dcbiker97

The only time is ever buy anything in the Apple Store on board is if I have a ton of OBC to burn through. Most of the time it’s the same, just no tax (Although I did pick up two Apple Watches at half price at the resumption of cruising because they were 2 versions behind)  

I remember that on an S Ship. We were invited up for a Johnny Walker tasting one night by the suite manager. It turned into a sales pitch by the gift shop. I really wanted to leave but I couldn’t get up because of where I was seated. They were only open for events like that if I recall.

We are looking at doing an Antarctic cruise in December 2024. We normally sail in suites on Celebrity. One of the main reasons we sail with them is that at dinner, the staff is very accommodating to some food needs (both allergies and medical requirements for simple foods like pasta, eggs, etc) Breakfast is usually no problem and so would be a lunch buffet.  How accommodating are the staff for working with us?  I totally get that supply issues are present since they replinish in the location they do. For example, on Celebrity, they will show the next nights menu and if there's nothing on it, we would work with them to get an alternative that would work. 

I just got an email from Celebrity with the announcement. They are providing a 100% refund and $200-$400 in OBC. In typical Celebrity spectacular IT fails, the email was sent in Spanish. I guess they figured that if the ship was leaving from South America, everyone must speak Spanish who is going.  LOL

Everybody’s got different tastes in food. I find their Thanksgiving meal quite tasty and will even order the MDR version in Luminae when it comes up on rotation on non Thanksgiving cruises.  

You can ignore the time given upon checkin and board anytime once boarding begins. 
 

Having no idea if this works, I usually select the latest boarding time if I’m in a suite to let others use the earlier boarding slots.

It is served in the dining rooms (MDR, Blu, and Luminae) and the buffet.  The times we’ve eaten in the specialties over Thanksgiving we’ve either had nothing special or given a freshly sliced piece of Turkey with the ordered entree.  

Sometimes the big box agency needs to refresh your reservation to bring over the FBC info. Just call them and they will do that.  Then you’ll just see one amount as a balance. 

Agree with @Bo1953   If you want split beds even though there’s a king, they will swap them out for you in the Iconic Suite. If you do find it’s a king, just tell the shoreside concierge before you board.  Or the butler once you’re on board.  
 

Just saw a 9 night Ascent Iconic for $56k pp so they will do anything to make you happy.  

You won’t be able to do this precruise since one of the rooms is a suite. They are assigned to Luminae.  Chat with the MDR maitre’d when you get on board to arrange. 

Thanks for making the thread. While I don't have any ideas, I too used to love the table service in the back seating area of the buffet. It had a limited menu, but you could just come in tshirts and shorts and still have nice relaxing dinner served to you. I'd happily pay for something like that where they could feature specials like you mention.

If you can’t find the luggage tags to print, don’t sweat it.  The porters have plenty and can just write your name and room number in them. 

Blu doesn’t (and has never) take reservations so there’s no portal to make them online. You just show up when you’d like to dine. 

Out of curiosity, where would you have Celebrity port near Venice since Venice isn’t an option for them as their ships are too large for the new requirements (at least that’s how I understand it). 

On 7/7/2023 at 11:50 PM, Sarahg0915 said:

According to TripAdvisor reviews, even hotel guests say they get up at 4, 5 a.m. to make sure they get chairs on the beach! More ppl than chairs, it sounds like.  

That sounds about right.  We staked out at 9am what we thought were available chairs at the Riu.  They had a rolled up towel on them.   At 11am hotel guests came out and proceeded to yell at us for taking their chairs which they reserved with the towel at 6am.  Between that and the bar serving alcohol from bottles only marked with masking tape, we will never go back.  

Barefoot restaurant is a short taxi ride down the street. They have beach side dining and we enjoyed our meal there in May. 

https://barefootaruba.com

29 minutes ago, txtechmk said:

 Yes, our little group doing this private tour has specific things we want to see.  Lunch was on our original plan, but do to time constraints, travel miles, and not wanting to eliminate any stops, we told our guide we might can get a box lunch from the ship.  She thought that was a great idea.  The stop is Jeju Island, South Korea.

I would not count on a box lunch. That is an off the beaten path port am am sure not many folks will know.  But if it’s like 

most every other port, bringing food off the ship is prohibited. 

I thought shoreside was in their Kansas call center....At least all of the shoreside concierges I've spoken to in the past said they were. I also pulled my last email from shoreside and she said she works 9-6 (central time). So that also may play into it.

Yes I’ve done take away a number of times. I just give them a call and they take my order. 

We do the same and just leave a $20 when we both dine. When we go to Sushi for lunch I do $5pp. 

10 hours ago, RichYak said:

I just left $10pp cash every time I went to a specialty.

We only book the alcoves if we have a ton of OBC to use.  It is nice to be able to use it as a sort of landing pad where friends can come and go during the day. I’d have a hard time convincing myself to pay cash for them. 

I would assume the next move up is suite class?   If that’s the case, technically you can dine in Blu on a space available basis instead of Luminae, but Luminae is significantly better IMHO. You would lose your access to the spa area that are Aqua class amenities. 

3 hours ago, awhcruiser said:

Would a B2B cruise that totals 14 nights count toward the 12 nights requirement?  

No. Celebrity counts each portion of a b2b as a completely separate cruise.

No one can really answer that without knowing what you paid and how much upgrading is without moving up. If you do a mock booking to see how much Aqua would be versus what you paid, you’ll get a decent idea as to whether it’s a good deal to use move up or just upgrade. 

Agree with chemmo.  
 

Not all suites get a reach out from the shoreside concierge.  Don’t worry at all if you don’t.  Anything they would do, can be done be the Retreat concierge or the butler once your parents get onboard.