cruiserchuck

Do not know if it a recent change, but Spa Cafe was closed on embarkation day on current Solstice cruise.

When checking in at the pier today, we were asked two health questions, and we were done. The representative asked if we had the COVID vaccine, and if we had any COVID symptoms in the last 24 hours. It took about 30 seconds and we were good to go.

I am sailing tomorrow, and cannot access the health questionnaire or check in section on the app today. I could access check in yesterday, but it said it was too early to do the health questionnaire.

Thanks for the information.

I just read that there is a labor dispute at the Port of Los Angeles, and that the Port is closed today due to a shortage of workers. It is not clear from the article whether this is limited to container ships, or if it also impacts passenger ships. I hope this does not impact the cruise scheduled to depart tomorrow. https://www.ttnews.com/articles/west-coast-shut-labor

You had to vacate your cabin, but could use some of the public spaces, like the buffet.

A similar thing happened on one of the Japan cruises in April 2018 that we were booked on. The cruise disappeared from booking sites, and people were worried that the ship had been chartered. It actually was just sold out, although there were a few cabins available through big travel agents who had blocked off rooms with group bookings. The cruise eventually started showing up again on booking sites, and took place as scheduled.

I was having trouble accessing one of my reservations on Celebrity's website yesterday. I called Celebrity, and was advised to try it using a computer vs. a mobile device. It worked fine on my Mac.

I was on hold for about 90 minutes when I called on Tuesday morning. I was calling about an existing booking, so I pressed #2.

I am not sure if this is what happened to you, but on one of my calls to the Blue Chip club, they told me no low cost upgrade was available to Aqua for a specific cruise I inquired about. They said if I wanted to upgrade to Aqua on that cruise, I could get a special Blue Chip rate of a certain percentage off the regular rate for that category. I passed on that offer, and asked them to tell me which cruises had low cost upgrades to Aqua available, which they did.

My wife and I are both Pearl level , and gamble very little on Celebrity. In July, we booked two free veranda cruises, and were able to upgrade to Aqua for $10 per person per night on both cruises. However, in late August, we had to change dates on one of the cruises we booked, and were charged $20 per person per night for the new cruise. When I told them we were only charged $10 per person previously, the rep told me that he had made a mistake by allowing upgrades at the lower cost, and $20 per person per night was the correct amount.

That is good to know. On our last cruise without a beverage package (about 8 years ago), I used to pick up water during the Elite hours.

Is daily water still included in Aqua class? I know it was included many years ago, and then it stopped. On my last few cruises I had a beverage package, so it did not matter. On my upcoming cruise with a Blue Chip deal, my fare is cruise only.

Smoothies are not part of the classic package, but are included at Blu during breakfast at no charge.

With HAL allowing unvaxxed folks and no testing for vaxxed folks starting today, I suspect there will be more Covid cases onboard going forward. I am doing a cruise where I can drive to/from the port as my first cruise since 2019 to hopefully avoid any quarantine issues.

Does her cat go on vacation with her, or does the cat stay onboard?

Last month I was able to book an upgrade to Aqua for $10 pp per day. I ended up needing to reschedule the cruise, and this week was told it is now $20 pp per day to do so. I was told that the earlier lower rate was an error, and that the supervisor had advised the rep about the correct upcharge. The good news was that I was able to book a date for which I had previously been told that an upgrade to Aqua was not available.

I asked about an upgrade to the Retreat, and was told it was not available.

For me, eating in Blu vs. the MDR is worth far more than the up charge.

I do not know about Apex, but I recently booked on Solstice, and the confirmation had a line at the top under General Information that stated: Stateroom Obstructed View Percentage 0%. I have never seen such information disclosed before by Celebrity. So it appears that Celebrity is keeping track of and disclosing obstructions. I remember when the M class ships first came out, Celebrity used to deny there were any obstructions caused by the cleaning machinery.

For my cruise, the upgrade was $10 pp per day, for an A2 category.

Yes, they can.

This is my understanding also. I paid $10 per person per day extra to upgrade to Aqua on my free cruise offer, and no perks were included. On one cruise I inquired about, I was told that the $10 upgrade to Aqua was not available, but I could get the casino rate, which I believe was a 60% discount off the usual rate. I believe if I had gone for that much higher rate, then the perks would have been included.

No, they are not.

I have a non-cruise related flight scheduled with Delta. I get an email about once a month informing me of flight changes. So the flight changes have nothing to do with FBC.