foodsvcmgr

Thank you John, hopefully only a few more weeks till the official release. Appreciate all your advance detective work!

Since the initial announcements, any updates official or unofficial regarding the itineraries or expected release date for bookings?

Just off Eclipse, the wine was in the refrig and the canapés arrived daily around 3:00pm unless you turned them down. Although 12:30 was the earliest time we could select, a few days before sailing we received an e-Mail that Concierge could arrive anytime after 11. We boarded shortly after noon and the lunch was served 12:30-2:00.

Currently is Michael Sympouras, but I suspect he may take a break between the South America and Bermuda seasons.

Just disembarked Saturday. Overall ship is maintained in excellent condition. If you care to look very closely there are some worn furnishings, chipped tiles, etc. The MDR menus are varied, quality is ok to quite good. Oceanview has a huge selection, quality varies. The friendliness of the crew is outstanding, no staff shortages evident. Officers out walking everywhere. The library sadly has only maybe 25% of its shelves filled with books and is mostly used as a nap room! I would not hesitate to sail this ship again.

Thanks for your detailed review. We were also on this cruise, our first time back on Celebrity since 2018. We had some concerns reading CC that things had really deteriorated. The ship was overall in very good shape, especially for having missed the refurb. Sure, a few dining room chair arms were rough but nothing of concern. MDR food choices were varied and ranged from decent to very good. Oceanview offered huge variety of varying quality. Tuscan was bad, steaks burned then raw. Entertainment outstanding with the familiar aerialist features. Cruise director Manuel the best I’ve seen in 65+ cruises. Excellent guest speaker program. Overall a great cruise with unusually good weather to experience these areas, such as sunrise at Cape Horn, rarely seen. A great value for fare paid.

Brochure photo of the first ship I cruised on, Italian Line “Leonardo da Vinci”. Each of the three classes had their own pool, lido deck, and pool bar aft. Segregated yes, but everyone still could access desirable outdoor space.

Hopefully this is one of the problems Celebrity is claiming they will make significant improvements on by the next embarkation on 1/20.

Got it, thanks.

Apparently it is because I also received it today for sailing Eclipse next week even though I completed check in via the website weeks ago and have both printed and e-boarding passes for 12:30pm in my hand already.

As Dutchman has experienced, sometimes the table configurations change from sailing to sailing. That’s why I tend to request a general location, i.e “a two top along the railing” as opposed to a specific number.

QV September 2-9, Rome to Barcelona September 4 - Black & White September 6 - Masquerade

Why pay and then dread it? Cancel while you can.

We will be on the next sailing, I hope they use these two weeks to figure out possible improvements. Not looking promising for the Concierge lunch lol…… Thanks for the info and enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Even if that is the tone of meetings in Seattle I am extremely surprised that anyone in an official capacity would say that to a guest inquiry!

Just booked September 28th - 13 days Seattle to Yokohama, glad it’s not going to be a first sailing out of drydock.

Elvis you are absolutely correct about use of “the”, but many ship nicknames are started by their crew not just arbitrarily assigned by outsiders. One of the worst nicknames was when the grand old Cunard liner “Berengaria” was reduced to cheap cruises to nowhere in the Depression she became known as “Bargain Area”.

I wonder why they would get rid of a tech upgrade that saves time? Both Cunard and Celebrity have you load your own photo.

If you have noise concerns, be it loud music or scraping pool chairs, guarantee is not the way to go. Unfortunately tribute rock is meant to be loud, it’s the nature of the genre.

USD, Euros, or the currency of the ports sailed are all graciously accepted and appreciated as tips. No need to exchange for anything that you are not already carrying.

We were on the same sailing as craigrlewis and would thoroughly recommend it. Certainly at 64 I didn’t feel old. Very nice group of passengers, seemed more UK than US. The weather was often not the best but it didn’t really impact anything till heavy fog on the last sea day blocked our view of Wolf Rock and Eddystone Lighthouses just 3 miles off the ship.

I prefer direct booking, be it online, onboard ship, or last resort by phone. Am willing to forgo any extra OBC from US agents to control my own affairs start to finish. Admittedly I’ve been cruising and traveling worldwide for the past 45 years so I realize I may have a comfort level making reservations that others don’t. If you choose to use an agent, find one that is a cruise specialist in general and has a relationship with Cunard in particular.

Agree with what has been discussed as that was how we boarded in 2020. Keep in mind though that since the check in terminal was damaged, supposedly now you will do your paperwork in a different location then be bussed from a farther distance to embark. Not clear on where the luggage drop will be currently. We sail on January 20th, interested to hear about the temporary procedure from anyone traveling sooner.

Good news, I’ll be sailing aboard next month. Thanks for the report.

Not necessary to purchase different currency for tipping, whatever one has on hand from the region sailed or one’s home currency is fine and appreciated by the crew.