duchesslt

It's interesting how our point of view on NCL dining is so different. I went on the Prima last June and found the food everywhere sub-par from Buffet to specialty to MDR. Sometimes it bordered on inedible - like when the proteins came out drenched in sauces from the MDR (I felt like they were hiding something!) Pre-pandemic I thought it was very good. 

I haven't sailed Celebrity since 2017 but am looking forward to Aqua Class and Blu next month. I hope Blu is as good and light as everyone says it is. 

Hi - your review has me so pumped for our same June 3 itinerary! Question - my husband gets sea sick. We have stayed on bigger ships deck 12 and up mid ship and have been blessed with calm seas on every cruise we have taken. With constellation being a smaller ship - does this affect feeling motion? I’m a little worried about how he’ll do if smaller ships result in more motion. Obviously the seas will play a part in this but assuming calm seas - hoping you can share your point of view. Thanks!

3 hours ago, Provence55always said:

Loving your review. Check out the Gritti Palace in Venice. A great place to have a drink or lunch on the Grand Canal. Your photos are stunning. 

Staying there after our June Connie cruise - can’t wait!!!

Hi! I booked the Sina Bernini Bristol in Rome and Colloseum/Pantheon day 1 plus Vatican day 2 Viator tours for much less than Celebrity's price. 

Hi! I transferred my Celebrity booking to Amex so I could get 2x points on final payment. Amex has sent me a receipt confirming final payment was made. I can't find anywhere on Celebrity's website after log in that indicates confirmation of payment. I also didn't get an email from Celebrity. Does anyone know where I can see this information for peace of mind? My concern is that Amex makes a mistake and I miss final payment date and lose my cabin/price.

Thanks for any info you might have!

My kids were young teens when we went on Solstice to Alaska. Was the best vacation we ever had. The kids absolutely loved the ship and the incredible, crazy excursions we went on - like taking a helicopter to the top of a glacier to hang out with the sled dogs!

We like staying at the Marriott, Hollywood. Beautiful hotel. We also like to stay at Hard Rock Hollywood - good gambling and amazing pool.

5 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

If you have any questions that I can answer on the ship, I'll make a point of trying to get answers tomorrow.

 

Hi! I am curious to know what the plans are for the Spring dry-dock. Thanks for anything you might be able to find out. I go on Constellation in June through Italy. Thank you!

Hi! We booked all our excursions for the constellation June 3 on Viator. We’ve had good experiences and it’s cheaper than celebrity’s price. 

Hi! I am about to commit to a 10 night Southern Caribbean 2025 cruise on Beyond. The "Deluxe Porthole Balcony" on Deck 8 forward is much, much cheaper than Aqua and Concierge. Are these porthole balconies nice cabins? Am I missing out much on Aqua on Beyond for a 3k fare difference for two passengers? I figure we can put the difference towards dinners at specialties and gambling? 

Any advice experienced Celebrity cruisers can give would be greatly appreciated.

We were on the June 15 to 25 Prima Iceland itinerary. Beautiful trip and we were blessed with amazing weather - 75 and sunny in almost every port, even Iceland! 
 

I had low expectations of the Prima because of so many bad reviews. I have my own point of view which I will share after 10 nights of great, good and not so great. 

Great

The ship is beautiful. Each space is so tastefully designed and posh looking! 
The balcony midship cabins are spacious, great shower pressure and a nice size bathroom. 
The staff was great and prompt. They loved that we are tippers. They work so hard! 

Alrhough sailing with 3200 people, I felt the reviews about crowds and wait times were exaggerated. We never had a problem ordering a drink and other than the buffet, atrium and observation lounge at peak times we never had issues finding a seat. 
Lots of fun on the deck with all the table games and mini golf. The go karts looked fun as did the slides. We played top golf in the galaxy pavillion and teens seemed to love it there. 
We loved all the ports. Hard to pick a favorite. Iceland is unique, Norway is beautiful, I love Amsterdam and Bruges. 

Good 

The shows were good as was the night time disco. We got to see Donna Summer, Price is Right and the Rumors Fleetwood Mac show. The production quality was very good. 
Cagneys was good. Not as great as I remember but good. 
Hasuki (Japanese teppanyaki) was also good.

The local made a good Reuben and hot fudge sundaes. 
I think the premium plus beverage package is a waste. The free at sea beverage package lets you order almost every cocktail on the menu. My husband just paid extra for Blantons at the whiskey bar but he was just fine with the included Buffalo Trace. The cocktails at the metropolitan were very good as were the mudslides in the observation lounge. 
 

Not so Good 

I think overall the food has gone downhill on Norwegian.
I thought the buffet, especially desserts, bordered in inedible.

The indulge food hall was a great concept and not bad but not that great either. 
Food Republic was so bad that without complaining they refunded us the meal credits after they noticed our plates were barely touched. 

Onda was ok. Not that good but edible. 
The main dining room was ok - I felt they overcompkicated the dishes I ordered. Too much sauce drowning out frozen proteins. Breakfast was not so great either. 
Room service food was awful. We only ordered breakfast but other than the banana smoothie, it was just not very good. 
Note- if you mostly experience chain restaurants you might really like the food. I’m a bit spoiled when it comes to eating out. However, I have had great food on Norwegian pre-Covid so I found the overall lackluster dining surprising. 

I gave up on cruising and am likely to lose my cruise 1st coupon as I won't pay the outrageous prices for 2022. Instead, booked one of the top 3 Caribbean resorts in Ocho Rios, Jamaica for about the price of a cruise balcony. $10,900 all tips, food, drinks included in a private 2 bedroom cottage with a plunge pool for 4 adults. 

We will be on the Solstice in August and will have my 85 year old mom with us. She’s a youthful 85 with no mobility issues. Is this the excursion that has high speed boat in the description? I’d like to book this but I’m wondering if it would be too much for her. TIA

 

 

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We did this excursion with my 72 year old mom. She walked the interior and exterior decks at all times. The water is as calm as a pond.

This excursion was amazing. We really were blessed and saw glacier calve, sunny day, 2 humpbacks with glacier in the background - just an overall amazing experience. Enjoy it!

Thanks for confirming I did the right thing by cancelling Epic and booking Bliss. I wouldn’t enjoy this room layout and might have to bunk with my mom so this open shower and nowhere to privately dress wouldn’t worjk for me.

Yes - Taylor Swift made crop tops and dresses with cut outs very popular circa 2015 and 2016. She is tall, thin, and young and able to afford that look with taste.

No - not a dig at plus size. Ross sells awful fabrics - I’m personally a believer in less wardrobe, avoid trend and look more at quality and fit. But to each their own.

Yes - dress on ships seems always to be polarizing and I suppose I do come across as conflicted. I don’t think it’s black and white - and I don’t think distressed jeans at lunch really matters just like dress shorts for a 12 year old at 6pm worked because of how he wore them - he got compliments from cruisers for looking so nicely pulled together and age apppropriate.

I saw extremely tacky evening dresses with Taylor Swift style cut outs in very cheap looking poly satin that in my view were a lot tackier than the ripped jean look. Fabric, cut, fit and how you wear it has a lot to do with in my view makes people look and feel good.

My son went to Bayamo at 6pm at age 12 in Lacoste dress shorts (knee length) and a collared button down with boat shoes and dressy socks. He was far better dressed than some of the Ross evening wear 4 sizes too small I witnessed throughout the cruise. To each their own but point is that elegance is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

Anyway, I'm a believer than when you agree to set sail with 4k passengers, you kind of need to respect the ambience other people expect. For some people, spending $2k on a vaca is very special and they want to count on the ambience they expected would be honored.

That said - I don't think lunch is anything to dress up for on Norwegian ships.

You have the attitude that everybody on a cruise ship wants to have the same over-the-top Christmas experience as you do. That doesn’t resonate with many passengers.

 

 

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Bah Humbug:cool:

So, booked our second multigenerational cruise on Bliss for Christmas 2018. Kids, sadly, are older now and wanted to do something "fun" vs. opening presents at home - a lifelong tradition for me.

So, experienced cruisers, how crazy do the mega ships get on Christmas sailings? I remember we went on Escape on Jan 19 and that was crazy enough - but it was a fun ship for every age.

Any insights to the trials and tribulations of Holiday Cruising on mega ships where 3 days or more are at sea would be great.

PS - sad the Bliss didn't get the Getaway's Xmas itinerary but kids really want this ship and I tend to let them have their way at Christmas!

Would on the same deck as the kids club be too noisy?

 

 

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I dont' think so - i remember thinking how ultra convenient for families with young kids. If I recall- you walk down a hallway that has no cabins on the Escape to get to the kids club.

Sounds like it improved since I went on Escape when she was first sailing. I thought the adjacent Pinchos tapas bar was outstanding as was Food Republlic and Cagneys. Bayamo was not very good - 3 different dishes ordered by our table and none were special. Glad to hear it changed.

I cannot imagine cruising the Inside passage on something as large as the Bliss, even ships the size of the Pearl are too big for us.

Agree. We did Alaska this year on solstice and it was the perfect size ship. Also appreciated more toned down and good service after long days in ports. The observation lounge was never crowded and we spent almost every evening there watching the sound mountains seal humpback orca sipping cocktails.

I think bliss is type of ship for Caribbean seen one island seen them all cruising.

I booked bliss for Xmas since my teens want the go karts and laser tag. I hate the ports but don’t mind staying on the ship port days.

I wanted to use my OBC and I wanted access to it right away if it will be released while we are on board since they usually release in September.

 

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They usually announce in September but release lags. IOS is usually available after their September media event.

Martini is good on the drink package. World class bar is also very, very good (on Solstice to Alaska we though it was the best and most were covered by premium or just a couple of bucks more) - here is a link to the menu:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2873

I would politely disagree, Orator. I can't hand a company thousands for a week experience without evaluating if I will enjoy. I like that cruise critic lets me get a sense of whether the spend and time commitment is worth it! Then again, I'm a notorious control freak who thrives on info in websites such as these.

So I suppose my perceiving posters debating on what is a fact vs. opinion being akin to reading comprehension lessons my kids got in 3rd grade is a type of flaming the posters who in my view are highlighting the obvious as if it were words of enlightment and insight only afforded by those with a doctorate in philosophy? ;) Just passively aggressively kidding...

And btw - i'm not politically correct. I saw a guy remove all the auto gratuities on day 1 of the cruise I was just on and I was really appalled and totally judgmental. No way he could've decided if the service was bad yet. It was a cultural decision as he said to his wife while walking away that they could now go to the excursions desk across the way and book something or other they wanted to do.

I was a waitress for years in college and this particular culture gave me $5 on average for $100+ checks and they got great service to the best of my ability. Some stereotypes are stereotypes because they are very real in many cases...

I don't think I've seen anyone on a vacation work harder than my celebrity stateroom attendant who made sure everything was perfect for my family and was so pleasant and professional. I didn't think twice about giving him an extra $100 per stateroom we booked. It's a choice, for sure, but thinking about someone taking away his auto gratuity is ridiculously wrong. I hope vacationers never have family or friends who bust themselves for that extra $13.50 a day be treated so poorly by people willing/able to pay thousands for a fun time.