teacher2cruiser

57 minutes ago, mgasaway said:

oceanplayersclub.com  usually works.  They are slow to reply.  Just waited 10 days for an answer from them

That address came back to me as invalid.  Any other suggestions?

I would appreciate any help with this.

I had no concerns or reasons to not book it, but I wanted to ask and see if I was missing something.  It will be our first Celebrity cruise!  Thanks!

Does anyone have any thoughts/ opinions / experience  on cabin 8331 on Equinox?

Thanks!

My husband and I are looking to book a Western Caribbean cruise this summer on the Equinox.  Which side of the ship is best to book if we're planning to take full advantage of our balcony? I'm open to any suggestions, tips, or advice on this ship as we have never sailed with Celebrity.

Thank you all for your thoughts, opinions, and comparisons.

I've never had a bad cruise, but more adult peacefulness does appeal!

Can anyone direct me as to where I might read about the entertainment (shows and live music)?

The cruise we are considering booking is on the Equinox out of Ft. Canaveral in summer of 2019.  We have previously visited each of the ports, some more than once.

We are also looking to book Alaska 2020, but these cruises haven't been posted as of yet on Celebrity's website. I'm glad to know Glacier Bay is to be considered!

7 minutes ago, AnJ said:

Respectfully I’d ask , Oh, please Stop using that font, it’s so very hard to read on a smartphone. I’ve noticed a few posts using similar fonts and I really find them difficult. I don’t want you to think I’m flaming you or being disrespectful, I really care about what you want to say but I just find it much to difficult on a small screen. 

I've never had it mentioned before.  I will remember that for future posts.

I have 14 past cruises with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian.  My DH and I are seriously considering  Celebrity  for this summer and for Alaska in summer of 2020.

I would like some Cruise Critic comparisons of the other lines to Celebrity. I'd especially like to hear opinions of service, food, and kids on board.  I will be appreciative to read your opinions. Please and thank you!

My husband and I are looking for a hotel in Miami where we can leave our car while we cruise in June. I have read that the safest place to park is at the port, but we've done pre-cruise hotels with parking out of Port Canaveral and Baltimore with stress free success. Does anyone have any suggestions? A hotel with a view of the port would be a plus, but safety is the most important of course!

Does anyone have another suggestion for an event for my eighty year old mother and me?

I thought she'd enjoy the guacamole tableside. She's not much of a shopper, and we've been to Cozumel a few years ago.

When my run was over,I took a few more pictures then went back down to 2365. I was feeling really productive for a change so I went down our hall to iron my dinner dress. I was starving as usual afterwards, so I opted for room service, because I was done with extra walking for the day. It had been a minute since I'd experienced the "box of bliss" known as the pan pizza, so I placed my order for it, and I also added an order of buffalo wings. My food came very quickly and right after it was delivered W walked in. Y'all he has a sixth sense when it comes to food. He can smell it from miles away! He helped me eat, then both of us were sleepy. He went to iron his shirt in the launderette, then we both fell asleep. I'm pretty sure I could sleep for 98 days and still wake up sleepy! Real talk, I'd kinda like to try it too!

 

 

 

Was this included in the price of the cruise, or do you pay extra for room service?

We will be in Cozumel March 16, on the Carnival Dream.

How much will a taxi be to Margaritaville?

I will be traveling with my mother, celebrating her 80th birthday. We don't have an excursion planned, and I thought she'd enjoy the table side made guacamole.

I'm open to other similar suggestions, if anyone has any,

Thanks.

No responses.

Can anyone tell me if there is bridge listed in the Fun Times?

Is there any part of the casino on the Dream that is nonsmoking?

My mom and I are cruising on the Carnival Dream March 11. Can anyone tell me if they still arrange times for bridge players to meet. I know she'd enjoy that on sea days. Thanks!

It's been a while since I've cruised with Carnival, but they used to have a coconut cookie that I liked very much.

Can someone tell me the difference between 8438 and 8448. They are shaped differently, and I am wanting to know the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Thanks to anyone who can comment with thoughts and advice.

Hi, thanks for the great review, we leave thursday the 29th of June, What Day were you able to purchase the 10 drink cards?

I think it was first mentioned in the Compass on the third day, but I read on here that you can ask a bartender the first day. We didn't get one until we saw it in the Compass.

Thank you for this review. Can you tell me if tax/gratuity are included in the alcoholic drink cards?

There is no tax if you purchase it on board, but the gratuity was additional - 90 something total.

Ship - Grandeur of the Seas

Deck - 7

Stateroom # - 7569

Stateroom Category – Large Interior

Starboard or Port Side -

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – We had no problems. There was noise from the Centrum during the early evenings, but it was not an issue for us.

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – Inside Cabin

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? -

Was wind a problem? -

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? -

Any specific problems with this cabin? - None; this was our first interior stateroom in twelve cruises, but it met our needs. We have no regrets choosing this cabin.

Any other comments? This cabin was small, but we followed the advice of Cruise Critic members and used hooks on the wall to help keep our cabin tidy. We would definitely choose this cabin again!

This was our 12th cruise, but our first one to not be in the Caribbean. We have cruised in the past with Carnival and Norwegian, as well as Royal Caribbean.Our very first cruise was ten years ago on The Grandeur, and it is still as grand as it was then. Granted, it doesn't have some of the dining options of the bigger ships, and the activities aren't as widespread, but for this cruise with five ports keeping us quite busy, we appreciated the two sea days on the end with not much to do!

 

We drove from Mississippi and stayed two nights pre-cruise at a Holiday Inn near the airport on Aero Drive in Linthicum Heights.We made an excellent choicewith them.Our bed was comfy, our room was perfect, but not fancy, and the price was fantastic.We had a great breakfast, and we were shuttled to the port, and picked up afterwards.We basically parked for free, a great value! The first evening we ate at Olive Grove, and we had crab cakes. The salad was served family style like Olive Garden. It was ok, but we thought the crab cakes were much too dry and rather bland. The second evening we ate at G & M's and we thoroughly enjoyed that meal. If you go there, I highly recommend the crab dip. Delicious!

 

Embarkation in Baltimore was a breeze.We were on the boat by11:00am and in our room at 1:00. Disembarkation went just as smoothly, and we didn't do the self-assist this time. Our luggage was easy to find, and going through customs was hassle free.

 

What drew us to this cruise were the ports.Being from Mississippi, we had never had the opportunity to visit this area.We were awed with the beauty.

 

In Boston, we made a good choice of a RCI excursion that lasted close to eight hours. Boston,Lexington, Concord, and lunch was included at Union Oyster House, with clam chowder, a choice of a chicken or fish dish, and a dessert. This was a great tour for getting to see a lot in a day. Our tour guide was Olive, and she was quite knowledgeable.

 

In Portland we took a tour of Portland and Kennebunkportwhich was also a RCI excursion and another good choice for us. We stopped at Cape Elizabeth for a while and it was gorgeous. We loved Kennebunkport and had time there for lunch on ourown. We had lobster rolls at Allison's. DELICIOUS! Kennebunkport was such a neat place!

 

Bar Harbor was COLD. We did a tour on our own with Oli's Trolley, and it included touring the town plus Acadia National Park where we went to the top of Cadillac Mountain with a few stops along the way.This tour was well worth what we paid, and again, beautiful scenery and a tourguide, Jim, who was knowledgeable and pleasant.

 

The last two ports were in Canada, Saint John and Halifax. In Saint John we did a RCI tour and saw the reversing rapids, the town, and stopped at City Market and walked back to the ship on our own. We enjoyed our time at City Market.

 

In Halifax we decided not to book a tour, and we walked to the Citadel, quite a hike, but it was a gorgeous day, and we went at our own pace and enjoyed it all.

 

We enjoyed the ship and spent our evenings in the piano bar, the casino, near the atrium, or walking around the ship. We went to the Viking Crown Bar on the last night,We did not attend any of the shows on board. We purchased a drink card for $79.95 plus gratuity that was good for ten drinks. If you've seen their drink prices you know this is a good deal. We don't drink enough to justify a beverage package. We did carry bottled water and Diet Mountain Dews back onboard from a couple of the ports - no problem as long as they were unopened.

 

We purchased the Internet package and it worked well. It disconnects you when you aren't using it for a couple of hours, and you have to sign back in, but we had service whenever we tried to use it.

 

This was our first time to try an inside cabin, but it won't be the last.We were nervous since we'd always had a balcony or a window, but we were fine.Yes, it was small, but we never felt claustrophobic,The worst part was the shower curtain, but it's the same that's in the balcony cabin we had on ourprevious Grandeur cruise.They reallyneed to do something about those!Ourcabin was on the seventh floor and our cabin attendant was very attentive and kept our collapsible ice cooler filled with ice. (I did miss not having arefrigerator.) I had read on Cruise Critic that having hooks for the wall comes in quite handy, and this was a great tip. It definitely helped to keep our cabin tidy!

 

Our only problem on this trip was with the laundry. We did the "fill a bag special", and when they returned our laundry, my husband had four or five white tee shirts (crew neck undershirts) missing. I called and asked about it, but there was a language barrier, and I pretty much just told them to forget it. I suppose someone is enjoying his Kirkland tees.

 

Dining was excellent. Breakfast for us was usually in theWindjammer buffet, but we did go to the dining room one morning. I do wonder, however, why they no longer have chocolate milk. Where we live, chocolate milk and white milk cost basically the same thing. Why was there no chocolate milk available? Seems strange to me. When we asked they offered to make us some by stirring hot chocolate mix into cold milk, but we declined.

 

Lunch when we were on the boat the firstcouple of days was just getting a sandwich or salad in the Windjammer, but onthe last two sea days we discovered the joy of having a salad in the diningroom.This is a MUST DO.We truly enjoyed those lunches. You go through a line and tell a server what ingredients you want in your salad, then he takes it and chops it. DH and I both thought these salads were great!

We ate most night meals in The Great Gatsby,and dined one night at Giovanni's. Our opinion is that Giovanni's wasn't worththe price.Next time we will try Chops.One night we upgraded our meal to a fillet from Chops for $10 and it wasgreat. This was offered most every night, and one night there was a dining room upgrade offer of a lobster and a fillet for $15. On the second formal night,lobster tail and prime rib were offered as regular entrees in the dining room, We enjoyed our dining and have no complaints about the foodin general. We had "my time dining" and our servers were Tony and Airy. They were very efficient as well as pleasant. The Windjammer can get quitecrowded and on the days where it's too cold and windy to eat outside finding aseat can be quite difficult. The earlier you arrive, the better your choices are.

I pre-ordered the coffee card because I like iced coffees and frappes. This was a good deal at fifteen specialty coffees for $35 or so plus gratuity. They punch your card, and a large coffee gets you two punches where a regular is one punch. There were several unhappy customers, myself included, because they ran out of white chocolate on the third day and never replenished.

 

We were pleased with the service we received all around theship. The Grandeur has a pleasant crew, and we always felt that they wanted usto have a great vacation.

I hope that we have the opportunity to sail again on TheGrandeur of the Seas in the future.

If anyone has questions, I will be more than happy to try to answer. We truly had a great time.

Please forgive the words that aren't spaced correctly! I tried to edit, but it wouldn't me allow me to go back. I have no idea why the post looked differently than the review I posted unless it had something to do with me changing the font or copying it from a word document.

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise on Grandeur. We sail on her 2 times a year in March and then again in November. Just wondering about the menus. When we were on her in March we did not have prime rib, I have read somewhere they have put that back on the menu. Did you have it any night on your cruise. I also enjoyed your review. Happy Travels

Our cruise was nine nights, and on the second formal night prime rib and lobster tail were both choices among other offerings.

Thanks so much for this!! Taking this exactly cruise in Sept and don't get to see a lot of the NE/Canada reviews so it's greatly appreciated. I'm excited to try those lunch salads too!

 

I think we will be doing a lot of dining in the WJ, so hopefully it won't be too crowded. Did you notice that it was especially bad at particular time of day or night?

 

Thanks again!

Lisa

Breakfast was when we had a hard time finding a table, especially on port days. It seemed that many would eat then linger there. I am not complaining, but on days that we weren't there early, it was more difficult.

You had me wondering why someone from Mississippi would drive to Baltimore for a cruise but once I saw the itinerary it made perfect sense. I really had no idea that Lady G had northern cruises this early in the season. I hope you got a nice dose of Maryland hospitality before/after the cruise and will return some day.

 

 

Roy

Our previous cruises had been out of New Orleans, Mobile, and Port Canaveral. The itinerary was the draw for us, plus we wanted our car for seeing Washington DC afterwards. We absolutely loved this trip!:hearteyes:

Thanks for the great review. We go on Lady G in 26 days. Glad you had such a nice trip.

Is there outdoor seating at the Windjammer? I've only cruised on Freedom and the WJ was all inside.

There are tables and chairs outside the Windjammer entrance. It's certainly close enough to take your tray and eat out there if the weather is nice.