canderson

Not to mention the little 'mushroom' seats in public spaces that were impossible to escape (without assistance) for half of Celebrity's demographic!

Can you be more specific? Apart from included fast WiFi and laundry, what differences did your traveling friends encounter?

You may find this site helpful: https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/tipping-etiquette-around-the-world/

"Gorgeous" though they may be, they aren't always entirely an step forward. Hiring an interior designer who bragged about never having spent a single night on a cruise ship left Celebrity's new builds with a few less than desirable features in their cabins. I suspect @Host Jazzbeau is familiar with that distinction. Storage and ergonomics in marine quarters design shouldn't include, among other things, loading horizontal surfaces with tchotchkes, chairs with arms too tall to slide under counters, and bed tables with no drawers, etc etc.

I understand why SS would work with a middleman like Blacklane - working with 100s of individual companies would be impractical. The last minute cancellations could be a logistics problem within Blacklane, or they might need to work with more reliable car services. Either way, if you look at Blacklane reviews, they tend to run to the extreme. If they show up, they most often receive a 5. But there are too many 1s due to last minute cancellations, and Blacklane doesn't arrange for an alternative when this happens. For airport transfers where schedule is critical, that just isn't acceptable.

Yes, if there's no 6 character record locator shown, you'll need to have your TA ask. Alternately, if you have an account with the airline, log in there and see if they already have the flight associated with your account.

Yes, the LIS>FLA run. Yes, the Tivoli. We will be arriving 11/21 for 4 nights. Check pricing privately first. We got the nicer view at a good price and some perks from the hotel for night 1, and they agreed not to move us to our somewhat lesser SS room for the last 3. Sweet.

You can ask your SS rep or TA, but it/they will also appear in your flight itinerary data at My Silversea.

Another data point: We will be on Dawn in November and will be arriving 4 days ahead, not the usual max 3 that SS allows. We paid the $150 for the deviation, and booked our 1st night at the same hotel that SS booked for us for the 3 ahead ... and they have agreed to have is picked up at the airport for hotel transfer.

https://www.silversea.com/my-silversea.html ???

Same here. We had to show passports right after disembarkation at St. Petersburg, so we absolutely needed them in hand for that.

If you're the only person that can explain (and remedy) a particular glitch in the GEODSS system, it's necessary to at least be available for a consult. Hasn't happened during a cruise yet, but there's always that chance. So the best possible connectivity is preferred. Ironic ... needing satellites to talk about a system designed to track satellites. https://www.spaceforce.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Article/2197760/ground-based-electro-optical-deep-space-surveillance/

It's only a requirement for certain ports of call. So if SS does thus as a regular 'thing', it's by their own choice, and largely unnecessary in the Western hemisphere.

I still think we would benefit by seeing the content of your message header.

Are you familiar with how to display the full header of that email? Might tell a lot about the actual source, if not SS. Could also be that someone just fat fingered the phone number, though one would think they'd have it right on a cut-and-paste response like that.

The reviews are all over the map. IF they don't cancel your service for lack of a driver/car right before it's due to arrive, the service you get tends to be quite good. I know I'll have a plan B in my pocket for our November cruise. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.blacklane.com

Perhaps not, but we've been zinged a couple of times when we were on an extended cruise with a lot of luggage, and it was a hassle getting something big enough to hold it. Yes, I know you can specifically ask for a larger vehicle in some cases - though even then, that doesn't mean that's what is going to show up. Then delay until they can find a bigger vehicle. You might be surprised how many vehicles won't hold 3 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons, especially when they refuse to put any of it in cabin space. So when not traveling light ... With Blacklane, you do get direct contact reasonably far in advance so that they are definitely forewarned about what to expect.

Excellent news! Do they prepare them differently from time to time (e.g. herb crusted or en croute, etc) or is it the same each night?

They haven't seen my penchant for lamb chops yet! 😁

Yes. SS seems to be able to manage up to 3 days ahead without issues. More than that and you'll need to book additional hotel nights ahead yourself.

Much depends upon the air fare. Sometimes it works in $ terms, sometimes it doesn't. As an example, we're one way DEN > LIS in a couple of months, and at that time, I couldn't beat SS's business class upgrade pricing anywhere. While they're charging a bit more for the pre-cruise hotel (and not much, at that), the air difference far more than pays for it. Then again, we booked a while back, and the add-on for the business air for the same cruise is higher now, but so are market prices, so it would still be a good bit less than buying tickets from any of the airlines. You need to look at their price for D-D or P-P, consider the flexibility offered by handling your own reservations if that's important to you, and then do the math to see if it makes sense for you to go with SS or roll your own. Also consider how you prefer to get to/from home. If you normally hire a car service for your transportation, you can incorporate that into your calculations as well. We're right at the edge of Blacklane's mileage limit, and our usual car service would run us about another $150 each way, so I can subtract another $300 in my calculations.

Yes, I definitely preferred to work directly with the Flights by Celebrity people vs. how it's managed with SS where a middleman of some sort is always involved. Discussion of alternate itineraries was SO much easier, not to mention MUCH faster.

True, but only a portion of the flights available are shown online. A phone call directly to their air folks (something you can't do at SS) often turned up a better itinerary.

It's called a bidet. Sorry, mental picture just wouldn't go away! 😅

Trying to wrap my mind around this: NINE wines? Does the extra $160pp include the tip for my waiter carrying me back to my cabin on a luggage cart, or @Tucson Guy, are these small pours???