Florida_gal_50

That's right, I had forgotten about that. Probably for good reason 😜

You daredevil 😜. Ever since you tried this the last time I've tested the waters as well. I brought one on the koningsdam in Nov and March with no problem. I was also prepared to lose it. I took the bottle off with me and chucked it at the airport so they didn't have to deal with any plastic. Interesting about the crew as well.

I would expect that a cruise to Greece would be much more expensive than a Caribbean cruise so can you really compare the two? I’m not a celebrity fan but they must have gotten at least 100 percent better than when I sailed them.

That’s what I recall it looking like on the koningsdam as well in March. I don’t really care for room service but I did on that cruise because I had early shorex. As I recall I did write a thing or two in but they were minimal. At least you can order some hot food. On Princess I think there is no hot food as I recall.

It's pretty crazy. This was pre covid and in the mdr. One "lady" at my table reached in the bun basket and ripped a bun in half and threw the other 1/2 back in the basket. Who does that 🤢?

Yes I’ve heard that several times but how much paperwork could there be? It’s sounds illogical to me.

It’s been excellent on the koningsdam as well.

Didn’t they have a policy to sip and cover? I know I had to do that on plane rides. Some people will use any excuse. It’s just being shady.

I didn’t look on the hal/celebrity site. I looked at an online travel site. You wouldn’t think they’d be so far off on price.

Thank you for that perspective. It’s gotten a lot better from the sounds of it. It’s sounds like we like similar foods. I like a lot of flavour and spice, not bland or huge slabs of meat. It’s been quite a while though since hal has served slabs of meat. Most portions I’ve seen have been about 2 oz. ok I guess if you are eating burgers, fries and ice cream and cookies all day. It’s a bit light for me.

I pulled up plain old Caribbean cruise in November on a large online site. The cruises that I pulled up were 3 to 4 times more on celebrity. Even adjusting for the booze package it would be at least double. There is another poster on this board that says premium cruise lines have the same price as hal. If you cherry pick maybe it’s possible. I’m not paying double for celebrity. I’m not a hal cheerleader by any means and I take a lot of heat on here for that. That said I am a realist.

I’d like to bet my next paycheque they’ll do nothing. Back in November when masks were mandatory people were flaunting it at that time. I heard staff ask people to put masks on and some said no, some didn’t answer and some did my favorite 🙄 the chin mask. Being a 5 star I’ve been on my fair share of cruises and hal will not confront. That said probably most cruise lines may not either. I’m like you I wear my mask in the same places plus transit and in the food court of the building I work in. Apparently covid is over for most because social distancing isn’t a thing for a lot.

I think it depends on how you sail on celebrity. If you are in the upper suites on any line it’s going to be a nicer experience. I can even see it being better than Neptune suites. What would be interesting to hear about is the experience in a regular balcony. I’ve sailed a couple times on celebrity and it was nothing special. I found the food to be repetitive and some downright bad. It’s been a few years so I wouldn’t be opposed to trying it again but it won’t be in a upper end suite.

It will be interesting to see if they allow this. I buy cancel for any reason for this. If they do something I can’t accept I have an escape route. Wearing a mask isn’t a big deal for me. Of course I’d prefer not to but I’m going to in many situations where I’m around a lot of people.

I’ve rarely seen this happen on a hal ship. I’ve seen this constantly at hotels.

I would love to see hal follow through on the second to last paragraph. Not going to happen.

I hope hal does make this clear soon. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.

Hal is not good with communication for sure. That certainly doesn’t give them a pass. I hear you on the quarantine. I went down that same road in November 2021 and March 2022. On those cruises I was tested and I knew I might have to quarantine. Also had to test to return to Canada so it was really a lot. I rolled the dice because my mental health was suffering from not having much of a break for 2 years.

Even after covid? I’m just curious, not doubting. I don’t want to be in any crowds or where a lot of people are.

I’d be happy as heck with an almost empty ship. I don’t need to be surrounded by a ton of people to make me happy. As a matter of fact it stresses me out. I took a cruise in November and if I recall correctly it was about 60 percent. I took another cruise in March at about 40 percent. I much preferred the 40 percent.

I don’t disagree with what you are saying but you never know what can change. I know someone that was on the koningsdam for 6 weeks on various cruises and if I understood the only test she had was initially to get on the ship. She was on the ship mid April until the end of may.

If it causes people to pay more it does. It seems every cruise I book goes down about $500 to $1000 after final. I’m not terribly fussy about my cabin so that’s not the incentive. I am still working so I need to be at work certain times. I can’t just go on a cruise on a whim so waiting until a week before doesn’t work. If they are giving cruises away and losing revenue it’s coming from somewhere.

I didn’t say they did. The op said they might like a bigger ship.

I physically went to the mdr because I basically got told I was wrong last time I mentioned it wasn’t open on embarkation. It was definitely not open mar 6 or 13th of this year.

I’m not defending hal but they are very, very rigid in their thinking. It’s been that way for years and years. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they had a stopwatch to close down the lido. It wouldn’t kill them to at least have something open, especially in circumstances like this.