cangelmd

I’m responding to this post from a cabin on Summit, and I spent a month on the Silhouette this summer, eating in MDR and a few specialty restaurants.

The Summit buffet for dinner was good. No obvious cutbacks, it’s a smaller setup, but it is a smaller ship. Maybe there is one less salad station and one less drink station (Summit has stations distributing soft drinks), but the variety is there, with a theme each evening. We are a group of four, one person complained about food being cold, and I had one cold item, the rest of my hot food was hot. I only ate dinner at the buffet once on Silhouette during that month - everything that should have been hot, was cold and half the stations were closed (but it was an overnight port, and I suspect that affected staffing and the number of diners)

The Summit MDR now however is almost awful. Very limited and very repetitive. Most nights the only beef dish is the classics steak. Small unattractive scoops of mashed potatoes is the usual veggie, with poorly seasoned green beans. What on earth is so expensive about cheesecake that it came off the classics dessert menu??? Food is cold or near cold and staff is harried. Wine refilled maybe once.

If you didn’t know how nice it was even in July, you wouldn’t realize how different it is now, but the Celebrity food is no reason to cruise.

We had dinner last night in Sushi on 5, everyone was generally pleased, not the finest sushi, but ok. Why plain ginger salad is not an option is a mystery, but otherwise we were happy.

5 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Yes it does but make sure to check to confirm where you are docking-- smaller and medium sized ships will get the prime spot at Wharf 22 (which is the one you see in all the promotional pictures) and larger ships will be sent to Wharf 30 which is on the other side of the basin. One time on QE2 we were docked at Wharf 103 which was wayyyy down and had to be bussed into town. I would assume Summit would have 22 unless there was another ship that day that bumped her. 

 

Depending on how much you want to see a HOHO bus tour really isn't necessary in Quebec City-- its relatively compact and very walkable. Even to get up the steep hill to the Chateau Frontenac you have the Funicular. A lot of the main tourist area is pedestrian only.

 

If you have a full day and want to cover a lot of ground quickly, mainly to cover the Citadel and Plains of Abraham, then it could be useful. But if you have a shorter port stay and just want to see the main sights in town it's not only unnecessary but actually a hindrance. 

Thanks for the responses, according to the link someone else posted, we will be at Pier 30, so across the basin.

Our issue is that one of our party is recovering from a broken ankle and repair surgery. She’s able to walk a good distance on pavement (2-3 miles), but is still a little uncomfortable with stairs and everyone is worried about the cobblestones. 
I can see how the bus could be a hindrance if most of the old town is pedestrian. Some of us do want to see the plains of Abraham. We may end up splitting up, or just play by ear.

Would taxis help in getting from the old city center to the battlefield park?

I haven’t ridden a HoHo bus in years, but on an upcoming Canada cruise it may be a good option in Quebec City. Does anyone know if the bus comes to the actual port - we are on Celebrity Summitt, so I believe we will be docking at the pier across the basin. Also, can you book after arrival, or should you book ahead of time. I’ve only done HoHo on a land trip, killing extra time at a convention or meeting. Thanks.

14 hours ago, jacobtsf said:

The day beds are covered (from sun and rain) and a great option for young kids who might want to nap. But yes, technically the max capacity is 4 people (though I think anyone under 3 doesn’t count). But if it is mostly for storing stuff and having 1 or 2 adults with resting kids it would be fine. 
 

Allure DOES have the nursery. On a ship that big you will want to go up there as soon as you board to sign them up and RESERVE some times (including the time you want to have your adult dinner, I recommend 150 Central Park)

Thks, based on this, I will try to book ahead or asap on aboard. We are the g’parents in the suite, I will bring documents to board the older kids with us, do you think I can get the younger one booked into a nursery even if they haven’t yet boarded?

12 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Regarding sales… what I do is book what I want right away, then periodically check prices and cancel/rebook when they go down.  Sometimes I randomly find a sale, and sometimes find deals on Black Friday or prime day(s).

Might try that strategy, today is Prime day!

3 hours ago, KSprite01 said:

I think it's grandparents+2 older kids in the suite (who can eat at CK and enjoy the suite lounge drinks/apps) and mom/dad/youngest in balcony (who cannot eat there).

Yes, that is the plan - honestly, this is about relaxing with the kids with a floating splash park and no cooking or dishes, our expectations are very low! We booked a suite for the extra space and a bathtub, so adult dinners are down the priority list.

I did read on another thread that sometimes one can speak to the maitre d of CK and get a single friend or couple into dinner as a one off, paying a fee for their dinner, but we would be more likely to all 4 go to a specialty together. 
 

Thanks for the great responses.

6 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Idk which pay area in coco cay you are thinking about a cabana. The 2 pay areas you would have to purchase admittance for each person. There are lots of free areas. There is a shuttle train that goes around to the different areas. I dont think it means 4 is a minimum age, but rather under 4 doesnt have to pay. 

That could be, that makes more sense? The cabanas were I think about $1100 a day for 6-8 people and came with drinks and food, The swimming pool one would likely be best for us.

6 minutes ago, jacobtsf said:

What ship are you on?

 

Adventure Ocean starts at 3 (and they are firm about it) and the kid needs to be fully potty trained. 
 

If they are under 3 SOME ships have a nursery. It is not private/in your room, and there is an hourly rate, but they were great with my daughter when she was under 3. 

3 minutes ago, jacobtsf said:

Coco Cay has sand strollers, they work great. There is a kids water play area that is totally free. 
 

I’ve never heard of a minimum age for the cabanas. If it is really just going to be a home base maybe think about getting a day bed. 

Thanks for quick response, we are on Allure of the Seas.

I was thinking a cabana would be a way to stay out longer. I need deep consistent shade. Will it be hard to get 2 umbrellas together? We are early start people. 
The sand strollers will be great.

Daughter and I thought the youngest would be too young for Adventure Ocean, getting him potty trained so he can do kiddy pool and water play is a goal now. We were hoping for one adult meal for the 4 grownups. It’s only a 4 day cruise, so we may not get off ship except for CocoCay.

Another thought - does the shipboard splash area operate while in port?

We are experienced cruisers, but haven’t been on RCL since 2016. Sailing with daughter and husband and their 3 young boys on Allure for a short Bahamas and Coco Cay trip. Several ?s

Does Royal have typical sale times for add-ons like drink pkgs, cabanas at CocoCay,etc? We are used to Celebrity that will put those things on sale around Labor Day or Black Friday, we don’t sail until spring 24, so just need to know when to look?

Does Royal still have the soft drink machines with the special cups?

What is the youngest age for the kids’ club? Can you still get a separate babysitter by the hour? The youngest boy will be just short of age 3, the older 2 are definitely kids club age.

We were hoping to rent a cabana (not the over water ones) as a home base for the family, any suggestions or insight related to that? The oldest is only 7, so we are not interested in the big water slides or fast rides, just access to a little sand to dig, a pool and shade for Nana who has to stay out of sun. A location near snacks would be welcome, especially ice cream 🍨. Other than our own stroller, are their wagons or other availabile ways to haul the beach stuff? On the RCL website, most of the cabanas said minimum age was 4? I understand having an adults only quiet area, but that seemed to hold for all the cabana areas I looked at, what am I missing?

Any other thoughts would be welcome, the only show we are likely to attend would be the ice show with the big boys, does that need to be reserved ahead? Grandparents and 2 older boys will be in a suite, mom, dad and youngest in a regular cabin - if that changes things with reservations.

Thanks in advance.

We are on a back to back out of Southampton, planning to go ashore for some sightseeing on turnaround day. Anyone know if we can bring wine onboard then, since it is technically embarkation day?

I can confirm that Luggage Valet was restarted on Equinox in early April - we were on that sailing and received the notice in our cabin. As Silkroad said, most of the other ships left within a week or two of our disembarkation, so I doubt LV was restarted on them.

1 hour ago, bigbenboys said:

The chocolate orb in Luminae. I have not seen in it on the menu in over a year.

 

1 hour ago, bigbenboys said:

The chocolate orb in Luminae. I have not seen in it on the menu in over a year.

 

We had it in Luminae on Equinox at the end of March, first of April. I’ve been in Luminae a few times and this was the first time!

My favs though, are the ricotta cheesecake in Luminae, gelato and sorbets, Eden Chico chip cookie and brownies and the ice cream and warm cookie in Lawn Club

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

So are you saying you were able to make nightly reservations in one of the four MDRs every night? When did this start? And more importantly why isn't this discussed anywhere, either here on CC or more importantly on the ship? We were on the Beyond in October and Solstice in February and we weren't able to do this nor did anyone on either ship imply that you can. 

Now that I think about it. We had a reservation at Fine Cut that we moved around a couple of times, and when we canceled Fine Cut, I made a reservation on the app at Normandie instead (where we settled after trying the others). BUT, I’m not sure how much flexibility with time you get, because we were happy with 6:30 - the system might not actually let you make “real” reservations at any time you choose. If you can’t pick a time, it’s not much of a reservation.

We did this on Apex last May. You didn’t have to use it, but it was quite easy

40 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

It's easier not to change and take a possible risk.  That's what Celebrity is counting on.  

That’s an interesting perspective, and one that I may ponder. We are considering other lines, mostly because itinerary, and partly price and value - maybe reluctance to take a risk is what holds us back?

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Reflection TA is at about 55% book , still over 33 empty suits left and it leaves on Sunday 

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Reflection TA is at about 55% book , still over 33 empty suits left and it leaves on Sunday 

Just checked, wow, there are a lot of suites. A suite guarantee, with Premium drinks and Wi-Fi is a bit over $8000 all in for a couple. Wonder how much the flight home would be?

Love to follow along. Don’t know when we will get back to Key West, but will have to do theLittke White House - it looks like Harry packed up and left yesterday!

Quick question, I know I’m beating a dead horse, but we are on a B3B this summer and planning clothes now. Does it say anything on any of your paperwork about what is the absolute last day to send laundry on this ?7? Day leg of your trip?

We actually did this, over 20 years ago. It was our 20th wedding anniversary, we had never been to Europe and we had school age kids that we could not leave very long.

We took the only one week Med cruise we could find. It was a fun, magical trip that led to many other European adventures, bot with and without kids.

Pros, you come home to America each evening - some people (including me, now) might see that as a con not a pro, but your first Europe adventure has so much pressure to see and do everything, that coming back to the familiar is not such a bad thing. My first point is, a cruise is a relatively superficial way to visit.

Cons, many ports, especially the Italian ones are too far from the sights that you actually want to see. If you feel strongly that you are going back one day, that’s ok, we actually returned the next summer with kids in tow. But if you know it will be awhile, consider cruises where there are more ports where you will actually dock - such as Baltic, Norway, Greece or the UK. Maybe even a river cruise?

A big ship cruise as a first trip to Europe worked well for us, but the finances and timing were all to the positive- if we had had more time, we would do something different.

Again, this was over 20 years ago, now, but we got bumped from our original flight (and we were flying in for the day we departed, eek!) along with 30 other people. In the end we flew First Class both ways, and got $1200 cash, which was about the cost of one ticket - so we didn’t care too much how the rest of the trip went, lol! We were delayed so much, they held the ship a bit for us (there were about 15 of us, all on that flight, that were headed to the port), raised the gangplank behind us, literally.

We are booked this summer with some close friends on a B3B out of Southampton this summer - Norway fjords, then Baltic, then Iceland with a stop in Ireland and Scotland.

Alaska is absolutely amazing and a big portion is best seen on a cruise

So glad you made it aboard ok! Have a wonderful trip!

We just got off Equinox. We only got off at 2 ports, but I’m extrapolating to other trips.

Starlink is noticeably better, significantly better - I don’t know mps speeds, but I did 2 very similar downloads onboard, one before Starlink and Starlink worked much better.

Always works better in early am, if he can check his email then.

Pretty much every Caribbean port has bars, immediately outside the terminal, with free Wi-Fi aimed at crew members. It should be easy to download pdfs at those bars, and open and respond at leisure. The crew is sitting around Zoom chatting at these bars.

I don’t think Starlink will help for TAs, TPS, Antarctica, etc, but he should be able to get and respond to his email in the Caribbean.

If you get Premium, he will only notice a little slowdown, the regular will work, but he will have to devote more vacay time getting his downloads.

We are gone for a month this summer, and the only amenity upgrades we bought at the last upgrade sale was Premium internet for one device for the entire month. I might not have done that if I had known how well Starlink worked - but if I knew I had work things to do, I would still do premium

2 hours ago, CNSfromHI said:

Just experienced this last Thursday, April 06. Silhouette docked at 7:00 a.m., flight was at 10:00 a.m. (Southwest) out of Miami airport. I'd booked two seats on Celebrity's shuttle service for $19/each via the Retreat concierge for the 7:45 a.m. shuttle.

 

The ship wasn't cleared until 7:50 a.m., at which point we were walked out... I'll spare the horror story about long disembarkation lines, luggage that wasn't where it was supposed to be, a slow shuttle trip, etc.

 

Bottom line, we reached our gate with less than 5 minutes to spare after run-walking the whole time. Nerve-wracking and definitely something we won't do again. We always arrive the day before departure; now we will always make sure we've got a minimum of 6 hours for departure, as well.

 

cjr

So glad you did make it. We usually book a 1:00 pm type flight, but after our last experience when we didn’t get home until 11 pm, we were considering a 10:30 am flight. Now I’m not feeling good about that!

 I was surprised that it took so long for the ship to clear and happy to have you confirm… maybe it’s a mid week arrival?

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

The #1 helpful hint is to REWEAR clothes. For example, a men's button collar shirt can be reworn 2x before washing. This cuts down on the amount of clothes you need to bring. No one cares that you wore the same shirt to dinner three days ago. 

Rewearing goes without saying! I normally take 6-7 days worth of clothes, plus one spare outfit. Taking a little more this time because the climate is going to be variable. Maybe 10 days worth. Seven days worth is three to five outfits plus chic night. Really depends on how hot will it be and how much I’m going to get off ship

5 hours ago, the penguins said:

Keep half your clothes in your cases under the bed and swop them after 15 days.

Assuming you are Elite use your full free laundry allowance.

We did 60 days (5xB2B) on Solstice and the boss (Anita) is not a light packer.

Never understood cubes, hangers or folding bins as they just seem to compound the problem by adding to the weight.

Yeah, well, I could do the “ pack in a carryon” thing, but I would need to lose 30 lbs and have very good luck at spilling things on me.

I hear what you are saying about the weight, that’s what I think as well. I’ve considered a few other organizing helps, but rejected all of them because the bulk/weight outweighs the benefit. DH will not want to store things under the bed (I know him), but I’m putting some overflow stuff in our carryon. My thought with the bins is they would prevent items from going to the back. If I use the overhead cabinets, I will need them because I can just barely reach.

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

Just curious? What are you planning to store in them that is so critical? Our grandson wouldn't fit😂

Going on a B3B this summer, about 30 days onboard in the same cabin. The husband is already complaining about using the overhead bins as he calls them. It’s tough for me to even reach, so he will likely use them. From previous cruises, I know they are just deep enough for socks and underwear to go astray - I thought a small bin might help corral items?

Open to any suggestions about maximizing storage space - other than take less clothes, that’s a no -brainer, but only helps so much!

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

We have 10” deep cubes we use in the bins and there isn’t much extra depth as I recall.

Thanks, in YouTube videos of the cabins, my guesstimate was a bit under 1 foot in depth, so 10 inches being a tight fit makes sense. Gives me a place to start.