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Captain’s Club points towards your next loyalty level.

It doesn't matter how long the cruise is. It's just one night worth of points. So a veranda gets you 3 extra points if you sign up for Go Green.

Luminae will be open for lunch the same times/days as the MDR. Luminae is such a nice environment on the M class ships and they usually will gladly bring you anything from the MDR if you prefer something on the MDR menu (the kitchens are next to each other).

It's one day's worth of points based on your cabin category. So if you are staying in an inside or Oceanview cabin, you get 2 extra points for your cruise, a balcony 3 extra, aqua/concierge class 5 extra, etc.

Celebrity still does twice a day service. If you want something different, you will need to talk to your room steward about what you want. They are usually very happy to accommodate your preferences. Go Green is a program you can sign up for pre-cruise or on the first day with guest services. It is supposed to mean less chemicals and no full second cleaning although they still provide turn down service and will replace towels whenever you leave them on the floor. I haven't noticed much difference since signing up for Go Green (except for the bonus Captain's Club points which are nice).

The week before your cruise they start getting a little more accurate but changes can still happen after you board. The live blog sounds super intriguing.....not sure why you are procrastinating. 😉

Arriving at the terminal 10:51 a.m. would count as early access at the terminal. The FAQ says there should have been signs of where to go for Premium Access, just like there should have been a luggage drop off. https://www.celebritycruises.com/media-assets/pmc/content/dam/menus/en/y7j7/Y7J7.pdf The FAQ do say that these two benefits are not available at every port and lists a few ports but it looks like the Equinox is leaving out Ft. Lauderdale which is not listed as an exemption. You would think Ft. Lauderdale would be the one port where they would have their act together.

It doesn't if your port gets replaced with something else. That happened to me in late 2022. I don't think I've had any recently on Celebrity where we missed a port and it was replaced by a sea day. And no, there is no way to see a breakdown of port fees because they are constantly changing. It's not a set per person fee - a lot more goes into calculating them. What you pay up front is an estimate of what the cruise line thinks will be your share.

She won’t be a new ship again. Any dry dock will be mostly to address maintenance with some possible refresh of certain areas. So if you are hoping for a “new” ship feel, I would book another ship. All that said, I think the Constellation is a great ship.

The Caribbean Princess was in really sad shape (AC, plumbing, elevator, etc. issues) when we were on her in June/July of 2022 which was a month or so after dry dock. These weren’t just cosmetic issues and reports were that they had been ongoing issues for many months before and after my cruise. Obviously some time has passed since my time on her but I would really hesitate to sail her again without a lot of research from more recent cruisers.

No, they cannot be reused on future sailings. They have a battery in them that doesn't last very long. If you are on a long enough cruise, you will likely find you actually need to get a replacement medallion part way through.

I enjoyed the Freedom last year and had a very good experience in the MDR. I am looking forward to the Adventure in April. Just a note about some of the comments related to loyalty levels and drinks. Celebrity loyalty only gets you a maximum of Diamond on RCCL (once you reach Elite on Celebrity). To reach Diamond Plus and Pinnacle, you have to earn those levels just through RCCL cruises (points don't cary over from Celebrity).

I love the concept. But on the two different Princess ships we sailed on, we ran into many issues. It’s no fun when you get to your cabin door and it won’t open. Even after multiple attempts to fix the issue, one person in our travel party couldn’t get it to work for the last three days of the cruise. He always had to be with his wife if he wanted to return to their cabin. Or when the bar staff can’t read them so have to resort to writing down everyone’s room numbers which really slows them down. Or when there are problems reading medallions at the gangway that create backups. I’m glad Celebrity still uses a card.

It depends greatly on the kids and the itinerary. My niece and nephew who have been cruising since they were toddlers have never been interested in the water slides, bumper cars, etc. of more kid focused cruise ships so they can be happy on any cruise line. Any kids that are similar will enjoy Celebrity. Additionally, for a jam packed itinerary like Alaska or the Mediterranean, you may spend little time on the ship so it isn’t going to matter nearly as much whether there are enough kid focused activities.

My nephew is an adventurous eater and first tried escargot on a cruise when he was 7 or 8 and loved it so much he looks for it on every cruise. Most waiters don't even bat an eye when he orders it or when he asks for a second one! Hope your daughter enjoys trying so many different foods! It's one of the great things about cruising.

I track all my cruises and very few of them go down. I'm usually watch the price steadily increase. And often the holiday sales are just playing with the numbers to convince people there is some great sale when in reality there isn't. So I wouldn't count on a Memorial Day Sale saving you money. All that said, you do have to make your own call about the risk of a higher NRD and your chances of needing to cancel.

I've had it happen to me a number of times on different cruise lines (including Celebrity). The only notice I ever get is in the shore excursions envelop when I board. Sometimes it clearly is because the ship's arrival time changed. Other times it is a mystery why it happened. I suspect sometimes it is the tour operator changing the time. The time change has never been a big problem for me so I've never gone to shore excursions to figure out what specifically happened. It's really unfortunate yours was a big enough change that it no longer worked for you. And it definitely was a very poor response you received from shore excursions.

If you wait until you board the ship to pay gratuities regardless of when you booked or paid, you pay the current rate. You have to pre-pay to avoid any increase.

If you booked the cruise on your own, there usually is a spot to prepay on the website when you go to manage your cruise (same spot where you can see your balance due and request beds together or apart). If you booked with a travel agent, your travel agent can take care of it for you.

No need to ask for it. It is either included in your booking under whatever promotion you are booking under or it is not.

I agree boarding times should be like normal. We left on the Eclipse out of Honolulu last May. We chose a noon boarding time just to give us a bit more time to return our rental car and get out of our hotel but I'm pretty sure we could have chosen as early as 11:00 a.m. I don't know if it was just our timing but that was by far the easiest embarkation I have ever done. We never stopped walking except the brief pause to look at our documents.

In certain circumstances, it really can make a difference. We've been on late cruise line excursions three times now where the ship waited for us. The first was almost 10 years ago on the Celebrity Summit in Quebec City. In more recent years, it was with other cruise lines (Princess and Carnival) an excursion to Tulum from Cozumel (with the uncertainty of the ferry schedule, we always do a cruise line one if we want to go mainland from Cozumel), and an excursion to Chichen Itza from Progreso. In each of these cases, these were visits to sites a distance from the port that required a full day and essentially the entire time in port.

A lot of countries in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America are level 2 or higher. Even France and Germany which I think of as relatively safe countries are level 2. When it gets to level 3, I read what the specific warnings are as often it is specific to certain areas. Level 4 (do not travel) is a lot more concerning, although Haiti is currently a level 4 and I don't worry about Labadee itself. Cruise ships aren't bound by any of these government travel warnings but they also won't put their passengers in danger so they are making their own assessments.

I realize many will be upset by this but after considering a Viking River Cruise this month, this doesn't look bad. The itinerary we were (maybe still are) considering required final payment just shy of 2 years before sail date. So from my perspective a change from 90 to 120 days or 120 to 150 days doesn't seem all that significant.

Sure there is. The ceiling is the point at which people stop buying. When I see some of the prices for things like cabanas or the waterpark at CocoCay, I am amazed people pay those prices, yet clearly they do and often those things sell out.