TeeRick

21 hours ago, Pinboy said:

 

LOL--- When CCers post " I tip depending on the " over and above " service"--- What does that mean, " over and above what ??

 

Here is what it means I think.  Over and Above, Above and Beyond (service, not the ship!), anything describing service, like food, is in the subjective category.  And it comes from an individual's personal expectations.

20 hours ago, Lastdance said:

The crew loves hearing from you by writing a personal note applauding their service.  You can get the note paper from Guest Services or concierge, returning it to the same place.  That individual gets recognition from his/her peers, along with others.  We have done one or the other, but many times both if our service was excellent.

This is true - but also comments with their name mentioned with an exceptional service story are very good for them in the post-cruise survey.  

We do tip extra above the standard daily gratuity - with cash in an envelope the last night of the cruise.  Many cruisers do this.  Here is what we typically do.  Amounts are up to you.

For a CS, you will have a true dedicated butler.  That never changed*.  When we cruise a CS and above, we tip him/her if we used them.  Some use them more than others on here.  We use our butler to deliver and set up breakfast, leave refreshments, etc. , also laundry services.

[Note: Many Sky Suite cruisers no longer tip the butler team - although that is changing back].

We tend to leave an extra cash tip for the room attendant if they attend to any special requests.

We tend to give an extra cash tip in Luminae - address it to the Team.  Some give to individuals like the wine steward.  

We tend to give a cash tip to the Retreat Concierge if they did anything above and beyond for us.

Bartenders and Bar servers - in the Retreat - we add a tip when they deliver our drinks.  

1 hour ago, exm said:

 

They can always make the terminal bigger, that shouldn't be an issue. The question is if there's a large enough cruising market (which I think there is).

Why do you think Baltimore is a large (enough) cruising market?  It is secondary at best offering smaller older ships from a few cruise lines. It serves limited passengers.

Maybe if it were a local currency in a very small country hosting the Olympics.  But definitely not the Euro.

10 hours ago, wpas1 said:

I’m planning a family cruise and comparing these 2 ships.  Not exactly sure how many will be going in our group but know we’ll have 2 adults in 60’s, 3 in 30’s, a 5 year old and a 2 year old.   What are pros and cons?  The largest ship I have sailed on is Adventure.   How do these ships compare?  Are they more crowded, wait times for my time dining, etc.   Not really too concerned with ports, more about ships.  I also know this is all subjective but would like others opinions.   Thanks 

Symphony.  We just sailed on her and loved it.  Are any of you in a suite per chance?  Symphony is the much better choice there too.

We have used PJ's with good success.  Expensive for what you get but a good experience.  On our last two cruises we have opted for Tours By Locals.  It was just the two of us and a guide.  Fully customized.  You can select the guide from all of the online reviews.  Less expensive than PJ's overall.  We have gone to this small tour/private option since the pandemic hit.  We are done with even mini buses full of people.  We also have done Tours By Locals splitting the cost with another couple (from our Roll Call).

On 3/26/2024 at 11:18 PM, DogLover said:

Larry's Limos are an excellent option ... have used them many times.

https://larryslimo.com/

I second this opinion.  They are excellent.

21 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

They've since decided the new span will be built next to the existing ones (which is really dumb, but, it's Maryland so no surprise).

It is possible that it makes sense from a bridge engineering point of view looking at the bedrock, currents, access, etc.  Who knows but the experts.  They built the new Tappan Zee Bridge (now Gov Mario Cuomo Bridge) next to the old one, which was then removed.

Found this project to increase the clearance of the Suspension Bridge near Savanah, GA to be quite interesting.

https://apnews.com/article/savannah-suspension-bridge-georgia-south-carolina-49440d932d0abcff20351a6fac33620d

My DW drinks Pinot Grigio and was satisfied with the selection available using her D+ drink coupons on the ship (Symphony).  We did not purchase drink packages.

We ordered the lobster in Murano.  Same Caribbean spiny lobster (crawfish) tail.  About the size of a large shrimp.  Just not worth it even if you order two.  The lobster roll in Luminae is mostly salad with a few small pieces of meat.  Again not worth it IMO. The only true Maine lobster we have found was on Celebrity Edge (surf & turf) in the Fine Cut a few years ago.

We have booked many S1 Aft corner sky suites- never had soot.  For those that did, I believe you, but how do you know it was actually smoke-stack soot and not some other type of outside dirt?  Just curious.  

17 hours ago, bikerunner said:

So if an asteroid hits and causes widespread destruction on the earth Im not covered....not fair.   

Yeah the dinosaurs did not have insurance either.  Life is unfair.

13 hours ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

This is like a science lesson… 🙂 I’m a New Englander and my guest experience with something other than cold salt water lobster was on a cruise and now fresh and brackish water lobsters?  Who knew…

True lobsters have claws like the ones in New England and Canada.  The Spiny or Caribbean warm water "lobsters" served on cruises do not have claws and are actually classified in the crawfish family, not the lobster family.  But would people get excited if they called it Crawfish Night?😄

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Any adapter like that or others should work, assuming everything you plug into them is rated to function on 220VAC. 

Yes good comment! It is important to check the required voltages for devices you are plugging in.  Many are 110/220 but some are 110 only.

A trick we have used for years.  We take an empty spray bottle and a few dryer sheets like Bounce.  Once on board add water and a dryer sheet to the spray bottle.  Instant wrinkle release spray.  It really works!

19 hours ago, Ashland said:

I'm fine with staff serving the soft serve. However they need to do it correctly. The round & round method isn't correct and why you see many times it falls off the cone cause it's just sitting on top.. They need to do the up/down method which fills the inside of the cone first...no spillage this way and it makes a nice serving.

 

Whatever the product that Celebrity uses tastes much better than the one RCI uses.

We were just on both cruiselines and could tell the difference in taste.

I never knew that there was a proper method to fill a cone with Soft Serve.  Thanks!

On our recent cruise, some restaurants (like Hooked) did not honor the BOGO even on night 1 or 2.  

13 hours ago, vjmatty said:

Yes, that’s what I meant 🙂

They look nice but pretty expensive.  I think they would be too noisy for us with all of the Aqua show activity.

5 hours ago, vjmatty said:

If I didn’t mind the expense I’d book the Aqua suites to have the best of both worlds. Ocean on one side, people watching on the other. 

Are you referring to the Aqua Theatre Suites?

14 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Do they not allow you to drop off the luggage at the port then drive to the parking lot?

Google off-site parking with shuttle service.

23 hours ago, OceanCruise said:

Are all the Crown Loft Suites basically the same or are some "better" than others in terms of the room and/or location (on Oasis)? From the deck plans it seems like the ones facing the back don't have a water view like the ones on both sides. Any other differences? 

I agree with @jk04on this. We definitely choose the ones on either side facing the ocean.

22 hours ago, vjmatty said:

This was October 2021 so maybe it was restart related, but there was definitely repetition within the 7 days, and more than once. Based on your post I’m hoping that’s changed, as we’re sailing Symphony in September.

Yes that might explain it.  We did Symphony recently and loved it!  Enjoy!

Just too funny. 😄 The answer was yes in post #2.   Still yes on post #21.