FLGooner

Wear a mask, luckily I'm a Brit so don't have to worry about my "rights" being infringed.

Yep, did it in St Thomas.

Great fun and highly recommended. 

Afraid I agree with Twangster and Eric on this. We like to cruise Celebrity if we can get a Celebrity Suite that includes the Retreat. We moved our March 2021 Summit cruise to March 2022 which has now been cancelled, so maybe Summit is going.

Checking Celebrity Suites for 7 nights on Apex/Edge for March 2022 is between $14k-$16k for us both depending on itinerary. Celebrity needs to look at that price point as I'm now looking at Silverseas for that money.

We'll still cruise RC when we travel with our group of friends but fear Celebrity have lost us for the couple of cruises a year we like to take as just a couple.

20 hours ago, carlosalonsor said:

The Helicopter Glacier Trek hands down has been the best excursion I've ever made. It's expensive but it's worth every penny!  

Totally agree and now my wife is scouring every port we visit for helicopter tours!!!!

BTW we did the whale watching trip out of Icy Strait Point and had a great trip with lots of humpback whales, sea lions, sea otters, etc.

Thrilled that Celebrity is coming to Tampa, already booked.

Love that we can leave the house and be at the bar in under 30 minutes!!!

9 hours ago, Jicko said:

If your ship has The Key program, embark lunch at Chop's is for Keys only.

We've never had the Key and as Suite Guests were welcomed in Chops for lunch on Embarkation Day last week

If you have a Grand Suite then the Key really is not worth the extra. We just got off Radiance and all the suite guests got complimentary lunch on embarkation in Chops, nice perk and as others have said you can also avoid the crowds in the Suite Lounge.

3 hours ago, FManke said:

Is this included in the cost of the suite? And at what level does it start?

Included in the cost of the suite and listed as one of our perks in the concierge welcome email, not sure what level it starts at but we're in a GS on Radiance.

Leaving Vancouver on Radiance on June 28 and just had an email from our Concierge with our services. We've never had breakfast in Chops before so any insight or recommendations are welcome.

Thanks in advance

Sailing on Brilliance on June 28 and hoping all the Alaska experts on here can help. Any recommendations for an excursion when we dock at Ketchikan??

Appreciate any advise as we already have whale watching, helicopters and trains booked for other ports.

We've sailed Empress to Cuba twice now and loved it. As others have said, none of the features of the big ships but we enjoy her charm and the staff are great. Long conversations with numerous staff who all told us they preferred the family feel of the smaller ship and the chance to spend time with customers. I'd highly recommend the Cuba overnight trip, great city with wonderful people.

Love Brilliance, we're booked for our 4th trip on her in February. The fact we live 15 mins from the port also helps

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Even for a large party of 8 or more?

I've booked My Time on Cruise Planner for up to 6 reservations (12 people), only ever had a problem once and a quick phone call resolved the issue.

Dress pants and button up shirt are more than adequate for formal night. Stopped backing my tuxedo a few years ago as even wearing a suit is over dressing on most short cruises.

Gratuities are included, but we always like to tip our servers in cash, that way I know they are getting it.

Just got off our Cuba cruise and as per usual the wife walked me into the Next Cruise section. Even though we have cruises booked for next year, we booked an Alaska cruise on Radiance for next summer. We normally book balcony or Junior Suites but she persuaded me to bump up to a Grand Suite (must stop drinking during the day!!!).

Question for the experts on here: Grand Suite comes with "concierge service", what does this actually consist of???

Still our fave ship, plus the port is a 15 minute Uber ride from home. Win/win

I would allow at least an hour. Prior visits have shown even when I'm one of the first off, you still got to grab the tram, then walk down to the Bungalows, then get set up and say hi to your "main man for the day" (we give a nice tip up front and get drinks served to us as we lay in the sea all day). You then have to trek back to the zip line meeting area so trying to do all that in 30 minutes with be hectic.

Monorailmedic has this 100% correct, we regularly cruise from Tampa to Cuba, Take Euros and then very simple, quick and efficient exchange operation inside the Cruise Terminal in Havana. Great tip is exchange your CUCs back into USD at the end of your visit as there is not the 10% penalty when you exchange that way.

keep going back to Chops in Central Park, always good.

Cruise Compass for Oasis shows:

Specialty Restaurants: ($) Solarium Bistro - Mediterranean Concept

Maybe other ships are free, but I've sailed Oasis twice this year and there has been a charge for Solarium for dinner both times. Having said that, the MDR is now so poor that it may well be worth the up-charge.

March 2018 Oasis cruise, we were emailed a detailed statement showing all charges, led to an interesting discussion over my wife's shopping habits!!!!

20 hours ago, DDemuth said:

Was complimentary for dinner on our cruise last November and is still listed as no charge for dinner in the Cruise Planner for our cruise later this year.  It used to charge a cover but that changed maybe a year ago.

Interesting, our recent March 18 sailing on Oasis was charging a $9.95 cover for Solarium Bistro each night so maybe another case of RCL testing the waters??? We never bothered eating there so no idea if it was worth it. Breakfast and lunch buffets were the standard fare.

Yes, Oasis Solarium Bistro is now regarded as a Specialty Restaurant in the evenings and charges a cover.Breakfast and Lunch are still free.

Never buy the photo package as I've done consulting work for several cruise lines and seen the profit margins!!!!!!!! You can all buy individual prints of the same photo if you want, we had a great group shot of 4 couples in Labadee and all purchased copies as a souvenir. RCL are happy to make multiple copies of the same photo and you generally just pick up the next day.