FlamingJune1967

The most important thing is to not get upset if everything doesn't go perfectly; do what you can do and laugh about the rest. Life is way too short and being resilient is the best therapy...

Enjoy your cruise and don't sweat the small stuff you read on these boards!

 

 

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Best advice ever!!

Hi Belle! Enjoy your trip!

Welcome easyboy! We have a new check-in thread started each Thursday.

kat - I understand your frustration. I added exercise back in a couple of weeks ago and stalled my weight loss. It will work out eventually.

Great job, mamasylvia! was that 4 lbs in just one week?

Diana: China! wow! Enjoy your holiday and please share some experiences with us!

Jo: good luck with your weight loss. You can do 20 lbs in 3 months!!! I love My fitness pal too!

cruises 42: We just celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and I know what you mean about being afraid to get on the scales!

Cruiserman: thanks for checking back in with us. Those are good tips! This is a difficult time of year to be dieting, but the most important thing is to plan ahead! Without a plan, it is so easy to start eating and not stop!

Next weigh in is on U.S. Thanksgiving day - so those of you celebrating that day be sure and weigh in before the event. Then you will have a whole week to recover!

Don't hang damp stuff in the bathroom..it will take FOREVER to dry. Hang damp items on a hanger, and hang the hanger from the AIRVENT in the room! 5 hours, max dry time!

We always pack a couple of these to hang from airvent (or use very strong magnet hook)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000066RUK/ref=ox_sc_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

And the price just dropped below $10 for the first time in a while so pick it up now if you want one (comes in packs of three - I use them in the laundry room at home as well for drying underwear.)

Well I think that we had the same comedian that you enjoyed. Hysterical and he is back again tonight for a late show at 11. Regular schedule is 7 for late diners and 9 for early diners. Since we have select dining, it has sometimes been challenging making it to the 9 o'clock showing. Yesterday, lively dinner had us rushing to the show and missing the first half of it.

 

Sadly, I did not get to try the silent disco, forgot about it and after a full day of snorkeling we went to bed....yes we are midlers :). Hopefully, there will be a repeat of that activity.

 

Today there is a full schedule, Chandelier at 7 and 9 followed by pool party at 10 and comedian's repeat performance at 11. We have not yet made it to the ensemble lounge for after dinner drinks and have yet to hear the aquamarine duo. Will let you know how that goes.

 

Internet had a few issues yesterday and it was annoyingly slow. First days, it worked very well and we have been able to connect with kids and friends through messenger and Facebook. I even annoyed the kids by sending them short live videos of the Topper show, wanted to share...my sons have asked me to stop over sharing, oh well, their loss. But they keep texting!

 

Going out to Aruba, we are here overnight so should be nice to visit. Hope that all have a wonderful day!

thanks for all this info! Just 3 weeks to go :D How did you like Chandelier?

we do a holiday cruise with our young adult children and with my parents. Trying to appeal to such varied ages can be challenging. The kids will love Topper and it probably will not be my parents favorite. The opposite will be true for welcome aboard show, kids will probably be a little bored and Dad will love.

Thank you for continuing to update. When you put it like that (the 3 generation example) I can well understand why there are such differing opinions on the entertainment. I cannot even begin to imagine my 71 year old mother enjoying all the same types of entertainment as my 23 year old daughter. And I'd be somewhere in the middle. So, I am really appreciating your opinions as you seem to be a middler too :) You are making me even more excited about our upcoming cruise (if possible!)

Good morning all you losers!

I'm filling in for Belle while she is away, and I'm no poet so here is a acrostic I copied from the web:

Motivation for Weight Loss

M-make short term goals

O-out with the negative thoughts

T-think of why you want it

I-imagine how you will feel

V-visualize the future you

A-acknowledge your successes

T-treat yourself with respect

I-investigate new ideas and foods

O-observe your healthy lifestyle

N-never give up and never give in

Author: unknown

I wanted to make sure this thread was up for the early risers so I haven't weighed in yet.

How did everyone do this past week?

My wife recently broke her ankle after slipping on a rather steep decline of the gangplank. We were heading out for a day in port, last one prior to arrival in Sydney.

 

Due the nature of the injury it was clear she would need to disembark for onshore medical attention so we made the call for all of us (10 and 13yo. Kids in tow) to disembark and stick together as a family unit.

 

whilst initially the crew were very supportive there was no clear coordination aside from us needing to pack and get off the ship. Twice crew came to our cabin to check process and advise is to let guest services know when we were ready to disembark.

 

When we were ready I did as instructed and requested help with baggage. They sent someone to collect the baggage and take it down to the gangway. Otherwise they said if I had a credit card on file there was nothing more they had to do and to go directly to the gangplank on deck 2.

 

By this time there was a torrential downpour and people were rushing to get back on the ship. The security team recognised us from the time of the accident and at least tried to make way for us to exit.

 

We then had to collect our luggage from where it was dropped off, and carry/drag/roll it over the very same gangplank where my wife fell earlier, and now in even worse conditions.

 

My daughter was traumatised at the thought of falling like she saw her mother do earlier and it wasn't until I requested assistance at least for my daughter that they got a steward to assist her and the case she was trying to manage. He ran back on board without a second glance or even an offer of an umbrella.

 

Whilst I do concur that the ships obligation can only go so far IMO they fell WAY under that on this occasion per common courtesy, safety and customer service in our disembarkation process.

 

We were blessed to have friends that were waiting for us, otherwise we too would have been left dockside dripping wet wondering what our next steps were.

 

Yes one's logic should prevail, but logic does not always kick in when you have a wife in hospital, a child in distress, a torrential thunderstorm pouring down and 9 pieces of luggage in various forms surrounding you!

 

So I completely concur with previous poster that just a little extra effort and coordination to see passengers off the ship and safely into a taxi (even if I had to book it!)

 

I too am in my mid 40's and it was a day I'd rather forget. Unless you've been through it you really have no idea how difficult every little decision and what your next action, your next call etc needs to be.

 

Even with our friends we had to take all our luggage to the hospital to check in and see my wife, the kids needed to be fed and we then had to work out where to stay, for how long etc. whilst worried about my wife, about getting home, about work, trying to keep a straight face for the kids sake. It was an ordeal let me tell you! I really empathise for those older and wiser in years dealing with similar scenarios.

 

On the flip side however, unbeknown to us at this time, Celebrity AU sent a representative up for support, and we had a call from Celebrity UK offering assistance. Care of the kids, finding accom etc. (yes some of that much needed support did come, but a little late - would have been nicely done prior leaving the ship)

 

The rep visited my wife in hospital and was there more for moral support than anything else but this was quite a nice gesture by Celebrity. She also works in the Exec Dept of AU management! So I have verbalised much of this to her directly in the hope they can take our comments and assess how they could better handle such situations, admittedly to the extent of their control/liability.

 

My Wife had an operation today to have pins added into her ankle so hopefully she will be given the ok to fly and we can head home as a family in a few more days.

 

 

 

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Your account is factual, fairly unemotional, and complete. I feel like I have a good picture of what actually happened, and I appreciate your input. I am so sorry that your wife has had this accident and pray she has a swift recovery.

I hope that Celebrity will see this and reevaluate how they transition folks off the ship in the event of an emergency, as this seems to be a bit of an oversight on Celebrity's part. If there are no porters, assistance in getting to a taxi just seems like common courtesy.

Best wishes to you and your family!

I'm not sure if the CC guidelines allow me to put the link to the article in my post, but a simple google search will find it. In any case, I thought the Celebrity Cruises board would appreciate knowing how well Celebrity did in the rankings by U.S. News and World Report.

 

#1 Best Cruise Line for the Money

#2 Best Cruise Line for the Caribbean (#1 Disney)

#1 Best Cruise Line for the Mediterranean

#5 Best Cruise Lines for Couples (#1 through #4 were all "luxury" cruise lines)

 

In the category for Best Cruise Line for Families, Celebrity did not place. #1 was Disney, followed by RCI, and Carnival). I'm not terribly surprised here.

 

The final category was Best Luxury Cruise Line: #1 is Crystal, followed by Regent, and Oceania.

 

They also rank individual ships on a 5 point scale, with the score being a composite of expert reviews, traveller opinion, and health reports from the CDC. The best ranked ship in Celebrity's fleet is Reflection, with an overall score of 4.4, while the lowest rated ship was Summit at 4.1 overall. In my opinion, such a small difference from top ranked to lowest, says something about the overall quality and consistency of the fleet.

Very interesting! thanks for sharing.

Well when I am wrong, I will admit it.

Pool entertainment was really good today. One group with lively music and a folksy artist named Dallas Louis. Current tunes and talented musicians. We saw the CD, English chap named Eddie Jenkins. Never had him before but asked why no music at sail away? Why no musique at pool ? And last night at sky lounge the worse taped Music between very nice sets of the sea monkeys.

His response was a little underwhelming. Blamed bridge for the faulty weather report, Hum. Blamed assistant for lack of music and promised to look into sky lounge. Not the most energetic we have seen but must give him a chance. Tonight is Jesse Hamilton and disco night. Let you know tomorrow how that goes!!

Thank you for continuing to update! Glad to hear that things have improved! I am enjoying your reports - sailing in 24 days.

BTW, I believe Eddie Jenkins just got the turnover, so I am sure there are some kinks to work out with communication and expectations etc. I generally like English CDs - Hope this guy is energetic and involved!

If you read the OP post. There were three people traveling. The mother who injured herself in a fall, one daughter who accompanied the mother on the med flight back to Florida, and a second daughter who is somewhat disabled (the OP) who said that they initially did not offer assistance, but that she did get help from one individual to the taxi stand.

 

Her complaint was basically 1. Celebrity said the med flight had to go to Miami or FLL when they wanted it to go to their home area 2. They did not do any arrangements for her and she was left to make her own arrangements.

That was not the OP. That was a different poster who responded later. OP's parents were traveling alone.

We purchased the package for our cruise last Christmas. We were also celebrating my husband's 50th in Oceanliners. The photographers do not come into the specialty restaurants unless they are invited. I just happened to ask, otherwise we would have had not pictures for that night. With our consent, the photographer is able to come to the specialty restaurant just for your table.

 

We had over 100 prints for our 5 night cruise. She also included pictures of my Mom by herself even though that technically is not part of the package.

 

Some photographers were very good with an eye for detail. Others were not so great. We posed for almost every backdrop and cheesy pirate picture we could find! Had a blast and did not have to worry about breaking the bank on photos.

Thanks so much for this tip! Plan to celebrate 30th in Murano and will speak to photo people about coming!

We are on the 12/11 10 day sailing. The cruise is not listed on Celebrity's website probably because it's sold out. It is listed on other cruise websites with a day in Dominica instead of the overnight in Barbados. Does anyone know if the overnight was taken away and replaced with Dominica? Thx so much

I have received no notice from Celebrity, Celebrity cruise planner still lists Barbados, and Cruise Timetables (http://www.cruisetimetables.com/visitingbridgetownbarbados-dec2016.html?offset=31 ) still has Eclipse docked overnight on the 16th - so I 'm not worried about it.

Saw 1st production show, Topper last night and really enjoyed it. Congratulations on the innovation. Seems like it will be simple to modify and keep current as the songs could be switched out.

Thanks for the update, nusailer, We don't go to the pool often, but when we do, enjoy a bit of lively music. I've heard that Celebrity doesn't play anything current (i.e. from past 10 years) However, we do really enjoy the big shows at night - and I have heard a lot of mixed reviews about that. Also - comedy, although I hear that is hit and miss on celebrity. It was the same with Royal Caribbean for us. Walked out on a couple of really terrible comedians with RCI - Carnival seems to know how to do comedy right.

I look forward to hearing your unfiltered updates on the Eclipse entertainment! Also, how and who is the CD? We heard Sue Denning left and wonder who took her place.

Thanks for any insight. Sailing in 26 days :)

Is this something you received an email for, or did you see it online?

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/Caribbean/Special_Offers/16053968_CEL_72hr_Sale.pdf

another cc member linked this in an earlier thread. Here is the photo site (it is not on Celebrity page)

https://www.mycruisephotos.com/CEL/Portal.aspx

How many photos and what size?

We never buy the ship's expensive photos. I have a great camera and ask crew and staff to take our photos. It is a lot cheaper.

It includes All of them :) Photos I ask other people to take with my camera never turn out for me - lol!

'

Enjoy! We posed for every cheesy port photo and made the rounds of all the stations set up around the atrium every evening. Once the photographers found out we had the unlimited package, they would not let us pass up a single photo opportunity. lol

 

I don't know what stops your itinerary includes, but we even got photos of our zip line ride in Labadee included with our photo package, so that was a nice bonus :)

 

I recommend printing off your receipt and bringing it with you the first day when you visit the photo area. They set up a folder for you and each day you can go through the printed photos and bring them to one of the employees and they'll add them to your pile. You pick them all up with the disk on the last night on the cruise. If any of the printed photos are not showing up in your account on the kiosk, the staff can manually add them so that they'll be on your disk. The photos on the disk didn't have any of borders or watermarks that the printed ones did, so that was also nice.

 

 

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Great tips! Thanks for that info. I always spend hours over the course of a cruise trying to decide which photos to buy. It will be so relaxing not having to worry about that!

We pre-purchased the photo package for our honeymoon cruise in March 2016. We paid $199 for a 7 night cruise. The cheapest we ever saw it offered for on board was $249. We ended up with around 100 prints, so we thought it was worth it considering how much they charge for the individual photos.

 

That said, the quality of the photos did vary quite a bit from photographer to photographer. I'd say maybe a third of the photos were blurry or just unflattering. The rest turned out decently.

 

If you're considering it, I would book it now. I don't think you're very likely to get a better deal than that one once you're on board.

 

 

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Thank you for your advice!

I just bought it!

Right now (through Sunday) Celebrity is offering a special on the photo package for my 10 day cruise (all prints + digital) for $149

Is this an actual sale (it says regularly $300) or can I get the same deal on board?

Also - any comments about the quality of the photos? We are celebrating our 30th anniversary and I'd like to have some pics. Thanks!

Does anyone know how far it is from the ship to Oisten's sounds like a lot of fun

I copied this from another thread from 2014:

We've just returned from our cruise and went to Oistins last Friday......it was great!! Definitely go if you can as its a true Caribbean experience.

 

The food was amazing with flying fish, dolphin (not 'Flipper' as they kept saying - it's actually Mahi Mahi), ribs etc on the menu and there was a buzzing atmosphere with visitors and locals mixing together with no problems. The prices are in Barbados dollars but you can easily pay for everything in USD and our meals were approx $13 each. The beers are cheap too with 4 bottles of local Banks for $5 USD.

 

We got there at about 8pm and it was a half hour taxi journey from the port. Yes, there is some traffic on the way but it wasn't anything to worry about and we kept moving the entire time. The taxi is $10 pp each way if you have 4 or more people in the vehicle. There were only 2 of us and they tried charging us double and even more but we just ambushed another group on the jetty and asked to share a cab Don't get fleeced!!

 

There are chickens and crabs running around and quite a few patrolling police so it feels very safe. Enjoy and I hope that this review helps, as we didn't know what to expect when we turned up!!

 

 

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Look us up at the Connections Party and maybe we can plan something. I did hear from other reviews that there is much less wait and trafficif you get there early (6pm-ish)

Have a great cruise, Belle!

 

My total weight loss has been 46 pounds and, honestly, after the first month, it hasn't been that difficult an experience. I found it hard to wean myself from overeating but, once I did, it wasn't that hard to keep it going.

 

Good luck to everyone!

Will miss you, Belle! I'll keep the thread going while you are gone.

Congrats, Cruiserman!!! That is an awesome accomplishment and you should be proud! I have to agree with you that the most difficult part of any diet is learning to not overeat. I know that sounds so basic - but if we've been doing it for a while, overeating becomes normal and comfortable. Now that I have been dieting for 6 weeks I find that eating the way I did before just makes me feel bloated and uncomfortable. That's why it gets easier as we go along!

I'm down another lb. That makes 7 altogether - I'm 5.5 lbs away from my goal of 150, with 4 weeks left to get there. The best thing that happened this week is that I finally got back into the routine of walking or running every day. YEA! The time change (U.S.) helped - as well as cooler temps in the south (Georgia). Let's see how this impacts my weight loss going forward.

Happy dieting everyone!

Easy...

 

It's called Wife or Girlfriend.

That's the same packing list my husband uses!!

I use an app called Ultimate Checklist by Jimbl which has an awesome cruise checklist which can be downloaded and customized. I've been using it for years, and haven't found anything else as comprehensive or as easily customizable.

Jimbl also offers the Cruise list as a stand alone app called Cruise Trip Planner.

"If there be two or more ports at which to dock, the ship that FlamingJune1967 is on must not dock at the port which be more convenient or fair to look upon. Lo, the ship must dock at the port which shall cause FlamingJune to walk the farthest or incur the greatest cab fare. It is written."

Flaming's Book of Cruise Law

p. 234

 

My Tip.. Lock yourself in a room and don't come out till after

New Years! LOL :)

Now - There's a tip that might actually work!

I wanted to post that I am doing the 5:2 diet... well, actually 4:3. That's where you eat "normally" 4 days a week and eat less than 500 cals on 3 non-consecutive days.

I was looking for a diet that would not include much calorie counting or weighing food since I'm a bit over that at the moment, and this is working. I "fast" (under 500 cals) on Monday, WEdnesday and Friday. For me, this has evolved into five 100 cal snacks (popcorn, yogurt, edamame) I eat as low cal as I can on Tues. and Thurs. (meaning I don't count calories but I try to stick to the things I already know I can trust like salads and eat just enough to not feel like I am starving) On the weekend I aim for "normal plus a couple hundred cals" This is so that my body doesn't know it's dieting. I don't know how scientific this is, but I have found that for me my body needs this little deception.

So far it has been working. It took a few weeks for me to adjust to the lower intake, but it has become comfortable now. Wish I had started sooner - but better late than never :D

I'm subscribing to this thread, so please do let us know :D I feel like the CD can really have a huge impact on the tone of the cruise.

Down 2.8 lbs this week! yeaaaa!!!!

6.5 lbs to go and just over 5 weeks to accomplish it. I can do this!!!!

My goal for this coming week is to resume running again. It's hard to believe that I had the endurance and strength to run a marathon just 6 months ago! Too much stress and work has wrecked havoc on my body, which I need to reclaim.

Good tips, Cruiserman! Congratulations! Your hard work and persistence is paying off.

Jan: what a busy year! No wonder you got off track!

shootr: I'd just chalk it up to water fluctuation and expect it to see it all gone next weigh in :D

Belle: I always count staying the same as a victory after so many years of the scales going up, up, up! It's funny that I'm struggling and fighting so hard to lose weight now, when I am already at a weight that I could only dream of for so many years! Everything is relative!

good luck everyone!

These are all excellent suggestions. I honestly don't know how folks cruise without all the helpful advice on CC! Thanks everyone!

I think for my next cruise I will just book myself, then see what we can get to transfer booking. If the advantage of using an online TA is minimal, then I will stick with our current TA since he is local and I know him personally.

Our next cruise will be all 4 of us, however, so more $$ spent might mean bigger discounts or perks. I still haven't decided if we are going to stick with Celebrity or go back to Royal Caribbean when the kids accompany. Will have to assess after we board :D