba so we’re taking a chance.
3.  Will they or won’t they ?  Next, the first real challenge of the cruise.  Will they or won’t they allow us into the Concierge Lounge ?  For reasons which truly elude me, Radiance (and I believe all of this class ship) has never converted their Concierge Lounge into a Suites Lounge.  Whatever.  It’s always big drama to see whether our Sea Passes will open the door !  Whew.  We’re batting 1000.  So far, we have not been denied entry into the SL on any ship since we made Pinn.
 
4.  First impressions.  I always forget how beautiful the Radiance class ships are, until I step foot back on one.  Radiance is so classy…so far I haven’t seen anything to change my mind. The Staff has been phenomenal so far.  
So, we are contently waiting in the CL (not to be confused with the CL) 🤭🤭 for noon, at which time we will enjoy our Chops boarding day lunch.  BTW, I confirmed, when I snuck into our stateroom, that our bed is next to the balcony !  Woohoo !  With all this good luck, I need to bet big at the casino tonite.  Or, maybe I’m using all my good luck up, early 😂😂😵

I loved the idea of Sky Jr Suites when they were announced...but the fact that they are on a such a low deck, don't come with internet and are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive (which also bumps the price for GS up to the heavens) really makes me hate them. I would hope that in a year or so, they come down to a reasonable price but who knows.....