Megan01

Thank you for your informative and entertaining review. We are also on Equinox for the first time in October for the 13 day Barcelona to Venice return sailing and appreciate all the info on the ship and ports thus far. I too am a runner and work with kettle bells for exercise so the gym sounds awesome. Our last cruise on Connie, there were kettle bells but very low weight ones. Did you notice if they had 25 lb plus?

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Not sure of where your hotel is located..but we had a meet and greet for those interested at the Hard Rock Cafe by Catalunya Square. The restaurant will hold tables for the larger groups. It was a good location because those that arrived in BCN earlier could plan time near the Las Ramblas area and stop in for an early dinner. If you go before 6 there will be no trouble getting tables. No it's not Spanish....but many of the local restaurnats didn't have the space.

Thanks for the suggestion. We were hoping for somewhere we could casually meet, have a drink, etc. without the need to sit down and eat a meal. I've seen that many venues in Europe are smaller and can't likely accommodate our numbers. We may have to look at somewhere like Hard Rock but would have liked a place with Spanish influences if possible. I do appreciate your idea though as it may end up working best.

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We are cruising from Barcelona in October and have a number of people staying at the HCC Regente in our Roll Call and also nearby. We were planning to do an informal get together the night before sail away but the hotel can't accommodate the size of our group which is currently 37. Does anyone know of somewhere nearby that would work?

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Nice try Debbie..... Your intentions were good.... Very well said! I totally agree with your opinions and concerns. But, the complainers will always be more vocal than the happy cruisers. And I think it is a very small percentage of CCers that have issues.

 

Recently, one complaint is in regards to poor internet service on a transatlantic. Oh, remember how it used to be? Before the cutbacks.... no internet at all?? LOL

 

Enjoy your future Celebrity cruises Debbie. We met your family on the Constellation in Jan. We had a great cruise- and it looked like you were enjoying yourselves as well. No complainers to be found... We love Celebrity and hope to be lucky enough to sail with them many more times .

 

( Go Habs!!! my DH and your DD were sporting their Canadiens T shirts on the cruise)

Hey it's good to hear from a fellow cruiser again! We did have a wonderful cruise on the Connie in January and, you're right, I didn't hear much complaining on that one at all. I hope you enjoy your future cruises as well.

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Only you can judge how great a vacation you have (or not) when you cruise Celebrity. Please don't let others sway your decision or give you reason to be less than excited about your upcoming cruises! You will see many critical comments here but take it with a grain of salt. Sift through what is important to you and decide if these issues are important to you or inconsequential. Either way, I'd be surprised if you don't find that your cruise has way more positives than negatives anyway. Celebrity offers a great product. Have fun!

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Thank you for your thoughtful response. You point out that you think it is "unfair" to Celebrity for posters to "bash away" at everything that you judge "immaterial and consistent among lines." So your sense of justice is offended by these posts -- does that sound about right? You feel folks are blowing things out of proportion, not that no one should post anything negative about Celebrity, correct?

 

My experience is that negative posts help me more than unequivocally positive ones (which, along with fiery negative ones, I always take with a grain of salt), no matter the cruise line or ship. I think I am pretty good at figuring out when folks are exaggerating, and certainly when they have a "revenge" agenda, stemming from an "I've been burned" reaction (really, it's not hard to figure out, as usually these posters make it abundantly clear!) Negative comments help me go into a cruise with realisitic expectations, which are often exceeded, rather than expectaions that are too high and can only result in disappointment.

 

And, of course, I read posts about many lines and ships, so I see that the sort of "bashing" you are concerned about happens pretty much across the board. It is not at all exclusive to Celebrity, and I presume others who use CC recognize this as well, and take it into consideration when they decide on a cruise.

 

I guess I feel I understand what cruising is and what I am looking for, and whether the issues that folks are hot under the collar about are issues I care about. If they are (and they often aren't) I usually do a good deal of digging to see how "universal" this opinion is (on CC, at least, but as we all know, CC does not represent a majority of cruisers.) Then I decide whether to try the cruise line or ship anyway, for my own reasons. I don't think I am alone in my method of handling negative reviews -- I should think most experienced cruisers follow this method.

 

But I understand very well your motivation for new cruisers to have a realistic view of a line they might consider sailing with, as you apparently don't want anyone to miss out on the great experience you feel they would have on Celebrity. So your loyalty really lies with other cruisers, not with the line, per se.

 

Have I understood you better this time around? If so, I think our exchange has helped me understand cruise line "cheerleading" in a way I did not before.

I don't disagree that negative posts are helpful when making decisions about what is important or not to you in a vacation experience. I too read a lot of different threads for a number of different cruise lines, and yes, the negativity is there for all in different ways. It's the balanced perspectives that seem to be missing of late.

Although I may have entitled this thread as Celebrity being my "cruise line of choice" this isn't meant to imply I would only sail with them and no other. Currently, Celebrity fits well with my cruising needs most of the time but who knows what the future holds. As another poster said, repeat cruisers may find that some experiences lose their excitement over time. This can hold true for any cruise line I would expect as well, although, for me right now I like knowing a particular brand will provide a certain level of consistency that will meet my expectations at the very least. Celebrity provides that for me. Others do as well for me too. Brand loyalty doesn't have to mean you have your head in the sand about what other lines have to offer and that you are blindly ignoring deficiencies in the line you choose to travel with. It's about comfort and fit.

If I choose to speak positively about Celebrity because it works for me, that's just my opinion. Of course others are entitled to disagree. I've done the same myself where it was warranted. My issue is with the weighing in on threads where people are asking for opinions with respect to booking a cruise and trying to talk them out of it, at least that's how it appears. The balance just doesn't seem to be there. Maybe it's just human nature that people like to complain rather than take the time to say what was good about it. So yes, maybe it is about the cruisers rather than the line itself. Everyone should have a chance to judge for themselves I suppose. Feedback is good but lobbying to make people think they've made a mistake is something different.

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Realistically, what difference does it make to you whether others want or don't want to sail with Celebrity? Are you afraid that the line will go out of business because no one will choose it? Or maybe you are a stockholder and have a vested interest in the company's success? Enjoy Celebrity! Don't worry about what others are saying about it. If it is as good a product as you say it is, others will find that out and sail with and love Celebrity, too.

 

I've been on CC for years and have never quite figured out why folks get so invested in defending a particular ship or cruise line. Is there anything you can say to shed some light on this mystery?

I have no vested interest in Celebrity other than wanting to say that my experience has been a good one. I don't think it's fair to the cruise line or to any of those people looking forward to their upcoming celebrity experience to bash away at everything that, in perspective, is fairly immaterial or consistent across comparable lines. My understanding of CC is that it's a place for expressing good and bad alike but, lately, it's been a lot of the latter. I merely want to say that Celebrity has offered me great vacation memories and I look forward to more. There is no hidden agenda but it's indicative of the tone lately that this would be questioned.

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We have sailed Celebrity twice so far, both times in the past year. I am surprised and disappointed to see loyal cruisers "turn on" Celebrity. We picked this cruise line as a result of seasoned cruiser reviews here on CC. We've cruised HAL and Carnival,and were looking for an experience that was refined but fun with great itineraries. We've not been disappointed. Perhaps we don't have the history many others do to compare what was before. However, I expect most of the mainstream lines have had to rethink how they do business without compromising their brand. It's a tough, competitive business out there. We haven't cruised Celebrity a lot

yet but they've definitely become our line of choice for many reasons. We appreciate the service, the laid back good times (with a few fun evenings at the Martini Bar thrown in!), the food, the fellow passengers who respect everyone travels for their own experiences, and the overall "modern luxury" that Celebrity offers. It is disheartening to see how much energy is spent here on throwing a great cruise line under the bus. Times have changed. Why discourage new cruisers and those who may not be new to cruising but new to Celebrity from thinking they made the right vacation decision. It serves no good purpose for any of us.

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You can not do it on HAL's site.

Your TA must make the reservations -- you need to have the confirmations from your mother and you so that the TA can do it.

If you booked through HAL -- then you need to call HAL and have them do it.

Since you are so close to cruising, I hope you can make it happen.

Yes we have been told it's the late sitting. I was just hoping to know what time that would be if anyone knows. I understand it varies based on destination. I'm hoping for Alaska it's not too much beyond 8 pm.

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Perhaps I'm not seeing it here or on the HAL website, but we are booked on the Westerdam for May 31 7 days from Seattle to Alaska and have been assigned main fixed seating in the upper level of the dining room. My mother is cruising with me this time and it's her first cruise. I would like to confirm for her the dining time but don't see it anywhere. Does anyone know?

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Does it have a proper bar? I'd love to visit and have a drink there, but not dinner.

 

 

 

Thanks!

Not really. It's primarily set up as a restaurant. We were there for dinner last October and really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. Perhaps they'd take a reservation for dessert and drinks only if you're not inclined to do dinner there.

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I really liked Cellar Masters when on the Connie in Europe last October and again in January in the caribbean. We're on Equinox in October in the Med again and am glad to hear they are looking at both beer and wine rather than just turning this venue into a brew pub. Hopefully they still offer the self serve wine dispensers as it was great when not on a drink package!

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We are looking at booking a Misty Fjords tour through Island Wings. For the day & time we want to book, they have openings with Randy. I know I've heard great reviews about Michelle. But, has anyone had any experiences with Randy?

Randy Sullivan is with Mountain Air and has fabulous reviews as well. We are booked with him in early June. He and Michelle refer back and forth when booked up and both do similar Misty Fjord flight tours.

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Just read that the Westerdam also has the new Dive-In.

What is the Dive In? We are on the Westerdam in May and I hadn't heard about this previously...

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We've had success in exchanging for wine with the butler in a Sky Suite as well.

Anyone know where Connie is?

 

I'm on a cruise leaving on 20th and was considering adding a B2B but can't find it....

We're on the Connie leaving January 25 from Port Everglades to Key West and Cozumel. I would assume she's doing 4 and 5 nighters out of that port when you're there as well.

We did this just last week. There were two companies offering this near where the tender docked. 15 Euro per person covered the boat ride, the bus ride up, and the bus ride back to the cable car area. They told us the three times the bus left to go back to the cable car/port and we could show up at the designated spot any of those times. We had a good snack/light meal and drinks in Oia and used some free internet at the restaurant. One of our favorite ports- beautiful, and easy to DIY.

Thanks for the info. We have booked the boat ride to Oia when we are in Santorini later in October. As I understand it, they wait until they wait until they have a full load to leave regardless of whether or not you have a reservation for a particular time. Can you tell me how many passengers the boats hold roughly? We are booked on the earliest transfer and don't really want to wait that long as we're anxious to spend as much time in Oia as possible. Thanks!

We spent the day at St. John's resort 2 weeks ago! We paid 140€ for the 2 of us. If you have the money and are looking for a relaxing day, good service, great food and no crowds, then it is a fantastic deal!!

 

We were picked up at the new port at our agreed upon time. The driver was in a shuttle bus near the fence. We were greeted at the reception desk by name with a glass of champagne and our day pass. We were then driven down to the restaurant/pool area. We then went and had breakfast on the veranda. It was a buffet and one of the nicest I have seen. They served us cappuccinos at our table. There was a self serve table with more champagne, white wine and some kind of Greek liquor.

 

After breakfast we went down to the beach for a while. It was small, but very clean and uncrowded. We had chairs with umbrellas (included). The pool was gorgeous and very clean! It was also uncrowded. At the pool we lounged on swinging lounge beds under a canopy.

 

Around 11:00am they started with bar service at the pool. The staff seemed very attentive. The lunch was huge and delicious. We had ordered meal 1 and 2.

Day pass - menu 1

Greek tzatziki

Fried calamari with spicy tomato dip

Greek salad

Pasta with pesto or napolitain or Chicken souvlaki (brochette) with a light lemon sauce.

Fruit salad or ice cream

1 soft drink or 1 beer and ½ bottle of miner water

Day pass - menu 2

Fried graviera cheese saganaki in olive oil

Caesar’s Salad with chicken stripes, parmesan cheese, bacon and croutons

Grilled salmon filet with pesto and grilled vegetable or Large homemade hamburger with tomato, lettuce, onions, and French fries (plus bacon or cheese)

Chocolate cake with ice cream

1 soft drink or 1 beer and ½ bottle of miner water

 

I was worried that because it was a "special menu" for day passes that it might be small or subpar. Wrong! The portions were huge and everything was delicious! We lounged by the pool more after lunch. We then walked up to reception (they will drive you if you call, but I wanted to check out the rest of the resort) and had the shuttle drop us off at town.

 

A fantastic day!! I will try to attach some photos, I have not done that before.

Does anyone know of somewhere similar at the end of October that you could recommend? We tried to book St. John's but apparently they close mid October until the Soring.