psychtobe

how is the food in the haven restaurant? that would be pur primary reason to upgrade. unless the rest of the ship is an ugly boozefest we don't need a special secret corner but if that is the case we'd probably choose a different ship anyway.

ah, thank you for the clarification.

I posted this elsewhere but someone suggeated I try the NCL forum. hello the above are two cruises we are considering spring 2024 for family of 4 with two teens ages 14 and 17. The ports sound more interesting on Celebrity and we liked them on our last cruise eight years ago. But read some of the food has gone downhill and that is important to us. Would a Haven suite on NCL and thus access to Haven restaurant be a better option? we don't want to do specialty reataurants every night because with four of us that will add up quickly, but on either ship we could do them once or twice. possible drawback to haven is officially no kids under 16 allowed on Haven sundeck which leaves our youngest and thus us out. but then i read that on some cruises there are lots of under 16 on that deck. not trying to be a rule breaker, but if it's a function of behavior i'm not worried about our 14 yo. more about our 17 yo lol. thanks for your thoughts!

yeah our family is there so dont need a rental car or hotel, but flights will get crazy and getting from house to airport after the eclipse will be a nightmare if the one in Oregon was any indication.

we live in the path of the eclipse from a couple years ago and a little pollution made no difference. It was a magnificent sight, we were all much more moved than we thought we would be. Obviously if it’s cloudy or raining everyone is out of luck.

Thanks for the tip on cruises out of New Orleans. I found an NCL cruise that would work, the ports aren’t too interesting to us as we’ve been to Costa Maya and Cozumel before and not divers so not too into Roatan, but we could make do. There is a Haven 2 BR option for a decent price. How is the Haven restaurant or more specifically how does it compare to the MDR on Celebrity? We are really willing to pay extra for food. Unfortunately one advantage of the Haven (16+ only on the sundeck) is a drawback for us, because our son will be only 14 at the time of the cruise.

great we do like being outside on a true veranda and don't love the sun or at leadt I don't so maybe that is best!

so it sounds like an aft cabin option with traditional vwranda might work best for us? i don't understand this magic carpet. if it's outside your balcony do you not have a balcony anymore!m? can you walk from your balcony on to the magic carpet? Is there anywhere to look at reviews of specific cabins? I know some are louder than others, beneath a dance floor etc and best to avoid but how to tell?

Hello, Looking at Ascent for 2024. One week Caribbean cruise. Plan to get a balcony for myself and spouse, and an OV or inside room for two teenage kids. For the right price 2 adjoining OV could work. When I look at booking I get all kinds of options and I am confused about what any of them or or whether they'd have value to us. We don't use the wifi, or drink packages, or go to the spa, or take many cruise excursions. We read, we use the gym, we watch shows, we wander around ports on our own. We might eat at a specialty restaurant once. I think some of these classes have dedicated public areas but it's all a little confusing. There are suites of various kinds, Aqua class, Concierge class, etc. re: the food, the Ascent as the MDR and buffet included in the cruise fare. The CC review also says "several other restaurants are included" but doesn't say what those are. I presume pizza is one of those. Does anyone know what else? Any other thoughts about the Ascent (obviously it's new so maybe speculative) or Edge class ships or Celebrity in general? We were very pleased with it during a 2 week S Caribbean cruise but that was years ago. One other question about non-refundable deposits. If you buy a refundable cruise now, then cancel, then rebook, can you switch to the non-refundable deposit option then? Obviously prices can increase over time.

Hello cruisers, We need to be in DFW on Sunday April 7 to see the total solar eclipse on Monday April 8 (family lives there) and we want to take a cruise the week before. We will be flying from the west coast ~ either a red eye Friday March 29 or morning Saturday March 30. Thus we think our options are: 1. Ft Lauderdale 2. Galveston 3. Southern California. Probably less interested in the cruise options/ports, though the travel will definitely be cheapest. Galveston has mostly short cruises. We found a Celebrity Ascent - Western Caribbean - 7 days out of FLL that leaves Sunday March 31 and returns Sunday April 7. The refundable balcony option is around $3500 for 2 including all port fees/taxes, and around $2500 for the inside room, which is within our budget. The date fit our travel needs well. We enjoyed Celebrity in 2015 though I'm sure things change especially post-COVID. For us the food is really important and Celebrity was better than Princess and much better than Royal or Carnival. Interesting ports next most important. We don't do spas and so forth. We'd probably get a balcony for ourselves and put our teenage kids (17 and 14) in their own interior or OV but it would be nice if it were on the same floor (not required). If you have any general suggestions about how to organize our thinking or planning, cruise line to consider, etc., please let us know. Ports to look at that I missed or if the West Coast of Mexico really has a better option. Thanks in advance!