Tudy

I recently upgraded from a concierge to a suite after final payment. no problem. I was using a travel agent. Not sure if that makes a difference.

We, too, were able to keep our wine with us. I think they are more lenient in certain countries and if the cruise is specifically labeled as "Wine Cruise." Not that Celebrity is known for it's logical reasoning, but if you think about it, if you have a drink package, any wine of your own that you drink is wine they don't have to pay for. Also, if you have a drink package, you do not have to pay a corkage fee.

On sea days they serve breakfast in one of the main dining rooms. Not sure where they would serve a sit-down breakfast on port days. Just got off the Edge a week ago after being onboard for 39 days. We enjoyed Rooftop Garden Grille. The service was great and the food was great. We also enjoyed Fine Cut. We were impressed by neither the menu nor the service in Eden. Hopefully your experience will be better. We did meet a gentleman by the name of Daniel whose job was to rotate through the restaurants and troubleshoot any areas needing improvement. He had just rotated through RGG and Fine Cut. I am thinking he was going to Eden next or shortly, so hopefully you will have a wonderful experience.

I have taken the seaplane to Dry Tortugas and loved it. I think you should be fine with getting to the airport by 10:00 as the ship is docked, not tendered. I recommend talking with your tour broker. Tell them your concerns and ask for any tips regarding getting to the airport and if they have any flexibility if you should be a little late for take off. I would definitely do the 10am flight rather than noon. because the ferries arrive later in the morning, with the 10am flight, not as many ferries will have brought people to the area. By noon it will be more crowded.

I booked a guarantee once when no cabins were showing available and I was assigned a suite. (The next up category that was showing available). Maybe. . . These days, someone will do a move up bid and you will be assigned their cabin.

We recently switched cabins with friends of ours who were traveling on a B2B with us. We added another B to our cruises, they did not. Their cabin was available for the 3rd cruise, so we switched for the first 2 so that we did not need to change rooms after the second cruise. (Does that make sense)? I called our travel agent and he called Celebrity and switched. Easy-peasy, at least for us. I recommend finding out what the bed placement is, and if necessary call your TA or Celebrity, if you booked direct, and have it switched before you cruise. It's easier that way. If your cruise docs are already available, you will need to ask to have them updated so that your luggage tags are correct. If you all are traveling to the port together, this is not as important because you can each print out luggage tags and just swap.

Thoughts on need to to check in for consecutive cruises in Sydney? Yes? No? Maybe? What has your recent experience been?

Jelayne, have you been on a cruise specifically labeled by Celebrity as a Wine Cruise and not been allowed to keep wine purchased on a shore excursion? I am on such a cruise in Australia and agree with NMTraveller that the wine available onboard recently is poor.

I have searched the boards and can't find what I am looking for. I seem to recall that Celebrity sometimes allows passengers to keep wine with them that they purchased on shore excursions when the cruise was an official wine cruise. Am I imaging this? Those of you who have been on wine cruises, what has your experience been?

Just a note for those of you who like to start a vacation day with a libation: Coffee Hour is also morning cocktail hour. 🤣

We did it last summer on the Silhouette. (We had done it in the "long ago" past, once on Celebrity and twice on Royal). It was a very nice evening. The Galley tour was well organized and interesting. The cookbook is very heavy and does not have a single recipe in it that I would make. But it does have pretty pictures. It's one of those things my kids will throw out after I am gone. I don't think that we paid that much for it. I think we paid $129pp plus we splurged and got the wine pairings. The wine pairing were not necessary, as the somm had other wines on the packages that would work. The other people at the table were fun. The room was cozy. All in all, for us, the money was worth the memory. But we don't need to repeat it for another 5 years--unless it would be free.

Yes you can! I have done it. Make sure that you know what Royals current perks are for booking onboard, because the people at Celebrity usually don't know.

I understand the allure of suites. I was just on the Ascent in a sky suite. It's nice. Concierge is where we usually stay. Honestly, right now I would book a concierge for that much of a difference in price. Sky suites no longer include gratuities or the OBC like they used to. Also there is all the hoopla about butlers being a "Team" now for Sky suites, AND if your wine is $1.00 over the premium limit you have to pay the $1.20. Another drawback is that we tend to stay in the suite area when we have access and E class are such beautiful ships that we missout on so much going on elsewhere in the ship. I like concierge for the sit down lunch upon embarkation and I do use the "Concierge concierge" quite a bit to book stuff and take care of issues. You can place a move-up bid if you decide you really want a suite and probably pay significantly less. That's my 2 cents, but it is an important cruise for you.

I did it 10 years ago. I was not as knowledgeable then as I am now and did not realize until a couple weeks before sailing that I was several decks below my kids. I wanted to be on the same deck so I asked my travel agent to downgrade me, but I did not get any refund. I didn't expect any.

These packages are very limited and expensive. We have a friend who was able to get one for his daughter and grandson (age 13). He was unable to get a suite for them because only high level suites were available. He said he paid more for them to be in a concierge cabin with the package than if he would have if he had gotten a sky suite.

Just off the Ascent and I agree that the wine choices real are not "to my taste." In Luminae I had to pay at least $8.00+grats over the PDP to get what I considered a decent wine. If X can't get better wines, they need to allow us to bring our own, as many as we want.

We had Edwin for our butler as well. He was fabulous! He arranged a private party for us. Wine, Charcuterie and assortment of breads. We saw him frequently throughout the cruise.

If you want Jigsaw puzzles, Holland America is your line. 🙂

I heard something this morning and now these price increases make more sense to me. My husband was watching Squawk Box on CNBC. Not sure the name of the gentleman, but he was the secretary of commerce at some point. He was advocating companies significantly increase their prices just prior to a period of deflation. He believes this will decrease the economic trauma of deflation for the company and will help them pay their employees, etc. I thought, "That's counterintuitive. But it sounds just like Celebrity!" I also think that Celebrity might be in the process of changing its Beverage supplier.

As a nurse, I can vouch for all this. And people with these conditions usually know and understand why a spa would need to know these things. If you are uncomfortable with sharing medical information, don't utilize the spa. If you do use it, think carefully before you give them an incorrect medical history. By doing so you put yourself at risk. How much risk? It varies. The risk to benefit ratio is something that you need to decide for yourself. As a provider, I know that I really, REALLY, did not appreciate finding out that my client withheld pertinent information from me simply because they didn't understand why I needed it.

My Travel Agent told me that it could be IT from their agency or Celebrity.

I usually link the reservation the first time I want to include others in my activity. When you are reserving the activity, you will be asked who wants to participate. Under the names for the people on your reservation, it says something to the effect of "add people from another reservation." Click that and then the screen will come up to add others. You will need the name of one person on the reservation you are adding and that person's date of birth. It might take a couple of tries. Unfortunately.

It is a process, to be sure. It says the reservation number is locked when someone else is looking at the reservation.

I have made reservations for our groups several times. What you are describing about the website being wonky, are things that I have also experienced. Just when I was ready to give up, the other reservations came up and we were linked! To find where to book dinner reservations for any time dining, go under dining, scroll all the way to the bottom and it should say "complimentary dining, You should be able to select your whole group and make reservations. However, for the specialty dining, you will all have to be booked in the same group with the same currency. Even if everyone booked with the same TA, some might be in a different group. You will have to pay for everyone. If you are not all in the same group, then you can book individually and when onboard go to the maitre D and tell them that you all want to sit together.I did call Celebrity ahead of time, not helpful. Hope this helps.

I am looking at doing a AmaWaterways cruise and am specifically interested in the Concierge Golf Program. My husband is an avid golfer. I have some questions for anyone who has booked this program. Was it hassle-free? i. e. organized, clear meeting points, gear where it needed to be If only one person in the party is a golfer, are there other singles to pair with? Are the courses well maintained? Are they indeed top courses? How was the cost to value ratio, in your opinion? Any thoughts that you have, I would love to know.