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Historically, Celebrity has had a limited menu of pretty basic drinks at all complimentary functions. I have no problem with this as I think it great for them to offer anything at all.

 

This menu was extended to the Captain's Club Social Hour when it was introduced a few years back and is still the core complimentary menu for it although they've experimented with a couple other options on some cruises to streamline things. I think it is a great perk and don't think it is stingy nor bad of them in any way to limit these complimentary drinks to that menu. Members have a choice of sticking with this menu for complimentary drinks or buying their own drinks if they want something different. Personally, I usually buy my own drink. I usually have only one before dinner drink and I'd prefer it to be a premium type of wine or spirits. Again, I have no issue with this.

 

As for the threads on the beverage packages, the rules are pretty straight forward for most items. There is a great amount of interest in these packages. Like any other area which is of very high interest to cruisers, there is a lot of discussion about the packages as people not only find out about what they include but also post to savor the anticipation of their cruise. Again I have no issue with the fact that there are two different packages and that the higher priced package covers things the lower priced package does not. There is no reason for someone who doesn't want the premium items to pay the same as people who do and you can't have two different level packages without some "stipulations" to define where one package ends and the other begins.

 

The only thing I'll agree totally about is the confusion over coffees. I've always felt that the terms "premium" vs. "specialty" coffees were something made up by some marking staff writer and was never really defined for anyone. As a result there has always been some inconsistency between staff on different ships as to how to interpret these. Some mangers include the entire coffee menu for any package and some exclude some of the more elaborate coffee drinks from the classic package. The use of these two undefined terms also leaves some confusion with new Celebrity cruisers over whether the classic packages include basic espresso coffee drinks such as lattes (they do). Celebrity could do a much better job of clearing this up by changing a couple words or a sentence in the package descriptions.

I also don't have any issues with the limited drink menu at the Elite social hour nor do I think their current voucher system is stingy. It is not a money issue, it is a matter of making it easier to sit at any bar I choose and have any drink I want - it is just more flexible. And I do know that option is there simply by paying for the drink, which I usually do.

I hate to complain about something that is free, however, why does X put so many stipulations on every one of their programs. One example is the drink package; there must be 50 threads on what's included in each package, does it cover lattes here or there, what about a bottle of water, does it cover an $8.50 wine, etc. Same with the Elite vouchers; these impact the very best customers on a so-called elegant cruise line. You can use them at some bars, for 2 specific hours, for a very limited assortment of drinks and the rules seem to change about every 6 weeks.

If you want a $10 martini or a frozen drink, the voucher is useless.

The whole experience is made to seem MickeyMouse-like. What wrong with giving Elites 2 or 3 drinks of their choice each evening and making the program simple yet rewarding. After all, we are dealing with adults.

Sorry for rambling but I am getting tired of all the nit-picking rules.

All the mass market cruise lines provide very similar experiences. As someone said, ranking cruise lines is very subjective. Your question is impossible to answer. Pick one and have a great cruise

We've never sailed Celebrity or Carnival, but the RCCL food doesn't even come close to HAL IMO.

Boy, some are blindly loyal to their cruise line of choice. We find all the mass market cruise lines to have similar food quality, even Carnival.

Ties are not required on "formal night". A jacket, nice shirt, and slacks will get you in every time.

When you have cabins priced at under $100pp per nite, you attract all kinds of people. We have had table mates that lived in a trailer park, so cruising is no longer an elegant experience. If that is what you want, go on a luxury line, don't complain that some passengers on a mass market cruise line don't act and dress like royalty. Have you ever seen the dress styles at Disney, and that is more upscale than cruising.

We have just reached 4 star Mariner status, but all celebrations have been cancelled! We are cancelling our booked Zaandam Antarctic cruise and are not making any plans to sail with HAL again in the near future. Why?

For the 5th HAL cruise in a row, we have had our cruise experience spoiled by their recent habit of cutting the cabin airflow during the night. The A/C is working well when we go to bed. We then awake at about 2 or 3 AM, in a hot, stuffy cabin, feeling like we cannot breath, throats sore and noses stuffed up. Between 4 and 5 AM, we can feel the flow of cool air resume. No amount of complaint or discussion makes any difference. Many people are not sensitive to this problem, so it does not matter to them. It does to us, but presumably there are few enough of us that HAL think that our loss as customers is worth the savings from this policy.

We are convinced that this is a cost saving measure, even though HAL deny it. We discussed it recently with a friend who is an international shipping expert, who agreed that this is probably what is going on. Well we have had enough. We have just returned from an Oosterdam cruise to New Zealand, which was to be HAL's last chance. They failed. We had uncomfortable nights, poor sleep and developed sinus and chest infections. We have sailed with HAL for 11 years, but have only experienced this with them during the last 3 years. We have not experienced this on other cruise lines during that time.

If you are not sensitive to this problem, then you can happily continue to sail with HAL. They are otherwise a great cruise line and we will miss them. If you are sensitive to this, then consider carefully. I wanted to share our experiences and feelings with you before we go. I have also written another letter to Mr Cruse's office. I have now given vent to my feelings on the subject and will close the door quietly on my way out. I hope that other cruise lines will allow us to breath well at night and sleep peacefully.

Nice post, good luck on your future cruises.

Each can you buy on board will be billed at a "very reasonable" $2.75. :eek:

 

Buy a 12-pack (or two!) on your way to the pier and put a luggage tag on it. It will be delivered to your stateroom with your luggage... and save you enough for a meal at Tuscan Grill! ;)

My wife always gets the soda package. Just wondering if the new machines were on X, they are very convenient on the RCCL ships.

Does the Eclipse have the coke machines like RCCL?

Thanks in advance.

With the young kids, I'd skip the Jewel. The Explorer is due for a makeover and it needs it. If you're cruising after its dry dock, it is a great ship. Never can go wrong with the Oasis unless 5500 people are too many for you.

Cruise lines are doing to specialty restaurants what they have done to the MDR. Every change they make results in lower food costs for them and more mediocre meals for their customers. When I went to Chops for the first time about 8-10 years ago, I thought they were close to a top notch steakhouse. Now, as many have noted, they are more like a Texas Roadhouse. What a shame!

I am also interested in Alaska, 2015. Don't bother calling customer service, they have no clue.

It is not political correctness, it is simply a case of can an individual do the job? Does gender really make someone more or less able to do something?

 

The specific tasks for a job may make one gender, in general, more likely to have the aptitude to do those tasks -- but that does not mean that there are not members of the "dominant" sex for that task that are not up to it, and it does not mean that there are not members of the non-"dominant" sex that are not capable.

 

If a job requires that the employee must be able to lift heavy boxes onto a shelf that is at a height of 7' -- well while there will be more men capable of performing that task, there will be 5'4" men who would not be able to make the height requirement (even though they could lift the weight), there will be 6'2" men who cannot lift that much (although can acheive the height), and there will be 5'11" females who work out who will be capable of both components.

 

To your examples - the fact that your wife has issues with leaving certain peices of clothing out if you have a male cabin attendant, is your wife's problem. It has nothing to do with whether the male cabin attendant is capable of performing the tasks associated with cabin attending.The attendant is perfectly able to do his/her job. What if a pax was "uncomfortable" with a Hispanic person doing a particular task? Would that pax concerns be "understandable"? What if a pax was "uncomfortable" with a person from Ireland performing a particular task? How about a cabin attendant who is overweight? Or an attendant with a limp? There is nothing "logical" about bias.

 

Similarly with the massuse (sp?) - if the male massuse can do the job, what is the issue? The massuse is doing his/her job and really doesn't care if you are male or female, if you are black or white, if you are tall or short (particularly if they are paid by the time increment rather than by the customer. A taller customer might take longer! :D)

 

My DH was once "warned" that the doctor was a woman (exact word "just a warning" - really?). He asked if he had a license to practice medicine - and he was assured that she did. He was satisfied. A female GP, a male GP -- they are just doing their jobs.

 

To the OP I can understand that from a saftey perspective, we are all concerned. I am most concerned that the company I trust myself to has good screening practices to identify potential threats, and good personnel practices to assure that the employee who boards the ship is the same person they vetted, and good leadership that if an employee demonstrates any behavior that may not be appropriate that it is dealt with promptly.

 

Are men disproportionately more likely to be perpetrators of assults than women -- yes. But just because one male employee commits a crime against a pax does not mean that all male employees are "suspect"

 

All of us, need to take some responsiblity for our safety. Practical things - dead bolt and secuity "chain" doors when you are in your cabin. Pay attention to what is going on around you. Stay sober enough and awake enough to know what's going on. Bad things might still happen, but you are controlling the risks you can control.

Thanks for the lecture but life is not as simple as you might think. If the lady has security concerns, she should at least inquire with the cruise line if her special request can be met.

The much smaller private vans do much more than Celebrity busses. No comparison in what you see in a day and cheaper. People on ship tours don't know what they missed.

Very few people are going to cancel due to lack of info. RCCL always delivers great ships and we all know it. Many on this board may be frustrated because they have a need to know everything, but canceling, I doubt there is much concern at RCCL. Prices are going up and most can't wait to sail from NJ on a new ship.

They have both similarities and differences. On average RCI caters more to families traveling with children and to young adults and provides a more energetic, activity centric cruise experience with lots of nightlife. Celebrity caters to an older crowd and provides a more sophisticated, upscale experience with more of an emphasis on relaxation and providing some upscale touches. Celebrity does budget a bit more money into food and there are fewer passengers per staff member - so there on average is better food and service, but the difference is not huge. The Radiance class ships of RCI are older and do not have the massive side or myriad of activities the newer RCI ships have such as ice skating rinks, flo riders, zip lines etc. - so they are a bit more similar to a Celebrity experience than if you were to sail on one of the newer classes of RCI ships. Both are good lines and if Radiance is much less expensive, it may be worth trying.

Can't argue with most of the statements but the differences are very, very minor. Also, the food cost per passenger statistic is very difficult to substantiate. Food is the same quality on both cruise lines.

Both are great ships and you will enjoy a cruise on either one.

Makes no difference, there will be folks there with no jackets, ties, socks, and probably some with jeans.

When I called Princess, they mentioned to expect details in March and HAL lady sounded clueless and said they usually announce when this year sails are almost ending in Sep.

HAL told me that 2015 info will be available when this year's Alaskan cruises start in late April or May. But, I agree, they are clueless and late in announcing.

Neither is better, just a little different. I think most young people would enjoy RCCL more. RCCL can be as relaxing as you want, but also offers more activities. Entertainment in the main theatre and lounges are similar, except for the ice show on certain RCCL ships

Elite used vouchers - valid most bars, but not all (such as Martini). In Aruba we were fortunate enough to eat the Wahoo we caught :) so were not onboard during the dining hours.

Thanks, sounds like a great dinner

Thanks Elusive for the review and happy you enjoyed your cruise. We board in 13 days and found the review useful.

Could you answer two questions; 1) did the Elite evening event use vouchers or a specific lounge, and 2) how was the MDR dinner handled for the early seating in Aruba since departure was later than normal?

Thanks in advance.

In the midst of planning a cruise tour on HAL to Denali and the Yukon. THe land tour is 10 of the 15 days. Can someone advise on the quality of the hotels used by HAL in Denali, Dawson City, etc. Also, are any meals included on the land tours?

Thanks in advance

I have cruised several times all over the world. Our next cruise is this spring and on Celebrity. This is my first time on Celebrity. Everything was fine until one person in our group had to cancel. This necessitated changes which meant a few telephone calls to them. There time that they have you on "hold" is no less than 20 or 30 minutes. :mad:They say that you are "important to them and they appreciate your business" but that is not so when you cannot get in contact with them. I WILL NOT CRUISE WITH THEM AGAIN FOR THIS REASON.

Long waits are becoming common. Customer service is being cut by many companies today; the economy is not recovering and costs are being scrutinized very carefully. It sucks but it's real.

We would go with Carnival; same experience and $1000 less. We used that same logic last year on a Baltic cruise and had a great cruise on Carnival. Alaskan and European cruises are all about the ports.

If it means loosing money then the answer is no. :o

 

The cruise industry bears almost NO resemblance to what it was even 15 years ago.

 

Just like airline service bears NO resemblance to what IT was in the 60's.

 

Reliable and fuel efficient turbofan engines on mass produced large commercial aircraft, (747s) put flying within reach for 10s of MILLIONS in the 70s as opposed to tens of thousands in the 50s.

 

Assembly line production of HUGE cruise ships has done the same for cruising.

 

World wide, the number of cruise ship passengers just hit TWENTY MILLION per year.

 

Right now there is an excess of available cabins that still MUST be filled even at cut rate fares. Celebrity is the PERFECT example, adding 5 new S Class ships in almost as many years, effectively TRIPLING the company's capacity.

 

TEN THOUSAND new berths (MINIMUM) are being added EVERY year. :eek:

 

I think it's GREAT!!! :D ...because I couldn't afford to cruise at the prices (measured with inflation adjusted dollars) of 30 years ago, when cruising was limited to a VERY small percentage of only the wealthiest people...

 

I don't need flowers in my bathroom, a fruit bowl in my cabin, or someone to help me in the buffet.

 

But that's just me and my (relatively?) low expectations!

Great post. Addresses all the complaints on cutbacks by the cruise lines. Some people ignore the facts and continue to expect the same luxuries of yesteryear at the lower prices of today.