chemmo

Another vote for Embassy suites… Good sized room. Decent on site bar/restaurant (nothing fancy but great if you are tired after a day travelling). Nicely designed pool area. Lots of good local restaurants. Shops for any last minute needs. Easy to get the boat taxi from. Breakfast included. Evening manager’s reception included. Book a port facing room and get up at the crack of dawn to see your ship come in… Over the years we have tried several other hotels but Embassy suites is the one that we keep returning to…

Thank you. We have two cruises presently booked (Florida in March and our swapped Southampton cruise in September next year). For both cruises we will be able to wait until nearer the time to make decisions. It was hard to cancel but we are very grateful that Celebrity makes moving cruises so easy. In the meantime we will try to make the most of local short breaks that fit in with our present difficulties. Needless to say we will continue to follow others on CC and enjoy some vicarious cruise time!

Good idea…I had forgotten they have roll-aways…

Is the sofa in the Sky Suite not a bed?

Sincere thanks… At the moment missing a cruise is the least of our worries. In our typical fashion of always trying ‘to making it count’ we have booked a couple of nights away in a local luxury spa hotel. You can either make the most of what you can do or waste time lamenting what you can’t… When life throws us lemons we choose to make lemonade and add it to a nice cocktail…. Your thoughts are much appreciated…

One nice experience and another with Mr Knowitall and Mrs Drinkitall….Whilst we can laugh at the experience now it was a lot of money to spend to be desperate for the meal to finish. I would do it again but possibly with friends or a group arranged through roll call…

The PH definitely is big! We cruised in the PH on Eclipse when I was recovering from surgery and on crutches, it was a long walk to the toilet! When we were on Silhouette last year we did thoroughly enjoy our PH experience. Our only criticism of the revamped suite was no drawers in the bathroom! As you say you will enjoy your cruise regardless….We have presently swapped to an eight night cruise next September (PH) as there are only RS left on the Canaries…

PH was ours….we sadly had to cancel owing to health issues. Fingers crossed you get it!

Congratulations on your retirement and your 37th wedding anniversary! So many of our ‘milestones’ have now been on board a ship…just so memorable. Sincere best wishes…

Just enjoy….Keep looking for offers and talking to family. At some stage that PH will make sense, at the right time and with the right itinerary, at the right price….At that point just pay out and enjoy!

The snag if you sign a waiver haven’t you given the tour operator a get out of jail free card if an accident did happen? Even if you have chosen a tour wisely accidents, even simple slips, can result in broken bones… It would be interesting to know the response of insurance companies if you had accessed a tour not recommended (because of your age). Would they still pay up if you did then need medical treatment? Would they see you accessing a tour (not recommended) as invalidating their responsibility? I ask these questions as a cruiser with some health issues who over the years has missed out on tours (Celebrity and private) because they have not been recommended for guests with back issues. It has always been my understanding that if I did access a tour like this and had an injury the tour provider would not be liable as I had a pre-existing condition and then my insurance cover could be invalidated as I had chosen to access an activity not recommended with someone with my pre-existing condition. I guess I am suggesting that age could be viewed as a ‘pre-existing condition’. I am not suggesting it is in any way morally right but I must confess I would be dubious signing a waiver when we are cruising world wide if it could impact on my medical insurance cover…

My favourite itinerary ever was Hawaii to Sydney…Just an amazing itinerary.

To really enjoy a PH or other higher suite (in my personal experience) it is lovely to ‘bag’ it early and then enjoy all the looking forward to it…Posting questions on CC about what to expect…pricing up a year later and finding people are paying as much for the RS as you are for the PH…Planning from the start with guests 3/4 in tow… Nice surprises can happen through the move up programme but you do need to constantly question if the ‘extra’ you get is worth it. I also worry that many who had initially been very content with their original room then feel ‘let down’ if their move up offer has not been accepted and the ‘initial shine’ of their first choice has been tarnished by higher expectations…I hope this makes sense! mfs2k….sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise…

Reliably unreliable….Hopefully for the benefit of the OP a few more people can share their experiences. It is posts like this where Celebrity making a comment used to be useful. Following your experience it may be worth the OP asking about procedure when he boards and before he buys his drinks!

No, you can not carry from one cruise to another. In terms of accounting your cruises are not joined. Anything left over from cruise one will disappear. You could, however, end of cruise one buy some wine or spirits to enjoy in your room cruise two as they will be delivered to your suite end of cruise one… Hope you have two wonderful cruises!

Agree. We have booked S and M class PH for 3/4 guests. We tend to find the best rates are soon after the cruise opens. Guests 3/4 are significantly cheaper than guests 1 and 2 then. We have, however, seen higher suites rise ridiculously near cruising time and in that scenario guests 3/4 are then proportionately higher but still significantly lower than guests 1/2. There is also the issue of how near full the ship is. If it is near capacity Celebrity may not be able to add a further guest to a room even if that room has bed space. OP. This is definitely a scenario where I would contact Celebrity direct (or get your TA to do it). Explain you are considering upgrading and want to bring two additional guests and simply see what price they give you. Two choices then emerge. Either you can accept a pricing for four for the PH and upgrade or you can see and record what they are asking for guest 3/4 to help you decide if it is worth looking at a move up bid. The other issue with this is you may not know if your bid has been accepted until a couple of days before sailing…how flexible could family or friends be in accompanying you with very little notice?

Both Reflection and Silhouette have two additional speciality restaurants than Equinox. Both are on the top deck, The Lawn Grill and The Porch. Ideal for a more outdoor feeling in the Caribbean. The other big difference is Silhouette has received a fairly recent upgrade. Most of the changes relate to suite areas so unless you are in a suite it makes little difference. If you are looking at booking a suite then worth looking at Silhouette for the suite deck area. Reflection does have an extra deck of rooms and more suites than the other S class ships. Whilst generally we didn’t notice the ship being anymore crowded we did have difficulty finding a sun bed anywhere on sea days. Our experience usually on S class is if you move a deck up from the pool you will find something. I obviously don’t know if that was simply our cruise experience or a usual observation on Reflection. Enjoy your cruise!

No, shhhhh

Make the most of your experiences, Mark! You will never regret it! Whilst many older couples look back in sadness at the ‘places they were going to visit’ or ‘the things they were going to do’ but never actually did we reflect on the happiness we have enjoyed over many years of worldwide cruising and touring. We can accept limitations to our experiences now because we have enjoyed so much… Using Murano as your MDR is an excellent choice…Most cruises we flit between Tuscan (when there are views to enjoy) and Murano when there aren’t. What many people don’t realise is when you are a ‘regular’ in a speciality they do treat you as such…They remember your preferred table, look for nice wines within your package and in our experience even offered meals not on any menu.

Who was the person you talked to? A celebrity agent or a TA?

All about personal choices. When we first cruised we were happy with a balcony room…We spent lots of money on excursions and cruised twice a year plus other holidays. Move on and now the cruise ship itself is our destination. Many excursions are beyond our mobility level, we find queuing difficult and really appreciate the extra service that comes with a suite. Our holiday budget remains the same but we cruise less often but either in a RS or PH. We spend time in our suite and on our balcony, enjoy having additional facilities in our room and being able to call on the butler if we want something. Re ‘less of the ship is available to us’…One lounge, one dining venue and on some ships a deck area…Not a lot. A bit like when booking a hotel you either book a standard room or a concierge level that gives you lounge access or when booking a flight business class gives you a lounge and bigger seat. All about offering customers choices. Re ‘more and more people are spending the larger amounts for suites’. I think you are partially correct. With many people having missed out on two years of holidays and having significant amounts of cruise credit they are choosing to treat themselves and give the suite life a try. I do also think that many people (ourselves included) have decided following the pandemic not to put off until tomorrow what they could enjoy today. Whilst many do say that once they have cruised suites they would not go back to standard rooms others will. They will do exactly the same calculations as you have and decide they would prefer two holidays a year in a balcony… There is no right and wrong room choice on a cruise ship…just the right category for you at that moment in time…

Yes, the Solarium. However, if the weather is cold they often post a ‘family time’. If I remember correctly this is usually something like 4 - 6pm. This is unlikely in the Caribbean but more likely when Silhouette does her Summer cruises to Norway and the Baltic ports.

You are very welcome. It was my first cruise in a wheelchair following surgery. I could hop around short distances on crutches so I didn’t need an accessible cabin but found it an eye opener! So many little things you normally take for granted become so hard! All staff were fantastic. Our room attendant rounded up a stool for me to use in the bathroom. Tuscan Grill staff fussed around me every visit as they were aware I needed a back cushion. The lovely young lady in the ladies WC by Michael’s helped with doors etc…. If you need any additional equipment etc remember to complete the special needs form…

Fairly sure about the Solarium…I think it is standard on all S class ships. I am back on board in October and it will be hit and miss if I need the ‘ducking stool’ as my better half insisted on calling it or if I can I can manage the steps down with care… I wouldn’t recommend the outdoor pool for anyone with mobility issues…Just too busy.

I can not remember on Solstice as I didn’t have mobility issues when I was on her but I did have on Eclipse. There was a chair that lowered in the solarium. it felt very safe. First day I went in the Solarium my husband approached one of the pool attendants who immediately rounded up a colleague. They were wonderful. Once I was in the pool one or the other of them always seemed to be in hailing distance for when I wanted to get out. Next visit they were straight over! I had spoken to my physio prior to my cruise about what to do/not to do in the pool. Most days I either went early or later afternoon to have lots of space. The only day I didn’t go straight in was a sea day at about 11am. The pool was very busy and I simply didn’t feel safe even with my better half hovering next to me. Needless to say the pool attendants approached and understanding my reluctance instead did some sun bed reorganisation (impossible for me to access one in the middle of a row). As the pool quietened (about 12.30ish) the pool attendants were over and got me in but one stayed close by tidying towels etc so if the pool filled again they would be on hand to get me out.