Reel Love

Having sailed both the Equinox and the Edge, my personal preference for a Caribbean itinerary would be Equinox.  Loved both ships, just my personal preference to have a "real" balcony as opposed to the Infinite Balcony when sailing in warm climate.  We love the heat and really enjoy having the actual balcony to sit out on.  Just wasn't the same to sit beside an "open window" on the Edge in the Caribbean.  We book Deck 8 or 9 usually, so I can't help with the noise questions re: Deck 6 or 7.  We also book the slant on the hump due to the much larger balcony.  Good Luck and please let us know what you decide 😊

Thank you Deb, for your great "semi-live" review.  Not sure if you or anyone else onboard will know this, but just curious since I think someone posted on this thread that Sue Denning is on the ship just recently as CD (I could be mixing up threads).  Does anyone know if she will be the CD on the first sailing post-revolution on Feb 14, 2020?  I have read on these boards that she is pretty fantastic, but have no idea if CD's work on three month or six month contracts or how they are scheduled.  TIA to anyone who may have an answer.  😊

On 10/23/2019 at 12:07 PM, VivianK said:

Hi, How do you know in advanceif the option is available? We are on the 2/23/20 Silhouette and would love to know. Thanks

Hi VivianK.  My understanding (and someone please correct me if I am wrong) is that as the ships are "revolutionized" they are changing to this new process where once you board, you can go immediately to your cabin to drop off your carry-on and pick up your key card.  You then have to leave the cabin areas so the crew can continue to prepare the rooms, or at least that was how it was on our Edge cruise which is the first time I have experienced this process on a X ship.  The Silhouette's first post-revolution cruise is Feb 14, 2020 so I guess I will find out on Feb 14 if this is correct   😄

Thank you Jim, for once again taking us along on your vacation/cruise!  I thoroughly enjoy your live blogs and am very much looking forward to your reviews, especially as we are also looking into booking a Greek Isles cruise in the (hopefully) near future.  Your reviews are always well written, fair and offer a lot of good information and fantastic pics!   Wishing you and Iain a fabulous cruise ☺️

Thank you for the tip, Jelayne ☺️    I hear you abut the lugging carry-ons around the ship.  Fortunately for us I think our next cruise (Silhouette Feb 2020) has the "go to the cabin to drop off your carry-on/pick up your key card option" so at least that eliminates one issue!

16 minutes ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

You can also get a burger, hotdog and/or fries at the Mast Grill or some light fare at the Spa Cafe - all included in your cruise fare.

LOL.....thank you so much and Volk94.  We have cruised Celebrity several times and never once have I thought to go to the Mast Grill upon embarkation to eat!!!  Always end up at the crowded buffet amidst the mad rush😏   New lunch plan for Feb 2020 embarkation haha

Thank yo so much supersaramoon!  Excellent work and much appreciated.  IMO you made a very salient comment in your first post about how this list can assist one to be more adventurous with the drinks one may want to try.  Admittedly I am one who sticks with the "same old, same old," especially since X started stocking Clamato juice on board.   This list will make it very easy on the next cruise to expand my horizons!  Thanks again!  ☺️

Thank you, calicakes, for a great review!  We will be sailing ABC's in Feb 2020 (different ship, though) and gleaned some good tips from your experience.  Much appreciated!! ☺️

Reading these last few posts with much interest as we have booked Around Curacao for February 2020.  I also assumed from reviews that one of their guides does the driving so I just checked my confirmation e-mail from Andy and he stated in his reply that we will have "a private driver guide."  Guess I better write him to clarify.  Thank you Sharon K for mentioning what their site says.....either I completely missed it when I initially booked several months ago or they have changed the wording since I booked.  

On 9/18/2019 at 6:53 PM, NanaChar said:

We are going to be on Silhouette after it is Revolutionized.  There is a group of us (about 10 people) who will be bringing their favorite special occasion wines to share.  

What a great idea!!!!   We will also be sailing with friends on the Silhouette after the revolution so will be very interested in hearing the outcome of where your wine tasting ends up taking place.  

I could not purchase something online with Celebrity once and couldn't figure out why.  Turns out after calling them it was something as simple as I did not enter my phone number the exact way the site expected me too.  I either put the "dashes"in between the sets of numbers or entered it without spaces, can't remember which, but the site never said "enter with no spaces" or whatever.  Hopefully it is something as simple as that in your case, Quaker Boy.

btw, Tallnthensome, your last sentence made me laugh out loud and you are probably correct 😂

We have sailed five cruises on Celebrity in the last six years and have never received a post-cruise thank-you note, nor a $100 "thank you" credit for future booking.  Our itineraries have been a mix of Eastern, Western and Southern Caribbean and since a lot of lines sail the Caribbean and these itineraries are so popular perhaps X does not offer this "thank you" credit for Caribbean sailings?  Just a thought.

7 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

My picture is 4 years old. It was from our favorite cruise to date which was on the Oasis of the Seas. I have gained a few lbs since then so I’m a bit camera shy now. 😔  

You look wonderful, are still younger than me, and my original comment still stands......I truly hope that you enjoy your X cruise! ☺️  Have a wonderful time!!!! 

Even though I did chuckle when I read your comment,  I certainly agree when you wrote "sad but true" 😐.  Celebrity is our preferred line so I have to admit that I don't read much on the other cruise line's boards but did find it interesting to hear that you find this inconsistency common among all cruise lines. 

2 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

If I’m out of place being myself then this will be not only our first, but also our last cruise with Celebrity. 

When I went on my first Celebrity cruise I wasn't much older than you (well, your pic looks like you are younger than me 😉).  I'm sure you will be absolutely fine being yourself on Celebrity and I truly hope that you enjoy your first Celebrity cruise!!!  ☺️

20 minutes ago, CanuckCruizer said:

you can call Celebrity 10 different times, talk to 10 different agents and get 10 different answers.

True story!!!  😂   

Thank you for the info, everyone.  I didn't notice this on my Cruise Planner but will certainly be making some inquiries!!  🍷🍷😊

We were  on one of the new Celebrity tenders going back to the ship from Grand Cayman.  And yes, it was very comfortable!  Glad we had the opportunity to be on one.  If I recall correctly, they only used the old tenders from Grand Cayman to take everyone from the ship to shore, but on the way from shore back to the ship they were using both GCM tenders as well as Celebrity's (at least on our cruise on the Edge).

1 hour ago, hiccups said:

I'm not sure if your TA provides online pricing, but I'd be curious to check with a mock booking to see if that's the case.  My TA tried to tell me that the price had increased, but I went to their website, and it hadn't.  So now I am back to trying to get the perks from him.  I think he just doesn't want to be on hold with X's group booking department to change it for us.  Dumb on his part, because right now he's paying for our gratuities, and they'd be included with the new promo!

Hi hiccups.  I think along the same lines as you do and actually did do a mock booking.  What surprised me was the price that Celebrity quoted my TA to avail myself of the 4 Perk Promo was actually much higher than my "brand new" mock booking on the website today with the promo would have cost me.  I have to admit, I can't always figure out X's pricing and how it works!!! 😉  Oh well, happy with my original price and will just be happy to be sailing!!! 

Hi Tigrou.  No flaming from me, lol.  Yes you are absolutely right..... the price was higher when I did my research and I do understand Celebrity's policy about new promos on new bookings and so was not surprised at the answer.  What I wasn't very clear about in my earlier post is that I was sure I had seen a comment (sorry, can't say off the top of my head where that post was) that someone asked Celebrity about "adding" the promo and they were told that if they went ahead and paid the full deposit (they had booked on a special $25 deposit promo) then they would be eligible for the new promo.  So since we had booked with a lower deposit promo rate as well (but not $25), I just thought I would ask my TA to look into it for us as that seemed like a pretty good deal. 

I am actually quite happy with the price we booked at initially or obviously would not have booked, but again never any harm in asking.  ☺️

3 hours ago, vtcruising said:

It will be exciting to see all the changes. I think most will be for the better, but a little nervous about the Sunset Bar and Sky Lounge. I think they will listen to all of the feedback about the balcony furniture and hopefully will spring for foot stools and good-sized tables for the balconies!

Your statements echo my thoughts!!!  We have a balcony on the slant of the hump but not Concierge (I think Concierge has foot stools?) so it will be interesting to see the balcony furniture and table size provided given the depth of those balconies.  

Yes will definitely be exciting to see her after dry-dock!  Really looking forward to it!  ☺️ 

17 hours ago, zook50 said:

 

Best of luck in your quest for a deal - let us know what happens!

Hi zook50.  Just a quick update - my TA wrote back and basically we can get the four perks promo if we would "change our cruise fare to the prevailing rate."   In our case that happens to be several thousand more than the price we booked at, so thanks but no thanks, lol.  Oh well, no harm in asking (and like you, I do my research and keep an eye on pricing and crunch the numbers).  Happy sailing!  ☺️

Thank you for posting, vt.  We are on the first post-dry dock sailing in Feb 2020  (well, assuming there are no more changes in the scheduling 😏) and hoping that X has taken into account the complaints about the Sunset bar makeover on the recent revolutions and make some changes for the better on the Sillhouette.  Love the Sky Lounge so will definitely be checking out that area the first night to see the impact on space!

Yes we had them opened up with our friends when we were on the Equinox.  

zook50, if I find out anything useful tomorrow will certainly come back and post in case it would be helpful to anyone else. 

Have a fantastic cruise..... ☺️