Nashna

We are Elite and typically choose to board at 10:30 or 11:00 am. For our January cruise, we were only able to get 11:30am confirmed. We are wondering what would happen if we arrived earlier.

I totally agree with all the posters who have not been overwhelmed by the GF offerings on Celebrity. I do understand that with only 10 percent of the population requiring a GF option, that the cruise line can't provide the same offerings as they do to regular diners. However, there is no reason today to not have decent frozen options available to serve.

The adult pool on the newer Princess ships is in a terrible location. You must sit on the windy upper deck to see the ocean. Drink service was non-existent.

We have been to the Cayman Island many times and have spent a week on the island. Definitely, go This is where it would be very wise to take a ships shore excursion...especially by boat.

If you are just going to FLL, I would just grab a taxi. The price was actually a bit lower for us via taxi last January. We have taken an Uber to Miami from terminal 29 and it was $53.00...with tip, this was for a mid-week departure, so I'm not sure how much higher it would be during the weekend.

We do not typically attend the shows. Due to Covid limited nighttime lounge entertainment, we found outselves attending most of the shows. They were all excellent. The venue is amazing. The set and technical wizardry used in The Tree of Life was exceptional.

On our January Edge 11-night sailing, the minimum, cost to upgrade to a suite is $2100.00 per person. Up to a whopping $12,500.00 pp for the top suite. We are currently in a Sunset Veranda. When we add in the price that we paid for the SV, upgrading at a minimum of $4200.00 for the cruise would put our total cost over $10,000...almost exactly what the cost would be if we purchased the suite today. Plus, the increase in tips and insurance. So, we will pass. The minimum bid to upgrade co Concierge or Aqua started at $150.00.

Once I figured out how to do it on my IPhone, I have not had any issues.

I'm sure they do have great facilities in Italy. The trick is getting access to them. That is where a company like MedJet can make a huge difference. Rather than being on his own, the poster would have been given access to top notch care. Had the care not been available, he would have been transported home. This is something that one wishes Celebrity Insurance should have done. However, their insurance is simply not that comprehensive. I have several trips planned within the year, this post just reminded me to make sure my coverage is adequate.

Oh my...what a horrible experience. In the future you might want to check out Medijet. The insurance covers you when you are traveling. They would have arranged for your care in a respectable hospital and would have flown you home. You were very luck to survive the experience. I hope you will have another opportunity to sail on the Apex.

That's impressive. I also do quite a bit of sink washing. We are Elite as well, I'm sure we will use all the benefits on our January cruises. The laundry benefit is the most valuable to me.

Do not send anything that you would normally cold wash/light dry. Assume your clothing will be in a hot wash and hot tumble dry. One of my t-shirt tops that I normally put in a cold wash/light tumble dry came out a shrunken wrinkled mess. Our clothes did come back neatly folded. I don't know what people do on longer cruises. We have two Celebrity cruises booked this January. In between the two, we planned a 2-night stay at a Residence Inn that has laundry facilities in the room to do laundry.

I e-mailed them directly alerting them to the issue. They came back to me that same day asking for my name and booking number. Shortly after, I received a move up offer. The move up offer was not good enough. The minimum bid for a Sky Suite from a Sunset Veranda was $2,000. pp. The upgrade to Aqua was just $150.00. We typically sail in Aqua on non-Edge ships. We prefer the full veranda option on Edge. The minimum bid when added to what we paid for the Sunset veranda is close to what Sky Suites are currently priced on Celebrity, so we are not going to bid.

Thanks for posting. I'm glad you enjoyed your butler. We have always enjoyed the extra service and the ability to get dining times in the specialty restaurants from our Butlers on other cruise lines. We have not sailed in a suite on Celebrity. I do love the full balcony, so we are sailing in a Sunset Veranda in January on The Edge. Our previous sailings were in Aqua Class, I know we will miss it and wish we had the opportunity to dine in Blu. Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to bid for a suite move up.

I would hold that dining option off until you are onboard. On our January sailing, that venue was hardly used so you should have no problem making the reservations onboard. Leaving Fort Lauderdale, I would not count on balmy weather or calm seas to dine on the rooftop.

Curious here...were you charged more by the Lyft driver? Glad you made it to the bar.

Thanks for that information. I wanted to be sure it wasn't just me.

I'm not sure. Grand Cayman is one of those tender ports where everyone wants to get off. Because you have such a short time in port, it's going to be difficult for you to get off early. You might want to do an early excursion to the beach as then you are guaranteed to get off on time. Most ships give priority to excursion passengers to board the tenders. Given the distance that the tender must sail from the pier to the ship, I would guess that the last one would depart at 1:30pm.

Thanks for the information. We have spent quite a bit of time in the Caymans, so we are only interested in the beach. I think we will get up early and try to beat the crowds to Public Beach.

For several days, I have been unable to access Move Up. When I enter in my name and confirmation number the response is that annoying circle indicating the attempt to link up. Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing this?

Thank you for your input. I find it odd that some folks take it as a personal insult if others do not agree with their taste in clothes, movies, cruise lines, etc. The reason there are so many options in cruising today is that people have different tastes and expectations. Because I don't like what you like does not mean that your likes are not valuable. It's perfectly ok for folks to disagree. The important thing is to do it respectfully. If I met you on a HAL cruise, I would be positive. I find it disrespectful to complain to total strangers. If I asked you, how you were enjoying the cruise and you told me that you were thoroughly enjoying the cruise, I would agree and bring up the positives. The original poster wanted to know the difference between Holland America and Celebrity. I gave them my opinion because they asked.

While we decided that we were not HAL fans on our cruise. We raved about the music venues. We gave up on the shows and just concentrated on dancing the night away. Only issue was that they were so popular, seating was difficult to find. We solved that by dancing to rock and roll, then dashing over to get a seat at dueling pianos before the crowds arrived. For some reason, we were always able to get a seat at B.B. Kings. We thought the performers were the best. We did find that the theatre on E Class Celebrity Ships is the best venue currently offered at sea. The shows were amazing.

Sorry, can't help you with that information as we sailed in a mini-suite. We have only sailed on MSC in the Yacht Club. The seats are reserved in the theatre and the butlers are present to make sure only Yacht Club guests use the section. The seats are in the front and second rows of the balcony. We enjoyed the location. Interestingly, we decided to try MSC after several passengers on HAL told us they were switching to the Yacht Club. We are waiting for MSC's itineraries to become a bit more varied in the Caribbean to sail on them again.

You are allowed to bring two onboard.