macky2

My favorite memory of cruising was sailing into Venice with a party in my cabin arranged by the butler. I just asked if he could set up some drinks and snacks and he did a fabulous job. All I had to do was have fun.

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DH and I were the very last passengers to board the Coral Princess out of Whittier some years ago.

We didn't know better and booked same day flights from LAX to Anchorage. Thankfully we also booked the Princess transfer from the Anchorage airport to the ship.

Just about everything that could go wrong went wrong. Alaska airlines was having a mechanics work slow-down and so we sat in the plane leaving LAX for a good hour before take-off waiting for a mechanic to sign off that the plane was good to go. Then we missed our connection from Seattle to Anchorage. We were rebooked on a later flight and were the last passengers aboard the last Princess bus to Whittier.

Then the bus had a problem at a one way tunnel since we were running later than planned. We finally made it to Whittier and there was no one in the huge embarkation tent except one lone Princess employee who checked us in. We were literally the last passengers to board and the on ramp was closed behind us. DH says it was about 10:30 pm when we finally boarded.

We had missed the muster drill (and dinner) completely and our room steward told us we would do the muster drill the next day. We never did muster, but thankfully the cruise was without problems.

Live and learn.

Kathy

Thanks very much to both Mina and Catsrkool.

Catsrkool - i look forward to hearing about your Panama Canal cruise in A727. Have a wonderful cruise!

Kathy

Thank you for the pics Mina.

We have booked A727 which is the same cabin as A726 but on the starboard side of the ship for an upcoming Alaska cruise. Did you find the vibrations in your cabin to be excessive or bothersome?

Kathy

Thanks for the reminder, Mommypig, for those of us who can, to get their flu shots. DH and I will go this week to get over any side effects and be as protected as possible before our upcoming Pacific Coastal cruise in November.

I had influenza in the 1970's and was never so sick in my life. I worked as a nurse in a hospital and so many staff called in sick we were required to go into the clinic and get a doctor's note verifying the illness. There we all sat (or laid out on the chairs in the waiting room) with our high fevers, extreme muscle aches and coughing waiting to see the doctor (poor doctor).

I get a flu shot every year now and thankfully have never been sick with the flu again.

Kathy

Hi Dave,

I am on this sailing and was able to print out the express pass and order my luggage tags about a week ago when my cabin was assigned.

I don't print out all of the e-docs any longer, but they are available to print.

Kathy

Thank you ducklite.

Air travel is always a challenge for DH and I, so I try to make things as easy as possible before we leave. We flew on Air France last year and the business class seats didn't fully recline (to flat). By the time we flew from Paris to LAX we were both ready to never fly again.

I'm hoping these lie-flat seats will be an improvement and the single seating by the window will work for us.

I appreciate your input.

Kathy

Thank you critterchick. It's good to hear the thoughts of someone who actually sat in the middle seats.

We are going to try the single window seats one behind the other for this flight and evaluate if one window seat and one center seat across the aisle from each other might work as well or better for future travel.

Thank you Gardyloo. Your picture is just what I needed to make my decision.

I was hoping that little wall at knee height could be moved, but I see now that it can't. Since I can't walk through between the seats I decided to book two individual seats by the window. It will be easier for me to get close enough to my DH to help as needed.

Kathy

Try these photos

http://jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?aircraft=Boeing+777-3&airline=American+Airlines&country=-2&photog=-2&category=11&year=-2&keywordrange=all&keywordlimiter=2&keywords=&sort=1&genre=1&size=-2&mainsearch=search&displaymode=1&display=15

Thank you for the pictures. I wish they would show the area between the two middle business class seats at knee level. It seems from others comments that you can't easily move back and forth between these two seats.

Not on the 773 it isn't.

 

The only places to access one aisle from the other are in the galleys. Why not pick two window seats or an aisle and a center seat? Not quite sure how taking the two centre seats prevents you from the doing the tasks you highlight though.

There is a big hump at face level between the two middle seats which I assume is meant to provide privacy but it also looks to prevents easy communication.

I think we will do as you and Ducklite suggest and opt for two single window seats one in front of the other.

The seating chart shows one seat - aisle - two seats - aisle - one seat. This is an American Airlines 777-300ER.

Sounds like its a different arrangement than what you are used to seeing.

Hello Cruise Air Forum experts,

DH and I are traveling from LAX to AMS via LHR on American Airlines 777-300ER in Business Class. I am wondering if there is a walk through between the center seats (D and G). We sometimes need to help each other with reading menus, arranging the seat for comfort, setting up the meal trays etc. Activities that require proximity to each other. Will we have that with the middle seats or will we need to walk around the block of seats to get to each other's seats? I can't tell from the pictures I've seen.

The only other option is the window seats that are single seats one behind the other. Would that be a better option in your opinion?

Thanks for your help.

Kathy

A gift should never be expected. If a cruise ship staff chooses to gift someone with a cake and a song, balloons, a sign on the door etc. that's their option and should be received gracefully.

If a passenger wants a special occasion celebration for a loved one it's up to that person to make it happen including making all the arrangements and paying whatever costs are involved.

Thank you so much for your trip report. I enjoyed the detail in the narrative including your pre-trip report and the pictures were an added bonus.

My friends and I are on the Equinox in October for a cruise roundtrip from Barcelona including some of the same ports you visited so I read your report with special interest.

I hope this trip will be one of many "trips of a lifetime" for you.

Kathy

I have to say that I appreciate this discussion. Thanks to the OP for bringing up this topic. I am one who never heard of molecular mixology in which the Molecular Bar apparently specializes.

I would probably feel a bit embarrassed if I went into the Molecular Bar not understanding the concept and ordered a glass of wine. One bar looks pretty much the same as the next to me.

I agree there should be some signage in the bar or information on the drink menu that explains the concept and that the bartender can only make the drinks specified on the menu. It must get old fast for the bartenders to have to keep saying the same thing over and over to disgruntled customers.

I'm looking forward to trying out the Molecular Bar on our next cruise!

Kathy

MissBreezy,

My payment page on the Celebrity website has been wrong since just after I booked my upcoming October cruise last year. The cabin charge amount changes all the time. The amount that currently shows is $100 over the actual amount due which is an improvement over what was posted previously.

I called multiple times when I first noticed the discrepancy. For the longest time the amount due showed $746 more than what I actually owed. The IT department finally fixed the page and the correct amount showed for a few days. Then we started up again with incorrect amounts due and changing day by day.

I have a print out from Celebrity that shows what I actually owe and the woman in the Resolution Department I spoke with assures me that it doesn't matter what the website shows, only what is in Celebrity's system (which is apparently different than what shows on the website).

I plan to make my final payment about a month ahead of when it is due to be sure there are no problems when I pay the balance due.

Really, Celebrity needs to fix their IT department and their website.

Ha, ha. I'm Kathleen and I get e-mails from Celebrity addressed to "Rachel"!

Well said Liz54.

My DH has no vision in his left eye and this causes problems with depth perception. You should see his left elbow - bruises on top of bruises. I try to always walk on his left side to prevent him from bumping into things or people but sometimes accidents happen.

If we ever bump into you on a cruise ship or otherwise please know it wasn't intentional and we didn't mean to offend. We do always say "sorry".

We booked a Retreat cabana for our recent eastern caribbean cruise on the Eurodam. We couldn't use the cabana for the first two days at all due to wind. When we came back from our port morning on day three there was a woman who hadn't reserved a cabana at all sleeping on the lounger in our cabana! That really irritated me. When I explained that we had reserved the cabana and asked her to leave she picked up and went to lay on one of the loungers in the center of the Retreat area. I wasn't too happy about the way the area was supervised.

We did have afternoon tea (from the Suite Amenities package) delivered to our cabana one afternoon and that was very nice.