ShonaTay56

Thanks to all that have commented. It has given me a lot of information which I will go through and look at each hotel mentioned. At the moment I am still drawn to the Embassy Suites as it appears to be in a good location for shops and restaurants and in particular I like the look of Kellys Landing. Could do some serious damage to the menu in there.

Thanks all again.

Alan

Hi Yorky,

We would be looking for a 4 or 5 star hotel and we were looking at the Marina area but are open to suggestions. Price is not really an issue but obviously we don't want to spend £500.00  ($700.00) per night on just a bed. Would rather save the money for the cruise.

First night in the hotel would be a bit of a waste anyway as we fly from Aberdeen to Heathrow and then direct flight to Miami getting in at 18.15 which I believe will be about 23.15 british time.

Thanks

Alan

Hi folks I am looking for some advice on transfers from Miami International Airport to Fort Lauderdale and also hotels in Fort lauderdale. We are booked on the 13th September Equinox ABC cruise and got a very good deal on the flights. I have been looking at hotel Pier 66 but there does not appear to be any restaurants roundabout for breakfast and so on.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Alan Taylor

4 hours ago, neenee61 said:

We will be sailing Feb 3 B2B and fingers crossed that we get Alejandro

Alejandro was the cruise director on our cruise that finished on the 23rd November. I hope he is on for you as we thought he was the best cruise director out of the 6 Celebrity cruises that we have done. Enjoy your cruise

9 hours ago, floralscent said:

We haven't sailed with Celebrity in 3 years but are finally sailing in January!!!  Many things seem to be different now vs 3 years ago and I am finding that online check-in is one of those things.  When we sailed last time we weren't asked to add a photo during check-in.  I did add our photos and it seems that we are officially checked-in as I printed our express passes and we can see them on the app.  

 

We keep getting emails from Celebrity saying it's online check-in time and the email also mentions adding a photo and scanning passports.  I did complete online check-in, complete with photo so I am assuming that the emails are auto generated but my concern is the passport part.  We have valid passports and I entered our passport numbers but I never noticed a step for scanning passports at check-in.  Did I miss something and if so, are we really checked-in or should I go back and see where I missed the scanning step? 

 

Anything we can do now to avoid extra lines at Port Everglades would be super.  Thank you-

 

 

Hi Floralscent,

This is a new addition to the online check-in but it has only been rolled out to certain ships in the Celebrity fleet at the moment. We just got back from the Eclipse at the end of November and it was not rolled out to it then. I would suggest that you look up the connections web site for your ship and choose one of the ones leaving before you and you will probably find your answer in there.

Enjoy your cruise and have a merry Xmas thinking about it.

Alan

13 hours ago, SleepingUgly said:

Thank you, everyone!  It is reassuring to read from so many veteran cruisers that specialty dining is not a "must-do" on Celebrity.  I think we will stick with the MDR, unless we really need to find a way to spend that OBC later on, and then maybe we will try for Qsine (sorry, I spelled it incorrectly in my original post).  We have set dining and I remember how it was so nice to be familiar with our wait staff, who knew what we all preferred to eat each night, and were always joking around and extra-friendly with the kids, entertaining them with napkin folding and other "tricks".  This is one of the things I loved about our MDR dining experience in the past and am looking forward to repeating it again.  I know some things have changed, but it sounds as if the "uniqueness" of dining in the MDR has still remained the same, I think (and hope!).

 

Thanks again!

 

Linda

Hi Linda,

We are just back from our second cruise this year. We travel in Aqua so we always have the Blu restaurant to go to for our diner and we always use Oceanview for our lunch as we do not eat a lot at lunchtimes so it is easier to pick what you want. In May we did the Pacific Coastal on the Infinity and never used any of the speciality restaurants. The menu in Blu, in my opinion was far better than the MDR or Luminae. However on the Eclipse this time we did dine twice in speciality restaurants purely because we chanced our luck for the Petite Chef and said we would only consider it if it was 2 for the price of 1. Surprise surprise we were told that if we could eat at 6.00pm that night then we would get it for that price. It was a very good meal but as mentioned previously they do not change their menu, that I could see, so it would only be worth doing once a cruise for the experience. We also did Murano last Thursday night which was for my birthday and we got a 20% discount because we were Aqua guests. I can honestly say that Murano was exceptionally good for both the food and the service and in our opinion it was well worth the money we spent and it was not on board credit.

In short it does not matter if you dine or don't dine in these restaurants you will always get good food onboard the Celebrity ships. But that is only my opinion. Whichever you choose I hope you enjoy your cruise and be a bit cheeky with the upselling staff and see how much discount you can get. Try asking if the kids dine free in Le Petite Chef and that way you would only have to pay for the two of you.

Enjoy your cruise

Alan

On 10/30/2018 at 8:34 PM, PTC DAWG said:

Good point, speaking of a jacket, if I want to have one pressed etc, what is the approximate cost?  I may take a linen jacket on my cruise next Sept...I’ve never sailed with one, and don’t see how it won’t be wrinkled looking...

I always take my kilt when I go on a cruise and the jacket and waist coat are folded up inside the case for up to three days. Packed day one, travel day two, usually an overnight in port before joining the ship and then unpacked just before sailaway. I find that if I pull the jacket outside in and then fold it it does not seem to wrinkle. Another secret that I heard but have not tried is to roll it up and put it into the side of your case which is what I do with the kilt because I don't think anyone onboard would be able to press a kilt properly.

Alan

Thanks for the responses. Still undecided as I will need to check the exchange rates.

Cheers, whichever way I am going to enjoy my cruise and drinks package starting in 23 days🍸🍻🥂🥃🍹but who's counting

Alan

Hi, I just got an offer of a 20% discount to upgrade my classic package to a premium for GB £262.00. Can someone advise if they know what the upgrade is if you buy it onboard the ship? I seem to recall that it was US$10.00 per day plus the 18% gratuity. If that is the case it would be cheaper for me to wait until I was onboard and book it with the bar tender of my choice so that he gets the benefit. 

Thanks Alan

Useful information as we've been thinking of doing the same.

I wonder, can this be done if a passenger is late and misses the ship? Just fly to the next port and board then?

On our first cruise with NCL we went into Rome by train, on our own, and spent the day there. As it was getting near the time to think about heading back we went to board the bus to the train station. The first bus was full so did not pick us up. The traffic then became a nightmare and we were doing about a mile an hour, would have been quicker walking. We just missed the train that would have got us back in time so had to wait for the next one. By the time we got back to port it was at least half an hour after departure so didn't bother going as my wife said she would cry if she saw the ship pulling away. We then caught a train up to Livorno, spent the night in a hotel and boarded the ship when it arrived next day.

Our only problem was trying to get through the security gates at the port as we could not find an english speaking guard. Eventually we got through and had no trouble getting back on board the ship. We spent the whole day on board and just thanked our lucky stars that we did not have to organise flights to get to the next port.

Guess where we're going in November on the Eclipse! Yes you guessed it Rome and Livorno. If we do our own thing again we will leave Rome much earlier.

Alan;)

I'm not in the Tag Heur bracket but have bought 2 Citizen Eco watches, coincidentally both on the Equinox in the Caribbean, and in my opinion I got a good deal on both of them. The first watch I bought was a gold coloured one with a face that was about the right size for my wrist and I did like it. However, while trawling around St Thomas or St Martins I came across it in the ladies section and it was dearer than I paid. When I got back to the ship I went to the store and told them what I had discovered and they tried to tell me it was a unisex watch. They could see that I was not convinced so they agreed to change it for me. I have been wearing the replacement ever since. The watch was on offer at about $450 but with their special promotion I got it for $265.

The second one I bought was a dress watch and it was on offer at $1000 dollars less 35% so got it for $650. We then bought a future cruise and got $300 dollars on board credit. In my mind that means I got it for $350 as I would have been spending this on the next cruise anyway.

Keep an eye on what the future cruise promotion is as we have had on board credit for both the future cruise and the cruise that we were currently on so that could make any purchase on board cheaper.

Good luck with the shopping

Alan

Our first cruise was on the Norwegian Jade (I think) and since then we have done several RCL and Celebrity cruises. The last cruise we did on RCL was the inaugural cruise for the Ovation of the seas and we thoroughly enjoyed it, I even tried the 'Sky Diving' but we always resort back to Celebrity.

As someone else pointed out don't listen to all the complaints because a holiday is what YOU make of it. The staff on the Celebrity ships are fantastic and I have never had any complaints. We were on the Equinox 2 years running (about 11 months between cruise) and the Maitre'D in the Blue restaurant remembered our names without having to prompt her.

We are going on the Infinity on the 17th May 2018 doing a Pacific Coastal and if I went by the reviews of the ship from some people I would probably not booked it. However, I have booked it, I have read these bad reviews but I know I will enjoy my cruise.

My advice, ignore everybody else and do what YOU want to do, Enjoy

For some reason the Celebrity connections site does not work properly until after the final pay date. We had the same problem trying to register for our 17th May 2018 Pacific Coastal cruise and only just got confirmation on the party going ahead on the 23rd march approximately 8 weeks before we sail.

Not sure how many people will be there as it says there are 27 of us but I know several of us registered 3 or 4 times before we were acknowledged so there might only be 4 of us.;p

It's one of those things people can be very thoughtless or just have a 'I'm alright' attitude. The only way to enforce it would be for Celebrity and all other cruise lines to employ someone purely devoted to wandering around the pool area timing occupied / vacant loungers. Can't see that happening as I wouldn't want the job

Sorry posted twice as I did not see the first response.

There appears to be the same amount of cabins the only one that is missing is 6113 for superstitious reasons I presume.

As far as I can see there are the same amount of cabins but there is not a 6113 cabin for superstitious reasons I suppose.

We just got off the Constellation at the end of September and the library then appeared to be well stocked. Have a good cruise and enjoy relaxing on the Connie.

Hi! Brand new to Celebrity and planning a cruise to Greece/Italy next summer on Constellation. Wondering about the specialty restaurants on Constellation. If the Celebrity website is to be believed (and I've figured out that's questionable) - there are 3 restaurants - Qsine, Tuscan Grille and Ocean Liners. Is that accurate, or are there others?

 

A few questions - anyone know where I can find the Ocean Liners menu? I found menus for the other 2 on the website, but not Ocean Liners.

 

Am I reading the Tuscan Grille menu correctly that there are only two entree choices (filet or halibut)?

 

I know this is a subjective question, but which of these restaurants are "worth" the extra cost - taking into account both the quality of the specialty restaurant and the quality of what we could get for "free" in the main dining room otherwise.

 

Thanks so much!

Hi iujen94,

You haven't said what category of room your are looking at. If you book an Aqua balcony you are automatically assigned to the Blu Restaurant which is like a speciality dining room each night. If you are looking at a suite then there is Luminares (Think that's how it's spelt) where only suite residents can dine. Just remember that if you are booking any of these two categories you do not have to eat in them alone. You can always go to the MDR, the self service or a speciality restaurant.

My wife insists we book Aqua as she just loves Blu. We will be on the Constellation 2 weeks from today sailing out of Venice.:cool:

Same in martini bar - always ask for a "to go" glass if you are taking it away.

Or maybe don't ask and when you start to leave they tell you that the glass has to stay. So what do you do? Aw Shucks just have to have another one:D

I just had a look at the deck plan and it looks as if you will have a restricted view forwards but depending on where the cruise is going it shouldn't be a major problem. Port or starboard doesn't make much difference because you never know which way the ship is going to dock. We have been on both sides of the ship and have no real favourite. As far as we are concerned if it is the category of cabin that we want good but it is the ports of call that we look at before booking the cruise. Most of the times we have been on a cruise the ship has docked with the starboard side to the dock and depending on where you are it can be beautiful and then the next time you are looking out onto a working dockside and out to starboard is beautiful park lands.

If the ship is going where you want to go book it and enjoy. We are away on the Constellation on the 7th September so getting close now.

So Neymar, the footballer has transferred to PSG for a package that is worth circa £450 million. An outrageous sum.

 

For that sort of money a hard working family of 4 could enjoy a 14 night cruise on Celebrity Edge in a Balcony Cabin, with a Premium drinks package, and some speciality dining (including Kobe Beef Burgers) and shore excursions thrown in.

For that sort of money the hard working family of 4 could probably rent a whole deck:cool:

My wife can't see past Blu, even on the first night. The rooms are much and such the same as any other balcony cabin except for the shower. It has to be one of the best showers at sea. After a day out walking around the port or after an excursion there is nothing better than going into the rain forest type shower and then applying the jets to your aching muscles.

Don't know if you have cruised before but the staff at Blu and the room attendants are brilliant. We went on the Equinox two years running and the restaurant manager remember our names not just our last name but our first names. Little touches like that make a holiday.

Hope you have a great cruise wherever your going.:cool:

Guess I will ask for my wife. An chance the Salmon is wild caught?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Don't know about wild caught but I'm sure it was wild at getting caught;p