BettyCruiser

As far as I could tell, it went well for those walking off with their own luggage - although I don't know how well it went from there if they had to get their car from the parking lot at pier 92. It sounded good - send the designated driver with his customs form out to the shuttle, have him/her get the car and drive back to pick up the rest of the party and luggage. I did see one complaint on our roll call, but others said it went fine. We had later disembarkation, at 9:05, and a car picking us up, and it went great for us. There was a delay for early groups that had to wait for the luggage to be removed from the ship before they were called, since they had problems with getting the luggage off the ship.

Thanks for the info.

How did debarkation at pier 46 work today? We'll be debarking from 46 on May 3rd.

I guess we've been lucky and never encountered rowdies using the pool table. We've always stayed on deck 12 but this next time were down on 4, so I probably won't even make it up there.

S class afts are nothing like M class afts, move to the slant for a nice balcony.

We had a similar issue on the Century in February. Both of us had the Premium

Drink Package, during the cruise several bar charges landed on our account. After several trips to 'guest services' and no resolution a bartender took our info directly to the bar manager and it was resolved immediately. Any bar charge under $13 should be easily resolved, instead of making us waste time making multiple visits to 'guest services' Very frustrating.

I would guess the ship would sail Florida to Europe for the summer and then from Europe back to NJ.

LOL Yes, I realized it wasn't a TA, but doesn't the fine print reference something like Transatlantics, Transpacifics and Repositioning cruises as being exempt from the classic beverage package? (I did have the sense to leave out the Transpacific reference, but you're right, I should have left out the mention of the Transatlantic too!)

TA and TP are not included in classic beverage for book onboard, TA, TP and repo earn a lower, same as 4 and 5 day voyages, onboard credit for booking onboard.

We had a cove balcony next to the forward elevators on the breeze and never had a wet balcony even though we did sail through some rough seas. Of course if it did rain it would stay dry.

I think it would be considered a repo cruise not a TA. I think it would be qualified for the drink package, that has been my assumption, but I won't know for sure unless I try to book it while onboard in a couple weeks.

Usually the first bars to open in the morning are the Sunset and Cova, if you had breakfast at the buffet or MDR I'm sure you could order one there.

I was on the Century for the March 21 California Coastal and we had limes :)

Thanks for the reply.

I thought of another question, did they have limes onboard? It sounds like the ships sailing out of Florida don't have limes, I need lime with my vodka tonics, wondering if I should bring some from home.

Which nights were formal? the Santa Barbara and Monterey nights. (Sunday and Wednesday)

Did you notice if they we're allowing people to bring bottles of wine back from port visits without having to check them until the end. 2 Bottles max per room at initial embarkation only. Anything else brought in durng your port visits will be confiscated, kept secure and returned to you at the end of the cruise.

 

Also, we had no sloppy drunks as well. Very nice people on board.

Thanks for the info:)

The absence of the Grand Brunch might be a result of no sea day rather than cost cutting, they did have a Grand Brunch on the Century and Constellation when we were on in February.

If I book a Royal Caribbean cruise with onboard Celebrity, do I get the Celebrity book onboard perks or the Royal book onboard perks?

Welcome home! Glad to hear you had a wonderful cruise:)

A couple questions...

Which nights were formal?

Did you notice if they we're allowing people to bring bottles of wine back from port visits without having to check them until the end?

There are a lot of ships posted well into 2016, just not the Breeze yet. They are adding ships almost everyday, just keep checking.

We sailed Constellation in February. She is a great ship, with the new frosty topped martini bar, bistro on 5 and Tuscan Grille. We had a great time! The vibe on the 5 day itinerary is much livelier and less formal. I think we'll do another 5 night on Constellation in early 2016:)

The flyer I saved at the end of January, probably found from a link on these Celebrity boards lists higher OBC for booking onboard than the current promo. Will the same amounts still be in effect in June? hard to say. But when booking onboard your deposit will only be $100 per person, so you could probably book all your options and then make your final decision later.

My flyer shows OBC for CC class for a 7 day cruise at $250, 10 dday cruise at $300 and 14 day cruise at $350.

The first 7 night sailing doesn't sail until the 29th. But my best guess is the days we're in Santa Barbara and Monterey. We'll have to wait until April 5th to know for sure unless someone posts during the first sailing.

I think all S2's are on deck 10 and all S1's on deck 12. I think deck 12 S1's have bigger balconies.

Does Connie have "Bistro on 5"?

yes

The Constellation is about the same size as Island and Coral Princess ships.

For an extra large balcony book an aft facing or one of the eight most forward balconies on deck 6. The Constellation has a Tuscan Grille special restaurant an Italian/steak place kind of like a cross between Sabatinis and Crown Grille, I recommend it.

Thanks for the great review & wonderful pictures!! I am sailing Celebrity for the 1st time in just a few weeks & reading your review has me even more excited!!

Thanks, have a great cruise. If you have time come back and let me know what you think, we're on the same itinerary a few weeks after you:)

We are going on the California Coastal Century cruise on 3/29. I'll give a thorough review and address some of the issues you presented below.

 

We have had similar experiences with Guest Services over the years with Celebrity, even during the years in which their ships were always ranked in the top 5 of all ships in the Conde Naste surveys. On the Summit, we could not get into our stateroom. It was a lock issues, not a key issue. It took several hours for them to address the situation, after multiple checks with the front desk. Guest Services have always been a bit of a problem for us, especially if there is a problem. But we had similar situations on upscale lines like Crystal as well. It may have to do with who is behind the desk at the time of the complaint.

 

The water situation seems like a bigger issue. Hope they fixed it before the Panama Canal transit!

 

Seems like a new and younger staff are on board. Hope they get some on the job training and pick up the pace before our cruise. I'm hopeful.

 

Keep an eye for my review. I think I'll publish it before you leave on your Pacific Coastal cruise. I usually put a copy on the boards before the official review goes public.

 

 

Thanks, have a great cruise, I'll be looking for your review:)

Saturday February 22 day at sea

Once again we started the day at the pool. When checking our bill again on the TV were we irritated to find that the bar charge that we had brought to their attention days ago was still there and there were two more drink charges that shouldn’t be there. Again we went to guest services and again they printed our bill we had to highlight the charges and they said they would be taken care of, but based on previous experience I didn’t have much confidence in them. I just don’t understand why they couldn’t reverse bar charges of less then $10 on the spot when they knew we had the premium drink package. Guest services should be empowered to correct those errors on the spot. After pool time I started packing.

In the afternoon we shopped at the store and gambled just a little in the casino. I also stopped at Cova and had an Aspen, love them, and some very yummy carrot cake and some chocolate goodness. And of course time at the Sunset Bar. During the afternoon while at the Sunset Bar we saw a dolphin or whale come up for air a couple times right along the wake.

We mentioned the bar charges on our account to one of the bartenders and he was nice enough to take our information directly to his bar manager and got the charges taken care of immediately. I really appreciated his help with these charges, although I think guest services should’ve been able to take care of them immediately when brought to their attention.

The last night we ate at the pasta bar in the buffet. We also spent time at the martini bar, and the Sunset bar. At night when the sky is clear you can see so many stars, its amazing.

Sunday February 23 disembarkation day

We were spending the night in Fort Lauderdale before flying home Monday morning, so we weren’t in a hurry to get off the ship. We had number 33 with a meeting time of 9:40AM in the Rendez Vous Lounge. We had to be out of the room by 8:00AM so I had one last breakfast of eggs benedict and sat at a table at the Sunset Bar until it was time to head downstairs. We went to the lounge a little early and our number was called before we even sat down. We found our luggage easily and the line for customs and immigration was short and moved pretty quickly. We were docked at pier 4, we were staying at the Renaissance on 17th Street so we were able to walk pulling our suitcases the three blocks to the hotel.

Summary

We had a great time on this cruise. We spent time on our favorite ship, visited some great islands and spent time with friends and met new friends.

We encountered some hiccups. The broken mirror that took more than four hours for them to remove, similar issues that I’ve encountered on other cruise lines were addressed within an hour. Invalid charges on our account that were never resolved by Guest Services, similar issues that I’ve encountered on other cruise lines were addressed immediately while at the guest service desk. Although we can feel secure that guest services can rise to the challenge to assist during a major incident. The long waits for Select Dining surprised me, we had sailed this ship twice before with Select Dining and never encountered a wait.

It seems that the ship was having some sort of water issues. There were several tanker trucks delivering water to the ship when docked. Often times in the buffet area there weren’t any cloth napkins only paper. It didn’t adversely affect our cruise; I always had enough water when I needed it. I just thought it was odd.

We get to sail Century one more time LA roundtrip along the West Coast. I hope the Select Dining is running more smoothly by then.

Just wanted to say how much I'm loving your review, Betty! The pictures are amazing! You're covering a few ports that I've never been to so it's nice to see what's still out there! What is the name of the beach on Grand Turk...it looks gorgeous!! Keep up the great work, loving it!

Cathy

I don't know the name of the beach in Grand Turk. The pictures of the blue water are just a little past Jack's Shack, I've never walked all the way down there. The beach at Jack's is nice and closer to drinks;)