wwinfl91

I've never done the river cruise but if this is your first visit to New Orleans do the French Quarter tour as it is one of the two central historic areas of the city. Also go over to St Charles avenue and ride the street car through the Garden District. It is the best cheapest entertainment you can get in New Orleans.

Have a great next cruise.

We will be in New Orleans from Sunday evening Feb 26 until Feb 28 10 PM arriving on the Celebrity Equinox. We are trying to find a guide for a tour during the day on Feb 27 and then plan on getting grandstand seats for the evening parades. There are 4 of us all in our late 60's and early 70's so walking long distances is a challenge so my lead question deals how available will taxis be around the dock area and how willing will they be to do short trips to either the Garden district or the outskirts of French Quarter where the live music clubs are? I have been to New Orleans multiple times but never during Mardi Gras. I was there on St Patrick's day so I have one limited experience with carnival parades in New Orleans and enjoyed the experience. But I understand the crowds there are not as big as the ones during Mardi Gras. Another question is can anyone recommend a good live jazz club close to the port?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me for this trip. My wife and the other couple we are going to be with are depending on me to come up with things to do that are safe and doable for us.

I posted it in 3 places because I didn't think there would be much response. Boy have I been surprised. Some of them have some quite spirited debates going on quoting Karl Marx and Adam Smith about equality versus economic freedom. I was more interested in what other cruise lines were doing it and I have found out some info.

We enjoyed it because the food quality and preparation was better as was the service. You could sit with friends or by yourself if you wanted. The general atmosphere was just more relaxed and upscale than the main dining room. Also because they were serving fewer meals my wife's need to have low or no salt meals could be met.

We had done 2 cruises on Seabourn which we got great deals on and really enjoyed their high quality of service and better food as well as free booze and quality coffees. But after they got rid of their 3 small ships they were no longer "giving away" cruises at regular cruise line prices to fill capacity and we haven't been on them since.

Celebrities suite class offers a lot of the same experience at a little more affordable prices if you shop around.

Anyway you are right about the multiple posts on different boards.

Have a great next cruise.

If you want better food and service, why not move up to premium or luxury lines. When you do the "net daily rate" comparison (taking into consideration all the extras you will have to pay for on Celebrity), you may really be surprised about the better value of moving up.

We have done 2 cruises on Seabourn and they spoiled us for regular main line cruises. That was why we were attracted to and tried the Celebrity suite class. We felt with the addition of Michael's Club access where we could go and enjoy free drinks all day and the suite class dining room that the experience was similar for a little less money. That said we continue to check out various web sites for deals on the premium lines especially Seabourn. But thanks for the comment.

Sorry about the misuse of the symbol. It looked like a question mark to me. Thanks for the info on what Princess is doing and RCL is doing in its big ships. We really enjoyed the suite dining room on our 2 most recent Celebrity cruises. One big advantage was the staff got to know you and made sure my wife got her salt free food prepared the way she wanted it.

Have a great next cruise.

We have done several Celebrity cruise recently and really enjoyed the separate suite class dining rooms that Celebrity has installed on their ships. The food and service are much better than in the regular dining rooms on other cruise lines (extreme luxury lines excluded). I would like to see this benefit included on other cruise lines but so far the only one I have seen it on has been Celebrity. Has anyone heard of any rumors of this being talked about on cruise lines?

I know Cunard has a similar setup with better dining rooms for more expensive cabins.

Another option that cruise lines could offer would be free dining in the specialty restaurants for suite passengers.

We just don't feel the food quality and service in the main dining rooms are as good as they used to be.

Thanks and have a great next cruise.

We have done several Celebrity cruise recently and really enjoyed the separate suite class dining rooms that Celebrity has installed on their ships. The food and service are much better than in the regular dining rooms on other cruise lines (extreme luxury lines excluded). I would like to see this benefit included on other cruise lines but so far the only one I have seen it on has been Celebrity. Has anyone heard of any rumors of this being talked about on HAL ships?

Thanks and have a great next cruise.

We have done several Celebrity cruise recently and really enjoyed the separate suite class dining rooms that Celebrity has installed on their ships. The food and service are much better than in the regular dining rooms on other cruise lines (extreme luxury lines excluded). I would like to see this benefit included on other cruise lines but so far the only one I have seen it on has been Celebrity. Has anyone heard of any rumors of this being talked about on RCL ships?

Thanks and have a great next cruise.

Hi,

If you are planning a European cruise this summer or fall, try to buy shore excursions, wine and drink packages, Internet package, etc before boarding your ship in European ports. We didn't do so and have been hit with an additional 21% VAT tax on onboard purchases. This has changed since last year so check it out before flying to your European cruise. The cruise lines did not make this change obvious in their info although it is there in the fine print.

This 21% is in addition to the 15 or 18 percent tip for services so your bill will be about 35 to 40 percent higher than you expect.

Hope this helps someone as I wish someone would have posted this before I left.

Have a great next cruise.

Has anyone heard about this.

"Book any suite (excluding a mini-suite) on a Royal Caribbean ship, and you'll have access to the Concierge Club Lounge, found on Enchantment of the Seas and all Radiance- and Voyager-class ships. Inside, you'll find a self-service honor bar (with no fees)."

It is interesting to me since I have a royal suite booked for a future cruise.

Can any recent suite passengers give me any insight.

Thanks

We were on the Maasdam and got off in Rio after 24 days. I plan on writing a review of the cruise and the ship but I will say that this was my first and probably my only trip to Brazil. It is really sad how much poverty there is.

Hope you had a good time on the rest of your cruise and smooth sailing coming home.

We will be there on 9/23 on Celebrity Summit. How many ships can the port hold?

Thanks for all the good ideas to do.

Have a great next cruise.

Thanks for all the good info in these posts. It looks like calling RCL looking for a deal would be a waste of time. I may try my TA and see if she can do anything for me.

I am a RCL stockholder and should get that cruise credit for both cruises as far as I can tell.

Have a great next cruise.

Have been on HAL and RCL numerous times. Given the itinerary is what you want on HAL and generally the food and service is better I would go with HAL. The cabins and bathrooms are also a little bigger. Also although things aren't as active at night on HAL as on RCL you will still find things to do.

Have a great next cruise.

Hi,

I'm considering a Transatlantic cruise to Barcelona followed by a 7 day to Venice on the same ship. The total cruise is 21 days but it doesn't seem to be offered that way either on RCL's site or on my TA's site.

I'm wondering what has been the experiences of this group when doing this kind of cruise. I am especially interested in whether I can negotiate a good deal especially on the second 7 day cruise. The Transatlantic already is pretty discounted but I will be paying more for the second 7 days than the first 14 if I would book with the listed fares.

Anyway I am hoping some of you have done these B2B cruises and will share your experiences with me.

Thanks

You don't mention the itineraries of the various cruises you are considering. We did a Baltic cruise on the Seabourn Pride a couple of years ago that included 3 full days docked at the English Embankment in St Petersburg which meant no long drives in big buses as we did a private tour with another couple for all three days. They were 9, 8 and 7 hour days with a guide and a driver.

The bigger ships dock further out from the city.

We cruise mainly for the itineraries now that we are retired and the Baltic has great ports that require at least a full day to see the sights. IMHO St Petersburg needs 3 or more.

Good luck in making your decision and have a great next cruise.

How many points for a suite guarantee? Does anyone know.

Thanks

I booked suite guarantee for 14 day cruise with Celebrity on Saturday which was inside of the 90 day period and paid $3449 per person with a $150 per person military discount. I was told that this was the last suite guarantee available. Then 4 days later they reduced the price for the non-existent suite guarantee to what would have been $3199. I called my rep who of course had left for a long weekend. Then I emailed her and called her back-up who never returned my call.

Finally today I got a call back and was told I could not get the lower price but they did offer $100 per person cruise credit. I asked to speak to a supervisor and someone else came on the line who may have been a supervisor and said the $100 CC was all they would give me. After discussing the subject for about 10 minutes I ended up giving up and taking the cruise credit. After reading this thread I'm not sure I made the right decision. Oh well we want to take the cruise but it will make me hesitant to make a booking with Celebrity in the future since they obviously treat this situation differently with different people.

By the way I am Elite on Celebrity because of the number of RCL cruises I have in addition to one other 14 day Celebrity cruise 10 years ago.

Any comments?

Does anyone know whether the Beantown Trolley has a stop near the cruise port?

Thanks

Thanks for the replies. They aren't what I wanted to hear but do confirm what I thought I was reading in the web page on their price guarantee.

I will make a try but I suspect it is a lost cause.

Hi,

How does Celebrity handle it when they nffer a lower price after final payment date? I booked a cruise last Saturday and last night I found out Celebrity was offering the same cabin type for $250 a person less. I looked on Celebrity's web site and found their lowest price guarantee but there seems to be a disclaimer that might allow them to get out of honoring it.

Has anyone had any luck in getting them to honor their lower price guarantee? $500 might not seem like a lot of money to some folks but to me it is a considerable amount of money to pay for the same cabin I could have gotten cheaper.

I tried to call my Celebrity cruise consultant but she had already left for the day. I did then email her.

By the way I have already purchased my airfare to get to the cruise and to get home after so I already have another $800 tied up there.

Any suggestions or comments will be appreciated.

I'm looking for a current wine list. I'm considering whether to upgrade from classic to premium drink package and trying to decide if it is worth it. My wife and I mainly drink wine although we both enjoy an occasional per-dinner drink so we would be able to get that made with the premium liquor list.

There is a posting of 2012 wines. I am looking for a wine by glass list with prices and one of the bottled wines available.

Thanks

We are considering a cruise with Celebrity from and back to Venice in May 2015. What hotels do they use.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for the good info you have shared. We are trying to figure out where to go next spring and my wife has never been to Venice and I want her to experience it. But we are also looking at Australia New Zealand cruises so we are undecided. But your comments about the NA were what I wanted to hear.

Thanks again and have a great next cruise.

Hi,

My wife and I are thinking about taking the April 8 2015 New Amsterdam transatlantic cruise. We haven't been on that HAL ship but as you can see from my signature below we have experience on HAL. What do people who have been on this ship think about it?

We are taking it for several reasons one of which is to spend sometime in Venice after the cruise. I am also interested in anyone who has done this and where they stayed and how they liked it.

Thanks and have a great next cruise.