jasbo49

You might want to think about mixing it up. Tell your son one night you'll tell them you'd like a table for two and another night you'd like to share with a larger group. Here and there you can just say "whatever you have available first."

I'd impress upon him that a cruise is an adventure, and surprise are part of the deal.

Jim

You are aware though that this coffee is not free?

So where is free (or pre-paid) coffee available near the International Café on the Golden Princess. That's the ship the OP is sailing (and me, too). Do you have to go up to the buffet? Are there any free beverages near the IC?

Jim

Thanks everyone. Sorry I wasn't clear on a few things. I try not to bore people with super-long questions and apparently was unspecific in the process.

Yes, it's Friday, Oct. 17 that we come in on the Golden Princess. We've been able to get off our last few cruises by around 8 a.m. with the self debarkation. I thought we could probably get to Disney by 10 or so. Our flight isn't until 8:45 p.m., and thus I was talking about leaving D-Land at about 5. So I thought 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. made a pretty good window for the park. I was unaware that the Happiest Place on Earth now wanted almost $100 to make you happy. I guess I'm still stuck in my childhood when we paid $25 or so.

Since the shuttle idea comes with a luggage problem, I think our best bet is actually the Enterprise rental and just spending the day around L.A. and Long Beach. Either that or fly our earlier. The only reason we have this problem is that the cheapest and only nonstop flight from LAX to our home airport in Southern Oregon is at 8:45. We may just have to pay more and have a layover or two while flying out earlier.

Again, thanks for the responses. I can tell you spent some time on them, and I appreciate it.

Jim

We're thinking about spending a day in the greater L.A. area after an October cruise and wondering about transportation options. My recollection is that public transit is incomplete at best.

One option is to go from the cruise ship to Disneyland, then to LAX at 5 or so to catch the plane. Does anyone know whether there are buses or shuttles that would run these two routes? L.A. Harbor-to-Disney and Disney to LAX?

The other option is to rent a car and freelance it a bit more, maybe a stop at a beach, lunch at a favorite restaurant, a visit to Olvera Street. That would call for a car and I'm not sure whether anyone rents them at the cruise terminal and allows me to return it at LAX. Anyone done this? Thanks in advance.

Jim

Sad to see this thread has drifted into Carnival bashing. Even complaints about waiters singing and dancing (many people actually like that). If you're happy with Princess, you don't need to show it by bad-mouthing another cruise line. It's kind of low.

Jim

Thanks everyone. Sounds like some good suggestions. I appreciate Jackie's hint too about Skywalkers for indoor quiet space. I often wake up a couple hours before my wife and like to grab coffee at the buffet and find a spot to read. Skywalkers sounds like a winner.

Jim

We've just booked a 4-day getaway on the Golden Princess to San Diego and Ensenada. While we're looking forward to trying Princess again, I think we're going to miss one thing on Carnival: the free Senenity area. I realize Princess has the Santuary, but $30 a day is a bit rich for our tastes (we don't even do the extra-charge restaurants on cruises).

Are there places on the Golden that are quiet and relaxing without the surcharge? I saw somewhere there were adults only pools, but haven't seen where. Thanks in advance.

Jim

I don't know whether you've had a balcony on past cruises or not, but if not, I'd recommend trying one. Sure, the OV is cheaper, but the balcony offers fresh air and just a sort of ocean experience that's important to us. Morning coffee, afternoon cocktail, evening stargazing: It's all better outdoors. We basically figure if we can't afford a balcony, we can't afford the cruise.

I'd choose deck 12 over deck 14 if you go with a balcony. Deck 14 cabins have the gym directly above them.

Jim

I'll take a good old gin and tonic with a twist any day.

Jim

We've sailed NCL just once, the Jewel to Alaska a couple years ago. As others have said, standard balconies are smaller on NCL. We did get a coffee-tea maker in the room. Possibly the tiniest bathroom we've ever had.

I thought the buffet was better on NCL, but we preferred the MDR food on Carnival. I'm not a big fan of the pay restaurants, but we just ignored them and went to the included ones. Someone asked what's the beef about too many pay restaurants. For me, it's the fact that part of the ship is taken up by something that doesn't benefit us (unless we pay extra).

The entertainment on the Jewel, at least for this one cruise, was the best we've ever had on a cruise: magician, hypnotist, strong cast for the stage shows and a soul duo -- Fire and Ice -- that was unbelievable.

You'll have fun.

Jim

I think Carnival likes to operate like a classless society. The Walmart checker gets the same treatment as the Wall Street whoopdeedoo.

It's understood that whatever you pay for the room, it's only the room that's different. Everyone gets the same room service, MDR and chocolates and towel animals. Seems to have worked pretty well so far.

Jim

Here's a really random question if you don't mind - how late can you get ice cream?

We were on the cruise before the OP's, and ice cream was open till 10 p.m. It's a really nice feature, though. Always chocolate and vanilla, and then another 5 or 6 flavors that rotate in and out day by day. This is real ice cream, not soft serve, and it's all made right there on the ship.

Also, another shoutout for Captain Tasos. It's the first cruise we've been on where the captain was a factor, and it was all for the better. We happened to run into him at the elevator one morning and he gave us directions and a smile, just like any crew member would.

Jim

Not to veer off-course, but I was on the 1/20 sailing, too. What did I miss? I didn't notice a big group, except on the last night there was a small, but very loud group at the aft deck bar outside of OceanView. I tend to keep to myself and now I'm really curious to know what happened.

If you had a balcony cabin on the port side, you couldn't have missed them an hour or two before sailaway in Cozumel. They were hanging over the balcony railings yelling down to all their friends as they came up the pier. I didn't get too worked up because it was the middle of the afternoon and we had no reasonable expectation of peace and quiet, but they were definitely drunk and loud and obnoxious.

I found them even more obnoxious in Key West, when we got off the ship and one of the Cruise Fools, as they were called, was yelling crude stuff for all to hear. I was embarrassed to be from the same ship as this guy.

Jim

The buffet alone is better than Carnivals MDR. although, Carnival is revamping it's MDR menu.

 

We loved the grill station at the rear of the buffet that would grill a ribeye or NY strip to order.

They also offered kabobs, jerk chicken and jerk pork on other nights.:D

Hope you'll allow me to cherry-pick a few things to respond to.

Yes, the buffet was better than Carnival's, but I don't think it was better than Carnival's MDR. It sounds like you might have eaten at the buffet most nights and may have more familiarity with their dinner buffet. That would mean you ate fewer meals in the Celebrity MDR and are maybe less versed on their food. The MDR food was my disappointment. Again, it wasn't bad, just not as good as I expected.

The kabobs offered in the buffet's grill station were my wife's favorite meal of the trip, a fine compliment to the buffet but a sorry commentary on the MDR, where we ate four of our five dinners. I can't imagine the head chef likes it that people are going to the buffet for their most memorable meals.

Jim

Hmm, so far it seems like no one has done this on a 5-night cruise. I'll just have to see when we get on board. And if not, then that sounds like a good excuse to book another cruise. :D

Scott, we just finished a 5-day Western Caribbean on the Constellation. They offered a galley tour on the first sea day. It wasn't all that great, but something to do on a sea day. They led us through the galley in groups of about 30 with a chef at the head of the line trying to talk above the din. It was hard to hear and not much really going on. The only other tour I saw was on Day 1, billed as a ship's tour for first-time cruisers, I believe. These were both free, but I don't think they're what you're looking for.

Jim

Greetings. OP here, just hoping to tidy up a few things:

1. Some seem to be inferring we had a "bad cruise" or a negative experience. As I said in the first post, "We had a great time and have no real complaints." Maybe this is a good place to note a few more positives I didn't mention at first. The service was excellent or close to it everywhere. Captain Tasos was a pleasure, very accessible and full of good humor. Everything was very clean, including the public restrooms (cloth towels to dry your hands). Real ice cream made on the ship available in buffet area. The Oceanview café (the buffet) was a little upgrade from Carnival's, but it was the same tasteless powdered scrambled eggs in the morning. Grab all the bacon you want, though.

2. I think we can all agree that a short cruise is going to be a little different, but the food should be no less remarkable on a 5-day than on a TransAtlantic. The "enrichment" offerings might be a little less ambitious, but shouldn't be scuttled entirely if they're trying to woo us with a taste of Celebrity. So I look at these as things that can't blamed on the duration of the cruise. They simply aren't the step up my wife and I had expected.

3. I didn't want to make too big an issue of the large group that was aboard, because that was atypical and probably not under Celebrity's control. And it didn't ruin our cruise. But for the record, the Cruise Fools, as they call themselves, did have a few real buffoons in their ranks along with plenty of regular folks. I heard several reports of them sitting around the pool tag-teaming booze and Red Bull and bragging about being banned by Carnival. And some of the hollering off the balconies in Cozumel had to be heard to be believed.

As for whether we'll be back, I don't know. I'm not opposed to cruising Celebrity again if the price is right, but I think this 5-day taster kind of missed its chance to hook us, and apparently some other people.

Jim

Constellation

Cabin #: 7023

Deck #: 7

Class: 2C

Area: Far forward

Bed near: Bathroom

Quiet?: Yes

Balcony view: Ship's structure partially blocks view to the right (forward). You can look straight forward or left, but the cabin should be listed as partially obscured view.

Balcony size: standard, small: 2 chairs, 1 small table

Wind a problem?: no

Soot a problem?: no

Problems/comments: Overall, nice. Mirrored wall makes cabin feel bigger than it is. Bathroom seemed roomier than in some cruise cabins. Individual reading lamps on each bedside table. Surprised being so far forward wasn't a problem for us. Only drawback is that view is not panoramic.

For me, the site is only half functional with my usual browser. Celebrity really should do something about it.

However, when I use Google Chrome, everything works. If you don't have Chrome installed, it's easy to install, so easy that even I did it. In my experience, using Google Chrome for this site is great. Anything else is choosing to beat your head against the wall.

Jim

We're just off the Jan. 20-25 Constellation Western Caribbean cruise and had a different experience than some other recent posters. We had a great time and have no real complaints but wanted to warn people not to expect a world of difference. There was a lot we thought would be better than Carnival that wasn't.

Mainly we were disappointed in the activities and MDR food, and somewhat in the entertainment.

No. 1, we expected some legitimate "enrichment" offerings such as we saw on Princess on our one cruise with them, but there's not much on the daily activity list other than the same old trivia, art auctions and bingo stuff. The same shopping talks, where some self-important "shopping expert" pretends to have twisted arms to have gotten you incredible deals at Diamonds International and tries to lead you like a droid through some map of allowable stores. It's insulting, whether you're on Celebrity, Carnival or any other line. On Princess, they offered a crash course in Spanish on a Mexican Riviera cruise. I expected something here like a Mayan culture talk on the way to Cozumel or something on Key West authors on the way there. But there was nothing educational unless you count dance lessons or a 15-minute galley tour where most of the people couldn't hear anything.

Not one dish in the main dining room was remarkable. We only had a five night cruise, so we didn't try everything on the cruise line's menu, but nothing we had was memorable (a couple fish dishes came close), and a few things were pretty disappointing. The formal night, rumored to be among the best menus, was just another night.

The production shows in the main theater were among the best we've seen, but little else caught our interest in the entertainment offerings. Admittedly, this is partly our fault for not sampling more things late at night. The live music we did hear was nothing special. We did enjoy the comic who took the main stage one night, but thought the "illusionist" was a disappointment.

There were some obvious plusses on Celebrity, like lack of promotional pitches on the PA and excellent service in the MDR. And I'll bet I was offered sparkling wine a couple times a day.

But you won't get away from the chair hogs and buffet brutes (both male and female). You won't avoid the loud-mouth drunks just by switching from Carnival to Celebrity. At least that was our opinion based on one five-night cruise.

Jim

Shorts are for little boys and old men.

This is a joke .., right?

Thanks to each of you, and I must say a special thanks to TheWren for going into such detail. I am really looking forward to seeing the offerings in the Celebrity Today dailies.

I didn't mention before that we're talking about a 5-day Western Caribbean cruise on the Constellation, so I'm sure there won't be as much offered as a Transatlantic or a 10- to 14-night cruise.

But just the fact that there are cooking demonstrations and kitchen tours and maybe a port talk that doesn't focus entirely on shopping sounds promising.

Jim

Ordered mine Jan. 4 after going through the online check-in process. Received them today, 12 days later. There are four for each of us. Probably spiffier looking than if we'd just run them through our printer, plus there's stickum.

Jim

We're leaving in a few days for our first Celebrity cruise and looking forward to (1) the cruise and (2) enjoying the improved atmosphere and offerings. In the past we've cruised mostly on Carnival and found little or no enrichment activities, unless you count liquor tastings or shopping seminars. NCL also offered very little.

Princess had a couple of things like a crash course in Spanish for a Mexican Riviera cruise. That was useful.

Can anyone tell me what we can expect from Celebrity that's free and informative? Cooking demos, wine talks, behind the scenes tours, lessons in anything? Thanks in advance.

Jim

Thank you Doc for the heads-up. Not everyone reads every post, especially the ones with stultifyingly foreign words.

Jim

Some people (mostly men) hate to be dressed formal while on vacation and prefer to feel comfortable in casual clothings ...

Please put on a dress shirt and necktie for a few hours before making such statements. For those who aren't used to it, it's pretty awful; for those who do it every day, it's probably worse. Wearing a shirt and tie really stinks. If I want to eat in the MDR on formal night, I'll probably do it, but don't think it's no biggie just because it's not you doing it.

Jim