keysey222

It was E-class. The apps and soups were fine, the dinner entrees just left a lot to be desired. I enjoyed the lunches in Luminae.

The food wasn't anything to write home about in Luminae a few months back. The breakfasts were disappointing with stale, dry english muffins and rock hard biscuits. I pretty much ordered omelets every day because those were the only consistently good item. Dinner entrees weren't much better. We ate in more specialty restaurants than we thought we would because the Luminae menu wasn't overly appealing to us this time around. I ordered a salad and a french onion soup each night in Luminae because I knew I could count on those to be tasty as I was routinely disappointed by the entrees I tried. The menu tries to set high expectations with fancy wording, but the reality is far different.

Because there's nowhere else to go but to the upmarket ships like Oceania, Azamara, etc. Which we'd love to try, but we have a toddler that would be bored beyond belief. Between their kids club and larger-sized ships to roam, our kid stays occupied on Celebrity. From what I've heard, there's little to nothing for kids on the more premium lines. We have little desire to sail with RC, NCL, MSC, Carnival, etc. Maybe Disney here or there, but all the Disney stuff would get on my nerves after a few days. We have three bookings on Celebrity through 2024 and we're sticking with them for now.

We go between the two based on itinerary. Celebrity suite class is above and beyond preferable to HAL. However, the Celebrity cost is higher for similar cruises, so I always remind myself of that when I'm annoyed at the lack of suite amenities from HAL. (Still...I'll gladly pay more for a private sundeck any day!) I feel more nickel and dimed when sailing HAL. MDR (or Club Orange/Luminae) food has gone downhill on both since before the pandemic. HAL has a better buffet. Celebrity has better entertainment, especially since I rarely see enrichment talks on HAL anymore. I prefer the pool decks on HAL as they are quieter/calmer than the pools on Celebrity. The pool activities and loud music at the lido pool on our Edge cruise were obnoxious and I hated being around it. HAL has better live music. Celebrity has a better kids club. Service has been great on both lines, but I give HAL a slight edge on it. We like both, but always look at Celebrity first. It's a better product for suite guests, especially with the private Retreat deck. However, sometimes HAL wins based on better itineraries.

We did this last summer on the Rotterdam. It's an incredible ship. Our itinerary included Molde instead of Alesund, but otherwise it was the same. Eidfjord is a tiny little port town and there isn't much in port itself. The main draw is excursions to a waterfall (it was a beautiful waterfall). It's very scenic though. Geirangerfjord is other-worldly and is a must-have for any Norway cruise. The port has some shops and there's a waterfall that's right near the port area. Since we had a two-year-old with us, we did an excursion to a sheep/goat farm while we were there. The whole area is stunning. Bergen is also an excellent stop. We did it on our own - walked about the shops in town and rode the funicular up the mountain. We only did the 7-day and it was a totally fine amount of time in my opinion.

I disagree. Many of us under 50's enjoy 1970's rock. Personally, I prefer music from the mid 60's-1970's and I'm 40 (so do most of my peers). Our parents listened to it and most of us were raised in a home with it playing all the time when we were teenagers. I really enjoy the music on HAL.

I couldn't agree more! I can't speak for all sailings, but there was ample room on the Edge retreat deck. The side by the pool was a bit more crowded than the one with just open deck, but there was always a ton of seating. It was heavenly up there!

We also had a suite on the 7th floor (can't recall the number) and it was creaky. We kept thinking it was the balcony chairs hitting against the wall outside, but that wasn't the case. We never found the culprit and just dealt with it. It woke me up quite a few times!

Just off the Edge and I loved the ship. Stayed in a suite and loved having the private Retreat sundeck. The Edge is my favorite ship so far. We had a balcony, but I can see why people wouldn't like the infinite veranda rooms.

Just got off the Edge and dined at LPC because I thought my 3-year-old would like the animations. I thought the food was average at best. You're better off dining at Fine Cut or Eden if you're looking for a specialty. I wouldn't return to LPC again.

We boarded about two hours earlier than our assigned time (Due to unforeseen issues with our flight being canceled the day before and instead arriving on an international red eye the same day as the cruise. We had a ton of bags and a toddler and nowhere else to go but straight to the port.) Anyhow, we had no issues and they said nothing about it. You could certainly try.

This doesn't surprise me one bit. The previous cruise we did the shore excursion guarantee on was in Norway and the excursions were easily $80-$100 more per person through HAL. They even charged just under full price for our 2-year-old, who turns out what supposed to be free on all the private versions (they honored this when giving us onboard credit). The price differences were honestly egregious. This is why we received so much onboard credit and HAL actually owed us a few bucks at the end.

Prior to the cruise. It took about 3 days into a 7-day for the money to appear in our onboard account.

Something to do prior to boarding is taking advantage of their best price shore excursion guarantee. We did this with our last cruise to Norway. It took less than an hour for me to find the same excursions at substantially lower prices and submit them to HAL. They'll credit you the difference in cost plus 10% extra in the form of onboard credit. We got hundreds of dollars credited to us. It took care of our specialty dining, gratuities and extra small purchases (we had the Have it All, so drinks were already included). We owed nothing at the end of the cruise for the first time ever.