GottaKnowWhen

By all means accept my apologies for participating in a discussion. I look forward to seeing your list of the "better things" that you would prefer us to argue about...

The Concierge team are 2-3 persons adjunct to the Guest Relations team. I never knew there to be more than one Concierge, but apparently more now on some ships? Doubling with Guest Relations staff? But these are Not the room stewards, they are Not to be confused with the personal attention apparently provided to some Suite guests by the Butlers or whatever their new title is.

Not true. I, and many others, book Concierge because that is the cabin we want, not only if it seems cheap. I like higher up. On M and S class ships, to go any higher than 8 (M) or 10 (S) you need to be in Aqua (up under the overhang, and stuck in Blu for restaurant besides) or in a suite of some sort. Besides location, the amenities are nice. If I were looking at a sailing without a decent Concierge cabin available, I would choose a different sailing rather than a Veranda or Aqua. Stan

Probably never uses room service because of all the work to fill out the menu card to order the food…

All of this filling out forms and answering questions! Imagine what it must be like for students applying to college, loan applications, dorm room selection, and then all of the questions constantly being asked by know-it-all teachers in the classrooms or on line… Fortunately cruising is slightly less stressful.

In the last 8 months I have been on three Celebrity ships, one as a back to back. So, four different embarkation days on three ships, Lauderdale, Vancouver and Reykjavik. Concierge lunch served on all. Like many aspects of cruising, this lunch perk for Concierge was modified or missing for a while during start-up, but now it seems to be as it was before.

Depends on port/country. One scenario we’ve seen is for all b2b to gather in a given spot, we all left the ship together, then from the terminal we were free to go ashore, or go back on the ship. That was in Lauderdale, so we just headed back aboard. On one cruise we were the only b2b, they gave a Transit Pass, and we headed off into Vancouver. The shoreside staff were as confused as we were when we tried to re-board (go there - no you are different, go over there - why are you here, you should be in some other queue…) but usually it is very smooth.

We frequently did laundry, in the hotel or ship’s sink. We carry an elastic clothesline to supplement whatever we might find onboard, and a couple of folding hangers. TravelSmith is your friend for such supplies. In one town in Iceland I noticed the sign for a “hikers’ hostel/shower/laundry/bar” and I was briefly tempted to go back to the ship and get a bag of dirty clothes. I decided to go into their bar instead of into their laundry.

We've gradually gotten better at this. One thing that is quite helpful is that some modern fabrics are comfortable to wear but also quick drying. All of my shirts and trousers will dry overnight if I first roll them in a bath towel to remove excess water. Stan

I would have to dig back into buried paperwork, but my example (two consecutive ports, one were the moderate excursion had an age limit [65 I believe], the next where a strenuous excursion had no limits) actually was from a cruise in the Eastern Med in 2018. Sorry, can't recall which countries. Greece and Malta maybe.

It relates to the larger question of what the policies and limits are, and gets to the real world issues of physical harm, death, liability, and a company’s responsibility /policies as they relate to keeping passengers safe from harm. Celebrity (Royal) do try to look after us, they do try to book our excursions through “accredited “ operators, sometimes those operators are constrained by issues like insurance concerns. I am a fan of independent excursions, but I appreciate that Celebrity may provide an bit more safety by looking after me via their vetting of companies, making sure they are safe and insured.

Our most recent (12 day) cruise was the last portion of a 31 day trip by land and sea. We have the 20-30% (?) Elite + discount. My wife sent one item for dry cleaning, never used laundry service, we washed everything in the sink. One carry-on each, not all that many clothing changes, couldn’t mess with possible wait times or loss or damage with laundry service on board.

Imagine you are a tour operator who just had a customer eaten (bitten and killed not eaten, but you take my point) by a shark. A bad day for everyone and I totally sympathize with all concerned. But it bugs me that Royal is so quick to proclaim that Oh, it was an independent excursion, not one of ours…

On one cruise, we couldn’t book a “moderate” excursion (steps, uneven walking etc) because we were “too old.” At the next port, we booked a “strenuous“ excursion, no issue. As already noted, it depends on the local company's and local government requirements for insurance. Not Celebrity policy.

Maybe, but still not allowed in MDR

Different groups get the sail-in or sail-away helipad opportunity; suites, Elite or Elite+, Concierge… It doesn’t always happen, depending on port, weather, timing, etc. On Summit recently we had a Captain’s Club invite and a Concierge invite, And for one passage, everyone was welcome to go out on the helipad. In general, sailing Concierge, I expect at least one helipad visit each cruise.

I wouldn’t wear a lanyard, was forced to occasionally at work sites, but never by choice. It would be very in convenient to have to stash and dig out a lanyard thingie!

I guess I don’t object to a business making a profit on their activities. They seem to understand the implications of supplies vs. demand. If they have empty seats on excursions or empty cabins, they lower prices or offer incentives. If the demand is high, prices can go higher. A business operation, not a charity. Stan

I don't see the connection to CDC. I have done Celebrity Small Group excursions as far back as 2017, I find it hard to imagine what influence the CDC announcement would have had back then. Stan

I can't comment on your specific questions. Our several "supervised" in the U.S. followed more-or-less this process: - Establish an account. - log in, click on ready to test or something like that - a person comes on, asks for adjustment to the camera, and watches while I open the box. - advises and watches opening the packages inside: swab, test fluid, test kit - at some point a QR code on the kit is scanned - advises and watches while I do the fluid into the kit, swab-in-nose, then insertion of swab into kit. - 15 minute pause, Camera ON!, Camera focused on the test sample to make sure we don't swap in an alternate. - supervisor back on, asks for our assessment of the test, has us hold the kit up so he/she can see the results. - email results sent within a few minutes. I think much of the value of this approach vs. self-testing is that outside agencies (e.g., Celebrity) may have a degree of assurance that no cheating is used to try and obtain a false report. Stan

However, anyone can hang out and watch the activities of those paying for their 20-30 minutes.

In Alaska for a cruise on Celebrity some years ago, we stayed in Anchorage pre- and post- cruise. There was (still is?) a great local art museum and gift shop in the hospital. There are nice shops. There is the Ulu factory. And a short bus ride out of town there is a very nice Native Heritage site, worth at least half a day on its own. I totally endorse the train ride from Anchorage to Seward. More recently we did another cruise on Celebrity from Vancouver. Came across the Star Breeze in Ketchikan - image below. I am looking forward to my first Windstar trip, next month on Star Pride and was pleased to see her sister ship up close! Stan

I have downgraded. Tux on my first few cruises for formal nights, then dark suit. Coat and tie most nights. Fast forward to current conditions and crowded airports and packed airplanes and I do not want to carry much luggage. (I never wear jeans except to work in the garden.) I may wear shorts during the day in the Caribbean or similar climate. On the Equinox in February I almost always wore a jacket, no tie, after 6:00 pm or so. Mostly I wear slacks and a button down or polo shirt, with a sport jacket at dinner. If no jacket, I wear a sweater, as MDR and other public spaces tend to be over chilled. No need to pack the jacket , I wear it while traveling. My slacks can be, and are, washed in the sink and are dry and ready to wear within 10-12 hours. Short answer, over dressing is ok, nobody will mock you, but country club casual, clean and neat, seems to be the standard. Stan

Just curious, do you or does anyone have a good count of how many Elite, Elite+ or Z there are? It didn’t take me all that long to get to E+ and I assume there are many many of us, but don’t really know…

I just went back and dug through the FAQs again, to check on my own of what I thought I had seen. It looks like one-two days is the current standard; I thought that a PCR could be done within three days, but that apparently is only in case of unvaccinated. In any case, by December, the requirements may change, the pharmacies I referenced above may all have dropped the testing business, today's answers may be totally irrelevant. All we can do is try to keep up with the changes. By the way, San Juan is one of my favorite places! Been in and out of there a few times, we'll be back in January for a few days before and after a Windstar cruise. Stan