Myron E

Two things I love: the back deck for breakfast. I love just sitting there, having coffee and looking out, at my leisure.

The next is leaving NY Harbor, and seeing the skyline, the Statue, and passing this close to the Verrazano Bridge, which I watched being built.

Personally, I would never cruise in that part of the world.

Thanks for the review. We are on the Reflection in February for an Eastern Carib cruise.

When we got the Elite status I let the cruise line do a bag of laundry. Not worth paying their prices, IMO. My wife still does not let them touch her stuff.

We had black & white cookies on Reflection last month. They were not at Al Bacio, but at the Oceanview Café.

I am getting perturbed at all these changes, alleged or real. Are you telling me I have to add another activity to my busy day, and wander the ship's feed lots seeking to find where they moved my cookies? I have also noticed that they have sometimes delayed the time when they post the day's MDR menu; it should be posted when I go there to look. How hard could that be?

"I tell ya, it ain't easy being me."

We are glad to just wear nice, casual clothes every night for dinner. Gone are the days of two formal nights (tux or dark suits) and two semi-formal nights (sport jacket and slacks) on a 7 day cruise. I do admit that it felt classier on those nights, but that is just too much luggage to deal with nowadays.

I do think that Celebrity, company-wide, knows that it is in the hospitality business. After not paying much attention to things in my early cruises, I have noted, since attaining the elite level, that we are treated very well, both on the ship and on the phone before sailing if I ever have a question or situation.

You have to be a smart shopper in this world, whether you buy a cruise or a North Face jacket.

We like to get out of NY for February, and while in Florida, tag on a Celebrity cruise. So we watch the deals and shop.

This year, on some weekend or other, there was a deal with a drinks package and some good OBC, then, after checking with our various TAs, one of them, for the same price, added their own OBC. So we ended up with a nice balcony room on a floor we like, with a drinks package and $475 OBC, which will pay for all tips and an upgrade on the drinks package, plus some extra.

You have to be a discriminating consumer in this world, and learn how to get the best deal you can, and, once committed, forget about what anyone else gets.

Was looking at a suite on the Eclipse for 2018 going to Iceland. Jeez Louise, we just wanted to visit Iceland.

We don't want to go to Russia, we do want to go to Iceland.

So we booked a cruise on Holland Americ for July 2017. It is 14 days round trip from Copenhagen, a place we want to see, where we will arrive three days early, then two ports in Norway, four ports/five nights in Iceland, and two ports in Scotland.

Celebrity didn't have anything like it, but Hollan America does.

How do you know you are being served better wines?

 

Recently on Reflection there were no menu's ( possibly in the wine bar but we did not go there)

 

It seemed in the MDR they had selected wines in ice buckets and when i asked for a type ( eg pinot grigo ) with dinner they chose a bottle from those already open.

 

No menu's at any of the bars to choose from.

At dinner, my wife likes Pinot Noir, so she was served with the one from the classics pkg, Castle Rock, I think, or something similar. On the last 2 days, the sommelier (we stayed at the same station, even though we did anytime dining) poured the more expensive pinot because they ran out of the cheaper stuff.

The restaurant menus show the prices.

Oh, and I would never just get a cappuccino with an extra shot if I had to sign for it, but with the included drinks package, well, yeah.

We got an included classic pack on our last cruise, and enjoyed it way more than we thought we would. On our upcoming cruise, there was not only an included classic package, there was $450 OBC on top of that. For a 7 day cruise. We are definitely upgrading. Mostly because we A. Like the Martini Bar, and you can't use it with only the classic package, and B. The wines are also measurably better. So for ten bucks a day, we are using OBC.

If the packages were not included, we would not buy them, since, as elite members, we get the daily cocktail hour.