Cruise Arizona

With Norwegian doing the 4 night dining package as a perk now on the 7 night cruises, can someone explain if and how it works at a la carte venues and dinner theater venues? Particularly on the Escape. Thanks :)

Ok that makes sense because the only cabins that have that are all connecting, but it is counter intuitive because every other cruise lines has a dot, or a square or two dots or something that tells you what the bedding configuration is.

If it let me put 4 in will it definitely have a pullman?

That is two angled lines with a part of a circle connecting them. Some of the cabins have a solid black triangle in them and some don't. No where on the key does it say what that solid triangle means.

An online booking will let me put 4 people in either a cabin with no Triangle or with a Triangle, and no where where does the key tell me what that means. Does it mean a pullman?

The Disney Dream deck plan has Triangles in some of the rooms, An I am assuming that this refers to the bedding configuration, however I have yet to find a deck plan on any website: Disney, Cruise Critic, others where the key defines this graphic.

Does it mean a Pulman or a Murphy bed?

I am looking at ocean view cabins on the Norwegian Down and trying to find the ones that would be least affected by the noise from the Casino and Restaurants above. Want a Mid Ship Cabin.

My initial thought was under the dining area of the mid ship MDR, not the Kitchen. Other possibilities are under the French Restaurant or Casino.

I think the kitchens would be more likely to be noisy early in the morning, but the dining areas wouldn't be noisy till guests start arriving.

Any input or suggestions is appreciated.

Loved it. I too have read reviews from people who were on my sailing that were so negative I figured there is no way we were on the same boat.

Thanks for you very interesting and well written "real" review! And the creativity to write you fake one.

I thin I have also sailed for sure, with your imaginary friend.

Princess list the Mini suites as 323 Sq ft with 61 sq foot balcony. Is the actual interior space 323 or 323-61?

Std. Balcony listed as 232 sq ft with 47 sq ft balcony. Add or subtract?

Thanks.

I just finished reading the thread about the fog delays in Houston affecting Caribbean Princess, but I am wondering if the quality of the on board experience has diminished at all?

I don't really understand your question?

IF you have Your Time Dining you can go to the dining room at any time and get a table for 2.

That's exactly what we do on a cruise these days.

If we like the wait staff the first night, then we continue to use the same staff every night.

On our last cruise the people who seat you from the podium knew which was "our table" and it was ours for the whole cruise! They did not seat others there even if we came later than our usual time!

They spoke with a neighbor who had concerns about the hassle of ATD, and are now second guessing that decisions.

I wrote the maitre'd, so hopefully that will help, Thanks for the email.

If someone is booked in Open dining and it is too late to move them to fixed seating pre-cruise, will the fact that they have a suite help them get a table for two at a fixed time everynight?

It is my understanding that they should take advantage of early boarding and then go see the maitre'de right away when boarding and he should be able to assign her something either same table every night in open dining, or move her to fixed dining.

Please let me know if I am missing something.

To be honest I thin that Celebrity is trying to grow its clients from younger people. They have told me that 70+ is still a target demogrphic, but they are looking to grow their business with a younger but sophiticated and contemporary clientele. I fell in love with Celebrity when I was about 35, and years late I still love the quality of the overall product and the value. With Go Big Better Best we get to customize our inclusions and the product is much more sophisticated than some of the competitors.

I've always appreciated the way that Celebrity tries to empower their crew and staff to get things done and satisfy the guests. A competitor just announce that they were going to have spotless ships, when what they really need to do is empower their employees to satisfy clients and get things done right if not the first time, then at least the second. As long as Celebrity has a sophisticated decore and atmosphere, they won't be like the neon and plastic competitors. As longs as the service and customer satisfaction are there, I will stick with them. Not one can touch them in the contemporary or premium market when it comes to wine service. They also have great group pricing and amenities. With a few misses here or there I have been well served by the Celebrity product.

I guess I've mellowed over the years, because I was one who had a cow when they went to smart casual and above, dropped simi-formal, and made formal only for MDR. I think that the change just reflects an overall more casual atmosphere in the vacation industry. Remember that cruise lines don't just compete with each other, but with destinations like Vegas and tropical All Inclusives which are all casual all the time. You can spend more on a week at Sandals than you would a week in a suite on Celebrity.

As for the young people in the ad, well check out any Holland America add, those people are probably in their late 50's, about 20 years younger than most guests on board. All the premium and luxury cruise lines use slim young looking models. Then we all get on board and see that people that cruise look just like regular people, all ages, shapes and sizes.

Business casual will work every night you are on board.

Business casual will work, of course, but who says he looks great in it.? I used to love seeing him and a tux or his pin striped suit. I would love to see him in something evening chic, but he doesn't own anything that could be considered chic, so maybe we'll go shopping and look for something hip and trendy, since that seems to be the new groove on a Celebrity cruise.

I guess this will mean shopping for my husband, he has NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING that is anywhere near "chic".

He's got business casual - which works for smart casual, and he's got business simi formal - IE sports coats, and Business Formal - IE 3 Piece pin striped suits, but nothing chic.

So maybe we'll get him looking good, or maybe not. He's a big guy and at least with the jacket he looked polished.

But he is excited because he doesn't even need to pack a jacket anymore. I'll probably still wear my gowns, they are long but understated, none of my blingy stuff fits anymore.

I used to be a die hard formal girl, but I guess I'll have to go with the flow if I'm going to be young and hip like Celebrity wants me to be.

Glad to hear that with the exception of a few misses, you are mostly enjoying your BTB cruises.

Imagine my panic when I woke up to find an email in my box from Cil's son saying he had dropped her off at the bus, but that her passport was left behind in the car. "Will she need it to board the ship?" he asked, to which I said "absolutely" and he made the 9 hour RT drive to get it to her.

I spoke with her yesterday and she is well rested and glad to be home. She didn't tell me about the trouble with the scooter at the end of the cruise.

I look forward to reading the rest of you posts. Have a wonderful finish to your BTB cruises.

I'm sure this has been asked a thousand time, so if someone can just point me to the existing thread that would be fine.

If I have the Explore 4 Signature Beverage package and my higher shelf vodka's are not included in it, is there a Premium Beverage package to which I can pay to upgrade, or am I just stuck paying full price for those drinks?

Thanks for all information. We are actually trying to avoid the smoke. With smoking on Deck 6 in the Casino and Deck 7 in the Churchhill's, how much spill over is there into the public areas on those decks?

For example, on the Grand Princess with smoking in the casino, there was a distinct smoke smell at the guests services desk.

I don't see a Churchill's on the Coral, Casino I assume has a smoking aread, what are the other outside smoking areas?

Thank you, that is where it was on grand and I needed to confirm.

The rep at Princess tells me that Coral Princess ME mini suites on Deck 11, Baja deck are covered in cabins B205 to B231. I am having B 229 held.

Can anyone confirm that B229 is a covered balcony and not visible from above?

Is smoking on Coral Princess Promenade Deck Starboard or Port?

Suzanne

When I book my clients who are captain's club members I will have them pick th cabin they want in the C2 category and then have the agent I work with at Celebrity refare it to the lower category price. This is all done at time of booking so that before the deposit is even applied we have a quote for the room they want for the price of the less expensive room.

Could this be what happened and no one explained it to you properly?

We each bring a travel sized toothpaste, deodorant, etc. When we run out, we buy more in whatever country we happen to be in. They carry listerene in France & Secret deodorant in Italy :)

I have done it but only on a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean. I packed travel sizes of everything, and planned my outfits with minimal shoe options. I put everything in my suit case and then I took some if it out if it seemed too repetitious. If you plan on doing laundry (sending in out on Celebrity) and repeating outfits I think you could definitely do it on a 14 day cruise.

From the quote above, defintely bring travel sizes of everything rather than full size. It cuts down do much on excess baggage.

Well I probably shouldn't have done this, but I referenced this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=46523208#post46523208

And I printed out all the dailies, and then crossed out all the things that weren't really activities like on board shopping specials or spa sales pitches, and I felt the schedule of activities was a little light.

Do you think that the schedule will be the same for the June 19th sailing, or is there any way that since this was the first sailing, it had fewer activities? Will the June 19th, which is probably more sold out, have more activities?

You can see from my signature, that I love Celebrity, but just curious as if this is just a misperception about the the lack of activities, or reality?

Thank you Karen, I appreciate the PDF of the Daily. It had all the information I needed.

(Ooops I posted this earlier, and then I found the link to all the Daily's from that first sailing posted by funiseog. so nevermind)

Did you post any more of the daily's I'd love to have a chance to reveiw them so that I can give a head's up to the others in my group.