mauimary

We’re sad too. For many years we begged to get some west coast cruises. Then the pandemic hit and unfortunately there has not been the demand. We have supported the west coast with four bookings. We have enjoyed a quick hop down the coast instead of flying clear across the country.

I think it is probably showing you this because the hotels have not yet released availability this far out. We have also stayed at the Jazz numerous times. Very convenient hotel with big rooms.

Enjoy your cruise. Keep an open mind and you will enjoy it. Glad you are looking past the negativity. Frankly we are very tired of all of it! We too are on the Eclipse Pacific Coastal and the one following. We just enjoy cruising. We moved over from Royal a number of years ago. We were on the Transatlantic and the cruise following and we loved them. No complaints. Just love being out on the water.

Thank you for sharing. I assume you mean per couple on the tipping. What did you do about the No-show? I assume you all picked up extra to cover for them.

Last cruise we did our own. But at check in they retook them. It was a B2B and then they used our own for the second cruise.

We repriced last Oct during a brief drop and got $1500 per person with the Al on a SV. So we’re pretty happy with that.

I just looked on the Celebrity website and it is showing $525 for the Al. That includes drinks Wi-Fi and tips for an infinite veranda.

We did exactly this with Rome in Limo in May. Picked up at the Port and driven around Rome before being dropped off at the Rome Marriott Park Hotel for our flight the next day. Wonderful relaxing end to our trip before flying home.

We stayed at the Rome Marriott Park Hotel by the airport after a cruise. We were picked up at the Port by RIL and toured the city and then were dropped off at the hotel. Definitely recommend. Obviously you can do the other way around and be transported to the Port from the Airport Marriott.

We visited Pompeii as part of an Amalfi Coast tour with Rome in Limo. They arranged for a wonderful guide who met us there. We were among the first off the ship in Naples and were whisked away to Pompeii where we were first in line through the gate. We have fabulous photos with no tourists in them! She was able to show us the highlights so that we could make the most of our time. Having a guide really brings Pompeii to life.

Sharon.. We have kept our groups small (6-8)so everyone gave the guide their own share. Do whatever you feel comfortable with. RIL has also arranged for guides for Pompeii and the Vatican for us. We paid the guides separately but I would ask Janny if they now pay them for you or should you pay them directly. Enjoy your cruise.

Sharon the way I have arranged tours with RIL or other tour companies on our roll call is I book it about six -9 months out. I book it as a private excursion and I pick the size of the group. I don’t like to post it on the roll call too early as too much can change before next Oct. People cancel and forget they committed to your group. I have booked tours with RIL in all these ports. All very successful. 1. I post my tour and price and group size. I use a gmail for contact on the roll call and I ask anyone that is interested to write me privately off the boards. ( I do not use our own private email). I do not like to go back and forth with everyone on the roll call itself. It’s not fair for other members to have to take up all the space organizing your tour. 2. I ask for commitment once they have expressed definite interest and I want to know their names and stateroom number and contact email and phone. 3. I do not ask everyone for their ideas on what they want to see. I research it ahead of time and get input from the tour company. Then I post my excursion. 4. Touch base after final payment with everyone. 5. Arrange a brief face to face meeting with everyone in your group onboard so you know who you are looking for. 6. Get off as a group. That way you are not waiting for stragglers. Set a meeting place and time. Make sure everyone knows they need Euros for excursion and tip). We have never had a problem with a NO SHOW as I keep our arrangements tight and communicate with participants. There is always the risk someone will cancel and that’s the risk you take but have found it easy to replace them by posting an opening on your tour. Folks are always looking for a private tour. We have the highest regards for RIL. They are great to work with. Hope this helps. Mary.

I just did a dummy booking on an Alaska cruise for next May and the tips were still I included with the Al incl perks.

I was happy to see it was indeed possible. I’m glad you were able to find a place that will work for you. You are in a really fun walkable location.

I just did a quick look on Bookings. I put in a date the end of July and here is what I came up with. For the cheaper price they might be prepaid rooms. I did find rooms for just slightly more that are cancelable and no prepayment so it is indeed possible. You can write and ask about elevators in the comments (requests when booking). We found the innkeepers to be pretty quick to respond.

We have stayed at the Sheraton the last three times we have flown in and out. Can’t beat it for convenience. Very nice am brunch too. Very convenient and easy for getting into the city and elsewhere. Agree staying in Amsterdam is very nice and fun for wandering if you have some extra time. You may want to check out the train station for locker storage for your luggage so you do not have to spend extra time checking into your airport hotel and returning back into the city.

When we did our booking we asked to be waitlisted we did an onboard booking. We are #5 on the list. If it comes through we probably will not know until after final payment. By then it will no doubt cost a lot more! Since it is for a New Zealand cruise it would be wonderful. If it does not come through we will still be happy. Plenty of places to be outdoors.

We had one on our Transatlantic on the Beyond this past April. We always get Sunset as we book early. This time we changed ships and could not get a SV. We went in with an open mindset for us and made it work. Our bed was by the closet and bathroom so it made the room bigger. We enjoyed sitting in the sunshine in our room as well as having the extra room. We actually ended up liking it more than we thought we would. It was conveniently located by the elevators so much easier to just make a run to drop things off to our room than the SV For us we decided we will still choose a cruise even if we cannot get the SV. For sitting outside we used the Magic Carpet or Sunset Bar area. Don’t get me wrong we still prefer the SV . Have had two of them on the Beyond. We have a B2B2B next year of which cruise 1&2 are in a SV and cruise #3 is in an IV. We are however waitlisted for the SV.

We will not be on our next cruise until Nov. I’m a big fan of the oatmeal raisin cookies in Al Bacio. If they begin charging it will be all the less calories for me! Much easier to walk by and pass them up rather than pick up two of them!!

Actually we’re pretty happy. So we don’t have any major or minor gripes. When prices seem high for the category we usually book (sunset verandas) we just get a reg or a guarantee. We are going to be doing two cruises w/o a drink package and just purchase what we want. We just Iove being out on the water and not having to worry where we are going to eat. Agree there has been a lot of changes over the years that were once special. Remember the chocolate buffets? Midnight buffets etc. Outside barbecues on sea days? We have to say smoking is our #1 gripe. At least Celebrity has a pretty good control in it.

On the West Coast Oregon Washington and California all have spring breaks at different times so you will not have the whole west coast on spring break at the same time.

You could always make sure your entire group is there at 6:30 or even better earlier and just show up. We have been booked @6:30 or 7p and wanted earlier so we would just show up as soon as the dining room opens and would be seated right away. It seems after 7p is a very popular time. They leave a certain percentage if tables available for walk ups.

So incredibly sad. We have taken many photos around this beautiful tree over the years. Now just a memory.

There’s a whole lot of infrastructure that needs to happen. Yes there are resorts in South Maui and West Maui. But just how are you going to get there. Pretty sure all these rental car companies have lost a fair number of cars that were in Lahaina and the vicinity. How about the grocery stores and getting supplies in. The first consideration needs to be to take care of Maui’s own residents. There will be a huge need to fly in workers to help rebuild and they will be needing a place to stay. Residents will need hotel rooms too. In case you are not aware infrastructure for roads on any of these islands is an extremely slow snail pace project. Everything is caught up in tangles. Many times when they start to dig they run into ancient burial grounds and have to reroute. I understand many have had their vacations Interrupted and canceled. I get that. Ourselves included. Not a good time to get in the way and take up valuable resources. Lahaina for awhile to come will not be the Lahaina we all knew. The historic old buildings are gone. Much of the beautiful scenery burned.

As far as we know we’re on in November. I don’t think anything happened to it. Somebody just didn’t like it for whatever reason. They were disappointed with the food and/or wines and it sounds like it turned them off to Celebrity.