Help a Celebrity newbie out, please

Good morning all! On this Memorial Day, I send a heartfelt thank you to our military families for your service and sacrifice.

My family and I will be traveling aboard the Summit in August for a Bermuda cruise. We have cruised before, but never on Celebrity. Our children (12 and 15 years old) have only cruised on Carnival, but my husband and I have cruised on Royal and NCL as well.

We booked 2 outside cabins for this trip and selected the OBC and prepaid gratuities as our perks. However, I am wondering if I should change one of the perks to wifi since we are traveling with kids. It might be useful for keeping in contact with them. I have always heard horror stories about the roaming charges on cruises so we usually power off for the week. Can someone better explain to me how this works with Verizon wireless so I know if this is a better option for us?

Also, I keep reading about Aqua class. I don't think we're booked that way. Is that something you can choose as an upgrade? What are the benefits of the Aqua class designation?

We haven't cruised in a few years, but my kids enjoyed Camp Carnival. I have been reading that Celebrity usually has fewer children onboard. Are there many activities for the kids that are onboard?

How is the food in the MDR? We aren't terribly fussy eaters and never had an issue finding things we liked on Carnival. Is there a must-try specialty restaurant?

If you have any other helpful information, I'd love to hear it. Thanks for your assistance!

I'll answer what I can. Haven't been on the Summit, but was very frustrated with the WiFi on Silhouette. In many cases, too slow to load web pages. Other times, worked just fine. Regarding any/all cellular devices, to avoid cell charges, the easiest way to do it is to turn ON airplane mode (which shuts down all communication radios), then turn ON Wifi. That way the device will only communicate using WiFi (if no WiFi, no communication). When you get back to your final port, turn OFF airplane mode.

Aqua class is nice, and gives you two benefits, as far as I'm concerned. The biggest benefit is your dining room is Blu. It is a different menu, smaller dining room, and we had VERY enjoyable food there on our last cruise. The other decent benefit is access to the Persian Gardens. On the Summit, I don't know if that is good or not; on Silhouette it was very enjoyable to use a few times. Note that the Aqua Spa Cafe (near the Solarium) is for everyone, not just Aqua Class passengers.

I can't help you with the kids activities, maybe someone else can.

The food in the MDR ranges from OK to very good. Some nights I couldn't find something I was excited about (but never went hungry), other times I ordered multiple appetizers and multiple entrees because I found things I wanted to try. They have some "every night" food like chicken, steak, and salmon (and escargot!!!!!) that you can order if nothing turns you on that night. I took pictures of the menus from March 2016 on the Silhouette to give you an idea -- note that alcohol pricing has increased (in many cases very significantly). https://goo.gl/photos/kbWoo3hRLaURB3LU6

I don't know which restaurants are on Summit, but for other ships - Murano is good for adults wanting to have a romantic evening, Qsine is a fun place (probably a good one for the kids, too) with amazing plating, and Tuscan has a great view out the stern of the ship. They often will have reduced pricing offers when the restaurants aren't full - they are outside the Oceanview Cafe during lunch (at least they have been with my cruises).

If you and your husband are drinkers, think about switching to the beverage package as a perk (given the high cost of individual drinks, including sodas and specialty coffees). At dining time, you can get (complimentary) coffee, tea, iced tea, lemonade, and a few others. Otherwise (probably like you experiences on other lines), you have to pay for each soda, beer, wine, drink, etc. If you think about your perk options, it would "cost" you the price of the tips (which is a little under $200 for the 2 of you) by switching the perk.

Enjoy you family time and a (hopefully) amazing cruise!

Aqua class is a cabin level. To upgrade, you would need to pay the fare for that particular cabin level. Passengers that have aqua class cabins have their own restaurant, Blu. The menu items are supposed to be a more spa type of cuisine, which my husband and I truly enjoyed, meals were delicious. it also gives you free access to the Persian Gardens spa area. However, both of your rooms would have to be aqua class category for all of you to be able to dine together. I wouldn't say that there is a must try specialty restaurant, certainly I've eaten at better restaurants at home. But seeing that there are four of you, you might enjoy Qsine as a family. It's a shared plate experience, with interesting food presentations and I believe there would be something on the menu for everybody. I'm sorry, I don't have Verizon and I'm not very tech savvy so I can't help you with the Internet question. I know that once you are connected to the ship Wi-Fi people just turn the roaming off.

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Thank you both.

We have traveled with our grandchildren on Celebrity ships since 2010 and several times to Bermuda. There is a children's and/or teenager's program on their ships whenever young children or teenagers are on board. Our grandchildren have never found a need to participate in those programs since there are four of them and they are very close in age and had kept themselves entertained in various activities such as ping pong, swimming, etc. This year we are returning to the Summit in July and they are all teenagers and I do not expect them to participate in the teenager program. Of course, with teenagers that could change.

If you do not expect to do a lot of drinking, the OBC would pay for any drinks you order. If you do expect to purchase a fair number of drinks, then you may want to change to the Classic beverage package. While on board, the serving staff will attempt to convince you to upgrade to the Premium beverage package. It is not worth it unless you expect to order several martinis per day.

As recommended by another CC member set your mobile phone to "Airplane mode". If not, you will run up $100 per hour cellular data charges after you sail out of NY harbor and out of range of your Verizon cell phone service.

No one ever starves on a Celebrity Cruise ship due to not being able to find something to eat in the MDR. I have even ordered entree size caesar salads with grilled salmon when I did not want something on the menu. They will accommodate any reasonable request.

Don't book Aqua Class, the restaurant reserved for those cabins is relatively small and could result in waiting to be seated. Unless you expect to spend all of your cruise in the Spa and Persian Gardens, Aqua Class is not for a family traveling with teenagers.

Thank you! Your replies were all helpful. My husband and I are not big drinkers so I don't think the beverage package is worth it. My original intent was to use the OBC for excursions, but in researching things, I have found some tours we'd like to do that are not offered by the ship. Hopefully I can make the switch to the wifi perk without too much grief.

I did check out the Aqua class earlier today and you're right, Shelly&Jack, that it isn't really meant for our family.

OK, probably a stupid question about the cell phones as I am not all that savvy in that department ... if the phone is set to airplane mode, you can still access wifi? I thought airplane mode pretty much shut down internet connection.

If you put a phone in airplane mode you can still turn on wifi manually.

Just tested out the phone situation. Learn something new everyday! (And I probably should have known that LONG ago.) Thanks!

Know I'm going to get some nay-sayers, but what a great opportunity to disconnect from the phone for yourself and the kids. Turn them off, don't use wifi, don't log-in. Relax and reconnect. If you need to stay in contact with the kids buy a cheap walkie talkie set. We used them with the kids when they use to cruise with us and it served it's purpose.

Yes you can access WIFI when you are in airplane mode. I also used the Hangouts app on my android phone and tablet to make telephone calls while in airplane mode and on WIFI with no additional charges. Someone earlier suggested Murano, which is like the former Ocean Liners type restaurants. Unfortunately those restaurants no longer exist on the M-class ships, which include Summit.

As someone who's taken the Summit quite a bit, I can confirm that the WiFi can be hit or miss on the ship, some cruises it's been consistently fantastic with no problems, other times it will kick you off with no warning after a few minutes. What I did was make sure I had everything I wanted to read, watch or listen to downloaded at least a week before sailing(I have Amazon Prime and their Kindle and Music apps on my phone and tablet)so that I would have it and not worry about having to download anything on the ship. I also kept social media posting/emails to a minimum(one or two posts a day to keep in touch with friends and family)and saved the bulk of my vacation posting pics to after I got home. Definitely use the advice for putting the phones on airplane mode and turning on the WiFi if you do decide to get the internet package. The walkie talkies are a good idea as well if you decide to want to tune out on your vacation(although if you decide to take pics of Bermuda that you want to upload to social media immediately, why not use the phones? The island is gorgeous and full of beautiful things to photograph, as well as having some of the nicest and most helpful people to talk to living there as well.)

Enjoy your cruise, and I hope you and your family enjoy Celebrity.

Know I'm going to get some nay-sayers, but what a great opportunity to disconnect from the phone for yourself and the kids. Turn them off, don't use wifi, don't log-in. Relax and reconnect. If you need to stay in contact with the kids buy a cheap walkie talkie set. We used them with the kids when they use to cruise with us and it served it's purpose.

I agree with you which is why I didn't choose that perk to begin with. However, I think it will be a more convenient way to keep tabs on the kids when they are doing some exploring with their new friends.

Enjoy your cruise, and I hope you and your family enjoy Celebrity.

Thank you!

I'm not 100% sure this would work, but...

if your main concern is to keep in touch with your kids, perhaps the kids stateroom takes the WiFi as the 2nd perk and your stateroom takes OBC. The unlimited WiFi allows one device per folio number, so in the kids stateroom, they would use one folio on one of their devices, you would use the other folio number from that stateroom on one of your devices. (So one parent and one kid each have WiFi).

Perhaps a more experienced cruiser could comment if I'm missing something, but I think it would work - I just don't see the benefit of all 4 of you taking WiFi if the only reason is to keep in touch between yourselves onboard.

Then you still get the OBC in your stateroom. Best of both worlds.

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I'm not 100% sure this would work, but...

 

if your main concern is to keep in touch with your kids, perhaps the kids stateroom takes the WiFi as the 2nd perk and your stateroom takes OBC. The unlimited WiFi allows one device per folio number, so in the kids stateroom, they would use one folio on one of their devices, you would use the other folio number from that stateroom on one of your devices. (So one parent and one kid each have WiFi).

 

Perhaps a more experienced cruiser could comment if I'm missing something, but I think it would work - I just don't see the benefit of all 4 of you taking WiFi if the only reason is to keep in touch between yourselves onboard.

 

Then you still get the OBC in your stateroom. Best of both worlds.

 

 

 

 

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I said that too, but my husband thinks the kids will bicker over their devices. Plus, they are 3 years apart and I don't know if they'll be hanging out together all that much.

I am not sure how much things changed since 2015, when we cruised on Summit to Bermuda, but at that time (and in 2016) food was much better than on Carnival in both MDR and buffet. Also while we never had a problem with Carnival's service Celebrity's is one of the best among massmarket.

Also you'll find crowd more refined (not snobby, refined) than on Carnival and NCL. Even kids.

As for kids/teens clubs our son enjoyed kids clubs on Celebrity, not so much teen clubs. The best teen clubs were on RCCL.

I sail the Summit every year on its Bermuda run. I have also cruised with both my kids on Celebrity since they were 8. The following is what I recommend (although I am certain everyone would not agree):

• The specialty Murano no longer exists on the Summit. It has been replaced with the Tuscan Grill. It can pricey for 4. If you go the first night, you can usually ask if there are any discounts and pay up to half less. You can also see if they are serving lunch on one of the sea days. It's less than 1/2 the price and many of the menu items are the same. I enjoy it. If you like fish, do not miss the Branzino.
  
• Qsine is a tappas style restaurant. You share the small plates. The more people in your party the better. It takes 2-3 hours to eat. e loved it two years ago and were very disappointed this past year.
  
• The only other specialty is Sushi on 5 which is an a la carte menu (pay for each item). Also open for lunch, and you can have a small meal there and decide if you want to go again.
  
• AQ cabins accommodate only two, which is why you almost never see children in Blu (the aqua restaurant). If you have generally been satisfied on the other cruise lines you mentioned, then Celebrity's MDR will likely not disappoint you . We always travel AQ and we really enjoy the more intimate atmosphere and the meals are a notch above. IN addition, you have access to the Persian Gardens (not a big deal at all on the Summit). The cabin has shower doors and rain like shower heads. I love this particular perk. There are a few other things such as a bottle of chilled sparkling wine, etc. Not big things, but nice pampering touches.
  
• Celebrity does an excellent job with their kids & teens programs. Often no one sees the kids because the programs are designed to steer the kids to their own activities separate from adults. At 12, your child will be able to check himself in and out. I personally do not believe that he will be old enough to just roam on his own, with or without any pals he meets. Also, the walkie-talkies and cell phones are not reliable for checking in. Our rules for tweens/early teens were as follows (which I have just cut and paste from another thread):
  
• The ship has thousands of strangers on board. You do not have the benefit of the same standard of care that you might expect from the police at home on board. These are all strangers. It isn't hard for an incapacitated kid to disappear
   
  When I traveled with my kids as young teens, we learned to follow these rules:
   
  - child had to wear a watch synched to the time on board (no public clocks on board)
  - upon embarkation, we walked around the ship and identified a central emergency meeting place
  - every morning we took the time to identify where we would likely be at any given time and child had a marked up daily with him
  - child had to bring any friends they were hanging around with to meet us, give us their first and last names and cabin numbers, (they inevitably form a little group after a day or two
  - they had to join the kids/teen groups and if not participating in their events, let us know where they were going
  - had to check in every three hours or so based on the dailies and agreed upon meeting times/places,
  - they were NEVER permitted to go into anyone else's cabin
  - they were NEVER permitted to get off the ship without one of us
  - they were NEVER permitted to accept an unsealed drink from anyone except a bar tender/ship server
  - they were NEVER to go into the "staff on;y" parts of the ship, not even accompanied by anyone who works on the ship
  - they were NEVER to go anywhere with an adult we didn't know and give permission to
  - attach a magnetic white board onto your cabin door. If you miss each other, then they had to leave a note and tell me exactly where I could find them.
  - When in doubt as to whether could do something, the answer was "no" unless they got it direct from me. Another parent could not give permission on my behalf.
  

Enjoy your cruise!!

..... Relax and reconnect. If you need to stay in contact with the kids buy a cheap walkie talkie set.

Make sure you get really really loud ones.:rolleyes:

If you don't want them on the internet than the two perks I would choose the drink pack and the ship board credits.

The gratuities are $13.50/ day pp and that can come out of your SBC . The total would be $94.50 pp so you would still have $55.50 left

With the drink pack you would be able to get mock or virgin cocktails, NA frozen drinks, bottled water, all coffees, teas and hot chocolate from the coffee shop. Some sport drinks and other flavored waters. Anything over the limit can be purchased for the different in price instead of the full price. I think that you children can get the package but would be given a wrist band showing that they can't get any alcohol.

Happy cruisng 🌊🚢🌞🇺🇸

I would swap out prepaid gratuities ($189 worth) for unlimited internet for 2 in one of your 2 cabins. The unlimited internet on Celebrity is account based. So you get 2 login usernames and 2 passwords. Anyone could login with those 2 accounts. Whoever login could kick the other person out. The 2 kids could use the 2 accounts and if you need to contact them.. just login and kick one out and chat with the other who is still connected. :p Having WiFi is really good to keep in touch with the kids and to home. If you book your own tours, you could even contact the tour if you ship is running late or you have last minute question.. or they could contact you if anything is changed.

Some people object to the squawking of walkee talkees. DH and I have used them to keep in touch. We set up a schedule (hourly) to turn them on in and let the other know where/what we're doing incase they want to join. Then turn them off to so they don't bother anyone else.

In Bermuda, you don't need any ship excursions. The local bus and ferry system makes it easy to get around to see the sights. On Wednesday evening, go into Hamilton for Harbour Nights. On most days, at noon in St. George (requires a ferry), there is a ducking demonstration where a local gossip is dunked in the bay.

When my daughters were young, they loved the Celebrity kids program. However, as they grew into their teens, they found it rather lame and made their own circle of friends to hang out with during the cruise. An earlier poster gave you some excellent advice on setting rules for the cruise. I'd like to also advise you to try to meet not only the kids they meet but their parents as well.

I don't know if anyone pointed out that only 1 device at a time can be logged into a WIFI account. If you got the perk for 2 for the children, each could be logged in, but they could not call you unless you have an account also. If you and your husband each want to log at the same time a well as both children it would require you to have WIFI for 4.

The gratuities are $13.50/ day pp and that can come out of your SBC . The total would be $94.50 pp so you would still have $55.50 left

I'm glad I checked this post again. We leave soon and I don't know why I didn't get what you were saying at first, but I just changed one of my perks from gratuities to OBC. You're right - that totally makes much more sense because it gives us an extra $110 per cabin. Thanks again!