cruisellama

That's special - curious on what requires the movement. Are you able to see? See pics now - Container ship...

Isn't that where One Eye Willie's treasure was buried?

How many days out are people seeing their "e-docs" (w/luggage tags) become available on the website? (I'm 37 days away from Reflection embarkation but no docs yet.)

I'm a fan of Playmakers, Hooked, and Wonderland so prefer Symphony. If you have kids, Symphony offers more water toys, whereas Allure is pre-amplified.

Reflection is the newest of the Solstice class ships. Not yet "revolutionized" to mimic the Edge class ships dining model, decor or suite lounge format. We found the service and food excellent when we sailed her pre-covid. (Currently booked for a 10-day cruise from Rome to Greek islands and Croatia, Montenegro next month.) Celebrity offers base rates that are higher but more inclusive the mother RCL company. So you can elect to get a beverage package, gratuities, internet, and OBC at a known upfront rate. You can also elect out of the inclusive nature of the package also. S-class ships aren't as large as RCL O, Q, or F class ships. No toys, just pools, entertainment and restaurants/bars. More adult and elder demographic. Focus is on food and service.

Flying this weekend so looking forward to being able to not suck air through a mask.

So now the CDC wants the DoJ to appeal. If successful it won't be pretty putting the genie back in bottle.

Here's their email - [email protected]

When we sailed in early March, it was Claudine Benjamin and Junior Allen. Both EXCELLENT. I could email them (instead of waiting in line), and they would take care of things - reservations etc.

If sailing next month, you can probably see a CK lunch menu on the APP. Changes are always possible, but pretty close.

No more mumbling comments about pokey people behind a mask.....

If you have extra time on either end of the cruise, you can also look for lower cost gateway cities. For example if it were cheaper to fly to Rome, you could do so and arrange ground transportation (train) to Ravenna. Of course you have consider those costs too, but it provides a way to look at options. Working through major gateways can lead to less connections too, saving valuable vacation time.

Thanks, makes sense. Just curious, I've always ended up checking in a day or so after the window opens up.

Cruise check in date is a closely watched artifact as people are often trying to capture desirous boarding times. People can check in from virtually anywhere in the world. So what time zone is the APP or on-line check-in clocked tied to? Is it a date/time based in Miami (EST)? Or do different regions have servers tied to local times to allow guests to begin a check-in process?

I've used A2S and Flights by Celebrity a few times. Observation is the tickets are not purchased until after the cruise is paid-up. Not sure if that contributed or not. Now I'll use them for overseas flights with connections as they provide some level of protection getting you to/from port cities, but now making my domestic flights directly through my airline. We really prefer direct flights when possible as we live near a major airline hub. The early cruise line flights (well ahead of cruise date) offered by A2S or FBC tend to withhold those direct options until much closer to the cruise (when they become more expensive). Same for the upgraded classes. As we'll pay the premium for direct, we've also observed watching one of our direct flights (which we paid a premium) become a connecting flight adding ridiculous added travel time (3hr to 8 hrs - NOT). That's another thing to watch. Another observation (and need to always check the airline), is equipment changes that change seats. Cruise lines will not alert you to this. Trust but frequently verify- you're doing the right thing.

This week, there was a drone top view photo of Terminal 10 published. Is there an internal view that shows if there will be lounges etc? I expect it would mimic Miami as its accommodating Oasis class ships.

Dining purchasing not yet open....

Some of the "cooks" don't get cultural nuisance of some of the simple foods. When we were on Allure, I would ask for salsa with certain dishes and get pico de gallo (even in Sabor or CK). Just rolled with it.

Hope a glitch - we have a west coast cruise on Eclipse from LA in Nov '23.

Capt Kate makes pretty good coffees too!

We're booked for March '23. Sailed Edge - liked it, but as the first of its class, had some nuances that could be improved, but the dining model was very impressive as the food. Will be sailing Apex prior to Beyond, and read some of the Edge errors were corrected on Apex. And read Beyond incorporates lessons learned from both - definitely looking forward too. I think Edge class really stepped up dining and entertainment experience from Solstice and Millennium class ships. You'll enjoy the more inclusive nature of the Celebrity packages.

We have not experienced that on American through Miami. Although people we were flying with from FLL said it can happen there also during spring break. Been through MIA many times on spring break (flying AA), and not experienced.

We're not a fans of flying in/out of FLL. Discovered that during high capacity times, the FLL airport restricts luggage with air check-in to 4 hrs prior to flight. As we disembarked at 8am, we were at FLL about 5 hrs prior to our allowable check-in time. Crazy with the spring breakers and lines despite having priority boarding and check-in didn't mean anything. Future mitigation: carry-on (do-able for a 7-day Caribbean, flying in/out of Miami, or find a fan boat excursion to burn down time.

We were recently on Allure and they were short staffed too. We noticed many of the wait staff were working solo - so waiting and bussing tables. Mentioned to the matre'd and he noted the have a staffing shortage and many of the experienced staff had an opportunity to launch Wonder. Seems like staffing a new O-class ship could be a contributing reason for shortages on other ships.

Didn't realized you could hold them. Didn't think they'd like people.