Being British

[Ranger Boy]

We sail on Eclipse on the 22nd and being British enjoy a cup of tea in the morning, we are aware there are no kettles in the cabins but would our attendant be able to supply one or should we bring our own, also are there shampoo dispensers in the bathrooms.

[Lovemychoos]

If you're sailing from Southampton, you'll find you do have a kettle, tea, coffee etc on a tray in your stateroom. If not, I'm sure if you ask your cabin steward they'll soon sort it for you.

 

Lou

[If only]

We sail on Eclipse on the 22nd and being British enjoy a cup of tea in the morning, we are aware there are no kettles in the cabins but would our attendant be able to supply one or should we bring our own, also are there shampoo dispensers in the bathrooms.

 

We are also on this cruise, you can either get room service for Tea or go up to the buffet where they have it 24/7. Yes they supply the shampoo but it is in small bottles which are replenished when needed. I do not think they will allow you to bring your own kettle but your room steward may be able to get you one.

Edited March 3, 2014 by If only

[Ranger Boy]

Thanks for your replies, no we are sailing from FLL, and with regards to the kettle it's only a travel one

[Athravan]

I was told the Eclipse only has a cabin kettle if sailing from Southampton, not from anywhere else - and you aren't allowed to bring them on, even small ones because they count as fire/electrical safety hazards (apparently!).

 

Seems a bit silly really to have kettles limited by port of origin - if they have the facilities to have kettles from Southampton then they probably have the kettles stored somewhere and the electrical outlets will still be the same, so maybe your steward can rustle one up for you.

[Karen@Steve]

Thanks for your replies, no we are sailing from FLL, and with regards to the kettle it's only a travel one

 

They may confiscate it if they find it. They will return it at the end of the cruise. Hot water and tea bags are available in the buffet and via room service.

[keithm]

We sail on Eclipse on the 22nd and being British enjoy a cup of tea in the morning, we are aware there are no kettles in the cabins but would our attendant be able to supply one or should we bring our own, also are there shampoo dispensers in the bathrooms.

We miss the formal tea on Cunard! The tea service on Celebrity is really quite bad. You can get tea with roomservice or any meal, but that formal tea in the afternoon (on Cunard)was always so relaxing. They sometimes offer a formal tea on Celebrity but didn't see it on our Jan.25'th trip. The food however(in the MDR), was far superior to Cunard's Britannia rest.

[Lsimon]

Celebrity ships do not supply kettles in cabins except for some round trip cruises leaving and returning to a UK port, such as the Eclipse's sailings from Southampton.

 

Every now and then I'll read a report from someone who was able to get them to supply a kettle on other sailings of the Eclipse but I would definitely not count on this. To make matters worse you'll find that there are policies saying you can not bring your own kettle on board and it is highly likely it will be confiscated if you attempt to do this.

 

You can order tea and/or hot water from room service. However when I've done this they've warned that the thermal carafe they use for room service might have a residual coffee odor as they apparently do not have any reserved for tea. You might also find that such water delivery is not quite as hot as you'd like it in some cases. The hot water from the machines in the buffet is extremely hot and more likely to be adequate but requires a trip there.

 

If you have a beverage package you can get a real nice pot of "premium" tea at Café al Bacio. High quality organic whole leaf bags in a good sized pot with steaming hot water. Without a package this runs around $4 or $5.

 

Hope this helps even though it might not be what you hoped to hear.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Lsimon

[Ranger Boy]

Once again thanks to you all for your help...(slightly:()

[Project_gal]

Seems a bit silly really to have kettles limited by port of origin - if they have the facilities to have kettles from Southampton then they probably have the kettles stored somewhere and the electrical outlets will still be the same, so maybe your steward can rustle one up for you.

 

It may seem "silly" but it is the terms of Celebrity's insurance. Their insurers consider kettles an additional fire risk. They negotiated an exemption for Eclipse sailing out of Southampton because of the British market expectations.

[spookwife]

 

Seems a bit silly really to have kettles limited by port of origin - if they have the facilities to have kettles from Southampton then they probably have the kettles stored somewhere and the electrical outlets will still be the same, so maybe your steward can rustle one up for you.

 

it's a cultural thing. we drink coffee, not tea. so they provide them as a courtesy when the majority of pax are British. also they may not even keep them on board when not in Southampton ( or Australia) at all except for a couple of spares to cover the suites( which have them all the time) so even asking the cabin attendant to provide one may not yield any positive results. and for insurance purposes they just do not allow privately owned i items. they cannot guarantee the safety or wiring and would not be covered if a fire did occur that was caused by something not theirs.

[Lsimon]

I've heard that there are some cruise lines have kettles in the cabin all the time and I've heard that some have coffee makers in the cabins just as many American hotels do.

 

But with the exceptions listed above for UK sailings, Celebrity does not.

 

Why? Who knows. Safety and fire hazard are commonly cited as the reason but it clearly wouldn't be any safer on UK sailings then on sailings from the rest of the world. I suspect it is just a long standing policy that would change costs if they were added but for which Celebrity decided to pay the extra expense when sailing out of the UK. But whatever their reason: It is what it is.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Lsimon

[upwarduk]

it's a cultural thing. we drink coffee, not tea. so they provide them as a courtesy when the majority of pax are British. also they may not even keep them on board when not in Southampton ( or Australia) at all except for a couple of spares to cover the suites( which have them all the time) so even asking the cabin attendant to provide one may not yield any positive results.

 

I asked my cabin attendant for a kettle, on Eclipse, Southern Caribbean 23rd March 2013. I was told that the kettles are stored in Miami, so I asked at Guest Relations.

The manager phoned me and asked if I had been on Eclipse before, I said 'Yes, out of Southampton.' He explained that the Americans don't want them, to which my reply was:

'There are 605 Brits on this sailing, do we count for nothing?'

A kettle appeared in our room.'

 

Good luck getting one, IMO it is more of a safety issue, when passengers are carrying hot drinks from the Ocean View cafe, via the lifts.

Edited March 4, 2014 by upwarduk

[Algebralovr]

I SO WISH kettles were provided, as DH and I drink a lot of tea (and we are tea snobs) but never coffee. We no longer order hot water from room service, as it always seems to have a taste/smell of coffee.

 

The Cafe al Bacio on 5 has some decent teas. The Oceanview has plenty of hot water, and has both ceramic mugs and paper take-away cups. On our last cruise, they had changed tea companies and there was difficulty finding plain black tea in the buffet area. There was a lot of fruit flavored tea, but plain black tea was often missing. The new mix of English Breakfast Tea even had a juice extract in it -strange. The old one was straight Ceylon tea.

 

If you have a preference, you might want to pack your own to be on the safe side.

[welshfamily]

If you have a drinks package decent tea bags can be optioned from cafe Bacio. We found the staff very accommodating. However it worked out easier to have a 'rota'. In other words we took turns fetching hot drinks from cafe Bacio and to be honest, little treats such as Danish pastries and donuts. This works just as well with the Oceanview cafe as we don't always have a drinks package. The sticky buns are amazing but they don't serve them everyday. For my birthday my husband fetched me warm waffles ......my mouth is watering just thinking about them.

There is nothing like drinking the first cup of the day either in bed or on your balcony, assuming your lucky enough to have one, planning the days activities,

( I pack a highlighter to use with Celebrity today ).

However another friend always packs her own Earl Grey and gets the hot water from the Oceanview.

We are British and coffee drinkers. When sailing from Southampton We ask for the kettles to be removed from our staterooms due to an issue with space..... There wasn't enough room IMO for the kettle, the AQ class ' tea' , flowers in a bud vase and the reed defuser.

Others in our party had the flowers etc moved and kept the kettle.

Each to their own.

[prish]

We were on the Eclipse round trip out of Southampton in July 2012 but didn't have a kettle in our stateroom, didn't think to ask them for one either!

[chelsea_gal]

We sail on Eclipse on the 22nd and being British enjoy a cup of tea in the morning, we are aware there are no kettles in the cabins but would our attendant be able to supply one or should we bring our own, also are there shampoo dispensers in the bathrooms.

 

Being a Ex Pat and one who still gets their year long supply of PG Tips Pyramid Tea Bags from the UK. save yourself the hassle and get room service.

 

We also used the service as a extra alarm clock :) but on board they generally have the English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey and I cannot remember if it was the Equinox or not but we also had Irish Breakfast Tea.

 

And even the times when we did not pre -order and just rang because we were not having any food it still came fairly quickly.

 

Anyways what we did was grab some of those tea bags /Once we even brought our own in a jiffy bag and in both cases we just asked for HOT water and milk to be delivered to our rooms, the water came piping hot at the designated time , and we made our tea that way.

And like you enjoyed our first cup of the day in our room before we headed to breakfast.

[hobo46v8]

Sailing from Harwich....are kettels available???:):)

[coldweathergirl]

An alternative idea would be to pack a thermos and visit the buffet in the evening before retiring to fill your thermos with hot water. In the morning you can make your own cup of tea in your cabin. (Just bought hubby a new thermos that keeps things very hot for 24 hours)

[hobo46v8]

If kettles are supplied for cruises out of Southampton are they supplied at Harwich...that is the question

[brightonbuoy]

Deck 7, self service tea and coffee station. A little known secret. Each morning I chuck on a pair of shorts and t shirt and go get my own. There and back in 5 minutes. That way I can have it exactly when I want it and not have to wait for room service to arrive. Just don't tell everybody. Day 1 no one there, day 7 queue of 10 !!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Wirral]

We were on a June sailing out of Harwich last year on Infinity. There were no kettles in the rooms. Possibly only on Eclipse out of Southampton.

[CABINET]

If there is no kettle I take a thermos and fill it with hot water just before we go to bed (actually I send my OH :D:D:D).

 

Unlike others it is not because I am a great tea drinker but sometimes want a hot drink in the middle of the night if I cannot sleep. I certainly don't want to order room service at 3 am.

 

I love having a kettle.

[Lsimon]

Deck 7, self service tea and coffee station. A little known secret. Each morning I chuck on a pair of shorts and t shirt and go get my own. There and back in 5 minutes. That way I can have it exactly when I want it and not have to wait for room service to arrive. Just don't tell everybody. Day 1 no one there, day 7 queue of 10 !!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

This is not on all of the ships.

[upwarduk]

We were on a June sailing out of Harwich last year on Infinity. There were no kettles in the rooms. Possibly only on Eclipse out of Southampton.

 

According to our roll call, there were kettles in the rooms on the Wine cruise prior to our TA on Infinity from Harwich. I had posed the question to B2B passengers.

When we embarked on the TA, there was no kettle, so I asked for one. It appeared, together with a supply of tea, coffee, milk and sugar, which was replenished daily.

Edited March 5, 2014 by upwarduk