takemewithyou

We have found the same!

Things are changing and not for the better in our opinion.

I have had conversations with Mr. Bayley's office to no avail.

It's sad........no violinists at all on our TA....just loud music in the atrium and the sound travels all the way up.

It is not just Celebrity....Azamara has lost their harpists which we enjoyed very much.

Silhouette 12/1 - 12/16:

Master: Dimitrios Kafetzis

Chief Engineer: K. Bakas

Staff Captain: A. Papadopoulos

GRM: Simona Stumberger

HD: Sue Richardson

CD: Stewart Turnbill

F&B Manager: Giorgio Di Pietro

Exec Chef: Anthony Wilson

Party Band: Sipra

CC Hostess: Tanushka D'Souza

Millie 10-22- 11-5

Master: Costas Patsoulas

Chief Engineer: D. Sakellariou

Staff Captain: D. Xenakis

GRM: Jacque DeGuzman

HD: Sheldon Thompson

CD: Rich Clesen

F&B Manager: Evan Willemse

Exec Chef: Jimmy Pereira

CC Host: Bruce Van Der Boon

Thank you wwcruisers, Suzanne, for sharing info on Millie. We have sailed with CD Rich before and we enjoy him. One week from today we will be onboard. Hope we find the food in the MDR to be OK. We will be dining in specialty restaurants and in Bistro on Five, as well, with our friends.

wwcruisers - Suzanne,

Thank you for your offer to answer questions! Did they put new balcony furniture on the balconies? We have a FV veranda and wonder if we will have loungers with pads or newer type furniture. Looking forward to meeting Bruce....or Donna, if she is onboard by then. And Rich Clesen was CD? How did you find the food in the MDR to be? How were the mattresses - new? Thanks.

Does anyone know if Donna is coming onboard Millie from Equinox? Currently the CC Host on Millie is Bruce from S. Africa (new to X). There is talk on the X board that Donna is coming to Millie for the Asia cruises.

We are due to be onboard Millie in 10 days for the Ensenada to Hawaii run and wonder if Donna will be onboard by then. Thanks.

BTW, we will report back who is onboard for staff. :)

Orator - Looking forward to meeting you onboard the Silhouette TA in Dec.

Perhaps in the Elite lounge. Should be a great cruise!

Thank you to whoever nominated me to this group. We have loved all of our Celebrity cruises! We are so looking forward to our next cruise on Millie from Ensenada to Hawaii. Hoping for a drama free trip via bus to Ensenada for embarkation! Will be sure to report back how it all goes - thinking positively!

And then we have our TA cruise in Dec. on Silhouette. We are generally M class fans. Have been on one S class ship, the Equinox, and that ship was wonderful and the crew was outstanding! So we are excited to try another S class ship and see what we think!

Best wishes to Xellent on your upcoming TA. Thanks so much for the chart you have maintained. It's a lot of work and that is appreciated by so many of us.

Thank you. Please pass on our greetings to Rich, and we welcome comments on progress of our latest host.

I will pass your greetings on to Rich. :)

I gather you will not be on our Silhouette TA in Dec. now?

On to the Reflection?

If so, have a great cruise!

I wonder who the CC Host/Hostess will be on the Silhouette TA?

It's good to hear some nice comments in regards to Millie as we board her in about a month.....I was getting nervous! We have had Rich Clesen as CD before and really enjoyed him. I agree with the comment that Rich is more "down to earth and less theatrical - very nice gentleman. Looking forward to meeting Bruce, the new CC Host.

Thank you so much, Nereus, for all the work you have done. I think it looks great! :)

Just want to say Thank You, Nereus, for keeping this up. :)

Also, thanks for the update on Millie - we will be on her in Oct.

Hello,

 

I am in room 1501 on the Equinox on an upcoming cruise. I found this thread. I was wondering if insag actually booked that room or if anyone else has experience.

 

We are quite excited about AQ and haven't heard complaints about the noise.

We were in the room next door - 1503.

Very quiet and we are sensitive to noise. It was fine.

Very close to the relaxation room. That was a plus.

We've mostly sailed on HAL but booked the Summit to Bermuda for next May - our 45th wedding anniversary! Did the Veendam to Bermuda in May, but HAL is ending that run, so I felt Celebrity would be the best option for us.

 

My last three cruises have been insides and an outside because I hated spending the money on a balcony only to not be able to use it because of smoke! So am happy that we will be able to book a balcony again!

 

How are the beds on X? HAL's are so comfy...I'm hoping X are the same.

I used to sail on HAL - did 5 or so cruises with them...switched due to smoking on HAL, etc.

The beds on HAL were good. The beds on X...not so good and DH has back issues. We have to ask for an egg crate. We have our TA order it. It is usually NOT on the bed when we arrive - I always check. We ask the cabin steward to put one on and then the bed is fine.

I have heard that the mattresses were updated when the M class ships were Solsticised. We will see how they are when we go on our next cruise on Millie which received new mattresses in June. We'll see if we need the egg crate.

I hope you will enjoy your cruise - I have never returned to HAL since trying X. I really think X is one of the best cruising values available! I love the smoke-free environment, among other things. :)

A little late adding a review.....what prompted me to do it was the fact that I am booking with RIL again!

Our first experience was 9/2010. We booked RIL for a drive to the Amalfi coast from Sorrento. Our driver was waiting for us at the pier - right on time. We got in to a Mercedes sedan with our friends - 4 of us. We stopped for pictures, visited a great ceramics sjop, visited Amalfi, Positano and shopped and walked. Then we went to Ravello ....oh Ravello! We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant with a view to die for and then we walked through the village and shopped some more. Then back to the ship.....the most wonderful day and the most incredible views!

When we docked at Civitecchia (sp), our RIL driver was waiting for us and drove the four of us and our luggage to Rome. Once in Rome, our driver phoned our hotel and we dropped our luggage off and continued our all day tour. We first went to the Colesseum, and our driver knew how to get us tickets quickly and we were able to bypass all in line! We met him right in front when we were done and continued on. We saw all the major sites in Rome. Near the Vatican we had lunch and then at 2 pm we met our pre-arranged guide, Sarah, for our guided tour through the Vatican museum, Sistene Chapel and St Peter's. Again, we bought our tickets to the Vatican online and with Sarah, we were able to bypass lines and lines of people and walk right in! Sarah was wonderful and very knowledgeable. Well worth having the guide! We toured a little more and then were dropped off at our hotel.

The last experience was being picked up at our hotel and taken to the airport on departure day. Everything went smooth as silk, the drivers were prompt and professional and the vehicles were spotless and comfortable!

Highly recommended and now we have RIL booked for a tour of Pisa and San Gimingnano from Livorno this Dec. Looking forward to another wonderful experience with RIL :):)

I loved the Tuscan Grill! My favorite specialty restaurant......tried the one on Constellation and on Equinox. However, I didn't have either of those two choices. Sorry to hear the food was so hot.

Did you mention it to the servers?

Sad that you haven't had a response yet.....are you booked with a TA? They may have a better chance of getting an answer for you. I think they do offer alternatives to down, but I am not sure.

Also, another route to try, if you are a Captain's Club member, is to call Captain's Club directly and ask your question. They are generally very responsive.

I was researching to see if I could find any large groups booked for my cruise 2/12/09 on Noordam. None on mine, but I did find these:

(perhaps you want to add them to your list)

2/2/09 - 2/12/09 Noordam: Northwest Anesthesia Seminars, INC.

2/22/09 - 3/4/09 Noordam: Bridge with Bernie Group

We love longer cruises & really enjoy sea days. I'm curious about the thermal spa - specifically if you purchase a thermal spa pass, how difficult is it to get a bed on a sea day? I realize this will vary by ship & pax, but I'd appreciate your general observations.

Used the thermal spa on a Volendam 15 day Panama canal cruise and on a 7 day Alaska Westerdam cruise - never had to wait for a thermal lounger. Not once! Loved it - can't say enough about it! :D

I would NOT buy the thermal spa pass on a very port intensive cruise where I thought I might be too busy to get my money's worth - like maybe Europe. You just have to weigh your options at the beginning of the cruise, but it usually not a problem getting a lounger.

Glad the poker player's group dates were posted on this thread, sailing once with this group was enough for us. Would change our sailing date if we found out they were on another cruise.

Was wondering what you can tell us about this group. You said "once was enough", could you (or anyone else who has an opinion) elaborate? They are booked on a Hawaii cruise I had considered.

Thank you for this piece of information. We just made a booking for Prinsendam 8/09 and our TA told us that it was only "open dining" on the P then. Yet, the HAL web site says early traditional dining is available on that sailing. So I have e-mailed my TA and asked her to try to get us early traditional confirmed dining, which is our preference. Seems like they are pushing the open seating.

I just got e-mail conformation from my TA that we now have traditional early seating dinner at 6:15 PM for our sail 8/09. Persistence paid off. Thank you for posting info that helped with this everyone.

I suspect HAL is treating open seating as the default.

 

Last December we made a deposit onboard for a future cruise, sailing not specified. Did our research when we got back home, found what we wanted (noted that all dining was shown on HAL's site as available), asked our T/A to price it out. She was unable to reach me with pricing but did put a hold on a specific cabin for us. When I OK'd the cabin choice, I questioned that we'd been assigned open seating. She said that HAL told her that was all that was available. Mentioned what I'd seen on HAL's website, and our T/A called HAL and told them what's on their site ... and got us confirmed for traditional early, which was our preference.

 

So, perhaps a year or more out, you or your T/A will need to be assertive to get your desired dining.

Thank you for this piece of information. We just made a booking for Prinsendam 8/09 and our TA told us that it was only "open dining" on the P then. Yet, the HAL web site says early traditional dining is available on that sailing. So I have e-mailed my TA and asked her to try to get us early traditional confirmed dining, which is our preference. Seems like they are pushing the open seating.