jaybird from SC

Let's look at the Noro Virus a different way. We recently heard on our nightly news broadcast of a severe outbreak of Noro fairly close to our town...This happens all the time. You catch Noro on the job. You are very ill for one to three days. Do you stay home or go to the job? If you go on to the job, then you spread it to your fellow workers and thus begins the cycle. Do you all get paid sick leave plus your regular salary? Noro happens everywhere all the time, hospitals, schools, churches, nursing homes, anywhere there are people. Let's stop blaming the cruise ship. Someone, passenger or crew, brought the virus onboard and it spread like a wildfire. That's what a virus does. The ship wasn't sick...If i'm on a cruise and I am sick for several days I just consider that my misfortune and I don't expect a free cruise and fees reimbursed. It just happened and there's nothing I could have done about it. Would I board a ship if I was knowingly sick with Noro? I think not....I would reschedule. I am now off my soapbox. Happy sailing everybody!

I'm due to go on a cruise later this year and my 5 year old wets the bed and doesn't wake up. If I put those diaper like pants on him he leaks round them

 

at home this isn't much of an issue as we can use a waterproof under sheet and change his bed as necessary but I can see this being an issue on vacation.

 

Any ideas or has anyone dealt with this on vacation...

Yes, you can purchase a waterproof mattress cover and take along with you. That's what I would do...

We're just off the Jan. 20-25 Constellation Western Caribbean cruise and had a different experience than some other recent posters. We had a great time and have no real complaints but wanted to warn people not to expect a world of difference. There was a lot we thought would be better than Carnival that wasn't.

 

Mainly we were disappointed in the activities and MDR food, and somewhat in the entertainment.

 

No. 1, we expected some legitimate "enrichment" offerings such as we saw on Princess on our one cruise with them, but there's not much on the daily activity list other than the same old trivia, art auctions and bingo stuff. The same shopping talks, where some self-important "shopping expert" pretends to have twisted arms to have gotten you incredible deals at Diamonds International and tries to lead you like a droid through some map of allowable stores. It's insulting, whether you're on Celebrity, Carnival or any other line. On Princess, they offered a crash course in Spanish on a Mexican Riviera cruise. I expected something here like a Mayan culture talk on the way to Cozumel or something on Key West authors on the way there. But there was nothing educational unless you count dance lessons or a 15-minute galley tour where most of the people couldn't hear anything.

 

Not one dish in the main dining room was remarkable. We only had a five night cruise, so we didn't try everything on the cruise line's menu, but nothing we had was memorable (a couple fish dishes came close), and a few things were pretty disappointing. The formal night, rumored to be among the best menus, was just another night.

 

The production shows in the main theater were among the best we've seen, but little else caught our interest in the entertainment offerings. Admittedly, this is partly our fault for not sampling more things late at night. The live music we did hear was nothing special. We did enjoy the comic who took the main stage one night, but thought the "illusionist" was a disappointment.

 

There were some obvious plusses on Celebrity, like lack of promotional pitches on the PA and excellent service in the MDR. And I'll bet I was offered sparkling wine a couple times a day.

 

But you won't get away from the chair hogs and buffet brutes (both male and female). You won't avoid the loud-mouth drunks just by switching from Carnival to Celebrity. At least that was our opinion based on one five-night cruise.

 

Jim

We have never expeienced "loud mouth drunks" on any Celebrity cruise and we like the laid back relaxation....don't care for the party type atmosphere. Sorry you had a bad experience. Hope you give Celebrity another chance....

While we are speaking of passing germs in various ways....On a recent TV show they reported that in addition to doorknobs, light switches, remotes, etc., the #1 carrier of germs is a restaurant menu... Think how many people have handled one of those in a day?

:eek:

As others on here have stated, I have to wonder if the hand sanitizer doesn't give people a false sense of security:

 

"I don't need to wash my hands. There's hand sanitizer!"

Using hand sanitizer does not give me a false sense of security but if it works it works...why not try it? The thing that does give us a false sense of security is to think that everybody washes their hands after using the bathroom-men included), to think that everyone washes their hands before going to the serving lines, to think that some folks will postpone their cruise when they are knowingly sick with the attitude that it is my cruise, I paid for it, and I am going even though I know I am sick. We must remember....it is NOT the ship that is sick...it is brought on by people. All over TV and in the papers you hear people blasting the ship. Well, it's not the ship! Think folks! Lots of germs, lots of people, close quarters all reasons why germs spread quickly.

We will be on the Summit in November, and have never been to San Juan. We don't know how long it takes to get from the ship to the airport. If we took an early walk-off, could we make a 9:50 am flight out of San Juan?

We would never risk catching a flight that early. You never know what might happen. Better to be safe than sorry.

Does anyone bother with travel insurance for their cruises?

We would never cruise without travel insurance....

I've read about the service, where you pay for Celebrity to handle your luggage at the end of the cruise, and you don't see it til you get back to your home airport. But I wonder if it is still in effect? My travel agent called today, and one person told him it was available. He called again later and was told, no...definitely not available anymore. He is going to try again tomorrow and see if he can get anywhere with it.

 

We are on the Silhouette in early March.

 

Does anyone have an answer based on recent experience?

We always go to guest relations after the first day or so of the cruise and inquire and go ahead and fill out our forms. It is so much more convenient and worth the money for us...

In all our years of cruising, we have never had a problem with Celebrity that that didn't handle quickly and officially. Most information we can find out online but when we have made a phone call there has always been a helpful and quick response.

Be prepared to be harrassed and followed around by some of the locals. We also stay in a group but that didn't seem to help the last time even we were quite firm with them. Would be very alert and careful when you venture out in Nassua....but you need to do that regardless of where you are.

Those of you who are always cold, according to those in the medical profession, you should have your thyroid checked. Wearing a sweater or shawl works normally for me in the theater...

Booked a Cruise with a TA

There where TA Group Space available, giving me some advantages in price.

Now the problem: looking on my c homepage, first page, show booked

Cruise details show: on hold, I'm Not able to add p.e. excursions, do deposit

payment, but done already. CC account show payment was done to X

Wrote mail to X already, answer was: go to your TA

TA said: checked at X, all ok

Any Idea?

Markus

So if you have reserved through a TA, usually it is a "group" booking and it is up to the agent to make any changes or updates. It would not be the fault of Celebrity's website. As I understand it, and have experienced it, until the TA turns everything in, it would not show you anything but "booked".

First of all , I am NOT going to fall off a cruise ship so I don't have to worry about the preparedness of the ship I'm on. You can't just "fall off a cruise ship"!

Hello, everyone.

 

I think Eclipse is a cruise of Celebrity line. Is that correct???

 

Any opinions about this cruise????

Eclipse is a beautiful ship and it is quite large. The cabins are great and regardless of what some say on these boards, they do have plenty of storage space. Also, Perry Grant is a great entertainer and if you are not a fan, that is your choice but it doesn't give you the right to say unkind things about him or any other entertainer. The overflow attendance at his shows does not support your remarks. If you don't like something or someone, keep it to yourself because it is an individual choice and your opinion doesn't matter except that it is hurtful to the one being criticized. Entertainment is an individual preference and that's how it should be. Even though you don't like something or someone, your fellow cruiser might not share your feelings, so let them judge for themselves. I think this poster will have a wonderful time on the Eclipse if it is their ship of choice.

Normally we would board early, like before noon. However, since we are staying with friends in Ft Lauderdale I think we might be boarding later. What is a safe time to be on board? 3pm? Earlier?

Personally I would be on by one o'clock. Enjoy your cruise....

I've missed it a few times, it's usually been alcohol related. Me and some buddies do an open bar cruise each year. We generally get destroyed before we even leave port. This past year we just stayed at our table outside the buffet drinking, laughing and being stereotypical boozy fools. A few crew members walked by, some seemed like they wanted to say something, but none did. I think deep down they knew the situation was better off with us staying away from the muster stations.

 

I think the cruise lines would get less people trying to skip muster if they'd make it a less tedious affair. Maybe set aside an hour where everyone just has to stop by their muster stations to check in. Or televise it on all the tv's ship wide like we experienced on the Bahamas Celebration. Now that was an easy muster drill.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

So what's the purpose of your cruise if you're wasted from the start? That's sad...I'm glad we're not on your cruise...

Nope to the lanyards!

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought Captain's Club Points were not received until cruises were completed, so having trips booked and paid for would not have counted anyway.

I know there are some snobbish people in the world who like to flaunt their wealth and/or brag about their life/cruise status but.....As a whole, Celebrity cruisers are there because they want to be. They are in the cabin they chose, be it the cheapest or the most expensive. Like I have said before, most people don't care if it's your first cruise or your 1,000th cruise. Your so called status means nothing to most people. If you see that I have a white seapass or a gold one, it will not be because I flashed it in front of you with a bragging spirit. We have met some lasting friends while cruising and that is the important thing for us. We don't care what "status" they hold or how many points they have or what "class" they booked. Elite is just a word. It gets you a few perks which we appreciate but we don't go around bragging about it to our fellow cruisers. Go enjoy your cruise and ignore those who look for the negative. I promise that you will have a great time on your Celebrity Cruise.

We never cruise just to get points so we can advance to another level. We also have been on cruises that had ports cancelled or skipped for various reasons....No big deal because we trusted the Captain's judgment...

Wishing everyone on Cruise Critic a very Happy New Year!

Regardless of what any of us think regarding Celebrity's new point system, we must realize that no matter HOW they did it, somebody was going to get the "short end of the straw" so to speak. We can argue the fact forever, but I'm sure they researched the situation and came up with what they thought to be the best solution because so many of us had wanted change. Now we have change and some of us made the cutoff's and some of us didn't so we have to accept that and set a new goal. Yes, if we were three points from the next level, we would be disappointed but there's nothing we could do, so we move on and build up our points. Did Celebrity sit down with each customer's record and go over them one by one and discuss where each of us were pointwise? I think not. They made across the board changes which we have to accept whether we made the cut or not.

Like someone said....once on board the ship nobody knows your cabin number nor what level of points you have and who cares anyway. As for "Aqua Class"...I am not able to see any "prestige" in booking it and those who do, book it by choice and those of us who don't also book other cabins by choice. Don't let comments here sway your opinion of Celebrity. I don't think you will be disappointed. Enjoy your cruise!

Don't forget the duct tape!

It would be a boring world if things remained the same.....We can't make cruising like it was "in the good old days". Maybe as we personally age, our outlook and expectations change... so if you're not happy cruising then find a new venue....

What's with the loyals using reserved rooms for dress codes & cocktails (Sky Lounge & Michaels), special continental breakfast (Tuscan Grille) , and hoarding of the computers?

Entertainment and food have diminished. Waiters and cabin stewards are stretched to service more tables and cabins. The Solstice class buffets are self serve for food, utensils, and drinks. Passengers prepay tips and get less service. To get more than ferry service and basic bed and food, we need to pay extra and tip extra.

Are the ships just ferry service from one port to another with all else but basics ala carte?

We have visited most of the Caribbean islands, now need to rethink what the ships offer.

jls

We have not experienced what you're talking about....?