GEMomTo3

Any chance you can share with me how the connecting cabin doors worked - and where it was located in the cabin. We are booked in connecting Infinite Balcony rooms with our kids in March 2023 and I can't find any information on how the connecting rooms work.  Thanks in advance!

Does anyone know if you can upgrade to the "premium" drink package from the "classic" package that comes with "Always Included" without upgrading to "Elevate" (I don't really think I need the shore excursion credit or the higher level internet...I just want to be able to order the beers, wines, and martinis I want.

I can't find anything about it...I'm used to working under the old "perks" system

Does anyone have more specifics on the what appears to be "new" Kids Beverage Package for $15/day?  Our youngest daughter doesn't currently have a drink package and I am trying to decide if this will work or if we really need to get her the premium non-alcoholic (which my other 2 have b/c it came with their cruise fare).  If anyone has info, I would appreciate it.  We are cruising at the end of March.

Anyone able to give some insight into how much the pictures cost?  We are a family of 5 and I definitely want this experience captured but wondering if it will break the bank or not.

On 5/10/2019 at 12:25 PM, JonnyCT81 said:

To offset these rooms, Celebrity has recategorized 10 C3 rooms to AquaClass on deck 9: 9141-9157 on port, 9118-9126 on starboard.  You can see these changes on the new deck plans on Celebrity's site for the Summit, I would think that if they were changing it here on the Summit, they probably mean to do it on all the the Millennium class ships?   

 

EDIT:  Looks like the same thing on the Millennium Deck Plan on their website, those C3 rooms were changed to AquaClass.

 

 

Well, this explains why our family/party of 8 (4 adults, 4 kids -  DH and I, my parents, our 3 kiddos and a nephew) were moved out of our 3 Concierge cabins on Deck 9 for June 14th Millennium Cruise Alaska Southbound 23 days prior to departure.  

Unfortunately, Celebrity was not able to relocate us on the same side of the ship OR in 3 consecutive staterooms and originally rebooked us for 2 concierge cabins side by side but not connecting and one concierge cabin on deck 7.  After hours on the phone with our TA, we were able to reach a resolution that will work (although we are all still not together) and now have 2 cabins side by side on deck 8 and connecting cabins on deck 7 (towards back of ship, not my ideal or preferred location) and all on the opposite side of the ship.  So we did gain some room and Celebrity did try to make us whole as much as possible by including our upgraded drink package, gratuities, and unlimited WiFi for all our party.  In the end we will have a wonderful trip BUT this did sour the excitement as we are traveling as a family and purposefully booked rooms that were next to each other so we could easily be together, pop back and forth and be able to assist my dad, who has some limited mobility (although not requiring a wheelchair).   We have cruised at least once a year for the last 6 years and have always been together.  

Plus the modification of our reservation resulted in the cancellation of some of our parties excursions, that I then had to call and get rebooked at the original price we paid for them.

I am just glad I was dealing with the TA and was able to keep my dad from totally blowing his top. 

We just disembarked today - our #11 bag tags were scheduled to be called around 7:50...they were called at 7:15...by the time we finished breakfast I felt the announcer was all BUT begging people to disembark. We left breakfast about 7:50 (at this point they were calling bag tags in the 20’s) and we were checking in MIA airport before 9:00...the longest wait was trying to get our luggage off the carousel. Just as warning, the taxi line was SUPER long so we went with an independent shuttle for $10/person...same company that I think we used at the curb last year

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We are on the same cruise as you! We have a 9 year old daughter who will definitely be in the kids club a few times. I hope we get a chance to meet you all!

We are also cruising with y’all at the end of March too...with 3 kiddos, ages 7, 9, 11 (Girl,boy,Girl). This is our 2nd X cruise and my kiddos prefer it over RCCL and Disney

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Will do. I may do a mini review of our cruise while it's on going as I have an internet package. Send me an email to remind me if You have any questions My address is in my profile.

 

 

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Any quick tips you can give me as we get ready for our trip this weekend? My kids are excited but apprehensive b/c it isn't RCCL and we have told them it will be a little more low key. I am specifically interested in if the kids felt welcome in the pool and if they enjoyed the kids club, etc. I hope you had a wonderful trip!

Thanks everyone for the feedback (I was the OP). We decided to go MSC Seaside instead, but clearly based off everyone's feedback, I would feel comfortable going on Celebrity.

Thanks again--this is why I love CC!

I have been researching and considering if MSC would be a good fit for our family in the future - would love to hear what you think of the kids programs once you return.

We will be sailing on the reflection on March 11. I will be sure to post a review of what my kids thought of the cruise here. They are 8 and 6.

 

 

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I would love to hear about your experience and any suggestion you have when you return. We are cruising X on Reflection for the first time on March 26th - given it is Spring Break I figure we will not be the only ones with kids. This will be our kiddos (ages 6, 8, 10) 4th overall cruise. We cruise with my parents (68 & 70) and my dad has been wanting to try X for a longtime, as he is losing his interest in RCCL. We book three balcony staterooms all in a row (with one set be adjoining so our kids have a cabin and we have a cabin - we started doing this on cruise 2 and it COMPLETELY changed the experience for us in a good way b/c the kids have their own space and we have ours)

Historically my family leans towards RCCL, but when we first cruised with our kids (ages 3,5, & 7) we picked Disney b/c we thought they would love it b/c of the characters, etc. Frankly, it just wasn't for us. I know there are many who love Disney (even adults with no kids) but it was lack luster for us (and my dad hated it) and my kids did not like the kids club at all. Our next two cruises were on RCCL. My kids liked the Kids Club much better b/c it was there were more organized activities and although there were a lot of kids on our ship it wasn't "overwhelming". In my reading about X, I think my kids will like the structure of their kids club and we are considering doing the VIP thing, if nothing else b/c they will love the tours.

We are cruising again in June (with my parents & my sister and her 3 kiddos - Thanks dad for the generous Christmas present) on RCCL so it will be a good to compare our experiences so close together.

Our mattress was very comfy--there was an egg crate topper on it when we arrived. We also loved the variety of pillows.

Was the egg crate topper a special request or just in there...read many folks complaint about the beds and going through special needs request to get a topper and trying to decide if it's necessary or not.

Thank you - maybe I had it backward [emoji3]. Either way I will share with my dad

ATT has what they call Cellular at Sea. I think the cost are $30 for voice only, $60 for voice and text, $90 for voice, text and data. I've used it 2 times and it works great. The voice and text doesn't include texting pictures as that takes data.

 

Call ATT and inquire about, that price is for a month. It is by the month only.

Texasopa - am I correct that this plan only works in port and not at sea. I feel like this is what my mom had on our big family cruise as grandma is 89 and not in good health so she wanted to be able to call and check in. And I also think it has very limited minutes and texts? If not this is a new offering my dad needs to look into before our next trip in 5 weeks.

Thank you - these are great. We are on the itinerary that is Rotan, Belize, Cozumel - but are sea days are the same...do folks think the specials, show days/times etc will be the same? Or would love to see the compasses from this week - which I think is the same as ours

My family did this last spring break - 5 rooms with 10 bottles total. My dad put it all in a wine box and then had a cart with wheels he bungy corded it to (along with his briefcase I think). They did take each bottle out so don't seal the box. We stayed together and at security they asked to see all the room numbers and then waved us through, no problem. And yes we easily finished it all, even with only four adults drinking (we were a party of 11 - 5 adults, 6 little kiddos). They even stored the bottles they corked for us in the dining room for the next night if we didn't finish it and didn't want to take it with us if I remember correctly (although maybe my dad bought a wine package at dinner too - can't remember for sure)

Also, which itinerary are you on? Trying to find the formal nights and show schedules for the 7 night Western hitting Rotan, Belize and Cozumel...feel free to point me in the right direction if they are posted somewhere on CC

Question on Splashaway Bay...I am reading that adults are not allowed - is that true and what does that mean exactly? Can anyone verify what the age/height restrictions are exactly? I am only asking bc I have a 5 year old whom I could see being timid at first to go play alone initially and if adults are not allowed in the area is there staff patrolling it? Just trying to be prepared for our trip on 3/27?

I saw a pic on one of the Liberty threads from I'm last week that showed 48" on the sign for the tube slides...for the life of me I can't find it now. Anyone know about the smaller slides in the new kids area (think it's called Splashaway Bay?)

Thanks! We are on side facing balconies.

I called RCCL, and was again told that NO balcony dividers open...Guess the call center isnt well informed.

We just booked onboard our Allure of the Seas cruise this last week for Liberty in 2016. The RCCL sales representative told me that balcony dividers on all Freedom class ships and above are designed to be opened, as this is something we count on for our family.

Thanks for leaving a nice comment. Hope the trip report lives up to your expectation as sometimes we get too hyped up about reading a book that just came out and it fell way short of what we had hoped.

 

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Have a great family cruise if we don’t talk again before you leave. It would be great if you can come back and let me know how your vacation was afterward. Always interested to know how other families spend their vacation time.

Thank you for taking the time to comment on my post - I was so impressed at how kind your were to do this with many of your followers. It is so clear how much fun you and your family had and how much you just want to help out anyone you can. I spent time over the weekend reading the entire thread and am more excited than ever and feel much more prepared. I think it is the only review I have truly read for enjoyment and not just for information... My dad (also named Harry ironically) also appreciated knowing what the Gold discounts were, given that my parents and and my sister and I are all Gold - that is 4 BOGO beer/wines to go with our 10 bottles we are carrying on board. I did have a couple questions I thought you might be able to answer and if not, no worries - can ask them on my roll call.

1. Are the mini fridges in the rooms full of mini-bar stuff? And if yes, do you know if we can request the stuff to be removed. With 6 kids, it will be much easier to get this stuff out of the room then constantly police it.

2. As I am trying to pack, do you think it would be completely frowned upon if the young boys wore dressy tan/navy shorts to dinner as opposed to pants. My son has only two pair of dress slacks - and knowing his and my nephews track record for spilling, I would like to reserve those for formal nights. We are a casual family in general. The men will definitely where slacks, but didn't know if you saw shorts on the kiddos or not. I am not out to offend anyone and don't want my kiddos denied access to the dining room but also don't want to go out and buy $100 worth of dress pants for my quickly growing boy if nice walking shorts will do.

3. Did you see lifejackets or water wings on kids in the pool area? I am debating if we want to bring them for the two little ones and didn't know if they were even allowed. I know they don't supply them like Disney does. Would also like to have them for when we go to Labadee but hate to carry them on for just 4 hours one day

And thanks for posting the kids stuff. We do hope the cousins will be excited to try it out...although, my kids really didn't like the kids club on Disney in 2013, hoping this will be different since it is a little more structured. We shall see.

Will definitely be sure to let you know how our trip went when we return...we leave in 6 days for Florida and will be on the Allure on 3/8 - yeah!

Harry-

I am so looking forward to reading through your report over the next 10 days before our family leaves for the Allure sailing on 3/8. My dad, ironically, is taking three generations as a late Christmas present. It will be my parents, my sister and her kids (kids ages 3, 6 and 11) and my husband and I and our kiddos (ages 4, 6, 8) - in 5 cabins.

My dad is incredible and so generous but we have always called him "frugal, erroring on the side of cheap", so I think we will be able to relate to your report very well. I will say as he gets older his wallet gets a little looser. He has made it clear that he got us there, anything "extra" is on us - which is totally fair. But my husband and I are on the frugal side as well (clearly runs in the family), so the only extra we plan is one dinner for us at a specialty restaurant, as a date night.

Can't wait to use your planning spreadsheet, as details is my thing. I have also done all the planning, show reservations, hotel reservations, etc - so this will be a great way for me to organize this for everyone. This is honestly the most unprepared i have been for a vacation in a long time and had planned to go into it with a "go with the flow" perspective but am finding that to be very stressful for me, so I have hit hard core planning this week.

Thanks for taking the time to do this and what a great way to capture the trip for your family to look back on.:)

 

 

 

Stateroom: We had two connecting oceanview balcony rooms on the 10th floor near the forward elevators. We had these same exact rooms on every Oasis class ship because we like the location. Our stateroom attendant was Leonardo and was THE BEST we have ever had on any cruise. Very nice (always asking how our day was, what we did) , very accommodating, only had to ask him once for something and he'd provide it every night, etc. He'd even tidy up a little bit around the room (folding blankets we got from home, etc). He's a very hard worker and again, the best attendant we've ever had.

 

 

 

Where are the doors for the connecting stateroom? I have been trying to find a picture of how connecting balcony staterooms look bc we are traveling in a set in March of 2015 - did they both have as full sofa - I read somewhere that the connecting rooms only have a single armchair but haven't had anyone complain about this so wasn't sure if this was standard or just a one off

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Soda is NOT included on RCI ships anywhere. You can buy soda "by the can" ($2.88 per can and that includes the 15% tip), or buy a soda package, which gives you unlimited fountain soda. If you drink the equivilent of more than 3 1/2 cans per day, then the soda package is the best deal. If you don't drink much soda, just buy a can when you want it.

If you purchase the soda package or one of the drink pkgs that includes soda, can you then order soda in the dining room at no charge? Also can kids get chocolate milk or juice with dinner included? If no chocolate milk included then I might consider carrying on the syrup...our children don't get soda but we will allow them chocolate milk, lemonade or juice with dinner on vacation as a special treat since my hubby and I are usually enjoying an adult beverage.

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How do they compare to a similar drink at Starbucks - is it Seattle's Best or other...basically i am trying to determine if I am going to be spending money on the "true" Starbucks or not?

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For anyone who has been on Oasis or Allure where there is a "True" Starbucks location, what is being served in the Cafe Promenade with regards to specialty coffee and teas? I am a BIG Starbucks drinker, latte's etc - would I be disappointed in the specialty coffees from Cafe Promenade or MDR? I could see this being a money saver for me unless I am still jonesing for a Starbucks...