D and D at Sea

On 12/19/2022 at 8:50 PM, Mike K said:

Nice to hear from you.

I was wondering if something might have happened and you wouldn't be sailing since I know hurricane IAN hit where you are from pretty hard.  

It's hard to believe it is less than a week to go before the cruise.   We're Diamond Plus and have been on many cruises before (28), but mostly the Caribbean islands and Mexico so the stops in Latin America are a first for us. We are definitely looking forward to these stops.

Right now we are keeping an eye on the weather.  We live just outside Toronto so we always worry about flying out this time of year.  We are flying down the day before just to be safe -- but there is a nasty storm forecast for the end of the week.  If the forecasts hold it should be clear by the time we leave.

Good luck with your travels! It is very cold here this weekend. (Mid 40's) We typically sail Celebrity except when we bring the kids and grandkids and then we choose RCL. We had one booked for July of 2021 and then came COVID and the kids wouldn't get the jab so we used the FCC on this one for us.

Wow! someone posted! Welcome! We have sailed over the holidays several times, but this is our first time doing just New Years. We usually sail over Christmas too. We have been to all of these ports several times if you have any questions.

Cheers!

4 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

Drink packages at full price really make very little sense for most people.  What you are doing, in essence, is pre-paying for about 7 drinks per day.  Sort of gambling that you are going to drink more than that on a daily basis.  Yes, there are some that do...but for most people, it's simply not going to happen--you're better off paying "by the drink".

And, for those of us who are Diamond or Diamond Plus, it gets more outrageous.  Because you get four (Diamond) or five (Diamond Plus) free drinks per day, buying the drink package means you are pre-paying for drinks #5-11 or #6-12!  You only reach "break-even" when you hit 11 or 12 drinks per day! 

For us, at Diamond Plus, five drinks usually covers it...but, if for some reason, I want a sixths or seventh drink, the per drink cost for those is still far less than the cost of a drink package.  OR, more often, my wife, who rarely drinks even those five vouchers worth, just orders me the extra drink on one of her leftover vouchers.

My wife and I normally sail on Celebrity and being ELITE+ we are Diamond on RCL. We are on RCL this weekend and my question is, do unused vouchers roll over to the next day or is it use them or lose them?

We are leaving for our Alaska Cruisetour on June 11th and are bringing a few emed tests with us so we can test two days before boarding and the day before disembarking in Vancouver for our flight back to the U.S. This will make it a little easier for us.

Greetings from Bonita Springs Florida! We are Dave & Deanna and we are looking forward to enjoying New Years on a cruise. We usually sail over Christmas too however, our adult children made us promise to stay home with them and the grandkids for Christmas. Well knowing we had some FCC to use up, we found this one, on the 26th, the day after, WINNER! We are looking forward to meeting more cruise friends and enjoying this cruise. Cheers!

I used to sail RCL until I tried Celebrity.........that was 20 cruises ago. Most folks don't go back (unless you have kids) once they sail Celebrity.

Another vote for Park N Go. If you book it online you get a nice discount too.

19 hours ago, jeffmw said:

It's interesting that RCI would ban smoking altogether on Celebrity cruises, which are specifically geared more towards adults, and still allow them on RC, where they're clearly targeting families. That seems counterintuitive.

And if the reason is because then it confines the smokers to an area not meant for children anyway (the casino), I'd venture to say that effort doesn't work. On the Oasis class ships the stench from the casino leaks well into the entryway for the dining room on Deck 3. My kids wouldn't even go into the dining room entrance on 3 because they hated the smell so much -- even at 5:30!

My Bride and I sailed on the Mariner a couple of months ago and it reaffirmed why we love Celebrity. We did have a great cruise however, even when the casino was closed there were many folks in there smoking. Our favorite hangout spot is the Schooner Bar and the stench coming from the casino was horrible most of the time. I have nothing against peoples right to choose to smoke (I quit 25 years ago but still enjoy an occasional cigar) but I prefer they do it outside.

16 hours ago, LCWind said:

I hope they make the casino non-smoking permanently. 

This is the main reason we mostly sail on Celebrity. We love RCL however, we love no smoking anywhere inside more.

The reason I asked was, like most seasoned cruisers, (this is #29) we know that you should dress smart casual or evening chic however, on our last cruises on the Equinox we were seated by the entrance to the dining room and every night there was a minimum of 30 men dressed in shorts or swim suits, one night they let a guy in wearing cut off jeans, a tank top and wearing a giant Sombrero! So I felt like I was dressing every night for nothing. I spoke to the maître d and asked if Celebrity changed the dress code and he insisted they had not but they were not enforcing it. I think at this point they are just grateful to have passengers. I appreciate the input and think I will be packing dress shorts and a few button down shirts.

Cheers!

My wife and I typically sail on Celebrity and we know the dress code says "No Shorts" however, on our last three cruises since the restart it was not enforced at all. My question is can anyone who has sailed RCL lately tell me if they are allowing shorts in the dining room? We are on the Mariner this weekend and only want to pack what we need. TIA