CruiseNYC

We’ve used Scootaround for years with no problems at all - until last month. We were on Enchanted Princess on a 14 day cruise. DH rented a mobility scooter, which broke down twice. Staff very quickly brought us a wheelchair each time and attempted to figure out the problem but, after the second time, they were able to locate a back-up scooter for him.  
Wonder what’s going on with them.  We may have to try SpecialNeeds next time. 

Hi Jim. What a lovely surprise to see you and Iain back on the high seas!  I must have been off Cruise Critic for several weeks. We were on a 14 day cruise from NY to Caribbean on Enchanted Princess a few weeks ago - Wi-Fi was terrible - and when I logged in this afternoon, I was delighted to spend time catching up.  Love that itinerary, by the way.

Can’t wait to follow along with you. It’s not only fun but I learn quite a lot from your posts.

Thanks so much. 

Carole

Just returned from 14 day Cruise out of NYC. We were able to bring the full cartons directly from home.  However, when we’ve had to fly to the port, we bring a couple of bags in our rollaboard and the rest is delivered directly to the ship in original cartons. 
TSA usually does look at the open bags in the carry-ons so please be sure to bring a letter from your dialysis center stating that you’re a dialysis patient. 

On 10/24/2022 at 4:58 PM, gosport11 said:

we have just returned from our Celebrity cruise ex Southampton,labled all boxes on 3 sides and used a marker pen as well ,dropped them at dock side with luggage,they were in the cabin on arrival all open and marked checked by hounds, but resealed,had a coppy of email from special services but not needed a bin was in Cabin,also took a hot water bottle to pre heat bags only carried out a nightly change so not too much hassel , would not hesitate to go again 

 

Gosport11 - Thank you so much for sharing!  I forgot to mention that we also bring the heating pad to warm up the dialysate bags. 
Very glad to hear you had a good experience. 
We are leaving for a 14 day cruise out of NYC next week, bringing all supplies with us, clearly labeled. We have not had any boxes opened on previous sailings but it’s not a problem if they want to have a look see.

We are really happy to hear so many good reports. As I’m sure you know, there have been quite a few passengers who have been less than satisfied with food offerings, wait times, etc.  
Thank you for the very positive feedback!

5 hours ago, RRFPresident said:

We have now returned from our experience and the best way I can describe it is that April is your on board fixer and magic maker. Yes Thor submits your preferences and reservations but it's April that meets you at the terminal to ensure you have no wait to embark or debark. She checked in each night to see if we'd be using our theater seats or if we had plans to get off in port. April met with us to plan our preferences for the balcony breakfast and dinner offering suggestions, additions, and alternatives. 

 

We mentioned to Thor that we planned to celebrate Dad's birthday on the cruise expecting nothing more than the Happy Birthday message on the portal screens and the small cake dessert at dinner everyone can get. April arranged his birthday celebration to happen on our balcony dinner night and had our dinner waiters sing to him, gifted him a Stanley bear and Princess  tshirt, and presented us with a large cake in addition to the desserts from the balcony dinner's menu.

 

A couple times we had charges on our account that should have been included - she took care of it. She surprised us with something that required us to move a dinner reservation we'd made with Thor. She took care of that. We had an issue one night when another group who had been given extra reserved seats(in the same traveling party as the other Sky Suite but in different cabins) in the same area tried to send us away from our reserved seats insisting that all the seats were for their group. She handled moving them and saving us further confrontation.

 

 

All we can say is, "Wow"!  We are 12 days from Embarkation and very, very excited.  Do you remember how far in advance of departure April contacted you?  So happy to have some help with boarding.  My husband has some mobility issues so it will be nice to have help navigating our way to the cabin.

We were supposed to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary when we first booked - about 3 years ago.  We're up to 32 years - but it will still be nice to celebrate on board.

Thank you very much for your reply.  So happy to hear that it was a memorable experience.

On 8/18/2022 at 9:33 AM, Jilliebean28 said:

You are going to love the suite and April the Suite Experience Manager!  Yes, the hot tub is open access but we hardly ever saw anyone in it.  We were always by ourselves in it at night.  Hope you have a wonderful time!

We are 3 weeks away now!  Super excited. We spoke with Thor this week and pretty much reviewed all of our preferences and reservations. I am unclear what additional service April will provide. Can you please let us know?  It feels like everything has been taken care of. 
Thank you!

I would have to agree: there is no comparison.  We are Elite on Princess and have only recently begun to cruise on Celebrity but there's a marked difference in the suite experience on Celebrity.  Princess Suite breakfast in Sabatini's is wonderful - but just having a section of one of the main dining rooms for suite guests does not compare to Luminae on Celebrity. 

It does appear that Princess is catching on as the new Sun Princess is showing a suite-dedicated dining room as well as a Retreat-type Sun Deck.  

It will be interesting to see.  Meanwhile, we only have one, upcoming cruise on Princess and 4 on Celebrity.  For us, the Retreat is very appealing.

Safe travels home. Thank you for taking us all along with you. I’ve been checking frequently for the 2024 schedule. Really hoping we can book this one!!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery on your upcoming surgery. 

Thank you all very much for your thoughtful replies.  I was afraid that the open area of the restaurant would be off-putting.  Some Celebrity ships have a similar problem with the placement of their specialty dining.  I am not a fan.

I’m looking for anyone’s current experience/review of Bistro Sur La Mer on Enchanted Princess. Menus?  Worth the additional charge?  We’ve been to Crown Grill and Sabatini’s and enjoyed both. We were thinking we’d like to try something new. 
Thank you!
 

We have always rented the Scooter - either from Scootaround or SpecialNeedsatSea, depending on pricing.  Although purchasing maybe be the more economical option, we generally have to fly to wherever the ship leaves from and I am not able to lug or lift the equipment around (my DH uses the scooter).  I would not be able to lift it into the car, either.  We don't have anywhere to store it when not in use.  For us, for those reasons, we're happy to rent and not have to deal with it when we're not cruising.  I would also add that often we're not able to get a HA accessible cabin.  In those instances, the narrow base (21"), 3 wheel scooter works perfectly - easy to get into and out of the cabin.

1 hour ago, dbny525 said:

I have a question as well. We've  sailed with Celebrity before but first time in a Royal Suite. We will be on the Summit july 2023. Just curious if you can request a coffee maker in your suite. I am on several boards on FB and read somewhere that you can. I called Celebrity on another matter and asked and was told no by the agent. Just checking to see if anyone knows the answer and maybe the agent did not know if this was possible.

For those of you who are sailing before me have a fantastic cruise.

Thank you in advance I appreciate your responses,

We were in a Royal Suite on the Summit in July.  It was the first request I made to our Retreat Host and a Lavazza machine, cups, sugar/sweetener and pods were provided shortly thereafter.  We also had additional Specialty Dining requests made once on board and there was never any problem.

Enjoy!

13 hours ago, Jilliebean28 said:

We were in S310 (the sky suite) on the Enchanted in March and the hot tub was right outside the  back entrance to the  back part of our balcony.  We would go out at night and had the hot tub all to ourselves....it was wonderful!

We’re in S310 too!  It’s funny bc I saw the hot tub back there but somehow thought it was on the deck below. So there is open access to the hot tub from other decks?  It’s odd that Princess didn’t think to include a hot tub on the actual Sky Suite balcony.  Most of Celebrity’s top suites have them. 
Thank you very much for the info!  Much appreciated. 

On 6/9/2022 at 4:11 PM, ElWatzero III said:

Our party of 4 stayed in S309 last week on the Scandinavia cruise and the majority of the information given is absolutely correct. In addition to what has been mentioned, our mini bars were restocked daily with our choice of beverages both beer and soft drinks. We were all also given a coffee package for use at International Cafe. The suite comes with free access to the Concierge Lounge where every evening drinks and canapés are complimentary.

We were contacted about 5 weeks out by the pre cruise concierge service as already mentioned and special events were taken care of onboard which was lovely. Our Suite Experience Manager was superb taking care of us from the moment we dropped our car at CPS Parking all the way through to escorting us and our luggage with his team from the ship back to our car upon disembarking the ship. 

We ate in the Estrella dining room club class on 3 occasions and on 3 nights ate at Crown Grill, Sabbatini’s and on our balcony for the balcony dinner experience, all of which were excellent. 
We also had a full afternoon tea served on the balcony which was delicious and why there was no evening meal required that day😀

The whole experience was a once in a lifetime celebration for us of many major milestones and the suite is simply stunning and so comfortable and the balcony is a joy on sunny days to lounge around upon high quality furniture including a large clam shell sofa. At the rear of the suite, there is a coded door giving access to little used hot tubs and a pool on deck 17.

If your friends can afford the upgrade, then I would take it as the experience is unlike no other on Princess.

 

 

 

I'm just catching up on the review here.  Sounds amazing.  We'll be in a Sky Suite on Enchanted this Fall.  Can you please tell me more about the Hot Tub and Pool on Deck 17?  I don't see it on the Deck plan.  

Thanks in advance!

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

They are suggesting November but Future Cruise doesn't have any dates yet and are going by well they usually....

Just checked. They do have the same itinerary in 2023 - about the same dates. Hoping for 2024 !!

Thank you again for keeping us enthralled!

Jim - feels like this cruise is an absolute must for us. Can’t do next year but would love to do this itinerary in 2024. Any idea when they release and if they offer the same itineraries year after year?

Thank you in advance. 

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

It's really nice that they provide the entertainment for those that stay out of the theaters.

 

Today was incredible.   So much to see.   Can't wait to be back to see the passage again on the return.

Photos just keep getting better and better!  
Thank you!

12 hours ago, gosport11 said:

Hi i am starting PD next week,i will be cruising in October ,leaving southampton on Celebrity silhouette,my supplier will be Baxter  ,i have been asked to supply them with a delivery address at docks ,reading above posts i feel it would be better to take solution our selves as we only live 45 min away and will be using a taxi to get to port,i eill be doing 2 changes a day and have no idea how solution is packed ie 1 in a box or 4    hope you can help     Graham 

 

Oh that’s fantastic!  So happy to hear that more folks are transitioning from HD to PD. It’s freedom!  
We use Baxter, too, here in NYC.   For manual PD, our solution comes 6 bags per box. DH does 3 exchanges per day so we need quite a few cartons for longer cruises.   We have also found a great - and lightweight - portable IV pole that we use to hang the bags. It easily fits into a suitcase. We throw clamps and caps into a ziploc bag and throw those in our luggage, too.  We always try to take a couple of extra solution bags, just in case.  (We recently had a carton with a couple of damaged/leaky bags.)

Wishing you safe and happy cruising. Please post your cruise experience when you return. It’s great to hear about how others are managing. 

I think that’s a question for his nephrologist/dialysis center. DH’s clinic occasionally allowed for Monday HD to be replaced with early Tuesday am appt so we could travel a little  - followed by regular schedule. Your FIL’s HD team would best be able to help you. 
Good luck!   Being able to cruise again has been life-changing. 

1 hour ago, cali-croozer said:

Thanks. I couldn't find any forms for dialysis on the website but medical sent me the risk assessment form and told me about the letter from nephrologist. I guess I'm on my own at the port, hoping my boxes get to the cabin.

We filled out the PASSENGER MEDICAL SUPPLY VENDOR INFO sheet - even though we are bringing the supplies on board ourselves. 
As for getting the supplies to the cabin, as mentioned, for our recent Celebrity cruise, we affixed large labels to all 4 sides of the boxes. They put one of their labels on the cartons and I took a photo. They were already in our cabin with our luggage by the time we got to the cabin. 
I’m sure it will be fine - or at least I hope so. We sail on Princess in November. 

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Settling in to a new room is always both fun and full of work. 

 

We met out Room Attendant, Apollo and our Suite Host, Alexander.   Both really nice and helpful in getting everything together.  Honestly I'm going to stop wasting my time with the Shoreside Concierge as nothing got through to them with my regular requests.   Nothing big and they took care of them quickly.   I just have a few standard requests.   2 Isotonic pillows, an extension cord, a booking for Tuscan on the first night and  swap the Champagne to Chardonnay.   All were taken care of efficiently and Mar, the Retreat Host got us into Tuscan.

 

Being a long cruise I decided to purchase Iain a Premium Bar Setup with Grey goose.  Alexander even being on the ship for 7 months had never heard of one so said he would sort out.    In the late afternoon a knock came at the door and the Grey goose was delivered by the Bar Manager.  

 

Just one problem yet to sort out.   Our room was absolutely freezing to the point I had to put a sweater on.    Alexander had maintenance look at it when we were at dinner and when we returned the thermostat was finally working and we could control the temps.    Especially on a cold weather cruise we wanted to make sure we had heat.

We had the same, exact issue!  But, tbh, we found the air conditioning turned to frigid in many locations on the ship.  Lesson learned:  need to bring additional sweaters and shawls - even on Carib cruise!  DH needed his thermals lol

Happy sailing, Jim and Iain!  Looking forward to following along. 
Thank you for taking all of us with you 

6 hours ago, kwis29 said:

Let me know if you have any specific questions about the Tortola excursion. I have a lot more pictures as well that I could share

Thank you so much!  I’m anxious to see where you’re off to next!  Looks like ours next year has San Juan first (same as yours) but then St Thomas and St Maarten.  Tortola is in the middle. 
 

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

8/6/2022 -   T-1

 

Saturday morning and I'm up at 7:00 and getting things in order.    Iain of course is still sacked out at 9:00 but about to be kicked out of bed so we can have breakfast.   Embassy Suites has free breakfast until 10:00 which seems like a Civil time.

 

We are still toying with the idea of going into NYC but still haven't made up our minds.   Decisions, Decisions Decision.    It's vacation time which means time to let go of all commitments and just plain relax. 

 

 

 

You should come!  It’s Summer Streets Saturday!  Over 8 miles of city streets closed to traffic. Lots to see and do. Also, we have unlimited 30 minute ride passes on Citi bikes.  Head to Park Avenue and enjoy!