ScottC4746

Since we have a 12 PM Concierge Lunch, the board time assigned won't work. Surprised they gave us one that late.

They probably think, "Good you are here get on so we won't have to worry later about you."

That is true. The sooner they can push people off and clear the ship with customs the sooner they can open boarding.

I will say to look and plan. We used them LAX-SEA in 2022 and when we booked they only showed Delta and the flight the day before was painfully early for us and painfully late coming home even though there were several carriers. This time we booked on our own on an airline (nameless) we love as DH works for them. While the return flight is painfully late, at least we have club/lounge access where Delta doesn't even sell day passes anymore.

I just checked in this morning for our Edge Alaska Dawes Glacier Cruise 7 Nights Concierge Class Seattle round trip 31 May 2024. It is the second week of the season. We got stuck with 12 noon for arrival. Last time we took the exact cruise was 2 weeks before the end of the season on the Solstice. Then in 2022 it gave us the same time. We took the first shuttle from the self booked hotel and got to the port about 10 or 1030 with no issues boarding early. Will we be able to do the same again? I know we have to dump our stuff in the cabin and take off until they are released around 1 PM or so.

I ran into that too and just redid my password, which was the exact one I had and all was fine.

In 2022 we had select and no problems just walking up around 6 PM. In fact we were so nice to our waiter the first two nights, the rest of the cruise we would walk up and he was practically knocking servers down to get to the Maitre 'D to make sure we were seated at his table.

We did a Neptune Suite on HAL in 2015 and no experience like on Celebrity. I don't know about their Penthouse Suite, but there is no retreat area outside for suite guests.

LOL that is usually how we end up doing it alternating mornings...it's your turn, only we go to the buffet for coffee.

We jumped from RCCL to HAL to X in September 2022 and fell in love. We loved HAL but it was a bit too old for us...in 2016. We have gotten older so maybe not now. We tried X and it was wonderful. Great service in Alaska on the Solstice. It was nice coming in from the ports that were cold and wet and having hot homemade consume to sip to warm up. Shows were great with live orchestra. We cannot say enough positive about X.

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While we are not in a suite but a regular room with a few extra perks, pun intended, I have a question about coffee service in the room. How can we have a tray with a pot of coffee delivered each morning to the room? Do we have to just do the hang tag on the door the night before or can we set up a standard order with the cabin steward?

My question is which will cause any ship to creak, which I love by the way, is what were the sea conditions. That could make a new ship creak and groan.

Hairdryer I don't recall. I don't have enough hair to use one. Shampoo, conditioner and body wash in bottles on the wall of the shower. More eco-friendly. As I have read on other threads, do not bring your own as the products they use are easier on the ocean, which unfortunately means they don't suds as well as other stuff.

Our last cruise we flew LAX-SEA using Celebrity Air and it really did not come out cheaper we found after I booked. When we booked we were only offered Delta when we knew that American and Alaskan had flights also. Closer to the cruise date we found the other airlines underpriced Delta's offering on Celebrity Air. I will say you earn airline miles and status service for those that qualify on the different airlines. On the plus side, we were alerted of schedule changes from Celebrity Air before Delta alerted us. This time we are on the same flight LAX-SEA round trip and we booked directly with the airline. Not sure about service if the flight is delayed or cancelled with Celebrity, but we learned never to arrive the same day you sail out. Too stressful. We will come home the same day we return, if we can.

Or perhaps cruise critic is not for you. 😉

All good points about the buffet. I'll give it another go as we are in better times now. As they were pulling out of Covid my first X cruise, it was the same old same old for breakfast everyday, grant you not that much you can do for breakfast, but the lunch entrees never changed. We did not even think about dinner based on breakfast and lunch. We shall see in two months.

Huh, I found it on X's description of the Edge. Now looking at the same place, it is gone. Odd.

Sorry, it was Sept 2022 the same route Dawes Glacier Inside Passage. Grant you we were just pulling out of Covid and wasn't sure if the cruise was even happening.

Probably

I guess I am a bit old school cruiser.

So, we are both not a fan of buffets and specialty restaurants We have a problem paying for meals on a cruise) and this is our first cruise on The Edge for 7 nights to Alaska roundtrip from Seattle in May. I have done some home work and looks like to avoid the buffet and specialty restaurants here is what I found being in Concierge Class and not doing room service: Breakfast: Cosmopolitan Restaurant, Eden Cafe (Grab and go), and maybe Grand Plaza Cafe, mostly pastries Lunch: Cosmopolitan on sea days only, Eden Cafe (grab and go), Grand Plaza Cafe finger sandwiches, Eden, and Mast Grill for burgers. Dinner: Normandie, Tuscan, Cosmopolitan, and Cypress Restaurants, Mast Grill burgers. Am I missing anything. One reason we avoid the buffet is quality. This is our second X cruise, the first on Solstice and we were not enamored with the buffet quality plus we not only had to deal with chair hogs at the pool, but we also had to deal with table hogs. We actually saw people just sitting there playing solitaire, reading a book over coffee, and even a family playing games during the peak of the meal service. We are two and one of us had to hold the table (making us just as bad) while the other got food. By the time the other got through the line, the first was done and went for seconds so we never really got to eat together. Someone suggested leaving a book or jacket, which in my opinion makes as just as guilty as table/chair hogs. Any suggestions.

As someone with family in NZ I can attest that NZ is VERY strict on agriculture products coming in as they are very protective of their delicate agriculture. We are very spoiled here in the USA in that we can get fresh produce year round in and out of season, of course out of season is a little more. We were there and bought zucchini or courgette as we saw them marked in the store and it was nearly NZ$7.00/kg out of season. Even honey they are very strict coming in.

We were on Holland Eurodam April 2019 coming from RCCL. We found many of the events and activities poorly attended, which was a plus for us. The buffet we felt was crowded and what seemed to be "first time buffet users". In the evenings the lounges were very quiet as far as crowd. I was 54 and DH was 47 at the time. While we had nothing but great things to say about HAL, we felt we were just a tad young by a few years. It seemed like on our cruise, people turned in by 9 PM. Season also comes into play with school holidays and seasons. I am sure if we took it in the summer, things would have been different than.

Must have been a glitch because like I said, Solstice we were able to view this far out and further. Perhaps we are the second week of the route rather than the second to the last week so they are still working out details.