north29

Ok here is a flame. I don't care how your dress, it won't affect my meal. I wouldn't go up to the matre'd and have him follow me and start counting people who were not dressed appropriate enough for you. I do not go to formal, because I do not dress up, but I would not want some Penquin coming down and pointing fingers at whos dress appropiate or not. Eat your meal enjoy your company and don't let someones clothing ruin your dinner, the last I check I don't eat wool or cotton with my meal.

I have no problem with you dressing up, it is your cruise, I do not wear a tux, but some times a jacket, or maybe not, but I always look better, than most in ill fitting suits bought just for the cruise, a waste of good beer money for many.

This is not the Titanic era, where everyone dressed in suits etc, and only the extreme rich could afford to cruise above the water line.

I hope this is a complete wine list, my Cline in not on there. The prices seem to

have also increased.

If you want to dress on formal nigh for a special occasion, but not necessary.

Here is our story, wife packed several pieces of not tooooo expensive jewelry in the outside pocket of a suit case. When it came to our room/cabin it was not there. Fast forward 4 years to now, I was getting our christmas stuff from the attic, saw a small jewelry case on the floor of the attic. opened it an yes it was her jewelry. We have now idea how it got to the attic, we keep suit cases in a home closet.

Sorry, about your loss, it is always a lousy/violated, feeling to lose something in such a manner especially after a great getaway.

Good post, A bottle of Cline is $30+- so 12 bottles would be $360 plus tip of $54

means $414+- without the package VS $385 which would save me $29 give or take a couple of $ based on what I think my wine costs.

I guess I need to take a math class LOL. however you are locked into wines on that particular package, not a big deal for me but others might think about it.

Which is usually cline zen or in the same price range, on our last cruise I quickly did the math, I,m no wiz on math but the price of my appeared to be the same or less than a wine package. However in most packages there are wines that are more expensive than Cline, so you might take a look when first on board and do some math.

The hotels with park and cruise packages will sell out in the busy/winter season, so book early. I just found this out for my Dec 14 cruise 14 day cruise, after I found out that my friends FLL condo parking lot was torn up so I could not park there. I booked the car @ Park and go lot on Ellier drive, and a highly rated older hotel in Ft lauderdale(good area) for $75, still the additional cost will be over $200. We live in Central Fl and yes we can drive down on the morning of,but it can be a PItA with fog etc so why chance it.

Our trip to my favorite restaurant, the Mai Kai was put on the back burner, because of the additional travel expenses LOL PS we live in FLL for many years.

I will support the above comments, the first night is always a PITA, expecting that, the WJ and specialty restaurants or a good choice. The early seating for AMERICANS is early, an the older the Americans are the earlier they wants to dine for a variety of reasons. I still prefer MTD works for me.

On a clear day you can almost see it landing in FLL, sorry I had to say that. If ever thing goes right, everyone is correct, but IMHO I would allow a minimum of three hours or even more, air travel travel is not rocket science.

Why fly in to FLL?? on the other hand, the last time I flew through MIA, it was a major PITA.

About the noro, it is anywhere and everywhere, and it is a PITA to get it on a vacation. Drink more cocktails that have lots of alcohol in them,for medicinal purposes, it may not keep the noro at bay, but at least you will fell like you tried.

One is on rental car insurance. I do not believe the original Visa Platinum has this feather for some reason. There might be other advantages as well, unfortunately it still has conversion fees for foreign transactions. I keep a Capitol one card and the New BA visa travel rewards card for that reason.

We do not carry a balance, and the CC for us is just a money tool, to keep from carrying cash, well a lot of cash anyway.

I have to agree with most everyone on these antiques, they are basically gone. A ship might take them, but after some bad experiences in Europe trying to cash them few years ago, I cashed mine in at my bank and even the clerk looked at them funny, I guess the mold on them had something to do with it. LOL. We use a two debit(different #) card system to the account, if cash is needed which it usually is. Some one said do not use CC in foreign countries, we have never had a problem, and have traveled much of the world. Even with a problem if you report you are traveling just report the problem to the CC's bank. Yes I have heard of strange problems with CC's and it would be a PITA to have to call the toll free number to resolve the problem.

Now to the OP I take around $100 in one dollar bills(basically for tips) and a mix of 10 -50 bills to start with at around $500. I do not like to use a CC on cheap items or local beers.

We are on the Dec 14th cruise as well. It will be our first venture in to Celebrity but will be in the so called elite category. Needed a long cruise over Christmas and there was a pretty good price for this cruise.

Find wifi in St Martin and call home using Skype. Free.

Mini tablets even smart phones are easy to use. If they do not have a computer. I do think you have to pay something to call a land line or mobile number. I used Skype in France to call Nebraska and it was about 3 cents a minute. However some places ban VOIP.

Meeting nice people, and I will tell you from our experiences, that people vary from nice to ugly on any given cruise.

Also like a cruise where there are no big groups or small groups who think anyone outside there group is a potential criminal LOL

On certain cruises, especially in the off times(cheaper) times of the year the whole ship seems to be full of D and D+ cruisers, with a few Pinnacle thrown in. Many pinnacle cruisers are older, some are still active, and enjoy the abidance of what they have been awarded, some are not. Younger cruisers, some not even in there teens are D and D+. RC, on many cruises, just has too many upper tiered people to give them the Perks RC promised . Perks do no cost RC toooo much money, there is just not enough space to accommodate all of them at HAPPY HOUR.

I would be highly disappointed to see the perks go away, even if they offered drink vouchers for the bars, we enjoy meeting and talking to others in the CL or D lounge, I do not believe that would easily happen in just a bar.

I assume that is why RC dropped Diamonds in December. Lots of complaining on here about it, but I think its was a necessary move, to try and control the number of upper tiered cruisers and keep the perks the way they are.

Thousand opinions, but IMHO regular nights, not including the first and last nights where anything goes, just nice pants and a shirt with a collar would be more than OK. Formal nights, well here is where it gets rough in this RC forum LOL. Again in my opinion, just look better than normal, a jacket for men would be nice with a open shirt/or tie or designer t shirt. You will see everything, from Formal tux, black suits to inappropriate casual to modern fantastic outfits , but as I said you can just look nicer than usual and you will not feel out of place. We are are not formal dressers, I wear a sports coat, if I have room for it and a shirt, but that is my choice.

However please no shorts in the MDR or Bib overhauls LOL

We did this exact same cruise/adventure last year. Note here, we like to experience the cultures of other countries so my post might reflect that.

In India, expect crowds, on most tours. I loved the food. and did not consider lunch tooooo spicy but I like flavored foods. I have a stomach issue and had no problems. Restrooms can be a challenge any where except Dubai and Singapore do not expect American standards. Singapore is spectacular, heck the cruise is spectacular, but on my cruse we had, if memory has not failed, 10 ports in 14 days, we were glad to have a sea day.

I should mention the weather, it will be HOT, and your dress will be, I hope, conform to the countries standards. We though we were prepared clothes wise but found ourselves doing laundry in the cabin each night, luckily we have quick dry clothes. Note we consider ourselves world travelers, and thought we knew what to bring, but did not bing enough of what was needed. If I did that trip again, which I would, I would forgo any dresser clothes like tux if you are incline to dress up, or even a sport coat, for easy care clothes. Shorts are not an item that you should worry about, while many wear shorts, long pants are better, and required to get into may temples etc.

Also foot wear, easy off and easy on, and socks to walk on sacred groung or in temples. I could go on but I think you get the idea.

It is truly a cruise of a lifetime

Unless you are traveling in a 18 wheeler, you can bring all you can find room for in the mini van. Having said that, we travel on long long cruises out of a medium suit case, and a carryon for each of us. We do not dress formal and dress clothes are limited, but we look good. As some one else said above, maximize your clothes, remember only the top half is noticed, so extra shirts blouses, most of these can be wore two to three times, with two pair of dressier/dress pants. Colors, black on black works wonders. Laundry can be slow on the ships, so be prepared.

I should say we are world travelers, and have specific clothes purchased mainly for traveling light, so our opinion is not the norm.

Just steps off Plaza Catalonya(sp) Some good restaurants on side streets, and a Starbucks next door. Prefer a room on the street facing the opening to the hotel. We had breakfast with our package. Nice bar also. The second time we stayed there, as a return guest, a bottle of Champagne and Chocolates were found in our room. Prices will vary in Barcelona, so where ever you book keep checking the price, I think I updated my booking twice to get a substantially lower price.

Lots of good hotels in Barcelona, make sure they have a lift to get luggage to and from street. I tried one, I think was listed/posted here, you had to climb several feet of stairs, before you got to a lift.

From the Regina, the cab to the port was $25 euros, the hotel called the cab, I though it was a bit high, after taking a cab to another hotel for the post hotel which was only 15 euros.

You cannot get a deal on a Rolex...... if it is a true Rolex dealer, well maybe save tax $ savings from where ever you live. Rolex is so specific now days they will take away the dealer ship if detected in price reduction. An example, of Rolex's rules, to change the face of a Rolex watch, to a different true rolex face of a different style, the true dealer must send the original face back and then they will seen the newer face to the true dealer/repair shop. Of course you can always us a after market face.

This info(true or not) came from my Local Rolex dealer we have known for years after I spent $500 in repairs on my wives 25 year old Rolex(second time serviced), We had hoped to update it to a new face.

Be in the Pinnacle category, unless I started cruising when I was 13. Most of them I have met are much older, and I'm older than I would like and just plane old D+ LOL I do know that many many kids in their teens are D+ so maybe the new pinnacle age will be in the 50's.

We would probably enjoy this type of cruise. It is funny, that sometimes we all think after watching the media, everyone else in the world is a perfect 10, and you must be to enjoy life. LOL

That Sam's club, probably Costco as well, carries some Movado watches, might be a good price comparison.

Also some islands are better than others and easily beat the ships price, but know your prices before you go/shop.

As already pointed out, many manufactures have a fixed discount so beware if the price is much lower, you might not have a warranty if needed.

What an ignorant statement..........:rolleyes:

But many ignorant cruisers who do not know a good deal, including us, who do little research on what we/they might/intend to buy. So then it is a crap shoot of getting a deal.

PS I have a lot more cruises(i just do not display them) than you do, and have been there and seen and done shopping for many things with mixed results due to our IGNORANCE, and found basically the same things cheaper at local jewelry stores, who we can trust, not to say RC or any cruise line cannot be trusted.

PSS the first poster that disagree with me did a very good job of saying exactly what I just posted.