SandG

On 12/7/2018 at 2:36 PM, digital_curator said:

At around 3:30 pm, they set up "afternoon tea" in the buffet. In addition to scones and sweet pastries, they will make small savory pinwheels and other pastries, a quiche, etc. They also have small sandwiches, cheese, cold cuts, and crackers, often accompanied by nuts, fruit, and cheese jams. You could make quite a nice appetizer plate from this. 

 

Just note that this part of the buffet closes at 5 while they set up for dinner (which opens 6). That hour in between is pretty slim pickings: pizza, ice cream, maybe some fruit and desserts. 

 

 

The afternoon tea foods you describe are exactly what we'd be looking for.

Yes, we've unfortunately hit that closed-buffet-at-5 problem - it's usually right after we've gotten back on the ship, and before we sail away.  We've often skipped or had a light lunch and ready for a snack because dinner is late, exactly the point of my question.  We'll have to watch the hours carefully next time and make sure we get in before that.

On 12/7/2018 at 6:55 AM, chemmo said:

Why not pack a small Tupperware container and then sometime in the afternoon visit the buffet and fill it with cheese, grapes, olives, carrot....Add a few crackers and you have your early evening snack. Whilst the room fridges aren’t really cold, they will be ok for your snack for a few hours.   <...>

That's a good idea.  Thanks.

Thanks for the suggestion of room service, I never thought of that.  Otherwise, I'll check out the buffet and hope for the best.

Hi Tim, if you're up to taking a walk along some of the lower decks, can you tell me how our connected cabins will be configured?  There are several of these scattered around the ship, but we specifically have 7174 and 7172.  Is it through a vestibule that can be opened and closed like the "hump" cabins on the s-class ships or through an interior door?  I'm assume this will be obvious from the hallway.  (The deck plan is very confusing if I take it literally because the connection line is by the windows on the starboard side and near the door on the port side.)

Sue

A couple of times we have sailed in Concierge class and enjoyed the delivery of canapés, especially when we eat late.  We will be sailing on the Edge in March in a "regular" Infinite veranda as Elite for the first time.  I had at one time hoped we'd finally be able to enjoy some fancy snacks at the Elite lounge, but it seems more likely that we'll get our card preloaded with drinks (which doesn't excite us much since we already have a drink package, but you've heard this complaint already).  

We would be happy enough to get a plate of some little delights from the buffet perhaps and bring them to our cabin.  I suppose that crackers and something like hummus or tapenade dip or cheese would be okay, though not as fancy.  What possibilities?  I know we can get little desserts from the coffee shop but looking for an hors d'oeuve or appetizer.

Sue

Thank you for starting this thread.  My family and I will be sailing in connecting veranda cabins in March.  I would like to know if they are connected through an interior wall or with an outside vestibule as I've seen on s-class ships.  We are in 7172 and 7174.  I know you cannot peek inside the cabin, but hoping that a vestibule would be obvious from the hallway .

You can't "lose" OBC if you never take the cruise as you don't have OBC at that point. What you have is potential OBC. When you cancel the cruise the FCD returns to your account to be used on a different cruise and, at that point, you have OBC. The amount depends on the type of cabin and the length of the cruise.

 

OBC From FCD

3 - 6 Days $15 Inside, $15 Outside, $25 Balcony, $25 Suite

7 - 10 Days $25 Inside, $25 Outside, $50 Balcony, $50 Suite

11 - 16 Days $75 Inside, $75 Outside, $100 Balcony, $100 Suite

17 + Days $125 Inside, $125 Outside, $150 Balcony, $150 Suite

Good point, of course I really have nothing to lose, which is why I'd decided to purchase the deposit. I should have said that I want to hang onto getting OBC on my next cruise, which was my purpose.

Thanks for the reminder on the OBC potential. As of now, I'm trying to decide between two similar itineraries that are 16 and 17 days long; it's interesting that my choice will also affect the OBC.

OP here, I'm almost certain that I'd bought the Future Cruise Deposit with the understanding that would be refunded if not used by its expiration date. That's why I bought it - seemed like a no-brainer to get some extra OBC. So I'm not worried about losing the deposit, but I am hoping not to lose the OBC if I book a cruise I'm somewhat iffy on.

Sue

On our last Princess cruise, I purchased a Future Cruise Deposit which shows up in my account as a Future Cruise Credit that I must use by a year from now. (So I don't know whether to refer to it as FCD or FCC at this point :)). It includes OBC which is worth up to $150, depending on the length of the cruise I take,

In any case, I'm considering applying the credit to a cruise in Fall 2019, which I like, but only 50/50 on being able to follow through on it because of some other up-in-the-air plans for next year.

If I do apply it to that cruise but have to cancel, what happens to the cruise deposit and OBC that goes along with it? My experience from another cruise line is purchasing a specific cruise on-board, and if I cancel, the OBC perk I get from booking on-board will carry forward to whatever cruise that I book in its place, so I'm wondering if a similar thing happens with the Future Cruise Deposit? Or will the OBC be lost if I cancel?

The answer is help me decide if I should use the credit now, or wait on using it on a cruise that I'm more certain about.

Sue

Thank you for the advice!

Sue

http://www.procathedral.ie/

has the mass times. I noticed they even have a Latin Service. I am barely old enough to remember what mass was like before Vatican II and would personally find this interesting.

Sue

We will be on the Pacific Princess on Aug 5 when it makes a port call in Dublin. This is a Sunday so my son would love to attend an Irish Catholic Mass that day. Any suggestions? We would need to get from the ship to the church so best way to do this would be appreciated.

TIA

I agree that St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral would be the best choice. It also has the benefit of a good location, in the heart of the city.

Sue

Interesting question. When I've had the classic package, I would pay extra for a better wine only in the bars, often getting a better glass of wine at Cellar Masters and carrying it to dinner. In the MDR, I would stick to ordering wines that are covered by the package. I did this for exact the point you brought up - making it easier for the somellier to keep topping off all evening.

We generally do the classic package for half of the cruise and then upgrade for the second half on longer cruises. Once we upgrade, then we are able to order better wines in the MDR.

Following this strategy, it would be easy to split classic and premium between a couple - each is restricted to the covered wines, and the sommelier is free to top off. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who pays for a wine upgrade in the MDR and how that works out for them.

Sue

We did not do this excursion personally, but we had rented a car and stopped at winery on our own at the end of our day, and we saw lots of cruise ship passengers there. So I would bet it is the Santo winery. We really enjoyed our stop there - good wines and side plates of food, and a beautiful view.

Sue

Thanks for the great review, Bob. We just cruised ABC with some other ports (14-days total) on the Eclipse this past Feb., and wanted to go back to those islands again, so we booked this cruise on the Reflection for Jan. 2020.

I'm curious if you snorkeled in Bonaire with a ship excursion or take a private one.

Sue

I would also like buy a classic Norwegian sweater here, even though I have heard that it will not be cheaper than buying one in the US.

Thanks. I should have said that it may actually be more money than in the US:eek: I guess the point is to get a cool souvenir from Norway, but if it turns out that I have to pay a crazy amount more just to buy it there, I may just buy one when we get home.

We will be visiting your beautiful city for the first time on May 22 on the Celebrity Eclipse. Do you have a photo of her on your blog yet?

When we first thought about our plan for the day, we had decided to head to the funicular to Mt. Floyen first thing in the morning to try to beat the lines/queues start. We will visit the Fish Market and Bryggen and see if we can comfortably fit in a trip to the Fantoft church. I would also like buy a classic Norwegian sweater here, even though I have heard that it will not be cheaper than buying one in the US.

I was surprised / disappointed to see that our ship is not scheduled to arrive until 1:00 PM, although we don't have to be back on board until 7:30 PM. So I'm trying to figure out how this will impact our plans. I'm afraid that if we go straight away to the funicular, the entrance line will be at its peak. (I checked the port schedule and there will be two other cruise ships in port, but much smaller ones.) Do you think my fears are founded, especially this time of year? I'm also wondering how late the major tourist shops in Bryggen will be open. The shorter day also means more risk in trying to fit in a visit to the church - how much time to budget for this?

What are your thoughts on this, and thank you for the all great advice in this thread!

Sue

If you are really keen on the idea of a guest choir and there are enough sea days to accommodate it, it wouldn't hurt to ask about it to the CD / assistant / or someone on the staff.

Sue

I'm interested in the answer to this question too as I'm planning a cruise with my SIL and BIL and trying to decide which "perk" to pick for them. My husband and I typically get the classic drink package, and I'm sure my SIL will get good use out of it, but my BIL cannot drink with the medication he takes. He likes non-alcoholic beer and would probably drink that at dinner if it is available on-board. Otherwise he'd probably drink soda but I'm wondering if there's something else on board he would like.

I understand that both would have to pick the same perk and I'm thinking at this point that it might still be a bigger savings for them to pick the classic package as the perk over the other options, even though he doesn't drink alcohol. So I'm also curious what it would cover.

I was in the guests' choir on the Eclipse in 2016 and part of the flash mob and choir combo when we sailed with here again this earlier this year. Both of these sailings were 14 day cruises with 5 sea days. The first time, we performed more songs and rehearsed on all of the sea days; this time (I think) we rehearsed on the last 3 sea days. So I would think that the guest choir would only be offered on sailings when there are enough sea days to hold the rehearsals.

Sue

Hi everyone!

I've sailed primary on Carnival for my short cruises and Holland America for my longer cruises. <...> It seems if I travel in an inside or outside cabin, just the basic and non of the classes like "Aqua", just eat in the MDR not to expect much.

I don't have personal experience with either Carnival or Holland America, but in addition to Celebrity, we have sailed with Norwegian, Princess and Royal Caribbean. We have been sailing the S-class Celebrity ships and have not tried M-class since 2003. That said...

My personal opinion is that the food in Celebrity's MDR has been almost always very good to excellent, and typically better than the other cruise lines that we've tried. The others have had very good food at times, but not as consistent as is our experience on Celebrity. I've also found the Celebrity dining menu to be more interesting, similar to French cuisine. The food is one of the reasons we keep going back to Celebrity, and we rarely eat in the specialty restaurants.

I haven't personally tried an inside/outside cabin. We book regular veranda rooms on s-class which have also been more spacious than the regular balcony rooms on the other lines we'd tried, and the bathrooms are the nicest. My daughter stayed in an inside cabin across the hall from us once: I recall that the cabin was just slightly smaller, with a chair instead of a couch, but the bathroom was just as nice.

I think you will also find a lot of nice public areas to hang out in during the day. We also like that the Celebrity ships have rarely felt crowded.

Sue

Depending on how hefty a fee you have to pay for an international overweight bag on the flight back, it might be cheaper for you to purchase a cheap suitcase or duffle bag and pay for a 2nd checked bag instead. This also gives you the option to buy more souvenirs. :D

Sue

We have done a few cruises on each line. Most recently, we cruised on the Crown Princess last October and the Eclipse last February. Celebrity is my favorite cruise line of those we have tried, and Princess is second. The things that come to mind off the top of my head:

Food in MDR is good on both, but I think Celebrity is better. It seems to me that the food on Celebrity has more of a French influence and Princess more Italian. Princess has the best pizza, especially when the ship has a dedicated restaurant. I also like the Princess "pub lunch".

Celebrity S-class has a much nicer bathroom / shower: a roomy shower with glass door. Even the Regal Princess had a small shower with plastic curtain. The regular cabins in Celebrity feel bigger than a regular Princess cabin which dedicates more room to the closet area.

I liked the Celebrity breakfast buffet better - more cooked-to-order choices.

I liked the internet choices better on Princess - you can get cheaper options and I think you can still use by the minute. Celebrity charges a hefty charge for 1 hour, 1 day, or unlimited.

Princess entertainment had been better than Celebrity, but I was very impressed with the entertainment on my last Eclipse cruise.

Sue

I want to add to my previous post that I was able to snag one of these coveted cabins with the big balcony just once in my cruising history, I had booked that cruise a couple of years in advance. But I was unexpectedly upgraded - I found out when I got to the ship - to a concierge level cabin at the very front of the ship. I wasn't asked in advance if I wanted the upgrade and was rather upset by it, especially since I'm sometimes affected by the motion of the ocean. The front desk couldn't do anything about it since they'd given our cabin away and the ship was full.

 

Sue

Did you have a guarantee or had you booked that particular cabin?I'd have been upset in the latter.

I had booked that specific 1A cabin with the big balcony almost 2 years earlier !! I complained at the front desk. They thought I'd be happy about getting upgraded. I said I had paid extra to get a bigger balcony, and I didn't like being way up front since we were crossing some typically rough waters. They said I should have indicated in my profile (somewhere in the website) that I don't want free upgrades. The next day they called me to tell me that they had a veranda cabin available that was roughly mid-ship, but it was a regular balcony cabin on a lower deck than I had originally booked. I decided to just stick with my "upgrade" - at least I got canapes every day and a nicer tote bag, lol. Too bad I couldn't get the points that went with it. We had some serious waves one night and I grumbled again that night. On the first day, I did visit the hallway outside the cabin I was supposed to get, and saw luggage with GTY tags outside "my" cabin. Bet they were happy.

Sue

We always try to get a balcony cabin on the flat part of the hump because the slanted ones cost more money and often booked anyway ... Sue

I want to add to my previous post that I was able to snag one of these coveted cabins with the big balcony just once in my cruising history, I had booked that cruise a couple of years in advance. But I was unexpectedly upgraded - I found out when I got to the ship - to a concierge level cabin at the very front of the ship. I wasn't asked in advance if I wanted the upgrade and was rather upset by it, especially since I'm sometimes affected by the motion of the ocean. The front desk couldn't do anything about it since they'd given our cabin away and the ship was full.

Sue