Leia

Murano is pretty great, but I'd say the Lawn Club has the best steak on the ship! I think you should try them all :)

Another thing to consider is that (I think) the Signature suites are in a closed off section of the ship - you need your room key to get into the special corridor. That didn't appeal to us as we are traveling with some family who will not be in a suite, and our son typically makes friends on the ship - in both cases it's nice if they can just knock on the door.

We've sailed in both categories, but with a 7 year old it is really nice to have the partition, as well as the two televisions. The sky suite is plenty roomy, though. Otherwise the perks are pretty close these days, as far as I know.

We were on the Eclipse for the New Year's cruise. It has the World Class Bar now. Gastropub occupies a small space at the Passport Bar which basically is a few tables and a couple of built-in refrigerator's with craft beers, etc. Menus had the beers/ales available as well as some food items. We went late afternoon one day and wasn't terribly impressed as we found it difficult to get service.

We were on the same cruise, and I agree that the service was surprisingly bad down there, especially compared to the rest of the ship. We did enjoy the food as a nice change, though!

We've sailed both, as you can see from my signature, and I really enjoyed the Infinity from Valpo to BA over Christmas 2014. The Crown Princess is very nice as well, and it may have a larger pool area, but that is not a big deal for this itinerary, IMHO. We were very happy with the food on Infinity, if that's a big deal.

I thought Michael's has been converted to a lounge for upper level suites on all ships? Or is it just on some of them?

That's right, only since late spring/early summer of this year though. Was never crazy in there on Equinox but it wasn't ever empty this summer.

On our last cruise, the kids were always given a specific kids menu. They were a bit tired of the same few choices each night. Now that they are older, they would likely like steak or fish, etc. Is this allowed? Any experience here? This is only our 2nd cruise and YES I have already searched the forums. ;) ;)

 

Thanks in advance!

No problem at all. Ours orders items from a combination of the kids' and adult menus.

Thank you I was hoping someone would post those diagrams. I think the CS is a wonderful stateroom on the "S" class ships...doesn't cost nearly as much as the RS, has two entrances to the bathroom, which provides lots of privacy, a private bedroom that while small is still, well, private!!!! And in xxxx the room we have booked for our TA next year the balcony is quite large....MUCH larger than a standard S2 would have....:D

Ha - we have that room in a couple of weeks, and we had it last summer in the Mediterranean too. Traveling with our kid, it's really nice to have the separate spaces. We loved the Sky Suite, too, hard to complain about any of them.

Any idea if the extra footage comes from increased width or increased length or combination of both? Noting placement on the ship, I kind of feel they are deeper, not so much wider as they are in the middle hump area.

 

Simplest thing is to see the window placement of Sky versus Celebrity, as the windows are all the same size either full or half width on the exterior.

I believe that the CS is 2x the width of a balcony cabin, while the Sky Suite is is only 1.5 times. You can tell that from the windows, as you say, there are two full door sets on the CS.

Actually most casino stuff is done on your Seapass too. Really the only need for dollars (that I can think of offhand, anyhow) is for tips. You'll want some smaller bills for room service tips, and maybe a few larger bills for additional tips if you find that someone has gone above and beyond (favorite bar waiter, stateroom attendant). That part is totally optional, of course, and I definitely don't want to start a ruckus about tipping - just saying that tips are where we end up using cash onboard. I think dollars are just fine for this purpose, no reason to pay f/x fees for tips.

Silhouette has two electronic poker tables; never saw any with live dealer where guests play versus one another. Forget the exact amount of rake, but was surprisingly high versus from what I have seen at land based casinos. As such I did not play much.

Interesting, that's how it was on Equinox in the summer of 2010 but last summer (2013) on Silhouette is was one hold'em table with a live dealer. I don't remember the rakes etc, though, was just watching my husbnd.

They do, but not sure they provide dinner every night. Can always take them to the buffet for a bite and then enjoy dinner on your own!

We did the a Mediterranean cruise when our son was about 17 months, and it was great! The most annoying stop for us was Rome, but only because we did the Colisseum and that was a lot of stairs with a stroller. The Pantheon, etc was fine though, we just should have been smarter about the sights we chose.

A lot depends on the baby's personality, but if he or she is used to just hanging out and can sleep in the stroller, I think you'll be fine as 7 months is still a pretty portable age. I agree that you won't want to bring a crib if Celebrity can provide one, and you'll definitely not want to trip over a car seat in your room for two weeks. A backpack would be a much better use of space, in my opinion.

We were just in 9205, and there was really no activity on that hall. People don't go down there unless they are staying there, there is no staircase at the far end or anything. The pool/tv activity is on your level, not above or below, so you don't hear it. It's probably one of the quietest spots, and is also super convenient. You'll love it.

MARDI GRAS left the Carnival fleet in 1993 and continued sailing as STAR OF TEXAS and LUCKY STAR before becoming APOLLON, so you were not on her very last voyage in 1989. Admittedly, in her lower category former tourist class cabins, she was cramped. Her former first class cabins were quite stunning though. You probably got an excellent bargain for the cabin you had. I visited the ship many times from 1978 through 1993 and was always impressed with how clean and well maintained she was.

 

Peter

Hi Mr. Knego - no questions or anything, just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading your accounts of all these classic ships.