luvbluseas

On 5/14/2020 at 8:22 AM, tocruiseguy said:

I always hated buffets on the ships, especially the time I was washing my hands in the washroom right outside the Oceanview cafe and a guy walked right out of the stall past the sinks.  Witnessed him spooning food on his plate, infected everything he touched with his dirty hands.  When cruising starts up again the buffets need to be removed permanently.

 

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/japanese-experiment-showcases-how-quickly-viruses-can-spread-at-buffets

 
I would like to agree with you about the disgusting habits MANY passengers have. One of our pet peeves is: we ALWAYS see fellow passengers in the breakfast buffet lines dressed in their pajamas, hair not combed, sleep still in their eyes, some barefoot! Think about this: when you get out of bed what is the first thing that 90% of humans do?  RIGHT! They go to the bathroom! IF someone does not wash the sleep out of their eyes, does not comb or brush their hair, does not get dressed what chance is it that they washed their hands!

GROSS!

We have had some of these “people” in front of us in line and we have requested new serving pieces provide! BUT they are the obvious ones! What about all the other pigs that did not wash their hands?

We have seen lots of people walk right past the ship personnel with the “Hand Sanitizer”.

i do not see anyway that we can be safe on a ship. I see no way to ensure people wash their hands and they are pushing button outside of and in the elevators, their hands are on escalator and stairway hand rails. 
My husband has a compromised immune system. I see NO way for him to be safe on any ship!

I'm getting ready to reschedule our spring break trip for 2020, and we have two options that could work.

 

There is the 4 night Disney Dream cruise out of Port Canaveral. We can pad it out with a couple days before and after at the parks. That was what we had originally planned before we had to scuttle our spring break 2019 plans.

 

The 5 night Disney Magic cruise out of Miami caught my eye when it was announced. It too would fit our schedule, and Cozumel sounds much more interesting than Nassau, plus we'd get two sea days. The down side is an extra two hours to drive to the parks from Miami after the cruise, and only having three days at the parks afterwards.

 

This is our first cruise, so I don't know whether the boat should make a difference or not. I suspect that it'll be easier to get Palo brunch reservations with 2 sea days on the Magic, though. We have 2 kids that will be 13 and 10 (almost 11).

 

Thoughts?

I would highly recommend the longer cruise every time! I once worked for a agency selling cruises. The longer the cruise the better your experience will be. Different groups of people go on different lengths of cruises. The longer the cruise the better ship, better food, better crew, etc, etc. I also believe any cruise, just like most vacations, are what you make them, your attitude and outlook will be the main factor. We have cruised in a suite and we have cruised in an inside cabin but we have always, always had a great time! What I hope for you and your friends is that whatever you choose that you have a Great time!

I have noticed that Disney has a cabin classification they call “white wall veranda”. Will someone please explain what that is and how it differs from a regular veranda on other lines.

Wow! On my 12-N 9/6/19 Reflection cruise, an A1 cabin (A2 loyalty fare) is now $1600 pp greater than a 1A cabin (1B loyalty fare.)

 

I have always enjoyed Blu; but is it really worth an additional $133.33 pp per night?

We are willing to pay the price for Aqua/BLU BUT we MUST have an Aqua Accessible Stateroom. Celebrity only has 4 of them! We have started to book at least 14-15 cruises but could not because there were NO Aqua Accessible Staterooms available to book!

IF we are spending $6000. For a cruise+extras we want the class of cabin we want! We both LOVE BLU restaurant and will only cruise with Celebrity IF we cruise it has to be what we want. Also, we have sailed RCCL twice, the first time was horrible and we swore to never to do RCCL again. Then a group cruise we “really” wanted to join booked on RCCL. We decided maybe our first ‘horrible’ cruise was a fluke and we decided to give RCCL another chance, it was horrible! Their food, every venue, was horrible! We want BLU!

I would definitely let them know before hand, if you have booked through a travel agent get them to follow it up. If you have booked via Celebrity maybe just email them. I would be careful with the buffet due to cross contamination. I don't have food allergies myself but I would definitely make sure the maitre d in the MDR knows even if you have advised prior to the cruise. Better to be safe. Happy cruising :)

With food allergies I would call Celebrity. They have a Department that handles special food requests. Also you will be told that you should eat all your meals in the Dining Room not the buffet. In the Buffet they cannot guarantee no cross contamination.

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I also use a scooter. The doorways on handicap accessible Princess cabins are 32 inches wide. Measure his scooter at its widest point and I think you will be pleased to find you can bring his scooter. The entry to the bathroom is also 32 inches. The bathroom has a shower seat and flat access. I bring water shoes for the shower as the floor gets wet both in and outside the shower which is quite a problem for me in transferring back to the scooter.

Thank you! His scooter is a Pride, Victory 10, 3 wheeler. He does not have the arms and it is 24” wide. He would feel better if he brought that scooter. So you say the doors should be plenty wide enough for that so we will go with that and pray that it all works out.

Thank you for your help!

Doorways in non handicap cabins are 22 inches wide if that helps. Scooters can not be left in the hallways overnight.

I neglected to say we do have a handicapped cabin on the Baja deck. I do not know how wide their doorways are that is why we are bringing my scooter - mine is 22” wide, his is wider.

Help please? We are sailing on the Crown Princess at the end of January. My husband “has” to have a mobility scooter with him. We have 2, both are 3 wheelers, his is larger with more power, but larger are we do not think it will fit doorways etc so we are going to take mine. It is almost new Pride Go-Go LX with Suspension. Our problem is we are worried about boarding. Will he be able to drive it up the ramp? He is a big guy, weighs about 290. He had his most of his foot amputated and it is still healing he can NOT walk.

I called Princess and they said “well if he can’t drive it up we recomm6he not bring it”! Well that is helpful, that means we don’t go!! If we rent one they take them onboard thru the lower deck BUT he could not get to the cabin, I cannot push him up the ramp in a wheelchair. One time-a long time ago-they tried to board him in a wheelchair, it was an old, cheap wheelchair and the front wheel broke. DH was so embarrassed, he will never do that again. Any ideas?

I couldn't stop laughing at this one

But true!

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IMHO there are NO real Formal nights any longer. One of the reasons DH and I have cut our cruises to almost zero! We LOVED “true formal nights”! When Celebrity caved in we gave up and quit!

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We have stayed 3 times at a Best Western called “Hotel Canada” GREAT hotel! GREAT buffet breakfast and very European and besutiful! Great service! Beautiful decorations and 1 block or less to the subway (metro) and that stop is only one stop from “The Termini”; that is where the trains, buses, subway all come together! Once we took a train to the Termini, once we all piled in a cab. But a great hotel! Some very nice restaurants within walking distance also!

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my favorite burger was from?

 

 

 

Everyone sings the praises of guys, and I am going on a cruise in 29 days that has a guys on it-what am I expecting-and what was your favorite burger before you tried a guys?

FREE on the outside deck of Celebrity’s Eclipse. Cooked to order, yummy topping available.

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If we are coming to San Pedro to cruise on Princess next fall. We will have a car but my husband is handicapped and must use his mobility scooter most of the time. Here in Florida it is very easy to drop off our luggage and then park our car and the we only have about 2-3 blocks to go back to the ship. And our car is safe in an excellent covered garage. Will it be similar to that at the San Pedro, Princess Cruise Line Port?

Also, do any of you have any recommendations for nice hotels that are not $200/night? But still close to the port?

It would NOT be my choice for a hotel...especially with two nights and no car...

It's at a VERY BUSY intersection...near where the 110 Freeway dumps out onto Gafney Street...

What you have close by is a very tacky liquor store, a 7-11, two gas stations, a Burger King, a Wienerschnitzel, a Hawaiian Fast Food place and a donut shop...

All of the decent restaurants and attractions of San Pedro are about a 10 to 20 block walk away minimum...and not exactly a scenic walk...taxis are not easy to find...You are going to have to call for them...and the ride is a little long to walk...and a little short for taxi drivers to want to come get you for the small fare...

 

Did you pre-pay with Hotwire?

 

Well, for any others reading this thread: Please heed my recommendation and, if you plan on being two nights without a car in San Pedro, please choose the Crowne Plaza or Doubletree...

 

The Crown Plaza would have put you within easy walking distance of over a dozen very good restaurants perfectly suited for your family...and close to attractions on the waterfront...The Doubletree would have put you in pleasant surroundings at the Marina and a nice walk along the waterfront...or the DT would shuttle you free to restaurants...

 

And both are much nicer hotels...

 

JMHO...

As we do not use CC and operate on a cash only basis we always pre-pay as much as possible when we are going on trips. I would like to purchase an OBC for an upcoming cruise. If I purchase this on our Debit/Credit Bank card. If there is money left on our account at the end of our cruise will Princess credit it back to our account?

Can anyone that has sailed Celebrity and Princess tell me something about Princess? We have sailed Celebrity for years and mostly love it but are joining a group cruise and will be sailing Princess the end of January. Hoping that some of you can tell us some of the differences and some of the similarities. Thank you for your time!

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You will need to find out the width of the scooter. They are not all the same. If you are renting one, the rental company (or their website) should be able to tell you.

 

Doorways on Carnival are listed as 22". This does not include door clearance, so you have to subtract 2", making the actual usable width 20". There are some scooters that will fit through this space.

 

Remember, due to SOLAS regulations, you cannot park the scooter in the hallway. It must be kept in your room.

 

I hope you still enjoy your cruise!!

Are you saying the actual door width is 20" and not 22'? My husband's scooter is exactly 22" and we thought it would fit. This causes a serious problem.

Oh, I am a she not a he and DH was a RN with a BSB degree for 30+ years and a hospital administrator and I also have a BS degree. Plus DH was also a Forensic Nurse and spent many years as an "expert witness" all over the Country.

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We have never sailed any of the deluxe cruise lines BUT out of the main line cruise lines the ONLY one with QUALITY STEAK IMHO is Celebrity Aqua and their Speciality Dining. HAL Pinnacle also had an excellent filet a few years back. RCCL, even in the spec restaurant SUCKED! As did Carnival, NCL, have not sailed Princess.

We are just about done with cruising as we enjoyed 5* food and can no longer get that.

It's for the Summit's Caribbean and Bermuda cruise next April. I've priced them all out, and there's less than $350 difference between getting a regular balcony cabin and getting either an Aqua Class or Concierge Class cabin. The Aqua Class cabin is tempting because of the spa benefits, and the Concierge Class is tempting because of the perks that come with it. I just can't decide between the three different classes, lol.

We no longer sail "X" unless we sail Aqua because to us it is the ONLY way to get any quality food. Plus during the day you can check the menus in the MDR and Aqua and choose where you want to eat. Breakfast in Aqua is very nice also. On almost all cruise lines we feel that food quality has gotten SO BAD that we have just about decided to stop cruising. It is difficult for us anyway as DH is handicapped. Not worth the $$ to us if we cannot get quality food. We realize most people do not care, but we do. Have a GREAT CRUISE!

If I'm dead

 

 

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We have already stopped sailing RCCL they food is just toooo bad and for what we pay for the two of us to cruise for 10-14 days in a handicapped balcony stateroom we are NOT willing to eat such a low quality of food! Even RCCL specialty restaurants suck!

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Are you saying that for the Muster Drill that they did not make everyone wait until every single passenger reported to be counted at the muster drill? That they released you and later held another "muster drill" for those that did not show up for the "Real" muster drill? I am trying to understand what you said!

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So far so good. Continuing....

 

 

 

 

 

When planning this trip, we started out with 18, but due tovarious reasons, a few dropped off and we were left with 12 which was perfectas I was the one planning everything and it was hectic but fun. I'm a HUGEplanner and any time we book a cruise (and even without a booking), I'm on CC every single day readingreviews on the ship and ports. My husband thinks I'm crazy when I do that butnever complains because he knows I get valuable info from the awesome threadshere on CC We booked the cruise lastOctober, so our countdown wasn't too far, but seems like it took forever to gethere LOL About a month after booking, hubby received a Premier Casino invitewhich happened to have our sailing listed so after speaking with out TA(mother-in-law) we were able to switch to that rate which saved us a littleover $240 for our cabin and gave him $400 cash from the casino which was AWESOME! We've never been able to takeadvantage of the Premier Casino invites so hubby was too excited. More on thatlater. Anyway, I decided to have everyone meet at my home and booked a funparty bus to take us to the port so we could all arrive there at the same time.(some of our group who I wont mention have a hard time being on time so thiswas perfect lol) The bus arrived at 10:40 and we were off to the port! I hadeveryone select 11:30-12 check in time for the new staggered check in POM haswhich worked out great since the traffic was awful on the way so we arrived at12:00. Hubby and I (and our 13 & 9 YO) had priority boarding as part of thePremier Casino invite and my MIL and 19 YO had FTTF so we got on prettyquickly. Everyone was able to get on the ship about 20 minutes after which waspretty sweet. I do have to admit that the check in was a bit unorganized. Whenwe got upstairs, we had to go to the counter and was told that our boys werenot checked in. Huh? Apparently whenwe first showed our boarding passes and birth certificates, they didn't scan our boys in. So long story short, we got them checked in and werefinally on our way to the gangway. I’m always both nervous and excited all inone when walking onto the ship lol I don’t think that’ll ever go away no matterhow many cruises I go on. I did miss the infamous DING when you first board butit’s ok. We are on vacation!!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 – Sail Away Day!

 

We went to our cabins which were ready and dropped off thefew bags we carried on and went up to Lido for lunch. Splendor doesn’t have theGuys burger or Blue Iguana but I didn’t care for the Guysburger when I had iton Glory anyway so no biggie for me. I did want to try the Tandoor which unfortunatelyI never had a chance to eat at so sorry I can’t give my opinion on that. So,the kids got hamburgers or hotdogs and fries. I always get a veggie burger andloaded fries lol I’m such a kid! The veggie burger was pretty good too! I don’trecall them offering that on any of my previous cruises so maybe it’s a newitem. Either way, it was good. I also ordered the welcome aboard drink, yummy!

 

 

 

 

 

Afterlunch, we explored the ship a bit to get familiar with the layout and whereeveryone’s cabins were since we were sort of spread out. Most of us were ondeck 7 midship which was perfect! 2 decks down to Promenade and 2 decks up toLido. My dad and his crew were on deck 9 forward which was a nice location aswell. All of the decks were beautiful to me. I’ve seen posts where people hatedall of the pink, but I liked it! I didn’t find it too much at all. The layoutwas pretty easy to figure out as well. My youngest wanted to play mini golf, so we went up and played a round with him. He's so funny because he has endless energy and wants to do everything the ship has to offer all in one day! lol Wish I had his energy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After exploring for a bit, we went to cabins to see if ourluggage had arrived. Some had and some hadn’t but no biggie. I was in no rushto unpack lol Our pre-ordered cases of water were there as well as a gift from the casino! I love gifts lol It was a cute black gift bag with 2 red and clear tumblers which were so cute! I collect cups from any place so this was right up my alley! Also had one of their many black letters we received daily listing the raffles and drawings the casino had each day. Soon it was muster time YAYYY! Not LOL This was probably thelongest muster drill EVER! And HOT! They did have these ipad devices andchecked in each cabin and anyone who was not present was supposed to meet someplace else for their own muster drill lol They gave the kids their wristbandsand then after the drill, we were off to Lido for the sail away party. That waswhen I first encountered MarQ!! Oh my gosh, can I just say thatHE.IS.AWESOME!!!! His entire team was so full of energy and enthusiasm andreally entertained us the entire trip! For me, he was the best CD I’ve seen sofar. I don’t know how they keep up such high energy like they do! It’s amazing!After spending time on Lido with the Fun Crew, my boys were very anxious to geton the slide so off we went. They must have gone down that slide a 100 times! LolIt was so fun watching them. One weird thing I noticed were these annoying blackflies EVERYWHERE!! I have never encountered anything like them and I live insouth Florida so I see all sorts of bugs, but never on a ship and never thismany! They looked like love bugs we get in Orlando, but they weren’t They didn’tbite or anything, but being that the deck was wet from the pool and slide, theywere sticking to everything and everyone! It grossed me out, but the kidscould care less lol After about an hour of sailing, they magically disappearedwhich was really nice. The crew quickly mopped up the millions of dead bugs ondeck and we never saw them again. That’s Florida for you lol

 

 

 

 

 

So, I'm having trouble uploading pics so give me some time to figure it out lol I'll get them uploaded asap!

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We are old folks so I am sure that what we do is boring to most but DH and I love to cruise and always have a good time. We always wear our pink polo shirts and white shorts or pants. We eat in the buffet as we enjoy Celebrities cold soups and food selections for lunch. We arrive fairly early and as DH is handicapped we do not rush anywhere. We try to take a relaxed attitude as many pax are VERY reluctant to allow him on "their" elevator! As if he has a choice with only one foot. We enjoy the drink of the day and can't wait to get into our cabin and unpack. I never feel like our cruise has started until we have unpacked and muster drill is over. Muster drill could be a LOT shorter if everyone would show up when they are told and stop THINKING THAT THEY ARE SPECIAL!!! But obviously they enjoy holding up thousands of people and the entire crew of the ship! I think that there should be a fine if you do not show up in the first 10 minutes!

Dining

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Very good post SeaMystique. I think that your point is very well taken. People who have not experienced or known someone who has experienced this don't understand how this kind of thing can go on and no one outside the family would ever know. My husband's father was a violent, angry man who was verbally and physically abusive to his wife and children. The police were never called to their home, even when he drove their car through their garage in a fit of rage. To the outside world, he was a charismatic man - well liked and popular in his field. What happened behind closed doors was known only to his immediate family. He would fly into a rage at the drop of a hat - we walked on eggshells never knowing what would set him off or when it would happen. My mother-in-law in particular bore the brunt of his abuse, yet she stayed with him and died too young I believe from illness brought on by the stress of a life lived with a man who subjected her to a constant cycle of abuse. But when she passed away, publicly people commented about their long marriage and great life. When my father-in-law passed away, people went out of their way to tell me what a nice and charming man he was and how much they liked him. They never, ever knew the demons that he harbored that only his close family witnessed. I have no doubt he was mentally ill and it is sad he couldn't be helped, but it was a tragic, tortuous existence for a kind and wonderful lady who deserved so much better. She could have easily ended up just like this poor woman, but by the grace of God did not. But I saw the rage in him that could have taken him to that place and it was terrifying. So for those commenting here who think they know about the reality of someone suffering domestic violence in silence and hiding, trust me, you don't know anything unless you have lived with someone who is literally Jekyll and Hyde.

You are so right my DH worked in the Psych business for over 30 years and most people have no idea how prevalent this is. But someone has to report it and keep reporting it until they get help!

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