Beach Nut

4 minutes ago, Beach Nut said:

We think we want a balcony cabin mid ship, rear-ish on the Nieuw Statendam.

Any suggestions as to locations and levels that will not tend to have drifting smoke from outside smoking areas?  Or maybe it would be a lot easier to state which balcony cabin areas to avoid.  

Thanks.

I think I just answered my own question. Correct me if I'm wrong:  The only designated outside smoking area on the Nieuw Statendam is at the aft Seaview Pool area.  That'll certainly help me with cabin choice.  

We think we want a balcony cabin mid ship, rear-ish on the Nieuw Statendam.

Any suggestions as to locations and levels that will not tend to have drifting smoke from outside smoking areas?  Or maybe it would be a lot easier to state which balcony cabin areas to avoid.  

Thanks.

Wow!  I am SO overwhelmed by the generosity of those who took the time to answer my questions!

Super helpful.  Thank you all so much!  Your warmth and willingness to help reminds me of why I love cruising so much:  We always meet such wonderful people!   I hope I get to meet you guys on a future cruise. 

And, yes, it is a cruise on the Nieuw Statendam I am considering:  the 21 day August 3, 2024 sailing.

Kudos to the sleuthing and/or ESP skills of those who figured it out that it was that ship.

Thank you again to all of you.  Many blessings be upon you all.

Susan

I've given up searching. I have a few questions:

1.  How does the food on HAL compare with the food on Celebrity now? We'e been only cruising Celebrity and really like their food.

2.  How good are the beds for a person with a back that can "go out" on a too soft mattress? I now travel with Flexeril, but I'd rather not have to use it for 21 days!

3.  Are the pools with the moveable roofs heated and are these areas quiet solariums/ adults only restful spots, a la Celebrity

4.  How easy is it to get a table for two at open dinner (or even at the set dinner times, with a reservation)?  

I've got my eye on a HAL cruise.  Any info is appreciated.  Thank you!

1 hour ago, basenji56 said:

Don't forget those of us who go the Oceanview AFTER we leave the main dining room.  😉

A person after my own heart! 

Actually, there's nothing like a slice of pizza just before it closes.  My close-to-midnight snack!

I sometimes go to OVC for a late-ish dinner with a book and/or crossword puzzle when my husband doesn't want to eat dinner or is not feeling well.  But just as often,  I will  buck up, dress up, and ask for a table by myself and eat in the Main Dining Room.  What I've discovered is that, 9 times out of 10, I get into a lively and rewarding conversation with a couple at an adjacent table.  I'm better with meeting one or two people at a time than I am with a group situation, although with my job before retirement I successfully led many therapy groups.

But the OVC experience is a bit lonely as a singleton, I've found.  

Wow!  Thank you, Skynight, for taking the time to give me such complete information.   .

I'm going to print this out and keep it in my Princess file.  It looks like I'll be able to find a space compatible to my desires.

Best wishes for good fortune and health go out to you for your generosity.

Susan

We've been limiting our cruising to Celebrity for the past 15 years because I am addicted to spending several hours on sea days at their ships' adults only solariums with ambient music.  Is  there is a similar, no cost set-up for adults on Princess' ships?  Thanks.    

If I see a lounge chair with only a towel on it, I ask the person next to it if they have seen the person in the last half hour. Many times they'll tell me that the person has been gone for more than a half hour. So I put the towel in the bin and claim the chair.

Sometimes if things are really crowded, I will enlist the help of the attendant.

I've had good luck doing this so far.

What would have been the price difference between your NCL cruise and the Celebrity cruise that you did not take?

Do any of NCL's specialty alternatives offer better soup at a price?

We were not considering a comparable cruise, but decided to take this particular NCL cruise because we were considering the 14 night May 25 sailing of the Jade because of the excellent itinerary. The cost for us, not including airfare, excursions, or any extras onboard, was over $8,000 for a balcony cabin with an unobstructed view. We decided to take this shorter, less expensive ($2,000) cruise first to see if we would be happy with NCL before plunking down that chunk of change. We are glad that we have had the opportunity to see that the ship, and the line, is not a good fit for us.

It was not a cheap "experiment", but I have consequently decided that we are better served taking a land vacation to certain places (which we do even more frequently than we cruise) if we can't find the itinerary on a ship we want to sail on, at a price we want to pay.

I make a great French Onion Soup at home, so I wasn't craving it enough to pay extra for it on board.

Off topic, but onion soup was mentioned.

 

On Eclipse this February, Onion soup in MDR was not edible. So much salt, herbed with rosemary, congealed cheese. In general food in MDR was terrible. Ate there only 3 times out of 14, the rest in Oceanview which was great. I am not alone in my sentiment, have noticed others here have said the same thing.

 

Having said all that, we would NEVER sail NCL for all kinds of reasons, food just being one of them.

Yikes! This onion soup/MDR issue is disconcerting. Hope they have this fixed by the time we sail on the Reflection in October. I think I'll write corporate a snail mail letter asking them to look into it and correct it. My experience with corporate is that they really don't want to slip and want to keep their customers happy.

We found out once when we went to initially complain about some late loud music and wound up spending 2 hours the next day talking to the second in command of guest services about other perceived slippages in the product and service, and giving suggestions, that they were not only extremely receptive, but actually wound up giving us a generous future cruise credit that we didn't even ask for. I told them that I just wanted the cruise line I loved to stay as good as it was and not become another Carnival.

One of the things we learned during that meeting is that the staff on board has quite a bit of latitude to change activities, programs, volume of music and such if they think the clientele want it. So, "innovations" may be particular to certain ships at certain times, like the spontaneous late night loud music party on the pool deck above our balcony cabin that led to our original complaint. Maybe the chefs on the Eclipse are doing too much innovating and need to be reeled back by corporate?

What ship? Any more details?

It was the Jade. The balcony cabin was clean and quiet and we paid for one with an unobstructed view, which turned out to be a brilliant move, as we spent virtually all our time onboard relaxing in the cabin. Our room steward was fabulous. Actually ever single staff person we interacted with rated an A+.

There was no dedicated out of cabin spot that we were able to find to relax and read in a quiet ambiance in the shade. It was pretty much bake in the sun with a lot of noise and "all you can drink" shipmates. We REALLY, REALLY missed the Solariums on the X ships.

I'd say that the food was 20% decent enough and 80% "off". I tried the spaghetti with meat sauce in the buffet and it tasted as if it was heavily seasoned with vinegar. My husband, and the man seated at the table next to us, both called the crab cakes "garbage", and they were mushy and tasteless. It's a shame that the crabs had to die to be made into a wasted dish.

The first day the Asian section of the buffet was so good that I thought that I was in Heaven, but then it went pretty much totally downhill and stayed there for the rest of the week! How can that happen?

The main dining room had a nice ambiance and good servers, but the dishes were hit or miss, mostly miss. It's almost as if the chefs didn't really know how to cook and were innovating, which is something that you should only attempt if you are already a great cook. (I've cooked since I was 14 and I've cooked professionally twice, so I know this to be true.) There were some things that were tasty, like the Atlantic Chowder and the Lamb on Tagliatelle with cream sauce.

The casino allowed smoking and smelled like a giant ashtray.

The first several days there were lots of drunks visible, as the line was pushing the "all you can drink" package.

In summary, it just felt as if there was no place for us onboard except, thankfully, our cabin.

I understand that NCL bought Oceania, so I wonder if it's just a matter of time that they bring O down to their level?

The plus side is that we are no longer wondering if there is an even better cruise line out there for us, and my longstanding desire to one day take another Oceania cruise has now been completely obliterated.

It's not as if we haven't had our issues with facets of some of our X cruises, but it's sort of like being in a long term relationship, where you come to realize that what you have is better than anything else out there. And Celebrity has always been willing to try to rectify problems, once very generously and totally unexpected.

.

We tried one of the shows, but left shortly into it. But we hardly ever go to cruise line shows anyway, as most of them seem pretty mediocre. We're not interested in bingo, games that involve embarrassing yourself or your mate, or pervasive loud music.

Also, as Celebrity elites, we missed the free laundry, free internet and free happy hour drinks. Also the usual $250+ OBC and free gratuities we tend to get when we book.

Too much disappointment to delineate.

The differences between the lines can be summed up, actually and also symbolically, in the differences between the French Onion Soup they each serve,

Celebrity serves a beautifully crafted French Onion Soup, with rich broth, lots of soft onions and a crown of browned parmesan bubbling over the bowl, with good bread just underneath the cheese. NCL serves a thin slice of bagel in watery canned bouillon, with 1/4 teaspoon of onion pieces and 1/4 teaspoon of inferior parmesan stirred in. The only good thing is that it's in a tiny bowl.

I am happy to have found these answers. Thank you for your responses, as they are helpful to me as well as to the original poster.

We are strongly considering a sailing on the Jade, primarily due to the itinerary. We have sailed mostly on Celebrity and have become used to a certain quality re the MDR food, cabin and ship cleanliness, and most importantly to me, the restriction of smoking in the cabins and on the balconies. I see that NCL has the same restrictions, but I need reassurance that they will actually enforce this, because if it isn't enforced, we won't bother to waste money on a balcony cabin. Does anyone have experience re actual enforcement of the policy, especially on the Jade? Thank you.

Also, re the MDR food, how might you rate the quality? I just need some idea of what I'm getting us into. I'm not expecting Oceania level of MDR food. We have been satisfied with the MDR food on RCI, Princess, HAL and Celebrity.

Also, I see that the Jade was refurbished in 2017. Are the beds firm enough for someone with moderate back issues?

Where are the outside deck smoking areas on the Jade, so that I can avoid a balcony cabin above those areas?

Thank you so much to anyone who takes time to help me with these questions.

Thanks...in years of cruising HAL (300+ days) we've sent out laundry all the time and have never had anything ruined...sounds like there's already an X against Celebrity! (We're trying it out since it worked into our schedule.)

Once you become "Elite", each "elitist" :D gets a bag of free laundry per cruise, which has been more than enough to keep us in clean clothes on 14 nighters. (We never even tried to become elite. We just took a few X cruises and one day it became a sudden surprise!) If you use the "folding it all into one parcel" approach, it looks like you're performing a magic act by how much you can stuff in!

I tried sending one of my older rayon Hawaiian shirts through as a test. They're Jams World, so they're not cheap. It came back fine. Have since sent several expensive rayon dresses as well, with no problems with X laundry. We even sent my husband's short sleeved black silk shirt through, and it came back without any damage and looked great.

Susan

When I booked us on the October 22, 2016 sailing of the Silhouette 9 days ago, I was told by our TA that Select Dining was unavailable and that the only option open to us was late fixed dining. I said, "OK. Just request a table for two." We eat on the late side anyway, but prefer to eat quietly together after a day of socializing, just like we do when we go out to a restaurant for dinner.

When the cruise confirmation info showed up in the email (and also on the Celebrity website, I see) we are registered as having Select Dining. So you might try that.

Susan

I really appreciate all you guys and want to thank you for taking the time to answer.

Safe and happy sailing to you all.

Susan

Aloha Fellow Cruisers

We're thinking of taking our second O cruise. Reading through the threads for a few hours has convinced me that we will probably have as pleasant an experience as we did the first time, with intelligent, interesting, and really nice fellow passengers, and no perceivable "class system". OK, so far so good.

The questions:

What's on the "Spa Deck"? How much does it cost to access at regular balcony level (not concierge)? Does it include a heated pool under a dome? What makes it so special? Is there a regular heated pool to swim in? Other hot tubs? Although the cruise we're contemplating is on the Nautica, which I believe doesn't have an exclusive Spa Deck situation, I'd like to know for future cruising on the larger ships.

What kind of drinks are included in the regular (basic) drinks package that is being offered as a perk on some cruises? Are mixed drinks included, such as Mai Tais, Cosmos, Pina Coladas, Gin and tonics? Fairly decent bourbon? What quality of wines are included? Can someone give me some examples. Any recommendations on the drinks packages?

One post mentioned a "Two for One" drink special. How limited is this and is it only offered on some cruises and at limited times?

The "continental breakfast only in your cabin" served to those in regular balconies and under was the weird thing to read about! One poster mentioned that you can order "a steak at 7 am", but not cooked eggs or, I'm assuming, bacon. Seems very odd to me. I guess everyone would be ordering breakfast in bed, so they had to limit it.

Thanks to everyone who has posted helpful info in the recent past to help me "catch up", and to those who will take the time to answer my questions.

Any other helpful info would also be appreciated.

Susan

I hope they didn't change these two features. I much prefer the M class solarium pools to the Solstice class solarium pools. And I love the big porthole window in the sauna.

I just put a deposit on a January 2017 sailing and was looking forward to enjoying that particular pool.

I really appreciate those who took the time to make suggestions to me for a peaceful alternative.

bobnjeff - those are incredible prices on the P&O Arcadia. I will definitely check out P&O. Hope that they have a strictly enforced non-smoking policy on balconies.

tangerinebunny - problem for me with HAL is that they seem to have turned into the "smokers' choice" line and allow it on balconies, last I saw.

hcat - we've done all inclusive resorts and I was considering one in Barbados for the future. (We'll be doing a self-catering condo vacation to Abaco in the Bahamas soon.)

Typically when we travel, it's to see as many interesting things as possible, which is why we cruise: always primarily for the itinerary, within our budget. Our land trips include a rental car and full day trips to various areas. Cruising gives my husband a break from driving.

Because we are so itinerary driven, certain cruises just make sense. We don't cruise to relax, even though, after a full day of sightseeing, I want my down time.

The reason we've stayed with Celebrity, despite the noise (and we've also had 3 major cabin noise issues in the last 4 cruises), is that the overall experience they give is second to none, for the price, at least for what we look for: dining, itinerary, cleanliness, fewer kids and, most importantly to me, a strictly enforced non-smoking policy on balconies.:)

It's been mentioned that Celebrity is trying to drive out its older base of customers, but I can't see that, as we were given a significant credit for a future cruise after taking a couple of hours to sit down with ship management to explain why the noise issue was making me feel that I wouldn't want to take another cruise. We didn't ask for anything. We didn't expect anything. I just wanted them to know how much I loved Celebrity and how depressed I was about the noise. Celebrity wants to attract new, younger cruisers, but they wouldn't have spontaneously given us so much credit, unasked (!), if they were trying to get rid of their elite level cruisers. (My husband thinks that we got the credit more for his suggestion that they move the unauthorized mahjong games from the card room just outside our cabin to the casino, where they could make money at it. Perhaps.)

I suppose I just have to work even harder at cabin choice, and realize that, like with weddings, there's always something that'll probably go wrong.

I've said it before: It may look and feel like a floating resort, but at the bottom of it all, it's a potentially "Master and Commander" experience. :eek: So, what's a little (or a lot of) noise if you have a safe trip? Overall, I really DO love Celebrity.

Thanks again.

See you in the Solarium. :D

Think revenue.

 

Noisy, action packed bars must sell more drinks and attract more of those who drink at a faster pace.

 

Quiet, cozy, intimate bars probably have a slower drinking rate/turn over.

 

Isn't it alwas about the bottom line?

I agree with tangerinebunny.

We've cut back on our cruising and are doing more land vacations over the past few years because of the much louder music all over the ships. We'd been pretty dedicated to Celebrity, but now I'm wondering if I'm missing another cruise line possibility for us that would give a more calm experience for a comparable price. Any suggestions? Oceania is too expensive, as I really need the fresh air of a balcony these days. I don't go to shows, discos or do casinos or shopping. Just like to be on the sea, relaxing and gazing at the ocean, in peace and quiet. And meet lots of nice people and see the sights from great ports.

I've done a lot of digging, but I can't find a line that's comparable price wise that's also quiet. I get sea sick on small ships, often even in a harbor.:(

I have been able to mostly create a quiet experience for myself, and ignore the noise when I have to, but old memories of having a quiet drink in an onboard bar, or relaxing in peace in my cabin are pretty much distant memories, if 3 of the past 4 cruises are the wave of the future.

Thanks.

When we were on a 14 night cruise on the Eclipse in May 2010, we were told by the Maitre d' that he reconfigured the Select dining area into having more 2 tops for that cruise when he realized that more people were requesting them than they had anticipated.

If we don't care for the first table offered, which almost never happens, we politely decline it and offer to wait for another one to open up. We have never had a problem getting a nice spot relatively quickly, but then again, we usually go to the MDR around 8:00 to 8:15, so that's usually past the rush in Select Dining.

Also, we've gone to some higher end restaurants in San Francisco that have tables for two in a line along the walls, with just a few inches between tables, so we are familiar with that style of seating and we've learned to make adjustments in our conversational level accordingly, after briefly and initially acknowledging the diners on either side of us. Sometimes we've had pleasant, brief interludes with neighboring diners before returning to a table for 2 mode.

I grew up in a small town America atmosphere, where the restaurants typically had a lot of space between tables, so I understand the initial discomfort. But for me, tasty grub prepared and served by someone else trumps small discomforts every time.:)

I think that some people are being very rude to a poster who is obviously not comfortable in English. I would love to see some of you try to write on a Russian forum! One of the rules of Cruise Critic is that we do not insult or question another poster's use of language--and believe me, I have seen MANY horrid examples of butchering from native English speakers! The OP obviously had an issue and is unhappy about it. It may have been the result of poor communication. It is obvious what occurred from the initial post. Shame on those who are criticizing his attempt to explain his frustrations. I thought we were better as a 'community' than this. :mad:

Thank you.

I remember the time as a newbie that I was horribly flamed over what I had (naively, as it turns out) thought was rather good advice to someone asking about the formal dress code. Actually, by the time I had returned to the thread, it had been removed, so it must've been pretty mean spirited, as additionally, another poster alluded in another "dress code" thread to the wording I had used and chastised the petty bullying that had occurred in response to my innocent post. I'm certainly happy that I don't know who those posters were, and never got to read what they said.

:mad:

 

Just returned from a cruise to Central America on "Celebrity Equinox".

Yes, fine liner, no doubt.

But "Celebrity" - bad company!

The only cruise company that has managed for the first cruise to obtain the stable negative attitude. The more we do not take advantage of its services than ever before.

On the first day of the cruise, I was called at the reception, where the land began to threaten me with the ship. He was accused of insulting the staff. I asked to call the victim or provide any evidence - they could not. Then he accused me of that, I hung a sign "Do Not Disturb" on the door and do not let Stewart. I did not think that is a crime.

Especially was the first day of the cruise (at sea) and the cabin was still clean. Especially because my wife seasick and she slept in the cabin (Stabilizers according to the pitching staff, "including, but not helping"). My question: "Are you going to get out of the cabin, where passengers sleep there?" - There was no answer, but anyway they really wanted to get into the cabin, with the threats.

 

By the way, on our credit card after the cruise blocked amount is greater than it was in the long run. The reason, of course, are not reported.

 

Total: If you like slander to your address, scandals and the threat of company personnel and suspicion - welcome to the Celebrity!

Sounds to me like the OP's wife was seasick and he didn't want the cabin attendant coming in to perform his routine duties and disturb the wife. Maybe English was not the first language of either the OP or the attendant, "Stewart" (or the cabin steward?) Obviously a cascade of miscommunication occurred, coupled with charges to the cabin that the OP didn't recognize - perhaps the tips, if they were in Select Dining.

The cabin steward may have been trying to assess (by smell) if the couple was attempting to hide that the wife had norovirus instead of being "seasick". I know from direct experience that it's a HUGE burden on the cabin attendants to deal with the cabin of someone with norovirus - complete linen changes twice a day and lots of spraying. And, it obviously becomes an even bigger burden to the staff (not to mention being a PR problem) if the virus gets out of control due to those who don't report that they have it. When DH was seasick in bed for 36 hours crossing the Tasman Sea, I declined the routine cabin service, but allowed the cabin steward access to the immediate inside of the cabin to change towels, and that was fine with all concerned.

I had to read the post twice, but that's my interpretation of what may have happened.

Yes, we received Michaels club & elite perks last summer while in a royal suite on the Solstice. I am 1 credit short of elite now (9) & not in a suite for our next cruise 1/15 on the Eclipse. I think I will miss the yummy free lattes, the free internet & the special events invites....Oh well, I can't complain too much, I am just thrilled to be sailing again!!

Wow! That'd be fantastic. We're doing two 7 day cruises back to back later this month and will be transitioning to Elite status after the first cruise. Even a small free internet package would be a wonderful perk. The $20 bags of laundry were really nice on our 2 week Baltic cruise last May. I totaled it up and got about $65 worth of laundry done each time. Of course, given the cost of a balcony cabin, it's small potatoes, but we appreciated it very much.

Susan

Cabin 8215 On the ECLIPSE, not Equinox, as stated above - Sorry!

Vista deck

Port side

Balcony cabin with unimpeded view straight out, but lifeboats one or two decks below, so view straight down to the water wasn't possible. Still a good view, and probably the standard for a "non-hump" cabin on this deck.

Bed was closer to the bathroom than the balcony

There was a gigantic noise problem on the May 7, 2010 inaugural sailing. It kept us up most nights. We were told by 2 different engineers/technicians that there is a main drainage pipe running through the wall of this cabin's bathroom. (We saw the pipe when we asked the tech to take the hall panel off for us so we could see just what the heck was causing the noise. There was no visible insulation around the pipe. However, the noise was barely perceptible in the corridor, unless you had your ear near the wall and it was quiet in the hall. Closing the bathroom door helped to some extent, but we still both usually had to medicate ourselves to be able to sleep through it, which I do only in extreme circumstances as my sleep apnea is worse when I am under sedation.) One engineer said that it was the drainage pipe for the pool(s), which made sense, because the Solarium pool was in line above our cabin, several floors up, and it is open until 10PM and the noise would begin around 10:30 to 11PM and continue through much of the night. The other technician said that it was the drainage pipe for a large block of cabins' "black water". I think that the pipe served both purposes, as the noise went on for many hours throughout the night AND there were lots of loud flushing sounds. However, we didn't hear the noise during the day. The sounds were as if large metallic balls of water (yes I know that is a strange description, but two other cruisers who told me that they had the same problem stated that this description of the noise is an accurate one) were being hurled into the cabin wall, and frequently it sounded as if someone was shoving a metal cart into the cabin wall.

We complained to Guest Relations about this almost daily. Two thirds of the way into the cruise, the second engineer said only "new ship" when we asked him about it, so I am hoping that it can be remedied in time. We actually missed the 11AM Cruise Connections gathering on the second morning of the cruise, a sea day, because neither of us was able to fall asleep until after 7 AM and the gathering was scheduled for 11 AM. We woke up at 1:15 PM.

Early in the cruise we were told that our problem had been passed on and that "they will drain the pool during the day", however, with the pool being open until 10PM, that wasn't possible.

This cabin should be radically discounted by Celebrity. However, I wouldn't be willing to stay in it again even if I got it for 1/2 the price of a noise-free cabin. Perhaps it would be okay for a deaf person, but sounds that loud, jarring and close by might be felt vibrationally by a hearing impaired person who is sensitive.

Let's hope they get this fixed soon!

Susan