Wiltonian

I lived in Southampton for 9 years, but hope I can be subjective. It's a typical British city. There are some historic parts, a few medieval buildings, but much of the centre got blitzed circa 1940, and much has been redeveloped since. Given you're touring the UK later, I wouldn't stop in Southampton. If you can get, say, a four-five hour time-slot away, I'd ask a taxi operator at the docks what (s)he'd charge to take you Winchester, about 15 miles away. Nice old city, superb cathedral, interesting old buildings. I wouldn't recommend the uncertainty of trying to get to Stonehenge or Salisbury, and the nervousness about missing the ship.

Stuart

We were on Silhouette this month and with the 5-dinner package booked Murano and Tuscan twice each, and Lawn Grill once. All were excellent, IMHO. I prefer Murano; wife prefers Tuscan, so the 2:2:1 formula preserved harmony. Time is critical for Lawn Grill; much better in daylight or sunset than the pitch black!

Was on the Silhouette earlier this month: just two sizes of MacBook Pro and the 9.7" iPad Pro. No MacBook Airs, no standard iPads, no larger iPad Pros. Very disappointing.

Rack of lamb was good, and the venison, Silhouette last month.

Stuart

I'm wondering if I should stick with Oceania...wow! Anyone else seeing these high per day prices?!

At those prices, I would! Edge is £200/$250 a day for inside cabins. I've never paid that much for Celebrity balcony cabins with the classic drinks package.

They really are trying to exploit those eager to try a new ship, but will an interior on the Edge be that much different?

Stuart

Either Celebrity will have to cut prices, or there are an awful lot of fools out there: 10 or 11 days inside cabin in the Med in September on the Edge from £1999 pp.

£200/night for an inside cabin? ROFL.

Yeah, just found Edge's on the eskimo site.

Indeed. 10 or 11 days inside cabin in the Med in September on the Edge from £1999 pp.

£200/night for an inside cabin? ROFL.

Stuart

Its gonna be huge, trust me. So huge. The hugest. No body does huge more than X. Trust me.

And who's going to pay for my suite on EDGE? That's right! Mexico. That's right. They will.

In addition, she may enjoy sitting with you and others she meets on-board at dinner which is more likely in the MDR than in Blu. When my daughter was college-age, we often had other young people she met on board dining with us (or us with them.)

Good advice; we like a mix of MDR with others, and speciality dining on our own.

Stuart

Blu is great, but for that price difference you could have a balcony cabin and speciality dining every night - or every other night and money for excursions. Blu is great, but not that great, IMHO. I'd pay $30 pppn, or perhaps $40 at verymost.

Stuart

With approx. 87% of passengers now having a drinks package of some form or another I wonder how long the "Elite" cocktail party will continue. Whenever we have gone to the sky lounge it has pretty much been empty. As a holder of a drinks package there is little incentive to make the effort.

Hmm, I get the impression that some Elite passengers, having got their status, then seek out ultra-cheap fares without the packages, relying on the "cocktail hour" to keep them re-fuelled!

Stuart.

When you tot everything up the "Saver Fare" is not all it seems, particularly when you also get up to $550 PER PERSON OBC with the "Cunard Fare".

You really can't generalise! I've even seen the Cunard fare lower than a Saver Fare - just once. Certainly, the savings can be minimal, but at other times, they are significant, not least because OBC depends on cabin class,

In April, Cunard added an Early Saver price for the Oct 1 2018 Canaries cruise. That fare disappeared again in the last couple of weeks. But AFAIK, there's little obvious rhyme or reason to the patterns of offer and withdrawal of the fares.

Stuart

On the Silhouette: last night our room steward gave us our luggage tags for Rome. No form for us to indicate transport plans and times. Just a tag for a useless 8.30 disembarkation. Swapped it at GR, who told me they're trying a new system. What a silly idea!

Currently 6243 on Silhouette; no doors but no noise whatsoever. Great location

After our first, we've booked own flights. Just departing Rome having flown in from Luton yesterday afternoon. Flying back to Brum. Monarch. Recommend flying in a day earlier 'just in case'! Just check the various budget airline websites and compare

I'll be taking a "smart-casual" jacket and a linen suit for the Med this week. There are lots of experienced cruisers on Med cruises, so I wouldn't pin my hopes on being invited to a special meal!

Stuart

Almost always be charged in $$$$ and let your CC company convert; a much better rate than Celebrity will use. This is a common scam on European ATMs and also when paying in Euros with a Sterling CC. They're not offering the facility to be charged in £ out of the kindness of their hearts! ;-)

Stuart

Why should it concern you how the tips are divided? Do you inquire whether the waiter gets the tip you leave in your local Denny's or Olive Garden?

 

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Well, I did last week in my local chain restaurant, to check that the company didn't cream off any of the gratuities added to the credit card payment. This was commonplace in manyy chains until recently.

Answer was that the server kept all of any cash tip, and that the whole of any tip put on a CC was shared among the staff. I went for the latter option, so that pot-washers got something as well.

Why should we not be interested?

Stuart

Too much forward superstructure to look elegant. Not impressed aesthetically.

Stuart

If a drink is $1 above your package limit, you'll be charged $1.18 including the gratuities.

We have occasionally tipped a very good waiter in Blu, but we ask nothing extra of our room steward and are very 'low maintenance;, so have not given them extra tips.

There is no right and wrong, just huge cultural differences!

Stuart

Thanks. I should have clarified: I understand there are daily charges' date=' and our are prepaid as a perk from TA. I am asking if you normally tip above and beyond the daily gratuity charges. i.e. extra tip to steward, or anyone else.... If so, what is reasonable and customary. We aren't in a suite, only Aqua Class.[/quote']

 

There is no generally agreed approach. People from countries where tipping is universal, expected, and an essential element of remuneration will often tip.

 

People from countries where tipping is less commonplace, typically at lower levels, or a nice bonus for wait staff who get the legal minimum wage without tips, will often not tip, or only tip for particularly outstanding service.

 

Do what you're comfortable with, but don't expect a consensus view!

 

Stuart

They need to get up to date. All of my income sources are direct deposit. Don't have the time to stand in a line as I am too busy doing nothing all day.

 

And don't know where you are from but our postal service delivers our mail directly to our house. It is mostly junk mail that goes directly into the circular file or shredder.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

You really shouldn't make cross cultural assumptions. Of course mail is delivered to U.K. homes. But post offices also offer many banking facilities and traditionally government payments such as pensions were collected from post offices. Most pensioners are directly credited, but the facility to receive cash remains popular among many older ones.

Just realized another angle - if Celebrity is targeting millennials, they have a bigger problem than the marketing words they choose - - - their website! Lol

A bigger issue, certainly in the UK, is that the millennials are struggling financially, not least to get on the "housing ladder" in a country with a housing model based traditionally based on ownership, while the baby-boomers have all the cash for luxuries like cruises.

Stuart

Then just catch the shuttle into Ravenna, and spend time in cafes watching the world go by! With a bit of luck, there will be ports later in your cruise when you can do the beach thing. Ravenna isn't that kind of place, nor is there much close. Or stay on board and be pampered!

Stuart