rjhelmes

Does anyone have any experience with the Mobile Passport app and if it makes any time difference at customs? We've never used it but it looks like the free version has to be completed within 4 hours of debarkation.

Thanks for the responses, they're all very helpful. I can definitely understand why the agent would waive people through if they have paperwork to fill out for just a few dollars, especially since it always seem like they're understaffed.

We've been on a few cruises but have never needed to declare anything in excess and I've never seen anyone pay excess duties so I didn't want to be unprepared if we find some liquors we can't get at home.

As a US citizen say I buy 3 bottles of liquor in St. Maarten (I think I'm allowed 1 liter duty free) and return to Fort Lauderdale. Do I show the US Customs Officer my receipts and pay there? Cash, Check, Credit card?  How does this usually work?

Also, years ago (2012) we bought liquor in a port and while returning to the ship they waived us through passed the liquor hold station. I assumed it was because we had the drink package (but they never checked our cards so how would they know) and why would they care if we drink what we bought versus drink the included bev PKG booze. Is this normal of you have the drink package or did we just get lucky to not have to check our liquor to the ships hold.

Has Celebrity thought about the unintended consequences of this move? For us, we enjoy Celebrity because it seems less crowded because people are in their staterooms. If this move pushes people to the pool (the ships will need more pool loungers) or to other places our enjoyment level will probably go down. While I can't say we won't sail with Celebrity next time but it'll certainly be taken into consideration. And who knows we may try another brand and like it and not return to Celebrity, that's a risk they're taking by making this move. It might be cheaper to keep the movies than trying to attract new (not yet loyal) customers.

I just booked a two bedroom suite the other day at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport/Cruise at 1150 west state Rd 84, for a really reasonable price with breakfast. The pictures show that you walk in to a common area then it splits in to a queen bedroom, a separate sitting room with a pull out couch, and another queen bedroom so it sleeps 6. I couldn't tell if the bedrooms have doors, I don't think they do but at least you're not right next to each other and I believe you share 1 bathroom as well. 

We've been on Celebrity 3 times (2013, 2014 and 2019). Our perception was that the food was good but from 2014 to 2019 the quality did go down but it could have been a variance in how good the land based supply chain was or the chefs on the ship. We still rate it excellent and much better than I can make at home.

What I can tell you is last cruise we had the drink package so maybe the wine helped the food taste better?  It also helps that we had an excellent MDR waiter who steered us away from the food that got poor reviews and toward the better dishes. Our waited did tell us that over the past few years more salads have replaced the meat based starters so he recommended we order a non-salad so management would know there was still demand for it, which is good because our group wasn't a salad group anyways.

If you're like us I don't think you'll be missing anything if you skip the specialty restaurants. When we cruise the main dining room rarely disappoints and we're not very picky or have refined palates. Also you've already paid for the mdr meal (let's assume the mdr meal is worth $15) so by going to a specialty restaurant that's $50 your real cost is $65, for that money I'll enjoy a restaurant near me that I've been wanting to try.

Also, a few years ago we met a couple that had access to Blu but preferred eating their nice dinners in the MDR. We were new to Celebrity at the time, and he offered us some dinner advice, he said, "forget the main dining room for a night and try the stir-fry station at the buffet, it's the best". We tried it and he was right, delicious and something we don't have access to at home, we've skipped MDR a few times now to check out what the buffet has to offer.

To put this thread to bed we're off the ship and here's the conclusion. 

The post was to serve more as a warning to others that are being told on CC that the price will be the same to upgrade whether on the ship or before hand. It definitely didn't ruin our cruise, and the group of 6 still agreed that the upgrade was still worth it at $14 vs $10 per day to us, what got under our skin was it felt like a bait and switch. If you purchased classic for $59 online then was charged $14 to upgrade to premium you'd feel slighted too if you could've just purchased premium for $69 on the ship. If it was just the 2 of us we wouldn't even bother but for the 6 of us it was, the difference of $4 +grats more per day for 6 people for 7 days = $196 more for the week than the $10 upgrade price. 

In the end they tried to adjust it to the $10 price for us but messed that up too. They amended our upgrade price to $11.80 plus 18% gratuities so $97.48 per person for the 7 day premium upgrade. It should have been $10 plus 18% but at that point we weren't too worried about it.

The cruise was a 10 out of 10, our group of 6 had an amazing time.

I thought the price to upgrade was $10 plus grat to upgrade. We're in on board now, back in Miami in 2 days but noticed they charged us $14 plus gratuities to upgrade at the sunset bar instead of the $11.80. I spoke with a couple bar workers and they said $14 plus grat is the price to upgrade on the ship.

Brought what the website says to guest services attention and was told that 1) online is cheaper to book in advance (it's a sale prior to cruising), and/or 2)Celebrity corporate in Miami dictates price on the ships. 

I also brought to their attention the inconsistency that if you want to buy the classic pkg on the ship it's $55 but $59 online, they seemed confused by it all.

Guest services even let me log in to the celebrity website to show them the $59classic/$69premium price and my celebrity cruise planner to show the $10 plus grats price but they didn't budge. 

Needless to say if you're on Equinox you should book before sailing to avoid this. We've visited guest relations 4 times to speak with managers and they never get back to us with a resolution. It's very frustrating, we brought 4 others with us so they are feeling our frustration since I told them it would be $10 to upgrade on the cruise. Unfortunately we don't have the internet package so I can't get back to this thread until Miami but we feel that Celebrity has let us down on pricing variation from ship to online. Hopefully I'm not wrong on the pricing 🤔 

There isn't much to do around the port. There are some shops in a port building you have to walk by to get to the catamaran meeting place.

We did a catamaran last March and wanted to hit up some things afterward but snorkeling and drinking got the best of us. Our boat left Barbados at 5 so we figured, off the catamaran at 230, drop off at the port 300, get back to the ship by 4 just to be early. So it didn't leave much time to do much else. we went back to the port shops, found a little wifi, not sure from what shop but it was difficult to get signal. However The made in Barbados rum prices are pretty good at the port shops I recall.

Last year on Celebrity we used this excursion to transport us to St. John.

Our boat docked at 8am but there's not much open before the excursion leaves.

The boat picked up celebrity guests then motored over to the rccl ship and picked up. Then we had a 20-30 min ride to St. John. The sea was pretty rough that day so it wasn't the most comfortable ride. If I remember correctly they told passengers we had 3.5 hours of time before being back at the meeting spot. We went to the tap room of St. John's brewer which is a short walk off the boat and spent the first hour.

After that we took the national park hike mentioned in an earlier post to some nice secluded beaches. Warning: the hike took a while and was over some rough terrain so we won't do that again. However the beaches were basically empty except for some small boats that were anchored in the bays and some locals.

We made it back to the meeting spot with a minute or two to spare which was a little too close for me but we probably had to wait 10-15minutes before loading up, I think to let the late stragglers make it back. The ride back was not great because it down poured and most of the boat was uncovered, there was rum punch though.

Unfortunately I can't remember how much time we had upon returning.

We're heading back later this year and will probably use this excursion again but this time we'll take a taxi to trunk bay then come back early to hit the tap room again because their beers were really tasty. Going to the tap room 2nd also gets us close to the meeting point without having to worry about catching a taxi at the last minute.