elena7seas

Hi Suzanne:

When Arno last said goodbye, the charts had disappeared, and then they came back the next day, and I thought it was some kind of website glitch. I haven't looked for them recently, but yesterday they seemed to be totally gone again. Now today I CAN see them. What is up with that?

Gimletgal, I'm still waiting to hear something definitive about what the situation is with getting OBC-R back. Orator and Tommy seem to be posting about OBC-N but I still don't see an answer about whether you can get your own OBC back. I also give OBC to all of my clients, as they are all friends of mine, and I will be totally cheesed if they can't get that OBC back if there is any left at the end of the cruise. I just don't understand why Celebrity would have any right to that OBC.

Arno's charts are not showing for me on this thread.

Does anyone know if they are visible any where else on this forum, or have they all been deleted?

I am entirely confused as to why these very helpful charts would be removed.

Hi Everyone:

Linda, we're taking a 25-night cruise from Seattle to Sydney on the Explorer of the Seas (half the price of the equivalent on Celebrity), then have two weeks on land in Australia, then back on the Solstice for a 13-night cruise around New Zealand, which takes us back to Sydney, then flight from Sydney to Papeete for a few days (to break up the flight) then fly home from Tahiti to Vancouver. I haven't booked the last flight yet, so it may not be Tahiti, but I am definitely breaking up that flight somewhere. 9 hours in the air is about the most I can handle. During our 2 weeks in Australia, we will be going up to the Gold Coast to celebrate the twins' first birthday. Also, my great-grandparents were married in Melbourne and my grand-father was born there, so I will be going down to Melbourne to look around and get copies of their marriage and birth certificates for my files. I found them on line last year, and paid for copies to be sent to me, but they never arrived. I'm working on the genealogy for my family because I'm the only one left that knows anything about our roots.

Suzanne, thanks for being the Washington State outpost for Tourism Canada!! Luckily the Canadian dollar isn't doing too badly vs. the Australia and New Zealand currencies. Sadly, I booked both cruises in USD, thinking the exchange rate was bad at the time and HAD to go up. Well, what did I know. :( Clearly, nothing!!

Canada is the best deal for American dollars right now!! Except for the cruise to Australia and NZ, we are staying home this year. We are going to Quebec City for 10 days in June, and then we are renting a house at the beach on Vancouver Island in July. Sarah, Jarod, Katie and Kerri are all coming with us, so I think that will be fun. Katie will love the beach. You can see the house at http://www.vrbo.com/298085 . We know the owners and they are lovely people. There is lots to do in the area...6 golf courses, lots of artsy folks, musicians, some hippies left over from the 60s for texture and crafts. :)

Linda, we have several friends who bought homes in gated communities in Palm Springs back in 2008-2009 and they are bleeding money right now. The prices of the homes were really low, but the maintenance fees are high to begin with, and the USD exchange is killing them right now.

Lois, please let me know what your Sis and BIL think of the Explorer. I'm disappointed there is no Park Café on this ship...I sure like those Roast Beef on Kummelweck sandwiches! But Elites get treated well on RCCL. Gerry says "hello" back atcha!

Well back to work, downsizing cruises for these poor Canadians!!

Some TAs will give you OBC that comes from Celebrity and that TA may not be really transparent about where that OBC is coming from, but Celebrity would know. That OBC would be non-refundable. For instance, if you are booked into a group, that group may have an allocation of OBC that comes as a group amenity from Celebrity, and that OBC would be non-refundable, even if you think it came from your TA.

I just can't imagine that Celebrity can refuse to refund OBC that TAs provide from their own funds, or that passengers purchase for themselves.

Hi everyone. Just stopping in to say hello. Sorry I can't contribute anything to your football discussions. :)

I hope everyone is well...we're all fine and busy here. We don't have a cruise until our 25 night cruise Down Under on the Explorer of the Seas (October 8, 2016). Can't seem to get to my planning for that trip as I have SO many clients who are rebooking cruises out into the future. The CAD is killing us up here, and anyone who has booked in USD is rethinking their cruises.

Just wondering...where has cle-guy gone? He hasn't posted in 2016 yet.

Also, there are a couple of new people on the main thread that are really cranky, judgmental, aggressive and full of bad advice. I hope I never have to sail with them. But like Suzanne, I sure would like to sail with all y'all soon!

We had three of the new production shows on the Equinox on the December 11th cruise.

We thought the featured singers had very good voices, but I didn't care for the music particularly.

The Ist production show was called Elysium. The voices were excellent, especially Lily-Jane Young. The dancers were very good, and the lighting and costumes were good. The staging was somewhat limited, but I really couldn't understand the plot...it seemed to be something about the conflict between good and evil, but I really couldn't be sure. I enjoyed the show overall, especially the singers.

The second show was Life! I was just really, really disappointed in this production and would have liked to walk out but that's just something I never do. (Even if I don't enjoy a performance, I think the performers deserve the respect of the audience.) I thought the music was really poor, and badly suited to the singers' voices. There was actually nothing about the production that we liked.

I believe there was one other production show called "The Set: a Music Box Marvel" that we didn't see because our dinner in Silk Harvest was somewhat protracted.

There was also a Christmas concert that featured all of the singers, and I really enjoyed that.

There are apparently going to be "18 shows in 18 months". For more information, you can take a look at the postings by Celebrity Cruises Productions on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/18showsin18months?source=feed_text&story_id=811743548943449

"Been wondering what we have been up to lately? Celebrity Cruises Productions and Celebrity Cruises Entertainment is dedicated to reshaping and reinventing Cruise Line Entertainment one new event at a time! ‪#‎TheStudio‬ ‪#‎18Showsin18Months‬ ‪#‎18in18‬ ‪#‎PortvsStarboard‬ ‪#‎CelebrityCruises‬ ‪#‎CelebrityLifeActivities‬ ‪#‎CCP‬ ‪#‎ithappensallaroundyou‬"

Thanks so much for taking the time to post your commentary and all of the photos. It is something to look forward to each day, for those of us who don't have any cruises booked for a while!

I'm going to have to find out some way to try out a suite with the new perks of Luminae and Michael's Club. Just the pricing of Aquaclass is posing a challenge!

With three days in St. Petersburg, I would ABSOLUTELY pick the Baltics cruise.

We did a wonderful itinerary with RCCL on the Serenade last summer (2015) because the Serenade offered three days and Celebrity only offered two days in St. Petersburg. It was an incredible trip from start to finish and should not be missed. I would absolutely take advantage of the fact that Celebrity is offering two overnights (not three) in St. Petersburg.

If you haven't arranged your tours in St. Petersburg yet, I can HIGHLY recommend SPB-Tours. We went on tours with them in 6 cities in the Baltics, and their level of organization, their tour guides and drivers are top in their class. They were so very wonderful to deal with...made our planning SO easy (and I took a group of 17 people with me). There was no comparison between the tours we took, and those provided by the ship. SPB's pricing was unbeatable as well.

http://www.spb-tours.com

Britain and Ireland are great--I've been to Britain 7 times, but it will be easy to go on that trip at another time. I do suggest, if possible, you add some time to your cruise though, so that you have time to get to some of the amazing sights that you can't do in one day from a ship.

We had a beverage package on our first TA in 2013, but they were discontinued after that year, and we have never been able to get one since.

The OBC that you can get for a TA if you booked it onboard another cruise varies by the length of the new TA or repositioning cruise. I have friends going on one in October 2016 who received 100 OBC for booking a 14-night repositioning cruise, but no perks were available to them.

As soon as you board the ship, stop by Guest Relations and pick up some meclizine (generic Bonine).

They give it out free of charge.

Yes, Meclizine is available free of charge from Guest Relations.

WARNING: On our last cruise in December 2015 (Equinox) I had misplaced my Bonine, so sent my husband down to Guest Relations to get some of the free Meclizine, and he went to the onboard sundries shop instead. He paid $10.95 USD for eight pills. I was born in Scotland and raised by very thrift-conscious Scots and I have to tell you, I am not keen to pay for something I could have received for free. ;) (Sorry for the use of a tired stereotype, but in my family, that was the reality. :))

I have been on 10 Pacific Coastals, sailing in both directions. We only had rough weather once in all those trips, and that was a full-on storm, going south from Seattle to San Francisco. It lasted the best part of the night. I was on the Holland America Zuiderdam and it didn't ride the seas very well. I am very prone to motion sickness and had taken bonine, so I was fine. However, I was on the 3rd "sofa" berth in a suite, cross-wise in the cabin, and I slipped back and forth all night long, from the bottom to the top of the bed and back again. Bonine works REALLY well for me...no motion sickness at all.

I get no side-effects whatsoever with Bonine.

Sorry that you had a disappointing experience in Gastrobar. Just wondering...did you ask specifically for medium rare burgers? I tend to find that the standard cooking point for burgers is now well done, unless you ask for them to be cooked differently.

I really enjoyed Gastrobar on the Equinox (December 11 to 21). It was our first experience with Gastrobar, and before this cruise, I was a tiny bit annoyed at the upcharge for the food items on an a la cart basis, but everything we had was so good that I was fine with the charges, which seemed fair for the type of items we had. The truffle fries and the pate were awesome. We didn't try the burgers.

The service was very good, but they do warn you before you order that everything is cooked to order, and the galley is two decks below, so to expect a 15 minute wait. This ended up being an accurate estimate. I found the seating to be very comfortable, which is not always the case on the S-class ships. I am 5'2" and I find a lot of the seating to be designed for taller people, or at least, for people with very long legs. ;)

Sending smiles to all you sports fans!

Interesting to follow the Mardi Gras roll call. I haven't been posting on any of the roll calls much.

Lois, I am so looking forward to your feedback from your river cruise. I know you don't go in for full-scale reviews, but I am hoping you will post some of your impressions for those of us who haven't had a river cruise experience yet. :)

Katie....fried chicken and waffles....I've read of that, but it's a combination I've never tried. It's a southern favourite, right? I think it's about time to start looking at a southern road trip. We're going to rent a house at the beach on Vancouver Island this summer...taking the whole family. We can't leave Canada this summer with our monopoly-money Canadian dollar.

We have a provincial bi-election going on here at the moment. The premier dropped the writ on Tuesday, and the election is on February 2nd. I am the data and membership chair for the riding, so lots for me to do in the next few weeks.

Back to number-crunching my data set. Hugs to everyone.

We just returned from a 3 nite on the Constellation

In general, we enjoyed the cruise, but what follows is our Aqua Class critique. By way of background we have used Aquaclass on the vast majority of our Celebrity adventures so what follows is our general observations

Lots of Aqua changes

1. No water in room after day 1 contrary to what Celebrity sold us when we booked and what they told our TA before the trip(unlimited water in room every day)

2. Amenities eliminated are the lip balms, facial sprays, cotton balls and qtips they are only available if you remember to request them, wheras befor they were "automatic"

3. BLU menu cut down and only limited availability from Mdr i.e. Onion soup, escargots and 2 other starters. no main courses available from Mdr in BLU as in the past. Also no turkey sausage in blu have to get it in buffet or Mdr and bring in for breakfast or request 1 day before(Change from last time)

3. Ocean liners replaced Murano and in comparison to prior menu offerrings very limited menu and no longer in my experience worth the $

4. Entertainment downhill IMHO

5. Crew service and room attendants was still top notch

6. Buffet choices for lunch leaned toward indo asian , sandwich and salad choices are limited(ham,pressed turkey breast) limited, carving station beef very tough and stringy.. We ate grilled burgers alot. This represented a big change

Also ,Bistro on 5 was practically empty at all times

 

Bottom line Acqua and Celebrity experience no longer "special", it is now strictly a value proposition only IMHO

We were in AquaClass on the Equinox on December 11-21. Except for the water issue, I thought things were just as good as ever in AquaClass:

1. True. Complimentary water (2 bottles) was provided on embarkation day only.

2. We received lip balm, the white net drawstring bag, the spa slippers, the canvas tote bag, a small box of a few cotton balls and a few Qtips (we didn't use these marginal-quality items as I brought my own, but I'm sure they would have been replenished daily without requests; our steward was excellent), shower gel, a chilled bottle of bubbly on embarkation day, a large Equadorian rose and alstroemeria on first formal night (from Captain's Club) that lasted for the full cruise, and small chocolate squares on the pillow every night (milk or dark). We received the extended breakfast menu. My choice of extra down pillows and a feather body pillow was promptly supplied. I no longer needed the egg-crate topper as the mattresses are now adequately padded for our needs. If there is anything I may of forgotten, please ask.

3. I don't expect to get anything from the MDR menu. I am quite happy with the BLU menus and don't even look at the MDR menu. Other than that, we received everything we requested (not much...escargot or shrimp cocktail for my DH every night).

3b. Of the specialties, we only went to Silk Harvest on Equinox, which we received at 30% off. I would not have paid the full up-charge. The service was excellent, but we found the food to be sub-par. In all fairness though, we have access to wonderful Asian food here in Vancouver.

4. We enjoyed much of the entertainment around the ship; the voices of the Celebrity singers were very good but I didn't enjoy the music of one of the new productions at all. The staging was so-so, although Elysium was quite pretty. The dancers were good.

5. Service everywhere was excellent.

6. The buffet was very good; lots of selection, some new items, a greater selection of food available until much later in the evening. (I am not expecting to get a full meal in the buffet at 10:00 pm) but there was quite a bit to choose from nonetheless.

7. We had the "new" Bistro menu on the Infinity in September, then we had the "new" "new" shorter menu on the Equinox in December. I think this most recent menu is a step down from either of the two previous menus. There were a reasonable number of people in Bistro on 5 and service was somewhat quicker that in the past. (The service in Bo5 on the Infinity was so slow I thought that the staff had gone home. :))

My experience over the years has been that you never seem to get the full experience on a 3-night cruise.

Thanks, elena7seas, for taking the time to do this; please don't do if too much trouble though. We'll (dh and I and the OP) be on the Summit though. Could it be different times for Summit versus Equinox? We will be on the Equinox in April/May though, so your information would still be valuable when you have time to check.

To answer your question, yes, things can vary from ship to ship, and even on the same ship, from sailing to sailing. This just keeps us from getting too rigid!!

Thanks, elena7seas, for taking the time to do this; please don't do if too much trouble though. We'll (dh and I and the OP) be on the Summit though. Could it be different times for Summit versus Equinox? We will be on the Equinox in April/May though, so your information would still be valuable when you have time to check.

HI Kathy:

If I can find my cruise paperwork easily! :):):) We arrived home from the Equinox at 2:00 am on December 22, and I have to say that I cleaned up our laundry and suitcases with more speed than attention to detail. I'm not sure where everything landed in my haste to get ready for Christmas Eve!!

I'll try in the morning!!

Sushi has always been open at 5:30. It was on our Oct cruise and the other 4 cruises we gave taken on the Summit. If it has changed to 6 it is a very recent change. I would check.

I was on the same Equinox cruise (December 11, 2016) as ghstudio, and I'm pretty sure that the sushi was served at 6:00 pm, because I particularly noticed the change. However, I don't know if this was the case every night. I'll check my Celebrity Todays and see if this time was consistent throughout the cruise.

ghstudio....sorry we did not get to meet you on this cruise. :(

Just to note that we got off the Solstice today and refundable OBC was not allowed to be cashed out at guest services and was only allowed to be taken from the Casino with the 5% fee.

That seems borderline unethical. Celebrity is charging a 5% SERVICE CHARGE for you to get your own money back? If it is OBC that you purchased for yourself, or OBC that was given to you by your TA or your Aunt Hilda, Celebrity has no right to it unless they are letting you know that they will charge a very hefty 5% to facilitate the access to your own money. Did they make it very clear that the 5% they were charging you was a service charge?

That seems to be a significant policy change, and one that should be made perfectly clear, i.e. if they return the balance of OBC-R to your credit card you will receive all of our funds, but if you take it out of the Casino, they will take 5% of your money as a service charge for the privilege of allowing you to obtain your cash. Did you object out loud to them taking the 5%?

That is way beyond nickel-and-diming and IMHO, shouldn't be accepted meekly. The next thing they will be taking 5% for the labour involved in crediting your OBC-R back to your credit card. I see it as a shameless money-grab.

1/2/16 sailing Onbard...

very long boardng process even for AQ Elite etc,,....they gave out water on the lines

 

In cabin, we received two really nice , blue waters..San Benedetto.

you can get any size water almost any where..but need a package, and u take it with you for the room.... staff seems aware of the AQ water issue..have not met hotel dir yet, but water flows freely most everywhere!

 

Also got the bubbly,the fruit, changes daily, daily savories varied and tasty

 

Other than that and the smallest piece of daily chocolate.(really small)..all seems good..our flowers came today, we have new towels,...a bit rough but clean and unripped..

 

Loving everything about EQ... great music, staff, BLU is fabulous...spa is lovely, solarium great.....Cap attended cruise critic party. Most,everyone dressing very elegantly chic..some gowns incuded..all nicely attired.. smart casual dressing also looking good!

 

sorry but i can't respond or post more...til we get home..

 

DON'T HESITATE TO BOOK EQ...esp in AQ. wish you were all here!

Hi Hcat:

Thank you so much for posting. Your experience seems to be much the same as ours on the December 11-21 cruise. We had a great cruise...the ship was beautiful, that staff and service were terrific everywhere on the ship and we loved Blu. (Our towels were new and fluffy though. ;))

Happy New Year to one and all....health, happiness and prosperity to everyone and their families in 2016!

Suzanne, were you in Victoria for the earthquake? We had the whole house shaking here for about 10 seconds, and I was wondering if you were in Victoria at the time as the epicentre was close to there. It was only a 4.9 but there was a lot more shaking that I've experienced in much stronger earthquakes. (I think this was my 5th earthquake, and three of them were in the 5's.) Anyway, it was a big reminder for us to update our earthquake kits.

It must be almost free to come to Canada with the current exchange rate!! :):):)

We didn't get in from our New Year's Eve revels until almost 3:00 am this morning. We spent last evening with friends and drank way too much champagne. Today most of our family went out to see Star Wars and then out for Chinese food. We just got back home, so it's off to bed for me!! (Katie's too young for Star Wars, so she stayed home with her Dad who has already seen it twice, but they joined us for dinner.) I'm sure glad we have two days before we have to get back to routine. I need to catch up on some sleep.

We were on the Equinox on the December 11-21 cruise and I have to agree there was a little bit of everything every night.

There were some tuxes and many suits with dress shirt and tie on evening chic nights. Many men also wore blazer-type jackets and slacks, with or without ties. Generally the ladies dressed nicely on all nights. There were lots of cute cocktail dresses on both types of evenings, especially on the younger women. There are always some women who are very elegant in their appearance, and that was still in evidence. I saw long dresses on both nights, of course more-so on the evening chic nights, and they were somewhat dressier on "chic" evenings. I never noticed any full-on formal gowns, or the prom-type gown, but I haven't really seen many of those for the past few years on Celebrity. Lots of sparkly jewelry was worn on chic evenings.

Except for the tuxes and suits on men, I felt that there wasn't a huge amount of difference between the evening chic and smart casual nights. I did notice two young couples, probably in their late twenties, who really had a sense of style, and had a lock on the evening chic look. They were fun to watch.

I have to admit though, that we were in AQ, so didn't see as much of what people were wearing in the MDR specifically. I always find that people in Blu tend to meet or exceed the dress codes, and that was still the same.

(As an aside, I have never seen so many plaids shirts on men as I did on this cruise, though, and this was everywhere. There must be a trend that I have overlooked. :).)

Overall, I would say the ship was somewhat less dressy than on past cruises, and that there was less differentiation between evening chic and smart casual. However, there were enough people on the more dressy end of the spectrum that a full range of choice is available to everyone. I feel you could wear pretty much what you want to wear on evening chic nights (within the wide latitude provided by the current dress code), and be very comfortable.

I would highly recommend that you not book the cruise immediately following the dry dock, as we have a terrible experience with that situation.

HI Margie:

We are booked on the November 14, 2016 cruise on the Solstice, which I understand is the first cruise after drydock.

I would appreciate it if you could share your concerns.

Thanks!

We have not been on a Celebrity cruise since last spring (AQ on one of the b2b cruises), but will be on the Summit next month on b2bs w/ Concierge Class and Aqua Class.

 

Hi Tour de Cruise:

 

We did have a great cruise on the Equinox (December 11-21, 2015), but there were some noticeable cutbacks. The bottled water was the one we missed the most.

 

I don’t think we received the facial spray in AQ. Bath amenities looked like what we got in regular staterooms. When I questioned that, the attendant said he "thought" it was the good stuff. :confused: One time we did get a small white mesh and nylon Celebrity daypack with lip balm in it and another time the lip balm without the mesh pack. Is the mesh pack now gone too (although it doesn't seem like it was consistent anyway)?

 

No facial spray but we did receive the white mesh bag with two pair of slippers and one lip balm.

 

Bath amenities: Shampoo, Conditioner, Shower Gel, Body Lotion (all average quality, and Conditioner not sufficient for hair that tends to tangle); shower cap (boxed) and another box with what I assumed was cotton balls and cotton swabs. I didn't use the swabs or cotton balls as I brought my own (the quality wasn't up to par on my last cruise), so I can't guarantee what was included in the second box on the bathroom vanity. All products were replenished daily.

 

Do they still prepare the muesli to order table side? We will have AQ next month on the Summit. I will report back.

 

No muesli-to-order in Blu.

 

 

Oh, okay. I haven’t seen the brochure, just the wording on the website. Thanks.

We had excellent service everywhere on the ship, except our sommelier in Blu seemed to be overworked, although he tried really hard to keep up. He was REALLY focussed on upselling, which became very annoying.

The water in your tap is the same thing that's in the bottle...refill the bottle, and chill....same thing.

On the Equinox in December, the water from the bathroom tap was always warm. You could not get water from the tap that was even close to cool.

It was quite a production to get cool bottled water....you had to chill off the water with ice when the ice arrived in your cabin, then decant it into a bottle, then put the bottle in the mini-fridge overnight so that you wouldn't be taking warm bottled water off the ship for your excursions. I couldn't just fill the bottle before we went out because there was no ice left first thing in the morning, and warm water doesn't get any cooler in your tote bag in the Caribbean.

We did not have a beverage package, so we purchased bottled water.

What about the plush towels, welcome bubbly in cabin and the little green apples...?.

Hi HCat:

In our AquaClass cabin on Equinox (December 11-21, 2015) our towels were plush and generously-sized every day, and we were provided with 4 large bath towels each day, without requesting extra. The towels looked new.

We had bubbly on ice when we arrived in our cabin on embarkation day.

We had three green apples on embarkation day in the white tripartite dish. The dish was refilled with green apples, oranges and pears thereafter....one of each.

Given that we celebrate Christmas, and we didn't return home from our cruise until December 22, my notes at this point must be brief by necessity.

It was a great cruise, as great as any Caribbean cruise we have taken. There were a few small issues that we noted, but nothing that diminished our pleasure in being at sea, and being pampered by a great crew on a beautiful ship. I am just going to make some points as I think of them, as I haven't the time to compose a review. I will try to answer any questions that are posted as I see them.

AquaClass Cabin 1579 (portside under the overhang):

• Loyd, our cabin steward and his assistant (whom we never saw or spoke to, but know he existed because I asked Loyd if he HAD an assistant) provided great service couldn't have been better or more friendly.
   
  
• The cabin was in A-1 condition.
  
• The towels were excellent at all times. Bath towels were large and fluffy.
  
• One chilled bottle of Celebrity bubbly still provided.
  
• Spa bag with 2 pair of slippers and one lip balm still provided.
  
• Two welcome bottles of water only, no further bottles provide.
  
• Flavoured teas provided daily
  
• Large Equadorian Rose and one spray of Alstromeria provided by Captain's club on first "Evening Chic" day. These lasted the whole cruise.
  

more to come...