Gears

Seems 'Black Friday' has turned into 'Blackout Friday'....

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

I probably should have clarified that it's listed as spacious and able to accommodate 4 people.  Then I saw it was barely bigger, so it was smaller than I thought it would be. I hate front of ship and I was on the curve, so it was an odd shaped room. 

The new room we are assigned to is 191 sqft and that certainly beats the 161 sqft ocean view room we were in. And an ocean view balcony is 198 sqft, so not much different. Some of the panoramic ocean view staterooms can be oddly shaped due to being on the curve of the front of the ship. Our newly assigned room is rectangular according to the deck plans.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

Just notified we were upgraded (RoyalUp) on our Nov 26th, 5 night Mariner cruise from a deck 2 ocean view to a deck 12 panorama ocean view.
Won on the minimum bid of $35/pp.
Basically, crap shoot and your mileage may vary.

I used to fly in the day of cruise. Never again 

Celebrity Equinox - Feb 18, 2023
Grand Cayman - ABC Islands
Will be our second cruise on Celebrity.

Celebrity Equinox - Feb 18, 2023
Grand Cayman - ABC Islands
Will be our second cruise on Celebrity.

A big pet peeve of mine as a frequent solo traveler is that Celebrity hasn't been very welcoming to solo travelers.  Today they have announced they are taking step to change that.

 
What is yet to be determined is if they are carrying this through new love of solo cruisers with the Always Included, Indulge and Elevate plans which have to date required solo travelers to pay double the price for those plans based on double occupancy yet receive only benefits for one person.  
I haven't looked into solo cruise fare discounts to see how effective this will be but it is welcome news for solo cruisers who wish to sail with Celebrity.

I want to try Celebrity as I will make D+ on my Jan 2023 cruise. The issue is finding ships during my solo travel time, I am thinking maybe for our next family cruise we might do one. I haven't done a water slide or Flowrider yet, so some of those options are wasted on me.

We're also considering Celebrity for our 30th anniversary cruise in 2025. I'll be Diamond after the 2024 cruise. I kind of want to take advantage of the Diamond drinks though so might stick with Royal for that cruise. Edit: Seeing that drinks, wi-fi etc are included with Celebrity depending on upgrade package (I think I knew that but forgot) I did the math and for comparable cruise on an edge class ship compared to something like the Wonder it cost's pretty much the same after the Royal cruise planner extras.

If you're not looking for water slides, rock wall climbing, sports court, flowriders, merry-go-rounds or cup cake making classes...you will likely stick with Celebrity as your first choice. That's just our opinion after our first Celebrity cruise and sailing on RCL for around 18ish or so years.
The classic drink package is included with your cruise fare. Do yourself a favor and upgrade to the premium package, totally worth it.

If you're not looking for water slides, rock wall climbing, sports court, flowriders, merry-go-rounds or cup cake making classes...you will likely stick with Celebrity as your first choice. That's just our opinion after our first Celebrity cruise and sailing on RCL for around 18ish or so years.
The classic drink package is included with your cruise fare. Do yourself a favor and upgrade to the premium package, totally worth it.

And the OP is yet another "new poster" with a single post ranting about something.

Thanks for the update! I’m going to do it when we we get to the port…..no ship rolling..😆

OK…here’s the skinny on using Switch Health antigen telehealth testing to come back to Canada.
+ Overall it worked out OK
+ You will need the streaming Internet service, no question. It won’t work otherwise. The service in your stateroom will need to be solid.
+ Doing the schnozzle swab with the ship rolling left and right was an…adventure.
+ In general, if the streaming Internet service on your ship is iffy or inconsistent it may NOT work for you. Your mileage may vary.
Would NOT recommended this route if you are on a ship with older Internet facilities and support.
Hope this helps.

OK…here’s the skinny on using Switch Health antigen telehealth testing to come back to Canada.
+ Overall it worked out OK
+ You will need the streaming Internet service, no question. It won’t work otherwise. The service in your stateroom will need to be solid.
+ Doing the schnozzle swab with the ship rolling left and right was an…adventure.
+ In general, if the streaming Internet service on your ship is iffy or inconsistent it may NOT work for you. Your mileage may vary.
Would NOT recommended this route if you are on a ship with older Internet facilities and support.
Hope this helps.