BosoxI

I tip the servers $1.00, per drink, as it is served. Frankly, I have never seen the bartenders at the elite happy hour; hence, I would not be aware of their performance.

We like to sit at the bar, as it makes us feel at home;) Do you tip the waiters who serve the canapes?

It's 14 night cruise :) whilst I say I would be happy in any inside cabin (and I would have been ok with a cat 12 had it first been given) I do wonder if having had the deck 11 cabin allocated, once onboard I would wish I had that rather than the $250

 

Thanks for the advice, one minute I want my original cabin, the next I want the cash lol

For a 14 nighter I'd keep the cabin on the 11th deck. See how easily I made up your mind for you?:p

It is my understanding that the CC host/hostess is considered as an officer and this would not be tipped

That's my feeling, too. Now, if there was some tremendously special effort provided, perhaps a small gift might be appropriate, but I can't think what that effort would be. And, yes, on the last night I do tip the Elite bartenders if they have given good service.

But just to be safe and to make things easy for yourself should a question arise, be sure to take whatever paperwork you have showing your credits. Most of the time nothing will go awry, but twice in the last year, I used my invoice to prove I was entitled to OBCs.

We find the 11th deck to be very pleasant. $250 worth of pleasant? I'm not so sure. I think I would take the money unless you like hanging out in the WC!!!:) Is this a seven day cruise?

On one of our trans Atlantics the captain announced that although we were in calm seas, our sister ship 300 miles to the north was having a go in rough water. On another westbound in October on the northerly route, we had perfect weather from Southampton to Bergen, Scotland, the Faroes, Iceland until we finally had one miserable day in Sydney, NS. There's just no telling. Personally, I like a few rough days just to have the feel of being on the ocean, rather than a pond

I am always grateful that Celebrity so frequently has clergy on board during major religious celebrations. I hope there's a priest on the Eclipse TA in April or I'm going to have to hop in a cab and find a church. Last time I did that it set me back $43, but it was money well spent.

Two contestants from American Idol, I think, performed on our December cruise. Never have I seen such a mass exodus from the theater! Sure hope the chefs are better:D

Take a look at the current prices for Christmas cruises. Really sky high. So how important is it to take the cruise? If you really, really want to go, bite the bullet and book now. Or hang on and hope for a big price break which might occur after final payment, if you can take it or leave it. We've done Christmas cruises the last five years, but there's no way I'm doing it this year at the today's prices.

First flight in the morning is as late as I would go out.

Prefer to fly in the night before if at all practical.

 

I freak out about airport delays and an early flight:

a. has the best chance of taking off on time

b. if its cancelled you have a shot at a later flight.

But don't forget that an early flight is dependent on the plane arriving the night before and sitting on the ground overnight. There's always going to be a bit or risk no matter what is done. DW and I fly standby which really can make for excitement. If you have to fly on a subsidiary carrier to get to a major airport, add a little more worry to your trip. Those 50 passenger planes are notorious for being grounded in bad weather.

DW and I were on the Connie's 12/9 sailing and had a great time. It was good enough for us to book another Connie on March 8. I know I'll have a good time on that one, as we'll be Elite+ when we disembark, not that Elite+ is such a big deal. We've had legitimate complaints over the years but mostly we try to look past the little things. If certain people bug us, crew or passengers, we simply stay away from them. Makes for a much calmer cruise

Thanks for the excellent and amusing review, Alsmez. Just two comments about breakfast: I ordered poached eggs every morning and they were excellent, though I could have broken a tooth on the bacon strips; my wife has a very dry sense of humor so when she order the muesli, she told the waitress not to bother wheeling out the cart "Just throw some stuff on it" But the young lady was not to be denied and out came the cart.

Travel and Leisure also has polls. Here are the 2013 customer ratings.

 

In the Mega Ship category, Celebrity scored 85.07 and first place.

Princess scored 82.40 in 4th place. Disney and Cunard were second and third. RCL was #5 with 80.09. Not a very dramatic point spread for the 5 lines.

 

In the Large Ship category, Princess ranked 7 with a score of 82. Celebrity ranked 9, with a score of 80.92. It should also be noted that Princess climbed 3 positions this year, while Celebrity fell 2 positions..

 

I would say that the ships are pretty well matched in client ratings. ;)

 

Only one cruise line scored a 90....Crystal

Oh, Mom. There you go confusing things.:p:p My original point was that for ME (and I made it clear that tastes do differ) there was not much difference between the two lines in question. There still isn't, as far as I'm concerned. For some reason a poster took umbrage at my opinion. Why?, I don't know, as it was clearly an opinion which criticized neither line or perhaps criticized them equally. It's clear to me that some posters adopt a cruise line and woe unto him who makes even the most gentle negative observation.

I've taken about 20 cruises on Princess and 15 or so on Celebrity. I do not need an unscientific poll to guide me in my choices, no matter whose poll it is; I trust my own eyes and my own experiences. CC is great for whiling away the hours on a lazy day, or for seeking specific information about a variety of things, but I do not let its members make personal decisions for me. Others apparently do, which is their business.

I guess the next bone of contention will be "Who has the most knowledgeable readers, Conde Nast or Travel and Leisure." Let the games begin!

They are not similar when it comes to reviews and ratings!

If one takes the time to read the Cruiser Choice Awards 5 of the top 10 ships for Best Food are X ships. Ruby Princess makes it at number 10 the only Princess ship to make the list.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Dining&sort=large

You may think it is the same but the majority of Princess cruisers rate Princess food low and the majority of X cruisers rate the food on Celebrity higher.

 

When it comes to entertainment X has one ship at number 10 and none for Princess.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Ent&sort=large

Big winners 4 RCCL, 2 Disney and 3 NCL. These lines specialize in on board entertainment so tough to break the ranks but X made the top 10.

The Quntaum of the Seas will take away the X spot when she launches.

But once again X is rated higher then Princess.

 

Best Cabins, X scores 5 in tthe Top 10, Princess none.

You will find threads on Princess about bad mattress's and such none on X.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Cabin&sort=large

 

Best Public Rooms, X scores 5 in the Top 10, Princess none.

Not sure if even the new Royal Princess will make the list next year with her new Piazza as there have been negative reviews posted by some that it is noisy.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Public&sort=large

 

Best Overal, X scoes 4 out of 10 Top spots, Princess none.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Public&sort=large

 

Even in Best Alaskan cruise, Princess scores 4th Topped by HAL and the Carnival Spirt!

Princess cruisers pride them selves on being the best line to sail Alaska?

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Alaska&sort=large

 

Princess has just launched their biggest and newest ship the Royal and it has been savaged in the CC reviews. Lots of threads about her on the Princess CC site.

Royal Princess will likely not make it into any top 10 list for best of anything next year.

I am willing to bet RCCL's new Quantum will make it her 1st year in a bunch of catagories.

 

Celebrity has stated they will not be building new ships for about 5 years and will be concentrating on improving staff training and ship standards after the S class build out which has streched resources.

Funny thing is the S class ships are placing so well in the awards yet X wants to raise them higher.

 

Best Service, X places 4 times in the top 10, Princess does not make the list.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Service&sort=large

 

Do you notice a theme, I do and it is Princess does not score well by the majority of people who sail on her ships.

 

This is not my personal opinon but the results of the Cruise Critic Cruisers Choice Awards.

I guess if you're content to let others direct your life, following a poll result of questionable validity would be a wise choice. Your points would be more impressive if they reflected your views, not those of the faceless multitudes. I'll make up my own mind, thank you, without reference to what others think, especially when the "others" are people unknown to me. Again I say, I don't want to shill for any line unless they pay me. I don't recall ever reading a post that is so vigorous in its criticism of another cruise line. Are you on a crusade? What's up?

We had no problems bringing 1.5 liter boxes on board in our checked baggage about a year ago. They may have clarified the policy at some point to define a bottle as 750 ml, but we had no problems.

I suspect the skill or interest level of the inspector enters into it. A $20 box wine might be worth the chance, but losing a $50+ bottle would hurt.

I've read comments by people who say cruise line employees are more strict than contractors. I have no idea if this is true. Maybe there's a bounty on the cap of every illicit bottle.:p

I was at the ASC and a person was picking stuff out with their fingers. I brought it to the attention of a worker and was told that they can't say anything.

Excuse my ignorance (and I'm sure I'll feel stupid when you tell me) but what is the ASC?

The egg yolks in Blu are the deepest orange, like none I've ever seen. I inquired and was told they came from The Netherlands. I wonder if this is really true. In any case the eggs are delicious

Feel better now?

Absolutely. Thanks for asking.

It's too easy to be overly picky about the line I like less. The simple fact is that apart from criticizing every little thing, both lines are quite similar and choosing one over the other boils down to a matter of taste. For years the food and dining room service was far better on Princess, less so now. That's my taste and you might not agree. Princess itineraries have always been more to my liking but X's ship have more appeal. Entertainment on both generally stinks and I try to avoid it. We can go on ad infinitum but when push comes to shove, it's personal taste and one's experiences on board which may not be valid fleet wide. For example, I really thought the food on Infinity last April was terrible on many nights; that is not indicative of Celebrity food on other ships. Fact is that we have tended towards X recently, as we are so near Elite +, but we've been Elite on Princess for a long time with great expense and certainly don't intend to desert either line, as each has its strengths and weaknesses. Besides, I don't want to be a shill for either line unless they pay me :)

Very clever blabbing about how to smuggle on a board that is monitored by Celebrity. You put a bladder in YOUR bag. No thanks. A friend told me about a guy on his cruise who had tried just that, was called on the carpet, and the checker had the bladder leak as he was pulling it out of the passengers luggage. Guess where it landed. I have no desire to spend my cruise in wine stained clothes because of cheap wine.

I really think as long as the cruise line allow you to serve yourself your going to have this nora problem. They should serve or give you plastic disposable to where. I saw and older gentlemen eating the baby shrimp while in line and licking his fingers while handling the utensils...I told the people behind the counter they need to change the utensils and they did not try to understand what I was saying. I just left and went a got a hamburger. But this stuff does go on. Also the food should be kept a lot warmer. Just my opinion

Excellent point. I frequently see utensils placed on top of the food being served. I won't touch that item, but who knows what had been placed miinutes before on the food I do take ? Spraying the cabin with Lysol sounds good, but the minute your steward comes in to clean, it could be contaminated again. One spray per cruise is not enought. Someone mentioned spraying the TV remore. My wife takes the plastic wrap from a cup and puts the remote in it. It has nothing to do with NV, as much as it does being told by a flight attendant what some people do with those remotes. Blah! And then there are those who won't cover their mouths when sneezing and then...and then... Where does it end?

We are Elite but the only A1 staterooms available were on deck 11 port and starboard not aft. I liked this location (constellation 9104..mid ship)much better. Now I'm seeing pictures with this cleaning device just outside the corner of the balcony. Getting ready to move down 2 cabins.

Aha! Another case of an upgraded cabin being less desireable to the passenger. We did just the opposite, as we like the peacefullness of the eleventh deck. To each his own.:D

Interesting....About a month ago, my friend booked thru the agency I assume we're all talking about (with which I almost always book) & she called me from St Thomas to ask me to contact them b/c X had no record of her free specialty dinner. Long story, short, I was told that the X "rep" never added it to the reservation & if it didn't get added by the end of the cruise she would get a credit of $70 to her credit card, which is what happened. So, I guess one way or another you'll get it!

 

BoSox: By any chance, did the agent's name start with a W?

My situation was a bit different in that there was a card in our cabin attesting to the specialty dinner. No dollar amount was mentioned. I immediately e-mailed my agent who responded that the credit would not appear on my statement but not to worry, it would occur. That had me scratching my head; if the credit appears no where, why would I receive it? At that point I saw the purser who fixed things up. But I was successful only because I had my invoice which clearly showed an OBC separate from the $70 credit. Whatever you do, do not leave home without proof of what you're entitled to.

My TA is R

Well, I see my question has been answered...in the negative. Now, if I can only convince my wife that attending isn't worth while. There was no Bingo on the 12/9 cruise, either, which annoyed DW. We had a good cruise, but more and more, it appears our "good cruises" are going to occur because we can entertain ourselves and demand little in the way of entertainment. Pity. Maybe it's time to return to Princess, but I'm confident their cruisers would have their own tales of woe. On the bright side one night in a Fairfield Inn before our February cruise will cost almost $300 with a modest breakfast. Another $16 sans tip will get us to the port. Our seven night cruise in a C2 will cost $141 p/p per night including gratuities. All things considered, I'd rather be on the ship, bad canapes and all