lobsternight

I would suggest giving a little bit more information.  Have you been to Vancouver before? Are you wanting to do city tours or regional tours?  Are you interested in being in the downtown core or would you like to stay away from the concrete jungle? Are you mobile, active, or just looking for a relaxing place to stroll around? Dining preferences?

I was wondering the same.  We booked a few weeks ago for the Eclipse in April 2023.  What I found odd is that we selected anytime dining for this sailing and we received an email about a week ago offering to book dining times already.  Never had this happen before, and honestly have not looked closely at the itinerary yet to make a decision like that.  If there was a switch to E class I wouldn't mind trying it out, as our next 3 sailings are all on the Eclipse.  Nice ship though, really loved our last trip Vancouver to Hawaii.

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

We have done several Celebrity South Pacific cruises, and have seen locally caught fish and also kangaroo on the menus.

And that is what I'm talking about, yum!  I know the menu stays somewhat the same, and who know how it will change that far in the future.  It did seem on past cruises perhaps the buffet selection was modified a bit if a fair amount of certain nationals were on board.  Last cruise we took there were a lot of brits, noticed buffet had a few extra or different what I would call UK staples.  Not mad, seemed like more curries and I even tried mushy peas, went back for seconds.

We are booked on a South Pacific out of Sydney for April 2023.  Obviously Celebrity modifies its MDR menu from time to time, and we are more than happy to eat in the MDR even though the menu does sort of repeat.  Can anyone comment on the menus out of Sydney, are there any locally sourced must try items that we should be looking out for in the MDR? For that matter in the buffet, as I will sometimes take lunch there.

I made lobster for my son last night in celebration of National Lobster Day, apparently its a thing. Well an excuse for lobster anyway, and mine did not turn out anything like they do at Murano.

On our very first trip with Celebrity we took advantage of a first night deal on the Infinity in the SS United States restaurant. The lobster and service was so amazing. On our next cruise I am bringing our 2 sons, the eldest will be 21 so we totally plan on taking him to Murano where he can enjoy a fantastic lobster dinner and some decent wine.

On 9/20/2021 at 3:34 PM, kjwinston2019 said:

Hi all you experts.

 

We are looking to go on our 6th cruise (5 on Celebrity, 1 RCL) In these times of COVID is it wise to get the insurance? We are going from Hawaii to Vancouver BC mostly at sea. We love this? I was looking to see if the insurance covers Covid 19 at this moment and It look like it does not? I was wondering if you experts actually get insuance at all? We have never got insurance before, we are Vacinated, most likly we will get the boosters. I was wondering, for i hate handing over $648 to the cruise line for nothing. Just wanted to hear from you your opinions. Thanks ahead of time. 

 

KJ

Oddly enough I was just pondering the same question for the same cruise.  We have always traveled with medical coverage, even beyond what is offered through my extended health plan at work.  Funny enough the one and only time I ever bought trip cancellation was for a deluxe trip over Y2K, woke up the departure morning with an actual real flu.  8 days later finally got out of bed.  Got all our money back, maybe short of $400. Be interesting to see some more feedback, but definitely have medical.  Hope to see you on board, we did the same cruise in reverse just before covid and it was the best

On 9/13/2021 at 6:01 PM, brillohead said:

I see plenty of post-CABG patients who swim, I see no reason to cross snorkeling off the list.  If you can go in a pool, you can snorkel in calm waters.

Just the opinion of an RN who is also an avid snorkeler (and also not in ideal physical condition).

Thank you for that, was sort of my opinion too.  I suppose I should get a doctors note anyway  I'm doing well and don't see an issue, but suppose it's a case of liability.  Either that or wear a turtleneck  as its hard to hide the scars once you are a member of the zipper club.  We recently canceled our souther caribbean but have booked hawaii and am considering south pacific, and damn I want to snorkel  

14 minutes ago, Roxydog15 said:

I actually did have them once.  Made by a gourmet cook friend of mine.  The wine, butter, garlic sauce was great, but did not care for the snail part. So I totally get the bread dipping part!

See this is why they need the mushroom caps, if you don't like the snails just order the escargot minus the snails lol

Definate yes from my whole family  My boys and I have it every night in the MDR, my DW maybe half the time but always sneaks one off my dish. X could elevate it even more my topping each delicious morsel with a tiny Mushroom cap...yum.

I'm not sure where I acquired the taste but perhaps as a wee lad I spent too much time in the garden savoring Pacific Northwest Banana Slugs much to my poor mothers dismay.  My sons also did the same; I am reminded of my one son once trying to top off his bbq burger with about 20 caterpillars, that was a no.

Call us weird but will try almost anything once.  Maybe X will tempt us with Cuy one day (roasted guinea pig) on a South American cruise.  

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

While I have never done it, make sure you keep  copies of all the reservations your son takes.   When he hits18 they will give him the credits for those cruises.     I've read a couple threads about this over the years.

My son had sailed both with us, and also with his grandmother numerous times.  When he turned 18 all his information was there, no issues. So at 20 he's well on his way to Select.

23 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

 

I do agree about watching the wake. On ships with outdoor buffet seating we love eating outside and watching the wake. Not sure what it is about the wake, but it is really pretty to watch. 

We are the same, love eating breakfast while watchimg the wake.  Just booked our first SV for next August based on all the good reviews. 

5 minutes ago, Kathleen Kruiser said:

@lobsternightOh and Happy Anniversary!

Thank you and same to you.  We also added on 4 nights in Waikiki as we had not been for over 20 years.  The cruise is a nice introduction to the islands.  Waikiki is weird but fun, I just love swimming there, though I can barely swim.  If you have never been I highly suggest Pearl Harbor, very moving.

3 minutes ago, Kathleen Kruiser said:

Did you sail on Royal Caribbean and if so what ship. I'd love to hear about your experience. Any thoughts on rooms? We are currently booked in JS with large balcony. Considering an upgrade since the sailing is long? Do you think spending more on room is worth it?

We were on the Celebrity Eclipse in an obscured balcony, which was just above the tenders.  Honestly we don't spend a lot of time in our cabin so that is all we need.

The day we embarked was nasty, lots of rain.  The first few days we went down the coast offshore so took a bit of a beam sea, so fair amount of motion. By day 3 it calmed down and warmed up so was great from there on.  Lots to do on sea days.  Dw joined a flash mob, did glass blowing, we were always busy, met so many nice people. Had my youngest son with us, had kids to play with.

Stop in Hilo was great, privately booked with Safari Helicopters and saw the volcano and lava fields, its a must do.  There was a music festival that night, was safe and fun.  I also loved Kona,wish it was an overnight so we could have seen the manta Raya. Great time on Atlantis Sub, enjoyed shave ice and swim on beach.  Lahaina is always awesome, rented a car and did our own thing.

It is an awesome cruise, want to do it again. We have our 30th in 2023 so it will either be that or Antarctica 

We have a 12 day cruise just before Xmas.  Dw and I are fully vaccinated and kids will be in a few weeks.  I am really struggling with the decision to go.  Just following all the issues that are popping up.  As of right now I'd give us a 30% chance of going, but we have 6 more weeks for final payment

Did ours last December and all 4 of ours were 3 weeks by mail

We did it Sept 2019.  Definitely stepping on deck Day 3 was a hmmm this is starting to feel nice.  Day 4 felt very tropical. I am considering doing it next year once again with Celebrity. We had overnights in Hilo and Lahaina that cruise.

They should have your record.  When my son turned 18 they were able to look up all his cruises and add it to his account.

I really miss seeing the ships here in Vancouver.  I think there will be a lot of vendors and support staff happy to see the return.  Oddly when I took my son to get his vaccine they had a lot of port staff wrangling people around the clinic.  Not a bad idea as they have experience moving crowds and dealing with grumpy people.  Boy did we have one ***** in our group going in.

On 7/15/2021 at 6:44 AM, Bo1953 said:

LOL, I have done that before, too...

 

... and thought, 'don't they know who I Am and the reason I need to use this road, this day?'

 

Apparently they did and did not care either way... LOL

 

bon voyage

Yeah after 35 years of working in traffic it finally came to the point that if I had a hammer you got dents, if I have spray paint you get a racing stripe.  If you want to take it up with me let's call the police and see who's right.  Most just drove away.  Hopefully the future will see more work site cameras, because I'm sure Karen's Frappuccino appointment is important enough that its OK if we have to lower someone's spouse, parent, child whatever into a grave.  Sorry, mini rant.

We purposely booked a later flight so we could take this tour, think we depart at 5pm.  My question is do they hold your luggage while you are taking the tour?

I am kind of glad this topic is still open.  Dw and I are both 2 dose AZ, although it was almost a mix with Mondera.  One kid has M and the other has Pfizer.  I will now be very diligent that they recieve the matching second dose after reading this thread.

I would not worry about it too much.  Celebrity has a great teen program, my son could not get enough of it on various cruises.  Our last cruise Oct 2019 was during the school year.  Not as many kids in kids club, but still a reasonable amount of teens on board.  They seemed to find each other and would hang out if not at the club. My DW was chatting with a single mom who had a 13yr old with her.  He was a little bored.  My DW talked him into trying teen club, and they both had a wonderful remainder of that cruise.

2 hours ago, isosika said:

 

My current favorite is a Rado, self-wind, followed by a radio-controlled Citizen Eco-Drive that has both analog and digital times.

 

It appears that I'm odd-man-out.

 

 

I guess I'm guilty of a few too many watches as well.  My favorite for obvious reasons is my grandfather's pocket watch from his railroad days.  When cruising I usually use a cheap watch that I don't care about.  Though always have a fresh battery.  Was funny in university during finals when someone would freak out because their calculator battery suddenly died.

2 hours ago, isosika said:

 

My current favorite is a Rado, self-wind, followed by a radio-controlled Citizen Eco-Drive that has both analog and digital times.

 

It appears that I'm odd-man-out.

 

 

I guess I'm guilty of a few too many watches as well.  My favorite for obvious reasons is my grandfather's pocket watch from his railroad days.  When cruising I usually use a cheap watch that I don't care about.  Though always have a fresh battery.  Was funny in university during finals when someone would freak out because their calculator battery suddenly died.

59 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Le Petit Chef might be a option to consider.  It is a dinner accompanied by a animated show on your table.  The animation is set to match the set menu so while there options to substitute items those won’t match the menu. 

I would also suggest Le Petition Chef.  We booked on board and took our 11yr old son.  Sure the kids menu did not match the show but he still had a great time.  Also we paid quite a reduced rate for him on the kids menu, think it was something like $10.  I believe the kids menu was for 12 and under.