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When is your next Celebrity/Azamara Cruise?


BrianAlt

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Just got off a 4 day cruise on Summit in the Retreat and we are hooked. book Summit again for November and Silhouette for Feb 23. My goal now is a 7 day on an Edge class. The thing that stood out from Royal the most was the food quality and the service. Both were 5 star resort quality. Even the buffet food was amazing. Luminae fast became our favorite restaurant on any ship we've been on. Highly recommend Celebrity for anyone looking for that next level experience. 

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On 3/17/2022 at 8:11 AM, loki007 said:

Just got off a 4 day cruise on Summit in the Retreat and we are hooked. book Summit again for November and Silhouette for Feb 23. My goal now is a 7 day on an Edge class. The thing that stood out from Royal the most was the food quality and the service. Both were 5 star resort quality. Even the buffet food was amazing. Luminae fast became our favorite restaurant on any ship we've been on. Highly recommend Celebrity for anyone looking for that next level experience. 

I love hearing this!! We are Diamond Royal cruisers but we have scheduled 2 cruises on Celebrity in 2023 and 2024 and were apprehensive at first. This blog made it easy to take the leap with all the positive comments. Sounds like we may be Celebrity converts once we sail!

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Never been to South America, so friends and I are going to try the Infinity on November 28, from Ft. Lauderdale to Rio.  The itinerary is different from most RCCL cruises, I've only been to one stop before (Barbados) and look forward to seeing it again.

I'm somewhat new to Celebrity but the entertainment looks good - a Motown and a Broadway jukebox/production show, plus "Star Factory" which appears to be a wide selection of pop tunes.  This is a change from the usual Broadway shows on Royal or the musicals written specially for Princess.      

It'll be different going back to a smaller ship after being on huge ones the last few years.  

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  • 5 weeks later...

Going on our first Celebrity cruise on Equinox on July 10th, 6 days (Western) in the Retreat this weekend in a sky suite which was a great deal in the fall.   Will be celebrating my 60Th Bday.  We received our official retreat letter a few days ago.  Getting very excited!  Had a great deal that was less the Aqua with the amenities and onboard credit that the Retreat offers.  Using up some FCC's.  Also going on Equinox on August 13th 8 days Eastern in the Aqua class using up more FCCS.   Excited to try Aqua too.

Going to drive from Atlanta this time to avoid some holiday traffic in the airports.  Will be our first time driving down to Ft. Lauderdale.  Drove to Tampa and Pt. Canaveral several times for cruises.

This is the first time in many, many years not to be on Royal.  Any advice for Celebrity would be much appreciated!

Michelle

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On 7/7/2022 at 2:10 PM, Cruising to Retirement! said:

Going on our first Celebrity cruise on Equinox on July 10th, 6 days (Western) in the Retreat this weekend in a sky suite which was a great deal in the fall.   Will be celebrating my 60Th Bday.  We received our official retreat letter a few days ago.  Getting very excited!  Had a great deal that was less the Aqua with the amenities and onboard credit that the Retreat offers.  Using up some FCC's.  Also going on Equinox on August 13th 8 days Eastern in the Aqua class using up more FCCS.   Excited to try Aqua too.

Going to drive from Atlanta this time to avoid some holiday traffic in the airports.  Will be our first time driving down to Ft. Lauderdale.  Drove to Tampa and Pt. Canaveral several times for cruises.

This is the first time in many, many years not to be on Royal.  Any advice for Celebrity would be much appreciated!

Michelle

Hello!  We got back Saturday from our first time on Celebrity and first time in a retreat!  Everything was over the top outstanding from Luminae to the retreat lounge to the entire ship!  It was stunning and the service everywhere was outstanding.  We loved the great singers in the shows and all over the ship.  We are music lovers even the silent discos in different venues even the retreat lounge along with a lounge singer.  The cruise director and captain were very good and engaged a ton also they both were in a liars game show with the 2 of them with a prominent entertainer.  We were laughing so hard.  It was a blast.  Much of the ship I feel has been very much updated.  Our room was completely updated in a sky suite but don't know about the other rooms.  We have one more sailing with FCC's on Equinox again in an Aqua Suite with the restaurant Blue on an 8 day sailing this time.  After that cruise we will be in a Grand Suite on Navigator of the Seas out of Los Angeles to replicate our honeymoon cruise in 1984!  We love the Navigator so much especially with all the great restaurants.  You know how I love Hooked.  Hope everyone is having a great cruising Summer.  So nice to be sailing again.  We truly love cruising!  

Michelle

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On 7/15/2022 at 3:48 AM, Toby said:

Booked a 10 night S. Caribbean cruise in April 2024 on Silhouette (I now can spell it correctly 🙂) in an aft facing Retreat suite.  Our biggest surprise so far is the $800 combined OBC we received. 

You will loved the retreat suite.  Ours was a sky suite on the side and the deck was super spacious along with the room.  We had $600 for our 6 day which was wonderful and of course the all included premium drink package.  We loved having our breakfast each morning set up on our deck with lots of little extras like that.  All the Retreat staff really made this such a great experience with the little touches that were so thoughtful and nice and you could tell that they very much enjoyed their jobs.  

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19 hours ago, Cruising to Retirement! said:

You will loved the retreat suite.  Ours was a sky suite on the side and the deck was super spacious along with the room.  We had $600 for our 6 day which was wonderful and of course the all included premium drink package.  We loved having our breakfast each morning set up on our deck with lots of little extras like that.  All the Retreat staff really made this such a great experience with the little touches that were so thoughtful and nice and you could tell that they very much enjoyed their jobs.  

Forgot to mention there was only 1900 people onboard too!

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17 hours ago, Cruising to Retirement! said:

Forgot to mention there was only 1900 people onboard too!

We are looking forward to it although it is way off in 2024.  We try to book cruises far out but we have also found it gives us too much time to change our minds.  Given all the perks with the Retreat and the generous OBC at a price point equivalent to a Jr. Suite on an Oasis or Quantum class ship with Royal Caribbean, this voyage is going to be a keeper!

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On 7/20/2022 at 10:10 AM, Toby said:

We are looking forward to it although it is way off in 2024.  We try to book cruises far out but we have also found it gives us too much time to change our minds.  Given all the perks with the Retreat and the generous OBC at a price point equivalent to a Jr. Suite on an Oasis or Quantum class ship with Royal Caribbean, this voyage is going to be a keeper!

That's exactly how we felt about the Retreat with your price point comparisons and we had fccs to use on this sailing and the one for August in the Aqua class.  We booked the Beyond in Edge class April 16, 2023 in a Sunset Veranda which has the sliding glass door along with a large balcony in the back.  We have a 4 night dining package to try the specialty restaurants and then the 3 dining rooms.  (P.S. Twangster had great pictures a few months ago.)

When all was said and done it was actually cheaper than Aqua with all the onboard credit.  We had a blast.  The service was over the top everywhere from Luminae to the Retreat Lounge with full bar, snacks, and spreads in throughout the day plus a spread in our room.  They also had a designated silent disco in the retreat one evening, they had my favorite singer come in one night before dinner while we were enjoying cocktails.  Complimentary slot pull for retreat guests one afternoon and my husband got the second place money!  They had so many people that just couldn't do enough for you.  I'm sure this is a lot like Star Class which I've heard so much about. The lawn club was very beautiful and watching everyone making their glass blowing vases to shelves, bottles, pumpkins, ornaments you name it they were all beautiful because these 2 guys in charge were hands on and they all turned out very nice.  I'm very much doing this (with their help) on our 8 day in August even with 5 stops which will be the only tricky thing.  

I'm sure you will enjoy yourself very much.

Michelle

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  • 3 weeks later...

We are on Edge December 2022. We love Celebrity because our very 1st cruise was on the Celebrity Zenith many years ago. The standard was set. We enjoyed our Royal sailings immensely and look forward to our 2nd B2B on Wonder in 2023, but sailing on Celebrity is always like coming HOME!!

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18 hours ago, SpicyCherry said:

We are on Edge December 2022. We love Celebrity because our very 1st cruise was on the Celebrity Zenith many years ago. The standard was set. We enjoyed our Royal sailings immensely and look forward to our 2nd B2B on Wonder in 2023, but sailing on Celebrity is always like coming HOME!!

Being on Edge during December will be great with all the holiday decorations!  We will be on Wonder in May 2022 and looking forward to it.  We also will be on Beyond in April 2023 and looking forward to checking out edge class too.  We are going on an 8 night Equinox starting this Saturday with 5 port stops!  Pretty port intensive. We are especially looking forward to the Virgin Gorda Baths excursion in the BVI's!  We have been trying to get back here to do this excursion then covid hit and fccs so finally we will do it!  We did lots of great snorkeling excursions here before so we want to see the Baths this time.  So excited to get back on the Equinox that we were just on on July 10th!  Ha!  This time in Aqua eating in Blu and having access to persian garden which my back will really love!  

Please send a few pics of the decorations if possible in December!  

Happy Cruising Everyone!

Michelle

 

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Apex:  18-25 March 2023.

First Celebrity Cruise.  We are looking forward to the new experience. 

Beyond ship obvious differences, we are curious about Diamond versus Elite status.  Also, Sky Suite versus Celebrity Suite perks.  We like the  "Celebrity Suite" layout which seems very similar to an Oasis class Grand Suite.  

We like the itinerary: Belize, Cozumel,  Key West, and Grand Cayman. 

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5 day on Summit in December

Stopping at Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Two new ports for us so we're excited!

This will be our second cruise, first was aboard Equinox for our honeymoon in 2019. Excited to have time to ourselves. Baby is staying home with grandparents!

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  • 1 month later...
On 8/17/2022 at 4:47 PM, AspiringCruisePlanner said:

5 day on Summit in December

Stopping at Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Two new ports for us so we're excited!

This will be our second cruise, first was aboard Equinox for our honeymoon in 2019. Excited to have time to ourselves. Baby is staying home with grandparents!

Correction. We're now sailing on the Apex 6 night instead.  Same departure date out of Fort Lauderdale so we didn't have to change our departure flight. Got an offer from the Blue Chip Club for a free balcony stateroom. They had a sunset veranda available so we jumped on it. Super excited to try the new edge class!

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/24/2022 at 4:17 PM, AspiringCruisePlanner said:

Correction. We're now sailing on the Apex 6 night instead.  Same departure date out of Fort Lauderdale so we didn't have to change our departure flight. Got an offer from the Blue Chip Club for a free balcony stateroom. They had a sunset veranda available so we jumped on it. Super excited to try the new edge class!

Are you on the 12/17 sailing? We’ll be on that one as well and loved our time on Apex last year. 

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On 11/29/2022 at 8:42 PM, barbeyg said:

We sail Apex in a Sky Suite this Saturday. One more workday till vacation begins…..

We sail on Edge in a Sky Suite this Friday….just got to Ft. Lauderdale today. 1st time in a suite on Celebrity so looking forward to experiencing The Retreat!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, I know that Azamara isn't part of the Royal Caribbean Group anymore, but I'm posting this here because I know you guys will GET THIS.

We have just booked our retirement celebration experience (herein referred to as the RCE).

Azamara Quest, August 2024 - 11-night Ireland Intensive Voyage.  2 nights in Dublin, 2 nights in Belfast, Londonderry, Donegal (Killybegs), Galway, Foynes, Bantry Bay, Cork, (sea day), and disembarking in Southampton.

Y'all, I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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41 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Ok, I know that Azamara isn't part of the Royal Caribbean Group anymore, but I'm posting this here because I know you guys will GET THIS.

We have just booked our retirement celebration experience (herein referred to as the RCE).

Azamara Quest, August 2024 - 11-night Ireland Intensive Voyage.  2 nights in Dublin, 2 nights in Belfast, Londonderry, Donegal (Killybegs), Galway, Foynes, Bantry Bay, Cork, (sea day), and disembarking in Southampton.

Y'all, I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It funny that you mentioned Azamara….I had no interest really in Azamara for all the years it was associated with Celebrity…until 2 days ago. We were interested in a cruise that included Monte Carlo and offered an excursion for the Grand Prix. Azamara was one of the first cruise line we came across that offers it. We’re looking into it maybe for our 35th anniversary.

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13 hours ago, SpicyCherry said:

It funny that you mentioned Azamara….I had no interest really in Azamara for all the years it was associated with Celebrity…until 2 days ago. We were interested in a cruise that included Monte Carlo and offered an excursion for the Grand Prix. Azamara was one of the first cruise line we came across that offers it. We’re looking into it maybe for our 35th anniversary.

We really enjoyed that line.   Sorry to see them sold off.   Hope they do well.

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  • 2 weeks later...
7 hours ago, PurdueFlyer said:

APEX in 14 days.  FLL/San Juan/Tortola/St. Kitts/FLL.

First time on Celebrity.  woot!

Enjoy!  We are on an 8 day Odyssey on Royal on January 28th before we cruise out of LA harbor again on Celebrity Solstice on March 25th to do a Pacific Coastal.  We have always wanted to do one.  San Fran/Monterey/Santa Barbara/Ensenada/San Diego!  On our second Celebrity cruise they were giving away lots of free cruises in Jan/Feb/March of 2023 out of LA only!  We received the invite on our second day of our cruise in August 2022.  Lots of people received them I've heard.  We have never received anything like this in our whole lives truly!  Being San Francisco Bay Areans born and raised this was a treat since we live in Atlanta now!  I've always wanted to cruise under the Golden Gate!

Happy cruising everyone in 2023!  Cheers!

Michelle

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April 13, 2023 back on the Infinity from Rio to Lisbon.  The ship was small enough to get to know a lot of the crew (bartenders, stewards, waiters, and performers) and really appreciate them as people.  A big majority will still be onboard for the repositioning.  

This is the only time I've ever sailed because of the personnel rather than the ship's amenities, cruise cost, or the itinerary.  That's how good these people are.

Obligatory cast shot for attention.

IMG_1102.jpg

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