aSiAnRiCk

Tuesday: Sausage goes in left pan, Bacon goes in right pan.

 

 

 

Wednesday: Sausage goes in right pan, Bacon goes in left pan.

You forgot the scramble egg!

Hardly changed?? I must have missed the day that they did... :)

I actually mentioned that to the Executive Chef during the Q&A's while waiting for our turn for the Galley Tour and he didn't like it too much. Other guests around me seemed to agree with my comment.

Well, he asked for feedbacks lol

Thank you guys.

The food was good though the breakfast selections hardly changed for the whole 14 days.

Thank you! And he usually brings the whole pharmacy with him but apparently forgotten the bandaid lol

I do like the shirts idea! :)

Thank you everyone who have posted replies. I appreciate them all. Also, thank you to those with the kind words and support.

I'm amazed how some people are quick to judge and brushed it off like it's nothing. If you think that it's okay for cruise staff to "assume" that you don't belong in a specific area of the ship because you look like a crew member, well more power to you but to me, it's unacceptable.

My concern is about the way we were approached and that the situation could've been handled differently.

ps: Art, it was very nice to meet you and the wife and hope we'll meet again!

I've been on both the Spirit and the Reflection.

I did the Grand Med with Spirit in 2014. At the time, I was hesitant because of the age and size of the ship. However, it was port heavy that I really appreciated the smaller size to get around. Basically, you'll be using the ship mostly as a hotel because you'll be out and about in ports for most of your sailing.

I did the Caribbean on the Reflection and yes, the ship is beautiful! But again, it took what seemed to be forever just walking from my cabin in the rear of the ship to the midship elevators.

I remember to be in your shoes before booking my Grand Med cruise. I chose the Spirit because it was cheaper and has an extra stop or two.

Just to add - the overnight in Venice while nice, the free boat shuttle only operates until 10pm. So if you're still "downtown" after 10pm, you need to get a taxi to return to the ship.

Thank you for all the replies. Some did make me smile, so thank you for that too.

Don't get me wrong, we did enjoy the cruise. We met great people along the way, to include crew members. We enjoyed the food, the ports, tours, and everything else. We do partake in most activities and frequent the casino, even after the incident. No, we don't let this ruin our cruise, especially with the amount of money we paid for. Yes, for many this would be a trip of a lifetime and yes, we do try to laugh it off and even joked with our cruise friends about cleaning after their plates, refill their coffee, etc. I'm sure many cruisecritic friends we met on the cruise would vouch that we're not a complainers nor "needy" cruisers. In fact, we kept repeating to them of how blessed we are to be on the cruise and to experience that part of the world. With our line of work, we don't get insulted easy but we do know a thing or two about proper customer service.

We started cruising less than four years ago and this was cruise number 11 for us. We're somewhat familiar with cruising and what to expect from them.

I do think these incidents can be done better and differently and that's the reason of my original post.

They shouldn't have told us that we were in the wrong area of the ship because we're crew members. For example, both the medical staff and the casino staff could have requested to see our sea pass instead. That would be a more friendly approach than telling us to go to the "other office" or telling us that we shouldn't be in the casino because we're crewmembers.

I understand they have a job to do but again, there are different and more proper ways to do your job to accomplish the same result.

If the OBC ends with R its refundable. Just cash it in and put the money towards the deposit for future cruise?

We just returned home from our cruise to South America and I just want to share the incidents we experienced on the Infinity February 28 sailing, from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso.

The first incident occurred when my partner visited the ship's infirmary because he needed a band aid after a tour of Montevideo. He walked in and explained to the nurse what happened and the nurse told him that he's not supposed to be in that office. Confused, he asked where is the correct office? She then said, "aren't you a crew member?" and he said no, he's a passenger. Without an apology, she told him to have a seat. After about ten minutes wait, he returned to the window and told her he just needs a band aid.

The second incident occurred on a sea day when we sailed Cape Horn. We had such a beautiful day with the sceneries and later, a nice dinner at the specialty restaurant Q-Sine with two new friends. After dinner and feeling full, both of us decided to walk it off and head to the casino. There we met other friends whom we met during the cruise and spent about thirty minutes at the Blackjack table. Then we decided to go up to the Constellation on deck 11. On the way, I decided to put money in the slot machine and that's when casino staff member approached us and said we shouldn't be there. I asked what he means with this question and he asked if we are crew-members. I said no but he still was not satisfied and continued to ask for our room cards. There were few other guests next to us and they were looking at us at this point so I showed him our cards.

I started walking towards the elevator to go up and told my partner the incident bothers me. He told me to let it go but I told him I'm going to return to the casino to talk to him. I approached the same staff and asked to speak to him in private. I then told him how we did not appreciate his approach to us. He answered he was just doing his job. I told him, yes but there are different ways to do his job and he could've been more polite and more discreet without attracting attention. He said sorry we felt that way and still was adamant that he was doing his job.

I did bring this up to Guest Relations that night and the next day had a meeting with the Assistant Guest Relation Managers as well as Head of Security who told me that the whole thing was a misunderstanding and they did not mean to stereotype.

My partner and I are both Asian, in our 30's. I'm in law enforcement and he's in nursing. I understand that in this sailing, there were mostly older and Caucasian guests. However, they shouldn't have stereotype and questioned us based on our looks.

Perhaps we expected higher standard with Celebrity?

Thank you again for sharing your experience with us and to take the time to post pictures and write reports.

Going on our first SA cruise in 7 weeks so your report is helpful to us.

Thanks again!

Parking at POM is covered, convenient and secure - parking anywhere else will likely not be covered, will not be as convenient (even if the shuttle is on time), and for sure will not be as secure. :eek:

 

It's your car - do you feel lucky? :confused:

The Premier Cruise Parking at 1415 NE 2nd Ave has half covered and the other half uncovered. First come first served. At least it's in a parking garage in a better part of town and no homeless camps nearby.

Again, I posted extensive Yelp reviews of the place here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/premier-cruise-parking-port-of-miami-miami

I posted an extensive review with pictures of this place on Yelp - http://www.yelp.com/biz/premier-cruise-parking-port-of-miami-miami

Thanks for those who listed toir companied for Puerto Montt. Will look into them! Thank you.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful trip! Looking forward to see the rest

Here is an overview of the horrendous death toll during the overall construction effort -- both French and American phases:

 

https://thesilverpeopleheritage.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/the-panama-canal-death-tolls/

 

 

John

Hi, aSiAnRiCk, Most of the deaths in the Culebra Cut were caused by landslides and the mishandling of dynamite. J-D has provided a link to an article that provides more details about the terrible death toll during the Canal's construction.

 

Thanks for providing the link to this article. I found it to be interesting and sobering.

Thank you for sharing the info. Truly made me appreciate the canal a whole lot more and the ultimate sacrifice made to build it.

Thanks for the heads up guys. We're going in the first week of March.

Thanks again!

We managed to get a table by the window where we watched the Culebra Cut pass by. We thought about the many hundreds of lives that had been lost where we were now cruising. It was sobering.

 

Thank you

Thanks for sharing this trip report. Looking forward to see the rest!

Thanks for the heads up. I was getting ready to book a tour with him and also recommend him to our roll call for a group tour.

When was your cruise? Just curious what time of the year it was since you complained about the weather being too cold, so that we would pack accordingly for our planned South America cruise, also on the Infinity.

Thank you,

I posted a review about this parking garage on Yelp here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/premier-cruise-parking-port-of-miami-miami I also posted few pictures that may help others on here.

It was my first time using their garage last month and I was very satisfied. The thing is, whenever you search for Offsite parking in Miami, it tends to take you to the other offsite locations and rarely this garage came up as a result.

So hopefully by posting on Yelp, it'll bring up their location to the top of the page. No, I don't work there nor know anyone that do lol. I'm just very satisfied with their lot and saved half of what POM would charge.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures and your trip with us.

I spent over an hour looking at your pictures. They were amazing and thank you for sharing your experience with us!

I will be on the Wonder next weekend and it'll be my first Disney cruise :D

Thank you for sharing your pictures. Please post more!

Looking forward to ours next week.

Thanks for the trip report and sharing your pictures. We're going on the Wonder next week and it'll be our first Disney cruise. Can't wait!