marieps

2 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Is that 'naturally' or au naturale?  LOL.  bit chilly on a TA. 😉  Did they leave the balcony furniture as it was, or 'upgrade' it?

True, I had to wait til the very end to "enjoy" the sun.  I don't know how the furniture was before, but it was only ok.  Still, better then the horrible outer furniture we had in an SS on Summit courtesy of Kelly Hoppen.

We were in 8340 for the TA in October.  The room is great and the porthole window is huge.  The pole was not an issue for us.  Best side depends on the itinerary and whether you like sun or shade.  You didn't mention where you were sailing.  The rail of the balcony is not private, but toward the glass door you can lay out "naturally" with no issue.

On 3/16/2024 at 3:34 PM, Harters said:

It doesnt stop them sending almost weekly marketing brochures. Written in British English and priced in sterling so, presumably, printed here and mailed from here. I assume that's all handled by their office in Southampton. 

Weekly?  You're lucky.  I get at least 3 per week.

I received an email immediately that by benefit request had been received, but never got an email that it was approved.  After making another payment, my new invoice showed it was approved.  $250 for a 17 night TA on Insignia.  You can always shop for shore excursions and see how much credit you have.  
 

As an aside, very happy to see the share price is nearly a dollar above my basis.  Took a while.  Speaking @PhD-iva 's  language here!

DW and I each use the passport photos taken at AAA in 2021.  There's never an issue.  Perhaps we are outliers.  We used them on Connie, Reflection, EQ and Silhouette.

Thanks for a very positive review.  We were on Connie's first voyage post Covid and thoroughly enjoyed it.    Perhaps we'll snag on of those aft AQ cabins on Deck 11 one day.  Aft stairs and lifts set M class apart, IMO.

Don't forget about breakfast in Blu as well.. Faster than MDR and more relaxed than the OC.  No lunch, though.

For us AQ is about Blu, access to the PG and since we sail forward with no overhang, proximity to the Solarium, Spa Cafe and Fitness Center.  This is regarding S class, of course.

On 3/3/2024 at 1:14 AM, cruisemom42 said:

 

Well, as one example, I'll point to the 28-day Japan "cherry blossom" cruise I took last April on Holland America. Just for starters, you get 28 days circumnavigating all of the main islands of Japan for less than the price of the 16 day Regatta cruise mentioned by the OP.

 

(HAL does offer a limited number of Japan cruises in the fall, but to me cherry blossom timing was a big driver, and while it's a bit of a crap shoot as to whether you'll hit "full bloom" or not, the HAL itinerary is designed to take you from the south to the north, so at some point along the way you're bound to hit the sweet spot.)

 

The Oceania itinerary really doesn't even include that much of Japan, and does none of the very interesting and lesser known northern ports. (For example, I really liked Aomori and Hakodate). It does include stops in other places like Vietnam and Singapore, which is fine, but it's not Japan.

 

The HAL cruise has the minimum number of extra-Japan stops (at least one foreign port per cruise, much like US regulations, and the 28-day cruise is really considered 2 14-day cruises...) The 2024 itinerary (now sold out) is shown below as it is fairly similar to the 2023 one I did, although it does include a few more intriguing-sounding ports on the western side.

 

There are probably others as well. All I know is that when I was looking for 2023, O's itineraries were not even in my top 3 or 4.

 

 

Oceania Regatta Itinerary:

 

 

HAL Itinerary:

 

 

 

I love it when a CCer backs up his/her post with a clear and no nonsense foundation.  Props.

38 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

Let‘s just mention the things not included anymore.
Of course priority boarding is gone since they do the time slots.

On our past two cruises the canapés where gone - fine with us. We always asked not to bring them. 
 

Besides that no changes. Water bottles still there.

No more of that gross room temp tea either.  Yay.

5 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Well apparently I just accepted the default cruise cancellation coverage of 5k.  I would have had to raise it to 10 or 15k.  ( I'll do that next year when it renews). Honestly, I've never had to cancel a trip before.  My main concern when I chose insurance is getting hurt away from home or medical evacuation.   I also have a Geo Global policy.   I guess I was over insured that way, but under insured in Trip Cancellation.   Thankfully, Chase has a much better policy.  I did get an airline credit and refunds for all of Celebrity Excursions I booked as well as the private excursions.  I only received a partial refund from Airbnb. 

We buy an annual specifically for the medical evacuation.  So sorry for your circumstance.  As an aside, Elite is worth a bag of laundry and a few drinks, which mean nothing if you're on the package.  The points aren't what they used to be, IMO.

You have a sauna in the locker room as well.  Connie is not updated so the PG is quite dark and small compared to the S or E class.

1 hour ago, rcrabb1513 said:

Have you cruised Celebrity very recently?  I have read Celebrity has listened to negative feedback about the change in butler service and is bringing the service back to it's previous form. 

 

We didn't book this Retreat suite for butlers alone.  We booked this right after the restart when all the cruise lines were offering cheaper rates to get their customers back. The aft location was the draw for us.

October we were on the Silhouette TA in the corner aft on Deck 8.  Before that Equinox 2022/2023 holiday cruise in the same room, though it's a different number.  Eq had a butler, Sil did not.  The attendant was awesome but still not a butler.  We've dropped back to AQ for cruises on Eclipse and Silhouette in '24 and '25.  I have not heard butlers are returning to SS.  Hope they do.

We've been in one on Silhouette and Equinox.  A long walk, but the room is lovely.  No more butler, however.  Would not pay for it again except for Silhouette since she's fully Revolutionized. 

14 hours ago, poinsettiaplate said:

In addition, you may order anything from the MDR menu while in Blu.  So escargot any night.

Not true on  E Class unless something has changed.  No problem on S and M classes.   You can get escargot, however.  At least we did on Edge.

We did Silhouette's TA last October and our Bermuda stop was our best weather day.  Lots of folks on the beach.  IMO the port side rooms, catching southern sun during the crossing, would be preferable.

3 hours ago, mahasamatman said:

If you really want to experience Antarctica, don't go with the large cruise lines. You want to be on a ship that carries 100 passengers maximum or else you'll just be doing a "drive by".

We are on Ponant 2/2/24 which has more than 100 people, but still does zodiak excursions to shore.  I agree a sail by does not compare to what we expect to experience.

This sounds great.  We're on her TA in August from Tilbury.  I'm sure there will be plenty of crew turnover by then but it sounds like the culture of the ship is very pax centric.  Thanks for a very positive review. 

I had an issue with the depth of the pool on Riviera.  Too deep to just stand and converse with fellow passengers.  Everyone had to hang at the edge.  I prefer a variable depth. JMHO. 

Is the risk about wind or someone able to throw them off the balcony?  Did they explain?

4 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I'm not concerned about the security alerts because I no longer ever get off the ship in Nassau.  It's an automatic sea day for me.

 

Linda, we smell what you're cookin'!  That's southern for "totally agree."

Thanks for your review.  It sounds as though you found value in the SS, even though the room is not really the star.  We never saw our head butler on our last SS cruise in October.  I'm very glad for you that you were happy with Luminae, especially since ordering from other venues on E class is a no go.

Overall I view this as a very positive post and should quell some of the fears of those who've read such negativity here of late.  Glad you're back safe and hopefully rested.

If you are open to an AirBNB or VRBO, there are several in the S. Kensington area.  Quick walk to the Tube and from there you can get anywhere.  The tube offers contactless paying...meaning you tap your chip-enabled credit card to get on and off.  Just remember to use a card w/o foreign transaction fees.

13 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

Yup.

But losing less $ enables me to play more, thus more pts.

Thus the question is my OP

 

In that case, I enjoy Quick Hit Platinum.  $1.50 max spin...and not all those buttons that so many machines have these days.  QH Diamond is in essence the same game.  Enjoy and good luck.

15 minutes ago, scoob said:

So pina coladas are covered? And tips are included?

The tip is added to the price of the pkg.