DCPIV

Correct. They do not stack. Essentially, the premium package takes over the Elite benefit.

Great to hear! We board on Sunday and are looking forward to it! Typically, you don't get a call if you are in a Sky Suite or Celebrity Suite (although it has been known to happen). You always can give them a call, though. 1-877-RETREAT. See you on board!

Yep. There's no gun at all at the bar. It's all cans and bottles.

Heck, yeah. It's worth a shot! The number for Captain's Club is 1-800-760-0654.

I totally agree. I do like you mention and make a mock booking from time to time to see if prices go down. I haven't seen them go down at all since 2021. Just the opposite. We're about to sail, and the the same room class has gone up around 25% from when we booked. The same room on a similar itinerary on the same ship at about the same time next year is about 60% more. If you are happy with a price, book it. They ain't getting cheaper right now.

I agree that he would enjoy it. If he enjoyed NCL, then he will enjoy Celebrity. Someone mentioned Reflection, and that is a great ship! We're about to sail on her for the second time. If no Reflection, maybe Equinox or one of the others that has the glass blowing (assuming you are willing to for over the cash for that).

Just be prepared to kill an hour or two between when you are booted off the ship and when you can go into the next terminal.

Keep in mind that it's a cruise. At least half the ship is there for a special celebration (honeymoon, big birthday, anniversary, family reunion, etc.)

Except that the fare goes up by at least that amount.

Yes. The OBC portion will go back into your OBC pool, and the rest will be refunded to your credit card.

I much prefer the discretion. Every cruise is different, so discretion and flexibility is important. Rigid policies tend to take away more than they give.

The bartender who does the upgrade also gets the gratuity from upgrading (or some significant portion of it).

Dynamic pricing sometimes produces odd results like those.

I haven't the slightest idea why anyone would want to argue such a point. I suppose I do not understand the mindset of someone who would even consider forcing a Maitre d' to accept a guest in Luminae (or who considers a Maitre d' a "random employee").

We've only hosted guests in Luminae once. We let them know that we would have to check whether it was okay with the Maitre d'. It turned out that it was, but we gave him a day's notice (maybe even two). If i recall correctly, we asked him as we were going into dinner one night, and he gave us his answer before we left. It was not an instant reply. He did ask about an approximate time that we would show up. It was a nice dinner!

I was to busy asking about Cranston to relate our own experience. I've sailed in the Retreat several times on 4 different ships since the restart, and Retreat service always has been excellent. We're about to sail again in a suite, and I have every confidence it will be excellent again.

I gotta ask: Is Cranston still in Michael's?

If you like the Martini Bar but think have problems finding a seat at night, try heading over there right around the late seating time for MDR. We often go to dinner around 6:30 and come out a little after 8 or so. We'd head over to the Martini Bar, and it would be absolutely packed at 8:15. Sometime within the next 10 minutes or so, it would clear out like the last one left got stuck with the check. It might fill back up as more got out of dinner, but it never seemed to get back to the SRO situation before early seating. Ensemble hardly ever feels crowded, even when it is. As mentioned, the Sunset Bar at night can be a little piece of heaven. Sky Bar is pretty calm and quiet until things get started in there at night.

It sounds like you have a handle on it already. The biggest difference you may not be aware of will be Terminal 25 at Port Everglades. It's huge and quite nice. It'll probably open around 10:30 AM, and (assuming all goes smoothly) boarding will begin right around 11 AM. I've heard that it doesn't matter much when you arrive at Port Everglades these days, but I cannot personally vouch for that. EC is pretty much what you want to make it. It's more "upscale" than "formal," and folks do that in a number of ways. I've seen some very fun and interesting outfits on EC nights, not the least of which was a (very good quality) black t-shirt with the KISS band logo done in rhinestones on the front and a version of the KISS album "Creatures of the Night" done in rhinestones on the back. It might sound a little trashy, but it wasn't at all. Rather, it looked fantastic (and the whole outfit was done very well).

I'll second that the pasta in Tuscan Grille was NOT good. The antipasta board was very good and fun. The salads were good but nothing to sing songs about. Sides were good. My wife enjoyed her branzino when we both dined in there. The steak I had that night was excellent, but the steak I had a month later (on a solo and on a different ship) was tougher than Bad Leroy Brown. All this was post-Covid, and neither of those steaks seem to be on the menu any longer.

We recently sailed on Equinox. I didn't really think about it at the time, but I do believe the same was gone when we were there. I rather like name "Second Kiss." In any event, it opens something like 6:30 every morning and maybe even a little earlier on debarkation day.

We're about sail Retreat on Reflection, and we're staying in the very same room we stayed in right about a year prior. I'll be happy to report back with a comparison.

They really are. I was on Millenium about a month after sailing on Summit, and it was the same ship (except for some decorations and, of course, the crew). It was a little bizarre and comfortable at the same time.

It's not M-class.

You will meet up in a common area with any other B2Bers. You'll likely need to get off the ship for immigration (or just to zero out the ship), but that will be coordinated by crew. Then, you get back on before they start boarding everyone else, and you're good to go! You will get something in your room letting you know what to do. That'll come when everyone else is getting their luggage tags to leave. Things may vary a little from ship to ship and port to port, but that's the basic idea.