chrishb

Thanks for your quick answer. With all these rules for our son I think we better stay ashore. These crazy covid rules are not supporting a relaxing vacation, especially since we love to go into the speciality restaurants and having a relaxed family vacation time.

Thanks for your review which helps us a lot.

We are from Germany and currently in Florida and  thinking of booking a 3 night cruise with Meraviglia in YC end of March with our 6yo son since there is a very nice promotion ongoing.

Are there limited zones which you couldn't join with your unvaxxed kid? I read that there are couple of venues not available with kids. 

Was there another Covid test prior disembarkation necessary? I understood that we need a PCR test and rapid test for our son, for us as vaccinated adults we only need a rapid test?

Are there Dining Packages available?

Looks currently  like the ship is heading away from the Bay Area. with 15knots into western direction (on marinetraffic)

Hello,

I am looking for a good transfer option from Newark Airport to Cape Liberty for two adults and one toddler. What would you recommend in terms of price and availability? Do you need a car seat for Uber/Lyft in New Jersey?

Thanks

As far as I'm aware, you do need a car seat for taxis and Uber in NJ. You also need a car seat from a car service, but you can order one when you make a reservation.

 

Please - more details. What is your exact date? Are you staying overnight at an EWR hotel? Is the hotel cancellable? The reason I'm asking is that there some hotel options with port transfers in vehicles that don't require car seats.

We arrive Sept. 5th around noon from Europe and will directly head to Port Liberty.

Do I need a car seat for a taxi/Uber as well? We will fly in from Germany so bringing a car seat for two rides is not very efficient

Hello,

I am looking for a good transfer option from Newark Airport to Cape Liberty Cruise Terminal for two adults and one toddler. What would you recommend in terms of price and availability?

Hello,

I am looking for a good transfer option from Newark Airport to Cape Liberty Cruise Terminal for two adults and one toddler. What would you recommend in terms of price and availability?

We also got off the ship yesterday and saw two times the sanitation team (in overalls, masks, gloves, glasses) working in the Haven area. Both were on day two, once they had to sanitize the restroom at the Haven bar, the other time a guest vomited in towels on one of the loungers in the Haven pool area.

We leave tomorrow and I am getting very nervous when reading what's going on on Escape. We are travelling with a toddler and fear also getting the virus.

Are there and medicine recommendations to take with us? We are from abroad and not so familiar with US medicine.

Can we take the Alamo Shuttlebus from the Airport to POM without babyseat?

We will stay onboard the Escape in November and heard that there will be Nespresso machines in the suite. Will the capsules be refilled regularly or do you get a stock at the beginning?

German AIDA Cruises (part of Carnival) has canceled their overnight stop in Istanbul for their next cruise based on advice of German Department of State. The ship is visiting some Greek islands instead.

Short summary of German press release:

due to the current security situation especially for public transports and in areas of police stations and frequently visited sites of the city AIDA cruises decided in close cooperation with German security authorities that the current situation is not in line with the companies high security standards and is therefore canceling the overnight stay in Istanbul.

German press release:

Die aktuelle Sicherheitslage in Istanbul, besonders bei der Nutzung öffentlicher Verkehrsmittel im Bereich von Polizeistationen und stark besuchten Teilen der Stadt, entspricht derzeit nicht den hohen Sicherheitsstandards von AIDA Cruises. Aufgrund der angespannten Lage und der Einschätzung unserer Expertensowie den Reise- und Sicherheitshinweisen des Auswärtigen Amtes haben wir entschieden, die Route von AIDAstella anzupassen.

It is the same for our cruise for the second week of September. Prices around $350-$400 a night in downtown. We thought to fly a couple of days earlier from Germany to Seattle and discover the city, but not for these ridiculous prices. :eek:

Very sad to read that the Molecular Bar concept will be changed.

We always liked the special cocktails and atmosphere there. During our last three cruises in November/December the bar was always packed and we had difficulties in finding a seat. The Molecular bar was from our perspective one of the reasons to book X. One more special place beside the ones they have taken us already like Michaels and partially Cellar Masters. Hope they will keep the molecular style drinks, with high quality ingrediants as part of the premium package.

The more and more cost cuttings Celebrity tries to offer under Modern Luxery are pushing us hard to try Princess or HAL for our next cruises .

We were on Silhouette from Dec. 28th to Jan. 4th and found the New Year´s Party disappointing. They announced parties in different venues e.g. at the pool, the sky observation lounge, the atrium and the ensemble lounge. The pool was very crowded with countdown before 12 and complementary champagne. However after the New Years toast the crowds went somewhere else. Shortly after 12 we went into the sky lounge where the house band was playing. We found the music selection a bit suboptimal, in our opinion it was too rocky and hip-hop style. First the lounge was very crowded but quickly the people disappeared. The dance floor was full of teens however. At around 1am we went to deck five to have a look what happens at the atrium and ensemble lounge. The bar was already tidied up and the atrium was empty as well. Only the martini bar was still open with max. 10 guests. Around 1:15am we went back to sky lounge. Arriving there the band already quitted their performance and a DJ took over. There were maybe 30 persons in the lounge, the majority teens.

Going back to the pool the picture was the same, maybe 30 teens left jumping to hip hop music on the dance floor. By the way, the disco was closed that night...

Bearnaise is available with the Chateaubriand, so it is no issue to substitute. We did this as additional sauce for the Dover Sole. Other side should also be no problem.

Where did you anchor? Right in front of George Town or did they need you to shuttle by bus into the city?

We are soon again cruising with X and want to try some new drinks.

The menus vary from bar to bar and usually only show a small selection of what is actual available.

What are your favorite drinks, any must try recommendations?

Up to now we enjoyed most the Pomegranate Mojitos, Molecular Bar Drinks and beer selection.

We will have the Premium Package already booked in advance.

Be glad that X offers you $100 as compensation for missing SJ. We were on the cruise Nov. 23rd and also missed San Juan. At that point in time X still put every delay to the bad weather which was actualy not bad. They always claimed that there is no issue with the ship which forces them not to cruise faster than 17kn.

The only compensation we got were the port taxes of $17,95 per Person.

Self absorbed, technically oblivious, and unappreciative first-worlder's... prepare your flamethrowers!

 

 

My take on the subject of this, and the other current/related thread, has much less to do with the documented propulsion problem on Silhouette, and FAR MORE to do with a very vocal minority of spoiled rotten, self centered, whiney ingrates who have absolutely NO appreciation of just how fortunate they really are.

 

ALL passengers need to read the fine print in their cruise documents about how the cruise line can change any itinerary, for any reason, at any time. It is QUITE OBVIOUS that doing this arbitrarily, and without explanation and/or some form of compensation WILL negatively affect passenger satisfaction and future profitability.

 

Silhouette has a minor propulsion problem that keeps it from operating at or near its top speed, which requires changes in arrival times/port stops/itineraries. This long known minor propulsion problem has necessitated the ship will soon be temporarily removed from service to enter a dry dock period for repairs.

 

From the HOWLS of outrage and the petulant DEMANDS for "compensation," you would think these "poor victims" are enduring floggings in the ship's dungeon.

 

They apparently have NEVER experienced a mechanical breakdown of ANY item or device they have EVER owned, or even CONSIDERED that something as HUGE and COMPLEX as a cruise ship could EVER encounter ANY problem.

 

Get a GRIP! A Celebrity "S" Class Cruise Ship is a 120,000 TON, 17 story tall, 1,000 feet long, small CITY of 4,500 people!!! It provides you with creature comforts that well over half of the SEVEN BILLION PEOPLE living on this planet can not even comprehend, and it does so while sailing around the world's oceans so you can visit a different beach every other day.

 

MY opinion??? Quit with the sniveling, try being thankful for what you've got, or stay home.

 

What's YOURS?

Indeed I am fortunate that I can spend thousands of $ for sailing through the Carribean but I am not fortunate with how X treats me. In two weeks on two out of seven ports I was not able to go ashore no enjoy what has been advertised due to a problem with the ship. Before you pay the customer is the king after they have your money they stick to the fine prints, lie you in your face and just ask for your understanding. That should be satisfying? For sure there a bigger problems on this planet but why should we always accept what they tell us well knowing that it is not the truth? Being honest with the issue and offering a small compensation showing good will and prove customer satisfaction would make the situation much better.

Disruptive? Really? Could you explain how you believe the Pied Piper group was disruptive? I was on the same ship and although there were some private functions held by the PP group, I did not at all feel excluded from the ship because of their presence. Their functions moved from space to space - one time being on the pool deck, another in Quasar, another in Sky Lounge, etc. My husband and I were still able to enjoy the ship thoroughly, and had quite a nice babymoon :) I have a feeling, OP, that you have some ideological differences with the PP group that are causing you to feel "disrupted," and I imagine that Celebrity will not care how you felt in this case. In the future, if you want to know if a large group is booked on a cruise you plan to sail on, you should probably join the roll call for that sailing here on Cruise Critic. The fact that PP was going to be on this ship has been public knowledge in our roll call for well over six months, so a little due diligence on your part would have saved you the "headache" of having to be tolerant of others.

 

Now if you DO want to complain about the trip being disrupted, might I suggest you take issue with the fact that the propulsion issues ACTUALLY affected the trip? The shortened port times, late arrival into Labadee, etc., were truly disappointing, especially given that Celebrity has known about this issue for months and is not managing to fix it until January. We were quite disappointed by a cancelled tour in Cozumel, shortened alternative tour, and the extremely short port time in Labadee.

Sorry, to hear that also your cruise was affected by the propulsion issues. How long were your actual port times and what did Celebrity said as reason?

How was the group like that the cruise was so disappointing?

We were on the cruises 11/16 and 11/23 and overall very disappointed with how X dealt with the propulsion issue.

We were late by ~2h in Grand Cayman and could not tender directly to George Town but from another position from which they offered a bus shuttle which took 20 min each way. Given a high tender number we were at the shuttle at 2:30h and in George Town shortly before 3:00h. In order to reach one of the last tenders we had to leave already again at 5:00h. So no real time to enjoy Grand Cayman and the chance to do anything else than shopping.

In Labadee we were also late by more than two hours, just giving us the chance to enjoy everything for 4 1/2 hours before sunset.

Each time mother nature was made guilty by Celebrity which is of course nonsense.

In the second week we missed as already stated San Juan, also by blaming mother nature. For that missing port we got the port charges as OBC which were $17,90 per person.

After expressing our disappointment at guest relation we were told in an very arrogant way that we agreed to a sea contract were X could skip ports and times like they want. Really the best way how to deal with unsatisfied customers. After directly asking if there is a relationship of being late and missing port with the propulsion issue we were told that there is no problem and that the reason are the strong head winds...

Overall we got not the best impression by X and how they dealt with the issue. Lying the customer directly in the face leaves a realy bad taste...