catugirl

Lsimon is right. BLU is the assigned dining room for Aquq Class. Never heard of having access to both BLU and MDR, unless you get permission. You might want check with Celebrity on this. BLU is a wonderful venue. The main reason we book Aqua Class is to be able to eat in BLU. It has better food than the MDR. It is a smaller, more intimate venue than the MDR. The service in BLU is the best and most accommodating service we've ever had. And BLU has a much less chaotic atmosphere than the MDR. Give BLU a try; you will probably love it.

Oh, I almost forgot...Princess has self-service laundry facilities, but Celebrity does not. Both lines have full-service laundry and dry cleaning (for a fee). Celebrity has an indoor pool, but Princess does not on most of their ships.

As you have surmised by now, if you ask a bunch of different people their opinions of cruise lines, you will get a bunch of different opinions! So I will put in my two cents worth, too!

We love both lines, and it comes down to what qualities are more important to you. We have to give edge to Princess for MDR (food quality, atmosphere--less chaotic, service). The cabins on Celebrity are nicer and have a couch. Princess has Movies Under the Stars, which we enjoyed. Celebrity has more contemporary decor,; whereas, Princess decor is more classic and traditional. We like the entertainment a bit better on Princess, but it's not that much different. The prices of specialty restaurants are less expensive on Princess; however, Celebrity has a larger number of specialty restaurants. Alcohol is less expensive on Princess. Shops on Celebrity are more expensive. Whichever line you choose, you will NOT have a bad cruise. Once you cruise once, you will be hooked like the rest of us!

In July DH and I did a Viking River cruise from Paris to Normandy and then a post-cruise tour of England. Even though it was not an ocean cruise, every day was extremely long and busy with shore excursions. Every evening we ate a leisurely dinner in the MDR, watched a little TV and went to bed. We were rested and refreshed for the next day.

As to packing, everything we took coordinated with the rest of our clothes, so we didn't take much. I took four pairs of slacks, five tops, one dress, three cardigans and two scarves. I mixed and matched so many ways that no one realized I didn't bring much. All the clothes I took were polyester and could be laundered in the sink. You are lucky in that you do have access to dry cleaning and laundry on the ship. All our ship had was laundry, and they dried everything on a high temp. When I packed, I rolled all our clothes, and I was able to fit all my clothes into a rolling carry-on and a tote bag. I fit DH's stuff into his rolling carry-on and a backpack. I had Googled "how to pack efficiently for Europe," and I found a great video. I can't remember what website it was, but I learned some valuable tips.

Have a wonderful cruise!:)

You'll find there are all ages onboard, and they all seem to have fun. Martini Bar and also Qsine have a young vibe. The casino appeals to all ages (21 and over, that is). And you can always some fun activity to participate in. You'll have a great time. Enjoy!

DH and I love Celebrity, but we think Princess definitely has the edge on food. The MDR on Princess is less chaotic and has tastier food choices than the MDR on X. And the specialty restaurants are more expensive on Celebrity. With that being said, you will love Celebrity's cabins. They are wonderful, and the cabin bathroom is way better than Princess. The Celebrity ships are beautiful and elegant. Service you will find comparable to Princess, as well as entertainment. X has a more relaxed vibe than Princess. The solarium on X is amazing! The lounge chairs in the solarium are so comfy, we always found a bunch of people snoring away there in the middle of the day! Enjoy your cruise. DH and I have sailed on RCCL, but we now flip flop between X and Princess.

For DH and me, X has better food and service than RCCL, and the X ships are prettier. X is a very elegant cruise line, even though it does not have as many active entertainment venues as RCCL. You will enjoy everything about X EXCEPT their website! :D

I hate to be the party pooper here, but I'm grateful we've only had them on one cruise (on RCCL). It looked like the cabin steward spent a lot of time and thought to create the "animals." We were reluctant to take them apart because we didn't want to offend the cabin steward. So the cabin steward just left them in our cabin. As a result, by the seventh day of this cruise, we had seven large towel animals piled up in our cabin; they took up valuable space in our small cabin. Just give me towels to dry off with, and don't take up my cabin space with "critters!" :D

I'm surprised more people aren't leaving Celebrity. I can view my booking, but one specialty restaurant reservation I made doesn't show up. We booked an additional restaurant but then changed our mind and cancelled. It disappeared in August, but today I looked at our booking, and that cancelled dinner reservation was showing as booked again! And I haven't received email confirmations about anything. When I booked shore excursions, they showed up; a few days later they disappeared, and now they're back again. I called X in August, and they said they were working on their system. How long does it take to "work on their system" before something is fixed?

The other cruise lines we've cruised on (RCCL and Princess) never had these website problems. We're rethinking our cruising future.

OK, thanks. I'll try that. Happy cruising, everyone!

Thanks, CC members, for the advice. I just called X, and the lady said she couldn't send me a confirmation because it shows "pending." She said complimentary dinner reservations always show "pending." She also said she could only get into the notes on my cruise booking, not the booking itself because Celebrity was updating my booking. It seems they are always "updating" my booking!:rolleyes:

I understand that now the Classic Package covers wines up to $9.00. I was so glad to hear that.

I'm in an AQ Suite on Reflection in November. One of the perks is a complimentary dinner in a specialty restaurant. I called X and booked the one we wanted for a specific night. It doesn't show at all when I look at my reservation. X didn't send me a confirmation email showing the reservation has been made. Has anyone else had this experience? Do I just assume ir's been done or should I call them again and request confirmation?

We just did a Viking River Cruise, Paris to Normandy, and then a Viking post-cruise trip to England. It was beyond wonderful! The scenery was beautiful. The service and friendliness of the crew were the best I've ever seen. The food was magnificent, and at dinner the wine was included in the cruise price. Every day we were in a different port, except for an overnight in Paris and an overnight in Rouen. We found all the included shore excursions very interesting. Viking took such good care of us, even to the point of having a rep at the airport when we departed to make sure we had no problems and got through security OK! Every evening during the cruise the CD had a briefing for us to let us know what to expect the following day. Even our post-cruise tour was amazing. We didn't miss late night entertainment on the ship because our days in port were so active and busy that we were exhausted! There was a good piano player in the lounge for those who wanted entertainment after dinner. The ship was small, and we really got to know lots of people pretty well. The ONLY downside was the price of the flight.

That being said, we also love ocean cruising. Our choice would be to do both river cruising and ocean cruising if we can afford it!

Thank you, Mr. Bayley, for taking the challenge and for donating to the ALS Association. I lost two friends to this horrible disease.

To you all who are getting the great perks and OBC, do you negotiate for them, or does the TA just offer them to you? I must be doing something wrong!

DH and I did a European river cruise in July. I put on a solid five pounds on the cruise, despite walking several miles a day. DH did not put on weight (it's not fair). I haven't been able to lose it, and we're cruising again on Reflection in November. Some of my clothes are already getting tight. I exercise several times a week. Any advice? Food and drink on cruises are so tempting!

Just off the Connie (fabulous Baltic cruise). We took the classic package as part of the 1,2,3 Go promo and were on the fench about bumping up to Premium. The first day on board I asked at the bar at the entrance to the Oceanview and was given the attached list of what was included.

 

As a small surprise and delight I ran into a few situations where the wine listed was not available and was given a slightly better wine instead. It didn't happen all the times but I figured out which bars were most likely to do it.

 

I decided to stick with the classic package and had no complaints.

 

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Thanks for this list. I think this is the newest one I've seen. There are so many lists out there. It makes me wonder if this list is universal for all X ships. Do all Classic Beverage Packages on all X ships have the same spirits included or does it vary by ship?

Michael's club is in operation on every ship and available to Celebrity Sute, Royal Suite, Penthouse, Signature Suites and the Reflection Suite, as well as Century Suites on Century.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

What about Aqua Class Suite on Reflection? We're in one in November. This is our first time in a suite on X.

Would love to see some X cruises out of Baltimore. The only ship I know of sailing out of there is Grandeur of the Seas. The way things are now makes it difficult for those of us in Virginia, NC, And SC because we have to travel to South Florida, New Jersey or New York to get a decent cruise.

Thanks very much, wpgcycler. No, I did not have that link, and that is the very thing I needed, so that I can get as much work done as possible before I get on the Solstice in May.

 

Thanks also to the Preismans for all their work in putting the menus together.

 

I will try to check out as many specific requests for information as I can, while on the Solstice. Bar research. Sounds good to me. :D:D:D

The Preisman's list has been around for quite some time and, from what I gather from other threads, is not an updated one.

Classic and Premium here:

 

 

 

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This list has more selections listed in the Classic Package than the post above. This one includes Makers Mark bourbon, but the other list does not. This list includes more selections for liqueurs than the other list. Does anyone know which is the most recent list? It is so frustrating trying to find the answer to this question! I've tried on other threads, to no avail.

Is that an online TA you transferred to or a local TA? I would love to have the option of a local TA, but the one time I tried, they wouldn't give me OBC or any other perks.

To find out if there is an outside charter on your cruise, I think the website is themecruisefinder.com. It's incredible how many outside charters there actually are. Guess there's not much you can do to control whether there is one or not, but it surely could be a pain if you're one of passengers on your cruise who are NOT in the charter group.

We have a Nov. cruise, and I just recently checked to make sure all the information was completed for my online check-in and printed our Express Pass, but I don't remember having to put in my travel insurance info. I booked our insurance through our TA. Hope I didn't overlook anything. Where did you input your insurance info?