mahdnc

Having the bad luck of having the cruise cancelled because it has been chartered and taken private. Typically it occurs much earlier before sailing. However a Red Sox fan is conditioned to believe that anything bad happening is always possible.

Nice to be that prepared. I hope your sailing doesn't get chartered.....

Except for the panic attack, I am glad you got to snorkel with the sea lions.

Thank you for posting your impressions. Your cruise went mighty fast!

At the time of purchase, the date was yet to be determined. I ended up canceling this cruise so I cannot tell you when it actually occurred. Sorry.

Yes. In the pre-COVID days, the Assistant Maitre d' took care of that. During our first only post-COVID cruise (Constellation TA late last year), the waiter did it.

Ugh. If we bring our own lobster on board, is there a cookage fee to have it served to us in the MDR?

If you used a charge card to book the tour, it will be refunded back to your card if you cancel. So this also means that if you see a lower price for your tour, you can cancel and rebook to secure that lower price.

Yes, it is for all Sky Clubs. However the 3 hour rule does not apply if your flight is delayed nor for layovers. Also starting this year, you cannot buy a Sky Club annual membership unless you are Silver Medallion or above--again in an attempt to manage the overcrowding situation. And they significantly increased the membership price. Delta must agree with you regarding the cramped size of the FLL Sky Club as they are working on an expansion which is supposed to open up this Sep.

To alleviate overcrowding of their Sky Clubs, Delta imposed the three hour rule last June.

We are booked on a Celebrity cruise (Solstice) that starts in Singapore and ends in Hong Kong. Assuming that the itinerary is not altered by the time the cruise starts in late December, we plan on spending 5 nights in Singapore and 5 nights in Hong Kong. The ship overnights in Bangkok and we plan on staying in a hotel in the city for that night. I am in the early process of shopping for a private guide for all 3 locations for just my wife and me. If any of you have a person/company to recommend based on your experience, I would appreciate it if you would post it. Thank you. David

It looks like the best restaurant left and never came back.

Although I have not done it, booking your air through Chase with your Sapphire (aka Ultimate Reward) points gives you the best of two worlds. To you, the tickets are "free" if you are redeeming points. However to the airlines they are purchased tickets and you are able to earn frequent flyer miles on the flights. That would be one reason not to book directly with the airlines.

For our only cruise so far out of Tampa, we stayed at the Marriott which is very close to the pier: Tampa Marriott Water Street

Even though you have selected a port intensive itinerary, I would recommend sailing on Beyond. However if you have a strong preference for one itinerary over the other, then use that as your basis for choosing.

Excellent report and photos. You did a great job. Thank you.

Right now we have 4 sailings booked. 3 of them we will take for sure: Galapagos (Xpedition in Nov), Southeast Asia (Solstice in Dec), and the Panama Canal (Summit Apr 2024). I doubt that the cutbacks have affected any of the Galapagos sailings in any meaningful way. Our Solstice cruise is so cheap that it would be a mistake not to go. Our Panama Canal cruise is in an aft FV which we love. My wife and I will judge how well we like the post-cutback Celebrity experience which will determine if we want to stay with them. We would like to do an expensive/immersive land vacation in Alaska (visit all the National Parks) and Fiji (diving) some day but up to now we have been scheduling cruises instead. So this could provide the excuse we need to do something different.

Another cutback.....

I agree. I have never seen an S class FV cabin available on Celebrity's online reservation system. Because there are more of them (12), it is not uncommon to see M class FVs online.

Enjoy your cruise. We hope to be back on Solstice in December.

Enjoy your laid back cruise.

Like in the post-cruise surveys

That's pretty good. A nice Christmas present for yourself.

The quick answer is, no. There is no easy way to check for price changes for UV (aka FV) cabins. You have to call Celebrity or your TA to find out. If all 4 UVs are booked, there won't be a price for you to compare yours to. We've booked the FVs for the past 20 years and it's very rare for us to get a favorable price adjustment after booking. They are nice cabins, though.

Yes, you can provided that they have any in inventory. There weren't any available during our Constellation cruise back in Oct/Nov. Also the iPads stocked by the iLounge are the older generation.