xmas cruise to hawaii from LA any details??

[Squirtreena]

HI..anyone just back>>. any details good or bad to share...i will be doing it with my kids next xmas...any photos posted?? TIA

[Dandylyon]

I'm going on Summit to Hawaii next Dec. 23. Is that the same cruise you're on? There's a Connections thread going for this one.

[AquaSailors]

Do you want to hear the truth about Celebrity's Hawaiin Cruise? There were a few wonderful moments on this ship BUT allow me to spill my guts! Not Celebrity's fault was the 4 day voyage from LA to the Hawaiian Islands where the swells were at least 18 to 23 feet! Yes, at least half the crew and many civilians were ill for the entire 4 day trek. It was a nightmare! Experianced cruisers had NEVER experianced this before. We had a sky suite midship and we had never heard such banging and creaking ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!! We were on the Summit last X-mas in the Southern Carribean and NEVER heard these loud noises before. It was very scary! Once we got to the islands it was beautiful. However, the ports were rushed! No one felt like we had enough time to explore each island. To top it all of on x-mas day we were to sail down and around the Napali coast. Well we started there seeing whales and dolphin but by 10:00 in the morning the Captain decides to take off and head away from the coast towards open water. So we missed more whale sitings and a possible night view of the volcano!!!! What was he thinking???

The worst part came at the end of our trip. We docked in LA. LA was being pounded by another freak storm that had sustained winds of 40 mph and driving rain. The baggage men put out about a third of passanger's luggage on an unprotected peir. We then were told to find our luggage in this driving rain. The elderly, infirm and everyone else was forced to look for our bags for up to 3 hours. We as well as our luggage were soaked to the bone! We had to travel for hours in soaked clothes! It was a nightmare! I have never witnessed such chaos in my entire 43 years! My husband and teenage kids were freezing as we looked for our bags! Now I am a very cool, calm person BUT this was UNBELIEVABLE! We spent over 18,000.00 dollars for this nice family holiday and we are treated like this?

To be fair I must say that our food was much better then last year. The service on board the ship was excellent. Our helicopter excursions were just breathtaking!

BUT I am very upset with Celebrity! This was our second cruise with them. We even booked another cruise for X-mas 06 with this cruise line while still onboard. But I just might cancel it after we had to endure such insane treatment!

Please e-mail me if you have any questions or comments about this post. I will be happy to elaborate.

Melanie

[Petoonya]

Melanie,

With all due respect many of the complaints you speak of are way beyond the cruise lines control. I too was on a December cruise last year LA to Hawaii round trip on Infinity. We had swells of up to 25 feet and yes, many of the crew were and passengers were quite ill. But the weather is not manageable by any cruise line. We happen to LOVE rough seas, were in an aft cabin so we could enjoy it.

 

And yes the ship creaked very loudly and much of the time it was difficult to walk on our cruise in December. But this is just part of cruising on an the open ocean. Sometimes during the winter you luck out and it's smooth- other times you get in the midst of the Pineapple Express from Hawaii to the west coast.

 

This is the PACIFIC OCEAN and it's rough-particularly in the winter when storms are frequent. I am sorry that you were not aware of that and that your family was uncomfortable. But you can't blame Celebrity for that.

 

You must have had SOME pleasant experiences on board, yes?

 

The captain and the Napali coast? I am sure he has a tight schedule to keep to as far as times in port- at least you were able to see whales. Some people cruise in Hawaii during whale season and never see a one.

 

It's unfortunate about your bags being left on the pier in the rain. Thats something that you might want to write a letter about.

 

Sorry that you felt you were badly treated after having spent $18,000. Something tells me tho that SOME things about this cruise, the food, the service, the incredible islands of Hawaii, the warmth of the staff had to be very pleasant.

[chumley]

I'm sorry to see Melanie giving this cruise a thumbs down. My family and I had a great time on the Summit. This was our first time on Celebrity and it won't be the last. Embarkation was a breeze. We were in our cabins within 30 minutes of getting to the pier. Our room steward (Sandy) was the best we've had in 11 cruises. The ship did a lot of rockin' and rollin' the first couple of days but none of us got sick, thanks I'm sure to the Bonine tablet we chewed each morning! In fact, my husband had an accident while on board and had to get five stiches on his face. The medical staff were wonderful and gave him great care. Luckily after that his biggest problem was answering all the questions he got from our fellow passangers wanting to know the details of what happened. After awhile we came up with some fancy stories because hitting a pole sounded so much more mundane! Of course by then we were able to joke about it.

The food was wonderful and of course there was way too much of it. We really enjoyed the shows that the singers and dancers put on. They were a talented group. We didn't fare to well in the casino but we had fun trying.

The ports seemed short but we knew that going into the cruise. We enjoyed all of them, especially Kauai. The weather was spectacular.

Debarkation was indeed a mess. Our group didn't get off the ship until just about noon. By then it had stopped raining and our bags were inside and totally dry. We didn't have a plane to catch as we live locally. I wouldn't have been happy trying to find all my bags outside in the pouring rain either.

I read about the problems with some of the teens on New Year's Eve but I didn't experience any of those things. I made sure my kids were with us and we were back in our cabins by 12:15. It did seem to be getting out of hand on the pool deck with lots of people wild, which is why we left when we did.

I thought the staff were awesome. They were friendly and helpful.Obviously everyone has a different experience on these cruises. I'm happy to report we had a wonderful time. We interected more with our fellow passengers on this cruise than on any other we've taken. That's probably because we had so many sea days and you saw everyone multiple times each of those days. In any case, that certainly added to our cruise.

The best part of the cruise though was the big aft balcony that we spent a lot of time on! I love watching the wake of the ship. It's so relaxing. I miss it already...

 

Leslie

[Texed]

I enjoyed the cruise also. The food and service were as good as any of the 43 cruises we have been on.

 

The embarkation was a snap, the debarkation was the pits. But, much of it was hydraulic/weather related. The pier had hydraulic problems with the covered walkway, so there wasn't one. That is why many of us got wet. It could have been handled much better by Celebrity and the dock workers, but it was very bad.

 

Did I let this ruin my cruise? NO! We had a great time. I did want to see more of the Nepali Coast and the volcano at night also. I think that could have been handled a little better also. A lot of the short time on the islands is because Hawaii security checks EVERY bag when getting back on the ship. And make sure you have your sea pass AND a picture ID, they check both.:)

[theduffys]

Tia,

We are also going to be on next years Xmas cruise to Hawaii. Our attitutde going into any tavel experience is to "hope for the best, be prepared for the worst and go with the flow". We have been disappointed at times but never sorry. Come on over to our roll call and meet the rest of our little group.

[blueboro]

We were on the Summit cruise Christmas of 2004 that you mentioned Melanie. You said there were never any rough seas. I was on that cruise and at 2:00am on the morning we were arriving back in Ft. Lauderdale it was like the ship hit a wall and for almost two hours we experienced the roughest seas we have ever had on any of our ten cruises. There were explosive sounds, glass breaking, even people putting on life vests. We later found that the tsunami affected seas worldwide and according to the weather channel it hit near the Florida coast where we were at that time. Unfortunately, we have found that the new "Panamax" class of ships that are longer, taller, not as wide and with little draft do not take on waves of any size very well.

[Kiwis]

Hi there,

 

We're going on this cruise in a few months and I wondered if anyone is going to do a review? I'm especially interested in what you did in each of the ports?

 

Thanks:)

[Dandylyon]

I'm very interested to find out about what you did on sea days. We are really looking forward to the sea days, and will certainly be taking our Bonine. We always take it before bed in case of any sleepiness associated with it.

 

My hubby's not too great with motion, but our cabin is very low and midship, so I hope that will help him, and we will pray to the weather gods for smooth-ish seas.

[AquaSailors]

Yes, the seas were rough but only for a few hours. We experianced sustained rough seas for days. Could you imagine what we experianced but for days on end? It sucked!

[AquaSailors]

Petooney,

Please read my post carefully! I said we had some wonderful experiances while on board. The best part of the cruise was as I said before: the crew, the helicopter excursions, the food etc. . .I also enjoyed meeting so many nice people especially Calamity and Chris from London! Once the waves settled down and before the fiasco on the pier at the end we did have a good cruise! I am a positive person but the way Celebrity handled the disembarkation was outragous! I would be in complete denial if I didn't call them on it.

[Squirtreena]

so is the weather in the open water always rough from La to hawaii at xmas?? has anyone experience calmness for the whole thing?? i dont wanna spend a ton on this holiday to have us all sick for 5 days there and 5 days back??

[Squirtreena]

auqusailor i would love to email you and get more information on the hawaii cruise...can you email me rkupser@gnw.ca thanks, Reena

[theduffys]

AquaSailor--Please tell all about the helicopter excursions you took. We are very interested in these as well and are, of course, hungry for any and all info re this cruise. We have never been seasick and never taken anything but I can imagine that day after day of really rough water could really get to a person. Maybe this time we will pack something. If the weather prohibits sitting by the pool and sunning, do you remember if there were bridge games scheduled? Of course maybe the cards would not stay on the tables.:D

Also,regarding the "fiasco" at disembarkation, I was wondering if the L.A. port is one where it is now possible to pre check luggage onto a flight out of LAX. Do you know anything about that? Thanks for letting us pick your brain.

[brenda56]

We were also on the Summit over the holidays.

 

Yes, the seas were very rough over the first 2-3 days. However, when we paid for the vacation, we knew Celebrity was of course unable to guarantee the behaviour of the Pacific Ocean. It was our choice to go and our resposabilty. It was rough and occasionally loud , but never actually frightening. As rough as it was we only felt really ill one evening when we went to the theater. (far forward in the ship). Thanks to the advice from these boards, I took Ginger and used Sea Bands for the crossing and was so successful in calming my stomach that I've managed to gain almost 10 pounds. (Apparently if you eat for the entire time, that also helps to calm motion sickness) We also booked a midship cabin and that helped.

 

Christmas was a little subdued, but New Years was fantastic. The only problem we observed was some parents permitting pre-teens and young teenagers to drink chamgagne. Some of these children were pretty worse for the wear by late in the evening. Like the responability for some of the other less than sterling behaviour exhibited by this age group on the cruise, the responability for this should be laid directly at the feet of the parents- not the cruise line.

 

Food was fantastic- particularly the Normandie and service was even better than the last Celebrity cruise we took. The crew seemed to be more outgoing than last time. Did anyone else meet Mr Happy- Happy the security man and the little man who greeted us so nicely every morning at the Waterfall cafe?

 

Embarkation was very smooth and quick.

 

Disembarkation was indeed a disaster. A variety of circumstances from weather to mechanical malfunction produced a very bad experience. Some of these things were outside of Celebrity's control. I have since been told the the port authority was restricting the rate of disembarking passengers Where they really fell down in my estimation is the lack of communtication throughout that morning. At no time were passengers informed of progress being made or problems encountered. (other than one initial announcement that there was a problem with the gangway that would be quickly rectified- that never did happen) It would have been easy to keep us informed and ease the atmosphere on the ship. Many of us were very stressed about airline connections etc. Much of our luggage and clothing arrived home wet or damp. We did not have to stand in the rain-just our suitcases. In fact, one of our bags is on its way to us from California. It seems a porter and another passenger were a little too enthusiatic in picking up their luggage and gathered up one of our bags as well. The other passenger left a message on my voice mail and contacted Celebrity as well. Celebrity is shipping the bag to me.

 

So- to sum up we had a great 15 day cruise (with a few exciting days) and one bad travel day. I'd do this cruise again in a heartbeat.

My real problem- I missed meeting my fellow cruise critic members- missed the sail away meeting due to a minor illness of one of our party and missed the Cruise Critic Party due to my apparent basic inabilty to read an invitation!

Next time- I hope.

[oceanbear]

I have a question on the subject of "Unruly Kids"; which is why I avoid these holiday cruises. While I certainly agree that the primary responsibility belongs to the parents, who has secondary responsibility? It seems no one else is allowed to tell our "precious children" anything. If parents are unable or unwilling to control their children, shouldn't the ship's staff take control or at least insist that the parents take control. Also, if children are seen causing destruction or vandalism, out of the sight of the crew, shouldn't a resposible adult put a stop to it, or at least report it? Personally, I would try to get them to stop, or at least get a photo or video of the deed and report it to the staff. I'd be interested to hear other people's views.

[calamity]

AquaSailors it was a pleasure to meet you all too.

 

Brenda sorry we did not get to meet, maybe next time.

 

This was our first cruise ever and I did find the first two sea days hard to handle as I was sick for a day or two but it soon passed.

 

I found everything on the ship wonderful from food to service to the folks we met, but I have to be honest and say We will avoid holiday cruising.

Don't get me wrong there where some great and well behaved kids on board,but to many were allowed to run (some early hours of the morning) around,where food and drink where served, twice I had food and drink knocked out of my hand, I did say something to an officer at the time but he said when they are told to stop running a parent comes along and get upset that their child is told off!

As for New Years party is self was amazing,but I witnessed many parents/ adults hand drink to teens also there were bottles and half empty glasses of drink laying around which they helped themseleves to.I did not see much control from either parents, the crew or it officers at this point. We were asked to moved to the bar at the Edge of the Earth so they could clean up, there where lots of teen allowed in the bar and at one point I did see the security speak to a number of them outside the bar.All other times we have been in the disco security always came 11.30 and order them out,there been a few rows from parents who did not agree with this.I think it was a lack of control from both parts on this night.

All said and done I will sail with Celebrity again and anyone going to Hawaii the islands are out of this world.

[Petoonya]

Melanie,

It's good to know that you had some good experiences too. Your initial post titled "Hawaii Horrors" spent more time on the negative than on the positive. Reread your post- it's 90% about the not so good things- the seas, not having enough time on the islands, the captain leaving the whale sightings, the bags on the uncovered pier, you are "very upset" with Celebrity and you may cancel your next cruise because of spending $18000 and being treated so badly.....It was hard to sift thru much in the way of good when most of the post was about the bad.

 

Really good to hear you made good friendships on board too- thats the BEST part. Thanks for clarifying your post too. Best wishes.

[Sahaj]

It is always interesting to me how everyone has a differnt experience on the same ship! True the seas from LA to Hawaii are not calm waters, but most people are aware that the open waters of the Pacific are choppy!

 

I personally honor everyone's experience, but mine was quite different!

I was fine for the transit from LA to Hawaii, as were many of my friends! I do feel for those who are sick when the water is not calm...but this is the ocean!

 

As for whales & dolphins...I saw many of them from my balcony during the cruise as well as during walks on deck. Got some great pictures if anyone would like to see!

 

My feeling about cruises is to feel "blessed" that we can do this! Many people in the world are not so fortunate. My attitude is that the glass is always half-full!

 

It did rain in LA upon our arrival! But the ship has little control over this. The port authorities deal with luggage dockside and crowd control. We received assistance finding our driver from many supportive people dockside.

 

I did get a little wet..but have umbrella will travel! I just am so thankful the weather was so beautiful in Hawaii! We had no rain, which is rare in December!

[Texed]

Sahaj,

 

Thanks for the positive comments.:)