LeeW

We didn't want the infinite balcony so went with 8111 on Beyond. Far forward and very quiet. GPS doesn't always connect, with bridge behind and above, but plenty of glass.

Just after Christmas it was so cold we didn't go in the water, including the pool. Since you can only cancel up to about 48 hours before arriving you need to plan ahead what you are going to do. If weather is bad they may cancel boat snorkeling, scuba or watercraft or the ship can't dock but you are on the hook if it is just cold or rainy.

Lots of the ships have gone to ultrapasteurized milk in dispensers. Granddaughter likes it (same as she gets at McDonalds) but wife can't drink it. We never know until we get on whether they have small half pint cartons (with short expiration dates) or the dispensers of the other stuff.

Soda runs about $4 a can with tip. Soda package gives you soda from a gun (and/or Freestyle machine on ships that have them) unless the guns are not working. Then they usually pour from 2 liter bottles. For us it is worth it but we would not buy the refreshment package. Princess raised their soda price to $20 and we don't buy that either. But they also sell six packs precruise for $12 and this is cheaper than their bar price. Haven't looked lately at Royal's price precruise. Do the math based on your use.

I've seen a few European tours lately where you are buying the tour guide just for your group. Kind of like tours by locals. Think some of them are not candelabra. Not worth it for us.

Coz has a ton of taxis at the stand in the port. Rates to various sites are posted. Not iffy at all.

Lately they have also had tables up near the pool. We usually get them at a bar.

We stake out chairs in the Solarium and grab food and bring it back. Generally a ghost town until around 2 PM and not busy even then. If nobody around may both get lunch together.

We only had a problem when both of us checked out towels (two seapass cards) and checked them all back in at the end of the cruise with one card. Now we check all towels out for the cruise at the start and back in at the end with a single card. In between we just exchange towels without scanning our cards as they get soggy or are used onshore.

Set up wireless calling before you leave (airplane mode then turn on wifi, see if you can make calls). Then you should be able to use it anywhere you can get a wifi signal. Aruba has good internet everywhere, especially if you step into one of the casino hotels. Haiti port has a lot of hot spots. Bonaire not as much. We use the low cost plans from Boost and MetroPCS that do not have out of country phone coverage. Never needed it in many cruises. In Europe might have been nice to have a local phone to connect to map software.

End of December they did NOT have an escape room on 3 night cruise. Gift shop had a bunch of water bottles but we were not looking for one so just noticed in passing.

Very much doubt you can hop in any bus from a different tour. Lots of info on getting to Brugge on the board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/148-british-isleswestern-europe/ Basically if you don't want to buy a tour you can hire a cab, take the train, or take the Cruise Express bus. The train requires you to get to the station either by a bus that leaves directly from the ship or a trolley that leaves just outside the port. Train only runs on the hour, so you have to plan carefully. We took Cruise Express, which leaves from diagonally across from the port entrance building (take the free shuttle bus to the port entrance). Even for Cruise Express we got our return ticket when we checked in outside the port entrance. Cruise ship buses and Cruise Express cannot drop you off in town. They use a bus park on the south edge of the old city (around a 20 minute walk into the center). The town is a maze of cobble streets. Use a map or your smart phone to get around (download a map you can use without phone/wifi connectivity). Restrooms near the bus park - very hard to find one inside the city that is not in a sitdown restaurant. Cruise Express does offer an optional walking tour of the downtown as well as transfers: https://www.cruise-express.be/en/services/bruges

Last time we took the train they had us out there before 7.

In Alaska they need to zero out the ship before new passengers can board, so they won't offer the Extended Stay.

On your profile page "select a different cruise" then "Lets add it now" then "browse our ships" then "Celebrity Apex" then the current cruise (top of the list). You will see everything for the current cruise of that ship. If your cruise is more than a week or two out the Daily Planner may not populate until you connect onboard. Generally I can see Daily Activities a few weeks out but the My Calendar doesn't populate until I get onboard.

No - we normally share a 1 device package. But for this cruise two single device packages are cheaper than one two device package. When you exceed the device limit it will ask if you want to kick someone off, so it is good practice when switching devices to logout.com before logging the new device on. If you have a two device package and try to log a third device on you can't tell which of the two existing connections will be dropped.

When the soda package was $6/day it worked great for us. Now they are pushing the Nonalcohol package and even the soda package has become overprices. As Elite we get 22 diet cokes for our minibar. We may or may not bring sodas onboard, but on last 14 day trip we bought three of their 6 soda packages precruise. Works out to about $2/can, which is cheaper than ordering a single can onboard. OP likes the mocktails, so NA package sounds good for them. Or the alcohol packages if they use a lot of internet.

The login process onboard is impossible on my Kindle Keyboard and difficult on our paperwhite, and sometimes even on Fire. Plus trying to connect just runs down the batteries. Turn off wifi while onboard.

There are a couple of flyboard operators in the Palm Beach area if you want to try that. Granddaughter liked it although her dad did a lot of crashing. Fun to watch, though. Those concessions also do stuff like towed floats, parasailing and wave riders.

Unless you are a long way out of town it is trivially easy to get a bus. Arubus along the beach routes run every 20 minutes and costs around $5.50 even if you buy on the bus. There are also a bunch of vans running the same route with red license tags that will try to pick you up at bus stops. Same US price, but they are not allowed in the main bus terminal so drop you adjacent to it. They pack in as many people as will fit. Locals do this a lot. Even at DePalm Island there will be cabs. If none there, they will call one. The only issue on getting back to the ship is traffic. If you are coming from the south it can back up a bit, but you can easily walk the last couple of blocks back to the port entrance. We generally assume it will take an hour to get back from the north beach area and it has never taken that long. Assume 15 minutes to walk from port entrance to ship. All the tour operators are very reliable and WILL get you back on time.

DePalm Island is 3/4 of the way around the airport to the south. They do sell walkup tickets at a stall as you walk toward the port entrance from the original dock, but not sure if they sell with transportation. Web site would tell you. The have transportation from hotels but think they had you use a cab if you were on a cruise. You might be able to get their bus from the Renaissance Hotel at the marina. Depends on timing of those buses. https://depalm.com/ Now that larger ships dock at the old freight port you walk south from that to the entrance. Cabs are just before you exit the port on your left. Smaller ships dock at the original dock by the harbor and you walk back north a bit to the new consolidated entrance. Taxis for that pier are adjacent to the port shop building exit on left. DePalm pier is up on Palm Beach, where the big hotels are. City bus is the way to go for that for snorkeling and sunset dinner cruise. Near Barcello hotel but driver will let you off at right place. The UTV facility is a couple blocks north of the pier entrance pretty much opposite where larger ships dock, on the main road. Easiest just to walk there.

Yup, port side midship elevators for Suite/Crown lounges - see the deck plan. Conference Center is any of the forward elevators on deck 2.

Used to be in chronological order but after looking at other cruises it can be in any order. Only happens on app, not on web. Started when they updated the app to only show one cruise when you "select other cruises" and have to "see all cruises" to see the others. Otherwise it shows the one you looked at last.

I don't recall any US home ports that don't let you bring flowers on. Some foreign ports won't, but mostly the restriction is taking plant/animal stuff onto shore.

The plus side is that both adults don't have to buy a drink package if only one wants one.