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Live from the infinity - 10/24 transatlantic

ghstudio

By ghstudio,
in Celebrity Cruises

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ghstudio "Live from...." Rare

ghstudio

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We are on the 10/24 infinity transatlantic. I'm going to try to update this thread daily or every few days highlighting the good, the bad, the unexpected and any changes in policy(?) since our last celebrity cruise on the millenium in Asia. We are in aqua class, as we were for the last cruise, so I probably won't have much to say about the MDR. Hopefully by the end of the cruise I'll have given a balanced review, but lots of things are subjective, so my view may not be your view..etc. We are travelling with friends and we're looking forward to a wonderful two weeks. If anyone has any specific questions, post them here and I'll try to give or find out the answers.

 

More to follow after we get to harwich, try to return our national car rental at the dock and board. Watch this space.....

 

GH

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micky most

micky most

Posted
Posted
We are on the 10/24 infinity transatlantic. I'm going to try to update this thread daily or every few days highlighting the good, the bad, the unexpected and any changes in policy(?) since our last celebrity cruise on the millenium in Asia. We are in aqua class, as we were for the last cruise, so I probably won't have much to say about the MDR. Hopefully by the end of the cruise I'll have given a balanced review, but lots of things are subjective, so my view may not be your view..etc. We are travelling with friends and we're looking forward to a wonderful two weeks. If anyone has any specific questions, post them here and I'll try to give or find out the answers.

 

More to follow after we get to harwich, try to return our national car rental at the dock and board. Watch this space.....

 

GH

 

Love reading others experiences thank you:)

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CruisingGatorGirl

CruisingGatorGirl

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Have a great trip! Looking forward to your posts. Would you mind commenting on the seas? How rough it is? I would love to do a TA sometime but the thought of 5 days at seas, if its rough, could be a problem. Of course I understand every TA will be different! Just thought maybe you could mention it, if you remember and do not mind :)

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ghstudio "Live from...." Rare

ghstudio

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1) As usual, we were offered champagne,mimosas or oj when we boarded after a very quick, smooth check in.

 

2) some changes in fancy martini menu, but the martini bar has both small and large martinis for those limited by the classic package. Stoli elit large is still $11 for the large so I'm happy.

 

3) michaels club is now a VIP lounge for embarkation. We are elite with over 30 credits in aqua and we weren't invited. I'll try to find out the qualifications. Ok, it's penthouse and royal suites and top cruisers only..that's it. Michaels will only be a VIP lounge from 5-7 for the rest of the cruise. This seems to be an evolving experiment.

 

4) bistro on five is blessedly still empty at 12:30 so it remains relatively undiscovered for lunch when one boards.

 

5) someone is sitting on deck 4 for dining room questions/issues but no one is there with problems. Maybe it's because it's only 12:30.... There are always problems so this is strange.

 

6) enterprise/national car rental drop off is very easy at harwich. You drop the luggage, then park the car in the marked area of the short term parking lot, lock the car, drop the keys in a locked box and walk a short distance back to the cruise terminal. No surprises at all but it's unmanned so I'm hopeful the bill will be as expected.

 

7)wonderful but funny...the very first celebrity person we met greeted us and said: welcome ghstudio...seriously! She had been on a cruise with us and she even remembered my wife's name. It was a wonderful way to begin the cruise....

 

8) elite drink coupons...dated coupons for the entire cruise were waiting in our cabin...three per day per person and another 'you can't make this up' moment

 

The front says: valid for a beverage from the captains club menu....for use in bars or lounges, excluding cellar master, cafe al bacio, specialty dining and main dining...

 

Turn the coupon over and it says:

 

Offer valid .... for beverages up to an $8 value and beer up to $5.... Not valid in martini bar, michaels club, specialty dining room, mini bar and room service.

 

So are they valid at the martini bar and can you get any drink up to $8 or only from the captains club menu??? Hopefully their ship operating procedure and emergency manuals were written by someone else...or we are in trouble.

 

8a) the drink coupons are dated for every night except the first night...that's one more night then before....a plus.

 

9) elite coupons seem the same.

 

10) minimum bet at most casino tables is $6....a change aimed perhaps to inspire people to bet that extra $1 on the bonus bet which is a great deal for the house. It will be interesting to see how many play $6 vs $5/$1. Report...we have good gamblers...no one is betting the bonus $1....casino is very empty, but this is the first night so things may change.

 

11) fruit bowl gone in cabin...replaced by a tray with three apples which is a bit boring unless they change the fruit each day but maybe I will be inspired to learn to juggle :). Also a Full bottle of celebrity vintages brut blanc de Blancs bouvet-ladubay French sparkling wine from Maine et Loire (we're in aqua). We'll trade it in.

 

12) cabins were ready at 1:00, as announced and luggage arrived at 3pm. Very fast...great.

 

13) no footstool on balcony but I don't think there ever was on the m class ships. Balcony chairs and table look to be in great condition.

 

14) uneventful muster drill.

 

15) 50% specialty restaurant discount the first night at least for aqua passengers.

 

16) form for canapés but no place to ask for cheese or shrimp cocktail. There is a note that canapés will only be delivered to staterooms that are occupied at time of delivery. Not sure this a change, but implementation seems to be very erratic across the fleet.

 

17) stateroom attendant came by and introduced herself..we asked for isotonic pillows that later appeared.

 

18) funniest comment from captain's announcement as he went through all the opportunities to purchase things on board...ending with "the art gallery where you may get bargains, or not". Now there's a captain who's tuned in to reality.

 

19) aqua/blu...if you want to eat in the MDR, go to early or late seating, not select. I'll double check this.

 

20) very friendly celebrity staff...everyone is smiling, stopping to chat, upbeat. Great.

 

21) There are eight or nine craft drinks on new menus....I'll try to note some of the drinks in later posts. A couple are $8, but most are $9 or a little more.

 

22) one of our party is a vegetarian eating in blu. They gave her a vegetarian menu with a number of choices and said it changes each day like the regular menu.

 

23) no ice or ice bucket in our room....have to ask for one tomorrow.

 

24) incredibly smooth so far...if you don't look out you wouldn't know we were moving.

 

25) blu dinner. Escargot available. I had onion soup (too much cheese) and Caesar salad with anchovies (good) and the tuna which was good, but served with black over cooked rice and no wasabi. Others had filet which was very good. All desserts were excellent. One sommelier, but he was up to the task.

 

Enough for embarkation day

 

Day 2

 

1) blu...I'm impressed, poached eggs were not overdone...terrific. Breakfast plates were hot so breakfast was hot when served.

 

2) there are 570 elites on our cruise. Largest venue holds 300 which explains the coupons for drinks

 

3) they are offering 2 for 1 drinks....one per day. Yesterday it was apple martinis, today cosmopolitans.

 

4) we spent 28 days on the millenium last year and this is our first recent cruise on the infinity. The infinity is in far better condition throughout. Now since our cruise he millenium has been in an Unscheduled dry dock, so it may have been freshened up.

 

More later

 

GH

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Eloise4Ever

Eloise4Ever

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Really enjoyed your first report GH, thanks. If possible, could you try to find out how much they are charging to upgrade to the premium package from the "free" classic drinks package that many passengers received when booking? I am waiting to upgrade onboard after Celebrity confirmed on these boards that one would not have to pay the new higher upgrade price when upgrading onboard. I would be very grateful if you could confirm that this is definitely the case.

 

Thanks,

 

Eloise

Edited by Eloise4Ever
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waggie

waggie

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Quote:

7)wonderful but funny...the very first celebrity person we met greeted us and said: welcome ghstudio...seriously! She had been on a cruise with us and she even remembered my wife's name. It was a wonderful way to begin the cruise....

GH - thank you - that is why I took the job - it's good to give people a wonderful way to begin their cruise!

Actually, i remembered your name too, but since you address yourself as GH I thought I should continue that!;)

I thoroughly enjoyed your review of Asia - and look forward to following this review too.

Best wishes for a wonderful cruise and I hope the hand luggage survived!!

Waggie

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