jasbo49

I'm technologically impaired, but I'll see if I can acquire the savvy to scan and post some dailies after we get back from our Jan. 20-25 Connie cruise.

Jim

We've never been in an interior either. But I think if you look at it as an adventure, a new experience -- and find a lot to do outside your cabin -- you'll enjoy it.

Just remember it was the savings that drew you to book the insider. Be a happy camper. You're still getting the same food and entertainment, the same ship to wander. I think a cruise in an inside stateroom would be most non-cruise experiences.

Jim

Thanks to both of you. And thanks to Larry Simon for the room service menus he posted.

Be aware if you look at Larry's thread that you'll find out on about the third page that the stuff in the original post is a bit outdated. Still, the basic premise holds true: You can get bacon or sausage or ham and some eggs and hash browns, toast, oatmeal, all that stuff.

Apparently, there's hot stuff for lunch too, burgers etc.

Jim

I think I read here that you can get scrambled eggs and other hot food delivered to your stateroom. Is this the case? If so, is it via room service or ordering off the MDR breakfast menu? I haven't been able to find a room service menu online, so I'm just kind of wondering what's available in the way of hot food, particularly at breakfast time.

Example: Say I want scrambled eggs, bacon, some kind of breakfast potatoes and a pot of coffee. Is that doable? Thanks in advance.

Jim

Thank you, everyone. It sounds like this will be a good spot for us, along with whatever spaces we stumble on during our cruise. With only five days, it helps to know going in where you might want to spend your time, eat your meals, catch your shows, etc.

Jim

I do think Carnival provides great value, comparable MDR food, a very good steakhouse, and good entertainment in their lounges. They often get overly criticized on cc boards of other cruise lines.

I appreciate your comments and that, for the most part, people here don't denigrate Carnival much. My wife and I have sailed Carnival for three of our six cruises and happened to find Celebrity extremely competitive for our 35th anniversary cruise. We kind of like not being looked down on, as Carnival cruisers are on some forums.

Jim

I'm not sure I understand the concept of the Solarium. Is it a glass-roofed pool and lounge area that's adults only? I don't think I've seen this described on the Celebrity website, and I can't even get on their site this morning. We've sailed on Carnival, where they have Serenity areas and Princess where they have Sanctuary (for a fee). Is Celebrity's Solarium kind of like that? Is it free?

Also, I'm wondering if there are other places people would recommend to just relax and read a book or spend time with my wife in comfort and relative quiet. We don't dislike kids, but we did find the Serenity area on our last Carnival cruise to be relaxing.

If it matters, I'm talking specifically about the Constellation. Thanks in advance.

Jim

Ever since we were seated with an obnoxious drunk and his suffering wife on our 25th anniversary cruise, we've opted for open seating.

We've also found that if we have a waiter we particularly like, we can often be seated in his area throughout the cruise just by asking when we arrive.

BTW, the seating with the drunk had a happy ending: We asked to be moved the second night (which was our actual anniversary) and got a very nice table for two by a window for the rest of the cruise.

Jim

I'm pretty sure it's the bridge, based on photos in a Google images search.

Jim

P.S. Oops, it looks like the bridge may is on 9 and you're wondering about deck 8. Now that I've bumped this up, maybe someone who knows more will answer your question.

I'm pretty sure the Celebrity website is run by the Obamacare people in their spare time. I do not believe I've seen a more unreliable site.

Jim

We're looking forward to our 5-day cruise Jan. 20 out of Fort Lauderdale, but wondering what to expect of the entertainment since we've never sailed on Celebrity.

Specific questions include:

Is there live music for sailaway?

Is there a stable group of musicians and comedians or to they rotate in and out?

Assuming there's some stability, what music, comedy acts, etc. are worth tracking down?

Is there a decent show in the big theater every night?

Any other comments welcomed, too. Thanks in advance.

Jim

Thanks for all the info and opinions, everyone. So much to think about.

My wife is on the thrifty side (one of the reasons we can even go on this cruise), so we've never eaten in one of the extra-charge restaurants on a ship. I think I can talk her into the Bistro on Five, though. If $5 a head gives us a relaxing embarkation lunch instead of the melee of the first-day buffet, it might be worth it.

And the option of ordering off the MDR menu to eat on the balcony is attractive, especially since we've decided to skip the fancy clothes for formal night. We could dress comfortably and still get MDR food.

Based on your recommendations, I'm already looking forward to the French onion soup, spring rolls, burgers, prime rib, crème brulee and a dozen other things. Glad it's only two weeks away.

Thanks again. For those who'd like to chime in, keep em coming.

Azulann: Thanks for the welcome aboard. Can't say that I remember much about St. Paul, but I was born there.

Jim

Greetings everyone. My wife and I have booked a semi-last-minute 35th anniversary cruise on the Constellation Jan. 20 out of Fort Lauderdale. Since we've never been on Celebrity before, I'm wondering whether there are particular meals in the main dining room people would recommend.

And I guess it could be broader than just entrees, if people have appetizers and/or desserts not to be missed. I know on Carnival, everyone raves about the Chocolate Melting Cake, and I had some favored entrees (Jamaican Jerked Chicken). My wife swooned for the Pumpkin Soup. So what's a knockout on the Celebrity MDR menu? Thanks in advance.

Jim

There was plenty of open seating on Serenity on the last sea day of our early September cruise. Great weather, nothing special for most to do on a sea day and still plenty of room.

Jim

How was your cruise? Did you enjoy it? Anything to avoid or watch out for?

I'm still bushed from a 13-hour drive home (OK, my wife actually drove more than half), but in brief, and I mean really brief:

Uppers: I liked the ship and the crew a lot. We've all seen suggestions of discontent among the Carnival workers here on CC, but I saw none on the Splendor. The wait staff in particular was really excellent. (I'm willing to let them be human. They forgot one thing over seven dinners, extra veggies on night 7.)

Downers: Entertainment on this ship, at least the kind my wife and I are looking for, is lacking. Very little live music. There were only three major "production shows" in the main theater in seven nights. The first two were pretty boring, so we skipped the third. The family comedy shows suited us better then the adults-only shows (I had a little trouble finding the humor in sex with corpses).The MDR food ranged from OK to quite good, but none of the fish we tried was any good. The mahi the last night was not worthy of any cruise line's main dining room.

These negatives stand out in particular because our last cruise three months ago, aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines, featured great entertainment and memorable fish entrees.

I'll probably report more later. It was a good cruise overall, and I don't mean to scare anyone away. Of all the things that could go wrong on a cruise, hardly any did. We had a really good time over all, even though it was way too hot for us in Cabo and PV.

Jim

I could be/might be wrong, but I **think** they open the breakfast buffet earlier on port days. I just remember going up to Lido buffet early on sea days and there was only the continental breakfast and on port days all the offerings were there and it finally dawned on me the different schedules. :confused::o:confused::o Maybe post this ? on it's own thread as I'm sure it's fleet wide!

Just off the Splendor today, and I'd say this is about right. I think on a port day, they put out the continental at 6 and the "real breakfast" (eggs and bacon and such) at 7 a.m. On port days, it's all a half hour later.

Jim

Mike: I think I'm gonna have to go back and actually read the review. I got too caught up with the pics to comprehend all the word stuff. I used to think I was a decent photog, years ago when I started working for newspapers. But you really have a good eye for color, shapes and perspectives. All kinds of stuff. And the eagle shots were just too much.

I actually went on this cruise May 26, but a lot of your pics made it seem like I was seeing these things for the first time.

I'm going to go back and check out all your photos for inspiration before my upcoming Mexico trip. Then, maybe, I'll finish the reading too. Thanks so much.

Jim

Our last cruise was the NCL Jewel. I never felt overwhelmed by humanity. Looks like you cruised on the NCL Sun, even smaller than the Jewel. Maybe those are more your style. I really enjoyed the Jewel, but we found the food less inviting (at least at the included restaurants) than Carnival's.

I think if feeling less crowded was No. 1, I'd be happy to go with most of the NCL ships (excluding Epic and Breakaway) or maybe some of the HAL ships that carry under 2,000.

Jim

Den, thanks for the info. Sounds like early is the way to go. We cruised out of Long Beach on 2007 and again in 2010 and both times it seemed crowded and slow and I'm not really sure what time it was. Maybe they've streamlined the system some.

Too bad about the Rotisserie being closed. That was my plan A, since I assumed the main buffet would be a free-for-all grabfest. Apparently if you get in early enough it's pretty civil, huh?

Jim

Here's one for all you Splendor veterans: What's the best time to get to the pier if the main criteria is a short wait?

All things being equal, I'd like to eat lunch aboard, but if the shortest wait is to arrive at 3 or something, we could consider that.

I suppose ideal would be if an 11 a.m. arrival produced a short wait.

Anybody know? Thanks.

Jim

Fountains, how could I forget Fountains! That is the best! Sinan was in Fountains on the Gem and that made it even funnier.

 

I'm really interested in see Fire and Ice, so many good things have been said about them.

Fountains really took me by surprise. That's classy entertainment.

Fire and Ice was this sort of phenomenon where they started playing to no one in the Atrium Lounge (May 26 on Jewel) and wound up packing bigger venues as word spread. It was like Tina Turner was 28 again.

Got to say I liked Jean Pierre Parent, the comic-magician, a lot too.

Jim