elliekate

Are you sure there is a cabin attendant? Years ago, we and several other couples were in aft cabins on Summit. After not meeting the attendant for three days and having less than par cleaning, I asked the assistant attendant where our main cabin attendant was. The assistant was very nice but I think it was his first cruise and I just got a wide-eyed look. The head of housekeeping finally showed up and after telling me we did have a cabin attendant, she admitted we didn’t have one…..he had jumped ship at the end of the prior cruise. They were in the process of flying one in which happened on day four! The truth would have been nice from the beginning! They sent flowers as an apology!

14 minutes ago, ESweets said:

We booked directly with Celebrity online. I booked a cabin for me and my son (child) and he was listed as “Unnamed Guest.” I just called Celebrity to add his name. Nothing repriced. Was the 2nd guest already listed and paid for? 

That’s what I thought! Yes, second passenger was paid! Thx

We have several people who  booked a cruise  to Alaska in May. One friend booked a cabin for herself with a second passenger pending and  now has a friend who would like to join her. The TA has repriced the cabin at the current rate which is $1500 more!   It was.my understanding that the new person would be charged the original price plus taxes,  Has anyone experienced adding a second person?

On a previous post, someone mentioned Butchart Gardens wasn’t very pretty that late. Any experience with that? Would it be better to do a tour of the town?

I agree about the extra, extra firm mattresses! Our room steward put a topper on ours! You should ask for that!

We were on Allure in June and had a balcony with our two 8-year-old grandkids. Our room steward suggested a morning cleaning and then he would come back in the evening to set up the beds. It worked perfectly!

17 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

You are right.  I've noticed it is much higher than it used to be on cruises that I have previously booked.  That puts group space in an even more favorable light. The closer to final it gets, the higher the premium appears to be too.  

Is your TA local? I am in need of a TA!

I have seen this discussed but can’t seem to find it now! If I book a refundable deposit for a 10/24 cruise, I will be able to cancel and rebook if there is a better deal on fare and/or perks. If there is not a better deal, at what point and how do I change for a NRD? 

Everyone should travel with repair kits for filings out or crowns off! If a crown is off and you don’t have a repair kit, you can actually use toothpaste to put the crown back on! It’s tricky putting crowns on and be careful not to swallow it😀

5 hours ago, Cherful59 said:

I believe I requested water and cookies as my welcome gift when I became eligible and have never changed it, so I always have water and cookies in my room when I arrive.

Where do you request the welcome gift? We are Diamond because of being Elite on Celebrity.

We were on Infinity in January and we had the same table for four each night. It was middle back near the big window! The first night, we were seated near the entrance and we didn’t like the location nor did we like the wait staff! When we arrived on the second night, we asked the hostess to seat us closer to the back and the bonus was we had a fantastic wait staff for the remainder of the cruise! I think the table number was 231!

We bought the four-pack online for our Infinity cruise in January. After going to the casino to pick up our cards and getting settled and ready to play, it was cancelled! Not enough cards were sold! We did get a refund but were a little irritated that we lost an hour of our time! We took advantage of being in the Constellation Lounge to have a cocktail 🍸

2 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

Planning hubby’s 60th for March and I’ve run out of things to do.  We are taking 7 of our friends with us. Everything is planned including hotels and even our dinner reservation the night before the cruise. Car service (for 9!) to Port Everglades is booked. Specialty restaurant for his actual birthday reserved. All port events all planned. 
 

I have even booked all our private tours for our June Baltic cruise.  I’m going stir crazy with nothing cruise related to do!!  I even started looking at private tours for our April 2024 cruise until I realized that’s absurd. 
 

Cant check in for another week. How do I satisfy my cruise obsession?!?  😍🤪😚

Plan a Poker Pub Crawl! Lots of fun 🤩 

We just completed our South America cruise on Infinity and a brief description and thoughts are below!
 

Valparaiso: 

As Rick Steves says, very underwhelmed! For those who recommended Ibis Hotel, I disagree! It was very basic at the least. In talking with others on the cruise, we should have stayed in Santiago or Viña Del Mar. We did take the Metro (15 minutes) to Viña Del Mar on New Year’s Day and it was fun and festive. One fellow passenger told me she stayed at Best Western in Viña Del Mar and loved it!

Boarding: 

A nightmare! It took over two hours to board. This compares to ten minutes to board in Barcelona a month earlier!

Ship: 

The Infinity is older but okay. Crew was great and food was hit and miss!

Ports:

Puerto Montt: 

The ship arrived two hours late and the tenders were total chaos! We had a two hour tour that should have been a six hour tour. The tour we booked through Viator was Private Tour: Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas and Vicente Peres Rosales National Park. Although our time was very limited, we especially enjoyed Puerto Varas which is also known as “The city of Roses”.  I can’t remember our tour guide’s name but she was very good.

Punta Arenas: 

Our tour was Punta Arenas & Parque Del Estrecho Value Shore Excursion booked through Viator. We had an excellent tour guide, Camilla, and enjoyed the sites as well as the homemade empanadas! 

Ushuaia: 

We had the best tour guide, Federico, we have ever had. I had read about him on CruiseCritic (link below). The link mentions a car but he now has a van. He was knowledgeable, fun and passionate about his job. We had unusually good weather the day of our tour and my favorite part was when he stopped by a beautiful meadow for a picnic of tea and biscuits. As we sat there, a herd of horses came by as well as the train to the end of the world. Federico’s contact information is:

Anan Turismo

ananturismo@gmail.com

(On Facebook and Instagram also)

https://mysouvenirmemories.blogspot.com/2019/02/glacier-alley-and-ushuaia.html

Puerto Madryn: 

We decided not to take the 2.5 hour ride to see the penguins but we heard from fellow cruisers that it was a great tour. We just walked around the port and we wished we had opted for the long bus ride instead!

Montevideo: 

Another great port with a terrific tour. Our guide, Herbert, took us to all of the highlights but the best part was going to his house where his wife and daughter had prepared a barbecue lunch for us. It was amazing! Someone in our roll call group organized this tour for ten of us. Herbert’s contact information is:

hsistour@gmail.com

www.sismonditours.com

Buenos Aires: 

A friend from California met us there and we stayed in Esplendor Francia (Wyndham) Hotel which was next to her friend’s apartment. The hotel is in the Recoleta district near Recoleta Cemetery. We loved the location as it was within walking distance to many attractions. Through Viator, we booked The Argentine Experience: Empanada Making, Steak, Wine, Alfajores and Mate. It was lots of fun and we even reconnected with a few of our shipmates! We also booked a Small Group City Tour through Viator. That was our least favorite tour because it was Spanish/English and our tour guide was very difficult to understand. 

We are so happy we had the opportunity to tour South America!

I just used two book later certificates with the big box store yesterday.  It was a nightmare as they were clueless how to handle it! I need a TA who can work with those and find more benefits as well!  I plan to purchase more book laters on our cruise in January but hopefully I can find help by then!

3 hours ago, Michidoeme said:

Ate there still many books in the library ?

When we were on Constellation in early April, you had to go to Guest Relations where they had a printed list of the books. They would then get the book for you. Good way to control Covid germs 🦠

My husband always makes a run to Al Bacio for my morning tea while I get ready:-) On our last cruise, we brought our Yetis and that made his run much easier not to deal with the hot cups. Even with the sleeves, they were a little difficult to manage. At first, they would not put the tea directly into the Yeti and he would have to pour the tea from the cup into the Yeti. After a few days, they started pouring directly into the Yeti. He also brought an almond croissant….my favorite! 

If anyone needs more test kits, we got some free from Costco. If you are a senior, the pharmacist can take care of that for you!

2 hours ago, NC State said:

They are about to flatten CharGrill on Hillsborough St. Make room for a new condo but CharGrill will be on the bottom level of the condo.  Oops, I see that someone posted the story now.

 

I just saw that post! It just won’t be the same! We lived in Country Club Homes when we were first married and I understand that the same is happening there.

11 hours ago, MamaFej said:

At the risk of casusing strife: I have had the very good fortune to visit every US state at least 2 times, most 6 or more, many a dozen or more times.

 

I have had excellent food in both NC and TX, I have had far more superb food in NC than in TX, even though I've been to TX more times.

 

Carry on.

I am on the fence about that but more on your side of the fence! I love NC food too!

11 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

The CharGrill downtown is being torn down!

 

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article263054603.html

NO!!! That was our hangout spot in high school 🍔🛻

3 hours ago, NC State said:

 

Jealous! We are Raleigh natives but have lived in Texas for over 40 years! We like to visit every year to get our beach, barbecue and CharGrill fix🍔 🏖 🐷  We have a Broughton reunion in October!

2 hours ago, NC State said:

Not our case. I would have to pay $120 more to get additional $200 OBC.  We already have $200 OBC and we are not sure how we are going to use that.  We are in Aqua with the Elevate package. We will just keep our current booking. It's worth checking every week!

WOLFPACK!!!!! Class of ‘71

i called yesterday and was able to get a $400 fare reduction and $800 OBC on our TA cruise in October. I have already booked three specialty dinners and plan to call to upgrade our beverage package.

19 minutes ago, Nicole&Pete said:

Hello,

 

Sorry to hijack this thread but we are looking at a going on constellation in September/October this year and I just wondered if there is a cafe in the solarium on the constellation that serves fruit punch? Pre-Covid that was our favourite place to sit and we love the fruit punch they serve at the spa cafe. 
 

thank you

 

nicole

I loved the Spa Cafe but didn’t get fruit punch. They may have had it though. I loved all of the juices and smoothies they made. It was my breakfast spot each morning. I had avocado toast, yogurt with granola, fresh fruit and smoothie/juice. 

Because of all of the negative reviews, we were concerned about sailing on Connie in early April 2022. What a pleasant surprise! All of the public areas were updated and clean. Although our cabin (FV aft) had not been refurbished, it was still nice. And, yes, we had the dreaded shower curtain but it really wasn’t an issue! Most importantly, we had a great Southern Caribbean itinerary and the entire staff was wonderful.