the penguins

26 minutes ago, indy406 said:

We were going to upgrade to premium during a sale a couple of days ago. Went to checkout and realized we'd forgotten the 20 percent gratuities charge. Decided no thanks. Killed the upgrade. We'll pay the up charge per drink (use onboard credit) if we want something on the premium package. Won't happen that often so we'll be money ahead. We have an AI package so no gratuities charge on our classic package drinks.

the grats are in the price - nothing is free

5 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

From X's FAQs:  If your assistive device is 23 inches or less, it will fit through a standard stateroom door. If your assistive device is 32 inches or less, it will fit through an accessible stateroom door.

Sorry Ruth my mistake with the inches - should have had the Boss ( Anita) check my typing.

7 hours ago, Alakegirl said:

In February a friend had a need, unexpectedly, for a mobility scooter. There was no way to park it comfortably in her stateroom.  Every night, her steward took the scooter to the alcove next to the library, plugged it in, and after overnight charging, returned it to her the next morning. It was never parked in a hallway where it would have been a traffic hazard. The steward said this was the standard operating procedure for passengers who had not been able to book accessible state rooms. This was on Millennium,

Celebrity rules are crystal clear: Mobility devices/wheelchairs must be stored and recharged in your cabin. Wheelchairs must not be kept in corridors, hallways or outside elevators. Wheelchairs must fit through 21 inch wide standard cabin doors. Wheelchairs over 36 inches wide need special approval. Staff are not permitted to lift wheelchairs. 

1 hour ago, Mr. Click said:

You should be able to book your dining times in the cruise planner.  You can do it on M and S class ships.  You cannot do it on the newer E class ships.   Since the Connie is an M Class you are good to go. Just find the dining tab in your cruise planner and scroll down.

Confusingly it comes under Speciality Dining. You can book any day and time - you just have to do it one day at a time. There is no charge. You have left it a bit late for May so popular times will probably be full, but there will be tables held back for walk ins - you might have to wait or take a buzzer and retreat to a bar. When you "check in " each night you will generally be seated quicker if you make it clear you are happy to share a table - our choice is a table for 6.

Just now, DaKahuna said:

 

Yes, I am very sure.

 

 

You didn't say it was for the Premium Package. Current price for Classic is $66 Inc the tips. Might be cheaper to book that and pay the extra for the odd drink that went over the limit.

13 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

We have a 13-night cruise coming up in May and the drink package is current going for $79.99 per night, total $1039.87 and 20% gratuities would be $207.98  Total price, per person $1247.85.  Since we have been only booking Retreat for the last five or six years, I did not realize how much these packages were.  Last time we were not in a suite, was back in the "Big, Better, Best" days of choosing which amenities you wanted and I would get the regular beverage package and OBC and use the OBC to pay the $10.00 a day to upgrade my package to premium.  

 

 

 

That seems very high - are you sure that's not the Classic Drinks with the Basic WiFi including the tips? 

23 hours ago, harz99 said:

Great but, a) that doesn't answer the question, and B) the option to book in the UK without AI wasn't available previously on our last X cruise!

Also as you both get 240 minutes use one package first (log in and out each time) and see how many days it lasts.

You can share the minutes but not be logged in at the same time. When you have used the first 240 minutes and you want to activate the second package you will know if it will last the rest of the cruise or if you should use it as a discount on a full package for the remainder of the cruise - we have never needed this second option.

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

Yes, Celebrity states that it must be charged in the stateroom, however, in practice as long as the scooter is out of the way, (see photo above) charging in the alcoves is allowed.  
 

 

Your response highlights the issue that  disabled passengers could be faced with.

Say for 90% of the time X turns a "blind eye" to scooters being charged in the Hallways what happens when they don't? Then the disabled passenger is totally stuck as the rules clearly state that the scooters must be stored and charged inside the cabin and that you must check this before booking.

The rules are similar when you have manually powered chairs/walkers where again you are responsible for enduring items will fit in the cabin. The Special Needs Form requires you to detail the size and weight of the chair/ Rollator.

As an aside whereas our Rollator fits through all the standard cabin doors on S line ships it had to be folded on Sky Princess which was a real pain.

Also on S class the corridors are wide enough that we can pass the Cabin Stewards Trolleys whereas on Sky Princess the Rollator had to be folded every time - one reason we are reluctant to do another Princess Cruise.

On 3/27/2024 at 9:26 AM, kruzgal said:

I really enjoy my job so don't want to retire early but it does mean I am tied to school holidays. If your children are grown up then presumably there is no reason why they couldn't sail with you on an adult only ship? If you had grandchildren you could go on the Celebrity ships that are newer and bigger. 

To me, making at least a couple of their older ships adult only is a no brainer, as P&O do. We are not loyal to any particular line and will always shop around, largely looking at dates, then itinerary and price. Celebrity has 14 ships so making 2 of them adult only would barely make a difference to me, but could attract others to them. I think they are missing a trick. 

great theory - but how do you see it working.

Taking your suggestion  X has 2 adult only ships. How do you choose them? In the UK X only has one ship - will that be family of adult only?  Same app;ies out of other European Ports. So many reasons it won't work.

P and O only operates a limited number of routes and I believe it's Adult Only ships are "converted" to family cruises during peak periods/Christmas etc.

On 3/27/2024 at 6:08 PM, STNGR said:

 

You are correct, it boils down to math. Here's my math (not a big drinker):

 

   1. Regular included coffee is fine, no need for fru fru mocha choca whatever = 0.00

 

   2. One beer/piña colada during the day = $12

 

   3. One cocktail before dinner: $17

 

   4. One glass of wine with dinner: $12

 

   5. One after dinner drink: $17

 

Sub-total:                  $58

Plus 20% gratuity:    $12

Total:                         $70

 

Celebrity package:            $80

Plus mandatory gratuity: $15

 

Math: $80-$70= $10 cheaper than package

 

More importantly, principle: $12-$15 = $3 day Celebrity pockets for itself and doesn't give to it's underpaid employees  (employees gets tips depending on listed price of drink every time they swipe your card when you get a drink, not based on overall gratuities Celebrity charges their guests).

 

Principle.

 

Your tipping principle is incorrect - there is no upper limit drink more and the staff get more.

2 hours ago, cgags47 said:

I think my original question got lost in the shuffle here.  So between the hours of 5-7 pm, Elite members can get free drinks from most bars around the ship?  Just by using your SeaPass?

 

Sorry, it's been some time since we've sailed Celebrity.

Yes from the menu posted above- Post 28 

I meant to add a note to give you an indication of the space issues in the UK.

Arsenal is one of the UK's leading Premiership Football Clubs with a modern stadium in London.

Spectator Capacity: over 60,000.

Public car parking spaces: Zero.

Disabled Car Parking for visiting (away fans): 6

Our Grandson lives in Dallas and his local hockey rink has more  car parking spaces.

57 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 
Sounds like a lot of bad design features that should be improved.  The local officials need to remember that the cruise lines and the passengers are their customers and they should do everything to make the experience better.  Add some Passport control officers.  If they aren’t interested,  then maybe the cruise lines should move the cruise origin to more friendly port.

wow - ok where to start:

1) Southampton is the UK number cruise port.

2 Cruising is still relatively small in the UK and the cruise season is short with no likely hood of it being extended. There will never be the demand for all year round cruising - Royal tried and failed with Independence of the Seas and MSC are I believe going to try. As a private company with no shareholders to keep happy and a different attitude to profit (they kept a least one ship cruising throughout Covid when all the others lines stopped) MSC might succeed only time will tell.

3) A brand new Cruise Terminal would be very expensive -  a cost that would be passed directly to passengers.

4  Passport Control is handled by the UK's Border Force  (just like at Airports) and has nothing to do with the Port Authorities or the Cruise Lines.

5) One thing the UK lacks is land space and what there is is expensive. Southampton Port would find it impossible to expand it's footprint to add for example the much needed car parking.

6) Southampton is very welcoming, the staff friendly and efficient - all they ask is that passengers stagger their arrival times i.e. arrive at the times they have booked, and the process works well. 

8 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I’m not sure why it would be chaos in Southampton if it works ok in all of the other ports around the world.  Sometimes you may have a little wait but it certainly isn’t chaos.  

 over 50% of passengers arrive at Southampton by car and are often held in along line at the main gate, then funnelled into a holding area before even being allowed to onload their bags before quickly moving their cars to the long stay car park. Passengers arriving by taxi/bus/on foot drop off bags at a single point and then walk to Terminal Entrance. The entrance area inside the terminal doors holds approx 60 people after which you are funnelled down one corridor to passport control - the corridor is split into 2 lines (suites/disabled and everyone else. At the end of the corridor the line merges for Passport Control (usually just 2 Officers) and then splits again as previously for security before finally entering the check in area. If everyone arrived at once the line outside the terminal (no seats or cover) would be, to use my word, "chaos". If people arrive at their allotted time from dropping off you bags to being in your cabin will be under 20 minutes.

Lighting and wifi in the Terminal are also notoriously bad and it greatly assists the staff if you have everything printed out rather than on just on your mobile device.

Your check in times will be checked, probably more than once, as you move towards the Terminal entrance and if you are early you will probably be directed to a holding line - no seats and no cover.

16 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Maybe only in San Diego 

And Southampton. If you chose to arrive outside your allotted time just accept that you might have to wait. If everyone turned up at the earliest time it would be chaos.

25 minutes ago, gerif said:

For me, personally, little of that works. Now that my husband has passed I’ll be cruising with a friend who does not have status so I doubt that I would be attending the breakfast alone.  I’ve been cruising long before bottled water became a “thing” so have absolutely no problem drinking the ship’s water. I don’t drink soda. I do enjoy an alcoholic drink with dinner and maybe in the casino or at a show - and I can use the four allotted drinks to “buy” my friend a drink if I want. The longest I’ve ever cruised has been two weeks but I’ve never felt the need to have my clothes boiled on the ship. On this particular cruise internet is included so being able to split the hours might be useful. 

I am sorry for your loss.

Your cabin mate will (should) be able to accompany you to the breakfast - check with the Captains Club Host on the ship.

I have never understood the supposed "boiling" of the laundry - every uniform is washed on the ship without any issues. We use the laundry on every cruise and on the odd occasion when an item has been damaged or lost we have always been refunded the full cost as an OBC. That said we don't put any particularly important items i. As it's "wash and fold" we always put a note on the form in  big letters saying " please return the items on hangers, thank you" (don't forget the please and thank you) and the laundry has always come back as good as pressed.

Have a great cruise.

Just now, the penguins said:

we are not snorkellers (or indeed swimmers) but it seems a shame to go all that way and not to explore inland on at least one of the islands and our choice would be Moorea. 

The scenery, especially the flowers, is amazing.

We went with a private guide who advertised "air conditioned" tours - turned out to be an open backed truck - amazing experience.

 

 

 

sorry can't get the pics I intended to send to attach and it's done the jeep twice.

On 3/21/2024 at 7:29 AM, first time cruising said:

Hi, leaving on the 14th April on celebrity Edge repositioning cruise to Honolulu. We managed to book two snorkeling tours through the ship at Moorea and Papeete. Unfortunately sold out in Raiatea so will probably try and book a local tour. My question is to those with experience is normally are snorkels, fins and masks provided by the operators the ship use. I have read what to bring and those items are not listed. Don’t really want to cart our gear from Australia as we are doing a road trip in the USA after this cruise. Thanks for any advice.

we are not snorkellers (or indeed swimmers) but it seems a shame to go all that way and not to explore inland on at least one of the islands and our choice would be Moorea. 

The scenery, especially the flowers, is amazing.

We went with a private guide who advertised "air conditioned" tours - turned out to be an open backed truck - amazing experience.

10 hours ago, gerif said:

So if you have early dinner the best you can do is grab a quick drink to go? Taking my first cruise on X and will be elite by virtue of my diamond status with RCI. So far I haven’t found anything I will be using with respect to elite benefits. 

Elite breakfast also includes mimosas, sparkling wine (champage) and bloody Mary's.

During 5 to 7 pm you can pick up enough free water and sodas to get you through the next 24 hours.

Internet minutes you can use any time any day - much more flexible than Royal's system especially on longer cruises.

One bag Laundry per person.

2 hours ago, miched said:

One issue is that making the animals more of the resources and the ships are trying to go “green”.  
 

I doubt you would want to use this towel afterwards.

 

One night we came back to our cabins and didn’t see any towels in the lav.  Problem was that they were used to make the towel figures that were hanging from the ceiling.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

On Reflection TA in October last year we had no towel animals. However our Cabin Steward chose to make animals on a number of different days for the two little girls in the cabin next to us - there were just 4 kids on the whole ship. As I said CS's are free to make animals it's just no longer a requirement.

4 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Great find ! 

The joy of being retired we could just stay on.

12 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

When was your last cruise ? 
Right after the restart ? 
on our last cruise in November, no towel animals , but the cabin was very clean 😁

On Silhouette 2022.

We booked 8 nights Norway (nearly 2000 pax.) A few days in we learnt that the next sailing (12 nights Baltics) only had 800 pax. We decided to stay on and, after a bit of back and forth with Miami, agreed a  price for an inside with a £400 per person discount and a free upgrade back to the balcony cabin we were already in. The following sailing was fully booked with 600+ kids.

9 hours ago, George C said:

They did look real but of course it was battery powered, we were really surprised it wasn’t a special occasion and no towel animals the other nights but it was a royal suite.

Towel animals are something any room steward is free to do at any time. On our last Silhouette cruise our Steward made us several just because he liked doing it and with only 800 passengers he had a much lighter work load than usual. 

51 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Now your Britishness is kicking in  😉.   I watch 'hockey' almost every night....DH converted me very early in the relationship... and I see some goal tenders whom I think would love to get the heck out of the net when they're being bombarded with 80 + mph shots.  If you ever watched him play when he was 5-7 yrs, it's the very best time and the cutest....then it gets more aggressive.  You sound like a proud and involved grandma, even from a distance!

We are English not British - there is a difference.

I used "conceded" as he let in/ failed to stop a goal he thought he should have stopped.

Our grandson will be 13 in June and Covid robbed us of 3 years of his life when we were banned from travelling to the US.

Interesting about "being bombarded" because when I asked his coach why he thought Jack had the potential to be a good goalie his reasons were:

1) When faced with players hurtling towards them holding a large stick any right thinking person's first first reaction would be to retreat. A goalie's instinctive reaction is to go forward.

2) Saving shots has a lot to do with angles which is something that's hard to teach. Jack worked it out for himself in just two periods of his first game. We think it's down to his love of maths (sorry math) - he and his grandma do math for fun.

3) you mustn't dwell on mistakes if you make an error you must just blank it out and get on with the game.

4) he continually talks (shouts at) his team mates to organise the defence - Jack doesn't realise he does it. His dad has been threatening to wire him up so he can hear it afterwards - just hope his language is suitable for mixed company.

For us as long as he enjoys it we will continue to support him although getting up at 5.0 am to go training before school isn't our idea of fun.

4 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

“It's just that Ice Hockey (it's just Hockey Grandpa!) is or was a complete mystery to us. “

 

I feel that way when ever I see cricket being played 😉🤣

with all the different versions that have been introduced to make it a "one day" game that the TV likes it's hard for even the most devoted fans to keep up.