uktog

Actually we want to buy two more of these sets. We had been planning to attend the seminar on board and had booked. Although we have sailed many times when this seminar has been offered, we can only use it to get the glasses when we are sailing out of Southampton and have the car as the distributor could not deliver to the UK

I do hope that we can get the glasses relatively easily or our first two sets are now a bit of a waste

Is the alcohol rule you mention regarding the 3 litre box of wine now an official Celebrity ruling?

 

 

From what I can see their terms and conditions still state 2 bottles per stateroom, albeit no size is given. There is another thread on the Celebrity roll call entitled Box wine - what was the verdict? which has differing views. Just looking for clarification before our sailing!

The official ruling in the terms and conditions is 2 bottles and whilst guests may report success with wine boxes, technically these could be confiscated. If you accept there is a risk you will lose the wine box then you can rely on the recent views of some passengers, if you want to stay 100% safe, stick to 2 bottles

The website has now been changed and there is no reference to receiving the glasses, it merely talks about the tasting sessions. Price remains the same as was appearing last week ie in UK money £10.20 including 15% service charge

Will be interesting to see what happens next

They offer (including glasses) for a price, you pay - now at that point there is no contract or obligation however under the contract law in many countries the rub is if the offerer accepts your offer - which happens when in this case the email of confirmation is sent out and the funds are taken from your credit card, at that point a binding sale has been made as advertised. However, the offeror can subsequently rescind that contract and the purchaser is entitled to a refund and compensation for any consequential loss. In this case, the consequential loss is zero so purchasers of what was advertised on line will get a refund and little else

What is concerning is if X knew it was a problem they should have stopped the confirmation emails, why not get other emails out at that stage to say actually that workshop is no longer available.

Worrying such a large organisation does not have access to website content writers who can remove something immediately the problem comes to light - it is nearly a week since this came to light and if I was to decide to book tonight from my cruise the price would be £10 or so.

There may also be some issues with Consumer Regulations in some countries if they try and reneg on the bookings some people have made that clearly showed in the confirmation that the glasses were included

If the site has a pricing error, I am really surprised they have not gone in and made a correction or taken the workshops off sale completely. Either, despite whate everyone says about X reading all of the boards, they actually do not or they are not expecting many people to book and expect all the booking to be honoured

I do hope we can get the glasses, we went last year and got two sets, all we could carry in the car and need to get two more sets this year to make up from using for dinners with two to using when another couple is round

Interesting, however they really should have changed their website first as there will be a lot of disappointed people otherwise

Great sounds like Dru and Melanie are going to be on board for our trip

Thank you Jo & Rob for your wonderful review and very handy tips. The seats in the MDR look very close, are they as close as they look. Being a larger lady, I was hoping that they are not

Looking forward to hearing more from you.

I am afraid in the MDR there is very little space between seats and between tables

 

Live from Celebrity Eclipse – Day 3 Second Sea Day

 

To see our latest Day 3 video please click the link below

 

 

Terry thanks for your kind comments and to answer your question, no we are not using a big tripod and most of the shots are hand held. Rob does have a mini table top tripod which we use for family shots.

 

Internet use onboard

The ship has Wi-Fi throughout so you can go online in any public area or in your cabin. Last night we had some issues trying to log on. For some reason we couldn’t get onto the guest Wi-Fi and instead the crew log in appeared. We called guest services (about 10.15pm) and we had an IT guy arrive at our cabin within 5 minutes! He was in our cabin for about 30 minutes trying to sort the problem out and finally got us back on the passenger log in. At one point the crew wi-fi rate came up at $0.19 a minute (but we couldn’t access it).

 

Unfortunately this morning we had exactly the same problem with Rob’s Mac although we could log on with my PC! It makes a change for my PC to beat Rob’s Mac! Rob went to the iLounge this morning and fortunately they were able to sort the problem in minutes. We bought the $99.95 package on the first day which was for 208 minutes ($0.48 rate/min). If you go over your minutes you will be charged the same rate as your package.

 

Jo’s tip 17 – Make sure if you want a package you buy it on the first day as you get an extra 15% of minutes free!

 

The cheapest package (and worst value) is $24.95 for 38 minutes which is $0.65 per min and the most expensive (and best value) is $399.95 for 1666 minutes which is $0.24 per minute. The standard charge is $0.75 per minute so it is certainly worth considering a package. There are additional packages available but that gives you an idea.

 

Not sure about these internet prices, if they are correct, there has been a serious price hike in the last month. You used to get 237 minutes for $99.95, if they are applying a 15% bonus that should take you to 272 or 273 minutes and not 208 minutes posted above.

Other posters have commented that the Day One bonus can be 0 or 10% so do not expect 15%

As regards the photos what do the dailies advertise? I thought the photographers always stopped 15 minutes before each sitting, though they would take all in line at that stage so they could get the dining room shots (which we more often buy these days). The only area there used to be issues was at the foot of the stairs, where groups often had pre arranged times which would mean you could not get a shot there immediately on the time of choosing. Hopefully with two more formal nights, you will get a family shot, but with your photography skills you may be better at a self timed shot as the quality of the formal photos is not good, attention to detail is often lacking and most ouf the ones done of us last year were out of focus or had flash glare so we did not buy, but did our own one on a self timer beside the "fireplace" in the lounge on Deck 14 which is a great setting - the better ship ones by far are the informal ones they do against a white background some nights

Even in the USA, proper etiquette is to wait until everyone has finished the course to clear. And to wait until everyone is served to begin eating. Probably the same in the UK.

It is indeed the same in the UK but is a trend I have noted on Celebrity lately and one which we nip in the bud as soon as it happens first. I think the waiters who work hard on all the sittings are keen to get everyone in and out as quick as they can to increase their downtime. Also they may be doing fewer trips down the galley and therefore want to do faster service to avoid food going cold.

A quiet word to the maitre d solves this

I have also noticed in the last few trips the Asst waiter is not as attentive with dressings, seasonings etc but then if everyone is at different stages at each meal that is hardly surprising - they get out of the habit of trying to keep pace

Re your food allergy issue, do not try and discuss it with the waiters, they do not understand - and do not believe anything they tell you about the buffet, odds are it will be wrong. It may be your original waiter did understand and had been briefed, but as you changed table that message did not get passed on

Only take information from the maitre d or assistant maitre d about food content - the waiters only work second hand, there are books with illustrations and complete lists of all contents that the MD/AMD has, he brings it to us every night. All the dining room maitre d's also work up in the buffet at lunchtime so they will get to know you. We know all about this, we have to deal with nut allergies which would be fatal if any errors are made

Likewise. tell the Maitre d how you want meals served, we have had issues with this rushed service which is in part due to the fact many guests want speed. However make sure you tell them what you wish and as long as you are not so slow as to impact on their turn around for second service

I had the same concerns when I read of the lists being emailed around. I immediately thought that I hoped that I was not on the same cruise as anyone using such a list.

 

It is important to remember that your butler is there to make YOUR cruise great by doing what is important to YOU. You do this by requesting the services YOU feel are important and NOT what anyone else may have dreamt up. It you do not think of it yourself, does it actually matter to you? If you put unfair demands on your butler, not only may he have to neglect other suite guests but he will be totally unable to surprise you by doing the little things which you had never dreamt of and that can really make your cruise.

 

Sue

You are so right Sue.

And whilst handing the list over may be quick for some, less so with others, for example the butler will be clarifying things etc. On our last Celebrity embarkation we overheard our butler being detained for almost 45 minutes as he tried to address a long list of items and deal with social chat.

Rather than hand the list over, I would suggest verbally highlighting anything critical, exceptional and immediate when you first meet and pick up anything else at a later stage, but you may find the butler will have already anticipated your needs anyway and might he not feel a little put out by being handed a list which he might read into it that you do not trust him to anticipate your needs.

I think it is reasonably clear on the website what the butler will do and I am happy to wait for surprises, even after all our trips, they do indeed manage to do so.

I do however worry seriously about expectations that a butler will get items ready for a sailaway party on Day One when he has so much else to do. I think requests like that should be declined except where prior arrangements have been made through Head Office so that the butler can have the back up from other staff that he will require and have made arrangements with the catering team etc. I certainly have first hand experience of very poor service from a butler on Day one and we were about to raise it with Heike when we realised the bulter was having to ignore all his other suites as he was trying to look after one sailaway party for 25 people and another two for 12. I appreciate some may not agree with this sentiment, but I think there is a compromise through the cruiseline requiring prior arrangements to be made.

We will be sailing for the first time in a sky suite with a butler. On previous cruises, every time we had room service we would give the server $2 or $3. With a butler when you tip at the end of the cruise, are you also expected to give a gratuity every time? I would think not but what does everyone else do? Trish

Setting up meals for you is part of the butlers duties. If you do it regularly you may wish to give him a little extra at the end of the cruise but that is entirely up to you

I do worry about all these lists being handed to butlers. On a previous cruise our butler who was very good was just weighed down by requests from three othe suites for things we expected to do ourselves (for example go and get them cookies from the cafe twice a day). I think we should also be careful of the demands we make of the butlers for extras on embarkation day as this does impact on the service they can give others - after all the butler has over 12 suites to look after if each expect an hour of his time, no wonder some people post they never saw their butler on embarkation

Fridges do not have sensors, we often take part of the content out so we can cool meds and never had an issue

I see some gap in your entourage (I think)

Firstly there is your medical adviser who carries the relevant potions and advises you when you think you have contracted the plague that it is manflu or the result of your previous indulgences

There is your security guard, who ensures you leave the Martini Bar without incident when you have failed to listen to your other advisers and have used the services of the bar a little longer than advisable

And your Diplomat who resolves any international incidents you actually stumble into along the trip as a result of you going off the script provided by your other advisers

Dollars and all the machines are programmed for dollar bills/coins

I just returned from a cruise on Celebrity, and people wore t-shirts wherever. In fact, on the first formal night, there was a guy in the main dining room with a black t-shirt, black jeans on and tennis shoes. Needless to say we were all shocked due to the fact that everyone else was in formal attire. He was served and no one asked him to leave.

One thing to be careful first formal night, people can often me in casual attire because their luggage has not yet arrived because of some airline issues. I accept that may not have been case here, but I am always a little cautious about my judgements that night. It happened to our table mates on a previous cruise and I did feel for them, they already had the pain of not having their luggage and we persuaded them still to come to dinner rather than order it from room service. It was disappointing to hear some of the tuts and mutters as we walked in with them

Back up! I never said suit jacket, or even a sports coat -- jackets can be windbreakers, or golf jackets, or zip up sweatshirt-material jackets or, or, or, or......c'mon.....don't jump to conclusions that I was referring to a suit jacket!!!!

In the Carribean? not part of my packing sorry

Reality check folks!

Your on holiday, in a hot climate and are about to go exploring ashore or have just come back from a trip ashore - jacket?? I think not

The problem is this section of the guidance is written in respect of evening dress code not day time

(and whilst we are at it define t shirt - M and S are currently wearing lovely T shirts (yes, the label says T shirt) with decorate edges and sparkles and I intend to wear them in the evening to dinner - now will the clothing police be looking inside at my labels before letting me in?

Ship - Eclipse

Deck - 11

Cabin # - 1609

Class – Royal Suite

Starboard or Port Side - Port

Bed near?(balcony or bath) – N/A

Quiet Cabin (With comments on problems. Note if connecting. ) –Unfortunately you get a lot of noise from the deck above including chairs being dragged around from 0600 each day. Guest Relations were unable to offer much respite though they did try

Balcony View - On hump so good views

Balcony Size? Large but narrow, not as good as on M class ships

Was wind a problem? Not at all

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? N/A

Any specific problems with this cabin? The first day we had a lot of probles with cigarette butts being thrown from above by stupid passengers. Problem recurred on sea days, ships staff were quick to try and track down culprits but it was worrying

Any other comments? Nice room though not sure why so much space at the back of the lounge for a sink and all the units which were actually empty except for 1

Having had one trip on NCL I would say their special restaurant was at best average; the experience you will get in Ocean Liners will be quite well above average and you will feel very very special for the night.

Some people feel very very special in the MDR and decline to have one try in the speciality restaurant - that is a fair choice for them and one I respect. For us, we love the experience and on our forthcoming trip albeit its on Eclipse, we will have 6 speciality trips. My own experience is that the specialities on Millenium class ships such as Infinity is still better than that on Solstice class such as Eclipse (but as I said I am still having 6 trips!)

Certainly the HoHO bus is a great way to see the town. If you want to be out of town another place is get yourself to Helensburgh to see the Rennie Mckintosh Hill House, but you can see a lot of McKintosh in Glasgow itself

Here is a link to the Glasgow Museums site

http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/Pages/home.aspx

Scotland Street School is very interesting

One thing to check on the day you visit, the museum staff have been taking industrial action so there have been days when they and the amazing art galleries are shut - if you google on the BBG Scotland website just before you travel you should be able to find if there are issues

Another place good for a visit is the tenement house, not beautiful but it gives a great sense of Glasgow life 100 years ago, the hoho stops near it

http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/59/

A

PS This is written by a native of Edinburgh Edinbrghers by nature do not normally champion the Weegies as we call them but it is right that we point out that their city has a lot to offer and people do not have to go into the countryside if they would prefer a town based trip

15% is added on (or included) depending on which sites prices you are looking at; on our My Celebrity it is now showing the price minus tip but if you click to buy the 15% is added on. I think others say theres is still showing price including 15% but whichever once you buy you will have paid the tips, though some do tip regular servers from time to time - seems this practice is more as an insurance policy to get the regular service though it may also be to recognise exceptional service.

On our forthcoming trip we will not tip additional until such time as we received regular exceptional service which is above and beyond the expected in which case we may reward that server and we will give a small amount to any regular server on the last day - again that might be larger if we have been "adopted" by a server