kwokpot

What was the most jaw dropping experience was with our hotel experience in the Stratford Upon Avon in England. We were staying at a Holiday Inn Express right outside Stratford Upon Avon. It's a budget brand with clean rooms and free breakfast and that's about it. We were leaving the hotel around 5pm to drive to the City Center and when we walked by the breakfast room in the lobby area I was just astounded by what I saw. Every table, and I mean every table was filled with people drinking, and this INCLUDED families with young kids. In fact the breakfast room was more crowded for drinking alcohol than it was the next morning for breakfast! Apparently Holiday Inn Express hotels in the UK all have a full bar, while NONE of the Holiday Inn Express hotels in the US have bars, only breakfast is served. I have never in my life seen ANY Hotel breakfast room packed at 5pm with people drinking. It was like a Pub.

It's like that throughout England, not just London. After doing a first time road trip through England post cruise I've come to the conclusion that the Brits drink way, way, way, way more than Americans do.

Pretty rich that a bird call is annoying a Carnival CD. Really? What happened to the FUNShip? Oh I guess it's only fun when the CD introduces something 🙄

For the OP the issue isn't just the on board experience but probably more important is the ship's ambiance and amenities of the cabin. If you notice the OP is sailing in a suite on one of Celebrity's newest and most upscale ships. The suite they are staying in comes with lots of additional amenities such as a Butler, a private lounge with free drinks, a private sundeck, a private dining room. These amenities aren't available when booking a suite cabin on even the newest Carnival ship, never mind one of the oldest Carnival ships the OP is considering. These amenities and a luxury experience is what the OP states are important factors for them.

Did you say something? I would have.

European butter puts anything we have in the US to shame!

The 2nd picture shows where the toilets are. When I was there last year there were numerous AMERICANS complaining about having to pay to use the toilet. A woman gave the attendant 1USD and shouted that's all she had. It was a pathetic example of the ugly American tourist.

You'll going to love the Edge.

The issue with suites on Carnival isn't the room itself but that nothing else really comes with it. In other words there's really no other perks. With Celebrity, there's a private dining room, private lounge with complementary alcohol and snacks, a Butler, and all kinds of other priorities. On Carnival suites are just a larger room, there's no other benefits. None.

As a point of reference here are photos of the Carnival Sprit indoor pool vs the Celebrity Solstice indoor pool. Which looks more unscale and relaxing?

What type of cabin do you have on the Celebrity? You're probably on the Solstice? I was on the Solstice in February and although it's an older ship she is still beautiful and it's a much larger ship than the Carnival Spirit. The decor on both ships are night and day. So if you decide to go ahead with the Sprit you have to be OK with a ship environment that's not upscale in anyway, shape or form. The Cabins aren't upscale, the public spaces aren't upscale, the buffet isn't upscale, the pool area isn't up scale. The main dining room isn't upscale. The food on Celebrity would be overall better than Carnival. The buffet on Celebrity is far superior to Carnival. To compensate for the weak buffet Carnival has other food complementary food venues such as Guy's Burgers and Blue Iguana Cantina. The itinerary you're considering only has four port stops out of 15 days. That's ALOT of sea days for what will be only your second cruise. And given your first cruise will be on Celebrity, I'm very hesitant to recommend you go on the Spirit.

I did a search and assuming you were looking at 2024 there's literally nothing else that fits your parameters. So either you'll have to settle with that one and only sailing or if you're more flexible about the departure point there's alot more possibilities.

That's correct, they sail out of Vancouver. That doesn't work for you? Based on what you wrote I don't think Carnival is the correct cruiseline for you.

In it's prior life both Europeans and ESPECIALLY the Chinese don't use ice in their beverages. For the Mainland Chinese it's considered not healthy to drink very cold beverages and actually most drink the opposite, plain HOT water instead of ice water.

You may have to eat some on board the next couple of days. https://anamericaninrome.com/2018/10/can-you-bring-cheese-from-italy-to-the-us/ https://www.tripsavvy.com/importing-from-the-netherlands-to-usa-1456431#:~:text=Unpasteurized or raw milk cheeses,Gouda and Edam—are fine.

The food on the Pride last summer was just horrid and as you witnessed not the standard of Carnival.

Were you on a TA ? On a standard Caribbean cruise I can't imagine that the IV window was locked the majority of the time during a 7 day cruise. We did a 9 day repositioning of the Beyond this past October from Bayonne to Ft. Lauderdale and the window was NEVER locked once during the whole 9 days.

THIS

Yes, that's what they say you should do. Having said that with the commercially prepared ones doing the coffee thing really didn't do anything, TBH. It made the waffle slightly soggy and didn't melt the filling. I like hot coffee, but not scalding hot which it would need to be in order for premade ones to have any affect from sitting on top of a cup of coffee.

You haven't given us enough information to give you helpful advice. What are you looking for in a cruise vacation? How often have you sailed Celebrity? What types of cabins have you booked in the past? How important is the food quality and presentation? How important is the general ambiance of the cruiseship? A roundtrip Hawaii cruise from the West coast is a totally different type of cruise experience than a Caribbean one. I have done multiple Hawaii cruises and TP cruises on multiple cruise lines, including Carnival and Celebrity. The BIGGEST difference between the two cruiselines you mentioned on a Hawaiian itinerary will be the ship environment itself and the food. Overall Celebrity will have superior food and ship environment. Celebrity ships, even their oldest and non-renovated ships, are much more upscale and refined in decor than any Carnival ship.The Celebrity cabins are much nicer. If you're interested in a Suite product, then there's no comparison, it's Celebrity. Period. So you'll need to clue us in to what you're looking for in your Hawaii cruise experience to get some better and more useful advice.

I'll be there in less than four weeks and will try a fresh one vs premade packaged ones. They are tasty but quite sweet, at least the prepackaged ones are, and are best eaten sparingly. We were gifted a whole package of these for Christmas and by the time there were a few left we were already sick of them. I think the issue is unlike an excellent cookie there isn't a complex mix of flavors to them, they are just SWEET.

I agree. The whole point of it is that on Embarkation Day the MDR isn't open for any other guests. Shifting it to a sea day, then what's the point?

Were you on the Thanksgiving week cruise? I was on that one.

You asked, so I'm just pointing out the differences. I know the hot water kettle is a BIG thing for Brits. I'm an experienced traveler planner, and it's pretty obvious when an online hotel review was written by someone from the UK. A hot water kettle is probably the #1 thing Brits mention in hotel reviews. I also notice it's quite important for a hotel to have a proper bar to have a drink, even in a low budget chain motel. In general, that's not something Americans necessarily need, especially when traveling with kids.

1) Don't expect a tea kettle in your cabin. Tea choices are very poor on Carnival, Lipton and Green tea, that is it. 2) Some of the food choices will be to American tastes, not British tastes. From past experiences many of the sweets and desserts on Carnival ships don't seem to appeal to Brits. Mornings bacon isn't the same, nor is the porridge/oatmeal. 3) Comedy shows won't have any British references. 4) I find that drinking habits slightly different for Americans vs Brits.