Torquer

Do they allow MoveUp bids for the Penthouse Suite? We just booked our first Celebrity cruise, in a Royal Suite. Both Penthouse Suites (along with all other Royal Suites) are still available. The cruise is still 8 months out, so they will probably fill up, but it is surprising, compared with other lines we cruise on, that the top suites are all available.

@oldvietnamsalt Welcome to Cruise Critic. Presumably your cruise will be going through the Panama Canal, which will likely be the highlight of the cruise. Just remember, when you sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific, you will be heading east through the canal. Few people realize that before their first transit...look at a map. So the starboard side will be sunnier than the port side through most of the day. You will definitely want to be up and around the whole ship during the transit, including the bow (if open). But I wanted to mention the balcony since you will probably be on it a lot of the time.

We booked our first Celebrity cruise, and will be in the Retreat. One thing that we don't like is how close together the tables look in Luminae, at least from the photos we have seen. We hope they are bit further apart in real life since we like our privacy and don't necessarily want others hearing what we are talking about.

Here are some things that come to mind: At most embarkation ports, you will be the first people to board and get a personal escort to take you to your suite and show the features of the suite. At tender ports, the Neptune Lounge concierge will sometimes personally escort you down a crew elevator directly to the tender deck, bypassing all lines. The same has happened when we have had to go through immigration at a new country in the theater. There will be a full size tripod in the suite that is great for mounting your SLR for taking photos from your balcony. Also, there are almost always two pairs of binoculars, not just one. I already mentioned the free non-alcoholic drinks in the refrigerator. Also, on the non-Pinacle-Class ships, there is a large commercial-size refrigerator, not a mini-fridge. Before covid, there used to be free behind-the-scenes ships tours, that were truly excellent. In 2025 others have reported, and we also received, a free bridge tour which is really nice to see again. You will get the best table of your choice in the MDR, and normal rules of no reservations during peak dining hours don't apply to the PS. Finally, the Neptune Lounge Concierge will go out of their way for the PS guests. Just ask!

Also remember, unless you have a suite, your cabin is unlikely to have a table big enough for two people to comfortably eat at. Of course, you will know what is available when you are on the ship and contemplating ordering dinner.

HIA always includes the beverage package, and there is no way to get it without. That is why most people decide to get it or not get it based on how much alcohol they plan to drink. If you have only 0-3 alcoholic drinks per day, then it is not a good deal. We just do the calculation ourselves, and it never works out for us. So we just budget $300 pp (for a 10-day cruise), and just buy our drinks ala carte, and stay within that budget.

This question has come up many times...at least since Covid, I have never read where someone actually received the CO special onboard event. And just to be complete, the PS suite guests receive other perks that even the NS suite guests do not get; these vary a bit from ship to ship. For example, the free bridge tours have returned, free non-alcoholic drinks in the refrigerator (these have been around for years), and more.

Technically speaking, staying in a Neptune Suite gives you all the benefits of Club Orange, but you don't actually have Club Orange. In addition you will have some things that people who pay for CO do not have: on Eurodam you can have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill (which is an excellent perk), access to the Neptune Lounge including afternoon snacks and coffee, and perhaps most importantly, the services of the Concierge who can work wonders to make your stay really wonderful.

@TravelTrailblazer As one of the few HAL regulars who agreed with you that this is deceptive advertising, I'm glad you got your deposit back. Please don't let this initial interaction with the HAL corporation prevent you from trying HAL in the future. Although every cruise line, including HAL, has some things that even its regular repeat customer don't like, the HAL cruise product is really excellent overall, especially if you like longer cruises on mid-size ships to non-mainstream ports.

We always stay in the top suites on the other cruise lines we frequent (mainly Oceania and Holland America). We are now getting ready to book our first cruise on Celebrity Infinity. What really surprises me is, the cruise is April 2026, and all 8 Royal Suites and both Penthouse Suites are still available for this cruise. On the other cruise lines, these suites would be long gone. Is there something wrong with these suites that no one wants them? It was good to read the glowing reviews above on the PH on Infinity. Or perhaps it is the ports for this cruise are not what people want; some of the ports are a bit esoteric, but that is exactly why we are booking this cruise on Celebrity, because there are 5 new ports for us.

Agreed. In fact, there is no legal reason for Celebrity to even require a passport for this cruise, since the cruise is not leaving Iceland. Suppose an Icelander is taking this cruise; they shouldn't even be required to have ever gotten a passport, let alone to have it along with them on the cruise. Just a valid government ID, like a drivers license should be fine. I don't know about Celebrity's policy, but some other cruise lines do not require a passport for US citizens to take a cruise to certain Caribbean islands, that embarks in Florida. If Celebrity's policy is the same, what is different about this Iceland cruise. Of course, the important thing is Celebrity can set whatever rules it wants, but it would be ironic if it is different for the Caribbean versus Iceland.

The only options offered to us were refund it to a debit card, or we give them our checking account numbers and they refund it to our checking account. I would never do the latter, but the debit card option worked out fine for us.

We are very experienced HAL cruisers, and I fully agree with the OP that this is deceptive advertising. I'm surprised so many people are defending HAL, just because they knew about this gotcha. Frankly, we did not know this about these low-deposit cruise "deals", that there is a second deposit due. But we always get the advantage fare, where the deposit is fully refundable, except when we book onboard for a future cruise and the deposit is also refundable. I'm not sure if I had booked this that I would have read all the fine print to notice the second deposit. and I just find this a despicable practice by HAL. We have a potential HAL cruiser that is now pissed off at the company before they even get started. I just don't get it, that they think this makes sense from a business practices point of view. And let me understand how this would work if I booked a cruise that embarks less than 240 days out, which is quite common for many people. Instead of charging me $25 as advertised in big letters, they would charge me $125 (or $175 or whatever) right now, even though they are advertising $25? Terrible.

WiFi connectivity and Starlink internet speed are two completely different things. WiFi is how fast and reliable your device connects to a wireless access point; you can have a relatively weak WiFi signal and still have excellent overall speed (although internet speed can appear to drop when the WiFi signal is really poor). I think the OP is talking about WiFi connectivity, which as some have said, varies by location on the ship. Most public spaces have good WiFi, except perhaps in the theater before a show when many people are using their phones. WiFi in cabins is generally good, but some cabins do have poor connectivity because the access point is in the hallway, and perhaps far away from the cabin. You asked which cabins have the best WiFi; I can tell you that the Pinnacle suites have 1-2 access points inside the suite so they have great WiFi, but I doubt anyone would pay for a PS just for their WiFi.

On an Antarctica cruise, you will hit many small icebergs and feel the ship shudder. No big deal. Now of course I don't know the size of what the K-dam hit and how it compares to those in Antarctica.

I see the cruise is being advertised by HAL as: "America's 250TH Celebration: Stars & Stripes". Since what they are celebrating happened in Philadelphia, it is surprising they removed it from the itinerary, without a really good reason. I agree that Norfolk, although it does have a lot of maritime history, was not nearly as important for the America's birth compared to Philadelphia. But we don't know the whole story of why Philadelphia was dropped. Perhaps the US Navy has a big celebration planned in Philly for next year and there is simply no room for a cruise ship...I have no idea. I'm not aware of any big cruise ships that stop in Philly, so maybe the infrastructure doesn't exist, but that is pretty hard to believe considering the small ports HAL ships visit in tiny cities around the world. Unfortunately, complaining is not going to do much about it. If you really don't like the new itinerary, you can always cancel the cruise.

Once onboard the ship, you can also make reservations. However, most ships do not allow reservations, except for some suite guests, from 6:15 to 7:30 which are the peak dining times. These times vary a bit from ship to ship and even cruise to cruise. Also if you don't have a reservation, but you have paid for Club Orange or are staying in a suite, there is a separate line and there is almost never any waiting for a table.

@DevonianCruiser We are new to Celebrity, but have stayed in many top suites on several other cruise lines. I feel the same way, that the prices for 3rd/4th guests make no sense and I don't see how Celebrity justifies them. You may want to read this thread from a few weeks ago where I asked a similar question as you: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3066595-outrageous-prices-for-3rd4th-guests-in-a-suite/ In my opinion, no one really justified why Celebrity charges so much for 3rd/4th guest in a suite compared to other lines. I guess the options are: Pay the really high price they are asking for 3rd/4th guests in a suite Get your kids an extra room (an interior is probably fine, since they will spend most of the time in your suite, except to sleep) The problem with the last bullet above, then you won't be able to eat together at Luminae, and perhaps other restaurants. So you could have them join you in the restaurant and just pay the guest rate for them. Tell the kids they can't join you on the cruise (if they are adults and you are paying for the cruise)

@Marc Silver Wow...very impressive work, and obviously you put in a lot of time on them. They will be very helpful for our cruise to Japan next year. Thank you.

This is more of a trip insurance question, rather than the Middle East situation. Did you mean you will add insurance a day before making final payment or a day before getting on the cruise? It sounded like the former and am just wondering why. The trip insurance we buy, allows us to do it after final payment; in fact, that is usually when we buy it. We make final payment and then start shopping for insurance, and then buy it typically within a week after final payment. I guess this does open a window where we would develop a medical condition in those few days, and the insurance would not cover it because it is then a pre-existing condition, but we are willing to take that chance.

I would also recommend asking Celebrity that the way you are doing things is OK. After reading CC for 10+ years I have never heard this question asked and it is certainly an interesting one. On the subject of a passport...although Celebrity does not require a passport on some Caribbean cruises, I would never consider leaving the US on a cruise without one. Suppose there was a medical emergency and you needed to fly home; without a passport you are not going to be getting on a plane. Although I certainly hope it is not needed, it is probably more likely to happen for an infant versus someone 10-45 years old.

In some countries in the world, USD are happily accepted and even preferred over the local currency, for example, in Argentina many people prefer to receive tips in USD. I think the OP's question is a good one for someone who has experience in Indonesia. I apologize to @Donald if you have first-hand knowledge, and you may very well be correct...it was just that your response did not sound like it. BTW, I just googled this and it said that tipping is uncommon in Indonesia, so probably no need to tip at all.

My point was that the US State Department warning against travel to countries is level 3 or 4; level 3 is reconsider travel and level 4 is a straight warning against travel. All countries that cruise ships currently visit are level 1 or 2 (at least that I am aware of), which is not a warning against travel.

Unless I am missing something, the title of this thread, "U.S. warns against foreign travel anywhere", is just plain wrong and misleading. I can find no such statement by the US State Department. Here is what it says: Event: The conflict between Israel and Iran has resulted in disruptions to travel and periodic closure of airspace across the Middle East.  There is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad. The Department of State advises U.S. citizens worldwide to exercise increased caution. Please read carefully our Travel Advisory, country information, and any recent security alerts when planning travel at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages.html Then, if you look at individual counties somewhat close to the Middle East, such as Turkey and Greece, you see level 1 or 2 advisories, and nothing has changed in the last 6+ months.

In 2023, we used FlightEase. We paid 8,650 USD pp round-trip in business class from New York to Auckland with return via Sydney. We thought this was a pretty good deal, and if I recall, FlightEase saved us about 1,000 pp over booking direct with the airlines. But prices change all the time and you just keep have to keep looking for a good deal. The nice thing about FlightEase is you can book when you see the first good deal, but then keep checking prices every week and change to a better/cheaper flight when you find it. Unfortunately this airfare really is expensive for business class. Unless you are staying in a suite, it is probably more than the price of the entire cruise. You have to decide if it is worth it to fly business class or save money and go premium economy or even steerage.