Bob_KY

We booked our first Celebrity cruise in April 2024.  Booked a suite that includes The Retreat all-inclusive bennies.  The biggest surprise was the $800 OBC included with the booking.  The casino may eat a good chunk of that OBC 🙂

Not what i wanted to hear...its a logistical nightmare between flying, cruising, testing etc to try and make a vacation work. After 3 years of not cruising, I was really hoping to make it work in 2022, but its looking less and less likely at this point. At least with Royal.
 
May have to start looking at other cruise lines that don't require it unfortunately if this remains much longer in place.

I'm on the Allure in September. Nice that it's full. The Independence Friday and the Symphony next month should be fun. I generally do not like people/crowds, but on a cruise ship I know how to get by: Few excursions - if any, no MDR, free drinks in the casino (tip well early in the cruise and a waiter tracks you down), good food in Playmakers (tip well on first visit and they serve you quickly throughout), Windjammer very early for breakfast, enjoy the nice balcony/suite with someone who cleans it twice a day and cribbage in the Solarium. 
My favorite cruise activities usually involve doing little to nothing. At home, I'm always doing my "tasks".

The biggest tip is not to become consumed with "winning".  You won when you booked your cruise in a cabin you like, at a price you like.
By all means put in a bid on an upgrade at a price you see as fair.  If you don't get it, you still get to go on the cruise in your original cabin - there is no loss!

Always look at the cost to upgrade before bidding. It's not really a "win" if your RoyalUp cost more than what it would have been to directly purchase the upgrade.
Understand the room category that you are bidding on and all the possible locations are for rooms in those categories. Make sure you would be okay with any of those room locations on the ship before bidding.  
Understand that RoyalUp will not maintain connecting rooms.  If you paid for connecting rooms and want to keep connecting rooms, do not participate in RoyalUp bidding.
Perks are only for whomever is booked in the room that wins the bid. You can't combine two smaller rooms into one large room if you win the bid.
You can't go by current inventory to judge if you will win a bid. RoyalUp can leverage last minute cancelations. 

So, the cruise planner did you a favor by giving you a great first name like Jay.
 
Sincerely,
Jay
 
 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Have some perspective, covid today isn't covid of 2020. I have 4,500 employees, in 2020, a few died and about every 20th one to get covid was hospitalized, Many were in the ICU, it was no joke. In 2022, I've had over a thousand catch it this year not a single hospitalization. These last few weeks at any one time 100 have it, 10 a day come back, 10 go out, I give them all free 2 weeks of paid leave if they test positive and it does not come out of their regular leave balances so as to not encourage people working sick so it is not under reported and I get daily reports. In January this year  me and my three Moderna shots, wore a mask, still caught it. Wife got it in June, same shots. So why would I give a a darn about covid, masks, or tests, we caught it six months apart, had our shots at the same time, still shared a bed while we were sick, still kissed goodnight and didn't even give it to each other either time. Just stop the testing, I'll walk into a covid ward and kiss everyone there, nothing can stop it and I am not afraid of it. Even the head of county USC hospital in Los Angeles (the furthest from right wing conspiracy theorists you can find), in a county reimposing masks said that almost nobody in the hospital with covid is in the hospital because of covid. It's over!
 
P.S., my employees are about 65-70% vaccinated, in 2022 there is no discernible difference in their odds of catching it or how serious it is based vaccine status or mask wearing or prior infection, not in catching it or catching it twice. What was true on 2020 and 2021 is not applicable to 2022 My study, because of workman's comp is in depth and is as big or bigger than other studies you read online and from my data, nothing stops it and its no big deal if you get it. If you are on death's doorstep or scared to death, stay home. It's endemic and it is the common cold now, let's move on, nobody was wrong and nobody was right, stop blaming but do accept that it is over.

You can do the same thing at CK

Actually, Prime is the second level.  Choice is the lowest level with Signature and Masters being at the top.

Well, I get it now. We finally were able to stay in a Crown Loft Suite and no idea how were going to go back now. It truly is something else. Every day we learn more and more benefits of our CLS-- looks like we'll have to do it again 😉

Not sure it really mitigates anything, catches a few carriers. But most likely a lot more un-confirmed +s are getting on-board.   As we've moved on to living with this bug, might as well drop it.   A zero infection case strategy is impossible.

Critical piece of information in the article:
Yet, since the phased restart of cruise travel in July 2021, there have been no critical emergency situations where any ship has been overwhelmed with the need to evacuate guests due to a crippling outbreak of COVID-19.
Even where higher numbers of cases have been reported on vessels, the cruise line’s emergency measures, including contact tracing, isolation measures, and quarantine, have proven effective, and most passengers who do test positive have been either asymptomatic or experienced only very mild symptoms of discomfort.

A little bit different approach.  Room attendant at the beginning and if exceptional - an additional tip at the end.  Just like the suite lounge, I do a good tip on the first visit and service quality and speed increase on subsequent visits.  Concierge at the end with the amount being based on the number of times we use them, effort required, and quality.

1. As to what is a "good tip" amount, that depends on you.  If you pre-paid gratuities and want to tip more, then you tip what you can afford and commensurate to the service you received.  Remember, its not on you to feed your room attendant's family or to pay his salary. 
2. As to timing, I personally begin each stay on a cruise, motel, hotel, whatever, by finding our room attendant and introducing myself.  I hand them anywhere from $10 to $20 at the very beginning.  Generally, this leads to some proactive service such as the room attendant asking me my preferences in what time I will be in or out, etc.  I then tip $2 every night.  At the end, if service was spectacular, and in our case on our recent cruise it was spectacular, I tip an additional $20.  Some may think too little, some may think too much, to each his/her own.
3. Here is an additional thought...I asked my room attendant what kind of things he likes to snack on.  My room attendant had not been off ship since starting his contracts 6 weeks ago.  My family and I bought snacks at port, a couple of Asian instant ramen noodles, and some candy.  I gave the room attendant the gifts and he gave me an air hug.  It was sweet.

P&O cruises have just announced a temporary pause in testing for 5 of it's cruises departing from the UK, be interesting to see is there's a significant increase in on board cases.
https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-owned-cruise-line-temporarily-drops-pre-departure-testing/74640
 

The US federal employee mandate expires June 20.  Obviously that's not at all related to cruising but it does show a shift is happening.

Why take any chances?  
Juneau has a post office right next to dozens of stores that sell the Ulu knives.  Ship it. 
By the way, I did in fact see a couple of swiss army knives and a gigantic box fan on the table of shame during debarkation. 

A little bit different approach.  Room attendant at the beginning and if exceptional - an additional tip at the end.  Just like the suite lounge, I do a good tip on the first visit and service quality and speed increase on subsequent visits.  Concierge at the end with the amount being based on the number of times we use them, effort required, and quality.

I def understand, and don't see it as a negative.  After all, the same parent company owns both cruise lines.  We are sailing our first Celebrity cruise this December, after first getting booted from Harmony to Wonder (moved Harmony elsewhere), then having that Wonder sailing cancelled for promotional (read: TAs) and the naming ceremony.  The alternative offerings for the same week from RCI for those of us cancelled were....quite crappy, frankly.  😂  
We decided to sail with Celebrity that week after finding a great Retreat price on Apex.  Can't wait till December for the cruise!  We don't have an RCI cruise currently booked (also booked Beyond for next November with a ridiculously low price in the Retreat), but we are excitedly awaiting RCI to release the Icon sailings.  So far, crickets on the Icon......

not eqinox but I did Summit recently in the retreat. For us there was really no comparison. Celebrity takes everything to another level. The service, food, ship condition, everything was incredible. I was blown away by the quality of food and service in Luminae. We have 2 more Celebrity cruises booked, can't wait to go again. 

Ironically they sometimes sell them on the ship.  
I first encountered the ulu when I lived in the Arctic fresh out of college.  They are the utility knife of the North used by many native cultures beyond Alaska.  
Later in life the ulu knives I had obtained in my youth were lost over the years so I have acquired some on Alaskan cruises.  I found a nice one in Skagway that I purchased in a store that featured more authentic native art.  I was able to bring it on board without any issues.  Onboard they had some mass produced ulu in the gift store that I purchased as souvenirs to give away.  They all went in my checked airline luggage when I flew home after the cruise.  
If in doubt stop any security officer on board and ask them if you can buy an ulu on land and bring it on board.
BTW - they make great pizza cutters at home 🙂 

I don't think Royal allows knives onboard.  You may want to check on that first.  Also, FedEx or UPS is probably your best bet.
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/prohibited-items-onboard-policy
Sharp Objects, including all knives and scissors. (Note: Personal grooming items such as safety razors are allowed. Scissors with blade length less than 4 inches are allowed.)

we were on Summit in the retreat in March. I assume the Luminae menu is the same between ships. The entire experience was incredible. Best dining experience we have had on 12 cruises that include Disney, Royal, and Celebrity. The staff are awesome, the food is incredible, you're going to love it. If you don't see something on the Luminae menu you like ask for the MDR menu and you can order off that as well. Enjoy!

With the questionable state of the world economy my opinion is that no option will be left off the table to keep bookings up.  This would definitely apply to finding work-arounds to get unvaccinated back onboard to keep profits up, nothing drives policy change more than the mighty dollar.

Congratulations on the RU win !!!!
1.  How many people in your group ?
2.  How important is Chops lunch in the MDR on embarkation day ?
3.  Does your itinerary include any tender ports ?
4.  Are you planning on purchasing Voom internet regardless of whether you keep the Key or not ?