NCteacherlovescruising

25 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

They don’t, room service is a money loser for sure

Why is that?

41 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

There are always people getting confused and going to Deck 4 which is just for Select Dining or vice versa....

Do they have those cool chairs (the really high ones) on deck 5 too, or just on Deck 4?  

28 minutes ago, hcat said:

Excellent  summary.

We stopped loving the mdr when we would be assigned  to a table for 6 or 8 and NO one showed up on sev nights.  Some never showed, others   came on some nights and of course we were away on a few nights too!  That was the signal that trad dining was no longer workable for us.  Fortunately, along came BLU and we never went back to trad dining in the mdr..

 

As a courtesy OP can let the maitre know they will be absent..Hope you won't miss put on the Prime Rib!

27 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

If they miss the MDR on the first night of a seven night cruise....alas they would miss the prime rib.  Even when we've been in AQ we forgo Blu on that first night in favor of the MDR. 

If we find our tablemates aren’t at our table we may not bother going either, although that would be disappointing.  We have reservations at Qsine the first night and Tuscan the third, then we will be in Bermuda.  I’m sure I could easily eat off a buffet or order room service and dine on our balcony and not have to worry about getting dressed for dinner if it’s just going to be the two of us anyway.  I don’t think the Blue menu looks appealing, but I almost wish we could eat there.  They already accepted our MoveUp to CC, so I don’t think I can bid again. At least I don’t see a way to do it now. 

Oh, and if they have prime rib the first night I would cancel our reservations. How late can we cancel and still get our OBC returned to our account?  At this point prime rib is not listed on our menu on the app. I wouldn’t mind doing Qsine later in the week, especially if we could find a discount again at another point, or if we meet another couple that would like to go with us. I’ve heard it’s more fun with a larger group. I have read on here that some have been offered good prices later in the week, perhaps while we are docked in Bermuda they won’t be busy. 

20 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

They do escort you to your table the first night as you wouldn't know where it is...

We always found our table shortly after embarkation because we wanted to see where it was and how many would be at it.  Perhaps they did still seat us, I don’t recall.  

53 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

I don't think that's really feasible.  You'd have to have someone escort you to your table as on the first night you wouldn't know where it is.  You could go tell the hostess at the door whenever the MDR opens for dinner that night (Deck 3 as you have traditional seating) that you won't be dining there that evening.  She can pass that along to your waitstaff.

We usually go to the MDR after lunch to find our table. This time we will be eating lunch in there so I assume they would let us see where we will be sitting.  They don’t actually seat you for dinner, do they?  

1 hour ago, lorimay said:

I'm on the Summit in a Concierge cabin now. There is a basket, not a shelf. But when you arrive it is full of the big bottles of C.O. Bigelow shampoo, body wash, and conditioner. Since there is plenty of storage in the bathroom, I took the bottles out and put them under the sink and filled it with my own stuff. The only thing it's not good for is bar soap. The basket is pretty deep and the soap gets lost.

 

 

So we would have plenty of room to replace with stand size shampoo and conditioner, while leaving their body wash?  No room for razors, shaving gel, face wash and scrub?

6 minutes ago, doubled said:

You can go to dinning room and meet your servers before your reservation and let them know you will be absent and how much you look forward to being with them on future evenings.  That way they can inform other table mates and they won't be waiting on you.  Enjoy!  It is nice to miss all the confusion the first night.

 

Art

I didn’t know we could meet our servers before our reservation. How and when could we do that?  We our CC so we will be having our embarkation lunch in there, but I don’t know if our servers will be there then or how we would even know who there are. 

2 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

In June we dined in Tuscan the first evening.  We wanted to avoid the first evening confusion in the dining room and take advantage of the discount.  Tuscan was completely full the first evening.  As far as meeting our tablemates, we book a table for 2 on the majority of our cruises.

I bet!  I tried to get Tuscan the first night but the only time we could get was like 10!  Who on earth wants to eat a big dinner at 10:00 at night?  The only reason we changed to late dining was to have tablemates and the same wait staff every day. 

16 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

We especially enjoy dining in specialty restaurants on the first night. The MDR tends to be a bit chaotic the first evening since everyone is of course arriving at the same time and no one knows where their table is and must be escorted to their table. The specialty restaurants are accustomed to escorting diners to their tables and are much more laid back. 

Good point. I hadn’t thought of this. 

3 hours ago, dkjretired said:

 

I think you may be disappointed if your goal is to meet your tablemates, very good chance they will be in Specialties that night and many are reporting that other nights their stablemates are often not there.  Its not like it was years ago. 

I will be so disappointed if we end up sitting alone.  The main reason we switched from Select was to enjoy conversing with others during dinner. With this being our first Celebrity cruise and our first time in Bermuda, I thought we could learn a lot from them as well. On our one and only Princess Cruise we were seated at a table with three older couples that had cruised with them for years and we so enjoyed all their stories and tips. 

43 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

Keep your reservation.  As mentioned above, very likely that other table mates also wouldn't be there the first evening or evenings thereafter.  Between the Buffet and the specialty restaurants and the Dining Packages many people are not in the MDR every night.  

That would be so disappointing for us!  We have only been on one other cruise where this happened. We didn’t go the first night, but others did and then never returned. 

7 hours ago, bookitdanno said:

They have also replaced the eating height table with a low table that we expect to use for a footstool.

That may be a solution (We hope!)

That may be a good solution for her. How do they expect us to eat out there now though?

7 hours ago, adele319 said:

Just read on Facebook that footstools are no longer on balconies in Concierge Class. Does anyone know if this is true?  Traveling with a friend who has neuropathy and needs to elevated her feet. This is one of the reasons why we booked Concierge class. Thanks.

I have neuropathy as well and it does help to keep my feet up, although I can have them down for shorter periods of time. I’m fortunate that my medication helps, however it has also made me gain a lot of weight. I’ve been known to put my feet on the balcony railings.  Perhaps her doctor could offer some advice while she goes on the cruise. I hope she finds a solution!  

On 3/21/2019 at 5:32 PM, ShadyLady63 said:

The Lane Bryant swimsuits are NOT cute this year. 

After shopping at every store that had swimsuits in my size (16), I ended up buying this from Lane Bryant. I thought it looked better on me than anything else I tried on. 

6 minutes ago, Langley Cruisers said:

Do you mean sizing or pricing? Yes to both; I thought I would try buying online and if that's not scary, nothing is. LOL. I have three of their swim dresses and even my husband calls them cute. They are lovely.

I was referring to sizing. Their prices look great. I have all 3 of these in my cart but haven’t decided between the two coverups. Do you have any of these?  I ordered up a size because someone said I should. Do you order your normal size?  If so, I need to size down. I should add, I’m tall, have a large chest and wide hips. I wear a 16. 😔

I’ve haven’t been on Celebrity yet, but our cruise on the NCL Getaway was one of our favorites. If you can save a lot of money, I’d go with NCL. Their entertainment is really good, and we enjoyed their drink package, specialty dining, and loved the Vibe!  

37 minutes ago, Langley Cruisers said:

Hi, just to add to your original thought, I have ordered several swimsuits from the website you mentioned, and thankfully they all fit well. I am in Canada and they arrived in less than 48 hours. I was also impressed with their return policy - my thought is that you could phone them or order online and rest assured that they will accept them back if they aren't quite right. I'm just saying I have had two satisfying experiences with them and I feel if your other options are limited, you could certainly go ahead and try them. 😊

 

Their cover ups are adorable.

Perhaps I will try it. I found a swimsuit I like there as well. Do you find their swimwear runs the same as most places?

We have reservations at Qsine the first night to take advantage of the discount.  However, I switched us from Select to Late dining. I’m thinking we should be in the MDR the first night to meet our servers and table mates. Do you try to make it to the MDR the first night if you don’t have Select?

Wow!

19 hours ago, CarolRoy said:

Went to Elbow Beach last year.  They were charging $100 for two chairs and an umbrella.  Sitting on a towel is no problem.  We did bring a small half tent with us.  But it was too windy to use.  There's no shade at Elbow Beach.

 

Tami, see you on board.  Carol

Can’t wait!

1 hour ago, pcur said:

Go to Catherines in Charlotte.  Here's their web page with the length of all their garments in the detailed descriptions.  Find something you have that is long enough, and measure it from the back of the neck to the bottom.  Their sizes run from 14/16 on up.

 

https://www.catherines.com/swim/cover-ups-accessories/P-12075

Thanks!  I just followed your link. Unfortunately they didn’t have any in stock within 50 miles of me. 

I have huge thighs covered in cellulite. I found a couple of coverups I like on swimsuits for all, but I’d really prefer trying them on since I’m tall. Has anyone found cute coverups in stores that are at least to your knees?

22 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

Don't remember what cabin we were in (this post is a couple years old) but they do sometimes switch muster stations so might not even be the same.  And besides, there is nothing you can do about the station they assign you. 😊

Valid points

On 6/5/2017 at 3:27 PM, ECCruise said:

Unless you are in the photo gallery (where no one sits), the key is to get there early. Continually amazed by those who show up seconds before the scheduled drill (or late) and then cry and moan about nowhere to sit. We arrive around 15 minutes early and never have had a problem in 65+ muster drills.

Which muster station is the photo gallery?

42 minutes ago, scubamommy! said:

You can always ask your room attendant to exchange it for a bottle of red or white, they usually do with no problem. Another idea is to bring it to the beach with you on Island day. My husband went to the ice machine and filled a baggie of ice, wrapped it in a towel and put it in his backpack. We enjoyed some cold champagne on the sunny beach in Greece last time. Just don't forget to bring some cups with you. Enjoy. 

I didn’t know you were allowed to bring alcohol off the ship. 

Can anyone tell me what red wine they give you in place of this?  

3 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

The move up program is great for many.  A win win- The cruise line fills empty rooms and gets additional revenue and the customer gets an opportunity to get a higher category of room for a wholesale price!  Only downside is if you do not like the location of the cabin/suite- you are locked in.

We lucked out with location too. Our OV was under a public bathroom, our CC is midship and under cabins. 

1 hour ago, Blazerboy said:

Same bottle.  Sorry.

It’s all good, just curious.