judy.s.anderson.79

On 7/21/2019 at 4:57 AM, Miaminice said:

 

Funny, we spent the money because we love cruising and enjoy the destinations.

Never ever did we cruise for points. We are now E+ and couldn’t care less.

 

Embarkation never took us longer than 30 minutes at any port worldwide, regardless which level we had... record time was 8 minutes from entering the terminal to having the welcome drink. 

 

All this priority here, priority there talk and all this loyalty point stuff is nothing more but feeding people‘s egos and feelings of entitlement. So if anyone wants to spend money on that... why not, it’s their money. Cruise lines are no charities, their goal is to make profit. 

 

 

Totally agree. Bonus points and priority booking etc. Are nice additional perks, though. We met three other well travelled cruising couples in 2015 and they took us newbies under their wing. We had only gone on two cruises before this in 1990 and 1992.   So happy just meeting people and just being able to travel to beautiful places. 

Lorne and Judy Anderson

South Surrey, BC Canada

On 3/7/2019 at 5:35 AM, Woobstr112G said:

An early good morning from Palmdale Ca.  DW & I will be leaving tomorrow for a two night stay at the Doubletree in San Pedro before boarding the Ruby Ptincess on Sunday for our week long California Coastal Cruise.  I decided to start this live from a little early so I could report on our stay in San Pedro and to start compiling a list of questions fellow CC’ers might have.  This will be our third time staying at the HDT for a pre cruise stay.  I would highly recommend the HDT; it is a fantastic hotel. 

 

 As far as the Ruby goes, we will be in an aft (Wake View) Suite.  Aft wake view accommodations are my favorite type of cabin and I always try to snag one when booking a cruise.  While onboard, I am looking forward to trying Share and Gastro Pub.  I am really hoping that the expanded beer menu has been rolled out on the Ruby.  I’m also looking forward to trying out the improved internet service.

 

We’ve been looking forward to this cruise since we booked early last summer.  We will also be sailing with DW’s sister and her DH.  

 

Today I’ll be finalizing my packing.  I  won’t ask DW about her packing as I learned long ago to not get involved.  We will both overpack for this cruise but at least we don’t have to fly.  Tomorrow morning I will be taking our beloved Misha to his vacation spot.  After that, we’ll head to my sister’s house who will give us a ride to the hotel. 

 

Fire away with any questions you may have.....

 

Bob

Friends are going and have heard there is no Happy Hour  on this cruise and other princess cruises?

On 10/16/2018 at 8:59 AM, actuarian said:

My wife and I made the minimum acceptable bid ($160/person) to "move-up" from Aqua Class to a Sky Suite for our 10/28 4-night cruise on the Infinity.  I thought I was just going through the motions because Celebrity marked the bid as "weak".  We bid the minimum because this is the second half of a B2B and we liked the Aqua Class room that we had and not having to change rooms.  However, the bid was accepted and we were upgraded yesterday and re-assigned to an S1 with an oversized balcony!  This was all 13 days before the cruise, even though other posters indicated that Move-Up bids get processed only 2-3 days before the cruise.  Interestingly, our bid for the 10/24 first half of the B2B is still "pending" and, since there are no suites currently available for that cruise, I expect that bid to be rejected.  We will have to change rooms on 10/28 but it certainly seems worth it!

That is fantastic!! Congratulations!!

It includes Premium coffees

It includes drinks up to $9. The Aspen is now not included as it is marked $10 now. Disappointed.[emoji26]

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Any word on who the Captain will be on the Equinox Thanksgiving week 2018?

 

 

 

Diane

Our son’s birthday is Nov. 11th 2018 and so we are taking him on the November 5th 11 day cruise on the Equinox. Heard so many good things about her, so hope to meet her then too.

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Where is the link?

Would really like to see the Slushy drink list also.

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I would respectfully disagree. We did Aqua on our recent Infinity cruise and while we loved Blu I would not trade Blu for the loss of a beverage package especially on a 14 nite cruise. The other perks of Aqua are mostly fluff (unless you actually use the Persian garden). I found the food to be a little better most nights, the appetizers were better and reasonable in size where as most of the MDR apps are laughable in size. The atmosphere is much better "if" you enjoy eating without table mates. 2 glasses of wine each with dinner on a 14 nite cruise is about $500 alone. A few drinks by the pool or in the evening in the lounge and very soon you can have a sizable bar bill. Also remember that beverage package pays for your coffees at Cafe Al Bacio, after dinner cappuccinos (or whatever) and your water and juices. For me, not a chance I would take that offer.

I think you are right.❤️[emoji1063][emoji484][emoji482]

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I just wonder why anyone would deliberately want to pay for AQ intending to eat in the MDR. Just go for concierge eat in MDR and use the difference to eat in the speciality restaurants.

Like I mentioned earlier, most people aren’t deliberately booking Aqua and eating in MDR. Some friends, like ourselves, didn’t book Aqua, and so eating with them in MDR was important to us to be with friends. And to answer the remark about making the lineups longer because we wanted to have dinner with friends the odd time, That’s why you reserve a table later on so it doesn’t impact regular diners who want to eat at the two regular sittings.

And, also, Suite members can do the same. If there is seating available they can eat in Blu also. Bon Appetite, I say to everyone. [emoji1063]❤️

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People who aren't assigned to the anytime dining section of the MDR, yet choose to eat there anyway, contribute to the long waits. If you can order from the MDR menu in BLU, that sounds like a better solution.

 

 

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To each his own. If we did decide to eat in MDR( if we had friends that were not in Aqua Class), we would book a reservation for a later time. Nothing to do with making lines longer. Just like people in Suites, can reserve a time in Blu, if there is something available.

Nothing is written in stone. I certainly don't begrudge anyone in a suite if they want to eat in Blue.

Is there a cost associated with the upgrade? If so it'll be more than the cost of losing the beverage package. If you book with aqua, you will no longer be able to eat in the MDR, your assigned dining room will be blu. The Persian gardens is the spa area.

 

Another option if you aren't sure you want to eat in the MDR every night but want to keep the bev package is to get one of the specialty dining packages. You could get around 6 nights for the cost you are quoting.

 

 

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You are not restricted from eating in the MDR. We did both. Mostly Blue though.

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SHIP: Equinox

 

CABIN #: 9280

 

DECK #: 9

 

CLASS: Category 1A

 

AREA: Mid-ship Hump

 

QUIET?: Very

 

BALCONY VIEW: Excellent view

 

BALCONY SIZE: Large due to hump or bump out location

 

WIND A PROBLEM?: No

 

SOOT A PROBLEM?: no

 

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: Close to the elevators with no neighboring sounds.

 

Bed Located near the Balcony doors. Plenty of storage in 5 draws at vanity plus using collapsible cubes in the overhead cupboard space. Ample storage in bathroom as well.

 

:D

[emoji106]

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I think what was being referred to was that someone had already eaten the chocolate off of the nut and just put back the nut. :D

[emoji3][emoji122]

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You do know that answers to this question are all personal. What is good enough for me might not be good enough for you. What one person finds high end, another finds a mid-range. It is such a personal thing. For instance, do you like cilantro? I don't. Do you drink tequila? I don't. I like gin, some people don't. So you need a reference point. Oddly enough, when we travel, we stay in Choice hotels - not a high end hotel chain, but the Quality Inn - not the higher end of this mid-range hotel chain - has the best smelling soap anywhere. I like it as well as my expensive soap from Thymes. So you really need something to compare with. Do you use Aveda products at home? CVS Nuance products? L'Oreal? That would provide a point to compare with.

[emoji122][emoji122][emoji1]

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Well, six years later can do it too. I have done a few Celebrity cruises and nothing untoward has happened to me.

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I found the toiletries absolutely fine. On one cruise we had the same toiletries as the balcony cabins, but were larger sizes. Not on the next Aqua cruise though.

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One option you should consider is having dinner in the buffet. On our last two cruises, there were theme nights there. For instance, there was a German night but foods from the country. Mexican night... Those meals were better than those served in Blu those nights in my opinion.

 

 

 

If you are considering the MDR, please make sure you make contact them early in the day to avoid a long wait. Check the menus early in the day to see what the nightly offerings are. Then make your decision.

I had noticed the sign about a Theme Nights in the Buffet and so will for sure give them a try. Great idea..

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You do know that answers to this question are all personal. What is good enough for me might not be good enough for you. What one person finds high end, another finds a mid-range. It is such a personal thing. For instance, do you like cilantro? I don't. Do you drink tequila? I don't. I like gin, some people don't. So you need a reference point. Oddly enough, when we travel, we stay in Choice hotels - not a high end hotel chain, but the Quality Inn - not the higher end of this mid-range hotel chain - has the best smelling soap anywhere. I like it as well as my expensive soap from Thymes. So you really need something to compare with. Do you use Aveda products at home? CVS Nuance products? L'Oreal? That would provide a point to compare with.

The first time we were in Aquaclass our products were twice as large. The second time they were the same products but regular size, but some were packaged in a darker container for the conditioner. When I asked about the regular sized products, was just told, no, those are the size. So, not sure how it all works. I liked the hand and body lotion.

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Joining everyone on the Celebrity Infinity May 2nd 2018 thru the Panama Canal.

We have always been on the Solstice ships on Celebrity. How do you compare the ships?

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Is this relatively new (since 2014) I have cruised many X cruises and never seen these.

 

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I have been to a few gem shows and never seen these offered? These were promotions for sale of gems. Perhaps this was different.

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[emoji106]

 

 

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Sounds like free OBC to me..

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We get the TA amount as a discount off the cruise so we pay less for the cruise.

Our TA rates are always good, as in most they do block booking, so cheaper rates to start with.[emoji1063]

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We just got off Reflection in AQ. I was surprised to find no sparkling wine in our cabin, only to learn from our steward (who was awesome in all things) that he'd bring the wine when we wanted it...in case we'd like to enjoy it cold at a later time. Not all guests drink it on embarkation day. This made total sense.

 

 

 

Yes we got the foot stools, and substituted shrimp cocktail for the canapes.

 

 

 

Denis also took out the coffee table upon our request, joined our balcony with friends' next door, emptied the mini fridge (which was actually COLD) and was as visible as any steward we've even had. He's gone from having 20+ rooms with an assistant to 14 rooms alone. These people work so hard.

Shrimp cocktail? What a great idea!! Wasn't too interested in the canapés most of the time..

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Booking GoBest when we did we paid $472 for the two of us, this gave us onboard credit of $300, Unlimited Internet = $400, gratuities=$195, plus an upgrade of our alcohol package to premium=$210. So they total out at $1105 so somewhere there is free money in there. Our total cruise is $1350 per person yet we got $900 worth of perks making our cruise about $450 per person including insurance for a balcony. So there can be free money.

[emoji106]

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It makes me smile when people think that OBC is 'free' money :)

Well, we get OBC from our TA and Expedia, so yep, it is "free money". They don't have to give this additional money. It's not a huge amount but it is, as I mentioned, free.

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This practice has long since ended. You can't get cash for your nonrefundable OBC in the casino. You must take promo chips and then when you win, you take the winnings as cash (thinking positively here:D). I think gratuities is a good way to spend it unless the OP got them included in the fare.

Or credit for the Slots.

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