sofietucker

Here they are! Glued in place so a waste of cabinet space. As you can see, they are as tall as the bottles of water. Apparently the previous tenant had named them...

We had butler Glenn and attendant Juan--who meant well, he brought me a sun lounger, but the towel thing...geez. I think it was your butler who showed us "his" penthouse (on request) the morning of disembarkation. Nice space! We also checked out the royal suite and have booked it for our next X cruise on the Connie. Did your sky have the parrots too??

Starboard, 6146

We were in 6130 a few years ago, and wouldn't do it again due exactly to what you see in the photo above--PLUS when your drapes are open, that next-door balcony can see into your entire suite, because the left-side wall is all mirror, so it reflects back to show the entire room, bed, sofa, etc. The neighbors loved to hang out along their railing, Had to therefore keep the drapes shut. Also, not apparent but there's a large machinery area immediately below your balcony.

Nope. It used to be peaceful and quiet. Once, I was sent in there to wait prior to a massage--the usual waiting room was full--and it was hectic, SRO for the loungers, folks in robes but no empty lockers to put clothes, all the specialty rooms were full. Crazy. We have a free pass due to suite but no longer even try to visit. Though, $179 pp TOTAL for the week is a deal...

We've only ever stayed in Sky suites on Celebrity, but our experiences have varied wildly in terms of amenities and service. Prior to covid, it was more of a true suite experience: afternoon tea in our suite, daily morning coffee, evening hors d'oeuvres, white-glove in-suite meals, luxurious bath products, flowers, fruit, invitations and meals with officers, etc. Great party we hosted... First ship out in 2021 (Edge), we had brand-new-to-cruising (!) staff and many butler/housekeeping snafus; despite less than 30% of capacity, they had packed the suites, so endless waits for Luminae, Retreat seating, etc.--but the rest of the ship was empty. So we ate in Blu a lot, enjoyed empty main pool... On the Connie a couple of weeks ago, it was a pendulum. We were sandwiched between a Royal and a Penthouse, so butler was always around--good--but other than the (ahem) interesting room design (six large porcelain parrots glued to shelves!), it seemed to be regarded as basically a larger verandah... The amenities weren't "extra nice," basic minibar, we had to ask for everything: robes, etc. They would NOT give us more than a single bath towel each. When we requested more, they brought them--but then when we left the room, they removed the previously hung, unused ones! Bizarre. We began bringing in pool towels for the balcony and to mop up the rivers that ran from the leaking shower across the room to the drain in front of the vanity... Room service also varied: fantastic--and hot!--when butler brought it. Otherwise if he was on break, they forgot side dishes, cold, etc. (in other words, like 90% of all room service, both shoreside and on ships, lol). Sommelier didn't want to serve us wines outside our premium package, to the extent that many bottles on the menu were "unavailable"--except when we inquired elsewhere. It was like he was afraid to tell us of the surcharge. YET: We were deluged with all sorts of invitations. Special tours, dinner with officers, sailaways, I think at least 4 receptions. Attentive shoreside concierge. Michael's Club concierges were excellent and responsive. Escorted off the ship, etc. Persian Garden pass. We were sent plates of fancy desserts for no reason... Oh well, we've still booked another cruise on the Connie, lol. Just remember to follow the good advice above and present your list of expectations/requests.

I think the biggest challenge is hoping that there will be a return ride. The taxis aren't lining up to carry folks back to th e cruise ports.

Thanks so much! We learned it was canceled due to too few sign-ups, so yes we'll just go on our own!

So our ships tour to secret sands in a couple of days has been canceled. For operational reasons. Do you know why? Roads? Condition of beach? We figure we can get a taxi if it's actually the operator and not the site itself

Thanks everyone. Completely agree re: the non-reliability of the app--and forgot to mention that there are NO dinner starters & entrees listed in the menus, for any venue, after Day 5. Just drinks and desserts--the important parts, lol! But expecting to see the full menus in advance, in order to decide where to eat, when. Hope that SJ may still be dinner ashore...

On the Connie leaving Tampa on Dec 2. (Last time we cruised X was on the Edge's first time post-pandemic in June 2021.) The first 2 days are sea days--so you think, Okay, dressy night on first--or even second--sea day, as usual. First port is day 4, San Juan, PR. Unfortunately a short stay--we don't dock til 3pm. Many of the ship tours there are food-and-booze related, as they should be in this fabulous city! BUT. Looking at the menus of Luminae, Blu and MDR for that evening: this is very clearly a formal night! Each restaurant offers several variations of lobster tail and escargot and--the big tell!--Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Bewildering on several fronts: 1. Why would they have a second dressy night so soon after the cruise begins, assuming they follow the decades-old pattern of first sea day= formal night? 2. Why would they schedule a dressy night at a late-night port? Since many of the ship's tour options here (never mind the independent visits) are actually foodie-related, you roll back on board at 7 pm full of food & rum, and...rush to a fancy meal? 3. Wouldn't this possibly harm San Juan tourism's hopes of keeping folks ashore a little longer? We love spending time in SJ whenever possible--a reason we booked this itinerary. But we also really enjoy the fancy dinner nights. Any thoughts or observations?

We did, easy! https://flycovidtestcenter.com/en/ Choose the Catalunya location. Remember that although you make your individual appointments 15 minutes apart in sequence (if there is more than one of you) but you can show up & sign in together. The one thing to anticipate is there may be a longish line for folks who did not reserve and purchase the test in advance. Don't panic; just go to the front and they will direct you to your much shorter line! But you may still encounter a little wait even if you arrived for your appointment on time. So I would head over there a bit ahead of your scheduled time. They will need your passport when you sign in and verify that you purchased the test. Do not lose the paper they give you when you sign in; there's a bar code on it which they scan during the actual test. You can leave after they swab you--go get coffee or whatever. Then in 30 min or so, your results will show up in two forms: as a QR code (to scan on your phone) and as an email. The other thing to know: because they do the tests in both the arrivals and departures terminals, you may have to drag your luggage with you, depending on your situation. We couldn't check our luggage back to the US without having our test results to show at the counter, so had to manage all our luggage for that hour or so (including in the line and at the testing clinic), and went ahead and secured a cart immediately. But if you are getting tested upon arrival before boarding a ship, the situation may be different (we used Verify in the US plus the required Spanish form to enter the country). I don't know about collecting luggage at baggage claim prior to testing in arrivals. I think the website has good FAQs.

Thanks, everyone: Clearly either a snafu or no-modification policy just on this ship. We usually have issues with room service in hotels, even the Fairmont (where we had no mushrooms on the mushroom pizza and no cheese on the cheeseburger, lol), to the point that we rarely bother any more. But HAL is usually pretty good. Next time, we'll just pre-order thru the concierge and emphasize it's a modification.

Ours was too. In BB King's, they had: contest for best orange outfit; several officers (wearing no orange) and CD were there (orange dress--though CD didn't participate except to dance and watch);. The band hosted: they asked "Why do we wear orange? That's right: HAL is Dutch!" and no further discussion or explanation (like why the Dutch wear orange...). No Dutch songs (we have those egg timers from KLM that pay an array of Dutch folk tunes, etc.).No Dutch snacks--I asked if they were having bitterballen and the server had never heard of it. They did serve dessert--but again, no vlaai (apple pie). On the Prinsendam's final voyage, our Orange party was not announced as orange, just a big Dutch-ish deck party with the officers. They served a bunch of Dutch snacks and beer. And that's when we also learned that the new, invisible CD was promoted from beverage manager, lol. No one wore orange... I guess it's just HAL's version of White NIght--and up to each ship to do its own thing.

Sort of a silly thing, but a heads up: once upon a time, if you were in a suite and the room service menu didn't offer what you want (say eggs benedict), you could simply write it on the tag and they would bring it. No need for that in the expanded-but-pre-pandemic menus, as they were extensive (plus the mimosas, steak, etc.) and everything was ala carte too. But on our recent cruise on the Nieuw Statendam, there were limited menu choices and nothing was a la carte. Plus items that had been free to suite guests were now an extra charge (steak, etc.). And no eggs Benedict, no English muffins at all... So we wrote in our simple request: 2 eggs over easy and English muffins. We received the huge American breakfast with both sausages and bacon! Ate the eggs. Next time, ordered the eggs and a side of toast. Again, received the huge American breakfast! Maybe they can only serve what is actually printed on the menu. Room service did not deliver for 90 minutes one day. Called concierge who discovered that they had delivered to the wrong room*. We had to catch our excursion without a meal. So if you are contemplating ordering room service, you might do better by placing your order with the NS concierge. *One day, we received 6 lovely porcelain vases of the styles in the Dutch Cafe--the canal houses, etc. Hmm. Concierge discovered that they were misdelivered. Something to keep in mind...

(Posted this in our roll call too) There was a conversation on this topic but didn't see in the first few pages: Folks were saying they couldn't get paxlovid onboard after covid diagnosis. So heads up re: a couple of covid matters. We got our 2nd boosters today, and when the pharmacist heard about the cruise, he strongly suggested taking along some test kits AND paxlovid. He said if you're feeling flu-ish, a self test is a good place to start to determine if you want to get an official test. Even more to the point, he said get some paxlovid to take along because many medical centers onboard (as well as overseas) may not carry it or may not have enough. He further said, you can now get it without a prescription--but it's better to get a script from your PCP anyway. Some pharmacists are reluctant to hand it out just for the asking (regardless of insurance) because they may not know your full medical history, all your potentially contraindicated meds, etc.