jojo_obrien

SpicyP the lineup is all time. you're going to have a great trip! https://2024.bottiatsea.com/daily-schedule/ Just an insane amount of music. Can't wait to hear the trip report!

Thanks for your post. We were on the ship after you 1/18. I thought the Celebrity experience was a well oiled machine. Everything was super clean......I found it very difficult to find fault in anything. I didn't eat in Luminae but we ate in Blu on several days. Staff was professional, bar service was excellent. We too purchased the Premium package and didn't buy anything outside of it (Caymus, Freemark Abbey, etc) because were were perfectly pleased with the wine selections (and we are wine snobs). We brought two bottles on board -- but didn't drink those -- took them home. Buffet was much better than I had anticipated. Desserts were over the top. I'm a picky person and I thought the ship was the perfect size. My only real complaint is that we heard our neighbors in the room with a connecting door yapping all night long when they came back to their room. If i sail again on this ship, I'm going to bring earplugs. Walls seem a bit thin. Were were in 7196.

i tried to get a seat for that set -- no luck! standing room only. i hope it was good! we loved every moment of labadee -- it was like having a private beach almost to ourselves ! great rum drinks, band was playing island music -- lunch was excellent ......it was paradise !

yep i saw that helicopter. we had just come back from labadee and were at the pool. they stopped everyone from getting on the ship and wheeled someone out. must have been expensive! hope they're ok .....but probably ended up taking a flight out back home from the capital i assume.......

I went through security last week during the embarkation process (celebrity summit out of miami) with about 6 cans of sparkling water. No questions / bag checks. My immediate thought was: i could have bought 6 bottles (or more?) of canned wine (there's some very decent canned wine out there these days). just a thought . i had 3 total bottles of wine in my checked luggage. nothing was confiscated, no problems. that's just my experience. we did purchase the premium beverage package for the cruise (for two people) and the convenience factor of having drinks at lunch/dinner and at shows was HUGE. was it expensive? yes. did i want to bring 7 bottles of wine for the trip (one bottle per day)? yes! i just didn't think that would fly with security.....

NinS - thanks for your reply. There aren't many people on here talking about the cruise. Considering the average age (now)......well, now I know why! I don't have much interest in Cozumel or Grand Cayman. It's gotta be a "must have" cruise for me. To your point: 1.) it ain't cheap - we stayed in the concierge class 2.) it's hard taking time off when the year is starting in Jan - at least for me. it was well worth it, though. that's interesting about seeing this older drunk guy - i must have never run into him/them. i didn't even see anyone so much as buzzed on the ship let alone drunk. funny you should bring that up......we had breakfast with Jeff Hamilton (he lives in LA -- so we had something in common) -- we talked about the talking issue during performances -- difference between europe, US, LA/NY etc etc. really cool guy. i'm glad we went - it was absolutely worth the effort and the ship was fantastic. great staff - hardly anything to complain about. food was great -- although we ate in the buffet more than i thought we would. i don't particulary need to be "served" when going out and it's a bit cramped with the seating arrangements. we'll watch prices and see if want to pull the trigger. chucho was a big pull for me. his last set was all time! i love arturo sandoval -- but i've seen him so many times. i'm not a big diane reeves fan...... but i could listen to kurt elling every day - he's so fantastic. really enjoyed sean jones -- had never seen him and he was even better than the recordings. and so many other artists i can't mention that were world class........

Great comments. Nins. it was a great cruise -- an incredible quantity of jazz music. Labadee was virtually empty. We stayed on the beach all day long - it was like having a private beach to ourselves!! We are in our 40's and was glad to get off the ship at every port. It's a blue hair crowd, no doubt -- some passengers easily into their 90's. Lots of canes, walkers, scooters, feet shuffling, hearing aids.......Good for them for getting out and about and enjoying life. I found they're all very respectful of the music which I certainly appreciated. Very , very little to NO conversation while musicians are playing. Just the way I like it!! If you want to have a convo ,go to the cafe! We didn't sign up again......but we may in the future. I don't have interest in the smooth jazz and I heard the last Botti was a bit contrived. I was hoping BNAS would come back but everyone on the ship said it probably won't. Sigh....... I wish we had had bit more time in the ports.