phoenix_dream

I have sailed on Celebrity 67 times so far, with 9 more already booked. In all those cruises I have only sailed on one that I would consider a little worse for wear and that was many, many years ago on Century right before they sold her. Celebrity does a great job at maintaining their fleet. Yes, on older ships you will see some wear and tear here and there if you are looking for it. But nothing at all that deteriorates the experience in my opinion. And just as a counterpoint, I recently sailed on Eclipse and had a great cruise and found nothing at all wrong with the food. If you want brand, spanking new then book an Edge class ship. But have no fear about booking any Celebrity ship of any age.

On my cruise in January, no one was able to enter the boarding area until 11:00, and then it was only highest level suites. Those of us in Sky suites had to wait a bit longer, maybe 15 min.

It’s not always intentional. I’ve had flight times changed considerably after booking, especially in recent times. Sometimes it’s later, but on occasion I’ve had flights bumped up an hour or more. You might think, well, just change your flight to a later time. Not always possible as full as airplanes are these days. And with cuts in flight options people may have little choice in flight times, especially going into the smaller airports

I think it would also help if people could just stay in their cabins for an hour or so longer, but I understand completely why this is not possible. It does get frustrating having to sit in crowded public areas for a good length of time waiting for your luggage # to be called.

And yet for some reason you feel the need to continue to post on a Celebrity thread and say bad things about the brand. I would ask what your issues were, but frankly with 67 wonderful Celebrity cruises behind me I don't really care. Never had a bad one.

That would be a good compromise. Let people walk off themselves if they want to, but require the very early birds to prove an early flight. This wasn't that big of an issue until recently when capacity increased substantially. On my recent Summit cruise the ship was full and the average age was probably 75+. All the people struggling to drag around their luggage and clogging up the elevators and lounges with more luggage than they could handle was ridiculous. This is not an ageist thing as I am not spring chicken myself, but people need to know their limits. At 70+ I know trying to drag all my luggage around is just not the smart approach. People talk about lost luggage and I know this can happen, but it is really not that common to lose luggage on the way off a ship. Been on 70+ cruises, always put my luggage out, and never a problem. Could it happen? Yes, but odds are very low.

And that's the kind of people that drive me crazy!!

I think the people who don't want to follow the rules should be the ones not cruising -on Celebrity at least.

I get it. That was exactly my point as well. Whatever happened to essentially making a contractual agreement with someone and then honoring it?! If you don't like the rules, book another type of vacation or another cruise line. Don't just thumb your nose at the rules because you don't like them. Low class. Very low class.

not saying that. You have a reason to want to leave early related to ultimately catching a plane. I am talking about people who just don't feel like waiting for no reason at all and then cause congestion for everyone. And if she loves shopping, have you tried the Sawgrass Mills outlet mall? They have both high end and middle range stores - a great mall!

Wow, you're lucky. I don't know the exact number of our sailing before yours, but they said the ship was full and the inside areas were almost always very, very crowded. Given the capacity the numbers had to be similar. The theater (at least for the early show) was very full. Rarely could find a seat at or near the Martini bar. Rendezvous was just about as crowded most of the time. Casino was very, very busy most nights (less so during the day). People were lined up by the dozens at dinner time waiting to get into Select dining. Was not at all unusual to see 10 people in line at Cafe al Bacio (nothing against the staff, they were very efficient). Blu needing to give out beepers regularly. Wonder why the difference? Maybe your cold weather was less cold than ours -we had a good amount of high wind and some rain which made it worse.

I started cruising again last September - they never took our temperatures back then.

All good information. Unfortunately even antigen tests can show positive for some time. It took me 13 days from symptom start to show a negative test. Frustrating. But I agree - definitely should do antigen rather than PCR which can show positive for weeks, or even months.

True, it is much more of a cooler than a fridge. If anyone needs a real fridge for medicine storage, they need to contact special needs and get an actual refrigerator for their use.

The best way to handle feedback is while onboard. Praise where it is needed, and if there are real issues raise them to the appropriate person so things can be rectified.

I've had to switch to a different browser just to log in. Frustrating.

Yes, and I wish it wasn't. It used to be that you had to prove an early flight to do it. I understand that. Now anyone can. So what happens? People who have early flights and really need it get stuck in lines hundreds of passengers long. Want to catch an elevator in the early morning? Good luck. Loaded with luggage and people. Need to go anywhere near the exit area in the morning? Again, good luck. Stumbling over crowds of people and tons of luggage trying to get back to Blu for breakfast. Have the bad luck to get behind all too many of a certain age (of which I am as well for the record) or a small size, struggling like crazy to move more darn luggage than they can reasonably handle, inching down the hallways, I just wish people would show a little more consideration for others - something that seems to be in short supply these days. If you really need to do it, fine. But if you are just driving a few miles home from the ship and can wait for those who need it to clear out, please do so. In fact, just put it out and wait for your number to be called to make life easier for others. A little kindness and consideration would go a long way. End of rant.

I am just saving mine for now. With a potential winter surge in cases it is very possible testing could become the norm again. When they near expiration date, I will just use them as I would any other test at home if I felt I needed one for some reason

How someone dresses doesn't necessarily affect me per se, although there is such a thing as ambiance and that is one thing I am in fact paying for. But having too many people on ships with the attitude of "it's my vacation so I'll do whatever I want and the heck with the rules" does. That's what bothers me with the current dress code enforcement or non-enforcement. I realize Celebrity is struggling to recover and I understand they don't want to anger their customers. So my real issue is with the "always me first and rules only apply to other people" passengers. Most passengers on Celebrity used to care about manners and consideration for others. It's sad to see that falling short lately. Unfortunately that's an issue with society in general these days. Very sad.

I confess I am so jealous! Onyx level (second lowest) and have been on many Celebrity cruises and get absolutely no offers. I have many cruises already booked in the next year. Wonder if that is actually working against me? Meaning I already am a steady customer so why tempt me? I am going on some of the cruises people are mentioning they are getting for free, only I am paying the full load. Just doesn't seem very fair to me. Very curious about how they actually choose who to send the free offers to? Does anyone have any insight on that? I know people who gamble a lot get freebees and I have no issue with that. I'm talking about the people who rarely, if ever, gamble.

Ten cruises since the pandemic and enjoyed every single one of them! Different in some ways but still very enjoyable.

It all depends on the weather and other conditions as noted above. Your ports aren't tender ports so they aren't subject to cancellations due to sea conditions like Grand Cayman for example. Any island tour director worth my money would offer refunds if for some reason the ship cannot dock. I would never book with one who did not, on principle if nothing else. I suggest double checking their policies. Virtually all of them who generally will not allow cancellations will make an exception if the ship can't dock.

It really depends on the ship and sailing. I also recently sailed Summit and it was completely full, with very few cabins reserved for quarantine so they let people quarantine in their cabins (which IMHO all ships should do anyway!). It was a colder weather cruise so everyone was inside most of the time and the facilities were wall to wall people. It was no surprise that near the end of the sailing they announced masks inside due to Covid cases Also sailed Eclipse this summer to Alaska and at the time it was the highest percentage capacity yet as of that time. Being a bigger ship it didn't feel nearly as crowded as Summit and was not experiencing the staffing shortage/new staff barely trained that Summit struggled with. They did the best they could but it was a challenge

My advice is stay by the airport. There are a number of nice hotels there (we like the Embassy Suites, or for less $$ the Hampton Inn). You have to taxi or Uber from the airport to somewhere anyway. Might as well stay close to the airport and just transport in the morning. Less expensive, nice restaurants nearby, casino in the property, walk to a grocery store if you like, or the beach. We've done it that way a number of times. Since it's only for one night no need to pay more $$ to stay closer to the port IMHO. I don't know of any hotels near the port that offer free shuttles. And if you haven't booked your flight yet I personally would recommend coming in a couple days before. There aren't that many flights to PR from most places and if something goes amok with your flight there will be fewer back-up options with the full flying planes these days.

Not sure about weather, but there can be some choppy seas in particular around the area where the US and Mexico meet. We've sailed that itinerary a number of times and never had any serious issues. Our worst seas were in the spring in the Gulf of Mexico - 30'. You just never know for sure.