shoesonfire

Hi,

 

We are booked on a westbound TA on the Infinity in October and are trying to decide if we should upgrade our cabin. We're currently booked in a midship AQ2 cabin and could upgrade to one of the newer (bigger?) AQ1 cabins on deck 11 aft.

 

Neither my mom or I has ever suffered from seasickness before and we have been on some rough(ish) seas before on a panama canal cruise, but we are wondering if it is a bad idea to be at the very back of the ship way up at the top on a TA?

 

Has anyone had one of those aft cabins on 11? Are they worth upgrading to?

 

Thanks

 

Shannon

We had an AQ1 cabin on 11 aft on the Summit last June and encountered a day of very rough seas in the Atlantic. Although we didn't get seasick, we spent the major part of the day rocking and rolling in our cabin. On our 9 previous cruises in the Med and Caribbean we always had an mid cabin on lower decks and never experienced the same situation. Personally, we won't book a cabin that high anymore and don't feel it's worth the upgrade.

I've found all these comments helpful to understand the changes and price increases to date. We love Azamara specifically because of their warm and outstanding staff/crew. However after several AZ cruises and when their itineraries did not offer enough North American cruises and fares continued to rise, we looked again to Celebrity. We are hoping we won't be disappointed returning to X. Oceana does offer specials and have newer and reasonably small ships which we prefer, but when checking and comparing apples to apples the cost is often more than their competitors. It's a business and with downturns in worldwide economies I guess we have to expect cutbacks, price increases, etc. So what's a cruise lover to do?? Let's hope the cruise lines respect the opinions of their customers and strive to insure good value and safe travel experiences so that these same customers don't cutback as well.

Hi Cruisehome:

 

Wishing your daughter a happy home in Southlake. We lived in Valley Ranch for 10 yrs., and now retired and back in the Houston area.

 

Friends who are cruising with us Oct. 27 live in Trophy Club -- not far from Southlake.

 

We are looking forward to this cruise too and may meet up with you in October. We booked Aqua on deck 9. We've been debating between Embassy Suites and Doubletree Gallery One for 1 night pre-cruise. Both get good reviews, similar rates, and have nice locations on the Waterway. Embassy offers complimentary breakfast, and Gallery One seems closer to shops and restaurants.

 

Also watching this forum hoping to pick up tips about the Infinity and ports as well.

Cruisehome: Just returned from visiting our children/grandson in Dallas. Luckily North TX escaped the tornados this weekend, sad to hear lives lost in Arkansas however. Incidentally, we visited St. Barts twice, beautiful island especially for the rich and famous (obviously not us). Most shopkeepers would have preferred we only sent our wallets ashore. We did enjoy being onboard watching all the beautiful yachts. (FYI: Trophy Club is a small town west of Southlake closer to Fort Worth.)

Martiniren: Happy to hear your cruise on Infinity was perfect. Hoping we too have the same cruise experience.

Texed: Hope you enjoy your Waffles in July and report back to those of us sailing in October. :)

HI Shoesonfire

 

I am on this cruise in October also.

 

I see that you are from Texas

 

My daughter just moved to Southlake Texas - She has only been there since October and is trying to settle in

 

Looking forward to this cruise and any advice we can receive from this review and from others

 

Any recommendation on where to stay in FLL

 

thanks

Hi Cruisehome:

Wishing your daughter a happy home in Southlake. We lived in Valley Ranch for 10 yrs., and now retired and back in the Houston area.

Friends who are cruising with us Oct. 27 live in Trophy Club -- not far from Southlake.

We are looking forward to this cruise too and may meet up with you in October. We booked Aqua on deck 9. We've been debating between Embassy Suites and Doubletree Gallery One for 1 night pre-cruise. Both get good reviews, similar rates, and have nice locations on the Waterway. Embassy offers complimentary breakfast, and Gallery One seems closer to shops and restaurants.

Also watching this forum hoping to pick up tips about the Infinity and ports as well.

We sail on Infinity in July, so I appreciate you making sure the waffles are up to specs. ;)

Hi: We posted along with you last year on the Azamara forum. Happy to see you are sailing Infinity soon as we are in October with friends from Dallas. Hope to read your comments about the ship and cruise. Took your advice in 2013 and stayed at the Intercontinental in Miami and enjoyed our stay Any advice for FLL?

Aha- now I know the name of our CD also- Rich- whoever that is- I only hear good things about him! Can´t wait to board in a week!

Greetings

Michael

Hi Michael, hope you and Betsy will post from the Infinity next week. So many of us waiting to cruise in the future are anxious to get details of the ship, food, activities, etc. Will be watching for comments.

Thanks again, and yes we are 2 couples so will be taking cabs so we can go at our own time, Funny thing -- just read 4 new reviews for Gallery 1, 2 were good 2 were bad -- go figure!! Will probably email or call hotel prior to our arrival and express our wishes for nice rooms, never hurts to try.

I am just curious to what hotels you are referring to here. As you mention "MOST" , wondering what locations you were looking at.

Which two hotels did you narrow your search to?

We were able to get good rates through Last Minute Travel Club and narrowed our choice (both same rate) to Embassy Suites on 17th and Double Tree Gallery One. Actually we now decided on Gallery One. We like the location to walk to shops and restaurants, water taxi right at door, and no pets allowed, which trumped happy hour and free breakfast at Embassy Suites. Perhaps the use of the word "most" is misleading, but it seemed that complaints about rooms being outdated, sometimes dirty appeared frequently on the member reviews for a lot of hotels even in the more expensive range. Felt that Gallery One was one of the hotels that received the least of these comments. We might be disappointed, but it's just one night and we're staying positive. Anyway, it's the cruise we're looking forward to the most and hopin to start it off well.

I'd like to know WHICH hotels had reviews you feel were negative and where you read that. Which hotels do you feel you need to avoid?

 

If you are staying one night precruise, I certainly wouldn't stay at a hotel nearer the airport. If possible stay nearer the port if you have time to enjoy the city. If arriving late and just looking for a bed, then the airport hotels are fine.

 

Asking for "more up to date" and "not extremely expensive" is vague to say the least.

First, if one takes the time to research several travel online websites and reads their member reviews, you can pretty well get an idea which hotels are more popular for different reasons and the percentage of positive vs. negative helps as well. Also, "it's different strokes for different folks", so I would prefer not to single out any hotel to avoid. You can arrive at your own consensus from the many suggestions on this forum. Obviously, most lodging in a cruise or tourist area is bound to be overpriced to begin with, so apologize if up to date and not extremely expensive is too vague or too much to expect. In any event, with research and the helpful comments on this forum, I was able to narrow the field to two hotels that fit our budget and preferences. Thanks again to those who offered good advice.

The hotels in this area are scrutinized to death as Port Everglades gets more cruise ship traffic than any other port. You have everything from the lower budget crowd to the big rollers leaving from cruises in this area . . . everybody's opinion is different.

 

Reviews are fine for an overall glance at the hotels in the area, but I wouldn't read to much detail into them. Even the Four Seasons has a bad review mixed in here or there . . . you just can't please everybody.

 

There are some often recommended hotels on this site, and even though you

can have full confidence in them . . . you just never know what your experience will be.

 

Hotels in the area are consistently updating their rooms because of the amount of traffic they get . . . they understand the gold mine they have being in the area and have to keep on point to help lessen the potential of a reviewer going on a review site to say negative stuff about them and turn off potential visitors.

Your comments are very much appreciated and spot on giving us a better feeling into deciding our choice of hotel pre-cruise. Thanks to all for great suggestions.

We will need 1 night 10/26/14. Most Fll hotel reviews mention outdated rooms and occasional less than clean rooms as well. We don't mind paying a little more but concerned we will be disappointed. We got a good rate last December at Intercontinental Miami through LMT. Hoping to duplicate same in Fort Lauderdale.

We are staying pre-cruise 1 night in FLL in late Oct. and several of the 3 and 4 star hotel reviews indicate that they are outdated and often in need of cleaning. Are there any that are more up-to-date and are not extremely expensive?? We stayed at the Intercontinental in Miami pre-cruise in 2013 and it was great and not over priced considering location, etc.

Photo- Traveler, thanks for your report, glad to hear everything seams to go smothly now! Take good care of the old Infinity- we will be next! LOL!

Enjoying the "Live" reviews. Feeling very encouraged and looking forward to our cruise on the Infinity this Fall. Blessings to all during the Passover and Easter season.

OP is correct if you check the X website, no mention of fruit, flowers or wine on Aqua class, however, they are listed under Concierge. Is this an new or updated listing on their website?

I don't know anything about the reductions, but I don't think the amenities you mentioned are that big a deal. We were in Aqua Class on two cruises last year. Both times the fruit was 2 apples and an orange that sat on a small plate for the duration of the cruise. When there are so many other tasty options...I was never in the mood for a "red delicious" apple. Our room had a tiny vase with a single daisy-type flower, so also not a big deal. And, our sparkling wine was left untouched because we had the drink package. (If we didn't have the drink package, I admit this would have been an appreciated amenity).

 

Our favorite part of AQ, and the reason we'd choose it again, was dining in Blu. That's the only amenity worth paying extra for, IMO.

 

(I do understand your disappointment that the amenities were listed when you made your reservation, though).

Agree the fruit and flowers are not a big deal, however, I thought that the drink package does not include wine, champagne in the cabin, only at the different dining room and bar venues. If that is correct it's nice to be able to enjoy a sail away drink on your balcony.

We had Aqua Class cabin on Summit June 2012 and enjoyed all the amenities, wine, flowers, daily fruit and coaxed friends to join us in Oct. Aqua Class on the Infinity. We promoted Aqua and the additional cost based on the amenities of this cabin level and will also be very disappointed if things change.

we also are saling oct 27th

 

would love to hear more of your review

 

perhaps you could post the menus and daily papers when you return

 

of particular interest is there dancing in the atrium before dinner and what kind of music

 

thanks so much

We are 2 couples also cruising on Infinity on Oct. 27 and looking to read more live reviews from Photo_Traveler as well regarding menus, etc.

Are there specific questions you have? Lots of folks on here have sailed on the Infinity....

Questions and thanks to all who have recently sailed the Infinity.

Read in last dry dock Aqua cabins on deck 11 were newly added and those on deck 9 were refurbished -- to what extent were they refurbished.

Do you get any sun on the starboard side of deck 9 with large overhang or are cabins generally dark.

Understandably the ship is not a new vessel but what is the realistic view of its appearance.

Would like to know what type of entertainment and/or lectures are generally scheduled, i.e. Caribbean cruises.

Will be on Infinity in the Fall and would be interested in reading more of your comments of the ship.

There is a Michael's in every Celebrity cruise ship.

Michael's is the new concierge, suite, Zenith lounge. There is no access to those who are not in suites unless they have taken a whole bunch of Celebrity cruises.

Thanks. Are Aqua cabins included as well since are similarly priced and often higher than concierge class.

Sorry if this has been covered before, but is there a Michaels Club on the Infinity and if so, who has access to this bar area.

The self-parking is a bit of a walk. It's a really big resort property, but that's what makes Pier 66 so unique.

Trying to decide between the "unique" Pier 66 and Gallery One for 1 night pre-cruise in Oct. Both have similar rates. Even with a limited stay, a location convenient to restaurants and opportunities for sightseeing without a car, in addition to good accommodations, top our request list. Would appreciate advice and suggestions.

We will be staying there next week, so I'll let you know. The reviews on Tripadvisor are hit and miss. Some love it, some don't.

 

I'm going with an open mind and hoping for the best.:)

We stayed there many years ago, I think what I believe were Lanai rooms. Think this may be the oldest area, perhaps Tower/pool view may be more updated. Will be watching for your comments. Agree the reviews are hit and miss. Hope to hear from others who have stayed recently too.

Looking at hotels pre-cruise end of October and can get a good rate at Hyatt Pier 66. Is the Hotel outdated? Are pool rooms ok? All reviews and recommendations are appreciated. Thanks in advance

We took advantage of an upgrade from A2 to A1 on Summit last year to Bermuda. Rough seas made us feel more uncomfortable on Deck 11 than 9 and walking down aft stairs to Sunset bar difficult at times as well. We did not have any different balcony furniture with A1 and no foot stools either. This may be different on the S-class however. We booked another M ship cruise for Oct. and this time we opted for A2 with aft location to avoid being under the pool area. Also agree that starboard helps to insure no smoke blowing in your direction. We really enjoyed Blu even more so after having dinner 1 night in MDR upper level and found it to be too noisy. Hope this helps!