Smiles3usa

Going to Europe? Take your favorite cold medicine with you -- including cough drops, throat lozenges and cough syrup (and a box of kleenex too!). Even if you are feeling wonderful and no cold is in sight! It's simply mind boggling how many people travel by plane with a cold who proceed to share it with all those on board. For a 7+ hour flight, it is not too nice to get off the flight feeling sick. It will generally take another day for the cold to kick in full swing. When it does, you can treat your symptoms with your preferred familiar brands. All cold medicine is sold only at Pharmacys over most of Europe...and there is no over the counter brands that you can walk up and down the aisle to figure out what you want. Rather, you tell the pharmacist your symptoms and he gives you some expensive medicine. Would be okay if it performed the same as the trusted, long used items. I guess it must for some. But if I had to do it again, I'd save a inch or 2 in my suitcase and pack some cold remedies.

...we never made it to the show(s). I think it played 3 times on our 14 day cruise. The earliest I remember it showing was at 11:45 p.m. After a full day of touring, that was much too late for us to be up. And on the one sea day that it played late, it was still too late for us to be up because we had a excursion the next day. Our tablemate commented on how funny the show was. Perhaps because we are old tired foggies, we just could not stay up late enough to see it.

We recently exited the Silhouette and were in cabin 9276, just opposite the card room. Although we never stayed for playing cards, I did not notice that the room was loud, noisy or crowded. Once, I noticed at the hospitality desk on deck 4, that they listed bridge card games from 12-4 in the card room, but never did I see anyone playing bridge (I LOVE bridge). I did notice folks playing mahjong, goe, monopoly and go fish a few times (more mahjong players than anything), but no organized card games (such a pity!). In any event, it is a nice area, typically peaceful, but no organized games of any sort. Most playing seemed to know each other and the game they were playing well. To me, it is such an unwanted change from Princess....but then again, maybe Princess has changed that too.

We booked our Trans Atlantic for October 2015 while on board Equinox and were told we could not have the beverage package.

We book our October 2015 while on board the Silhouette and were also told that the beverage package was not available for transatlantic sailings.

First post, we have cruised Princess to NZ and about to board our third cruise with Celebrity to China, Korea and Japan on Celebrity Millennium departing Shanghai 9th Oct.

Have just checked the price for the classic beverage package and at $A84.40 per person per day is an absolute joke. That works out at $A2363.00 for two weeks. You'd be an alcoholic by the time you got off the ship trying to get your moneys worth. No way in the world would/could I spend that sort of money on alcohol and am surprised that Celebrity believe that many would.

LOL. We'll the price does not just include alcohol, it includes soft drinks water and coffee too. Ironically the alcohol it does include may very we'll be just bar brands, since Celebrity reserves the right to raise prices at any time and thus effectively remove your drink of choice from the package.

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I found this pdf on another site. I am not sure how correct this is as I haven't cruised with Celebrity yet (Have one booked for 2015).

 

http://www.beyondships2.com/uploads/8/2/4/5/8245255/mdr_breakfast.pdf

Thank you! Yummmm! I love corned beef hash. Gonna start my diet today, so I can enjoy it every day starting next week!

I cannot imagine driving 9-10 hours after a cruise. Generally, for us, the flights can be that long...and the cruise, & pre- and post-cruise stays have us exhausted. Quite often, I take an extra vacation day, just to cool my heels at home and rest from the vacation.

We have driven 3 hours (from JFK home) post-cruise and that was not the most pleasant experience. Too far from home! But driving from JFK saved us @ $800.00 on airfare. So I guess, uncomfortableness does has a price point.

Thank goodness no! It's not something I would like to add to my bucket list either.

Has anybody used the TrakDot luggage tracker or a similar type item? If so, how did it work? Would you recommend it?

I have a scheduled 23.5 hour layover in Istanbul before arriving in Rome for a 2 day pre-cruise stay. My understanding is that we will only have access to our carry-on while in Istanbul and will pick up our luggage in Rome. Since our luggage will be out of our hands for such a long time, I am wondering whether I should pick up some type of luggage tracker/tracer. I’m curious what other folks experiences has been using the tracker/tracer and whether it is a worthwhile item to purchase.

Thanks.

If I were you I would DEFINITELY not pre-pay for the premium drink package. Celebrity reserves the right to raise drink prices at anytime. Accordingly you will have little idea what your premium package will cover. What's included today may not be included when you sail. Correspondingly if your drink of choice is no longer included you may prefer to just buy your drinks as you go. YMMV

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I recall a thread on the Princess board from a while back where a similar situation occurred. Here's a link. It makes for interesting reading.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1790564

Thanks for the link. Interesting reading indeed.

There's a few products for people who prefer doing their own small pieces of laundry like this http://thescrubba.com/pages/using-your-scrubba

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Thank you for the tips! This is a great option for gym wear.

I, too, prefer the option of self-serve laundry, especially for longer itineraries. I also am acutely aware of how I want to spend my vacation time and dollars. And like most others, I know there are other cruise lines. Geez. Nothing ever got changed by everyone accepting the status quo.

It is disappointing when our hopes go unfulfilled. Sounds like there was a major mis-communication between your TA and you. Celebrity does offer various honeymoon/anniversary packages. One from the Celebrity website:

For the ultimate honeymoon or anniversary celebration, indulge with Celebrity's Premium Package. In your plush Celebrity robes and slippers, enjoy a mimosa breakfast for two in bed. In the evening, savor an exquisite specialty dining experience before retiring to your stateroom. At turndown, enjoy rose petals sprinkled on the bed. Delight in chocolate dipped strawberries and toast your Perrier Jouet champagne to the future.

Anyway, thanks for bringing up the topic. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary on our upcoming cruise, and I will gleefully point DH to a few of the posts discussed in this topic :)

I'm curious what anyone would lose by turning off signatures?

Not much! I joined CC when dial-up internet was still quite popular (and cheap in my area). It would take forever to load pages because of the signatures. So, about 3 weeks after joining, I turned off all signatures. What a difference! What had taken 2 minutes to load now loaded almost instantaneously! Now that (almost) everyone has a speedy internet connection, I guess it does not make that much difference. But since I've done without them for so long, I see little reason to begin using them. I do think it is far easier for folks who would rather not see them to turn them off globally than to try to cajole others to limit what they'd like to put in their signatures. But that's just me...the path of least resistance :)

It does not make much sense that the Silhouette would leave Haifa at 4:00 p.m. rather than 10:00 p.m. to save fuel inasmuch as there are 2 sea days immediately following leaving Haifa. Surely adequate fuel and time could be made up on 2 sea days rather than shorting a port for six (6) hours. Aha, who knows? Besides, it seems only a handful of travel agents know about the change. Celebrity still has not notified my travel agent.

I like white wine. Based on all the talk about Conundrum on a few of the various package threads, I brought a bottle last night to try it out. $19.99 retail for a screw off top bottle of white wine. Ok, I try it. It's not bad, but it is far from a great white wine (in my sole opinion). In any event, I find it hard to see why Celebrity now prices this wine above the premium package price when a full bottle is only $20. retail....and probably much less wholesale. I was planning on upgrading my classic package to the premium package for the wine choices. I don't do martini's or really see myself at the molecular bar, but based on the wine that I did taste that was above the premium package, it seems to me that it is not a good idea to upgrade for the wines.

BTW, I did notice that Celebrity raised the classic wine limit to $9. I think that has to do with the fact that there were 0 wines (excluding the house no-name brands) priced under $8.00 after the wine increase price. If I have to have a wine that I don't particularly care for, I surely do not want to pay $11.50 per day more and then pay additional on top of that for a mediocre wine. YMMV

Thanks for sharing!

I think your table runners are nice too!

In Europe if you book an all inclusive holiday in Spain or Greece for instance, even Egypt where we are staying in September and have all inclusive, all that is ever offered as part of an all inclusive package, will be house spirits, local beers and soft drinks.

I surmise that the “all inclusive” of which you speak do not charge $49 per day for their drink package. Rather, it is something that is built into the cost of the vacation. Celebrity did not offer the Classic package as part of an all inclusive vacation. Rather, Celebrity offered the Classic Package as an inducement for customers to pay the (significantly) higher cruise fare, or to purchase separately at a cost of $49 per day + 15% gratuities ($56.65 all in per day). I dare say that “house spirits, local beers and soft drinks” are not worth $56.65 per day, nor would anyone knowingly pay as much for them (or for that matter neither would such a bare bones package be an inducement to pay a higher cruise fare).

While I can appreciate your not caring how much your vacation costs or what is included (as long as the itinerary is what you want), the vast majority of folks do attempt to get value for their vacation dollars and thus do consider what it costs and what it includes. Significantly changes to what is included, after the fact, is not consumer friendly.

Did you find out the cost of the Johnny Walker Red? Or did the bartender just say it was not included in the package? Evidently, as of late, Celebrity has lowered the costs of some spirits to bring them within the parameters of the classic and/or premium package again (apparently Celebrity increased the costs of many spirits so that they were no longer included in the packages).

It sure would be interesting to know exactly much over the $8.00 limit the Johnny Walker Red shot was. To me, there is a difference between it costing $8.50 -- mainly to get that spirit out of the classic package-- and $12.00 to really gouge the consumer and get one to upgrade to the premium package for a regular drink.

Perhaps it has nothing to do with "UK pax treated like second class citizens". Rather it is a matter of the legal obligations included with "offers" made to UK citizens. Evidently there was a list of included alcohols provided to UK citizens (such list of included alcohols was NOT provided to US citizens). Since Celebrity has the ability to raise alcohol prices at any time, and thus exclude any alcohols from the classic package, the list provided to UK citizens lists specific alcohols included in the package and Celebrity did not want to include specific alcohols in its packages. Rather than go through the necessary legal disclaimers, etc. (which may or may not be applicable in the UK), the path of least resistance suggests that Celebrity just not offer the "Classic Package" as an option in the UK and thereby forego the hassle of UK citizens fighting over consumer protections. Hey, there is a reason that UK prices are higher -- consumer protections are greater!

Bravo to Celebrity for addressing the issue. Unfortunately, it is an issue that is bound to repeat itself because the packages do not include particular brands, but are subject to price limitations. Fair enough. The problem, as I see it, is that because prices are subject to change at any time, without notice -- and I don't begrudge Celebrity for the right do this, most responsible companies have similar policies -- folks will not know what they are buying without a beverage menu list with prices. Unfortunately, Celebrity does not post its beverage menu with prices (even though such prices are subject to change!). Hence, there is little incentive to buy a package or upgrade to the premium package, in advance of one's travels. An educated consumer, at minimum, would like a fair idea of what they are purchasing before spending their monies.

Does Celebrity still charge corkage fees to folks who have the classic or premium package? It seems the incentive for the fee -- to encourage folks to drink the on-board wines -- would be significantly diminished if the folks already had the package. Some people might still want to bring their favorite bottle or two -- or pick up some in the port, even if they have the package because Celebrity does not stock the wine they prefer.

Just curious. I think if one pays $59.00 per day + 15% gratuities for beverages, they should not also have to pay $35 corkage fee to have different wine opened in the dinning room.

I will definitely not be paying for something that was free before. It is not like spinning that needs some equipment. I hope it is a fail venture and no one pays for it.

LOL. Those were my words when Royal Carribean brought the concept of pay restaurants to cruising. Some 23 years later, everybody is just so happy for the choices that pay restaurants provide. Meanwhile, the MDR no longer serves the quality of food that it once did. That quality is now relegated to the pay restaurants.

What I would like is some clarity on this issue; I don’t buy pigs in a poke.

I had anticipated upgrading my classic package to the premium package on our October cruise, mainly for the better wine selection. However, I would be quite dissatisfied if, after having paid an extra $11.50 per day to upgrade to the premium package, I had to pay an extra .50 to $4.00 for a glass of wine, particularly when I can buy that bottle of wine at home for $20 - $30. We are not talking premium wines here! I want variety and I want a decent selection—not top wines – decent ones for $11.50 extra per day. If the point of the matter, for me, was greater selection and not have to sign chits, then upgrading is not really going to help here. I’d just as soon drink the plonk offered in the classic package – then to pay twice for mediocre wines!

Further, why has the beer selections changed so drastically? Corona and Heineken are not premium beers. They were not originally in the premium package, why are they now? Is it because too many people, like my husband, found them sufficient to stay with the classic package? How much extra will that $10.50 a day add to Celebrity’s bottom line, if people decide it is not the cruise line for them? There is a reason lots of people do not fly spirit airlines, and the initial cost is not one of them.

Besides the history and culture, I think THE most important reason to visit other countries is to eat the food -- the fine food, the day-to-day food and the street food. While most can be had at home, there is truly something special to savor the authenticate tastes of the different cultures. I have learned, the hard way, to buy bottled water -- even in countries where the water is "safe." I've learned to linger over lunch -- which is the same as dinner, but much more reasonably priced. And I've learned (for my hubby's benefit) to always pack pepto in my suitcase. Enjoy your meals!