horseymike

46 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

It was a gal from Oklahoma but can’t remember her name.  She was pretty good

Her name is Crystal.

10 minutes ago, Houli58 said:

We are cruising next week on Ascent.  We pre-paid the gratuities up front.  Do we tip cash to the bartenders when we order drinks or is this part of pre-pay?  Also what about housekeeping.  Do we leave daily cash tip in stateroom?

Any beverage service will have a 20 % gratuity added to the charge. If you have a beverage package you have already paid the gratuity for your beverages ( unless you order a drink that costs more than your package allows ,)  in which case you will be charged the difference plus a 20 % gratuity on the difference only.

With regard to your cabin steward you have already paid for those gratuities, should you choose to pay additional gratuity in cash is totally up to you.

Very interesting thread here. I never gave it much thought.

Cruising with another line at the same port 2 times a few years apart, 

once there was a bus provided to take the ship passengers from the actual dock to the gate into the town ( quite a long walk ) the next time there was no bus provided.

I asked one of the local security officers why , he said the cruise line did not contract the bus service for this cruise. Interesting stuff.

Guess things like this are part of the port charges.

Hello Everyone,

Are the gratuities included when you purchase the Quench Beverage Package ?

Convenient at times , yes.

Essential , no.

It depends on what your priorities are , convenience take Uber / Lyft.

Saving $ , Brightline.

I am not a wealthy person , but I would take Uber or Lyft.

Hope whatever you choose goes well. 🍀

This is totally unacceptable. It should be reported to the Florida Department of Consumer Affairs. 
It may take a little time , but my experience is that they follow through on any price gouging that takes place at any time.

Thanks for the input Roy. I hope you are doing well.

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I know some Rotterdam cruises have been altered but it has always been announced well ahead of time.

 

If you haven't seen an itinerary deviation by now you should be good to go.

 

Rotterdam is too big to go through the original locks.  I would expect her to be the only HAL ship doing so since the Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam have been banned from the new locks (except under unusual circumstances with no passengers).  The lifeboat mounting was modified on Rotterdam to all the boats to be fully inside, making the already narrow promenade deck inaccessible during the transit.

I have been through the original canal many times and wanted to experience the new locks just once, and was happy to have done it but the next time I would prefer the old locks.

 

Roy

Captain Hook 🪝 and Sargent Shultz.

Only kidding 🤣

Hope you have a great cruise 🚢.

On 9/15/2022 at 10:39 AM, wineoclock said:

We like ice in our drinks just not as much as Americans as it seems (well to me) that it waters the drink down too much… 

Cheers 🍻 

Very concise review, my favorite.

Glad you had a good time, thanks for sharing your experiences with us all.

Very well done.

3 hours ago, maureenk said:

It’s 8% off now. I’m waiting to buy on board  to use my shipboard credit. 

You should be able to use your OBC to book now and get the discount.

I would drive south to Ft. Lauderdale if given the choice.

On 1/11/2024 at 3:51 PM, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

I am scheduled to sail on the Rotterdam departing on January 26th for 9 nights. The cruise (both 9 & 21 day options) has shown as sold out since before Thanksgiving. We are booked on a casino comp fare that did not allow cabin assignment so are on a guarantee. We do net yet have a cabin assignment.  Should I be getting worried about being bumped and start working on alternate plans?

Hope everything goes well.🚢

Have a great time 👍

2 hours ago, Mike B Landlubber said:

To avoid disappointment I signed up early for a shore excursion next September rated as “strenuous”. Since that time, I had to have a knee surgery that isn’t recovering as well as expected. I will still be able to go on the cruise, but worry about doing the strenuous excursion, though I do have some lead time to hope my knee improves. I’m thinking of canceling this and shifting to a moderate excursion, but I see that I apparently used a shore excursion credit from Have It All to sign up for this, and it shows my refund as $0.00. If I cancel, will I get my shore, excursion, credit back, or is that gone if I cancel? I attempted a search, but can’t find this specific issue amongst a horde of generic shore, excursion cancellation questions.

I would contact the HAL resolution department in Seattle. Let them know your concerns, I have found them to be quite helpful.

What about a pick up for a group of 4 people ( one of which is handicapped ) and their luggage after a cruise to go to Delray Beach ?
Any suggestions on the best option for this situation ? 

I did not book our cruise through Costco, so I will try calling them .

When I tried to book online , the premium looked quite reasonable.

Thanks again.

To obtain a Cover More policy did you have to purchase your cruise from Costco Travel ?

I pay online. No issues to this point, we have cruised HAL about 5 times in 20 years.

17 th street in Fort Lauderdale is very close to Port Everglades, many hotels and restaurants there.

Your TA should  provide you with a copy of your cruise statement showing all the pertinent information concerning your cruise. Drink package, WiFi  cabin # etc.

Sometimes Celebrity runs a sale on Premium Drink package upgrades, your TA should be on top of that , but if you notice it on Celebrity website and or cruise critic let your TA know asap. You can always upgrade at the going rate before or onboard.

Once again, if you tell your TA what you have in mind to celebrate they can give you a few options.

Finally , once onboard go see the maitre d , see if he can help you secure an earlier dining time. I have found they do their best to accommodate you if possible.

Good luck 🍀. 
Hope you all have a great cruise 🚢 

Happy Birthday to your Mom.

13 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

This is cruise critic, a balanced review should have pros and cons, I’ll focus on the cons

 

Simply put, people aren’t seeing the value they used to

-Price…X’s parent company, RCG, openly brags during their earnings call that they can keep raising the pricing (for context, way above inflation) and bookings don’t suffer

-Food…Some food items were cut while others were downgraded, many won’t notice or care

MDR sides…Most MDR entrees now come with a scoop of mashed potatoes which looks a little disappointing

-Food temp…95% of the time, we have had hot enough food, we’re not the plate needs to be sizzling type but those who are claim odds have increased of receiving food not hot enough to their liking

-Food service…There can just be long waits to get a table and receive your food

-Bar Service…Can be long waits during peak times as I experienced this first hand with a 20 minute wait on the beyond this past spring.  Some claim they cut bartenders

-Alcohol availability…Name brand liquor can be out of stock with either a house replacement or no replacement at all…Also, Wine by the glass out of stock or they tell you despite what the menu says, you can only buy the entire bottle

That waiting a long time for a drink is a direct result of all the prepaid drink packages.

The drinks and tips have already been paid for so from Celebrity’s position, why rush on the delivery? There used to be servers every 10 feet all over the ship asking if you wanted a drink.

1 minute ago, buncosquad said:

Unsure of the negativity myself.*

 

*I live under the rubric that life ought to be enjoyed to the best of a given circumstance.

 

Contrary to the grievance industry that you may find in this forum, which seemingly can produce an ad hominem attack for the slightest perceived offense, I wouldn't take it for more value than you might a grain of salt.

 

Granted, I've only sailed Edge class, and double occupancy, but the experience has been superb each time.**

 

**I would surmise that cabin class might influence outcome, in which case simply pay for what you read is likely to afford what you really want and value.

 

Edge class ships are wonderful. The prior generation ships, as you can research and view for yourself, look woefully outdated (and priced accordingly compared to Edge class).

 

It's a vacation. Who can have a problem with that? 😀

I have yet to sail on an edge class ship , my wife and I enjoy walking on the promenade deck which is not an option on the edge class ships. That said we have cruised on the s class and m class on numerous occasions and very much enjoyed our cruises.

Last but not least , there will be complaints from many folks consistently on these boards ,

However the name of the boards is “ cruise critic . “ 🤣