-
Posts
7,801 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Everything posted by kwokpot
-
All the experienced gamblers are trying to explain that to the OP but they think they know better.
-
CASINO - New Hours 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM on Celebrity
kwokpot replied to CarolRoy's topic in Celebrity Cruises
No worries. Misunderstandings happen all the time.🙂 -
CASINO - New Hours 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM on Celebrity
kwokpot replied to CarolRoy's topic in Celebrity Cruises
I don't understand your response. All I was saying is it is an impossibly that Celebrity would close all of their ship's casinos at 8pm.There's no logic in that since as others have stated on port days you wouldn't even have time to open if it closes at 8pm. -
CASINO - New Hours 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM on Celebrity
kwokpot replied to CarolRoy's topic in Celebrity Cruises
100% not true. -
CASINO - New Hours 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM on Celebrity
kwokpot replied to CarolRoy's topic in Celebrity Cruises
That's not the main Celebrity homepage, it's the homepage for the Blue Chip Club. https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/casino/blue-chip-club -
No worries. Just as an aside, my husband is the gambler in the family, despite me being Chinese-American, lol. My husband defines a session as a stretch of gambling time. For example if he goes at 11am gambles, takes a short pause, gambles some more, then breaks for lunch with me at 1:30 (We have a routine)that's one session. If he then goes back at 3:30 and gambles until 6:30 and then breaks for dinner, that's another session. Then if he goes back at 10pm and gambles to 12-1AM, that's another session. As I said he makes notations on his phone to keep track of everything. We live in Philadelphia, which is only an hour away from Atlantic City, so we're frequently there. Our basement is full of 'gifts' from the casinos. Just the other day I gave away a kids bike to a single mom whos' kid had his bike stolen, and a food processor to a Facebook acquaintance. We are trying to be more discerning about our trips to land casinos and cruises. One year we did 12 cruises, all comped. We have three more cruises this year(total of 10 this year, had to cancel 11th because of covid)and next year we have 4 booked so far: 1 in January on the Virgin, 1 in Feb on Celebrity, 1 in July on Celebrity to Iceland, Scotland, N. Ireland; and one on Carnival in September - 30 days TP Seattle to Brisbane, Australia! All comped!
-
Didn't realize .... Spring Break Cruise
kwokpot replied to Sue Goodreds's topic in Carnival Cruise Lines
What week, what ship? -
Interesting. I've never seen a menu that extensive on a Carnival ship since the restart. There are things on that menu I've never seen before, carpaccio,figs, and mozzarella, for example. So far I've spent 45 nights this year on a Carnival ship and never have seen that appetiser before. I would love to see this menu on the Celebration this November. My last Thanksgiving on Carnival was on the Horizon in 2018 and the menu was one third that size.
-
When is that menu from? I don't remember seeing all those choices on current Carnival cruises.
-
Yes, if you each have a wifi plan you can each be connected to a device at the same time. What the disclosure means if your mobile phone is connected to wifi and you want your laptop connected to wifi you have to disconnect the phone from the wifi before connecting the laptop. On some cruiselines each passenger can buy a wifi for more than 1 device, which actually comes out cheaper than 2 passengers buying their own wifi plan. Carnival doesn't do this, so hence the disclosure.
-
To add to the previous posts you'll have to make some HARD decisions. Yes, there's a special Thanksgiving Day menu but to be very frank it's generally not very good, not real fresh turkey, and it's busy, crowded and noisy as hell. The servers were all stressed as hell. If you go to the buffet you can get REAL fresh carved turkey, so your actual meal is going to be better in quality, in a quieter and less busy environment. You can still dress up if you like, but yes it will be in the buffet and you'll have to serve yourselves. So you and your family will have to decide what's more important to you for Thanksgiving dinner.
-
Yes, we've had the turkey in the MDR on Thanksgiving on Carnival and it's definitely NOT fresh carved turkey. The whole meal was disappointing TBH. This year we'll be on the Celebration for Thanksgiving and won't make the same mistake.
-
Captain Club Elite and Plus level current practice .
kwokpot replied to Midwest Sunseeker's topic in Celebrity Cruises
That's a great price. It's at least $100 more the previous week, on some airlines that's the price for 1 tkt! We' using FF miles but my sister paid cash, Jetblue flights. Using points for pre-cruise hotel. -
Captain Club Elite and Plus level current practice .
kwokpot replied to Midwest Sunseeker's topic in Celebrity Cruises
We're doing the same thing except in Feb. and since both me and my husband received the offer we booked two rooms and mt sister and her husband will be coming along. Precruise hotels booked, along with airfare that was crazy expensive from the East Coast. Luckily we all got an OK rate since it's even more now. I was lamenting that it would have been nicer if that particular offer was for FL cruises but I checked airfare for the same week (Last full week of Feb, holiday week on the East Coast for many public schools) and it was MORE money to fly from the NY area to FL than NY to LA!!!! -
Captain Club Elite and Plus level current practice .
kwokpot replied to Midwest Sunseeker's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Just remember Elite happy hour isn't available embarkation day and you can't order drinks from the dining room. -
You will definitely have some more younger people during Spring break, even on Celebrity.
-
100% correct.
-
This topic of 'fun' on a cruise seems to be popping up more frequently. It all depends on what type of 'fun' they are looking for. Celebrity is a 'make your own kind of fun' cruiseline. During the daytime, poolside games will consist of trivia, golf putting, cornhole tossing, volleyball games, cardio classes-nothing wild and crazy, even during Spring break. That's about it. Nighttime there the shows, casino, silent disco night, dancing at the Club. Nighttime Deck Parties do occur on Celebrity but TBH they are sparsely attended - you're not going to see half the ship out on deck doing the Shuffle like on a Carnival or Virgin ship.
-
That's not how it works. In terms of rating, the casino doesn't care what kind of bet you make, only what is the total amount and how long you're playing. That is all.
-
If you've never been to Barcelona before you should DEFINITELY go 2 or 3 days ahead to sightsee. Barcelona has wonderful architecture and the food is just amazing. You didn't mention if you're a gym user but if not this cruise would be the perfect time to start a fitness routine. Can't be any easier with a gym a couple of decks away from your cabin. I'm not sure how many days you'll be able to lay out on your hammock, certainly not when you're still in Europe nor when crossing the Atlantic. It's a shame there's no indoor pool or solarium. I've done more than 20 TA's, both eastbound and westbound. I love the seadays and just relaxing.
-
Yes, Carnival, Royal, Celebrity, NCL, and Virgin all issue W2Gs. With regards to the IRS, you hit it right on the head; we utilize the 'sessions' method of reporting gambling winnings. My husband uses his cellphone to take notes and also sets up lines of credit on land-based casinos and takes markers as another way to track cash flow. We had used the sessions method for several years and there wasn't any issue until our 2020 tax return. It wasn't an audit but a letter saying our tax return didn't match the W2G's reported to the IRS. We replied that you didn't check the worksheet that was attached explaining how we came to our entry. It took about 4 months for the IRS to reply that they accepted our calculations for gambling winnings. This resolution letter came about a month ago. We will continue to use the same reporting method. The issue is the IRS hasn't specified what constitutes a gambling 'session', so it's all up to interpretation. There are proposals to specify and codify but those have yet to be enacted. Edit: We have literally spent hours with our tax accountant on this issue.
-
I'm enjoying your trip reports and thank you for spending the time posting. It's fun to see a different itinerary from the three Pride cruises I was on earlier this summer. Would you care to share your thoughts on the CD, who I assume is still Felipe? On our three cruises he wasn't the most effective CD and I've experienced better on Carnival.