coolmom

Another vote for the balcony! There is a lot of walking on this trip and it was wonderful to be able to rest our poor, tired feet on the railings while we watched the midnight sun dip into the pink sea. The sunsets are spectacular and do not miss the departure from the Swedish Archipelago!

I personally wish there were some Scandinavian cruises that did not visit Russia. I would love to go to Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and avoid the need to stop in Russia. I know we could stay on the boat, but I don't even want to do that. As long as they maintain archaic views on human rights, they will never see any of our money.

 

Celebrity: Please develop a thorough Scandinavian itinerary (not just up the coast of one or two countries like Norway) that avoids Russia. My Christmas wish :)

 

Shawn

YES! We also enjoyed Estonia and would go back in a New York minute! I would also want to see Riga, Latvia.

I'm not saying St. Petersburg is overrated. It's not. But as much as I am glad I visited, I have little or no desire to visit Russia again anytime soon.

WHAT!? That really kinda sounds like a bummer. I'm all for structure but 2 days of structured tours sounds exhausting. So if you're not on a tour you can't even get off the boat?

 

We are on the silhouette.

You can get advise about obtaining a Visa from the Baltic forum, but it is not easy and you would probably still need a guide. There is no equivalent of a hop-on-hop-off bus in St. Petersburg.

Thanks, keep them coming! :)

 

Haven't been to any of these ports yet, we were talking about going to Berlin last night with my MIL who's is our TA and trying to figure out of the long train ride was worth it.

 

There is a group doing a two day st. Petersburg tour on the roll call that we have expressed interest in, I just don't know if I want to have some free time to explore on our own one day instead of being scheduled

 

Have a friend in Stockholm I want to meet up with for at least a drink or maybe lunch.

 

Looking fwd to Amsterdam as well as we are coming in early. Looking at what to do there outside of the red light district which of course I have to see. Lol

As the train schedules are almost impossible to line up, we took the 'on your own' bus tour to Berlin. We still had six hours to catch the outdoor sites including Checkpoint Charlie (touristy but fun), Memorial to Murdered Jews (breathtaking in its starkness) and Brandenburg Gate where we enjoyed a much needed Currywurst and brewski. The bus ride included snacks and water both directions, a map and a very informative guide while on the bus. If you dont think you'll be back in north Germany I really recommend Berlin.

In Amsterdam, pick up a Rick Steves guidebook and follow his 1 or 2 day itineary. He also gives the safe spots to experience the local culture.

You don't want to miss the Archipelago while sailing into and out of Stockholm. It is one of the most beautiful sites I have seen.

 

You cannot see it in the dark.

Of all the experiences on my Baltic cruise last July, this was the highlight. Filled with pretty little islands, each one with an immaculate red cabin with white trim, it was amazing how that big ship was able to navigate thru. On the way out, the Archipelago was filled with Swedes enjoying the long day on their boats. Many Dads would navigate into the cruise ships wake and we would hear the delighted squeals of children as they rocked on the waves.

I know everyone says St. Petersburg is the 'Jewel of the Baltic' and it is magnificent. But after long days on strict frenzied schedules the breezy friendliness and freedom of Helsinki, Copenhagen and Stockholm are a welcome relief! If I could have done one thing different it would have been to disembark in Copenhagen and enjoy another day in that city rather than continue on the Constellation for the last sea day.

Times change, & I think that eventually formal nights as we now know it, will be a thing of the past. I recently came across a photo of my parents & my aunt & uncle taken when I dropped them at JFK for a Bermuda vacation. The men wore jacket & tie, & the ladies wore dresses. Try to find that on an airplane today..

 

We haven't done formal nights in a couple of years,& eat in other than the MDR on those nights, out of respect to those who do observe it. We find that more & more people are joining us in the alternate venues.

When you have to practically disrobe before getting through security, it doesn't even make sense to dress up to fly anymore. And you get pulled aside for an extra screening...well, let's just say I wouldn't want to be wearing a skirt.

Like most of North America' date=' the cruiseship passengers are very middle class, be it Upper middle (Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, large business owners)etc, Middle, middle (Teachers (That is what I was!) small business people, white collar workers, etc or Lower middle (blue collar workers). We have met many pax from each of these categories. That's what makes travelling on a ship interesting. (Can't you tell I studied sociology in University!!)

 

I have never, on a cruise, met the Upper class (aristocracy in Europe or Kennedy's in US) or the Lower class (Welfare recipients).

 

But this thread has morphed into a Suite discussion, which I find so amusing. So many in balcony cabins aspire to suites. We, however, remain faithful to our inside cabins and have no desire to spend more for a balcony!

 

Just FYI, I don't think we fall into the 1% (lol).[/quote']

 

Don't be so sure! Did you know that the 'qualifying' level in the USA for being in the 1% is an annual income of $394,000? While that's certainly a nice salary that pretty much guarantees a comfortable lifestyle (including a cruise suite) it is nowhere near being a Walton or a Gates.

Beer me up Scott! :p

 

Does the female uniform make the cut for Smart Casual?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XNPD380IpBQ/SHI8aIoqnPI/AAAAAAAABv4/77AXNNw3yxo/s400/P13_1_Uhura.jpg

Or maybe we/they just don't like wearing them!

Whenever my DH and I watch 'futuristic' entertainment such as the old Star Trek series, he will often lament that he wished he lived in the future because men no longer wore ties!

Gone are the days when formal meant tuxedos and long gowns. I used to bring very fancy clothing on cruises. However, in the past 10 years, the formal night attire has become less formal. I now bring a black skirt or slacks worn with a nice blouse. My husband wears a suit or sport jacket with dark slacks. Some men have given up the ties. There are some without jackets. On longer cruises, formal nights get less formal with each formal night. If you like wearimg formal clothes, bring them. If you feel uncomfortable in formal clothes, bring what you enjoy wearimg. You can't go wrong woth dark slacks and a coordinating blouse or shirt with jacket. Do not go out and buy clothes for formal night. I love cruises that have discontinued the formal night. I wish that Celebrity would do away with formal nigts.

As much as I love to dress up (and see my DH in his tux) I have to agree with you. It's really difficult if not impossible to pack formal clothes PLUS all the clothes for sightseeing, especially if you're active, and keep the luggage under 50 lbs. I'm all for the whole ship to be Smart Casual all the time like Blu and enforcing the no jeans/tees/shorts dress code in the MDR.

Then there's simply the fact that Celebrity is not the bastion of affordable luxury it was in its heydey. The cost cutting has been discussed elsewhere, it bothers some people while others could care less. What gets to me is the hypocrisy of asking us to dress formal and make an effort when the cruise line no longer bothers to keep up the pretense. Don't ask me to lug a ballgown and a tux and then not even bother to put fresh flowers or candle holders on the table.

Was the itinerary. Celebrity wants people on their ships which is why they have some unique itineraries. Both my husband and I will be presentable because we want to eat in the dining room, but neither of us will be wearing heavy formal wear.

 

Being away for a month and taking clothing that you are just going to wear a couple of times is no fun. There is a big debate on the Holland America board at the moment re the dress code. Same argument as here...no one is winning. I was on Holland America for a week in June this year to Alaska. Saw very few tuxes, lots of men in jackets and quite a few in shirts without jackets. Everyone looked presentable in the dining room and everyone having fun.

 

Why should we be penalized for wanting to cruise to Australia then going to the Philippines and then Hong Kong and have to cart a jacket around with us?

Why don't you just mail the 'cruise leftovers' home and continue on your merry way?

Also, as I had double knee replacements (simultaneous!) I am puzzled as to why a rucksack evenly carried on your back would bother your artificial knee. That was kind of the whole point of going through that rather gruesome surgery was that it would be easier to carry the extra loads. And yet going on an 'adventurous' tour seems to be no problem...

Oh, right! We keep forgetting that it's all about you, and no one else matters. There is no need to respect the cruise line's requests, or anyone else, for that matter. Just as long as you aren't inconvenienced in any way. So sorry we weren't bright enough to figure that out. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

Your attitude in your other posts pretty clearly indicates that you will be doing whatever pleases you, and everyone else can "lighten up". As others have said, why book a cruise on a cruise line that doesn't satisfy your preferences? NCL seems to be more your style. :(

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds the phrase 'lighten up' to be rude and arrogant. And to use another tired phrase, it's usually uttered by someone who believes "it's my way or the highway'!

For $200 more...definitely worth it for me. These are the amenities I like and will pay a little extra for:

 

Pillow menu -- #1 reason for me

Expanded room service menu

Priority boarding

Priority dining reservations

Upgraded towels and robes for your use

The footstools on the balcony

Fresh flowers in your room -- not the most important amenity but still nice

 

Now, AQ is so worth it because of all these as well as Blu, Persian Gardens and the observation relaxation lounge!! Oh, and those smoothies...yummo!

No flowers in the room on the Constellation; guest services said they 'stopped doing that' even though it was listed on the room sheet.

As for priority dining services, we had issues our entire trip. We were a party of 4 and they constantly tried to situs at a larger table despite our request for a proper size so we didn't have to shout across.

Robes were okay but rather stiff as someone else pointed out.

Footstools?

On the plus side, the room was a bit larger and our location near the aft glass elevators couldn't be beat. Also, we could get fresh orange juice in the morning (which went nice with the complementary bottle of champagne). The canapés were listless, but the fruit tray was constantly replenished.

The best reason was breezing on the ship through priority boarding.

Thanks for the chuckle:) all I can think of is someone doing turn down service in your tent, rolling up your sleeping bag, pouring fresh cocktails for you, serving your meals, putting on entertainment shows each evening, helping you with your backpack. Love it!

Back then, luxury was a hot shower and the morning coffee the nice people in a camper provided to those of us in tents.

Now? I would say receiving the fresh flowers in our cabin that were promised when we signed up for Concierge class (and that are still listed as a perk on our welcoming sheet). Not having to repeatedly being seated at a large table despite our asking several times that our party of 4 wishes to be seated at an appropriately sized table so we don't have to crane our necks or shout across the table. Something other than a naked flameless tealight on the dining room table. A spa that labels itself as "Persian Gardens' having, you know, maybe some actual gardens and more than a water fountain for thirsty guests. A website that was fast and user friendly.

The things you describe are very nice but they are the industry standard in the upper-end cruise and hotel business. The term luxury implies above and beyond. Celebrity didn't deliver that.

More like 'disappointing'.

Unfortunately the word 'luxury' has become ubiquitous and rather meaningless. Every real estate development has 'luxury' homes even if they are the most basic of starter homes. Every sweater is made of 'luxurious' yarn even if it's thin as a tissue and pills the first time you wear it. Even still. having been away for a few years, I was disappointed on how little real luxury there was on my recent Connie voyage.

Yes, we still enjoyed our cruise. It was a wonderful time in a lovely part of the world. But it was no more a luxury than my amazing backpacking adventure years (ok, decades) ago through the Southwest.

On my Connie cruise this past July, there were lots of cute maxi dresses and skirts worn every night. I had two long skirts I wore most smart casual evenings. You'll fit right in!

I love this look, so comfortable and flattering on almost every woman. I hope it sticks around and becomes a staple like capris have.

That is really good to know!

Just finished a Baltic cruise with my DH and friends. We brought the subject up at lunch in Copenhagen because we would have loved to spend an extra day there instead of returning to the ship and having another at sea day before our final port of Amsterdam, where we started the cruise. If I'm ever on another closed loop cruise, I just might do that.

Thanks but I wish someone would confirm my experience on May 12th, I'm beginning to wonder if I imagined it. :confused:

 

So it would appear that the only rule is that there are no rules! Or at least that they change with the weather. :rolleyes:

 

In that case you can only do as we did and go along with what you are told on the day :)

 

Happy cruising

Anni

Confirmed! We did not need to fill them out for our July 8th sailing on Celebrity.

Interesting thread, I just went through the whole thing and I think that the above pretty much does summarize it. When Azamara came out, we thought that we had found a home, but after three trips with them, we found that we didn't fit their new demographic and pretty much feet voted and returned to Celebrity. I have pretty much the same perception that others have mentioned, i.e. service has suffered in the MDR and housekeeping because of diminished staffing ( more customers/ server= less personal attention/guest), and where the cuisine used to be exceptional, it is now much more mundane, and less time to chat with your steward (ess). Still I do think that the people on the ships do try very hard to make your experience special and should be recognized for that to say the least. We didn't cruise in 2013, electing a land tour instead. We are doing a B2B on the Constellation in the fall and will be very curious to see if there have been further changes and which way and how far they've gone.

 

Right now we still think that Celebrity represents good value in terms of cruising experience and only hope that we can continue to hold that opinion.

What was it about the Azamara demographic that you didn't like? I'm curious because I saw a cruise that intrigued me ( 3 stops in Croatia and 1 in Albania). As I recently joined the 60+demo! would I feel comfortable.

I have to respond to something said up thread and then I'll let it go. If Celebrity was foregoing flowers (and we're talking small bud vase not a wedding reception) to be more flexible with tables I could see that. But that is not the case.

We sailed with another couple and wished to be seated with just them. The first night we were seated at a table for 6; neither the extra flatware nor chairs were taken away. So we are left with the choice of sitting far apart and talking with elevated voices or sitting 4 in a row and craning over each other. When we left we told the desk that we wish to sit at a table of 4 for the rest of our trip. Now we have reservations for the whole trip so this should have been a simple request. Not so. Twice more they tried to seat us at a big table even after we called and requested a table for 4 that day. Now we didn't clamor for window seats, nor did we insist on a certain waiter. All we wanted was to sit at a proper sized table to talk and enjoy each other's company.

We saw other parties of 4 being seated none too happily at larger tables. If the dining makes adjustments based on reservation requests and cabin bookings we didn't see it; night after night the tables remained static. That each night we had to joke about whether or not this simple request would be granted is the biggest reason that, unless there's an itinerary that really excites me, I will probably now choose HAL, Princess or a small cruise line instead.

On my last cruise (in March), it was stated that the canapes would not be left if no one was in the room to receive them. Previously they had always done so. Not sure if this is still true, but thought I would mention it.

 

We are not huge fans of the canapes. We called room service and put in a standing order for a cheese/cracker/fruit plate at 4:00 pm. This worked out great and we advised our room steward to skip the canapes. Not saying this was the best tray of it's type we've ever had, but it was decent most days and to our tastes better than the canapes.

As much as enjoyed the sushi, I wish we had thought of this!

Are you refering to me, Cruisingator?

Earlier in another thread I posted how nice the bath products were. Funny, I didn't see anyone jumping up and down about how some are not happy unless they have SOMETHING to sing praises about.

It's been several years since my husband and our friends cruised on Celebrity and it happened to be the Connie. The changes were noticeable. I don't need a midnight buffet, towel animals every night or even chocolates on the pillow. I'm over the whole baked Alaska parade. But the ship had a tired, neglected look about her that gave us the sads and it really apparent in the dining room.

BTW, none of us signed up for a future cruise. Another friend is sailing on a Silverseas 2-for-1 special, so I think I'll wait for one that has an appealing itinerary.

I guess this is where someone's perception comes into play. I've dined at some of the best restaurants in many states and most don't have flowers on the table, so it is not something I would equate to fine dining.

 

The best thing about cruising is that we, as consumers, have so many lines/experiences to chose from. If one doesn't suit someone, there are always others to go to.

How about a naked flameless votive, is that something you'd equate to fine dining?

Ambiance plays an important part of the dining experience. If you look at google images for the best restaurants in the US, they all have either flowers or interesting candles. The San Marco on the Connie was dreary and rather sad, the most disappointing part of our cruise.

Go with the overnighter in Stockholm. I just got back from the Celebrity Baltic and we only had a few hours there. It was my favorite city on the cruise and the one we plan to go back to just to visit.

I don't want to go back to gloved waiters, but would it hurt to have a few flowers on the table at dinnertime? Even my local Thai joint manages to put a long lasting astroemeria in a cheap Ikea bud vase. On some nights the flameless votive wasn't even in a holder but just plopped on the table. It was cheap and tacky.

You need to leave the form outside your door by 11:00 am for afternoon delivery.

But like Barney50 said, don't bother. Go get some sushi or snacks from the buffet inside.