barbette165

On 11/6/2023 at 2:24 PM, bEwAbG said:

 

 

This way you cannot complain when something doesn't meet expectations. 

 

"No, madame.  The menu clearly says we serve Aragula, not arugula"

That's rocket science

Back to the original question, it may have survived because there's no cost saving in removing it. The number of stateroom staff needed is probably determined by the workload in the morning and how many rooms each attendant can achieve during the morning shift. Unhindered by any working time regulations, the attendants are then available in the evening to perform the turndown service for zero or maybe minimal incremental cost.

8 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

I believe that is correct. The ship entered Canadian waters but did not stop and Congress allowed that as a special exemption that year

The exemption also specifically stated it was for the Millennium. At the restart, Millennium was home porting in Sint Maarten and Celebrity initially assigned Summit for the Alaska cruises. The authorities would not allow this substitution and the two ships had to physically swap locations.

Not PUP, it's a win a cruise competition. There are 5 gigagpixel photos of destinations. In each photo there's an "X" with a code below it. You have to zoom in the photos and then try and find the X/code. Get all 5 and you may win a prize.  I've started looking over the first photo, but it's a bit too much like hard work.

If the changes do have an impact on whether customers return or not, it will become very quickly apparent to X in how much business the Future Cruise department is generating. The percentage of passengers who book a future cruise on board is probably very predictable and will not vary that much from cruise to cruise. These sales will be closely monitored and if there is an observable and consistent drop across the fleet then action will surely be taken. (Any resolve for "This is the last time I cruise with Celebrity" will likely be strongest whilst on board and then diminish with the passage of time, when the grass offered by the alternatives doesn't seem any greener).

5 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I think that there is a bunch more waste in the MDR.  It is just that the waiters quickly take away the half empty plates.

 

In the OCV I can get the exact amounts that I want to consume.  I can even go back and get small tastes for a second plate.  No waste there.

 

When I dine in the MDR about half of the food is wasted.  The plates are too big.  And when I want just a taste of something I must order the full plate.

 

So my opinion is that the MDR wastes more food, you just don't see it as it is quickly taken away by a waiter.

You're probably correct when you say that there is more "on plate" waste in the MDR than in the OVC, but there is also the "serving tray" waste in the OVC that needs to be considered. With a similar selection at dinner to that offered at lunch but with fewer customers, there is probably a lot of food wasted that doesn't make it to the plate, either due to end of service or exceeding the safe time for a display to be on display at serving temperature.

Despite my comments above, if I had decided to visit the OVC on the evening of the video in post 1, I would have struggled to find something that I really wanted to eat. They need to roll back on the changes a bit (or quite a bit). Cook to order grill is probably something that has the least waste.

If you don't want to or can't travel the day before, there are BA flights out of Heathrow at 0605 (arrives 0945) and 0655 (arrives 1030). Either of those should be OK, but I'd be tempted to book the earlier, so that the later one could become a back up option in case of delays getting to the airport.

Reading through these threads, it seems that the offerings in the OVC for dinner and the scale of the change vary slightly by ship. I can think of three different explanations for this (there's probably more);

1. There isn't any real difference, and it's just the posters on here spinning the story differently.

2. The F&B managers on the different ships are interpreting the instruction differently / deciding to offer a bit more than they have been told to.

3. The ships are providing what they've been told to provide, having received different guidance. Celebrity are then monitoring how each flavour of change is received by the passengers to determine the fleet wide offering.

I just tried a mock booking on Apex for 8th April '23 on the UK site for a solo traveller.

It offers the following prices for veranda cabins (These will all be total cabin price, including taxes and fees, since all mandatory items must be included in the headline price under UK consumer law)

Porthole at £2145

IV at £2262

Sunset at £3076

Single at £8503

(If select "choose cabin" for the single cabin, about 50% are showing as available).

The 1st April cruise is offering a single cabin at £1316 for cruise only and £2822 for all included.

14 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might ask as I've seen this term used a few times now on this thread. What is a "chair height table"?

 

It's just a normal height table that you can sit at and eat at, play cards or whatever, rather than either a lower height coffee table or a higher table with (or without) bar stools.

REGISTER AND WATCH NOW

Try this ^

I've just received an email inviting me to join an Australia and New Zealand webinar.

It doesn't start with any "Here's your next chance to earn power up points", but reading on, watching the webinar earns 50 PUPs.  The webinar is available to view straight away.

The sending email address contains a UK specific element. Presumably other regions will receive the email in the near future.

(The webinar is playing in the background, everything so far seems to be "amazing")

21 hours ago, the penguins said:

Also remember that if you order a drink over the Classic limit you only pay the difference in price plus the gratuity on the difference not the full cost. Depending on what and how much you drink it is often much cheaper just to pay the difference on the odd drink rather than pay for the full premium package.

For Southampton sailings, since the gratuity is already included in the price, you only have to pay the difference in price.

The US Embassy in Spain provides the same info

U.S. citizens can travel from the United States to Spain if they show that they are vaccinated  against COVID-19, or have a recovery certificate , or show a negative diagnostic test result  (NAAT or RAT) performed either within 72hours prior to departure to Spain for a NAAT (e.g. – PCR test) or within 24 hours prior to departure to Spain for a RAT (e.g. – rapid antigen test).

Has there ever been an answer to a True or False question that was False? I don't bother to even read those questions now, I just answer True.

Could they just mean CELebrity APEX?

1 hour ago, hrhdhd said:

You should also build in some time to get a COVID test, assuming you're flying to the U.S.

The OP's location is Scotland, so they probably won't need the test.

As for something to do - depending on how much luggage you have, maybe take the hop-on hop-off bus. There are two routes and each takes 120 minutes to do a full loop,

https://city-sightseeing.com/en/17/barcelona

2 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

You could try Lloyds Pharmacy. It's a large chain but the closest to you is almost 9 miles away. Its website shows that it offers a 'Collect rapid lateral flow test', and I understand that it is a 'Click and Collect service'. They are showing availability. The web site is good and you should get the location and further details easily.

 

Good luck!

Jim,

      Searching online Superdrug in Lymington (104 High Street) was showing availability for "Click and Collect in 30 minutes" for single test packs at £1.95 each. (The branch had no availability for the 5 test pack, but they did have a least 5 of the single tests in stock)

The Mary Rose (Henry VIII’s flagship) museum in Portsmouth is also well worth a visit.

There's not really that much grass in the lawn club compared to on land, and besides it's kept too short to produce seeds or pollen.

Doesn't the Bermuda4U site say that the Orange route restarts in April 2021 rather than April 21st? Somewhere else in my googling there was a banner that said 2022 timetables would be the same as 2021 timetables. And this site https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_000073.htm says that the Orange route usually starts in the 2nd week of April, so you may be lucky.

Concerning dinner time, I think, on average, Brits eat later than Americans, but for many of the British on the ship may only have been in Florida for a day or two, so their body clocks may still be on UK time. Plus, why try and sync with the full 5 hour time difference, if you're only going to have to start adjusting forward again, so eat early and go to bed early for the first few nights.

12 minutes ago, RichYak said:

In a room full of CruiseCritic users, if you ask "Does anyone have a pen I can borrow?', here are the likely results:

• Explanation of how the pen mechanically works
• Difference between felt tip, ball point, etc.
• Reasons why I should always carry my own pen
• The unsanitary nature of my request, particularly during a pandemic
• "You can get one in the Retreat Lounge... oh you're not in a suite, how sad."
• "I didn't get a free pen in my cabin either. I complained to the Hotel Director."
• "I bet you removed your auto-gratuities. It serves you right"
• "Sorry, I only use my Montblanc platinum coated pen, but it's in my safe"

Someone may even lend me a pen

Someone would tell you that there's a pen already provided in the cabin.

Someone else would then ask if there was a cruise only fare without a provided pen because they objected to paying for something they didn't use.

Someone would say that they've got all their free pens since 1982 and complaining how the quality of pens has declined, particularly since the appointment of Lisa Lutoff-Perlo

Someone would complain that the pens on E-class ships are a case style over substance and blame Kelly Hoppen, who has never used a pen at sea.

The airline analogy is more suited to the executive lounge rather than seat. Lounge access is usually granted based on either class of travel purchased (or allocated) or on loyalty status accrued - so someone who has achieved a premium loyalty status would be allowed into the lounge even on flights where they have paid rock bottom prices for a seat in coach/economy.

This model seems to map perfectly onto Michael's Club / Retreat Lounge access being given to suite class passengers or Zenith level CC members.

6 minutes ago, canderson said:

What surprised us was that the ship was 'cleared' for at most 30 minutes, and would have been half that if shoreside had their act together on the reembarkation process (Tampa, and their first experience of doing it).  So is this clearing business just some CDC nit in the CSO (optional now)?  If so, not clear why a small number of upper suite pax couldn't be left aboard until later.  They'd be vastly outnumbered by the B2B pax who typically reboard within minutes.

 

 

Do the B2B passengers still need to have a test the day before changeover? If so, then all passengers onboard after the ‘clear’ will have recently tested negative. Unless they also test the extend your stay passengers, there is perhaps an increased risk that a virus outbreak could be seeded on the next cruise. It’s a risk they can avoid by removing the facility.

For Edge and Apex, look at the deck plans. You can see that the cabins aren't rectangular, They have a wider and a narrower part that interlock with the adjacent cabin. The wider part is where the bed is, so in the plan below 8277, 8281, 8285 etc have the bed by the bathroom / door. 8279, 8283 etc have the bed by the balcony