Weenah

10 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

 

It's probably not exactly you abusing those poor mattresses lol... more than likely you don't have a super good quality bed frame under it....  most people just use the kind with 3 to 5 slats,  try googling "heavy duty bed frame"   

https://www.amazon.com/NOAH-MEGATRON-Frame-14-Foundation-Under-Bed/dp/B07GTGVLX9/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=heavy+duty+bed+frame+king+size&qid=1584670730&sr=8-8

 

makes a huge difference, & your mattresses won't develop a sag in the middle if you start out with something like that.  hope this helps 🙂

Very much agree with this. We've been burned in the past with expensive mattress purchases only to put them on inadequate frames and box springs. Sagging was pretty immediate.

About 4 years ago we purchased a similar frame to the one you linked and rolled the dice on a $750 memory foam mattress that arrived rolled up in a box that we never tested prior to purchase. Everything has held up perfectly and we no longer see the need to spend thousands of dollars on a mattress that fails us after 2 years.

1 hour ago, LuvCruzn4Evr said:

My bid, and the move up offer option, is no longer on our May 13th Equinox sailing 😨

I'm on the same sailing. While I haven't bid, the option to do so is still available to me.

1 hour ago, sippican said:

 

Well here's "the longer answer".

I am aware that some OBC will be forfeited, those given as part of the sales promotions for one, however, it remains to be seen if they will take away all OBC. For instance, we have OBC from family purchased gifts, X compensation for a "problem" encountered on a previous cruise, etc. As far as I'm concerned, those are MINE, not X's to dispose of.

 

47 minutes ago, jerryd1 said:

We have the same situation and agree completely.   

+1. Our May 2020 sailing has additional OBC offered by Celebrity due to a number of issues that occurred when the reservation was transferred to our TA. It'd be great if it weren't forfeited but I'm not optimistic.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5097/

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/global-ship-operations-pause.html

2 hours ago, TorontoSailor said:

Sounds to me like we can expect further cuts to the on-board experience. Reducing operating expenses means chopping! 

As long as they don't remove the footst...

Eh. Never mind.

2 hours ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

I have read that some ports in Italy are.  However, I have not been able to find an actual list of which ports are refusing cruise ships. 

Submitted for your reading pleasure.

September 2, 2019

With our sailing decision made, we called X to make the reservation. As Hurricane Dorian created a state of emergency in Florida the Miami(?) call center was closed and we were transferred to a Resolution Specialist located in Wichita, KS. The agent we spoke with was amazing which makes sense as their job is to make the likes of us happy, or less mad depending on the situation. Going into the call we were prepared with a stateroom already picked out. Even with no cruising experience and limited knowledge on the subject it doesn't require a rocket scientist to know it's a good idea is to look at deck plans and figure out what's above and below your cabin.

Placing the reservation was seamless and uneventful. We're technically astute and prefer making reservation or submitting orders on the interwebs over phone calls. We opted to pickup the phone as I had found a mention of an extra $100 OBC buried on Celebrity's website if you called. For an extra $100 OBC it was an easy decision to put on my big boy britches and brave making a phone call. Apparently your Captain's Club level must be Classic or higher to get this $100 OBC. As I have no status I can only chalk up this $100 OBC fortune to my smooth talking.😛

In the spirit of "affordable" requirement in the OP, we booked a 1C cabin, 8311, with 4 perks. I'm a light drinker while the better half is known to indulge here and there. Any of you can make a strong argument that I could have saved a decent chunk of change by opting for the classic package or none at all and you'd be right. But lest you forget our "don't wants" > "wants" and the premium package aligns to our not wanting to think about minutia such as signing receipts or handing over a credit card. 

On the next episode we'll cover our search for a TA.

My better half is always giving me a pat on the butt.

September 1, 2019

With our shortlist settled we used this lazy Sunday to view a STUPID amount of cruising-related videos on YouTube. I pulled up my YouTube watch history and counted no less than 50 videos viewed this day.  Some videos stood out, others left much to be desired. Video production values aside, we were able to glean a lot of information provided by these moving pictures that the written word cannot capture. We're visual learners and while we have discovered Cruise Critic by this time, we hadn't created accounts for this site yet and had only performed a cursory examination of the vast information on it.

We watched informative videos from (what I have since learned are some of the usual vlogging suspects) Tips for Travellers, Emma, La Lido Loca, Don's Family Vacations (he's...interesting, to be sure) et al. Admittedly we did focus first on the Celebrity videos because we are slightly limited in our traveling dates due to our professions. Celebrity had one particular sailing itinerary and dates that worked for us given the travel time frame constraints we had.

Two videos stood out in our search as they provided a full ship walk through. One was pre-Hoppenization and the other post. It wasn't clear to us what had changed after "The Hoppening" but it didn't matter. Both videos included information that aligned to our cruising requirements stated above so we ceased further research into Princess and Holland. Reflecting back to those videos it might seem strange to you, what the ONE thing was that pushed us over the tipping point and sealed the deal. It doesn't get a lot of attention on Cruise Critic, but it was Slush on deck 12. One of the videos we watched included the Slush menu. Upon viewing it we were sold.

It was settled. We found a ship, we found an itinerary, and we found our dates (see subject line of this thread). The stars aligned perfectly to what we were looking for and what we knew at the time. With our decision made, tomorrow we'd be calling X to place the reservation.

To be continued...

Welcome back! I really shouldn't write at the end of a long work day. I tend to make errors such as listing the wrong year of time travel in the above posts. Anything "2020" should have been "2019". Oh well, back to it.

August 31, 2019

Extensive research commenced on a cruse line and ship. We entered this experiment with almost no knowledge of cruising past rumors, anecdotal evidence, and hearsay ie; Carnival is a party line, cruising is stuffy and for old people, ships are cesspools of germs and filth, et al. Our approach in choosing a line might be unique in that our search consisted of finding experiences we didn't want rather than did. We're of the mindset that it's easier for us tolerate something we can't predict than it is to tolerate something we flat out want no part of. Yes, we over-indexed on the research but it's how we're programmed.

Subjective experiences such as food quality weren't given consideration. Even with no cruising experience figuring out which line has the best food would be a waste of mental energy. Plus we're not food snobs and enjoy mediocre food just as well as exquisite dining. As long as the food doesn't suck we'll be just fine.

Did not wants in priority order:

1. Children (or too many of them). We're empty-nesters and while ours are great, we're done with that until we're grandparents.
2. We didn't want to feel that we'd miss something on our cruise. Oasis class ships are clearly off the short list and with smaller ships you have a greater opportunity to experience almost everything.
3. Sensory over-load. We're not affected by this but it can be a distraction.
4. Rock walls, flow riders, et al.
5. We don't want to think about things; we just want them to happen.

Wants in no particular order:

1. On the bell curve of an age demographic we wanted to be on the left side of the curve.
2. Slow and easy. This is a vacation and we want to relax. We love observing people and watching the world go by.
3. 7+ day cruise. If we're making the commitment, we might as well go all in.
4. A simple, easy, and common itinerary that included easily navigable ports. Mobility isn't an issue, simplicity is a desire. Over-complicating our first cruise might turn us off from future cruises. We like to think of our first cruise vacation as "Cruising 101".
5. Ease of travel pre and post-cruise.
6. Affordable. Subjective to be sure. However, as we have no benchmark on what is or isn't affordable we had to use our best judgment here. Concierge, Aqua, and Suites are nice, but not something we need to enjoy our trip, at least for now.
7. Balcony is a must have.

After a bit of research our shortlist consisted of:

1. Celebrity
2. Princess
3. Holland (mostly because of the music which we love experiencing)

~August 28, 2020: Sigh, “It’s time to make the donuts” so more work, more save.

And now for an intermission. More history will be shared in the coming days as we're just about to share the experience of researching and booking of our first cruise.

~August 27, 2020: Inner monologue – “We need to go on a vacation and could use some time to unplug from ‘life.’ I should look into a cruise again.”

~August 2011 through ~August 26th, 2020: Work work work work work. Save save save save save.

You might be saying to yourselves, “What in tarnations? A trip report from the future? Is this a time paradox? Did I take a 60+ day nap and find myself in May? Does this guy possess the Time Stone from the Marvel movies?” There are a lot of fantastic trip reports on Cruise Critic and I wanted to differentiate this one from the likes of:

1. The thorough and informative reports from @Jim_Iain 
2. The positivity found in @chicagopaul's reports.
3. The great pictures from @mahdnc.
4. The amazing writing and creativity found in the best trip report I’ve encountered thus far by @David Kane.
5. And a special mention to @Denny01 not for the trip reports, but because I appreciate the wit and sensible approach to all that I’ve read from you. Please consider adopting me so you can be my dad.

In the interest of doing something different, this report will be a trip though time and based on the perspective of a couple that has never cruised before. While I haven’t read all 5487 pages in this Celebrity forum, since joining Cruise Critic in September 2019 I don’t recall a trip report from cruising newbies. I’m even more certain there hasn’t been one containing a trip though time. I intend to take each of you through a journey from the catalyst of the trip, up to the present, and will provide periodic updates leading up to and while on the ship. Fair warning, I don’t recall what happened ten minutes ago much less months ago so the accuracy of information won’t be perfect, but it’ll be good enough. So strap in and let’s do this.

Before we get started a little bit about us. And as laziness breeds resourcefulness here’s a copy and paste and slightly modified dossier of us from a previous thread: The better half, @DiggyO, and I are in our mid-forties and in our nearly 12 years together have opted to focus on work and saving for retirement over vacations and experiences. The kids are out of the home and living their own lives and all that remains under this roof is us and a pair of spoiled rotten dogs. Now that we're feeling more comfortable with our retirement nest egg, we are less concerned about the stress often felt when not focusing on our future retirement over the near-ish term. We’ve never taken a real vacation that wasn’t interrupted by or involved other friends or family.

And to start the journey, let’s go back to ~August 2011. A co-worker tells me about his cruise and all the fun he had on it. Enter my inner monologue: “This seems interesting, I should check out pricing on that cruise line’s website.” “Hmm. Waaaay too expensive and I need to focus on saving for the future.” I don’t recall which cruise line I searched, cabin type, or even the price. It just wasn’t going to happen and thus my brief interest in a cruise faded just as fast as it arrived.

• Ship:  Equinox
• Length of Cruise: 10 Nights
• Cruise Sail Date: May 13, 2020
• Date email offer received: February 28, 2020
• Captain’s Club Tier: Preview
• Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: Booked directly through Celebrity and transferred to a TA
• Current Cabin:  1C Deluxe Ocean View W/ Veranda
• Bid?: Not at this time. May reconsider in the future.

General Comments (offer details, etc.)

Move-up offers min-max ranges per person:

Concierge: $100-$400

Family Veranda: $100-$500

Aqua: $200-$600

Sky Suite: $750-$1750

Celebrity Suite: $1000-$2250

Royal Suite: $1500-$4000

The only option we're considering is Aqua but in a mock booking there are only two cabins available in this category at this time. One is under the pool and the other appears to be under treadmills in the gym. Neither is appealing so we'll wait if better options become available as our current cabin is in a desirable location on deck 8.

12 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

All packed and ready to go!
 

 

Now to try and get some sleep until the morning!!

As a member of the greatest generation (X), that LL Bean bag brings back some memories.

I'm *more* likely to cruise as there are deals to be found.

Just not anything in SE Asia in the near future.

It seems most folks on this forum prefer Murano over Tuscan. Granted, I haven't dusted off my abacus and analyzed all the feedback but I suspect many would agree with this.

From a culinary perspective I don't have a preference as I've never visited either. Taking it further we've never even been on a ship.

Even with the anecdotal evidence that Murano is preferred over Tuscan, the better half and I opted for the latter as our dinner for the first night. It wasn't because Tuscan was all we could get or because the timing of the reservation worked with our schedule. It was because we're on the Equinox in May and we believe our first sunset view experience while on any ship would be much more awesome than anything Murano can provide. We're delighted with our decision of a 7:00 reservation to bear witness to an 8:00 sunset.

23 minutes ago, jelayne said:

If we buy a dining package we do so pre-cruise for a number of reasons:

1.on some sailing the 3 & 4 night packages have sold out-not always the case but disappointing when it happens,

2. we like to spread the cost out so we purchase & pay months before the cruise

3.  We lock in the price. We bought a 3 night package months before our Edge Cruise a few months later they increased the price by $20pp.

 

I don’t know whether the staff selling dining packages on the ship get any extra for the packages they sell but presume they do.  We do often upgrade the beverage package onboard and we do that with a bartender at the bar we plan to frequent often.  With the dining package it is less likely you would have that person who sold you the package as your server. 

 

All great points and thank you for the guidance.

Full transparency, we're on the fence about purchasing before setting sail mostly because we've never been on a cruise and have no idea if the MDR will be to our liking. I've stated in previous threads we're not food snobs and as long as the food doesn't suck we'll be fine. But the ambiance and atmosphere of the MDR vs specialty may be important to us; we'll find out. Depending on the time one goes to the MDR we're aware it can be a little crazy.

If the cost does go up while on board we likely wouldn't purchase the package as we figure we can likely get discounts on a per-night basis. If your presumption is correct that whomever we purchased the package from while on board gets a few dollars that'd be great. To your point that it'd be unlikely the person we bought it from would be our waiter, assistant waiter, et al, I'm curious if anyone knows if it's possible to purchase the package from a bartender that I would frequent often.

I do my best to "assimilate" to the culture of online forums by lurking and making wise use of the search feature before asking questions. However, I haven't seen anyone mention this in the past few months (or I just missed it). I do know how to use the search function but admittedly don't know which parameters to search with on my query.

I'm aware I can purchase the Specialty Dining Package for Y nights in the cruise planner. But I was curious if this is the best place to do it based on things I've learned by lurking. eg: I know there are passengers that upgrade to the premium beverage package while on board with a bartender. This will often curry favor with the bartender because a little something extra goes in their pockets. Assuming the price is the same in the cruise planner as well as on board, are any of you aware if directly purchasing a Specialty Dining Package with a crew member will help out the fine folks who take care of us in the way of a few extra dollars in their wallets? Note I'm aware passengers can often find discounts at the specialty dining restaurants while on board.

Thanks in advance.

10 minutes ago, dis2cruise said:

Hi!  We have friends in the next cabin can or will our cabin Stuart

unlock the divider so we can have a bigger balcony?

With the permission of your friends in the adjacent balcony, the steward will unlock the divider.

1 minute ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

To be fair, Celebrity does not exclude children, so there could be some on your sailing...so your number 1 “no” might not be met.

Fair point and definitely understood. I should edit the post to say "Don't want a lot of children". I figure with 10 and 12 day cruises planned just before most schools let out should keep their numbers limited.

16 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

anathema

I've been following this thread since the 1st post and have been looking for a reason to respond. Thank you for providing that reason as I just learned a new word. Reading is fun!

I was hoping someone would chime in that has the same cruising experience I have on X or any other line for that matter. Unless I missed it, I don't believe that to be the case. I suppose the prevailing reason is the thread's topic of "what keeps you coming back". In my case I've never been on any cruise on any line. 

If the group will indulge me I'll share what led the better half and I to choose X over other lines. We're both in our mid-forties and in our nearly 12 years together have opted to focus on work and saving for retirement over vacations and experiences. Now that we're feeling more comfortable with our retirement nest egg we are less concerned about the stress I often feel when not focusing on our future retirement over the near-ish term.

We entered this experiment of choosing a line with almost no knowledge of cruising past rumors, anecdotal evidence, single-point analysis, and hearsay ie; Carnival is a party line, cruising is stuffy and for old people, ships are cesspools of germs and filth, et al. Our approach in choosing a line might be unique in that our search consisted of finding experiences we didn't want rather than did. We're of the mindset that it's easier for us tolerate something we can't predict than it is to tolerate something we flat want no part of Eliminating or reducing what we don't want often determines what we do want. I work in product development as an occupation so it's easier for me to determine what I don't want rather than do. 

Subjective experiences such as food quality weren't given consideration. Even with no cruising experience figuring out which line has the best food would be a waste of mental energy. Plus we're not food snobs and enjoy mediocre food just as well as exquisite dining. As long as the food doesn't suck we'll be just fine.

Did not wants in priority order:

1. Children. We're empty-nesters and while ours are great, we're done with that until we're grandparents.
2. We didn't want to feel that we'd miss something on our cruise. Oasis class ships are clearly off the short list.
3. Sensory over-load. We're not affected by this but it can be a distraction.
4. Rock walls, flow riders, et al.
5. We don't want to think about things; we just want them to happen.

Wants in no particular order:

1. On the bell curve of an age demographic we wanted to be on the left side of the curve.
2. Slow and easy. This is a vacation and we want to relax. We love observing people and watching the world go by.
3. 7+ day cruise. If we're making the vacation commitment, we might as well go all in.
4. A simple, easy, and common itinerary that included easily navigable ports. Mobility isn't an issue, simplicity is a desire. Over-complicating our first cruise might turn us off from future cruises. We like to think of our first cruise vacation as "Cruising 101".
5. Ease of travel pre and post-cruise.
6. Affordable. Subjective to be sure. However, as we have no benchmark on what is or isn't affordable we had to use our best judgment here. Concierge, Aqua, and Suites are nice, but not something we need to enjoy our trip..at least for now.
7. Balcony is a must have.

After a few days of research our shortlist consisted of:

1. Celebrity
2. Princess
3. Holland (mostly because of the music which we love experiencing)

We directly booked our May 2020 10-day Equinox Southern Caribbean cruise in early September 2019 as we found the best deal with Celebrity relative to the two other lines at that time. We booked a refundable fare in the 1C category (cabin 83xx) with all 4 perks. We chose the 4 perks because it more aligned to our not wanting to think about much. We value not having to give consideration of paying extra at the bar for something we order on the premium beverage package. We probably won't drink enough to make up the difference in cost for the upgraded package and that's ok; we're not thinking about it. We received nearly 25% OBC through a few errors on Celebrity's end and for transferring it to a TA.

Further easing the stress of travel pre and post-cruise, we were able to use my airline miles for a direct trip to Miami out of Richmond, VA. There limited direct flights out of Richmond so this will be a great bonus. We are also able to use my rewards for a free night at the JW Marriott in Miami the night before we embark. 

Celebrity checks the boxes on experiences we don't want. This is why we booked it and this is why we're incredibly excited about our first cruise in May. I understand and do my best to empathize with those that say the value has decreased over time. However, this doesn't impact us as we can't miss something we've never had. But I can say that I've been watching my cruise fare like a hawk and was able to take advantage of the Veteran's Day sale and saved $900 moving the fare over to non-refundable with the same perks and cabin category.

I may have mentioned excitement about the cruise. We're that excited about it we even booked a 12-day Equinox trip in May of 2021 the day those itineraries were released. Relative to the May 2020 trip, the cost for this one on a per-night basis is less expensive by a decent margin with all 4 perks even with upgrading to a 1A slant cabin on deck 8. Our OBC isn't as significant on this trip but that's just because Celebrity IT hasn't screwed something up (yet).

The takeaway from someone with no cruising experience: I'm finding value in Celebrity relative to the things I want and don't want and the price I'm willing to pay for them. I'm still searching for decent pricing on the other lines and am willing to try them when the right offers come up. 

There is another thing I find value in; that's the collective wisdom of you folks. I visit cruise critic nearly every day looking to learn something new and you all provide it in spades. And to complete the circle in this War and Peace-sized post; I learned a new word!