WorkerBee74

8 hours ago, chemmo said:

The only place you need closed toed shoes is if you are invited to a helipad sail away.

I've seen people mention this before... how does one get invited to this?  Do you need to have a certain CC level?  (If so I can forget it as October is our first Celebrity Cruise 😛 )

On 6/9/2022 at 7:22 AM, AbbyCruiser45 said:

Pros: if you book a room with the couch close to the IV, you have a stunning and unobstructed view of the water. I personally loved this and sat on the couch and just watched the world go by. 

 

Cons: Not the best to have open for warm weather cruises. It gets very humid in the room. We mostly kept it closed. 

 

You can also crack the window just barely to get the wonderful ocean noise, but not let in all the warm air. We would do that while just hanging out in the room to hear the sounds of the sea. That's what I have attached here. And our deck of cards, didn't have to worry about the breeze messing with them. 

 

With that being said, I am also not outside a lot on warm weather cruises (very sun and heat sensitive) so the IV is a huge perk for me. The view from inside on a normal balcony cabin is obstructed unless standing. With an IV, it is the perfect view. It also gives more space in the room itself. Maybe I'm the minority, but I'm a big fan of the IV. 

 

 

Glad someone else likes it... I just put in a "MoveUp" bid from our Ocean View to an IV for our Med cruise in October - wish me luck!

Should be a bit cooler on that one so shouldn't get the humidity as much.  Plus, we're Canadian so we run a bit cooler than a lot of people, we'd love to have the window open if it's on the cooler side.

2 minutes ago, rj59 said:

Rick Steves has some good videos and articles about how to travel light. One way is to get socks, undies, and shirts that wash and dry easily in a sink. I know that's a hard sell to a lot of cruise passengers, but he enforces a 1-bag policy on his tours, and even my always-overpacking sister managed an Italy tour with just a travel backpack. I've used a duffel with backstraps on my last 3 Alaska cruises and use the Uber app to rent an electric bike or scooter to get to the pier from a nearby neighborhood where I leave my car. When I fly I check the duffel and bring enough clothes in a carry-on Osprey backpack to survive lost luggage. 

It's almost like I just posted this above... haha.

Rick Steves is THE MAN for travelling light to Europe - he's an expert at it.

The promotion I'm getting is that if I booked my same cruise today - all things considered - it would cost me another $4500.  So I'm loving that!  (And that's the cruise-only fare, it isn't even the All-Included I have... 😄)

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

We have a 17 N trip ( 12 cruise) and are trying to figure out how to just do carry on. Where we hit issues is with liquids ( shampoo, conditioner, gel, body lotion, mouth wash, perfume, hair spray, face cleanser & cream, suntan lotion). With no checked luggage where do you pack these?

 

Like Rick Steves says... they DO sell toothpaste in Europe.  You take travel size stuff and if you run out, you just buy some in port!  Also - if you're travelling with others, have EVERYONE take one of whatever you think you might run out of 😉

On 7/23/2022 at 10:23 AM, MamaFej said:

To me, this is absolutely silly. Customers should be able to make purchases online when logged in and have their discounts automatically applied. This is the case on countless websites, and I don't get why X doesn't do it that way. It seems that programming the site to apply the appropriate discount would be far more cost-efficient than having customer service agents do it. Those agents should be helping with things that don't make sense to have on the consumer end. Wait times would be shorter if the agents' time could be focused just on the more complicated stuff.

 

I'm obviously missing something, maybe the agents do additional upselling when customers call? I've never called.

Oops - my post got eaten - I ENDED it with an eyeroll haha...

However, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to any of this.  I completed final payment two weeks ago - it still says "call to upgrade'.

I only have preview status for CC and haven't even cruised with Celebrity before so it seems like it has nothing even to do with CC at all!  

 

2 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

3 pages of this.........Has there always been this much discussion re how and when to put 'luggage tags' on the  suitcases?  Are we now back to posting somewhat normally?  The OP has their answer over and over and over again.  Ooops.......I just contributed to the 3 pages....

I was just laughing about how this is still a thing as well.  😆

We are doing the same... invested in some easy-to-wash capsule wardrobe things (skirt, leggings, this wonder of fabric, merino wool shirt/sweater/socks and t-shirt dress to sleep in). 

A few different tops to change things up, packing sandals and wearing wool sneakers, limiting toiletries to travel sizes only and will buy anything I run out of in port.  I've got a clothesline/sink stopper/detergent to wash, and we're spending a week in Spain prior to our 10 day cruise where our last few days are in an AirB&B with a washer/dryer so will do our first week of laundry there.

Planning on sending a few things to wash on ship but will also wash easy-dry items (see above) in sinks etc.

We actually were inspired to do this before all the airport chaos since we are planning a Rick Steves tour in 2024 where they only ALLOW carry ons... but now I am super thrilled that I am doing this because not having to worry about losing luggage in this climate is priceless!

Many tips on how to do this here:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/packing-light/packing-smart

2 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Look at their smoking policies

Is a casino important to you

NCL will require flying both ways

celebrity gives you lots of sea days

 

these are some things to consider

 

I'd love to take a cruise where I didn't have to fly both ways.  😄

22 hours ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

TBH, one of the things we loved most about the Edge class in the Med. was the use of Destination Gateway, Magic Carpet and Edge tenders in certain ports. We actually kinda enjoyed it, compared to the annoyance that tendering can often be on other lines/older ships.

 

It sounds like the ship may have used local tenders in one of your ports? Possibly a local regulation? The Edge tenders we used were... revelatory. Fully air conditioned, cushioned theater-like seating, and flatscreen monitors, while departing/returning to a lovely onboard space with a wall of windows and light.

 

 

That sounds amazing!  Hopefully we get that in Cannes in October 😛

To be completely honest, anyone travelling to the Mediterranean in the summer should be fully prepared at ANY point to not have A/C comfort everywhere you go.  It's hot.  It's always hot.  This year was incredible, but it's almost always +35 somewhere on a summer cruise, that's just the way it goes.

Whether you take a fan, a cooling towel... whatever it is to cool yourself down... TAKE IT.  I've seen so many posts complaining about the heat - I for one would never travel to the Med in JULY and then complain about the heat.  Just like I don't go to Florida in July.

On 7/13/2022 at 12:11 AM, PurpleTraveller said:

After a rest we then headed out for dinner and some more sightseeing. Along the way we saw this building that had vines drapped over it and the power lines. It looked lovely.

 

 

 

This is a restaurant called Ai Tre Scalini - we have it on our list for October!

Enjoying your review - wonderful photos - getting me excited!  We were also on a cancelled Infinity Cruise - ended up on Edge instead on an itinerary in France/Italy vs Spain/Portugal but now going to spend a week in Spain prior.

3 hours ago, Lunastella said:

This is confusing me 🤷‍♀️.....

Right?  Especially because it's a quote from a completely different thread being responded to.

2 hours ago, Aldo7777 said:

Chandelier on holidays, not pish on

my chips but if that precious……..

Why are you pulling a quote over from another thread to this one?  🤨

Thank you SO much for the extensive Cinque Terre coverage!  That's gonna be me on Oct 15th... we're doing a DIY train tour too.  Good to know about the bus... I'll be on the hunt for bus tickets in the terminal - that's awful that happened to you 😞

We're planning to start with Vernazza and work our way back... I'd rather see Corniglia than Monterosso - it won't be beach weather when we're there anyway!

3 hours ago, hawkesbaynz said:

The Edge sat behind me on a flight to Geneva. I was off skiing and I imagine he was visiting his off- shore Swiss bank account. As it was Business class the steward served us using our surnames. Interestingly he was not called Mr Edge or Mr Evans! Boy was one of my favourite LPs of the 80s. I thought that was U2s peak (perhaps The Joshua Tree). 

AMAZING!  🥰

3 hours ago, Lunastella said:

 

Pity he wasn't made the godfather!!! 

RIGHT?!?!?  I know he'd approve of Malala though 😄

I mean.... 

12 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

So, there is no Tuscan Grille on the Edge class. They do however have a Tuscan Restaurant as one of their 4 MDR's on Edge class.

 

Out of curiosity, does the Tuscan Restaurant menus have anything in common with the Tuscan Grille? Has anyone eaten in both restaurants to offer a comparison?

For instance, does Tuscan Restaurant make all home-made pastas like Tuscan Grille does?

 

Thanks

The Tuscan Restaurant is an "MDR" if you will.  Along with Cyprus, Normandie and Cosmopolitan - they have taken the "MDR" concept and split it into 4 'different' restaurants.  The decor differs between them, and they have 'exclusives' that remain the same throughout every cruise but that's only a few dishes.  Otherwise, the bulk of the menu is identical in each of the 4 restaurants each night but changes every night, just like an MDR menu.

The Tuscan Grille is a specialty restaurant and is over and above the 'included' MDR concept above.

54 minutes ago, Lunastella said:

 

Bono (of U2 fame) has a house somewhere in Eze but I can’t see him here today.

 

Haha!  I was going to ask if you saw him - his place is of course down on the water 😉

What an arse that he didn't invite you over for tea! 😄

We're sailing the ship named after the BEST member of U2 😁 in October (at least in my world it's named after him haha) so I am absolutely LOVING your review and pics right now... thanks so much!

5 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

The website problems have been complained about since I first got on cc over fourteen years ago. To fix it probably would cost a lot of money, what’s their incentive? There is none until it does, until then live with it.

TBH there's a lot of logic.  I work in IT for a telecom, and I can't even begin to tell you how expensive it is to process a transaction with a human at a call centre vs. automating it and allowing the customer to 'self-serve' online.  We count those beans every day, and it's inexcusable that the things @RickT listed among others are not available online.

7 hours ago, jwlane said:

You should!

Spending a week in Spain prior, doing Chef's Table, excursions at every port, international flights from the middle-of-nowhere Canada... I have to cut somewhere lol.  Maybe on another cruise but this one is already the most extravagant trip we've ever done... I wish I was part of the 1% but sadly I am not - lol. 

There's a chance we'll get on the ship after a couple of wines and do a walk up booking though - hahah.

6 hours ago, Moonarino said:

Still, Celebrity's website is surely no worse than any other cruiseline site I've ever used. It is slow to load pages (probably because as @WorkerBee74mentioned, super-buggy, kills efficiency) but I see far worse every day. Not defending poor coding, just back to my original suggestion that the real problem is phone service. Not enough CS reps? Poorly trained? Buggy phone system? Got to nail the real problem before it can be solved. Fixing a problem web service, yes, but I get a LOT more frustrated from having to spend WAY too much time in a phone cue and then get absolutely nothing for it. I can't think of anything more infuriating. In probably a small few cases a website fix would do it, but I'll stick with phone services (a.k.a. "Customer-NO-Service") being the bigger problem by far.

 

Comparing Celebrity/Royal websites to every major airline site, hotel site and Carnival's site, they surely ARE worse.  They absolutely are.

Why do you think the call centres are so busy?  Because the website is such garbage that people have to call.  It matters, and it's a domino effect making the call centre experience even worse than it should be.  NO excuse for a multi-million dollar travel provider to have such a poor website in 2022.

1 hour ago, dacrow said:

Thanks for these replies. I'm guessing it's just too early to book the main dining rooms. However, I find it strange that we can book any of the specialty restaurants except for Le Voyage. I would think they would open up all of the specialty restaurant bookings at the same time. Has anyone else run into that issue of being able to book some specialty restaurants but not others?

/deleted post - you were asking about a particular specialty and I was talking again about MDRs haha - sorry!  Probably just too early 😉

14 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

They could also deny benefits by claiming that Power Up opportunities aren't "earning". But they're not going to.

What I stand to get from this is saving a whopping $18.00 on my premium drink upgrade, so I don't think I'm asking for much haha.  TBH I deserve it, because when I tried to upgrade to premium back in February after they cancelled my original Infinity cruise since they moved the ship to the Caribbean, I had to do lift/shift to Celebrity Edge (which in the end I'm not complaining about at all), the agent tried to reprice my entire cruise with the premium package and told me it would cost an additional $3000 something per person if I wanted to upgrade.  LOL as if.  I'd expect Dom Perignon all cruise for that price.

I've come to realise that she was super wrong and that should never have happened but I didn't bother calling back.... in the meantime they've increased the price of the premium package upgrade too, so yeah, I'll do all the quizzes in the world to claw back that $18 now that I've made my final payment.   

5 hours ago, dv70 said:

100% Yes. I have yet to take my first Celebrity cruise, and solely via the PUP program, I am Classic with 64 points.

 

 

Awesome!  I just want to get 10 more points so I can get 10% off my premium drink upgrade haha.  I think I can make it - I cruise in October.  Will be watching this thread for more chances as sometimes my emails get buried in promotion land and I miss them.