Commodore

Thanks Hank this is souind advice, w'll put up transportation with other pax on the ship for that

Thks Hank. However my question was is it possible to get transportation on saturday from Hafa port

is it possible to have a tour to Jerusalem from Haifa on a saturday?

I have created a list of ships with free steam and sauna. It seems like most of the new ships are charging for this and it can be very expensive. Please help by adding/changing any info you might have on any of these ships. Some new ships have not yet been added to the list.

 

Please see attached.

 

Hope this helps others! No need to spend hundreds extra for a spa pass if you can get this for free!

Is the sauna free on QM2 ? nowadays it seems the trend is to charge more for everything.

2 seats are just available to toulon for a whole day tour please call Simon at 11322.

Commodore or Simon

What do you call a fresh banana blended with ice?

Artic Monkey;p

We are booked on the Royal out of Barcelona in October... will be first time on new Royal class. I am not expecting a lot, as we have cruised on a similar designed ship with the Celebrity cruises... we are elite on Princess and Celebrity. We cruise Holland America and Cunard as well.

 

I do care about no promonada deck, smaller balconies, no dance floor... but do enjoy TAs, so thought 15 days would give us a good opportunity to check out the new ship design on Princess. I am concerned that the Crown Grill is along side a bar, less private,on the Royal, will check that out... as we have decided we like to eat at the Crown Grill most nights.

 

In the fare price we can afford, i.e., we book a mini... cruise lines are building bigger... on Celebrity we tried because we liked the ports the Equinox, Eclipse, Silhoutte... we found the MDR over crowded and decided instead to opt for the buffet, on one cruise we tried their upscale Blu dining room... did not feel it was work the extra charge... similar to the new Club Class on princess only with separate dining room. See similar direction on HAL... new ship similar design... only HAL has now cut having a bath tub in all but suite cabins on the new ship ... the bath tub is another thing we enjoy - that's why we book a mini on Princess.

 

So we are going to check out the Royal... will see. Have no plans to cruise Celebrity bigger ships anymore, will ship HAL's new ship... if we do not like the Royal after trying it will stick with the older Princess and HAL ships which have a lot to offer us. So at our age, 70/85 there will enough options to keep us going for a while.. Happy Cruising.

I started cruising with Princess back in the 60's I am Elite. I love small ships the Pacific Princess is my favorite ship, then the Diamond and Sapphire.I tried HAL and Celebrity did not like them. I cruised with Royal Viking and loved it. Cruised with Crystal and liked it. Going to try Royal Princess in april , but already missing the sauna as on the other ships and the promenade deck but I reserve my opinion until after that cruise

My DH misses the walk on the promenade deck as do others. The only other thing he misses is the free sauna and steam room. That said the royal princess is our favorite princess ship - haven't made it on the regal yet.

No promenade and you have to pay for sauna. This is too much. New ships giants so what is better on Royal and Regal compare to the Grand xlass or the Pacific Princes wich is my favorite ship

:mad:

Can you tell more about what was so bad about Celebrity?

The only good thing about Celebrity is the pool near the Sauna, the rest is not interesting for me as the anytime dining which is non existant and the cruise director who is alone with 1 employee. the food also is a lot better on Princess.

I remember when Promenade decks were wide deck areas with lots of comfortable padded loungers from which one could relax and watch the ocean while chatting with friends, strangers or reading a good book. On a Sea Princess Mexican Riviera cruise years ago, strangers would stop to chat as I sat there reading, other people were playing shuffleboard nearby, and all of us stopped what we were doing when whales or dolphins were sighted. Promenade deck was a great place to spend time.

 

Except for a few older Princess ships, that's no longer the case. Gone are the loungers and for the most part, chairs. Shuffleboard is somewhere on an upper deck. Promenade deck hasn't been the same for years. On many Princess ships, it's not even wrap-around.

 

Some are lamenting the loss of Promenade deck with the Royal Princess. For me, it's been gone for years. It's great we have choices because out there somewhere are ships with a real Promenade deck.

100% agree with you. 2 years ago We were looking for a cruise to go to Israel and Princess did not have it so we booked Celebrity. We are Elite with Princess and that was our first and last cruise with Celebrity. I am going daily to the sauna on Princess and I am sorry that on the Royal I have to pay, but I will not change for another cruise line because of that. I am booked for a TA on the Royal april 2017.:)

Thanks for the best pictures ever posted on this site.

If I receive from Princess 200$ credit on board and I do not spend it at the end of the cruise what happens ?

Do I get a credit for a future cruise, do I get cash refund or can I transfer it to another passenger ?

Just read an ongoing thread about a cruise on the Grand.

 

The OP gave a review with some concerning negative comments followed by an notable 30,000+ poster making a reply. In her reply she stated (not exact words) that the Grand was her least favorite ship and her expectations for an upcoming cruise were not high.

 

This solely because of the ship (and staff I suppose). My question is this ... What's wrong with the Grand as opposed to other Princess Ships.

 

Thanks

We cruised on the Grand last feb to Hawai and it was a disaster ,the food,the service,the shows.We will never again take that ship as it is too old and worn out.

We are just back from our 4th Princess sailing, & had a great time! I thought I would share some of my thoughts.

 

I thought that the service in all areas was fantastic. Our room steward was top notch; always with a smile, & the knack of somehow knowing when we were out, & magically having the room done. We had a balcony (big!) room on Caribe deck, which was fine, even without the couch. But can they make the shower any smaller?!, don't drop the soap!

 

We had anytime dining, which we have had on all of our Princess sailings, however, this was the 1st time we experienced waiting just about every night. Not fun. However, we enjoyed the food, & found the wait service great. We ate breakfast in the Dr most days, & were impressed with the fact that they NEVER let you run out of coffee, & are ready with the pepper mill immediately; something that has been lacking on Celebrity in recent cruises.

 

Probably our biggest disappointment was the buffet, which we found to be cramped with too few offerings, which were just so so. We much prefer the layout & selection on Celebrity S class ships. However, we love the fact that you no sooner sat down, & someone was there with a smile to offer coffee & juice, & at lunch, a cocktail server was always there to take our order.

 

It was nice to see that Princess still has a full activities staff; Celebrity has cut theirs about in half. Also, it was very noticeable to us how much the crew seemed to get along, with a lot of interaction & smiles when dealing each other. This transcends to the passengers.

 

The new terminal in SF was fine, but the lack of inside waiting area would be missed if it were not a nice embarkation day. We were lucky to have a beautiful sail away day. We also took a very reasonably priced Princess transfer to SFO, & were entertained by a very charming bus driver!

 

Overall, a great cruise, & we are looking forward to some Platinum perks after our next Princess cruise!

 

Any questions, I will try to answer them.

I just came back from a 27days cruise on the constellation Itambul to FLL with the Holy land.

I would have never booked Celebrity but Princess cancelled their Holy Land programs 2014-15.The only good thing about the Constellation is the Thalassotherapy pool, heated sea water that was fabulous the they have that huge window in the sauna.Beside that nothing to match Princess, as it was a B2B and had gty cabins we had to change cabins at the end of the first cruise.Now regardless if Princess has it or not never again Cebrity.

Yes, there are often $10 sales but not held in the MDR. Usually around the shops.

Thanks a lot for that info. So I can reassured dear W that she can shop at will.

On Princess ships there is once or twice every cruise a sale in one of the MDR

every items 10$. Is there such a sale on Celebrity ships.

This is literally impossible. There is no way they got the address out of no where and associated it with your profile. You or someone with access to your account would have had to provide the address at some point for some reason.

 

You think they just sent your documents to a random address and it just happened to be that of someone you know?

My TA made the booboo

 

You're right. Yesterday a friend of mine who has never travelled with Celebrity called me to say he just received by mail a package from Celebrity with my cruise documents and luggage tags he lives 200 miles from my town.I called Celebrity and was told that this the adress that they have. I have never put that adress in my profile with Celebrity.

do you use the same Travel Agent??

Yes, but I sent in the request for the luggage tags and I filled the online checkin myself.

I've heard many complaints about Celebrity's web site beeing weird sometimes. But this one tops them all. Just got an Email from a friend of mine leaving 200 milles from my town stating he received from Celebrity a package with my cruise documents and luggage tags , now I have never given to Celebrity his adress and he has never sailed with Celebrity. How is this possible??????:confused:

No. If you want Select, you pre-pay the gratuities. Even if you think they are ridiculous.

thanks for the replys. Now its not the tip that is ridiculous but the fact that you are obliged to pay before the service is rendered, there is no service anywhere in the world that requires that. I think that my first cruise with Celebrity starts on a very wrong foot.

On our recent roll call, and elsewhere on CC, a number of people have stated that they only book traditional dining to get out of pre-paying gratuities, and then go to Select once aboard. That could certainly lead to a false sense of too many in early dining, pre-cruise.

It's too bad when it hurts people who genuinely want traditional.

On our sailing early dining is locked out, so I can go to the MD and request select dining without paying the ridiculous tip right away?

:):)

Booking with a U.S. agent can have some definite drawbacks. They can only book in U.S. which was fine when our dollar was at par or only slightly off. They cannot sell you insurance, nor can the cruiselines, most of the big box are only order takes and can't or won't help you on weekends.

 

I would only use a local TA and never a U.S. based one. If you book in Ontario at least you have some protection from TICO.

 

However, to each their own.

With more than 30 cruises I can tell you that I always take insurance with the cruise line, and I've had claims already wich were promptly settled, and the big US agencies are open on weekends.

Hello,

 

Pretty new here!

 

We cruised for the first time last winter booking with a TA, didn't get any OBC from her, but it seems to me that many cruisers here being from the US can get a lot from a TA.

Is it just that canadians TAs don't have the same opportunity from cruise lines to offer them to their clients or we have just been unlucky with our TA?

Your opinion, Canadians?

 

Thanks,

Josée

it just dépends of your TA standing with a cruise line and also the category you are booking.For example an Inside cabin gets gets almost nothing as a suite gets the maximum also sometimes prepaid gratuities I deal for years already with a USW based TA but not for t5he OBC.:)

Thanks for an exellent review, very useful as we intend to try the silhouette next year:)