Reel Love

4 hours ago, wynnne said:

Is it possible to upgrade only one person, or do both people in a cabin have to upgrade?

Yes it is ok for only one person to upgrade.  We always do this....I upgrade and my husband stays with the classic package.

When we went to Stingray City on our Feb 2020 sailing on the Silhouette we booked a Celebrity excursion on a boat that had stairs and this feature was clearly noted in the excursion description (we were specifically looking for this due to mobility issues with someone in our group).  I'm sorry .... cannot recall the name of the boat/tour company offhand but if I do happen to remember it I will report back.

On 9/7/2022 at 10:26 PM, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

I was told by the Celebrity rep on the phone that gratuities are handled via a different system and don't show up in the plan my cruise system. Don't worry about it. The invoice is king.

Thank you so much!

Thanks to the OP starting this thread, I also went on to check and have the same message of "cancelled" for my drink package.  Like others, I assume (hope!) it is simply an IT glitch and will revert back the way it should be within a few days. 

However I also noticed that the gratuities (booked AI) did not show at all as an order but the WiFi does.  Have never booked under the AI system before so is this normal that they do not show the prepaid grats under the order history?  TIA to anyone who can answer this for me.

Looking forward to following along, especially hearing about Montenegro as that is one of the ports that I was really looking forward to on our previously booked Mediterranean cruise  (cancelled due to C-19 of course!).

Congratulations to Julie on retirement from the LAPD!   😊    

15 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Woke up at 7:40 this morning to this!!! More awesome pictures to come!

  

 

 

 

 

Ken, thank you for sharing your review and photos.  Absolutely stunning pictures!

On 8/14/2022 at 4:22 PM, dleighb said:

We opted not to do the lake walk, but your photos are making me regret that. We did climb up a staircase though because I can never resist anything that leads me up. We managed to snag these photos of the town. Of course, whenever I tried to get any sort of scenic shot, the fog rolled back in. After I gave up and went back to the boat, the sun came out again for a few minutes. I think I have that same photo of the iceberg out the aft. Haven't downloaded that one from the camera yet.

Oh my gosh, those pics are absolutely fabulous!  Personally I think the top one especially looks cool with the fog in behind the ship and the vibrant colours of the buildings in front.  Great job!  

Wishing you a very, very Happy Birthday celebration!!!   🎂🍸🎂🍸  Have a wonderful day  😊

and thank you for bringing us along to share in your birthday (btw absolutely love the evening dress from a page or so back with the pic with your hubby!)

Following, and very much enjoying your review so far.   Terrific pictures and a great sense of humour!  Looking forward to reading along 😊

3 hours ago, OttawaJohn said:

To answer a few questions asked.

 

I applied in early April by mail.

 

Yes, you have to submit your old passport when you apply, so I don't have it now.

 

Expedited is a weird beast.  When you get to 10 days or under before your travel date, you can pay an extra fee to have your application transferred to your local office from what I was told.  So at that point, you can then queue up with everyone else to try and get it.  Which seems to defeat the reason I mailed it 🙂

 

 

Thank you for sharing your experience.   It is helpful to hear of the timeline from mail-in date.  

One of my colleagues from work had to call and request the expedited route after she was getting close to the wire for her travel date back in December 2021.  I am happy to speak with her to get the details of how the process rolled out if you would like?  (She did get her passport in time to travel after calling them directly).   

Of course the process may be different now as that was six months ago and applications have spiked since then, but happy to get the info and pass along if you think it might be helpful.  Fingers crossed that you receive your passport any day now!!!  

As always GenX, a great live review!  😊   

Looking forward to hearing about your day in Tortola as that is one of the islands I have not been to yet but will be on our future cruise on the Equinox.

Btw.....you have fantastic taste in cruise dresses!!  Thank you for posting some of the links.
Have a fabulous day!! 😊

Following, and thank you for doing this live thread  😊    We were supposed to sail from Barcelona as well for our Mediterranean cruise (cancelled due to Covid of course, lol) so very much looking forward to experiencing the ports through your posts.  Also interested to hear of your experience and thoughts of the Beyond.  Have a wonderful time!

I have not stayed in those specific cabins on Eclipse but was up the hallway a bit and the balcony dividers did open up for our group of five cabins in a row.   

Mrs. Johnson,  my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your husband.   Like many others on this board I truly appreciated his posts here on Cruise Critic for the insight that he offered as well as his sense of humour.  He will be missed.

5 minutes ago, ScottC4746 said:

In real life, we upgraded sometime after paying off the cruise to the Premium Beverage Package and paid for it.

 

Nightmare: I dreamt that they had no record of us upgrading.  Should I bring my receipt they emailed me to have in my irate little hand if this happens?

Another vote for yes.  This actually did happen to me on the last Celebrity cruise we took.  My sea pass card showed CALL so headed to Guest Services with my hard copy proving upgrade purchase; they re-issued a new card with PALL on it on the spot.

8 hours ago, keesar said:

There is a couple that frequently cruises and I had the "pleasure" of their company at an event. One of them introduced self and said "Zenith".  I responded. "I prefer Sony. "    You should have seen the expression on his face.  

Oh my gosh I laughed out loud at that.....thank you for sharing 😄

5 hours ago, dateacher said:

We have booked the Beyond for a B2B in January.  I really appreciate the live posts from the blogger but at the same time am wondering if we made a mistake.  We really like the Silhouette and Reflection and the veranda.  Between the IV that we are just doing to give it a chance and the fact that it seems that the ship is catering more to the suite passengers and the regular passengers are an afterthought, I'm considering rebooking to another ship. 

 

Any insights would be helpful.  I would hate to spend 12 days thinking that we should have gone on an S class.

dateacher, my personal insight:  DH and myself happen to be partial to S class ships (Silhouette is our favourite) but we did sail the Edge back in December 2018 and found the ship to be gorgeous.  We sailed in an IV and in total honesty that was a "one and done" for us, but that one aspect certainly did not detract from the cruise and how magnificent the rest of the ship was.  We simply would book an aft balcony cabin if we sail on an E class ship again as we learned that we prefer a "true" balcony.  Good luck whatever your decision!!!  

Curious.......Is Paxlovid readily available to anyone who is Covid positive in the U.S. who asks for it?  My pharmacist friend explained to me that here in Ontario, one who tests Covid positive via a PCR test is only prescribed Paxlovid if they meet certain criteria.  

We also dined at LCG on the Silhouette for dinner one evening while in port and were not charged any type of "local tax."  First I have heard of that, although admittedly we do not dine at the specialty restaurants nearly as often as many others on CC so my experience is rather limited.  (Edited to add - this was a Southern Caribbean cruise just prior to Covid shutdown if this has any relevance)

15 minutes ago, micmacmissy said:

Lord.  In Luminae one guy complaining to every server that he was told to put on pants.  He whined through dinner.  

 

Another couple asked to see the chef and then proceeded to lecture the poor guy about the proper way to make gluten free pancakes. 

 

Numerous people not wanting to wait at Retreat pool bar for service.  

 

Finally:  really jerky people chair hogging.  Overheard a guest in the retreat complaining to a retreat attendant:  “I set my alarm at 6am to reserve chairs and the good ones were all gone!”

 

 Our waiter even commented how poorly they’ve been treated.  

Oh my  😴   The staff work so hard and then to have to put up with this nonsense!   So sad to read the comment by the waiter about being treated poorly.....

Great photos of you and Iain!!!!!   As always, thank you for taking the time to share as you experience life on-board..... Great information and pictures of the ship/food!  Certainly helps to ramp up the anticipation for our next cruise!  Have a wonderful time and looking forward to continuing to follow along with your journey 😊

3 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Yes...and it is announced in the daily info sheet.

I guess I never noticed that, lol 

We never had our IV window locked to our knowledge but we were on a Caribbean cruise and were lucky enough to not have any inclement weather.  I had heard some folks talking about how the window was locked for a short time on a port day when a lot of folks were off the ship for window cleaning.

Have a fabulous cruise!  Truly hope you enjoy the refurbed Silhouette.  We were on the first sailing after she was revolutionized and thought they did a great job ....she instantly became our favourite Celebrity ship.   Agree with talljules1 that the Sunset Bar was beautifully re-done. 

Looking forward to reading your review.  ☺️

When we sailed the Silhouette after refurb on the hump/slant balcony, only the regular deck chairs were there but our cabin steward brought a lounger at our request.