SHIP TRAVELER

Sorry duplicate post

Following along.....We sail on August 26. Thanks for posting about your move up response. I have a couple of bids pending on ours and feel they really keep you dangling. I guess I am just excited.

This is true. We often had to wait for a place to play unless we were really early or late. We definitely could not count on walking into the casino and finding a place to play video poker so if you are a casino player this may be a problem....along with 6/5 J or B schedule.

I like the "enhanced" breakfast menu. It depends on how much you like pancakes. Room service for breakfast may have some drawbacks like the lack of a proper table but it is great to have breakfast in your robe and slippers in the peace and quiet of your own place to start the day. The limited menu (mostly cold items) in the regular veranda does not cut it for us. I think you may get some preference when moving around in the MDR. We always check our table when boarding. If we don't like the location we wait ( with lots of others) to talk to the Dining room manager and check to see what else is available. Either the C state or the Elite status usually we come away happy. This only works with traditional dining and we only care because DH has a little shell shock and any loud crashes around the server station will put him under the table in a duck and cover mode.

You might still get a location that has an adjoining door or that opens onto the crew door to an elevator area. My DH is noise adverse and I always worry when we get a guarantee until I can get the number and check it against the deck plan. Some of the obstructed views are not that bad because you have a good view out over the rail of the balcony. We all worry in advance of actually moving into the cabin and getting to look around. Some things like noisy neighbors can't be avoided no matter how much you plan. If you do get a cabin assignment that worries you, sometimes you can change to another cabin in the same category before sailing if there is time and availability. If not, the cabin probably won't ruin Alaska for you.

This benefit has been around a long time. We often use it on Spring TA cruises where we are losing an hour a day and prone to oversleeping. The Elite breakfast is usually open until 10:00 and Luminae and the MDR stop serving earlier. Some have an early hot breakfast and then go to the Elite for a coffee break with an ocean view later in the morning.

Kind of a pregnant woman using the car pool lane argument😁

I wish X had a $5 craps table like Princess. They should know that no one plays just $5 and the trick is to get people in the game and then they will start throwing $$$ on the table. The craps tables on Princess usually had a good crowd which makes it more fun than one or two people on the rail. That said Celebrity will always be my favorite, I really LOVE the non-smoking casino.

Thanks for the feedback. It appears my assumption was wrong.

Well friends, I had to bite. I did not get the e mail offer but it seemed others also did not so I waited on hold about one hour this morning. Talked to Miguel. He took my captains club number (Elite and Oynx) and said that I did not qualify for a free cabin. He offered a balcony? with all perks for $2365 and the same without perks for $1559. Right now on X site you can book a Guarantee balcony for $1484 no perks and maybe some OBC. The BCC offer did not seem great to me. This was for Solstice on Dec. 3, 2022. We have Solstice on Dec. 11 in Aqua already booked from some time ago and thought we might go B2B. Just wanted to report that not everyone can get this deal just by asking. I think maybe they might be targeting people that have not cruised since the shut down to entice them back on board. We have sailed with X three times since sailing resumed and have three more booked.

I have seen quite a pile of dollar bills on the table in big group LRC dice games. No one said anything to us in the afternoons in the Martini Bar on S class but it was not a long drawn out exposure. Still gambling...didn't ask premission..

We have been able to purchase slot play or non refundable chips with OBC on our last several Celebrity cruises so I assume the Infinity will be the same.

It could be that the crew is not changing as much so not so many quarantine cabins are needed. On our TA when deck 6 was mostly closed there was a long line of new crew joining at Fort Lauderdale. Thanks for your response. This makes me hopeful.

Good Luck to you. I hope you get to keep your sweet 16. We are forward deck six just before the elevators in the center section in four weeks on a Solstice Alaska cruise. I would love to hear your feed back about what happens with your cabin and if any of deck six is closed. Thanks

We had the lobster menu and everything was better than expected IMHO. I had read one and done many times about this venue and was pleasantly surprised how good the food was. It guess it was the show that was one and done and of course the limited menu.

One hidden RS perk that we didn't figure out until too late is unlimited free Gelato from the area near Cafe El Baco. I noticed that there was a note by the phone with the RS numbers and asked about it. True, you can get all the good ice cream you want in the Oceanview but this is convenient for an afternoon treat. One of the big deals is the great treatment you get, the window seats in Tuscan, the shore side assistance ,the Retreat team to settle any issues for you without standing in line at Guest Services. The butler sets the table for breakfast with mats and serves the food, he doesn't just drop a tray filled with covered dishes (unless that's what you want). The entire staff tried their best to make sure we had the ultimate cruise experience.

More likely they won'"t let you ON the ship.

We have a "cruise only rate without AI " lift and shift to Alaska coming up and we were considering this package also. We have decided to wait until we board to purchase wine by the bottle with our 20% Elite discount. We will bring wine on (two bottles each are allowed) and have the Elite Happy Hour so that may be enough. In the past sometimes there were sales of wine by the bottle in the area outside of the buffet. Also if you like good wine you may be better off bringing premium wines on board and paying the corkage fee to have them in the dining room. You can always fill a glass in your room and bring it into the dining room. There are always a few bringing in glasses of wine from the bars so you will fit in with the flow. Just some thoughts on the subject that influenced our decision to wait.

We were denied a "downline exit" by X when we wanted to leave the Sillie in LaHarve transit to Paris instead of getting off in Southampton the next day. This is on a future cruise we have booked in May of 2023 Southampton RT to Spain Portual and France. To bad because it would have saved us a flight back over and a tranfer to LHR from Southampton. We may revisit the situation closer to sailing as I think Covid rules were in play.

Since you may have already sailed, I would like to know if you were moved from your deck six balcony because on some ships parts of deck six were closed off for newly arrived crew quarantine cabins. People in the affected deck six cabins were moved to other balcony cabins. We are in 6166 on an August Solstice cruise....maybe. I feel that they should not offered these cabins. Just curious.

This is a great thread. I have never seen the link or views before. Saves a lot of research.

I just wanted to suggest that you DO book a specialty restaurant the first night because even Luminae can experience a little first night confusion, but nothing like the chaos and lines in the MDR of course. If you have a scenic sail away you might want to reserve Tuscan with a seat by the full window facing aft. Tuscan is not our favorite but it has the very best view and you will want to try it at least. We booked every night with the shore side contact before boarding because we like to eat at 6:30ish. When you get on board you can usually adjust this schedule based on your experiences on board. We wanted a second night in Murano and only 8:45 was available so we opted for Luminae which was not busy on chic night. Being in a Royal Suite you can get a primo table by the window in Luminae. Any way I guess to sum it up, (imho) it is worth while to book a SR the first night and also to book every night in advance if you like an earlier dining time. You can always change things later.

Yes It is definitely "worth it" to be a Captains Club member and it costs you nothing and takes no effort after signing up. The E mails you are getting are probably from the power points program which started as a way to earn (slowly) points during the shutdown. It is an optional program and mainly benefits those who are close to earning a new status level in the club.

That price difference would pay for several specialty dining nights with a LOT left over.

Thanks, this is what I suspected based on their Bingo payout.