lovescarborough

We have done Aqua class several times on Eclipse ,Solstice and Equinox without ever having to wait for a table for two. We usually dine around 8.30. However we tried Infinity and always had to wait for a table . We put this down to the fact that the Blu dining room on M class ships is much smaller having been added as part of the Solsticising of the ships. After that we decided we would only consider Aqua class on Solstice class ships. Persian Gardens are also so much nicer on Solstice class.

We always pre pay tips and view this as part of the cost of the cruise although we would prefer it to be included in the cruise fare so that everyone pays it. It's unfair that people are even given the option to remove them unless they had really poor service. Unfortunately some people do remove them under the disguise of tipping specific staff at the end of the cruise but I just don't believe they tip the same amount or more. We always like to wait till the end of our cruise to tip extra to staff who give good service. I don't know whether they pool the tips or not, personally I don't think they should , but I love watching them take the money in a handshake and make it disappear! We have met some lovely staff over the years and they certainly deserve any extra they get.

Definitely Larrys Limos. You can access their website from the UK. We usually just send an email and they will give you a price and book your car. It's great to have a driver standing waiting for you after the usual nightmare of Miami airport immigration!

Yes they give you a glass of bubbly ( wouldn't really call it champagne ) as soon as you get onboard.

hi there just a quick question my wife has asked me to find out if any of the bars have slimline or tonic light for her gin also do they have any premium ones fever tree etc?

 

thanks in advance

 

Jason

Yes we had light tonic on several ships including Equinox in April. It was usually Canada Dry. I've never seen Fever Tree or similar.

I also would like to hear others' experiences with the specialty dining package. I assume that Celebrity will probably assign you to one of the cheaper restaurants for your first reservation. Has anyone been successful in switching a first night Qsine to something like a third night Murano reservation? Or even to the Tuscan Grille? Prior to the cruise or on board?

We have done this several times. All you need to do is see the person selling dining packages, usually standing around just after you take your welcome drink. You can then book all your speciality restaurants at dates and times to suit you. We usually just take a copy of our itinerary with a note of which days we want to make reservations. Quick and easy.

This got me thinking how long since I last saw a wine list on Celebrity ? Before 'free ' drinks packages there was always a wine list on the dinner table.

Also, once you have checked in online, you can call Celebrity and they will mail pre-printed labels to you. These are more durable than the paper ones.

Celebrity don't mail luggage tags in the UK any more. On my last online check in I could print my X press pass but there was no link to the cruise docs booklet. I called our TA and they emailed them to me so I could print off the tags. They told me it was a common problem with the website. Lol !!!

could anyone tell me do they have theme nights(e.g. Black/Whitle) etc

I assume you mean theme nights such as on P & O ships and the answer is 'no ' . In fact the formal nights are also gone in favour of 'evening chic ' nights which really means nothing although some people do still dress more formally on those nights. Sometimes they have sixties or seventies themed disco dancing after dinner but it depends on the ship.

We usually get a day room near the airport and have also used the hotel inside the airport. It's nice to have a lazy lunch and a shower and change of clothes before the flight, especially if the weather at home is a bit cooler than Miami !

We really like Larrys Limos. They are reliable and very professional. You can book on their website or get a quote using their live chat facility on the website. We last used them in April from Miami airport to Fort Lauderdale hotel and the cost was $90 including the gratuity. The driver will be waiting near the airport exit to take you to the car. We find the extra cost is worth not having to queue for a cab or trying to contact Uber on a UK mobile.

Looking at doing this cruise Jan 2018. The ship is due to port at 5am in our disembarkation point, Abu Dhabi Cruise terminal. We are looking at a flight home departing at 9.30am. I understand it takes approx. 40 minutes by taxi to the airport.

 

Are we leaving it too tight?

Our transport from the cruise terminal in January was quick and very well organised. However I can't say the same for the airport. There are automated passport kiosks where you scan your passport to enter the terminal but for some reason my husband went through but it wouldn't accept mine. I then had to join a long slow queue with only one agent who kept leaving his desk. When I finally reached him he quickly looked in my passport then told me to accompany him to a side room. There was no explanation and my husband couldn't reach me to find out what was wrong. Another guy photographed my passport then I was asked repeatedly how long I had been in the country, did I work there etc. It was an awful experience. He kept saying my passport had an entry stamp from June. He was very aggressive and it was scary. I eventually got him to give me my passport and I found the stamp for January which he obviously misread. He didn't even apologise just took me back to the desk and sent me on my way. The whole process took about an hour and I will never go there again. With regard to the cruise itself, it was interesting to see new places but I agree that Abu Dhabi and Dubai are soulless places. Dubai isn't the shopping paradise that it promotes. Certainly all the UK branded stuff was more expensive than at home !

We also found Infinity too crowded when we cruise Aqua Class. The Blu restaurant was so different to those on S class ships. Tables close together and always a wait for a table even at almost 9pm. We tried select dining on Millenium as we said we wouldn't do Aqua again on an M class ship and that was awful. Given that Celebrity took away part of the dining room for Blu and then more for Luminae what was left was extremely squashed in. We ate in Ocean Liners after that but of course that is now gone. We now only use S class ships, sometimes Aqua class and sometimes select dining with several visits to speciality restaurants. If the itinerary we wanted was only available on M class then we would look at other cruise lines. We are almost at elite plus with many Celebrity cruises under our belt and find it sad that standards have declined so much.

Amtrak. Hmmm. A couple of years ago we took the train overnight from Chicago to Memphis and then the day train from Memphis to New Orleans. We weren't sure what to expect being from across the pond but we kind of thought it might be similar to the Eurostar service from London to Paris but with a bedroom thrown in. What we got was worse than our local train service. We paid extra for the bedroom which basically means you get your own small, very, very small toilet which doubles as a shower, except you have to sit on the toilet to use it. You then have a small bed and bunk above but it doesn't really matter that it's so uncomfortable because the train rocks from side to side so badly you can't sleep anyway. Add to that you also have the hooter going at every crossing. Daytime is better as you can look out the window but we were delayed over an hour waiting for a broken down goods train to be moved. Food is pretty bad too. We laugh about it now as it was certainly an experience but would definitely not be repeating it ! Flying might be a pain but it's by far the best and much quicker.

I have 3 B2B cruises on the Reflection for January 2018.

 

I have been trying to book specialty dining packages and excursions but the website tells me it is not available - please do it in the ship.

 

I've tried Safari, Explorer and Firefox.

 

I booked these cruises while on board RCCL Radiance and have since switched the booking to my travel agent.

 

Can it really be too soon??

 

 

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We booked speciality dining for our January 2018 cruise a couple of months ago, so definitely not too soon. It might be yet another website problem or maybe they only pre book a certain number.

We are not suite passengers and we do not have a drinks package included as we have an inside cabin (the only 'accessible' cabin left, I was told).

You sound disappointed that this was the only accessible cabin left and to be honest so would I, especially so long before sail date. I know from looking at deck plans that there are accessible cabins in other classes on all ships. If you booked with a travel agent it could be that they only had inside cabins but others might be available if you contacted Celebrity directly. On the subject of accessible cabins my friend, who is profoundly disabled and needs a mobility scooter to get anywhere, recently had trouble getting one on P & O. He told me that some people without disabilities book them because they are bigger cabins and he then watches them walking around the ship! How low can you get ?

Hi,

We have cruised a few times before but never on Celebrity (Usually been on PandO but have also sampled Princess, Cunard and RCCL). We will be on Silouhette in September 2018, out of Southampton to the med, (have to book early to get 'accessible' cabin) and I am already very excited as I have been wanting to try Celebrity for a while.

 

So, I guess I don't have a specific question but I will be interested in hearing anything you think I might want to know. This includes the differences between Celebrity and PandO, best places to eat/drink/watch the sea on board, any particular food or drinks that are special to Celebrity . . .

We have done many Celebrity cruises and tried Cunard, RCCL and P & O Azura. The first big difference we found between Celebrity and P & O was the amount of space in public areas. On Celebrity there is always some space to sit whether in the bar or just a chair somewhere to read quietly. The bars aren't overcrowded and whilst you always get chair hogs reserving sun loungers on deck, you aren't wedged in like sardines when sunbathing. On P & O we couldn't get near the buffet at breakfast it was so crowded and queues eveywhere but we've never experienced that on Celebrity. Also we've never had to queue before the theatre opens just to get a seat. If you look at the number of cabins on a P & O ship compared to Celebrity similar size ship you can see why the overcrowding happens. We found the MDR food better on Celebrity but that might not be the case with recent cutbacks. P & O scored well with us on the speciality restaurants,as they were much cheaper and the food was better but that was five years ago and things may be different now on P & O. Drinks prices are much cheaper on P & O but if you've got a drinks package included on Celebrity then that's not going to be a problem. Service we found was better and friendlier on Celebrity and staff do remember you after meeting you a couple of times. I'm sure if you posted this on the P & O board then you would get loyal cruisers saying just the opposite but then what appeals to one person isn't always good for another. Celebrity is firmly our number one choice and I hope you really enjoy your cruise !

Okay, I've finally figured out (through dumb luck) how to use the OBC. There's a little slider beneath the OBC toggle (to the left of the "Apply" button itself). It's difficult to tell that it's a slider as it is just a little oval with a thin line to the right of it. You have to move the slider along the line to indicate how much OBC you want to use toward the cost and then you can click the "Apply" button.

I found that and tried it several times but it still wouldn't apply the OBC !

The new prices are much better and the more you book the lower the cost per night. We did get a piece of paper in the cabin offering a 50% first night discount on Equinox last month. Murano was full on most nights we were there but usually plenty of space in Tuscan.

I tried to book 10 nights speciality dining using my OBC which I believe is a new thing for Celebrity. I made the first night reservation as requested, then when the total amount payable comes up you can apply your onboard credit by clicking the button, but guess what - it doesn't apply the credit. I carried on with the booking and card details hoping it would eventually be taken off before I paid but no way was it going to work. Gave up in the end and had to call them. The new younger generation cruisers that Celebrity is trying to attract are definitely not going to be impressed !

Yes, the only thing you CANNOT use your OBC for (if it is non-refundable) is a purchase of a future cruise or trying to cash it out at the casino or Guest Services. You can use it for anything else. Gratuities, specialty restaurants, drinks, bottles of wine, purchases in the on board shops, movies on your TV, Bingo cards, spa services, shore excursions, photographs...

 

 

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Can OBC be used to play in the Casino ? If so how do you cash in any winnings, not that I ever win much !

Keep in mind a few things also. First, you don't exactly get to choose your restaurants in some cases - meaning, depending on which restaurants are onboard you get a certain amount of dinners at each per cruise. For example, if there is a Sushi on Five, a Tuscan Grille, and a Qsine and you have a three package you get to eat at each one once. And second, note - I included Sushi on Five. To me that is not exactly a specialty restaurant per se (some may disagree) but if your ship only has those three then you need to include that restaurant in your bundle. You also may not be as lucky with availability as others. When we booked a 5 dinner package on a 10 night cruise, we had a lot of difficulty finding times in the 'sweet spot' of 7:30-8:30. It will vary by cruise. I also suspect if you are in a suite (we were not) that you will likely get priority on booking times. Don't count on Elite Plus to give you that - it didn't help us a bit.

 

If you don't choose to do an entire package, you can often negotiate with the maître d's for discounts, including discounts on multiple bookings (not officially a package per se). It all depends on how the restaurants are booking up. We have rarely had an issue finding discounts of at least 20-30% for Qsine, 20% for Tuscan, and on rare occasion have even been able to find a 50% or 2/1 deal (at Qsine).

Things have changed now. The old 3 and 5 night packages don't exist as such. You book for however many nights you want then choose which restaurants. We just did eight nights, with five in Murano and three in Tuscan.

Where was it held? TIA

In the Sky Lounge as usual on S Class ships. Your welcome letter will give you times and details of events.

We are due on a 17 nights cruise in October, have just looked at the cost of the drink packages :eek:

The cheapest starts at GBP36.90 so for 2 of us we are looking at a minimum of GBP1254.60/USD1608.00 for the cruise!!!! The cruise is a very special occasion so don't want to be worrying about having a drink whenever we fancy one but at the same time this seems VERY expensive.

 

Would it be cheaper to wait and buy on board? Do they have special deals or the opposite, once on board it is a lot more expensive????

 

Thanks for any advices/suggestions.

If you do wait till you get onboard to decide, it can pay you to buy your OBC from Celebrity as they often use a much more favourable rate than you will get from your credit card company when you settle your final bill. The website will tell you how much $25 will cost in GBP and you buy in blocks of $25. You can call Celebrity Uk and do this over the phone as the website doesn't always work !

Would totally agree wth you on this. We bought an 8 night speciality dining package which we thought was excellent value. We had five superb meals in Murano and couldn't fault the food or service. Tuscan was a bit inconsistent in that we had great service the first time, slightly worse next time and poor the third time. We did enjoy most of the food particularly the filet mignon, but the Parmesan chicken pasta was awful. What Italian would serve you spaghetti in tomato sauce with a breaded chicken breast on top smothered in mozzarella ? Yuk. Desserts here are not brilliant especially now the chocolate fondue is no more. The two meals in the MDR were rushed and not that good. The waiters in Select are so busy they don't even have time to introduce themselves. There were more younger people on this trip and quite a few children. The theatre entertainment was pretty good especially the Beatles tribute band and Tenors of Rock. The staff are friendly and many of them were going on vacation at the end of this trip. Bar service was much better than we've seen in a long time, never much of a wait for a drink. The Elite evening drinks events weren't busy even though there were 450 Elite and above onboard. Great service here too and lovely canapés. This was definitely the best of our last four cruises.