tigervixxxen

The app won’t show my reservations so I guess there is a glitch going on. 

I’ve sailed enough on Carnival to be Platinum with them, that said I haven’t been on one of their ships since 2019 but I won’t hesitate to make that change if need be. 
 

I never expect food from the galley to be fantastic, I’ve always been cautious about what could be prepared well there. I never found Carnival food to be bad and their casual offerings like their burgers and tacos are pretty good. We actually preferred their food to Princess. 17 days of Celebrity’s “new” menus might push us over the edge though . I’m already trying to eat as much non chicken, fish and steak in preparation so I’m not burned out by day 5. 

There are no appetizers beyond escargot and shrimp cocktail 

The length of the cruise is pretty relevant to determining if AI is worth it or not. If you are under $100 per person per day you are probably doing ok. 

Or just swipe to the right where your booking information shows and right under it says select another sailing 

What about MSC, can’t you get on at any port with them?

7 hours ago, Islander500 said:

Thanks for posting your pics and commentary.  I'm so sorry that you're having so many issues with things that Celebrity used to excel in. Each of those encounters would put a damper on my evening for sure. Completely unacceptable! 

 

To say something positive about the food, your pictured dish from your excursion looks amazing!  YUM.

 

The ship's menus are beyond disappointing. I note that there are no longer real appetizers--only soup and salads. I would actually be okay with that if the entrees were not so blah, repetitive and completely uninspiring. My plan for an upcoming cruise was to order multiple appetizers instead of entrees but I guess that's not an option unless I want just soup and salad for dinner. 

 

Enjoy visiting that awesome part of the world and eat lots of great food onshore for lunch! 💗  

My plan is going to be to ask for the pasta or veggie entree as an appetizer to remedy the no appetizer situation.

Also, OP thanks for the pics and review. 

$15 per day for premium is the cheapest I’ve seen it

Sometimes the single device plan is cheaper even x2 than the two device plan. So it just depends. 

11 hours ago, kwokpot said:

https://www.whatsinport.com/

Yes I’m aware of that resource. I know Google is not barren, just saying I know content creators read these boards and if they are making videos on their cruise experience regardless some content on ports of call would be helpful. It’s also nice to see a visual, have someone explain their experience as well, which is why travel content is so popular on YouTube to begin with. 
 

Ot doesn’t have to be a guide book, just as simple as which of these 20 ports in Norway or Spain are the best would be a starting point lol. 
 

As far as Tom, if all his existing content has vanished then I’d think it was more he sold it than something happened to him. 

Yeah I wonder how far south they could get round trip from Florida in around 14 days, if they could get to Brazil in that would be fantastic. I also would like trans pacific to Japan, those are very infrequent. Norwegian has some interesting itineraries, I liked one that was transatlantic from NY that went to Halifax and St. John’s and then down to the Mediterranean. 
 

As an aside, anyone notice the Celebrity sailings are starting to cut out ports? The exact same 13 night transatlantic on E class leaving Barcelona this year has 6 stops including 2 Spain and Nassau, next year only 1 Spain and no Nassau (both still do Gilbraltar, Azores, Bermuda). So essentially the exact cruise on the same ship is 4 ports instead of 6. Does this really save them money? 

I’d like to suggest to the content creators who put up thousands of YouTube videos to make videos covering ports because it’s a big blind spot when it comes to cruise content. Some of us still cruise for the destination lol. Especially those areas where there’s a ton of different stops and itineraries would be helpful (Norway, Med, Spain especially) to have an idea of what’s best. Also which ports are dock right in city, free shuttle or pay shuttle. I know there’s Google but if someone is going to make the 500th video on a cruise ship review maybe some port content would be nice lol

2 hours ago, annandme said:

 

Can somebody instruct me on where to find the cost of the upgrade from Classic to Premium on the website or app?

In the app just click on drinks, the first tab that comes up is “upgrades” and it’s right there. 

Just curious for E class which of the MDRs is the lunch held?

The reason why the menus show only dessert or in some cases kids menu is because the old menu has been deleted and will be added closer to your cruise, sometimes it posts below the desserts so be sure to scroll down. It is not a glitch. 

5 hours ago, tinaincc said:

When you board you are given the coupons that you purchased by your room steward. It’s an easy process especially when you pre-purchase. 

Ok, thank you. I will make sure we receive our coupon for it. 

It looks like E3 is partially obstructed 

I did this excursion with Princess a few years ago, I didn’t know what I was in for. We didn’t get on the ferry until about 12:30pm (tour started around 9am, we drove around for a bit) and the tour guide told us that he’d pick us up around 5pm once we cleared the canal. Problem is sail away from Colon was 5pm. Oh not to worry he told us the cruise line was aware of this. Ok fabulous, would have been nice to know this ahead of time. Yes they did wait for us and we got back at 6:30pm to sail away around 7pm but I was not comfortable with this at all. What if the bus broke down? How much more wiggle room was left? 
 

Anyway the ferry was long, hot, cramped and ultimately not worth it imo. Going through the locks is interesting and all but not for nearly 5 hours of it. On a previous trip to the canal I found it much more interesting to stand and watch the ships go through the locks. 
 

Bathroom was fine. There’s no building to wait for the ferry, the bus doesn’t drop you off until it’s ready, it was just a dirt road and a grassy area. In my experience anyway. Not my favorite excursion but I time out right at 4 hours on most excursions so your experience might differ but it was one of the worst experiences I’ve had. 

25 minutes ago, RomanH said:

It's a significant amount of money so spent several hours calling (wait time was over an hour for a while). And I was told that with "Special Deals" like this one they don't give ANYONE a price adjustment.

I’d it’s that significant and you haven’t made the final payment is it worth it to completely cancel and create a new booking using the Exciting Deals offer? 

On 8/31/2023 at 7:53 PM, goofysmom99 said:

You know the Lawn Club Grill warm cookie with gelato dessert?  They should have considered peddlling those at the gelato bar.  Bet there'd be a line of folks wanting to shell out $10 or more!  I know, I shouldn't give anyone at X ideas, but so many posters on here rave about that one dessert a whole lot.  

Or give away free warm cookies at the gelato counter would certainly increase gelato sales. It’s an underutilized space, anything to draw people there and give them incentive to pay up for a $6+ cup of gelato is real marketing. 

Anything about laundry still irritates me that I was told on the Equinox over New Years that there was no such thing as a bag of laundry or the laundry challenge and that laundry could only be done a la carte so I don’t exactly trust what the situation is going to be on every ship moving forward. I have pre purchased a $39 bag from the flash sale and hopefully this is honored without much fuss. What do you do, write already paid on the item list?

Celebrity is not strict about dining times. I have seen people with a reservation wait in a longer line to get served than people who don’t have one. If a reservation gives you peace of mind then make one but I have never seen a need for them. So if you have anytime dining there is nothing to worry about, if you go when they are slammed there might be a little bit of a wait but that’s the worst that will happen. 

I would caution against taking much of what a phone rep says seriously about how things work on the ship. They’ve been proven to be very unreliable. 

5 minutes ago, numnums said:

The desserts usually don't appeal to me that much so I usually double up on apps or entrees+I always ask for another plate to have delivered to my room for a midnight snacking!

 

If you didn't notice anything it may just be something that has never been enforced(as of yet) or an official change then. Yumm!

They will deliver a plate of what to you later? I’ve never heard of that, or are you a suite guest?

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The turning in of the passport was no big deal. We received instructions as to where to turn them in to Guest Services and got a receipt. A few days later we received instructions on where to pick them up.

 

As far as the Raiatea excursion, we're in our early 70s and we did just fine. See posts starting at #320. We did some walking in a few hilly areas, but it wasn't all that strenuous. I'm sure there was a brief moment for pearl shopping, especially if you do it when they're giving their 10-minute talk. As far as prices go, I have no idea since we don't shop.

 

There are a few gift shops at the pier and that's about it. See posts starting at #313.

 

We ate in Blu, and yes, the menu seemed to repeat every 7 days or so.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

Thank you and appreciate your detailed review!