CruisinNole

I was on the Serenade and understand your frustration. On the 30th, we were told that we would be disembarking on morning of the 31st. Later in the day, we were told that we would be disembarking on the 31st at 4:00pm. Then we were told that we would not be disembarking on the 31st and that we would disembark on September 1. It was a very fluid situation and totally dependent on Port Tampa Bay and the Coast Guard.

We are currently on Serenade in GS 1048 and were awakened this morning, our first morning of the cruise, around 5am, with the sounds of loungers being moved on deck 11. My husband, a heavy sleeper, was awakened by the noise. I was already awake. If you are a light sleeper, you will be awakened.

We had an issue on the Constellation year before last. Immediately upon boarding, we saw that the water in the bathroom was brown and nasty looking. We were in a Sky Suite and in light of the butler cutback, I have to wonder that if this happened today, we would get the same care and attention. I called guest relations, who contacted our butler. He lectured us to always call him if we had a problem. He immediately had the cabin attendant bring up large bottles of water, reported the problem to maintenance and to the Retreat Concierge. The water was replenished every day. Everyone was very apologetic and we were called every day checking to see if the situation was corrected. A few days into the cruise we were given two very generous FCCs which we used to book a CS on Equinox. In nearly 35 years of cruising we've only had two occasions where we've had significant of a complaint that we felt we were due some compensation and both times it was received onboard. That being said, if I were the OP and felt that my issue was not adequately addressed on the ship, I would not hesitate to contact Celebrity.

I just got mine -- 5 days out.

Thanks. It just surprises me to read negative reviews about a ship that's going on an around the world cruise. You'd think it would be in tip top shape. We've been on Brilliance many times and never had a complaint. I figured Serenade would be the same. As far as dining is concerned, we haven't eaten in the MDR in years. We had a bad dining experience on Allure and have dined in specialty restaurant ever since.

We cruise on the Serenade soon and have been discourage with the negative reviews. The Ultimate World Cruise is on this ship, right? Are there plans to refurbish?

I must have been thinking of a Celebrity ship.

Thanks for the info. Thanks also about the search for Izumi! On Brilliance, it's down a dark corridor. Kind of creepy. I'm a native Floridian so I'm picky about my Key Lime Pie. We stop in Key West week after next and I'm looking forward to some good pie and conch fritters.

Did you try Chops or Giovanni's? We purchased the UDP because of the negative things we've been hearing about MTD reservations and traditional dining. I mean, we're old but we don't care for the early bird dining at 5pm. Just too early for us!

Also, people may be watching a movie.

That happens frequently. We use valet parking so the car is brought to the correct terminal.

That sounds exactly like the President's Cruise we took in 2016. Entertainer was different but equally poor. Our entire row walked out not even halfway through the performance. Communication was awful. Never again.

Yes, you can pre-pay for terminal parking on the website and it's refundable. Also, you can check the cruise calendar on the port website to see what terminal you will be departing from plus that info will be in your cruise documentation. Off-site parking is less expensive. If you go to the Forums tab on CC, there's a North American Homeports forum, Florida Departures. I just did a quick search for Tampa cruise off-site parking and came up with parkwayparking.com, 241parking.com and Park Connect. There are also hotels that offer park and cruise. I would definitely check social media for a roll call for your cruise since it appears that one will not be active on CC. We cruise out of Tampa on Serenade next month. There is no roll call on CC either.

You can get a lot of info about the Port of Tampa on their website, https://www.porttb.com/cruise . We frequently cruise out of this port and find it easy to get in and out of. We do the valet parking. A little more expensive but so convenient. Recommend prepaying also.

I have no problem avoiding the casino if smoking/vaping is allowed but if the Celebrity smoking/vaping passengers emulate Royal's smoking/vaping passengers, smoking/vaping will not remain in the casino.

A friend was on a cruise last week that stopped at both ports. It wasn't a Royal cruise.

I don't get the impression that Celebrity cares how valid the test is. I'm guessing that the decision has been made and they're just going through the motions.

In 2015, we took a Royal Caribbean President's cruise on Allure. There was a very large contingent of CC members so the Meet and Mingle was held in the theater with Michael Bayley fielding questions for well over an hour. The very first question asked -- when will Royal make their casinos non smoking. Bayley's answer was the usual "corporate speak". "We hear you". "We're looking into this issue". Blah, blah, blah. They say that they have enhanced the ventilation system and have set aside non-smoking sections but the casinos are still just floating ashtrays. Celebrity's will be exactly the same way.

I would be very surprised if they conduct a test of cigarette smoking in the casino. I'm sure that at the end of the vaping test, there will be an announcement that Celebrity casinos are no longer smoke free.

I saw a couple of posts on the Celebrity page on social media. One poster mentioned the vaping test a couple of times. No response from Celebrity.

So all signs are gone but the vaping continues?

Many thanks to you for not succumbing to the urge! 😄

This is so disappointing. We frequently cruise on Royal Caribbean and although we enjoy a little gambling, we never go anywhere near a casino on a Royal ship because of the stench. We will be complaining as well. This move by Celebrity kind of defies logic.

How do you feel about the OS balcony on the Radiance class? We always book a GS but have thought about upgrading to an OS however, the balconies look so narrow. How does the balcony compare to a GS balcony?

There was a nice veterans ceremony on our Brilliance cruise in March. No photo but since I didn't know anyone in the large crowd and at 5' 3", wasn't really visible amongst the taller men, I wouldn't have purchased a photo anyway.