SuzieQ1944

Has anyone who is currently on this sailing (8/25) seen any evidence of the damage to rooms from the broken pipes/flood on the 8th & 9th decks?

Thanks so much

However....we are about to book a river cruise, including air & add-on/post cruise through the cruise company. We thought we would do it this way, so that we were 'totally covered' in case of any emergencies. However, the legalize written is so complicated and the amounts quoted are very confusing. I am not going through a travel agent and am beginning to wonder if I need one - we've taken many many cruises and I've always handled all the booking and never had problems. Any suggestions??

Hi everyone,

After cruising on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, etc., we thought it might be nice for a change to river cruising. (The cruise ships are just too big, too many people, etc.) and not enough time to really see many sights we want to see.

We are two-72 year old seniors, in relatively good shape (knock on wood). We have been looking into river cruises - in particular, the Danube, with possibly a few days pre/post. We have checked all the major river cruise companies (Viking, AMA, Tauck, Uniworld). I've also been looking through many comments here on Cruise Critic, which have been very helpful.

Our basic question is regarding the tours - are they very active with lots of walking? We can walk, but it seems like some of the touring in each city is quite extensive. We worry that it might be a bit too much for us.

Any suggestions, recommendation, etc., will be greatly appreciated.

Suzie

Thanks to everyone for your quick replies. We will take all precautions and hope for the best.

We are scheduled to go out from Florida this coming Friday for the Caribbean. Has anyone experienced getting bitten while in any of the basic stops (i.e. St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Barbados, St. Kitts)? We don't want to panic (we are 71) but the more we read, it is a bit frightening. I have already bought DEET and we plan to wear protective clothing.

We are stopping in St. Kitts in a few weeks (while on a cruise). Is there an e mail address for Ian? Thanks so much.

We are checking to see how many free internet minutes we are entitled to for Royal Caribbean (Diamond) (I believe they are now on your sea pass) and also with Celebrity Elite members. The "perks" seem to be a bit tricky, so I am hoping someone can clarify. Thank you.

I am in such a dilemma; is there anyone who can tell me if the RC Serenade and Celebrity Equinox spa pools are similar? We are about to pick one (going to the Caribbean end of Jan/beginning Feb.) but need to choose soon as time is running out. Thanks for your help!

We just returned last Sunday - we did take the Celebrity shuttle, in addition to their travel insurance; this way we were covered just in case anything went wrong. IF you are Concierge level, I suggest you speak with the front desk, in addition to the rep from Captain's Club. Sounds like you have most of this covered and all the suggestions are great. Our biggest complaint was the airport - it was an absolute zoo and there were lines after lines.....that could slow you down, but I still think if you are able to get off the ship as early as possible, you should be fine. You mentioned you have a taxi - would recommend Rudy's taxi if you need another one (they are fantastic). Good luck. It is a lovely cruise/itinerary.

This is all very interesting - so, as Elite status, but upgraded to a concierge level room, anyone know exactly what we are entitled to receive? I'm not trying to be greedy, just would like to get whatever we are due...Thanks all.

Assuming you are all talking about the lovely room (Michael's/Captain's Club private lounge) at the front end of the Silhouette. We were on this ship a few years ago, and we loved the free drinks (I don't remember if they had any type of appetizers); however, they did not want us to bring our glasses out of the room. We were recently on the Quantum, in their Diamond lounge, and were 'allowed' to take our drinks out of the room and walk around the ship, bring our drinks to dinner with us, etc. It was a great perk.

Has anyone experienced the same type of policy lately on the Silhouette? It was pretty annoying to have to stay in this room (just to finish your drink).

She is on the way to Cadiz, Spain right now for dry dock. Starts UK sailings in April, after dry dock.

Thanks so much for this info. Strange that they told us in sept that it would be in dry dock right after the first of the year.

We were on the Explorer in September 2014 and were told that it would be in dry dock to be updated, etc. I see it is now sailing in the UK. Does anyone know if it has been updated, etc.?

There is no menu in the Diamond lounge.

For breakfast, there was a large selection of:

Hot - pancakes, waffles, sausage, bacon, hash browns, etc.

For cold:

Cereals, bagels, pastries, lox, fruits, juices

There was more (including, of course, very good coffee).

It is a buffet.

Between 5-7 (or 8), there are free cocktails in the Diamond lounge. You can really get almost anything you want (I had a cosmo one evening).

Hi everyone,

The Quantum is one amazing ship! that's the good news - Although we enjoyed our 1 week cruise to Nassau (which is where I wish I was right now, instead of N.Y. in freezing temps), there is still much to be improved on this lovely ship. Here are just a few pieces of misc. info in case you are cruising on the Quantum in the near future.

The Bayonne terminal is much improved; we were there in September and rather than go from where they take your baggage, then go on a shuttle to the terminal, you go directly into the terminal, which seems to have been renovated & is clean. Our only complaint about the terminal is that as Diamond members we would have liked a little special attention (ok, we are spoiled, but why shouldn't we be as we have been very loyal to RCC).

The Diamond lounge on the ship was great; if you are Diamond or higher, you can have breakfast there every day (hot & cold), and best yet, at 5, cocktails and hot/cold appetizers. You don't really have to stick to wine/beer/champagne. We were able to get blood Marys, and anything else we wanted (liquor-wise). The staff in the Diamond lounge was very accommodating.

The food - we thought the Windjammer was pretty good; seemed cleaner than we remembered on past cruises. Our only complaint there is that due to all the various school holidays, there were a million kids (we are seniors)....they run around, are noisy and some disruptive. Unfortunately it was like this the entire week.

Back to the food - our recommendation is if you want to splurge, Jamie Oliver's restaurant was our favorite ($30/person). It was a really fun experience for us. The Grand was also very good, Chic - well we had one wonderful dinner (lamb chops & crab cakes are the best), but then our second experience was not good at all...they just didn't have it together and they took so long to get our food, we just finally walked out and skipped dessert (which we didn't need anyway) but it was just disappointing.

Another problem is that many of the staff still do not speak/understand English. In the Windjammer, hubby ordered a beer; the server didn't have a clue what it was....he had to go to another restaurant to get one (we all know this is ridiculous).

I could go on and on.....

One last thing - IF you live in N.Y. and take a cab from the terminal home, the prices are now ridiculous! We should have parked our car there - just a suggestion.

If you are going on the Quantum, it is a beautiful ship, very smooth sailing, even in the Cape Haderous area.

BON VOYAGE.

We are sailing on the Quantum this Friday; our concerns are that the Solarium is ONLY adults (and that this is enforced), also smoking in the casino (I heard there is a no-smoking 'half') - being non-smokers, we wonder if this is enforced as well. Guess I don't need to ask any more about the wifi. These packages seem pretty steep. Any updates on the Quantum will be greatly appreciated.

Our last cruise was on Celebrity - we went from Emerald status (in RCI) to Elite status (Celebrity). It was great!

Now we are returning to RCI in September, and are now Diamond status. Does anyone know if they still give you discount booklets? Everything we are reading about 'perks' is pretty confusing - they say that the Explorer of the Seas does not have a Diamond lounge, that we will be entitled to 3 drinks/day (added to our SeaPass daily), that there will be a separate Diamond cocktail event, but that you cannot take your 'complimentary' drinks into the dining room. Does anyone have any info on these, what seem like technicalities?

For those who do love Indian food (as we do), we wanted to know if Indian food is served in the buffet or at dinner on the Silhouette? They have a wonderful selection on Royal Caribbean (this will be our first time on Celebrity).

Thank you.