okieyankee

Very disappointed about this. We were thrilled that we could actually bring our wine to dinner, but alas....So, now if we pour a glass from our own bottles in our cabin is it okay to bring a glass to the dining room? If so, what happens to the glass when empty? Do we take it back to our room, or leave it behind in the dining room? Will we then get fresh glasses? This is only our second cruise (October 2017) so we are newbies and not that much in the know about this sort of thing.

Ask your cabin attendant for replenishment of wine glasses. Ours was more than happy to.

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we dont mind spending (actually quite like it ) but were just wondering how much you can actually spend when most things are paid for ????

 

I was think about $800 for the 2 weeks + extra spends for when off boat

DH and I padded our account with $600.00 on our recent 18N Transpacific cruise and had over $100.00 refunded to our credit card. It really depends on how much onboard shopping, speciality dining and gambling you like to do.

Have a great cruise. Can't wait until our next one in Dec.

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I am on the Radiance.

 

Like Bob, I just ask for the bag when I want it.

 

It usually takes two days to get it back.

Carol,

Are you still sailing? We left her in Honolulu on the 5th. Say hi to Echo (WJ) and Diana (MDR) for us (DH called Echo Sunshine and Moonshine). They look and act like twins (I used the placement of their facial beauty marks to tell them apart). How many times gave you seen Steve perform "Thriller"? Lol

Safe sailing.

Yes, just ask your cabin attendant for the special laundry bag.

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Just a few thoughts on our first cruise with RCL. I will post a review when I get over the jet lag! We are not loyal to any one cruise line. Have sailed with Oceania, Cunard, Holland America, Carnival and 57 nights with Princess. We rate Royal Caribbean as up there with the best. We found the food, entertainment, service to be of a high standard. We sailed in an owners suite on deck ten and it was lovely. Had an issue with our suite being flooded due to a burst water pipe and had to vacate our suite for 4 nights. Management did their best with the situation (some of the customer service workers could do with some more customer relationship training) but all in all in the end did not spoil our holiday. The highlights out weighed the negatives but I will outline both in my review. We met many loyal Royal Caribbean cruisers and can see why they stick to one cruise line.

I w

as on that cruise, looking forward to your review.

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Much better then the old farts in Depends in the pool!

Just remember that one day that "old fart in depends" will be you.

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The crew was tremendous. The outgoing nature of the master, Captain Nikolaos Christodoulakis, was adopted by virtually all crew members from top to bottom. Even the steward relegated to cleaning the handrails in the stairwells took time to look at us and ask how we were enjoying the cruise. Senior officer were very visible around the ship talking with passengers, not just amongst themselves. The crew actively sought our feedback to help resolve any issues.

 

About us. Active 70-somethings who enjoy seeing different parts of the world and like the convenience of large ship cruising as a basis for exploring. This was our seventeenth cruise mostly with Celebrity and a few HAL and RCCL thrown in.

 

We did anytime dining and had the same great wait team, Carmo and Roel, every evening. One day my wife did not feel well and stayed aboard while I went with a group to Hanoi. Both of them were concerned that she was eating alone and one offered to sit with her until it got busy. She declined, but it was the thought. There were very good menu options every evening that included beef, pork, chicken, fish, lamb, veal and vegetarian. Usually we had to decide between two or three items that we would have liked. French Onion Soup, escargot, and Cesar salad were always available. There was always steak, but there were some additional new items rotating there also. One evening we were very late coming back and had a tasty Indian dish in Oceanview. Of course, Carmo and Roel wanted to know if there was a problem with the menu that evening.

 

We were in cabin 3114, one of the oceanviews added during a recent yard period. It was in very good condition and had a huge window since it formerly had been part of the conference area. Our room steward, Armando, always greeted us when he saw us and took care of our every need in the room.

 

Entertainment was very good with three cast shows and a variety of visiting entertainers ranging from singers to magicians. On most sea days, there was usually a matinee performance with two of the guest performers from previous evenings. The seven piece Celebrity orchestra provided live music to accompany all shows in the theatre. We particularly enjoyed guest lecturers, Francis O'Donnell and his presentation Retracing the Steps of Marco Polo and Ken Williams who provided lots of information about the sites we would be visiting. Trivia drew good sized audiences and was challenging. Cruise Director, Mark Western, did a great job coordinating all this and was visible around the ship and willing to talk. Captain’s Club host, Graeme Kelleher, was his usual upbeat talkative self while making the rounds to meet with everyone at Captain’s Club events. We even got to meet his wife, Amy, who is the stage manager onboard.

 

The ship itself was in superb condition for a piece of steel exposed to salt air for 17 years. The bosuns were busy caring for the exterior, chipping, priming and painting every day. If you wanted to find fault you could search and find some rust (but not much), furnishings that are not the latest style, etc. We really didn't have time for that.

 

We even found the Guest Relations staff to be friendly and helpful. Since we booked all private excursions, we did not deal with the excursions staff. We arrived early and were cleared early at each port and our travel group were among the first 20 or so off the ship. Even tendering in Halong Bay did not provide any problems with being off first to meet our guides.

 

Singapore. We arrived three days early and spent a day with Wei, from Indie Singapore touring Chinatown and Kampong Glam, areas we would not have attempted on our own. Singapore is very easy to tour on your own, but we found the insights Wei provided about his country and citizens quite valuable. The subway (MRT) is super-efficient with trains running every two minutes during rush hours and slowing to 4 to 5 minutes in off peak times.

 

Bangkok. Four of us toured with BKK Tours and had a great experience. Ms. Air was our guide and again provided an abundance of information. I am not sure how we saw so much in just two days including a 2.5 hour transit to/from the port. With the exception of our hotel, breakfast and dinner, everything was included – two boat rides, tuk-tuk ride, multiple temples and markets and so much more. Total cost was less than $200 per person. We pre-booked one night with the Hilton Millennium.

 

Vietnam – Saigon, Hue, Halong Bay, Hanoi. All booked with Handspan Tours. Transit time from the port to the cities ranged from 2.5 to 4+ hours each way. Driving in Vietnam is the craziest I have experienced. Most signs are advisory in nature (or at least that is how the locals view it). The law of gross tonnage applies – the bigger vehicle has the right of way even when passing with oncoming traffic. Be prepared or save your eye mask from the flight.

 

Hong Kong. Booked two days of tours and post-cruise hotel through China Odyssey, a private Chinese tour company that we used previously in Shanghai and Beijing. They provided Ms. Ceci Mak, an excellent guide who again provided lots of side information and visits to unusual places off the normal tourist route.

 

Guilin, China. We had been told of the beauty of the Li River Valley and rice terraces so we booked a three day trip from HKG to Guilin. China Odyssey provided all the arrangements including air travel, hotels, and an exceptional guide, Robin Shao.

 

As you can tell it was a wonderful trip which we will talk about for years. Please feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to respond.

Thank you so much for posting this review. We are on her in February for the Pingxi Lantern Festival cruise and are so excited to visit Asia.

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Dollar store has them

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We just got off Serenade on Friday and left more for our cabin steward than we ever have before! Incredible service. I had a generous pre-planned tip set aside for him. Our wait staff in the MDR were abysmal, the worst service we've ever had. So their pre-planned tip money was rolled into John's as well. And then my husband added an extra $40 at the last minute because we were so grateful for his service.

 

We had 4 people (2 adults, 2 kids ages 5 and 8) in our oceanview room (aka tiny) and he kept the room as tidy as humanly possible. We kept our wine tucked away in a drawer for lack of room and he would make sure the bottle was on ice well before dinner each night. He taught my kids how to fold towel animals, gave them riddles each morning to solve and tell him later. He rushed laundry for us when one of my kids had a bloody nose and stained his shirt. It goes on and on. John made our 11 days on the Serenade absolute perfection. He earned every single cent. I would absolutely follow him where ever he goes :D We hunted down his supervisor to tell her so.

Awww, what a great story.

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We always tip above the prepaid gratuities. We also leave little treats and snacks in the room almost each day when we go to dinner. We just enjoy spreading the love!

What a lovely idea. Did you bring things from home to share?

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I don't think we could change. It was hard enough to find an assessable balcony+ with nearby rooms. This was the third cruise I tried, and we were restricted to June or August and didn't want to get that far into hurricane season if possible. We really wanted southern Caribbean, but it just didn't work out. Europe would have been awesome, but $1600 plane tickets for us and first class tickets for my parents was cost prohibitive. My parents have been to Alaska twice and cruised it once.

 

I may have just got unhelpful people yesterday. I do hope more excursions open up. I know one of the two handicap accessible excursions is currently not listed for me on the website (a trip of tequila sampling---not really multigenerational friendly.) I think that's it for this cruise, but maybe more level one tours will open.

 

I think we will do Harvest Caye together, and just book one or two outside tours. Thank you for the recommendations.

 

As far as info about disabilities, until you've been in charge of organizing and traveling with a multigenerational group that includes limited mobility adults, (and an ADHD kid) you might just not get it. By default, I am in charge of organizing all this and it's incredibly difficult to watch people you love struggle and keep control of the kids and delegate things to the other adults, etc... I'm just trying to know what to expect upon arrival that day and find out what they can do to help smooth things out and make this a pleasant or non-painful experience. I've read a few horror stories of elderly disabled people waiting in line with no where to sit, etc...

 

Again, thanks for the leads and those who offered some empathy. My post did say "vent." ;-)

 

 

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There but for the Grace of God go I. Wishing you a very enjoyable and stress free cruise.

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Needs to be confirmed, but Nancy heard that the ship was sold out as a charter before the TA?

Phooey, wanted to do a b2b TA

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So, looking at b2b. 10/14 9n and then it shows the next one 10/28 TA for 12 nights. This does not compute. What is happening from 10/23 - 10/28? Can anyone enlighten me?

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I find Nordstrom and Dillards have some of the best selections of formal dresses (and not just those geared for 'the prom' age!).

Ditto here. Dillard's is the best, especially online and super easy to return right back to the store.

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My luggage tag and the one I had inside was still there. The one missing was the one that tells you what room to drop off your luggage. It came off during baggage handling from the porters to the ship. Apparently it happens quite a bit.

I put one of them inside also. I don't know if ship personnel are allowed to look inside or not. You might want to invest in some plastic cruise tag holders that have metal holders. You can find them online for a minimum of cost. Worth the investment if you cruise fairly often.

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When we went on our cruise last year, I was waiting and waiting for my luggage. Finally went to guest services and told them my luggage hadn't shown up yet and a couple of other people in line had the same issue. They took us to a room where several dozen suitcases sat and all the ship luggage tags had come off of them.

I've read several places, you should put ID inside your suitcase just for this very reason. We always put our itinerary inside our suitcase as well as ID. It may be overkill but I would rather be safe than sorry.

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I am kind of waiting for the price of the $5 casino chips to come down to about $2.75 which is a lot more reasonable! I mean if they REALLY want to sell and quit being greedy, ya know what I'm saying? :D

Best laugh I've had reading these posts. [emoji106]

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I knew this would happen when I saw this thread.

 

There are the "We want people to follow the rules so that we can enjoy the elegant atmosphere without seeing people dressed for Disneyland in the main dining room" folks versus the "It's our vacation and we'll dress how we want so lighten up" folks.

 

Really, the fancy dressers should lighten up and not let it ruin their vacation, but the shorts and flipflops folks really should be more respectful of the fact that the cruise lines are trying to preserve an elegant atmosphere that is sadly becoming more and more rare.

 

Can't we all just get along.

 

For the record, nothing ruins my vacation, but we dress up and I will confess that I laugh when someone gets turned away for not meeting the clearly printed dress code. They should have known better.

Amen. Won't let it ruin my vacation, but rules are rules and folks should have to follow them or suffer the conquences.

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Great review! Where exactly is the hideaway? Aft, forward, mid?

Mid near the elevators

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Does Celebrity sell Landyard Cords for your Sea Pass and if so, do you know how much they cost? I'm also assuming they punch a hole in the card for you?

 

It most likely would be less expensive to purchase 9 of them for our group in advance like on Amazon.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation on an Amazon Landyard that you purchased worked well for you (sturdy, etc).?

 

I'm thinking perhaps I will purchase 9 of them in advance and then a celebrity to hole punch the cards.

 

Thanks where your input!

We were on the Silhouette in Nov, our Seapass cards were not pre-punched but Guest Services were very accommodating and punched ours for us. I have heard that the Casino will also punch them and give you a lanyard.

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Safe travels. We are cruising on the Pinxgi Lantern Festival cruise out of Singapore Feb 2018. Can't wait.

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We plan to take our niece on a south east Asia cruise with us. She will be 17 at the time. She is estranged from her mother, has no contact with her genetic father, and lives with her step-grandparents.

 

Legal guardians are her mother and maternal grandfather.

 

Do we need written permission to bring her with us on this cruise?

Celebrity.com has the requirements for this. We cruised with our 12 year old grandson last summer and had to have a "parental consent to travel" signed and notarized by one of the parents. It didn't matter if it was the custodial parent or not. Best to contact Celebrity.

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Has anyone, recently, used a transportation company from downtown Rome to the port? My wife and I will probably try to arrange for a group of 4- 6 through roll call, but wonder if anyone has a good recommendation?

http://www.civitavecchiashuttleexpress.com

Great service. Picked us up right on time, 25 Euros per person from Rome to Civitavecchia port. Sent picture of driver day before for identification purposes.

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We are only Classic on Captains Club. We are off on a 25 day trip in January with a 15 night cruise in the middle. On either side, we're staying in 5* hotels, so no self service Laundry there. I know it's very expensive to have individual items laundered on the ship, and I think I'm right in believing that when we are at a higher level of Captain's Club, there is a discounted price on a bag of Laundry. Does anyone here know if a bag of laundry can be done when not at that level, how much it costs and if it holds more than a few T-shirts?

We are Select on Celebrity and just sailed on a Transatlantic in Nov on the Silhoutte. We were given two coupons for 30 items in each laundry bag for 20 dollars. We only needed to use 1 coupon for a 15 night cruise.

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Going to bring one of those shallow tupperware (the kind that can hold at most 1 small sandwich) on next cruise to get some fruit/cheese to have in the room before dinner.

 

Sue me.

Lol

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We were there the same night celebrating my husbands birthday with a table by the window. Also couldn't get the perfect shot of the supermoon because of the glass. We had the same appetizers but opted for the filet mignon (perfection) and the chicken Parmasean (also very good). Our sides were the broccolicini with the polenta fries and dessert was the key lime creme brulee and of course he brought a birthday cake that we were too full to eat so he sent it to our cabin.

 

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Correction, it was pistachio creme brulee rather than key lime. So delish that we requested it in the MDR but to no avail.

Husband loved his steak, although the gorgonzola sauce didn't do much for him. We both very much liked the broccolini and the potatoes. Since Branzino is always the expensive fish on a menu, I guess I expected more. It tasted like, well, fish. ;) And since we hadn't been at a port for a couple days and there were no fishing lines hanging over the side of the ship one could only assume that the fish can only be so fresh. :cool: It was certainly perfectly cooked but again was missing any kind of wow factor.

 

I hate wasting food, so with apologies to my Italian Grandma in heaven, I had to throw in the towel. I do believe Husband made up for my slackness though by polishing off his entire steak. :eek:

 

And somehow, somehow, Joe managed to talk us into sharing a Creme Brulee:

 

 

Now THIS had a wow factor! Rates right up there with the best creme brulee's I have ever had. It was pistachio and something else (I think...chocolate?) Can't remember what it was a combo with (somehow I completely missed taking pics of the menu here, probably because I was Supermoon-picture-taking-focused), but I do remember it was really really good!

 

And about the time I was wondering if I wanted to order a limoncello, but deciding I was too full for even that, well, one of those appeared anyway:

 

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