MrsNorman

Astounded that you stayed on board in Belfast and missed everything that Northern Ireland has to offer!

I think you really missed out by your decision to stay on board in Belfast. It is a wonderful city with lots of interest and the surrounding countryside is beautiful. We have spent many a vacation in that area. It's great! do go!

They come in little plastic bottles rather than in a large dispenser. They are always regularly replaced and seem to be OK, good quality, although we prefer to bring our own.

Thank you for this excellent review. We also are going to the Baltic in 2018, via Southampton on the Silhouette, and I have saved your review in my favourites to read again nearer the time. There are one or two places which we will miss, due to the different itinerary but your review has made me want to visit them separately! Wishing you all the best and happy future cruising, thank you again.

I'm going to play devil's advocate... If your kids are minors, I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to eat at the Concierge's lunch if not in a Concierge Class cabin, but if they are not minors, they should not be allowed. What if many who cruised in Concierge Class brought their friends/relativies to the lunch, well, it sure wouldn't be that special to those that paid for the priviledge by booking a Concierge Class cabin.

I absolutely agree with this opinion. :)

We are booked in Concierge Class, but our kids are in a standard cabin. Anyone know whether they'd be able to join us for this lunch?

Because of the time it takes to get a response if you phone Celebrity to ask a question, I would probably just bring the children along to the lunch anyway. The MDR staff can hardly turn kids away from a meal if they are with their parents. I am sure they wouldn't turn you away. I think they would seat your children as well and that they would be able to have the lunch with no problem. We have always found the staff to be quite flexible.

I am really enjoying your review and your wonderful photographs which are all increasing my anticipation of our Baltic cruise on the Silhouette next May. Unfortunately that itinerary misses out Amsterdam and Oslo, but we will be sure to visit them separately on another holiday.

I'll continue to enjoy the next instalments and I will save it in my favourites to read again before our cruise. We will have to keep an eye open for special themed nights in the buffet! Presumably they do a different one for each place you go to?

Thank you for the lovely review.

On our Iceland/Ireland cruise last year we were pleasantly surprised by the newly introduced Concierge lunch soon after we boarded. I think it started at 12 or 12.30 and saved us navigating the Ocean View buffet on embarkation day, when we had our carry on bags etc, That can become hectic with nearly everybody looking for a seat at lunchtime. Maybe Celebrity introduced this lunch to try and take the pressure off the buffet.

This lunch time alternative we found very relaxing, and a lovely way to start the holiday. We were seated at a large table with other passengers including B2B guests (although I suppose we could have asked for a table on our own if we had wished). No there wasn't a lot of choice, but we were happy to choose from what was available, which was fine We had had a more than adequate breakfast at the hotel beforehand, and knew we would be well fed during the cruise. I feel sure the waiters would bring something different if there were any dietary needs.

Thank you for your review so far and the beautiful pictures. We also have booked to go to the Baltic on the Silhouette next May, from Southampton, which means that we will miss out on Amsterdam, but this part of your review will be useful for when we do.

Looking forward to reading more!

I personally think you did the right thing opting for Celebrity and the Eclipse for your first cruise. It's what we did and we were delighted with that choice. I agree that you may not find it is worth upgrading your drinks package as the Classic one you have will cover all drinks, - wine, beer, spirits, cocktails etc, up to a certain price and the speciality coffees, including the alcoholic ones, and most people find that is sufficient. And nowadays, I think, if you decide to drink something that is not covered by the package you only have to pay the difference, not the whole price as we did before. Also many people don't bother to buy dining packages beforehand as the food in the main dining room and the buffet is usually very good. I agree that you are better to wait and see what you think when you are on board.

The only bit of advice is to check your account (which you can do via your stateroom TV) on a daily basis just to make sure that you haven't been charged for anything you haven't had. It sometimes happens but is easily put right.

Have a lovely cruise! The Eclipse is a beautiful ship. :)

When we sail on Silhouette next May we are going to be very near to the Hideaway on level 7 where I think we can get a coffee. So although we would prefer to have a kettle in the stateroom it is not going to be a huge problem for us if we don't. But I should imagine that since they know that we Brits love our early morning cuppa, X will have thought of providing us all with one!

We usually borrow a couple of mugs from the buffet to use as the cups that are provided in the stateroom are on the small side, usually!

No, they are pulled out at night.... "turn down time". They have a list of who is in the cabin and they will see that there are only two of you. You may, if you wish, tell your cabin steward when you arrive. Happy cruising.

Thank you! Happy cruising to you too :)

Don't forget to post a review to let us know how you got on, will you? We have booked for the Baltic cruise on Silhouette for next May. I have already got Rick Steves' Northern European Cruise Ports guide book, which looks very comprehensive, because we are thinking of looking round most ports ourselves, with the exception of St Petersburg. :)

It is lovely, not having to go through an airport and once you're on the ship it starts to feel really relaxing straightaway.

Those extra beds - are they tucked out of the way if they are not in use? We have a square and a triangle which I think means a pull down bed and a sofa bed. But there are only the two of us, so I hope the two extras are not in the way.

Yes. There are a few premium non-alcoholic items not included such as sparkling waters ( Pierre, San Pellegrino etc) and a few coffees at Al Bacio.

 

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When we were on the Eclipse last year we discovered the coffees in Al Bacio with alcohol in them (Irish coffee etc). Would it be these that are not included in the Classic package now? I'm a tiny bit disappointed if so, as otherwise we don't have a huge amount of alcohol. :confused:

It is good to have a browse around the library to see if there is anything we would like to read, but normally we have brought enough on Kindle or paper books. We like to get ourselves a takeaway coffee from Al Bacio on sea day afternoons and read on our balcony or on the bed or couch. I always bring a book to write in as well, because it is nice to write about excursions etc. :)

Hi, we love reading as well but we normally bring our own books. There do appear to be lots of books in the library but they have a selection in a number of different languages so unless you're a linguist that would narrow down the number that may be of interest to you. We have found the library to be a nice place to sit for a change. There is noise at various times from the atrium and also I get distracted by people zooming past in lifts. We prefer to take our books to the sky lounge, where although there may be other noise distractions from time to time, we have the sea to look at. You will love the Eclipse, we were totally thrilled with our first experience of it.

We also check our account daily on the TV in the stateroom and once - maybe twice we have been charged for things that either we have not had, or which should have been covered by our drinks package. I believe I know a possible reason - one day when we left the buffet we collected our bottles of water from a table near the door. The attendant there was copying down the 8 digit numbers from people's passcards onto a piece of paper so that they could put them through the till later. I should imagine that errors can occur when the waiter is putting someone's beverage through the till using their passcard number, and mistakenly keys in the wrong number which may happen to be someone elses.

I doubt they are doing it deliberately - just human error.

It is worth checking in the evening, then you can remember what you have had. Otherwise we do not let it bother us too much as Celebrity, in our case, refunded the wrongly charged amounts without any trouble whatsoever.

Lots of interesting replies. But the bottom line is that the cruise lines are the employers, and not the passengers. It is their responsibility to pay their staff, not ours. At a proper rate. We do that by paying our fares.

And if, as someone said earlier, staff who receive tips (a word which, by the way was invented by Twinings Tea in London) tax-free and furthermore the do not necessarily go to the people you want the money to go to, isn't that even more of a disincentive to pay them?

 

 

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No, not for me. I happily pay my tips (or use the "tips paid" perk which I am told is the same as paying tips) and if I think it appropriate to tip someone a little extra, I'll do so. :)

On my last cruise, I chatted with the bartenders in Michaels and the wait staff in Luminae. I consistently heard from the staff that they were very glad to have been accepted by Celebrity because they were the best paymaster in the cruise industry and they said "they make alot of money" working on the ship and they were very happy. I did not ask and these folks simply offered the information. They usually started the conversation about this is their x contract... And when it runs out and they want to renew etc. So I won't be too worried about exploitation. Regardless, this is free economy. Everyone is free to work for a different employer.

Thank you for your post, that's good to hear. :)

Just go on glassdoor.com to see what employees have said they were earning. This screenshot shows some of the Celebrity Cruises salaries:

 

There are some obvious outliers in the numbers; I don't think a waitress earns $4,000 a month when all the other cruise lines (and even Celebrity on that same screen shot) show an hourly wage of about $10 per hour. The waitress would have to work 13 hours a day 7 days a week to earn that amount. Their union won't allow them to work that long. They don't work those hours, but they do work more than a 40 hour week, often on a split schedule. So the job is hard. (Bartenders, on the other hand, report from $3,000 to $4,000 per month on RCL, Celebrity, and NCL).

 

Here's my theory about how the pay / tips things works:

 

I suspect the wages they get are a contracted amount. Tips are not taxable income in some countries, such as the Philippines. If their check shows $500 in wages and $500 in tips then they pay taxes on the $500 in wages and not on the tips. That's by design of their home country's tax policies, which are created to encourage workers to take service position jobs. In the Philippines a wage of $1,000 a month is roughly equivalent to 4 to 5 times that much in the US. They are earning as much as aircraft mechanics, legal assistants and other similar professionals in their home countries.

 

"Super savers" from the UK can remove their auto-gratuities with impunity; I don't believe it immediately affects the pay of that crew on that sailing. However, over time, pooled incentive programs and shared tip pools shrink if enough customers stop paying into them. The Filipino will end up with $800 in wages and $200 in tips on his check, and pay a high progressive tax rate. So you do hurt the little guy when you are "sticking it to the man".

 

I asked the Hotel Manager on out last NCL cruise and he said the cabin stewards keep their cash tips and the "pool" talked about on the NCL boards is a myth. Only the service charge is a pool (NCL admits it is more than just part of the salary, but also helps pay for other services like medical for the crew). Bartenders and others may pool their cash tips by prior arrangement, or they might keep them all. But they are not compelled to put it in a tip pool. I'm not sure about Celebrity, but I suspect they follow suit. Finding, training and keeping workers is one of their biggest challenges.

 

Those of us with consciences who worry about taking a cruise where workers are exploited can rest easy. The workers are certainly working hard, and are earning every penny, but they are in the best jobs they can get. They are not exploited. They are employed.

Many thanks for your post, that is very reassuring and food for thought. :)

I couldn't agree more. It never fails to amaze me how some cruise passengers take an inordinate interest in matters that they wouldn't think of prying into elsewhere. I can't imagine them staying at a hotel and trying to find out how the restaurant staff or chambermaids are compensated.

Thanks for your thoughts, guys. The staff in my local grocers, my hairdresser and myself included all have at least a minimum wage. As far as I know restaurant staff and chambermaids get that as well, so I don't worry too much about their earnings even though we leave a tip for them. Also, most people are able to move on to another job if we feel we can do better elsewhere. As a rule, working conditions for us are not bad so we would not expect anyone to be concerned about us.

I don't think it is prying to want to know if the cruise staff's working conditions are fair, including them benefiting from any tips they might deserve, because their circumstances are obviously different, and may be open to exploitation. And I think we all want to know that in supporting the cruise companies we are supporting people who treat their staff well, which I hope and pray they do.

And he should be worried if he tells passengers about company business, as it is between the employee and their company.

OK but customers would want to know, and quite rightly too, about the working conditions of the people who are providing a service. There should not have to be any secrecy about it.

Opting for free gratuities from Celebrity is the same as your auto paying gratuities each day while on the ship. They get the same auto tips.

Many thanks for your reply but it seems that while some people are reassured, like yourself, that the tips are going to the right hands, many other people still doubt and I think it is time that cruise liners like Celebrity are transparent and open about who gets what - and whether the crew will lose their jobs if they don't get a 10 on the feedback form - so that we all know.

Totally agree with you, no one really knows whether the cruise line pocket some of this extra cash or whether it all goes to the crew. We only know that when talking to the cabin steward about gratuities he had been told not to discuss with the passengers, we could see the fear in his eyes the worry for his job security.

That's interesting. On the last night of our cruise last year the waiter on the table we had most used (he and his assistant had done a brilliant job anyway) asked us that if we filled in the feedback form to please, please give them a 10 because it was very important. We did, of course. I love cruising but this is one reservation about it, how the crew are treated and whether they would lose their job if someone gave them a lower mark. It would be good if Celebrity clarified this to customers, but I have not seen anything to properly reassure us about it.

Give the tip to your attendant. Don't just leave it in the cabin.

Is that because the attendant would not know if it was for him/her, or whether the guest had just left money behind and it would seem as if the attendant had stolen it if they just took it? Or do you have another reason for saying that. On our last cruise we did leave an extra tip in the cabin, but put it in envelopes with the attendants' names on them and a thank-you for their help. I don't like the idea of passing money from hand to hand in a tipping scenario. It seems kind of patronising - or maybe I am just hypersensitive.