Live from infinity TA - October 13-27

[shipshape sam]

Rain spots.

 

Nice picture. Get a good look at the AQ aft cabins.

[ghstudio]

So it’s 4:30 and we’re supposedly leaving Bermuda at 4pm after a morning of wind and rain (messy weather). The captain just made some announcement which, being in our cabin, we heard faintly through our door…no clue if we are sinking, leaving at 10pm or there is a special on suntan lotion. Seriously, there is no way to hear it if you aren’t fast enough to fly to your door and open it…leaning into the hall (hopefully clothed). I often wonder why celebrity spent the money on in room speakers and volume controls, even in the new deck 11 cabins. Turning on the TV shows us that our ship is in the middle of the Sargasso Sea, nowhere near Bermuda…..which is interesting since we’re tied up to some dock!!!! Hope the ships navigational instruments are working better than the position indicator on the TV.

 

New Disembarkation Scheme….which celebrity hasn’t told us about…it’s a secret. No more forms…they are assigning everyone to a disembarkation time, unless aomeone tells guest services that they have made arrangements requiring them to get off at a special time. While we don’t have to disembark at a special time, it would be nice if our friends with whom we are driving got off with us  Fortunately, my wife asks questions so she found out about this new “we’ll just assign you” scheme.

[ComeOnLetsGo]

So it’s 4:30 and we’re supposedly leaving Bermuda at 4pm after a morning of wind and rain (messy weather). The captain just made some announcement which, being in our cabin, we heard faintly through our door…no clue if we are sinking, leaving at 10pm or there is a special on suntan lotion. Seriously, there is no way to hear it if you aren’t fast enough to fly to your door and open it…leaning into the hall (hopefully clothed). I often wonder why celebrity spent the money on in room speakers and volume controls, even in the new deck 11 cabins. Turning on the TV shows us that our ship is in the middle of the Sargasso Sea, nowhere near Bermuda…..which is interesting since we’re tied up to some dock!!!! Hope the ships navigational instruments are working better than the position indicator on the TV.

 

New Disembarkation Scheme….which celebrity hasn’t told us about…it’s a secret. No more forms…they are assigning everyone to a disembarkation time, unless aomeone tells guest services that they have made arrangements requiring them to get off at a special time. While we don’t have to disembark at a special time, it would be nice if our friends with whom we are driving got off with us  Fortunately, my wife asks questions so she found out about this new “we’ll just assign you” scheme.

 

You mentioned about the announcements - Well most cruise lines do not announce inside the cabins unless it is an emergency, boat drill or on the final morning during debarkation because it is a disturbance to those in their cabin. Just imagine general announcements going off in your cabin while your trying to sleep etc :eek:

Edited October 23, 2014 by ComeOnLetsGo

[hcat]

Have a good trip back to Bayonne!

[Tangocherie]

There is a channel on the TV that carries the pa announcements. Just tune it in to avoid rushing to open the door to hear. :)

[Chooz2Cruz]

Have a good trip back to Bayonne!

 

Hopefully they are not going to Bayonne, as my son is boarding in FLL on Monday! :)

[hcat]

Oops...I sure got that wrong.....got confused with another trip.....my bad!

 

Have a good trip and sorry about my goof up....

[DrKoob]

So it’s 4:30 and we’re supposedly leaving Bermuda at 4pm after a morning of wind and rain (messy weather). The captain just made some announcement which, being in our cabin, we heard faintly through our door…no clue if we are sinking, leaving at 10pm or there is a special on suntan lotion. Seriously, there is no way to hear it if you aren’t fast enough to fly to your door and open it…leaning into the hall (hopefully clothed). I often wonder why celebrity spent the money on in room speakers and volume controls, even in the new deck 11 cabins. Turning on the TV shows us that our ship is in the middle of the Sargasso Sea, nowhere near Bermuda…..which is interesting since we’re tied up to some dock!!!! Hope the ships navigational instruments are working better than the position indicator on the TV.

 

New Disembarkation Scheme….which celebrity hasn’t told us about…it’s a secret. No more forms…they are assigning everyone to a disembarkation time, unless aomeone tells guest services that they have made arrangements requiring them to get off at a special time. While we don’t have to disembark at a special time, it would be nice if our friends with whom we are driving got off with us  Fortunately, my wife asks questions so she found out about this new “we’ll just assign you” scheme.

 

If you tune your television to the bridge cam, you will hear (or at least you used to be able to hear) the announcements.

 

And I often wondered why they even bothered with the disembarkation forms in the first place. When you fill out your boarding pass info, it asks how you are leaving your port of disembarkation. If you are flying, they ask for your airline, flight number and flight time. If you are taking any other public transportation you have to tell them that as well. So they know when most people need to be off. Don't really need the forms. Also, if you and your friends have a linked reservation, it should work fine.

 

Jim

[Sloop-JohnB]

Wondering if the timed series of Debarkation does not tie into this being a TransAtlantic. Have read here on CC that D-Days are much slower for TAs when the process is much longer for the Ship & Crew to be cleared due to more rigorous checks for the first docking in the USA for the season (vs doing a closed loop cruise)... Then add in the Pax too.

 

In which case maybe the Timed Departures thru Customs & Immigration makes a lot of sense for Pax and making their Departure less tedious.

 

Cheers!

[uktog]

The process of using the times you have put on your check in forms worked really well last month.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Well, our experience is quite different from ghstudio's - we're having a great time and taking the "small things" in stride. Despite ghstudio's rather negative slant on nearly everything, us and all the folks we talk to are enjoying the cruise and have plenty to do each day. We're really having fun at the daily watercolor art classes! Been to the spa a few times and do the Persian Gardens/hot tubs daily; so relaxing! Great food and friendly staff (including officers) who say hi to us constantly. Glad we ended up in Ponta Delgada - was a cool place. Time for dinner. :D

 

I love Ponta Delgada. We have stayed there as a land vacation on a few ocassions. We have also visited 6 out of the nine Azores Islands.

 

Lots to do there, people to visit, and the food was outstanding.

[ghstudio]

We finally left Bermuda..apparently the pilot was late to arrive so we had to wait. Then at the exit to the Bermuda channel, we must have had to wait for the pilot boat to pick the pilot up….we sat still for almost an hour. Strange, but I guess Bermuda runs on it’s own schedule. The elite cocktail hour was back to full staff, but not sure who was making the drinks….I think the waiters may make their own drinks. We ordered a kir royale and a bloody mary. The bloody mary was ½ vodka with no spice at all…the Kir royale was about the darkest purple I’ve seen….either no champagne or at best completely flat champagne. I spoke with the bar manager there and he started to explain that bloody mary’s are not on the list of drinks but he would accommodate us and replace the drink (and the kir royale). Technically, he’s right…bloody mary’s are not on the menu…..neither is a dirty martini. My normal drink at these events is a dirty martini, and always a few bloody mary’s on some of the nights…that’s over the last 7-8 cruises. BTW, tomato juice and vodka are on the menu….but adding some spice apparently isn’t. CELEBRITY CRUISES, if you’re reading this, What logic is there that bloody mary’s aren’t included when they are included at the elite breakfast??? Are they really “not on the list”. The manager went on to explain how Celebrity determines the most popular drinks to put on their list….I asked how many manhattan’s they served ….. no response. I hate when folks make up answers. But we left friends, we had drinks that were good….there was food being served again. Just the wonderment of how bloody mary’s aren’t on the list and some waiters won’t serve them.

 

The roast beef in blu was far better than that served in the MDR…might have been the piece I was served though. I wanted a light dessert (or perhaps better explained, my DW wanted me to have a lighter dessert), so I ordered strawberry yoghurt. I expected strawberry (pink) yoghurt but what they served was much much better….it was vanilla yoghurt with frozen strawberries mixed in….wonderful

 

Show was adequate …. Juggler; spent some time in the casino then visited some night venues. There was a DJ playing music in what is sort of the atrium of the M-class ships…loud but not too loud in the Martini bar which was much busier than I’d seen earlier in the cruise (perhaps I’ve always looked too early) and a dance band/singer in the Rondez-vous lounge with many folks dancing and others sitting around watching/listening. Everyone was having a good time. We’re not night owls, so this may be the normal night vibe….

 

As a closet lawyer, here’s one that’s strange enough that perhaps Celebrity should be concerned….given their distancing themselves from the art folks and retail/spa should problems arise. I’ve now attended two events where the head of the Park West group is included as an “officer”. He’s a nice enough fellow, but he is not, as far as I know, an officer of the ship. Given problems reported related to art auctions, It seems hard to claim that Celebrity has an arms length business relationship and isn’t responsible for anything when they are introducing a park west person as an officer at events on the ship.

 

We had some rocking and shuddering overnight although the seas seem pretty calm….but doors and drawers stayed closed. This morning skies are almost clear and the seas calm. I haven’t turned on the TV to see if we are still in the Saragaso Sea.

 

Off to breakfast….I’m going to try the cappuccino in the elite breakfast again this AM to see if anything’s changed since Celebrity Cruise’s post in this thread. If not, I’ll go back to café bacio.

 

GH

[ghstudio]

No change to the coffee in the elite breakfast…it’s good decaf, but putting foam on good decaf doesn’t make a cappuccino which is expresso with foam. I am not a coffee gourmet, but the difference between what’s served at café bacio and the elite breakfast is dramatic.

 

For those that suggested they never play announcements in the cabin, only emergency or equivalent announcements, I ask….then why did they go to the expense of putting volume controls in each cabin including the new ones on deck 11…so you can turn down/off emergency announcements???

 

For those that suggested you can hear the captain’s announcement on the TV, yes, you can, if you have the TV on and set to the right channel, but if it’s not the 10am announcement which you expect, then our TV generally isn’t on (we watch enough tv at home)….and by the time the TV is on and you have tuned to the right channel (which presumably you have memorized), the announcement is over. Sounds like a hq answer in a presentation which no one actually experienced under real conditions on a ship. Net…you really do have to open the door to hear the announcement.

 

Just left a scheduled Q&A event where anyone could ask the senior officers questions about the ship. It reinforced that different folks see things differently. The very first question was why is the music so loud and not geared towards the customers on board. Those of you who have read my comments…I think the music level is very much under control with many quiet areas, and reasonably loud and appropriate music at appropriate times…obviously the guy asking the question thinks it’s too loud, and he offered the music from his ipod so the ship could play music he felt would be better. Many other questions on gratuities, comments about the crew (positive), questions about the seas/changes to the itinerary and so on. They were very open answering the questions…good session. The only answer I had a problem with was when someone asked about getting locked out on the balcony. The HD said that it’s impossible unless someone is inside the cabin and locks you out. Based on reports here, I think this was a pretty flip, inaccurate answer….it can and does happen although rare…in fact I think someone even posted in this thread that it happened to them. Not sure why he gave that answer…...

 

We also learned that celebrity plans to put handles/levers on the outside of the balcony doors on deck 11 (to lock them closed from the outside) and extend the overhang on the back deck 11 cabins to help with the black soot…although we have not found very much and wouldn’t even mention it except others reported it so I noticed. It’s not any sort of heavy soot…some small black flakes, easily brushed off the table and chairs. Not sure when or even if those changes will be made.

 

Interestingly (and perhaps I shouldn’t mention it here at all), the question of the new suite only Michaels club being empty and the loss of the popular piano bar and beers came up…and from the answers and body language, I think the officers agree that it was not a good decision, but it’s what HQ wants and they have to follow HQ directions. It really is wasted, revenue producing space, but I guess HQ feels it’s necessary for the top suite guests to pay that kind of money. FYI, I asked and the “craft beers” were moved to cellar masters although they may not have everything in stock on every cruise (per the bartender).

 

GH

[ECCruise]

Wondering if the timed series of Debarkation does not tie into this being a TransAtlantic. Have read here on CC that D-Days are much slower for TAs when the process is much longer for the Ship & Crew to be cleared due to more rigorous checks for the first docking in the USA for the season (vs doing a closed loop cruise)... Then add in the Pax too.

 

In which case maybe the Timed Departures thru Customs & Immigration makes a lot of sense for Pax and making their Departure less tedious.

 

Cheers!

 

If so, it is something brand new. We've been on 6 WB TAs and always were able to pick our disembarkation time.

[Go-Bucks!]

We had a nice visit to St. George yesterday despite the wind and rain. Visited some cute shops, did a trolley train ride around the area and visited St. Peter's church. Since the last ferry left at 1pm, there wasn't alot of time to do more. Today is a gorgeous, warm, sunny day that I'm spending on my lounger on the balcony. Not going to think about home yet! ;)

[deise17311]

We had a nice visit to St. George yesterday despite the wind and rain. Visited some cute shops, did a trolley train ride around the area and visited St. Peter's church. Since the last ferry left at 1pm, there wasn't alot of time to do more. Today is a gorgeous, warm, sunny day that I'm spending on my lounger on the balcony. Not going to think about home yet! ;)

 

 

How do you love our room which we will be inhabiting in 26 days!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[DrKoob]

We had a nice visit to St. George yesterday despite the wind and rain. Visited some cute shops, did a trolley train ride around the area and visited St. Peter's church. Since the last ferry left at 1pm, there wasn't alot of time to do more. Today is a gorgeous, warm, sunny day that I'm spending on my lounger on the balcony. Not going to think about home yet! ;)

 

Go-Bucks,

 

I asked the OP on this thread but no response. Could you tell us who the Captain's Club host or hostess is on Infinity, please?

 

Jim

[ghstudio]

I’ve talked about the officers not being visible walking around the ship. The officers and some other passengers think they have been very visible. The difference is that on this ship, there are more officer involved events…eg. The slot tournament last night with officers. I agree that there are more of those events. My view is that the events are fun, but it’s more personal when they walk around stopping to talk and get the feel of the ship. It’s style vs expectations.

 

I don’t think I’ve mentioned, but if I make a comment on this thread, I’ve almost always mentioned it to the appropriate person on the ship first. I suppose my cabin number is showing up on many reports because they do track issues to make sure they are resolved, but I do it quietly..one on one…and hopefully it's viewed in a spirit of trying to help.

[momster0102]

We're also on this transatlantic sailing. Have an S1 Sky Suite, cabin 6145. Fantastic cabin (bathroom is to die for), but we've found that some things are not like we read on CC. Today is partly cloudy but warm and calm seas (esp compared to the very rocky seas we had several days ago).

 

Hi Go-bucks! we are in 6147 - next door - starting 11/4, so any color from the aft end of Deck 6 would be terrific.

Edited October 25, 2014 by momster0102

[Go-Bucks!]

How do you love our room which we will be inhabiting in 26 days!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

This room is fantastic!!! Nicest one we've ever had. Butler has been Teguh, steward is Nevus and his assistant is Henry. Very quiet - we feel all alone back here. Of course, we really felt the rockin' & rollin' too, but totally worth it. There were no loungers on the balcony when we arrived - just had large table, 4 chairs, and 2 large reclining chairs with footstools. Butler said he had "to get permission" to put out loungers. He put them there our first morning. Had to take one reclining chair away to make space. Loving this whole trip. Hope you will too! :D

[Go-Bucks!]

Go-Bucks,

 

I asked the OP on this thread but no response. Could you tell us who the Captain's Club host or hostess is on Infinity, please?

 

Jim

 

Sorry, I neither know nor care who any of the officers or other folks are. The OP seems quite concerned with knowing and meeting them so maybe he/she will eventually answer you. :)

[Go-Bucks!]

Hi Go-bucks! we are in 6147 - next door - starting 11/4, so any color from the aft end of Deck 6 would be terrific.

 

Not sure what you mean by "any color from the aft end", but I wish I were able to see that cabin before leaving. I watched a YouTube video and it looked gorgeous. I haven't seen or heard anything from whoever's there currently - nice quiet neighbors. :)

[deise17311]

This room is fantastic!!! Nicest one we've ever had. Butler has been Teguh, steward is Nevus and his assistant is Henry. Very quiet - we feel all alone back here. Of course, we really felt the rockin' & rollin' too, but totally worth it. There were no loungers on the balcony when we arrived - just had large table, 4 chairs, and 2 large reclining chairs with footstools. Butler said he had "to get permission" to put out loungers. He put them there our first morning. Had to take one reclining chair away to make space. Loving this whole trip. Hope you will too! :D

 

Awesome, thanks! So I assume no problem with the connecting door?

[ghstudio]

Woke up this morning to a miserable day….heavy rain…ugh. The weather on this trip has been less than ideal. To make it even better, I seem to have picked up a cold/cough so last night was trying various medications we brought. Actually got a good night sleep despite keeping my DW up coughing. I was going to spend the day in the room/balcony, but not in this weather.

 

Last formal night had lobster tails in Blu….one split lobster tail with a nice sauce. Actually quite good for a warm water lobster tail. We also had the meet the officers event which had it’s own, different, list of cocktails. They seem to have run out of cassis which doesn’t surprise me given the amount they tried to serve my wife the past few nights. The captain said a few words….that was it.

 

We are getting less art auction paper than on our last cruise, but we have received at least 4 invitations to something, personalized in envelopes. Hey…save the waves….stop doing this Celebrity. If we want to do the art auctions, we’ll do them…they are on the event schedule.

[Go-Bucks!]

Awesome, thanks! So I assume no problem with the connecting door?

 

Our connecting neighbors are totally quiet. No noise or piano. But your neighbors might be different.

 

There were 2 good shows today so it doesn't matter that it rained in the morning. Just cloudy most of the day so far. I'm currently watching the Michigan-Michigan State game and the good news is that WE WILL GET TO SEE THE OHIO STATE-PENN STATE GAME TONIGHT!!!! :D. Yay!!