Silkroad

For my first muster drill, on Millennium in 2006, we were required to go to our cabins, assume our life jackets, and report to our muster station. Ours was located on a sunny deck. We waited some time for others to come straggling in, some without life jackets, and most whining about what a waste of time this was. Of course, there were some who didn’t turn up at all, so the rest of us waited while they were hunted down. Then we waited while the crew tried repeatedly to get our herd to shut up and listen. Fast forward to our 2nd cruise, in 2013. For this, we were to report to our muster station without life jackets. There we watched a film augmented by commentary from the crew members who were running the drill. Again, half their battle was getting people to shut up and listen. More recently, we watch a video on the app or our stateroom TV, after which we report to our muster station. Very simple, yes. But some people still can’t or won’t follow directions. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we returned to a more substantive muster drill. And given the non-compliance and inattention I’ve observed on Celebrity ships, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Celebrity isn’t running drills to waste our time. We need to know what to do if there is an emergency.

In December, we spent 14 nights on Apex. On most of those evenings, we chose to rotate amongst the four MDRs. We turned up whenever we were ready to dine. If we encountered a line, we walked to another of the four restaurants. We dined in each restaurant at least twice, and we noticed that each restaurant host automatically tried to seat us with the same wait staff we’d had previously. Had we wished to dine exclusively in one of the restaurants having our two favorite wait staff teams, I think that would have been possible if we had arranged it with the Maître d’. Have a wonderful cruise! She’s a beautiful ship, and Celebrity officers, staff and crew do their best to provide a great experience.

Will do, if there is one. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we never received notification of, or invitation to, a TAD meeting. All we received was the letter I posted earlier.

We’ve enjoyed the menu as Concierge passengers, so we knew what we were missing. We would also have enjoyed meeting the other b2b passengers, a few of whom we had met elsewhere. We didn’t receive an invitation card on our December b2b. We’re booked on another b2b on Apex this summer. It will be interesting to see if our b2b turnaround experience is different.

We received this letter, which does not address lunch options. We were aware that b2b passengers were usually invited to both a b2b meeting and the Concierge luncheon. While there for a different reason, I did ask Guest Services if they knew anything about the b2b meeting and luncheon, but they did not. We could have simply turned up for lunch, I suppose, but we assumed that we needed an invitation. This was our first b2b, so the luncheon would have been nice, but not being invited didn’t ruin our cruise experience.

To our knowledge, there was no b2b meeting on Apex for our 12/3 and 12/10 b2b. There was no invitation or mention of a b2b luncheon in the letter we received containing information about turnaround day.

Which ship? We were unable to get Decoy or Conundrum on our December b2b (Apex). FWIW we were in an SV, not a suite or Aqua. And forget about Caymus, for which I would have happily paid the upcharge. They were even out of Elegance. We were rarely able to acquire premium waters outside the MDRs and Eden Restaurant. We were not happy with the Premium wine selection. When I met the F&B manager during at a Captain’s Club event, I took the opportunity to quietly express our frustration. He didn’t address the wine issue, but he did express surprise that I couldn’t acquire waters as he’d seen pallets of them in stores. He kindly offered to send a case of large bottles of Evian to our cabin. Several hours later we returned to our cabin to find the promised Evian. I wish I’d met him earlier, instead of late in the first leg of our b2b. We had similar Premium water and wine issues on Equinox last April (in Aqua) though Elegance was available. We had a few Premium package issues on Edge in October 2021 (in a Sky Suite) but they were nothing compared to our 2022 cruises, especially those in December. Our December b2b cruises on Apex had the worst Premium wine, beer and water availability we have ever experienced.

Murano for Grand Marnier soufflé

I’m so sorry. You have my heartfelt condolences. My DH and I have appreciated the generous contributions you and Mr. Chemmo have made to this forum through the years. We have a similar toasting tradition. Tonight our toast will be to you and your beloved husband, and the happiness you have shared.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/464-italy-ports/

Here is the link to the travel insurance board on Cruise Critic: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/ It is a great resource.

Thanks for posting this video! This is very close to what we experienced on Edge in a midship Concierge cabin on deck 12 (described earlier on this thread) except our noises were much louder due to rough seas. We had noises similar to this video in a midship Sky Suite on Edge. I was interested to find that we had few of these noises during periods of rough seas on our recent b2b on Apex. We were in an SV on deck 8.

Based on my December b2b on Apex, I can confirm that there’s no such thing as being able to walk up anytime and be seated immediately. If you turn up at a busy time (say 7:00) you may wait in line for a few minutes or be given a pager and a wait estimate. That said, we turned up anywhere between 6:00 and 7:30 and always found a table without waiting more than five minutes. We first went to the MDR we preferred. If there was a line of 20 parties, we turned around and walked to the one that had no line. If you want to dine around 6:00, I don’t think you’ll have much trouble.

It’s clear that each ship’s room service option is displayed differently. For my Apex b2b July/August 2023, I see only “Room Service “ displayed on the App. There are no Aqua or Retreat options below.

Based on the App, it looks that way. We have a suite on the first leg, and we’re in Aqua on the second leg. Of course, the App may display general room service info only.

I have found Celebrity air most useful for transatlantic cruises, for which we essentially book two one-way flights, one domestic and one international. Booking the flights directly with the airline would have cost a ridiculous amount. Note that I am a US resident. Being a Canadian resident, your experience with direct airline pricing may be different. Another advantage to using Celebrity air is that most tickets are refundable, but we pay the non-refundable price. Note that not all airlines allow immediate seat selection when you use Celebrity air. At the end of our first transatlantic cruise, we had our return flight from Rome cancelled - while we were en route to FCO from the cruise port😡. I didn’t even consider trying to reach Celebrity air or my TA. Given their hours and the time difference, had I tried to do so, we’d have waited for hours. We simply got into the long United line hoping we’d be rebooked on a flight leaving the same day. I did check the United site while waiting in line, but couldn’t find seat availability for both of us on other United flights. We’d had a direct flight in Premium Economy. We ended up in the last Economy row on US Airways with a long connection in Charlotte, but we did make it home late that night. Had we been caught in a mass flight cancellation event (weather, volcano eruption, earthquake, Covid shutdown) Celebrity air or our TA might have been useful. We do purchase travel insurance (not from the cruise line). We also fly to embarkation ports early (at least one day early for short hops, and at least two days early for long flights & international flights).

Our 31 July and 9 August cruises (on Apex) show no additional charge for room service other than the $4.95 late night charge.

We found the printed daily activities sheet on our bed each night of our December b2b on Apex. I do use the App, but I want to quickly scan the day/evening activities on the printed page, not in small segments on my iPhone.

On Apex this month there was no charge for food items (the same was true on past cruises on Edge). I didn’t take a photo of the menus. I’ve not had breakfast there, but for lunch there were several salad choices, several sandwich choices, and two soups of the day. They also have desserts. Haven’t had a cinnamon bun there. DH likes their blueberry muffins, chocolate brownies and cookies.

On Apex (12/3 & 12/10 sail dates) the breakfast was held at Le Grand Bistro. The menu was the same as the one @davekathyposted. We found it very enjoyable, though I will admit that we sometimes wandered through the OVC for second breakfast, which included crisp bacon😋 One of the waiters mentioned that the location of the breakfast (Tuscan or Le Grand Bistro) was dependent upon the number of Elite and above people on each cruise.

We were on a b2b earlier this month. Though our boarding passes displayed "CALL, PALL", our Seapass cards displayed "Premium Bev". If "Premium Bev" is displayed on your Seapass card, I wouldn't waste time at guest services before ordering a premium beverage as a test😉Though we have had Seapass cards that displayed "CALL PALL" in the past, we haven't seen this on the three cruises we've upgraded since the restart.

Not sure why you quoted my post to make this comment. I have no opinion on the subject. The OP asked for information. I provided my recent experiences. You have provided yours. Both are valid.

For non-suite passengers, Celebrity now looks at your reserved boarding time, not Captain’s Club status. Keep in mind that not all cruises begin check in at 10:30. We’re just off Apex. We had secured the earliest check in time for our cruise, which was 11:00. We were allowed into the terminal about ten minutes early (there were no lines) but we were all seated in groups by check in time. I’d say our group boarded the ship at about 11:10. On our previous cruise, we were lined up by check in time outside the terminal. Those who arrived early were not allowed into the lines unless they were empty. I’d suggest you arrive close to your time slot.

Marilyn (vtcruising) was a lovely, generous person. She, along with Lloyd and all my fellow Edgies, contributed to the excitement leading up to the launch of Edge. I still miss seeing Marilyn’s posts here. When I took my first post-shutdown cruise last autumn, I thought of her as I visited all the spots we both loved. I patted Mr. Edge, strolled through the haunted forest numerous times, visited the enigmas (my name for the statues outside Blu) and toasted her memory with a Golden Margarita or two. My thoughts are with her family today💔🦋

Eden. For DH and myself, the others aren’t even in the same class. We also enjoyed Le Grande Bistro for an occasional lunch.