Sigyn

Interesting. Thank you for sharing.

My first European experience was a Mediterranean cruise and I loved it. I loved it so much I went back the very next year for a long land vacation throughout Italy. It's a good way to visit several cities and get to see what appeals the most and make plans to return.

Your headline is incorrect. It's not your cruise that is cancelled, but the land portion of a cruise tour. That added to everyone's confusion. Royal Caribbean, which owns Celebrity, did this recently and here is a related article: https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-caribbean-oversells-alaska-cruisetour/97239 Those guests were offered alternative land tours and a $400 OBC. Since you booked your flights through Celebrity, I imagine they will refund you the difference if you change your flight and simply do the cruise, or cancel your cruise altogether.

I would highly doubt it, having flown out of Barcelona myself. Admittedly, that was in 2017, but the lines to get through the area where you show your passport were hundreds of people deep and took well over an hour. It was crazy. Edited to come back and say never mind - IGNORE ME. The aforementioned experience was in Rome. Not Barcelona. I have lost my mind. Barcelona was busy but not like Rome. Rome was the busiest I've ever seen.

In my research I saw that Celebrity had to cancel four cruises on the Millennium last year due to a propulsion issue. They gave full refunds and future cruise credit. Something isn't sounding right here. Celebrity doesn't just cancel without giving any extras, plus a refund, to the customer. Their other cruise line, Royal, just cancelled the Mariner of the Seas cruise due to it not coming out of dry dock on time and they gave those passengers a full refund and a free cruise on another ship and OBC.

They only said they paid the deposit, not the cruise in full. So they must still be at least 90 days out, or more, from the cruise itself. Still plenty of time to book a new cruise. Edited to say I did a news search, and absolutely nothing comes up on this. I don't think it's true.

Ah, Glacier Wind is sold out for our day. Bummer.

Wonderful review. Now I want to visit Labadee. I've never been. Your family is just amazing and your wife sounds like so much fun!

The rudeness of some people! This is nuts. I have a huge issue with people who don't direct their questions/complaints to me when I'm right there. It's not okay to gripe at my kids whether I'm there or not, unless they're literally breaking something.

There was music in the afternoon/early evening at Schooner's every day I cruised, April 1-8. I went into the pub during the day, not the evening, but bambam says there was on the cruise after mine, so you should be set.

I booked Le Petit Chef for our upcoming Alaskan cruise on the Millennium, but then cancelled after reading a few meh-type reviews. Not sure if I should rebook. Is it worth the time/money? There aren't many specialty restaurants on M-class ships, so I thought this might be a fun deviation from the normal menu in the main dining room. But now it seems like maybe not. Would love to hear input from those who have recently experienced it.

I'm very curious about this on any Celebrity ship - looking at it on the Millennium. What was your experience like on S-class ships?

and just because you can afford it doesn't mean you can justify it!!!!

I want to book a whale watching tour in Icy Strait Point. Any recommendations?

I had two of those on the Harmony last week. Such a delicious cocktail! Great review - love the point you make about your girls being well behaved. My three kids are well behaved, too. I think they're too scared of dad to NOT be well behaved. lol. Seriously, I've seen people assume that kids mean ill behavior and it drives me nuts. "Sir" and "ma'am" are how my kids speak to adults and they are quiet when it's needed. And loud and fun when it's okay. Your daughters are just adorable. I love to read about your ship experience.

Taking your concerns seriously and thinking about this...If looking over a railing to the water below is scary for you, and I can definitely see how that could result in panic for some individuals, then I think a cruise in general will be full of anxiety for you. There are many places on a ship where you would find yourself at a railing, or near a railing, with the ocean in full view, not just in an ocean-facing balcony room. Perhaps book a very short cruise, a three day, to see if it's something you can deal with, before embarking upon a longer cruise that's more expensive and impossible to get off of without going through a lot of trouble.

if you go to the sea scanner site it will tell you how many cabins are left in each category. just type it in without the space between the words and add dot and com to the end.

I don't blame you! I had seen several plates just like that in the MDR before our Harmony cruise last week, so that's why I ended up booking the UDP. And then even the specialty dining restaurants were ho-hum. Still better than the MDR, but really a bummer.

Your youngest daughter and her tour is so adorable! I love it. And that plate of food - yuck!

Great and fair review. I was on this same cruise and I agree with everything you posted. I got on CocoCay around 10 am and found a few beach chairs left in the shade on Breezy Bay but there weren't many remaining. I could see the ones around me quickly snatched up. I had to pay an attendant $20 to help me find the two we did get. My son loved the water park but said he had to wait an hour for the biggest slide. There were chairs opening up around 1 pm, but that might have had to do with the short-lived rain that moved in around that time. You could see the clouds and that scared people. We'd experienced that in St. Maarten, so sure enough, same thing. Ten minute storm and it was over. But maybe the Odyssey people didn't realize it would be so super fast and fled. Who knows?! The food on the entire cruise was meh, including the specialty restaurants. And yes, Sabor was mostly empty and with good reason. Most meh of all. I had lunch there on a sea day since we had the UDP. Only a handful of tables were taken. I canceled our lunch plans there for later in the week and went to Chops instead. The food on CocoCay was better than on the ship. At least, the burger and the greek salad I had. The salad was super fresh and flavorful. Unlike the goat cheese salad I had at Chops. That thing was watery and bland. Ack. Chops was better at lunch time. Good steak salad with blue cheese and red onions and they had a burger on the menu, too. Didn't try it, tho. But sounded good, with gruyere cheese. Thanks for your review. I appreciate it, even though I lived it on the same ship. 🙂

No, I didn't like the food enough to warrant a new cruise for the holidays. I would do it again over spring break for my son, tho. He really, really loved it.

Returning to share information. I had pre-purchased the 12-pack of 12-oz bottles before the price went up and the 1 liter bottles were all that were showing as available. I just cruised from April 1-8, and the bottles that were given to me in my room were 16-oz bottles of Niagara. I had a 12-pack of them in my room, waiting for me.

For those wondering about this experience, I cancelled it so I don't have any feedback. Sorry!

This whole thing about Navy food and cruise ship food - it doesn't make sense. Why is someone comparing the flavor of food on a Navy ship to what you get on an expensive vacation cruise? My husband is a veteran but he surely doesn't compare food on vacation to what he received in basic training or during his military stint. Apples to apples, people.

Yes, that was the one I found before I booked it. Thank you, tho, in case I hadn't. Very kind of you!