the penguins

A quick stop at Guest Relations will get you a refund for any items damaged - Amount credited to your OBC. On a recent cruise we had the hilarious incident of a "small" hole as follows: Phone call from Cabin Steward: did you put a red Dress in the laundry Me: No CS: I will call back. Second Call " Did you put a red top in the laundry Me: No. CS: I will go to the laundry and call you. Third call "did you put a pair of red mens pants in the laundry. Me: if you mean Tartan under pants yes. What's the issue. CS: The laundry says there is small hole in the pants do you want them washed. Me: If it's small yes. When the laundry was returned the pants had 200 plus holes - more holes than material. I took the pants to GR - more amused than annoyed just to get an explanation GR: We can only find out what happened if you make a formal complaint. Me: OK,I wiil do that. GR: thanks we will complete the form and call you when we get a response. Me: Thanks. Straight back to the cabin and the Boss (Anita) had had a phone call. The complaint couldn't be processed as I hadn't given a price for the item. She told me the pants were part of a three pack making one pair £3 ( say $4). Back at GR Me the pants cost $4. GR: Sorry we don't deal in 4's c an we put $5 Me: OK. GR: So you are agree to $5. Me: Yds. GR: Thanks the sum will be credited to your account tonight. Complaint closed. That night we were credited with $10 - appears the Accounts Dept don't work in 5's. I then packaged up the pants and took them back to GR labelled as a present for Julie the Director of Guest Relations. Anyone who knows Julie will know she has a wicked sense of humour so I knew this would come back to haunt me. PS If you don't know Julie you have heard her as on most Celebrity ships she is the "voice in the lifts" as well as on most pre recorded announcements. Her most famous saying is " If I can't fix it, it ain't broke". You can look her up on line - Julie Sherringham. On one cruise another passenger gave Julie a gift of an empty box of chocolates (she can't eat chocs due to a medical issues) she responded by delivering a bottle of wine to his cabin - needles to say the bottle was also empty. We never did get an explanation as to what had caused the holes

You can - don't log in to the WiFi, put the phone in the safe as soon as you board, take real pics and make a photo book when you get home. Leave nothing but footprints wherever you go and take memories home to share. If there was a dire emergency at home the ship can always be contacted.

the wording is correct basic WIFI can only be purchased pre boarding. Once onboard you can only purchase the Premium WIFI option.

Surely your "splitting hairs". In my example we had paid for a package. For 3 days using that package we were unable to send any messages i.e. we could the type them, press send but the messages went nowhere. That is my definition of having no internet connection.

thanks - well I think it's thanks. None of the posts refer to "intranet" only "internet". But does that mean that what I said was correct? I do hope so.

yes I believe they have.

Sorry you have lost me. What connection to the ships WIFI is free? There is always a charge. Or are you saying that we can connect to the ship's system but that the ship's system can't connect to the outside world?

X is very clear on what you can expect from the basic package. If this had met your requirements you would have been delighted. When you wanted something faster you had the option to upgrade to Premium for just over $7 a day which seems an absolute bargain.

not always in mid Atlantic - on out last Fort Lauderdale to Southampton (Princess) we had 3 days with no connection. IT blamed it on a combination of the storm behind us and the route we were taking to keep ahead of said storm that resulted in major route changes.

agree with your last point 100%

totally agree - asking questions convinced me not to book what would have been our first P and O cruise.

So are you are saying it’s against some sort of rule to use a specific Roll Call in the way I suggested? Hope not as it’s a great source of information.

Really. Many "join" the Roll Call before they book often using this years sailing to help plan next years or last years to help plan this years.

If he wants a guarantee that he can see his favourite sports it's simple - leave him at home 🤣.

if 3104 is on the Port side you could be under the disco/nightclub. We have been offered an accessible cabin twice and refused it each time. I would call and discuss an alternative.

we booked the train that departed before the cruise ships excursion. Walked from the ship to the station. When we got back discovered there was really nothing to do in Flam - we eventually took a sightseeing boat to the other side of the Fjord and came back on a regular bus.

I was responding to a Post comparing Celebrity with Princess and on that comparison the difference is not great. I am much better of on X as I don 't need to buy any package (Elite+ gives me all the WIFI I need plus unlimited speciality teas/coffee/chocolate - we don't drink alcohol - and enough water/sodas during Happy Hour to see us through 24 hours). We haven't looked at a HAL cruise since our terrible experiences on Westerdam in 2017 which included: 1) day 8 of a 12 night cruise before we had hot water and a working toilet at the same time. 2)Taps over the bath that my wife couldn't turn due to her Arthritis - the plumber's response was " we have much better taps with levers if you like I can fit them for you". We later learnt the new taps had been brought on board when the ship went in for a refit but for some reason they weren't fitted. No cabins available with just shower cubicles. 3) a coffee shop with only one person working the espresso machines. HAL's response to the long lines wasn't to get extra staff so they could use both machines but to get chairs. 4) no fresh supplies of food/cakes/pastries in the coffee shop after 8.0pm - the place was like a morgue. 5) shows so bad that even the Cruise Director didn't bother to come and introduce them. On one night after 35 minutes the production show just stopped leaving us wondering if it had ended. After waiting a few minutes the house lights came on so clearly it was time to go. I could go on but you get the idea. No apology from HAL. On the last night, after repeated requests, they gave us a small discount on our Account. After much post cruise correspondence got an offer of an additional FCC which ran out during Covid and which HAL refused to extend. Shame as our our cruises on the smaller ships had been great.

I would suggest that the drinks/wifi/tips packages are perhaps not as different as you imply. For comparison in Europe this summer prices were: Princess: $60 per person per day Celebrity (with the tips added) $66 per person per day. In addition as with X you add the tips separately anyone with OBC can use that to pay all or part of the tips whereas with Princess you are using "real" money. Personally neither package offers any value to us as our Elite+ benefits means we are far better off on Celebrity.

There didn't seem to when we boarded Reflection in October. There were 2 lines: the first short for suites and, if you asked, for disabled. The second, a very long line for everyone else. Several Suite Guests questioned the Port Staff as to why we were being allowed in the Suite Line - clearly my wife's bright red Rollator wasn't a good enough clue.

Should last the year. If they were raised X always gives notice so you can pay at the current rate.

All the cruise lines base it's published passenger numbers on 2 guests per cabin (plus the few singles) which gives a level playing field when you are comparing. However if you look at the actual quarterly figures most of the lines operate at over 100% capacity based on that system. That has nothing to do with life boat capacity. Taking into account the lifeboats you see, the inflatable rafts in the big round boxes etc the ships have the capacity to disembark every passenger from each side of the ship i.e. everyone could be evacuated using just one side of the ship. The ships are also designed to be their own lifeboats i.e. to keep everyone safe onboard until rescue arrives.

the current level of tips per cabin grade along with how the tips are allocated is attached below.

absolute rubbish. The vast majority pay the "auto grats". As it's impossible to pay all the staff who are included in the system individually (for example Laundry staff or the staff in the public restrooms) anyone who doesn't has to accept that a considerable number of the crew will have worked for less money than they should have had.

Really. For a first Post depending on the port that's really bad advice But of course you won't be there to "share the pain" if they take your advice and are board at a port where the Authorities do check and enforce the times.

Stuff a bus - lots of cabins with 3 plus passengers increasing passenger numbers to way over 100% which in turn affects crowding on the decks and in all inside venues /lounges - a bit like the Christmas/New Year Sailings. Spa Pool area likely to be opened up for families at least for part of the day.