toptoff

Hello All

We are sailing from Barcelona in September on Eclipse doing a 12 night sailing. We are taking both my Parents who are in their eighties and Mother in Law in her Seventies. My Mum is 84 and not great on her feet, I am trying to prepare in advance to overcome any obstacles that may, or will present themselves.

Although I have cruised many times this will be the first where I am looking after my Mum's wellbeing so I am asking our many disabled passengers for any tips, experiences that they have had. I am planning on getting Mum a wheelchair.

Initially I am interested in onboard issues, I will probably post separately for hints and tips on relevant ports nearer the time.

Please feel free to share any tips you may have even if you feel it is only minor. I will appreciate it.

We do have an accessibility cabin booked for them.

Thank you in advance

Brian

I have used the ferry’s here twice whilst docked for the day and booked in advance for both. It will certainly save you waiting in line at the ticket office.

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He'll love the premium drinks package, fantastic choice. Celebrity buffets really are good but be warned it will be really busy when you get on. Maybe have a word when you get on and ask where else is serving food at that time. sometimes the indoor pool area has a little buffet and it's far more peaceful. We are on the Fjords cruise straight after you. Enjoy!:)

Free drinks that you have paid for in your cruise fare nothing in life is free.

Well they're not free now, but they were when I booked. Happy days?

Same scenario paying £20 for a bottle of wine you can buy for £5 in a supermarket.

 

 

 

Having only cruised Celebrity where cocktails cost $18 and a glass of wine $15, the prices on P&O look like a bargain.

Stop exaggerating, Celebrity cocktails start at $9 and the same for wine. What Celebrity don’t have is a line half way up a prosseco glass showing the measure. We also choose Celebrity cruises that offer free drinks which is unheard of on P&O.

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I have been struggling with why our 12 day British Isles cruise was not more enjoyable than it was. It can't be the small stateroom because the cabins were just as small on the Constellation and we enjoyed those voyages. It can't be the service because from stateroom attendant through dining staff the service was great. Embarkation and disembarkation were flawless. I think the ship design is silly but that's not enough to be the problem, we enjoyed our voyage on the even sillier Anthem of the Seas just a month ago. Yet Silhouette was not enjoyable even with Elite and Concierge perks.

 

First thing that tweaked me was our Concierge. We stopped at his desk as soon as we had access to our cabin to make specialty dinner reservations for that evening and the next night - an "at sea" day - and were told it would be difficult but since we were flexible with timing he would see what he could do. He didn't. We had dinner at The Porch the first night, there was one other couple there, as walk-ins. The next morning I made dinner reservations at Murano for that evening and Q-Sine the next night at a table near the Guest Services desk. Not very difficult. We never heard from the Concierge.

 

Then there was laundry service. When I take shirts and pants to our local cleaners they are washed and pressed and returned on hangers. My first load of shirts and pants came back washed and folded (no ironing) at 5X the cost of my local laundry (yes, I expect to pay more but I also expect the same service). The second load came back washed and ironed (incorrectly ironed but ironed) and on hangers. The third load was washed and folded. They were all the same style shirt and pant....but the service was inconsistent and well below expectations. I call this a management failure.

 

Ships tours. We had only one tour where the tour service was unacceptable but multiple times when the ship's tour organization was flawed. Almost everyone on the Tattoo excursion understands the difficult logistics of moving that many people to and from shore on tenders and almost everyone on the excursion knows it could have been done much better by having the ship moored closer to the dock (as it was on Day 2 in Edinburgh) and using more tenders. The "ship" could have taken better care of those customers. We went on a number of long tours, tours that should have been the first ones off the ship to compensate for the length of the tour but two out of three times we barely made it back by "on board" time - and two busses on the same tour delayed the ship departing - because the start of the tour was late in the morning. I call this a management failure.

 

Venues for activities. Morning lectures on sea days were SRO, after the first time why weren't they moved to the empty theater? Afternoon trivia was SRO but we were told no other venue was available ...... maybe Tuscan Grill? On a ship this size there should be space for ship's activities that are appropriate for the size of the audience. I call this a management failure.

 

It's too early to write off Celebrity, based on one cruise and the hype for Edge, but I do think I am going to write off Silhouette because the current management does not seem to be interested in my business.

I would imagine they're 'over the moon'.

Does anybody know whereabouts on Celebrity Silhouette major sporting tournaments are shown live?

The football world cup is taking place during our cruise to St. Petersburg in June and it would be nice to cheer my team on amongst fellow supporters.

Just wondering if anybody can help with which bars / rooms / area's have been used previously?

Thank you.

You won't have a problem buddy. There was a sports bar at the back of the ship that showed most games when we were on Equinox. The only issue may be which game it shows with the clientele being international.

Yes the Hoho bus brings you on top of Mt. Aksla.

Thanks for your prompt response

Brian

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Hello Guys

I will be in Alesund on the 3rd May (Celebrity Silhouette) and I'm currently planning our activities. I would be interested to know if the HOHO bus does indeed take you up to the viewing point or does it just drop you off at the bottom of the steps leaving you to walk up or in my case crawl or get dragged. I'm a little confused as the literature I read was a little ambiguous. I know the train stops briefly there but the HOHO bus is better for us as it stops at the Sunnmore Museum also.

Please advise

Brian :D

Can anyone tell me who is performing in the schooner bar on Jewel of the seas at the moment, Hoping it's Anselmo Boles.:)

The two alternative cruises are still on Reflection, one on 30th July 18 and the other 10th Sep 18. Hopefully we can all get the time of work to go on the Sep date?

At the moment they have offered a choice of two other cruises which are price protected so if it's dearer they will honour the price and if it's cheaper you pay the lower fare. $200.00 per cabin as well. We have until the 15th to decide.

Had it confirmed today that the sailing on 20th August 2018 from Rome on Reflection has been cancelled. They have charted the ship out?:mad:

Really confused by this as we are due to leave Rome (on Reflection) on August 20th 2018 on 11 night western med cruise. We suspected something was not right as our cruise has been unavailable to book for a couple of months now, we were told it was sold out at the time we checked if everything was okay but this is now starting to look a bit suspicious?:o:o

Go to guest services on day 1 and ask for a list of drinks that are included. That's what we do!

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They do have an alternative website that is much easier to use but it costs 25 dollars a day plus 18% gratuities

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We were allowed canned sodas with our spirits, Vodka rum etc.

It can be confusing this subject but let me explain what I believe happens. Let s say a cocktail on board costs $9.00 plus 18% gratuity added (usual cost on Royal Caribbean). Now lets say you have two cruises, one leaving EU waters and one that doesn't, the cost of the drink remains the same. I think the ship absorbs the cost. The only thing I have noticed is that the Duty Free shop in EU waters is not open. In previous years I would have been tempted to buy my package on the ship as they are sold in dollars and it used to work in our favour (brits), not so sure now. By buying before you go there is no 18% added for gratuities although I'm sure the cost more than covers this. We are shifting over to celebrity now and waiting for the right deal. They seem to be using the 'free' drinks package a lot more than Royal Caribbean who don't give it away at all. Hope this helps?

Giovanis was the same price. That rate looks good as Travelex are showing $1.29 today? Good luck.

We are on Jewel on Sunday and have for the first time pre-booked the 3 night dining package. We paid £57.75 per person. On every other occasion we have just booked on board for Chops steakhouse ¢35 dollars each. However with the exchange rate at the moment it is really beneficial to do it prior to sailing.We are using all three in Chops so for us it represents great value as we love it there. The same applies to the drinks package, I have pre-booked because of the exchange rate. Hope this helps.;)

Hello Patsy

Just checked on my celebrity page for our upcoming cruise on Equinox (29th April) and it was $35.00 per head.

Brian

So glad Anselmo is still on. Absolute legend.

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We did this cruise at the start of this month & we're off by 6.30am... We were worried we wouldn't get to the airport til late so got a 4pm flight. Ha ha! We were at the airport well before 8am!

Hello Hailzmick!

Do you know who was on in the Schooner lounge of an evening?

Hoping it will be Anselmo Boles again.

Regards

Brian.

P.S. Did you have a good time?

We have done this cruise twice and both times we have departed the ship at 07.30am so there will be no problem. Funnily enough we are going on it again on 29th August?;)

Hello Guys

Does anybody have the current drinks prices for Splendour of the seas or any ship for that matter.

I have been with Royal many times but someone has just mentioned that there has been a 'significant' hike in drinks prices?

Any info appreciated. Really only need to know beer,wine and vodka prices.

Regards

Brian