Cruise Arizona

The River Cruise company was CroiseEurope.

I actually really liked it, but felt that it might not be a good fit for every cruiser. The value is certainly there with their top price for a 7 day cruise being about $3300 all inclusive - meaning open bar and all excursions included for North American customers. Optional anonymous tipping via envelope in box at end of cruise. Tours were fantastic, and food was Excellent. The cruise was in and around Bordeaux and as an wine lover, I was in heaven.

For the tours we got on the English speaking bus which was 1/2 full. We had a tour guides in each town who spoke english but sometimes struggled for the correct English word. We went to wineries and historic sites every day. It was kind of a spoke and wheel itinerary, so we spent atleast 3 nights of the cruise moored in the town of Bordeaux.

But here is why it might not be a good fit for everyone. 75% of the other guest spoke French as their first language. There was a small group from Spain who only spoke Catalan and Spanish - but understood French. The other 20% or so were Brits and our group of 12 Americans. The fact that we had a fun group of 12 mitigated the language barriers. The cruise was conducted in both English and French, but if you went as a couple you and your significant other might end up the only English speakers on board. Most likely there would be Brits on board, but you never know.

Croise builds their ships for each location, so since the rivers in Bordeaux are shallow, the ship had a shallow draft. Water level in lowest level cabins is about knee hight, not chest height like a Viking ship. Ceilings were very low as this was a three deck ship and still had to clear the bridges. If you were about 6 ft 4 inches you would have to be very careful to duck under sprinkler heads and ac vents. If you are much taller than that you would be stooped the entire time.

Here is the caveat about the food. Lunch and Dinner were "Plat de Jour" meaning 4 courses were served but you had no menu or choice, they just brought out each course. By doing this they ensure quality and save money. They do make accommodations for special diets or aversions - gluten free, food allergies, not seafood, no red meat, no organ meat ect, but there is no choice for any of the courses. Now that being said, I am pretty much an omnivore and loved everything that was presented. There are a few reviews of Croise here on Cruise Critic dissing the food, but I actually really loved the food. My husband would have hated not having a choice, but I was with a friend who is a wine maker, and she was good with the Plat de Jour just as I was.

Service and crew was excellent - friendly English speaking crew, were attentive to all our needs.

Entertainment is very low key on a river cruise. We had folk dancers, a french cabaret singer, crew sketch night, trivia night, and a musical duo that played dance music. It reminded me much of the cruise ship entertainment in the 70's.

I got off that cruise and flew to London to meet my Husband for the Norwegian Fjords cruise and felt the quality of the food was about the same, but it was nice to have a choice again once I was back on Celebrity. Nice high ceilings, grander entertainment and more variety entertainment. Really not a fair comparison because a river cruise is always going to be a smaller more intimate experience.

Here is a positive post about my recent Celebrity experiences. In the last year I have sailed 3 times with Celebrity, took my very first Carnival Cruise, did a European brand river cruise, sailed Princess, and toured a HAL ship. Here are some things that I loved about my recent Celebrity cruises compared to some other options.

1. MDR Food is still really good! In my 35 nights on Celebrity I did not have one dish in the MDR that wasn't delicious. I even ordered the Branzino twice as it was not very good the one time I had it 5 years ago. It was excellent. While food was just fine in MDR on other cruise lines, so dishes were not served the correct temperature, which deminished enjoyment. I can't recall any misfires on my last three Celebrity cruises.

2. Specialty Dining is excellent. We do a special food an wine pairing luncheon in the Tuscan Grill with my wine group, and that meal is always fantastic. We tried the burger lunch at the Lawn club. Again excellent. Service is very polished and attentive. Food was also excellent. We did specialty dining on Ruby Princess, and I don't know what happened at the venue that night, but something must have happened that had them completely in the weeds the night we dined. We were seated 35 minutes after our reservation time, didn't get menus untill about 10 minutes after being seated, ordered an paid for a bottle of wine that we were later told they didn't have, and the waiter forgot to bring me my soup course. We did it two nights later, and things were better, but not the level of service we are used to in Celebrity specialty dining.

3. Excellent service. I will quantify this to say that on the Infinity we were in an FO near Concierge Class, so our cabin steward was Concierge Class. He was excellent!!! So helpful, attentive. Any special request was met. He even hunted down empty Pringles cans for us to roll and pack our Panama hats. We also had great dinner service on that cruise. Our waiter always had helpful suggestions and was both friendly and professional. We were seated in a crowded section the first night of the cruise, and with out our even requesting it, the Maitr'd call our room and offered to move us to a better table in a less crowded area of the ship.

4. Wine service! What can I say but no other line compares to Celebrity in their selection of wine and the servers knowledge of it. I find that on other lines it is an after thought. Love the Walk Around the World wine tasting event, love going to Cellar Master's and being able to try a different wine every night. Love that when you order wine the MDR you have a trained sommelier with which to consult. Fine wine is afterthought or an extravagance on other lines, but with the upgraded bev package there are many great wines to try by the glass. I got a little tickled on the little Carnival cruise I did when the bar waistress said "Oh you have the beverage package, I can bring you the good Pinot Grigio" .

5. Entertainment - No I'm not talking about the cheesy production shows. They are not really my favorite thing about any cruise line, but I'm talking about the featured entertainers. On our cruise to South America they had at least 10 different acts that I found to be world class talent. Many of them were finalist on different versions of "Got Talent" around the world. My favorite in recent cruises were a blonde British lady who was a finalist on Netherland's Got Talent who sang and played piano. She sang songs from Dolly Parton Classics to Nirvana all in her own style and played classical and Liberace style piano. The others were the Argentine Gouchos who were on AGT a few years ago who did all forms of Argentine music and dance! Another favorite was the Folkloric group that performed Peruvian dances during our overnight in Lima. For our recent 10 night Caribbean cruise we had an amazing female Las Vegas vocalist who blew me away with her versions of "I'm the Only One", "Fields of Gold" and a mash-up of "Over the Rainbow" and "Defying Gravity". I will say that we loved the Sing Along Piano bar on Carnival. I would list that is one of the "Fun" things they do really well. Great piano player with outgoing personality who loved to interact with his audience. Celebrity entertainers tend to be less interactive, but still enjoyable. On the South America cruise we did late dining and loved going to the Cellar Master's for about 30 minutes between the end of the 7:00 show and dinner. They rotated the artist there so we had blues, singer songwriter classics, string quartet. All excellent.

6. Cabin size! Celebrity cabins are much more generously apportioned than the other cruise lines. We did have a larger cabin on Princess, but only because we booked Cat GTY and got assigned an accessible cabin. But, no sofa seating area in St. Size cabin. You have to book a Mini Suite to get a sofa seating area on Princess. When I toured the Maasdam recently I was surprised to see that the Signature Suites were not much bigger than a St. Balcony on Celebrity.

7. Inclusiveness. I love the Go, Big, Better best! So nice to have a nearly all inclusive price available on nearly every sailing. 2 of my cruise this year had it, two did not. We make due with Elite Happy hour and a nice bottle of wine with dinner on the ones that don't have it because they are repositioning.

8. Buffet Selections - Carnival actually had a pretty good buffet especially when you include "Guys Burgers" and "Blue Iguana", but Celebrity has great rotating selections and so many fresh veggie options. I loved that they publish the daily them on the buffet. Makes it easy to find the special items.

Thanks, that is different than the information given to me via phone yesterday. I have submitted the request to the dining department. I will post here when I hear back from them.

I haven't read through the entire thread but I have some frustrations with the new set up. I love the idea of having choices, but the Edge really forces folks towards Celebrity Select over Traditional dining. I have done both, and after great number of cruises have decided that my preference is fixed dining at 8:30. I want the consistency of a waiter that gets to know me and we get to know him or her through the entire cruise. I also am emphatic that no one should ever wait in a line to be seated during a cruise. That is just my personal feeling about how the dining experience should work on a cruise ship.

In addition I have some clients who have mobility disabilities that make it difficult for them to stand for extended periods of time. You can see how having an assigned table every night where they can simply walk in and sit down is a great advantage to folks with mobility issues.

So I called yesterday to get the two couples with mobility issues assigned to the Tuscan dining room for their 7 night Rome to BCN in 2019. I was told that folks who have traditional dining cannot pick their venue. They will be assigned their venue. Select folks get to pick their venues but not Traditional. After the first night then they can request a change to their venue. Doesn't that seem a bit "Bass Ackward". Wouldn't it make sense to actually have them pre-select their dining room so that they are happy from the start??? I don't get it.

My husband I and I are doing a 2 day pre-inaugural, so really the venue assignment on a 2 night cruise to nowhere is irrelevant, but for future sailings this is just so inconvenient. My husband hates greek food and loves Italian and the other two venues didn't really catch his fancy, so when the ship dining venues were revealed, his thought was "OK, 8:30 in the Tuscan Dining Room for the entire cruise". Apparently this will not be possible to set up ahead of time.

I found the press release. Hollywood Glass will be the new occupant, and they will do a free show early in the cruise. After that the guests will have an opportunity to make their own glass piece starting at a price of $40. My guess is that the gaffers won't be as talented ,but I'm sure for years folks have been saying that it would be cool to have a chance to make their own piece. I think I'd be afraid I'd burn myself. :)

Greetings all! I will be cruising for the first as a Vegan in January on the Silhouette, and was hoping some recent cruisers could provide some feedback. I noticed the last substantial thread on this topic is nearly 10 months old, and given the recent boom in vegan/plant based eating I am curious to know if any recent vegan cruisers can share their experiences. Thank you very much in advance for any help!:)

 

Specifically, I am wondering about:

1) I am planning to note this information on the online check in form, do I need to submit an additional request elsewhere?

2) Are the buffet items properly marked now? I have seen older pictures where items are labelled "Vegetarian", and was hoping they have expanded the labels to indicate which items are also Vegan. If not, is the best plan to track down the manager of the buffet to inquire about options?

3) In the MDR, is there still a separate full Vegetarian menu? I'd imagine some of the items on it could easily be made vegan upon request. We have select dining, but I have made reservations at roughly the same time each evening, so hopefully we can attempt to have the same table/waiter each night.

4) Should I even attempt specialty dining? I previously booked a 4 night package, not even thinking about the fact that it might not be the greatest idea with specific dietary concerns. Part of the reason we like specialty dining is for the atmosphere and service, so I'd be happy to keep the package as long as I know there will be at least something available to eat!

 

Thank you again for any assistance! We are definitely going on this cruise (we are well past final payment :)), but our experiences will help us determine if it makes sense to keep our other future bookings.

We cruise Celebrity Reflection in 2016 with my Vegan daughter who had prior to that been a vegetarian on Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas. She said that the vegan food on Celebrity was better than the vegetarian offerings on Royal.

They have a separate vegetarian menu from which to order the night before. If you order a pasta dish, they used the gluten free rice pasta as the fresh pasta that they make onboard has egg in it. We did a 4 course tasting lunch in Tuscan grill and there was nothing on the menu that my daughter could eat, so the chef made a custom pasta dish for her with the gluten free pasta. She was very happy. I think that she could have the salad sans cheese that day too. Anyway, they do a good job. You will need to find the manager in the buffet to clarify if some things are vegan. You are usually pretty safe with the Indian dishes and Asian dishes as they are typically not made with cheese, but you have to watch out for things like fish sauce in some of the dishes. I don't recall them upgrading their labeling to specify Vegan vs Vegetarian.

For specialty dining, are the others able to eat off the full menu? Are you willing to forgo choices on your part so that they can enjoy the non-vegan dishes? I would maybe give it a try one night and see what they can do for you. We went to Chops when my daughter was a vegetarian and they got her a pasta dish from the italian specialty dining room across the hall. You might talk to the staff and see what they do for as vegan and then decide if it is worth the extra spending for all the other things that go into specialty dining even if the vegan food might not be super special.

I think a lot of people think it is OK to use a generic picture when they have no idea where it is, and they just assume that readers don't eaither. Boy are they mistaken. There is a face book ad for some travel agency that is touting drops on Trans-Pacific cruises that has a picture of St. Lucia in it.

 

I'm sure having a picture out of place is the least of the problems with the Celebrity website. Yesterday I tried to access and print luggage tags from the consumer check-in page and it kept re-directing me to the page with information about luggage tags not the actual PDF luggage tags.

 

I had to go in through the TA Portal and access them that way. Many many problems with the web site. Keeps me in business. :)

I just realized that the "Trans Pacific Price Drop" ad running on Facebook with the picture of St. Lucia, is from CruiseCritic or at least one of their sponsors since it bears the CruiseCritic logo.

Also try a different browser. I normally use Firefox, but had to recently use Chrome to get Celebrity Air to work.

ThreeDox,

There are travel agencies that sell 3rd party travel protection insurance that will cover pre-existing conditions if you purchase it with-in 7 days of making the booking with no 60 day look-back. Your are covered from day one. I do this all the time!

Always book with a travel agent, and if you agent doesn't have such a policy find one who does.

Also, always book with good travel agent. There is no disadvantage, and many times they have access to group rates or amenities or promo's that are not available directly through the cruise lines. You just want to make sure that you book with a service oriented agency that will not charge you any kind of extra booking or cancellation fee other than the what the cruise lines charge.

Feel free to contact me if you need some help.

I had a bad browser compatibility issue with choice air a couple of weeks ago in Firefox. I was able to fix it by switching to Chrome on a PC, but you said you were able to get it working with chrome so I think you are already OK. ;)

I have been cruising with Celebrity since 2003, first cruise was on Mercury and second cruise was on Infinity.

We just took a 15 day cruise on Infinity FLL to Santiago, and I have to say it might have been my best Celebrity cruise ever! We loved the service, the enrichment lectures, going through the Canal, the many and varied guest entertainers in the main theater, the quality of the musical acts in the bar venues, and the fun activities. Buffet was excellent. Main dining room excellent.

On that cruise we did not have a beverage package as it was a repo cruise. So we had to watch our spending a little, but with everything esle being so good, we loved it. Not discounting your experience and impressions, but for us everything was perfect. I just goes to show that what is perfect for one person might not work for the next, and that is why there are so many different lines from which to choose.

That Dec cruise was my 27th cruise, and I think it might be really and truely the best I have ever had.

I think a lot of people think it is OK to use a generic picture when they have no idea where it is, and they just assume that readers don't eaither. Boy are they mistaken. There is a face book ad for some travel agency that is touting drops on Trans-Pacific cruises that has a picture of St. Lucia in it.

I'm sure having a picture out of place is the least of the problems with the Celebrity website. Yesterday I tried to access and print luggage tags from the consumer check-in page and it kept re-directing me to the page with information about luggage tags not the actual PDF luggage tags.

I had to go in through the TA Portal and access them that way. Many many problems with the web site. Keeps me in business. :)

She doing fine, but has had to reschedule her last couple of cruises so that may be why she hasn't posted in a while.

We did a trans-Atlantic that wasn't fully booked, but just a few rooms, but only about 10 passengers in third and fourth berths, so that made it very noticeably thin on the crowds and it was a very enjoyable, relaxing cruise.

This is a really good question, since they turned it into a gastropub I have not sailed on her. I guess the question would be where can you find Sommeliers or the Cellarmaster during happy hour?

You are a good sport. Yes there is some snarkiness here on CC for sure. I just wanted to clarify that it is the beverage package that is an optional perk in some cabin categories and always available as an add on to any cabin category that resulted in your perception of different treatment with all the unlimited beverages ect, rather than the actual cabin category which you booked. And that there are legitimate business reasons for special perks for suite guests and Elite loyalty members.

Unsure if you are, but you sound awfully like a TA :confused:?

I hope that you mean that in a good way. :) If it seems that way because I actually know what I'm talking about and have extensive knowledge of the Celebrity rates and promotion and all the competitive products in the industry? If that is why I sound like a TA then I will take it. :cool:

They will most likely not be able to accommodate you in Select because they have a limited number of seats. Imagine how chaotic it would be if everyone tried this on a couple of nights. However if you are willing to dine late, like after 8:30 they might be able to work you in.

The buffet in the evening does have a limited selection, but it can be a nice quiet alternative to the MDR. They have one station with cooked to order proteins, salad bar, pizza and pasta station. Order your beverages, then make a nice salad and go over the the grill station and order your entree. It can be a nice experience.

You can also order room service off the MDR menu during dining times.

Thanks for the reply, we thought it probably wasn't right, he seemed to be under the impression it was our first cruise, and so it was, on Celebrity.

 

And 100 plus on other cruise lines.

 

We quite liked Celebrity but soon came to realize that this is really a line where two passengers can have totally different cruise experiences depending on what grade of cabin they booked.

 

One will be permitted to dine anywhere, have nice coffee after dinner and unlimited drinks at no further charge and go to any lounge or club at any time of day.

 

And then there is us, limited to the basic dining room, appalled at the cost of Cappucino after dinner, and totally scared of running up a huge drinks bill , ( our onboard spend came to $30 in 14 days) and not allowed in so many places on the ship. Got thrown out of Revelations lounge after Trivia as we were not Captains Club members.

 

 

 

Next time we have to try to get the comped drinks package.

Hi I would say your experience with your cabin steward was not the norm with Celebrity and he might need additional training or maybe was just having a bad week. I would have written Celebrity or visited guest relations to voice my concerns in a constructive way.

Here is the scoop on how to improve your experience with Celebrity and get that complimentary beverage packag. If you book and Ocean View or higher category of cabin with the Go Big Rate you get a choice of perks, which can include the beverage package for "Free", but it isn't really free it is just already figured into the price point of Ocean View or higher category cabins at the Go Big Rate. The Go Big or Go Better rates are always available in Ocean View or higher categories. As the sail date draws nearer, Celebrity will offer some discounted rates, which are less but don't include the perks. If you choose to save on costs by booking in inside cabin at any time, or Ocean View-Suites at a Senior, Military, State Resident or Exciting Deals rate, it will not include the choice of perks. So it is not so much the type of cabin but the rate code at which you book. While the beverage package is never included for an inside cabin, you can always compare the price to purchase it vs going ahead and getting the Ocean View that includes it. If that option makes more sense because you get a beverage package and a window, then book it that way. If you drink so few beverages that it makes more sense to purchase them a la carte, then do the inside cabin with-out the beverage package. Some times the difference between the Senior Rates and the Go Big rate is only a couple of hundred dollars. So then you have to ask yourself - how much am I going to spend a la carte on beverages vs that higher price that includes unlimited beverages. If the answer is that you would spend more than the difference, then for sure book the Go Big rate.

I just want to be clear that the difference in experience is related to the choices that the consumer makes when booking their cruise, not necessarily the type of cabin they choose.

As for the areas that are off limits to the majority. Suite guests pay exponentially more for their cabins than the majority of guests on the ship. Celebrity knows that they are competing with full in Luxury lines in this category, so in an ever competitive world of cruising, they have had to up their game to provide more exclusives to the folks that are sometimes paying 10 times as much for their cruise as the folks in inside cabins. It doesn't bother me at all that I am relegated the MDR when I don't book a suite. That is where I always ate before they came up with Luminea. Can't go in Michaels Club either, well I'll just have to find one of the other 10 or more lounges in which to hang.

The Elite Party - well again in an every competitive cruise industry, Celebrity wants to provide perks of value to their most loyal guests as an incentive for them to continue to have Celebrity as the cruise line of their choice. This Elite Happy hour is one of the best perks in the industry.

So we hope you'll give Celebrity another try, next time with an Ocean View or higher that includes the beverage package. And when you keep coming back, you'll be included in the Elite Happy Hour eventually.

Does the Crown Grill follow the Prevailing Dress Code - meaning smart casual on smart casual MDR eveings and Formal on Formal MDR evenings, or is it Smart Casual All the time. I googled it and found an old thread from 2007, but looking for most current policy.

On one of our recent Celebrity Sailings, there was large group of teens that paraded into the Main Dining Room one night wearing cut-offs, short shorts, crop tops and the like. There outfits were appropriate for a day at the beach not fine dining. I don't know if they were asked to leave, if they were just looking for their parents to ask them something, or what, but as quickly as the group paraded in, they paraded out.

I think that teens should be especially mindful of the dress code, which is now very relaxed on Celebrity and make sure that they appropriately dressed. On Evening Chic nights you will still see some girls in long prom gowns and other in trendy outfits. For girls who have prom or homecoming dresses (short or long) it is nice chance to wear them again, but if you don't have one, it is not big deal anymore to wear something that simply meets the evening chic requirements.

Uber or Lyft are definitely less expensive than a traditional taxi. I seem to remember a traditional taxi being about $56. The Princess transfers are usually about $35 per person.

Compared to other forms of travel Cruising Absolutely is still a bargain. A really good All Inclusive resort in Mexico would be about $225 pp per day. You can cruise in a balcony cabin with a beverage package or purchasing your drinks A La Carte for much less than that. Yes the early booking fares are higher now for lines like Princess, NCL, Celebrity and HAL when they offer a beverage package, but they all almost always offer a "No Frills" fare which is lover than the one that includes the beverage package. Sometimes those fares are offered side by side so you can compare, sometimes they are offered at a later date before final payment so that you can refare to the lower rate if you don't want the frills.

I think you still get a lot of bang for your buck with cruises.

An entirely different question occurred to me as I read this thread.. What happens to the commission for a TA who has booked the passengers who accepted a move over offer and now are going on a free cruise? It is my understanding that a TA is not paid until the passenger boards the ship. Therefore he or she would not be paid for the original cruise that was sold. Now since the fare on the new cruise is ZERO, what commission could the TA collect? Whatever percentage they receive of ZERO IS ZERO. It hardly seems fair for the cruise line to get what they want (the cabin they need) and the passengers who willingly accept the offer to get a free cruise while the TA who did the work booking the cruise gets NOTHING. That seems not fair to me. Or am I missing something?

The cruise line usually protects the commission as part of the offer and sometimes offers a small bonus commission to the TA as compensation for facilitating the move. They realize that they need to take care of their agents just as much as their clients.

I've had a few move-over offers come across my desk for my clients. Once I had clients booked on a South American Cruise that was completely over-booked and I knew that their son had just had a stroke and the sailing was about 6 weeks away. They were trying to decide what to do - go on the cruise or cancel and file for the insurance. We jumped on the Move Over Offer! It completely worked in their favor. They booked a similar cruise the following year and used the "Move Over" extra money to book their Land Tour to Machu Piccu.

In April, of this year they got a move over down grade offer. They had three cabins one for their daughter and her husband, one for themselves and one for their son who was now partially recovered but still needed to have Mom and Dad next door to keep an eye on him. I called Princess and said that there is no way that they would want to take the down grade since they needed to be next to their partially disabled son. So Princess moved down the list and made the offer to others.

The move over offers are a great incentive to get people to give up their cabin and take either another cruise or another cabin. It acknowledges that this is not what the guest booked or paid for and compensates them appropriately. There are many folks that would not take the offer - they booked a cruise where the views are on the port side and the new cabin is on the starboard, they are claustrophobic and can't do the inside cabin, they always book a balcony and do balcony dining. Most people would be completely offended if they were forced to take a move-over so that is why they make the offers so generous as an incentive.

Imagine the scenario of the mover over offers were not generous and no one took them, so the only way to do it was to take random people and assign them to a lesser cabin with little or no compensation for doing so. That would be a really bad business practice.