wallysdtr

We were shopping at the port of Cozumel in February and purchased what we thought was Blue Agave Tequila from Hacienda Tequila from one of the open tasting stores.  Price was agreed and paid for the Blue Agave.  The salesperson wrapped the 3 bottles not in front of my husband (I was in another shop).  We didn't unwrap the package until we got home about a week later.  Unfortunately for us but not for Hacienda Tequila, it appears we were given Reposada that we could have purchased for $50.  We Paid $150.  Our credit card company could not help us because the receipt only indicated Tequila and could not do anything more.   Very disappointed that the sales person chose to be dishonest in his dealing with us.     We will NEVER purchase anything at the port of Cozumel from Hacienda Tequila.  They have 3X the money that they should have received.   I would ask that any person shopping there, please be aware that the bait and switch can happen.     We did write a review on Yelp and will get in touch with the company - if we can.  I love Cozumel and am very disappointed in the dishonesty of the person that we had purchased from (in good faith).  

12 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

 

It could be - their are quite a few Irish Pubs in the Tampa Bay area..........it looked like the business was well established. Maybe you were at one of these pubs???

 

https://tampabaydatenightguide.com/irish-restaurants-and-pubs-in-tampa/

 

Sorry that the Bill's didn't make it to the BIG game............our Miami Dolphins didn't make it either.

we will check out the pubs.  Thanks for the Bills comment.  There's always next year!

My husband and I will be on this cruise as well.  No excursions planned for NOLA and i'm looking forward to going to the French Market and getting pralines. Of course getting the best Etoufee in the world too.   My team isn't in the Super Bowl (there's always next year!) so I am not crazy about watching either. 

Thanks Gary for the tip on Maloney's.   I wonder if this is the same irish bar I stopped at 20 odd years ago.

7 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

What about Constellation?

You can order from the main dining room on the Constellation when dining in Blu.  My understanding is that the kitchens are right next to each other.

15 hours ago, DingoMom said:

For the current sale, I found the upgrade price to be only $6.99 (+20%) per person per day. Best price I have ever seen. I was able to upgrade one of my cruises in February (Ascent) but the sale price was not offered on my December (also Ascent) cruise. The upgrade for the December cruise is $20 per person per day (+ 20%).

I grabbed the $6.99 for our Mardi Gras cruise in Feb 2024 and our B2B on the Beyond in 2025 was $13.99.    maybe that is still a good deal but I am holding off on upgrading right now for the 2025 cruises. 

23 minutes ago, dugknight said:

I just checked our 7 day cruise for Nov, 2024 on Apex and it is only $6.99/person/day to upgrade. I have no idea why it would be so cheap, but I'm on it! Any ideas? We are Elite, but it wouldn't normally discount it this much.

I got the same $6.99 and upgraded DH and self for our 12 night in Feb 2024 Mardi Gras cruise.  with gratuities, cost us $200.  It is worth it for me as I love the smoothies and the premium package wines (10 & 20 year old Port after dinner too)

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

You should know that if you had booked directly with AA and the price dropped you would not have received the refund if you moved the flight. You were also wanting to make the change after final payment if you were only a month from departing and FBC had already ticketed the flights. If AA offered to change the flight to Miami for only $50 that could have been done only by canceling the FLL flight regardless of what your husband thought. I fail to see why you blame FBC.

The AA rep was clear even after I gave him all the details of the flight.  He said there would be no problem so why wouldn't I believe the guy that works for the airline.  He said nothing about cancelling the original flight.  anyway, we thought the FLL flight back when we were in Miami didn't make sense since we were booked one way. 

Just now, terrydtx said:

Why didn't you pay the $50 and make the change with AA?

I wanted to and if my husband wasn't in the room, I would have.  He was afraid that the original booking would be cancelled.  BTW the rep said we could book the miami flight but they would cancel our Fort Lauderdale flight and give us no refund.  

2 hours ago, jargey3000 said:

we just got off the 4-night cruise on Silhouette April 6-10. No complaints about the variety or quality of food in the Oceanview Cafe (the buffet) or the MDR. Didnt do any specialty dining. Here's the "dessert" spread at the OVC on Easter Sunday:

 

We also did the 4 day on the Silhouette and so glad we did a 10 day on the Equinox as a B2B.  Very disappointed in booking a 4 day during the holiday period (note to self).   This felt more like a Royal Caribbean cruise as the atmosphere IMO didn't feel like a Celebrity cruise.   Soooooo many people in the pool that had glass bottles in hand.  Celebrity pool attendants were crazy busy and I assume could not keep up with monitoring the bottle issue.    Food right at the pool and fruit at the bottom of the pool.    The rest of the time was good but pool side not what I had experienced on all of our other cruises

We did back to back - March 27 to April 6 on the Equinox  Fort Lauderdale and then transferred to Silhouette in Miami for a 4 day .   A friend recommened we use Flights by Celebrity and they did the reservation.  Booked one way with Southwest and also return one way with American.  Both out of Ft Lauderdale.     Didnt' dawn on me that if one way, the American return flight could have conveniently been out of Miami.  Instead, out of FLL.    A month prior, we found a return flight out of Miami with American for $200 less per ticket.   Flights by Celebrity - I called 3X - refused to change the flight.  Even though my discussion with an American airlines rep said we could make the change for a change fee of $50.   The last rep with Flights by Celebrity said the American airlines rep was wrong.  Guess Flights by Celebrity knows more about the american airlines rules than the employees at American.  So our return was out of FLL and the flights were not what I would have booked. 

Long winded post, but NEVER again, will we use Flights by Celebrity.  The representatives left a lot to be desired in customer service (I worked for years in customer service so I can recognize when a rep wants to help).   Very sad that Flights reps were very unco-operative even when I shared exactly what the american airlines rep shared.  They couldn't be bothered to double check.,    

19 minutes ago, BridgeMates said:

I contacted him by email and unfortunately it seems he'll be on the Millenium, not the Silhouette during

our cruise in April.  🥲

Oh, I'm so sorry.  He said Silhouette when I spoke earlier in the week.  

44 minutes ago, BridgeMates said:

Really looking forward to your review.  Our group of six will board the Silhouette on April 10th.

Some have booked the Buck Island Snorkel tour, so anxious to hear how it went for you and any other tours you take.

Have a great time.....and anyone who hasn't been to the Norwegian fjords definitely need to book it! 

 

You mentioned that you will be on the Silhouette on April 10th.  One of our favorite entertainers, Robert Neary, will be performing his Neil Diamond review.  Make sure you check out his performance.  You won't be disappointed.   I follow Robert's career and we talk from time to time.  Great guy with a lot of talent. 

12 hours ago, chamima said:

 

We were on the Equinox in Aqua for all of February and the beginning of March.

Blu is as wonderful as always - the service AND the food. Ask for Sabar and Bryan and you will be spoiled to death. (Although actually ALL of the waitstaff in Blu are wonderful!)

Also look for Lilian - an absolutely adorable junior waiter who we fell in love with. Tell them all that Karen and Allan miss them so much.

If you get a chance could you stop by the World Class Bar and see how Adrian is. We spent 6 weeks of evenings with him but the very last day of our last cruise he was iill. Hoping he's better! (He's a fabulous mixologist!!!)

And yes, Jayson and Ruth in al Bacio are also wonderful.

Your post is wonderful!   We did 21 days on the Constellation a year and a half ago.  the 6 weeks you spent on the Equinox had to be wonderful.    We will look for Lillian, Sabar and Bryan for sure and will mention you both to them.   

World class bar is our favorite!   We were on the Equinox in November and Adrian was fabulous.  He said he would be on the ship for this upcoming cruise.   

Several of the crew we met in November will be sailing with us.  I'm looking forward to re-connecting back with them.   

On 1/20/2023 at 5:27 AM, bye-seaya said:

I know some folks have had good luck using Flights by Celebrity and cost savings.  Based on our experience we are now in the camp of “never again”. Our cost savings wasn’t worth losing control over the reservation.

 

I agree with everything you are saying.  It was recommended by fellow friend cruisers to try Flights but won't use them again.   The return flight for us in April is horrible and we found one cheaper with a better route but they won't/can't/don't care to change the flights because they books us on a non-refundable.  All 3 X I called AFTER calling the airline (who said we could change) refused to do anything at all.  I did wait for the survey and gave a big ZERO when asked if I would recommend "Flights by Celebrity" to anyone.  Very disappointed to say the least.   Also a family members flight got changed on the return flight to a day that we are out to sea!   Crazy

We will be on the 4 day to Key West and Nassau with you!   Almost back to back because we will be on the Equinox March 27 - St Kitts, Martinique, Barbados, St Johns, etc.   and then transfer from Ft Lauderdale to Miami.   1A balcony mid ship and will be joined by 4 family members who have never cruised.   Hope we can say hello when on the Silhouette.    

12 hours ago, CTSandy said:

Just returned from my first b2b, greatly enjoyed it and would love to repeat the experience.  I would like to thank everyone on this forum who offered information on procedures for a b2b - made me feel more comfortable about the sailing.  I have sailed on Equinox several times and was happy to see the ship still looks beautiful and well maintained - observed cleaning and polishing going on everywhere at all times - hard working staff.  I sailed the first leg solo, then had friends that came for the second leg, one of which shared my cabin.

 

I was fortunate enough to have the same cabin for both legs so did not have to pack anything up at all.  I had a concierge cabin on deck 11 aft; the only negative was that it was almost at the end of the hall so it was a long walk back and forth to elevators or stairs!  Big shout out to the cabin steward I had on the first leg - Dickson - incredible service and a perfectionist cleaning the room.  Lots of cruises and he was the best I’ve ever had.  Sadly (for me) he was leaving at the end of the first leg to return home for four months for the birth of his first child and first grandchild for both families.  He’s heading to Reflection in July; I would be overjoyed to be lucky enough to have him as a steward again.  I did comment with the QR code on what a great representative he was for Celebrity.  The second steward was fine, but not exceptional.

 

Dining - I went to the Maitre’d a couple of days before the start of the second cruise - my cabin mate and I had a confirmation for 6 pm traditional dining; the person joining us in a different cabin had linked her sailing to ours but we didn’t have anything indicating she was dining with us and I wanted to confirm that three of us would be dining together.  I was given a card with a table number and thought it was resolved.  Unfortunately, the first night we came to the dining room there was someone seated at our table.  Lots of confusion and we got sent upstairs to deck 4.  We were seated and they told us we should just come to deck 4 the following night and we would be seated at one of the four tables there.  The next night we went to the hostess at deck 4 who wanted to know why we were there because we had an assigned table on deck 3 - she finally seated us, but told us to report to our regular table the following night.  Day 3 we show up to our assigned table and meet our wait staff - day 4 we get there and a party is seated at the table and again, mass confusion.  I am now up to three conversations with Webster, the maitre’d and finally they gave us a table that they assured us would be ours.  I understand that part of the problem was that they had a charter of approximately 700 people on board, but it was poor organization.

 

As others have mentioned, food in the MDR is not of the same quality as prior cruises.  A few dishes were very good (beef tournedos and lamb in phyllo) some were poor (beef bourguignon - toughest beef ever) - disappointing but I was not surprised.  Service was not as slow as I’ve been reading about, but it seems they may still be a little understaffed.  The night we dined on deck 4 our waiter apparently had no assistant and was visibly stressed.

 

Dined twice in Murano, once solo and once with my friends on the second cruise.  Very happy to report service and food was still excellent there, one of the reasons I love Solstice class.  One night I dined at Sushi on Five and enjoyed it - had dumplings and their very excellent udon soup; I thought it was very good value for the price and service was fine.  I also did the buffet for dinner a couple of nights.  I expected very little, based on reports, and was pleasantly surprised.  The pasta station was open, so was the grill station which offered cooked to order chicken, fish, and minute steaks.  Several assorted casserole type dishes were available (one night eggplant Parmesan, meatballs, a vegetable casserole with squash, onion, tomatoes), a decent salad bar.  It was not very busy but there were diners there.  Cafe al Bacio is still one of my favorite stops - by day 2 Jayson knew I liked an almond croissant with my cappuccino and had my order a couple of minutes after I sat down - he was another person that I submitted a positive comment card about.

 

Ports - first cruise included St. Kitts, Barbados, Martinique, St. Lucia, and Antigua.  I had visited St. Kitts before so just walked around the port area.  Most enjoyable excursion was Karambola excursion on Martinique.  I discovered many positive reviews about this company on the Martinique forum and was very happy to confirm it’s as great as described - small group (16), comfortable vehicle, plenty of personal interaction.  Second cruise was Grand Cayman and the ABCs, this is the sixth time I’ve done this itinerary so I only did one excursion - a ship excursion that was a sunset sail on a schooner, which we all enjoyed.  Perfect weather, music that had recognizable lyrics, an open bar, a few snacks - a fun evening and it was beautiful out on the water.

 

There was a noro outbreak on the second cruise and my cabin mate unfortunately was a victim.  We took her down to the hospital facility because she was so sick, they gave her an IV and some meds, quarantined her for 36 hours, and called and checked on her frequently.  She was doing well two days later and I was impressed by how compassionate the medical staff was.  I just read today that there were 122 passengers diagnosed with noro.  They did switch to having staff serving at the buffet a day or so after the outbreak.  Happy that I wasn’t a victim, in spite of sharing a cabin with her.  I think it may have started on the earlier cruise because a woman warned me not to eat burgers at Mast Grill because she got “food poisoning “ after eating one.

The entertainment was similar to other Celebrity cruises - I skipped Elysium (saw it a few times before), ashamed to say I can’t remember the name of the woman who did a tribute to Aretha Franklin but I enjoyed her performance very much.  Chloe in the Ensemble lounge did some great sets.  Loved Beyond the Podium and attended all of the sessions.  Spent a lot of time in the Solarium during the day and the casino at night.  Overall a very enjoyable and relaxing three weeks!

 

Did walk off at Port Everglades, off the ship by 7:30, and at FLL by 8:05.  I had a 10:55 flight and made it with plenty of time to spare.  Airport was a zoo with spring breakers coming and going but flight got off on time.  Flying out is the only thing I hate about cruising😁

I was surprised I never got a survey for either leg of the cruise but was happy I had submitted positive comments about the two staff members I found exceptional

 

 

 

 

thanks for the post.  This is very helpful as we will be on the ship on Monday.  We booked the same excursion in Martinique so it is good to know you had a great time.    We have an aquaspa cabin midship and hoping Blu is as good as it always has been in the past.

We had aqua spa cabins on the Constellation on both deck 9 and deck 11.  Definitely preferred deck 9. 

I too agree.    A few years ago, the lady next to us was smoking on her balcony.  My husband who has asthma asked her to stop smoking in her cabin.  She apologized but continued on other occasions.   In hindsight, we should have gone to guest services to report the issue.   Guess what I am saying, is follow the advice of the other posters.  This behavior will probably continue and you deserve a quiet night. 

We have only cruised in Aqua Spa cabins on Constellation, reflection, Equinox and Millenium.  Our absolutely most favorite head waiter from the Constellation moved to the Infinity.  Mar  was amazing with service, knowledge and had a great sense of humor.   If you were able to dine in his area, I would hope your experience would be wonderful like ours wasy.  I'm sorry to hear about the long wait time you experienced.  Maybe we were lucky to not wait at all.   

My daughter and her 2 children were scheduled for the April 1 cruise.   She is beside herself and asked if I would help her find another cruise for the same time period.  My husband and I are experienced cruisers but never had this kind of thing happen.  

I found her a cruise on Celebrity Beyond for the same time period and have it on hold.   Because Celebrity is part of the Royal Caribbean family, would she be able to have the $ transferred to the Beyond?  or does she start all over and pay the full charges for the Beyond? 

We were on this same cruise in November.   Brought a novice couple with us .  AquaSpa cabin on deck 9.  jason was our cabin stewart and he was wonderful;  We will be back on the Equinox in March but Jason will be in a different location on deck 9.  We dined in Bluwhich was wonderful!

Our friends were so happy with the cruise they booked a cruise in Hawaii on the Edge.   

we did a B2B last november.  1st leg we did a move up to AquaSpa.  Since the ship was only 30 - 40% full, we asked at guest relations if we could stay in the same AquaSpa cabin.   What a treat to be able to stay in the same cabin.   Maybe if the ship isn't full, you could stay in the same cabin.   I was glad we asked!  

We just got off the equinox yesterday 11/21 and stayed in cabin 1606 which was under the oceanview cafe.  quiet cabin except for a one or 2 X faintly hearing a chair.   we had an extended balcony which was nice as well. 

We were on the following cruise and our disembarcation day was yesterday 11/21.   Had a great time and enjoyed the World Class Bar the best of all of the bars on the ship.   We had an AquaSpa cabin and dined in Blu all but 1 night.  Great service and excellent dinners.   No specialty dining on this cruise.  

On 9/29/2022 at 11:40 PM, pickle11 said:

WHY

I asked because I was curious.  It had absolutely nothing to do with Covid - at all.   So if you needed an answer to your ? why - that is it.  Just curiousity - nothing more.