emilygrace

Looking at the German website, both those cruises are listed as sold out. And I agree, why can't Celebrity just say that?

 

As I said in a previous post, we are booked on the 2/2/16 sailing and our final payment is due later in November, so maybe it will be back on the X site with some available cabins after that.

We are booked on the Feb. 2nd sailing and it has been sold out for a while. Maybe that is why it is not showing up on the website. Although I'm surprised it isn't there and just saying "sold out".

Mary,

 

 

I had read that it was a toll bridge when it was built. We were in the eastern part of Canada where there was another really long bridge (I think 7 miles or more) that I wanted to drive across but it did have a toll each way of around $14 or more so we skipped that one :)

 

Have a great day.

Cindy

 

Are you talking about the bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick? We did a ship tour (2012) that included crossing that bridge. It is spectacular from both sides, and quite a story about how it was built. And yes, it is a hefty toll to cross it.

I just went through this whole process, thanks to the phone # provided above by Bob (Clarea). I had checked our account on the interactive tv the last night of the cruise and we still had about $20 OBC. Didn't purchase anything that night and the next morning we had not received a bill in our cabin. I figured it was because we did not have any charges.

 

Got home, waited a few days and checked our credit card statement and was surprised to see a charge from RCL for $10.03. Called that number and explained everything and yesterday the woman called us back and said the charge had been taken off our credit card. Very easy to take care of, but I bet a lot of people won't go through the trouble for small amounts, and with 3500+ passengers per ship (a rough average) and 24 ships, it can add up to a tidy sum over the course of a year.

I just got an email from Royal this morning telling me to check out my Diamond benefits before I board the Jewel on Friday. One of the things was this:

 

• Priority Check In & Complimentary Water: Enjoy priority boarding & a bottle of complimentary water in your stateroom upon arrival.

 

I've never gotten a bottle of water before and my preference for my Welcome Aboard gift is a Sprite. So is the water a new thing? And will DH and I each get a bottle of water?

 

When I was on the Allure transatlantic I got nothing, nada, zip.

[quote name='suzyluvs2cruise']We embark in Vancouver on the 17th. We'll see what happens there. :)[/QUOTE]

Are you on the Jewel? I thought we boarded on the 18th! Am I spending all that $$$ for the Pan Pacific on the 17th for nothing?

I am SO ready for this cruise!

This would be a no brainer for me....Solstice, for sure. I just sailed on the Allure and was very disappointed that there were so few places to actually see the sea, other than our balcony. I'm sorry, but the Royal Promenade is just a mall atmosphere. If the Explorer is anything like this I don't know why it is in Alaska, since everything there is about seeing the scenery. I have sailed with RCL a dozen times, so I am definitely not bashing them. I just don't understand their choice of this ship for this itinerary.

 

We sailed the Solstice to Alaska two years ago and it was fantastic. We went early June and it was hot, hot, HOT!!!! Thank goodness it was our 3rd time to Alaska so I do know there is other kinds of weather there.

Personally, I would definitely go with an ocean view balcony cabin on the Allure. Just sailed on this ship in April and I was SOOOO glad we had one since there were few places on board where you could see the water, which to me is the whole point of cruising.

If you research Pearl Seas Cruises, they are ALL expensive. Very small ships, but they look beautiful.

you cant offer a tour you havent been on, thats crazy- if we want to set up a group excursion and none of us have been on it then we cant suggest it. I do go to the meet and mingle but have noticed alot less traffic on the roll calls.

 

I don't know if this is true....I am on two roll calls right now (one of them is for a Celebrity cruise) and both of them have private tours that have been organized by people on the roll calls. We are not doing any of them, but we have joined in these tours in the past and they have been fantastic. My Celebrity cruise is Australia/NZ and I have learned a lot from the locals on that roll call.

 

I agree with the poster that said they wish they knew the screen names of the people at the M&M.....for months you have "known" these people mostly by their screen names. Then you get to the M&M and it's just a bunch of people you've never seen before. They used to give you name tags to write your screen name and your real name on and slap it on your shirt. Then when you "mingle" you can put the face with the name you have been seeing for months.

 

I was on that Allure TA and I agree that the M&M was not ideal. We had over 500 people signed up for the M&M and I realize having it in the ice arena was probably the only place to hold that many people, but it was definitely not conducive to mingling. But that is just one of my many little "issues" with the Allure.

 

The best M&M I have ever been to was on the Brilliance and the Asst. Cruise Director (or Activities Director) gave everyone this paper with a grid on it. In each square was a task like "find someone with blue eyes" or "find someone born in July" or even "find someone with two children in college". You had to ask them their name and write it in the square. We were in teams and we were scrambling all over the place....it was a lot of fun and you got to know people's names. It was up in the Viking Crown Lounge, so very easy to get around and meet people.

OK, I'm going to ask a really stupid question here. Several posters mentioned having to go through U.S. customs before boarding the ship. Is this because your first port of call was in Alaska, therefore you were leaving Canada and entering the U.S. next? I have sailed out of Vancouver numerous times but I don't ever remember going through U.S. customs before boarding the ship. But our next port of call was always another Canadian port like Victoria or Nanaimo.

I think the OP meant the "cruise calendar" on the RCCL website. You could look at it either by ship or by location, with the months across the top. I loved using that and wish they still had it. Or if they do, where is it?

I like both the Viking Crown Lounge and the Colony Club for quiet reading places with comfy seating.

 

I was on the Allure in April and could not find anything like this on that whole huge ship. Every place I tried was either closed for a private function or if I managed to sit down and start reading, someone would come in and start setting up for something (one time it was a memorial service!). The Viking Crown Lounge was closed for remodeling (or whatever they did up there) so that was not an option. The library on that ship is too small and was used for meetings. Everywhere else had too many people.

 

That's what I like about the Radiance class ships....lots of quiet places with lots of glass to look out at the scenery (unlike the Allure).

Ah....thank you for clearing that up for me.

I was just on the Allure in April and the Diamond Lounge was on deck 6 forward. Have they moved it? Or is there another Diamond Lounge that I missed?

 

Or are you talking about the Concierge Club, which is for Diamond+ and above (and suites)?

Been to Alaska 3 times and I would go back in a heart beat! I absolutely LOVE Alaska.

 

If you are set on going with RCL next year I would not recommend the Explorer. For Alaska you need a ship with a lot of glass and outward views. That's the whole point of being there. If you are not limited to RCL there is a wide selection of cruises to choose from. We've been to Hubbard Glacier and Sawyer Glacier (Tracy Arm) and of the two I think Hubbard is more spectacular because you can get closer to it. My next Alaska cruise is definitely going to Glacier Bay.

 

When in Juneau, don't miss Mendenhall Glacier (you can take a bus out and back for a few $$) as it is a totally different type of glacier.

 

We have gone in September (wonderful warm weather, only wore a jacket at the glacier), early May (cool but stunning scenery with the snow closer to water level) and June (2013, scorchingly hot in the mid-80's). Of the 3, the one in May was my favorite. So 3 cruises, total 28 days and out of that we had one day of rain.

The reason we were thinking Bistro on 5 is that we really don't care too much for the specialty restaurants. I know we are in the minority, but it's just too much food and personal attention for us.

I guess I will wait until we are on board and can check out the new menu before I make a reservation. When we were on the Solstice in 2013 we had lunch there one day and I loved it (I am a fan of savory crepes), so I thought this would be a good alternative on formal nights. I don't mind the price increase if I still like the menu.

Is this venue open at dinner time? We are not doing formal on our upcoming Solstice cruise and therefore we won't be going into the dining room on those nights. So I was wondering if Bistro on 5 is an alternative for dinner.

 

Thank you!

I got that email and I took it to mean that the first item, the "browsing, $59 for 90 minutes" to mean that you could use those 90 minutes here and there over the course of your cruise. That makes it more appealing to me than Royal Caribbean, where every package is for unlimited internet for a set amount of time, like 24 hours or 4 days or whatever one you choose. I don't need continuous internet, just a bit here and there to check on things and to check in for my flight home.

Don't miss the huge food court in Faneuil hall. It is amazing.

 

Unless they have added something to Faneuil Hall the food vendors are in Quincy Market, right next to Faneuil Hall. The choices there are amazing!

I have been on both of these ships within the past 2 years (different itineraries) and my choice would ALWAYS be the Solstice. The buffet on the Golden (and the Grand last year) are just pitiful. Plenty of seating, but the food selection is just sad. For the size of the ship and number of passengers the buffet seemed very limited. Food in the dining room was good, not great (first time I have ever had tough prime rib on a cruise) and I agree with others that I prefer one big open dining room.

 

I can't speak for the cabin comparison as we had a verandah on Solstice and an oceanview on the Golden, which was quite tight, especially the bathroom.

another thing we learned when we went to the informal "meet the artists" one evening was that if you are ever in Corning, NY you can show your Celebrity Seapass card and get into the Corning Glass museum for free. This was in 2013, so don't know if it is true today.

That second carpet picture has to be in the casino. I remember that first one, but not where it is.

I was on the Allure Transatlantic and the packages they had were one day unlimited ($29.25), 4 days (it had to be 4 consecutive days, not one day here and one day there) for $79.95 and then there was one for the whole 12 days but I can't remember the price. I purchased the 4 day package, used my Diamond coupon to bring the price down a bit, and then when I had bad internet service one day I mentioned it to the guy and he credited me one day.