DarrenM

Well having had 3 cruises on celebrity everything bar the speciality dining was included so not sure about this. And we didnt need to use the speciality dining as all of the food on board was superb. But we did anyway. Because we wanted to. We werent nickle and dimed.

I agree with K Numbers yet I love cruising. But there again, I got married in a church and have zero faith in any religion. A self confessed hypocrite me.

And yes, it has been pointed out to me many times, that I am a miserable soul. Still wont dance just because someone else thinks its fun.

Its kind of like when you are sat enjoying a drink at a party and others are dancing, to whatever awful tune is being played by the DJ. When suddenly someone dancing notices you and dances across your way and tries to grab your hand and force you onto the dance floor, because "you will enjoy it". No I wont. Not ever. Forced fun.

OK so forced fun activities to me are those that are foisted upon you, like when they suddenly decide that relaxing near the pool quietly isnt what the doctor ordered , so they invent noisy pointless poolside games all around you, in some weird belief that those quietly enjoying the sun and a drink are just waiting for this, because they cant entertain themselves. Thats one example.

OK So places that are must for me were Naples(Pompeii) Kotor and Dubrovnik. All are port places. And if you can get to Istanbul then go. Its bonkers but brilliant.

I despise forced fun activities so they can all go for me. The theatre shows I can take or leave. Sometimes its 40 minutes to have a little nap whilst she enjoys whatever middle of the road fair is on offer. I am not a foodie so I cant really comment on the quality, as a bag of french fries is quality to me. Staff were brilliant and getting served at bars was easy. Speciality restaurants were good I think. Again I am no expert. Buffet was nice enough especially breakfast. Ship was clean. Toilets were clean. Nothing to moan about really. ah yes, too many of those small people, Kids I think they are called.

Strand palace is decent enough and is reasonably priced.

who on earth would pay £300-£500 a night to stay in one of those places? Me and my wife stayed in the savoy for one night, silver wedding thing. It was one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in. Pretentious, old fashioned, no air con, view of a central court yard pigeon netting, net curtains that looked like they ahdnt been washed in decades ( who on earth has net curtains these days?) Give a premier inn any day.

I stay in hotels every week, and routinely ask them not to change my towels or make the bed. I can re-use towels. and a made up bed is unnecessary to me. And if it was well I could make it myself like I do at home. and it all makes me think I am helping the planet in a very small way.

some worrying critisism of celebrity on this thread. Sorry been away from the site for a few weeks so just catching up. We have done 3 celebrity cruises now since 2019 and I found no reduction in service or quality. If the room was only cleaned once a day, well I always thought thats what happened anyway. And frankly no normal human being needs the room seeing to twice in a day, especially as most folk spend little time in there. the entertainment was excellent, apparently. Wasnt to my taste so it was a bet meh for me. But all shows were full, and the cast got massive applause. The food was top notch. Yes the prices for the speciality restaurants had gone up, but that just made them nicer, as they werent full all the time. And the drinks package, premium, was well worth it, as I reckon I drank them out of cocktails. Maybe I will notice things more after our next one in May 2024. The one in may, 11 nights med from Rome to Venice(ravenna) is costing us £4,200 total (Balcony cabin) and that includes the medium drinks package, which i will upgrade to the premium, prior to getting there. Flights are on top and they are £800 return. So £5k all in. Seems reasonable to me.

This. We were too close for comfort at the Greek Asylum seekers tragedy in June, for me to ever want gto rubber neck at a human disaster. Its sick.

No.

Love a good league table 1. Celebrity Beyond 1 cruise 11 nights 2. Celebrity Reflection 1 cruise 10 nights 3. Celebrity Edge 1 Cruise 7 nights 4. Disney Wonder(I think) 1 cruise 6 nights. I honestly cant remember which Disney cruise ship i was on but it was February 2002. So Celebrity Beyond wins on goal difference.

I go to lots of live music gigs, but I have never been attracted to attend a tribute act show. Too many great young bands around these days, in the UK, to want to watch a tribute act. I avoid them on cruise ships. Would lo e to see a cruiseline be a bit out there and invite current bands to play occasionally playing their own music.

I think I understand this post.

Guesses eh? I see there is a clue in there. I am going for 22,317

My last one. I suspect only because it was celebrity's new ship. It was also my longest cruise in terms of nights. But it wasn't that expensive. A little more than the year before.

Now that's a tour.

My name is Darren but I go by daphne on a weekend. 😁😁

Didn't notice much of this on celebrity. Though on sea days those arriving early afternoon seemed not to find a spot. But it wasn't many folk from what I saw. It might have been worse pool side but we avoid these forced fun areas.

I have to ask. What are formal night wars?

I look for the ship tours too. Especially the bars, and outside areas. I dislike the official tours, even the celebrity ones, as they spend an unequal amount of time showing the retreat. A sort of "here's what you could have won" video. Bearing in mind probably less then 10% of guests will be in there, I think about a third of the video is given to it. The annoying thing is I could have afforded to pay for the retreat this year, but it's just an obscene amount of money for pointless extras. The whole ship is luxury. We don't need a class system being promoted. So thats why I like the influencer videos better. They concentrate on what the majority will be doing.

On beyond in June nearly allmofnthe entertainment music wise was either Latin American or soul. Pretty sure that was because that was what the cruise director was in to. Some of it was decent enough for 45 minutes. Other bits were rubbish to me but others enjoyed it seemingly. You can't cater for everyone though. Late 70s early 80s would be great for me. As long as it was a tribute to punk music. If its disco from the 70s, or british new romantic from the 80s then keep it. I can't imagine a night on celebrity where the main show is a tribute to Ramones, the Clash and the sex pistols. I might be the only one there.

Now that would appeal to me.