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adonisr

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  • Location
    Paulding County, GA
  • Interests
    Vacations, Auburn Football

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Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. We will be on Discovery Princess in July visiting Glacier Bay. I know that NPS Rangers join the ship while we are there. Do they bring Park souvenirs on board to sell or does the ship shops have them? We collect magnets from the parks we visit and really hope we can buy one while on this trip.
  2. https://royalcarrentalbonaire.com/en/rent-a-car/
  3. The latest from Havila is the voyage includes breakfast, lunch and dinner and baked goods in the cafe. Not sure if that means we can do any of the three at the cafe or we have to use the dining room. We're looking at it as an adventure and plan to roll with whatever they offer/allow.
  4. I'm curious how the dining works. I understand there are 3 meals per day in the dining room. But what is the availability of food at the cafe? Are there included items available all day for those who are on a voyage? I'm trying to get an idea of how food availability compares to a normal mainline cruiseship.
  5. We've booked the northbound route for the end of next March. Really hoping to see the northern lights.
  6. We have a private tour of the Acropolis and the museum booked for August 27. Our guide says the time slots are enforced and told me to purchase a 8 am to 9 am slot. We plan to use the combo ticket to visit some of the other sites on our own on the 26th as well as after lunch on the 27th.
  7. Did you stop in Santorini? If so, what time did you get there?
  8. Thank you for the info. I was hoping that was the case. We do a good bit of hiking, so I think walking down will be the way to go for us.
  9. What did you think of the walk down?
  10. We just sailed on Celebration and thought I'd post my thoughts on the ship. These are our opinions and I know they may differ from yours. That's ok. Overall – a beautiful ship. Very different than the other CCL ships we’ve sailed on. Cabin - We had a balcony cabin on Deck 14. The cabins are definitely smaller (narrow). We kept hitting our knees on the end of the bed as there’s not much room between the end of the bed and the wall. Bathroom was small, but workable. The many USB outlets were a welcome change. Our room AC was unpredictable. One night it’d be so cold we would need the blanket. Other nights it’d be so warm we’d wake up sweating. And we never changed the thermostat setting. Additionally, the room would get cool, but never dry. It was always a damp cool. Not optimal to say the least. Our room steward did a good job – we hardly ever saw him. Public Areas – The public areas were all very nice – concentrated on Deck 6, 7, 8. The main theater was smaller than typical since they have what they call Celebration Central. CC is a replacement for the normal central atrium and is a cool looking space. But from a functionality standpoint - a major fail. For a ship of 6000 pax to have a main show area with only a handful of seats with good views of the performance is very disappointing. If you want a good seat – you need to show up 45-60 minutes before the show. And with the main theater has some really bad sight lines as well. And since it’s smaller, you need to get there 45-60 minutes early for a good seat. The other public spaces are arranged basically in a row along Deck 6, 7 or 8. So there is quite a bit of “traffic congestion” in the evenings on these decks. On Deck 8 there is a outdoor area outside with large sliding doors for access. The deck is popular and therefore the doors are open a lot. This makes for a very warm zone in the middle of Deck 8. And speaking of automatic doors – major issues here. There was no rhyme or reason to how the doors worked. Some worked well as you approached. Some you needed to wave at a button on the wall. Some you needed to wave at a button on the door. And all of the public restrooms had automatic doors that opened WIDE open and stayed open for several minutes. This creates some very awkward sight lines right into the restrooms where doing your business is on display for everyone in the area. Dining – The main dining rooms are nothing special. Low ceilinged, dark food halls. We found two nights where the menu looked appealing. Service was very slow. Otherwise we ate in specialty dining venues. Steakhouse and Rudi’s were amazing – food and service, but for the extra charge they better be. Cucina food was great – service was a little slow, but the servers were very good. We ate here twice. ChiBang was ok, once was enough. Pig & Anchor was great. Emeril's - was ok, service was not at all good. They totally botched our order. Big Chicken - their chicken was very good. The biscuit was dry and not really good. Deli - had a very good cuban sandwich here. Guy's Burgers - very good burger. I had seen several comments before the cruise saying the fries were not as god in the past, but we thought they were good. Miami Slice - good pizza, not great. Moving it down away from the Lido made it less desirable for us as a lunch option. The buffet – just not good. Slim choices. For the most part, ½ of the buffet stations were never open. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed on cruises is having pineapple from the buffet. Never saw pineapple all week. Watermelon was a rarity. A major decline in this department. Overall – for us, this ship class is just too big and poorly thought out. It’s almost like CCL just took the same amount of “stuff” to do onboard and increased the passenger count by 2.5 times. Resulting in longer waits, longer lines, and higher rude to normal passenger ratio. Excel class is a one and done experience for us.
  11. Thank you so much for the info. We are celebrating our daughter's college graduation (three years late - she graduated in May of 2020) and are excited about the stops that we are making.
  12. We're doing this cruise in August. Can you tell us what nights were the "dress up or not" nights? How easy/difficult was it to get in and out of the port areas in Ashdod and Haifa?
  13. Yeah - a bogus travel advisory in FL is comparable to what this topic is about. Good grief.
  14. They act that way on the ship, it's likely they act that way at home. Parents don't care.
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