beaveh

our first x cruise was on the Silhouette last Sept. We ate in the lawn gill and loved it.

we did note the following things:

The starters were huge ( so one starter between two was all that was needed):)

They didn't have any wine available in the 'classic drinks package' so gave us premium wine - at no extra charge.:)

we saw one person standing at the grill, obviously doing the 'cook your own steak thing'. It looked painful, as he was standing around doing nothing most of the time! :confused:

Our fillet steak was ordered medium- rare, and it turned up medium/ well done. :(

Maybe cooking timings are difficult at the grill or is the US idea of medium rare different from us UK'ers?

We're on the Reflection in Sept and we'll defo go to the lawn grill again!

S class deck 11 aft. So maybe the mast bar?

great thanks for the replies. I didn't know if it was frowned apon taking drinks back to your room or asking for unopened bottles!

......now I just need to locate the closest bar to my cabin.....:)

Just a quick question. How can you have an alcoholic drink in your cabin?

On sea days the boat can be a bit busy, so sometimes it's nice to have a quite beer or glass of wine on your balcony.

We will be in aqua class and have a classic drinks package so drinks are normally free at bars, but I understand that there is a charge for room service drinks.

Is there anyway of doing this without ordering drinks through room service and having to pay?

I logged on to the celebrity web site, went to the section about 'my cruise' scrolled down to the section about adding a drinks package and clicked on a link that listed ALL the drinks covered in the classic an premium drinks packages.

Took a bit of finding, but it was there!

As for cocktail. Tell them you are on the classics package and ask for the cocktail you want and they'll mix it with the spirits in your price band. ( that was our experience)

We are trying Aqua this time, but might go back to C class for our next cruise, so it's good info to have.

Edit:

oh dear I've just re-read the benefits for captains club.

I've booked Aqua for my cruise and it looks like I've missed out on a category upgrade, as I didn't tell them I was a classic tier member when I booked my cabin!

Never mind, I'm not sure there's much difference between an A1 or A2 cabin anyway.

I've got a cabin near the back of the boat so it's handy for the sunset bar and the restaurants. Hubby enjoys the walk to the gym lol! So I'm quite happy with that.

In my captains club perks it says i can get a complimentary upgrade to the next level of concierge class balcony.

Does this only apply if I book direct with celebrity or can I get this when booking through a TA?

(I would book with UK TA or direct with Celebrity uk)

oh, that's such a shame.

We are new to celebrity ( only one cruise on Shillouette so far ) and we have Reflection booked for August.

We are still finding our feet with the do's and don't s on Celebrity but last time we found the self-service restaurant very busy on embarkation day. I had been reading about Bistro on 5 and was looking forward to 'muscles and chips' on embarkation day this time round. It looks like this won't happen now.

I have seen people say the MDR is sometimes open on embarkation day / sea days.

Does this ever extend to Blu being open as well? ..or is it going to be another crush in the self-service restaurant!

I'm a tea drinker!

We did our first X cruise on silhouette last year.

We took our own tea bags ( to be safe!) and a travel kettle.

We tried several ways to have tea:

Room service ( found the water was tepid and we didn't automatically get milk!)

boiling our own in the room..the water seemed to 'taste funny' ( we used bottled water )

self service tea in the self-service restaurant. We needed to put two bags in a cup, but tasted ok.

Morning cuppa from the library ( self service machine). At 6.30am I was still half asleep so it tasted ok lol!

Sorry, nothing was quite as good as a brew-up at home. In the end we often drank decaf coffee instead.

I'm sorry to say...I'm in the 'prefer to get my table, then go up to the buffet' camp.

To me it's a bit like going to a self service cafe, or having a pub lunch. In one of those you go in, select a nice table, put down your things then wander off to read the menu, order at the bar or take food from the self service counter.

The only place you queue up with your tray, get your food then find a seat is a school canteen, and I'd hate to think of the Celebrity buffet as a school canteen!!!

I did my first cruise with celebrity last year and go so stressed out about the 'classic drinks package'. I was so worried as I didn't know what was included what wasn't. I was scared we would have the choice of one sort of watery beer, house red and a watered down cocktail...how wrong we were.

We didn't have a drinks menu or couldn't find one, but it was so simple in the end, we just used to tell the bar tender we were on the classic package and ask what the choice of beer or shorts were. As a UK'er it was great to see that beers we would normally call 'premium' like Leffe were on the classic package. Sprits were fine with a choice of brands and for cocktails you just asked for what you wanted and they made it with the brands available in the classic package. Lovely choice of wine as well

So if you are happy with a nice drink to relax with - classic is fine.

If you want to drink grey goose or Glenfidic all week then go for the premium.

Don't worry about the price list..just ask, they are so used to it.

An there is a definite difference between what a US ship calls a premium brand and what a Brit would.

I must admit I've been very surprised to see that US travellers seem to get a much better deal by being able to cancel bookings without loosing deposits /perks etc.

I think the UK get poor service! Watching the fairs drop by over £300 each has been a bit of a shocker and I'll think very carefully before booking my next cruise!.

I find this thread quite interesting.... ( yes I'm doing a cruise with Turkey stops later in the year)

Maybe my attitude is slightly different as I grew up on the UK mainland in the 1970's

That was when the IRA upped their bombing targets to include mainland UK targets. They even blew up a pub in my home town!

London hotel bombs, tube and train bombings....they all happened here.The need to be vigolent and bomb scares were part of every day living..... so to me Turkey seems no different.

So if any visitors to London wonder why there are no litter bins in tube stations........ when there were, the IRA used to plant bombs in them!

But it doesn't matter about that - the price you see is what you pay. whether there is no VAT or 20% VAT. It's not like in the US where you get Sales Tax added at the till.

 

The point that the poster was making was that you don't even consider VAT when you're buying things - it's all in the price already if it applies. They weren't talking about the complexities of which items carry VAT or not.

Yes that's what I meant, the price listed is what you pay. rather than a nasty shock of sales tax or gratuities being added afterwards!

I think it's such a shame things get overcomplicated at sea. On land in the uk it's simple! VAT ( usually 20%) is added to everything you buy and for members of the public most prices quoted include vat:

So a pint of beer in a pub listed as £3.50 is £3.50 and that's all you pay.

A pair of jeans in a shop ticketed at £25.00 are £25.00 and that's all you pay.

A massage in a beauty salon is £30.00 and that's all you pay.

The English Channel used to be vat free... get on a boat in Dover, travel to France and buy drinks / cigarettes on-board without the 20% vat ( Duty Free ) ...but not any more.

I find 'gratuities' on American boats very odd. You pay a price ( massage / beer / meal )..then you HAVE to pay a tip on top!? What's that all about?

In the UK tips / gratuities are discretionary. You pay a tip for service that is above and beyond the norm! It's an incentive for staff to up their customer service.

you won't have trouble spending it. A full body massage is about 160$ :(

Thanks for your replies.

I am in the UK, so deposits are non refundable and I will have to pay the advertised price (at the time of booking). I think celebrity have just changed the prices today! But all still adds up to the same.

Is there any advantage booking direct with celebrity? ( using captains club points as well as selecting a specific cabin) to give you a better chance with a perk or upgrade closer to the time. As the prices of booking direct are the same as with a travel agent.

As I say, I'm new to all of this and I don't know if there are benefits booking direct.

Hi there, I'm new here so sorry if this is a dumb question, I've read as much as I can but I still can't seem to get the answer.

I'm about to book a cruise with Celebrity for Aug/ Sept this year.

We did a great cruise with celebrity last year ( again in aug /sept, booking in jan / feb) which was out first cruise with them. That one was booked under a '123go' offer where you could choose your own perks. As we had concierge class it came with all 3 perks.

This year they don't seem to be doing the same sort of offer, it's just 'buy one get one half price' , inc a drinks package.

My question is do they always bring out the 123go offer or is the one on at the moment likely to be the main offer they do this year.

I do appricate that if I waited for a different offer, what they give you they make up by increasing the price...or am I being overly sceptical?

I'm fairly new to cruising and this would only be my second cruise with celebrity, so I'm not sure what their norm is when it comes to pricing.

thanks