photomikey

8 hours ago, dundeene said:

With a cup of hot chocolate, I expect to enjoy the scenery.

The baby monitor idea is straight up genius!

Alaska cruise tip: Bring an insulated travel mug from home (or buy one underway).  It beats trying to re-fill those tiny coffee cups on the ship 50 times, and it stays hot for hours.

2 hours ago, eroller said:

Most people forget what the actual price difference was to higher categories when they originally booked, and often times these upsells are no better. 

When I am booking the cruise, $79/ea is the difference between a $1300 cabin and a $1500 cabin.  It's a lot of money!

A few months later, $79/ea is only $158 to get a better stateroom - what a bargain!  Pull the trigger, honey!

You can't leave your car overnight at the MTS (trolley) parking lots.  You might get away with a night or two but 17 seems a lot to ask.

Any hotel downtown is within 10 or 15 blocks of the pier and an easy 5-10 minute walk or $5 taxi/Uber ride. Most of the hotels mentioned here are waterfront and very nice,. but many others would serve just as well.  None are particularly far.

Buy the unlimited internet package ($210 for the week on a 7 day cruise) for peace of mind. That way you'll have access to all of your social media apps, wifi calling if your phone/carrier support it and any other apps on your phone that are internet/wifi connected

You would think someone who had purchased a car for their Au Pair and was so concerned about their Z06 and had internet monitoring for their door locks would think to themselves "maybe I should get the internet package", but I guess you'd be wrong.

Put a handfull of tic-tacs in an unmarked medicine bottle.

Tell the kids that you were able to get a very potent anti-seasick medicine from the doctor. Tell them it is 100% effective in preventing seasickness, but that they must be taken at exactly the same time every day and that they must never take more than one. Then very carefully uncap the medicine bottle and dispense one per child.

Sell it. I would bet on this remedy more than ginger, seabands, bonnies, chicken broth, or staring at the horizon.

We are regular Celebrity cruisers poised for our first (in a long time) NCL cruise in a month or so. It was refreshing to read your comparisons! I could have written basically all of your post myself, with the highs and the lows. Thank you for writing it!

We were on a Celebrity cruise last year with a girl my daughter's age (7) who didn't speak a word of english. They'd played together a little at kid's club but once the girl saw us in the pool at the same time (not kid's club of course) it was game-on. They were climbing on me like spider monkeys. They would go to the buffet and eat together. My daughter would chat incessantly in English, the girl not understanding a word, and then the girl would chatter away in Sweedish and my daughter would listen intently. This went on all week. I'm not sure they ever understood a word each other said but they sure seemed to get the point across. There was one kid's club employee who shared language with the girl but most did not and it didn't seem to be any trouble.

So for me that would be $560-$980. [emoji15]

 

Who tips that much?

Not me.

If you sit at the bar, order a drink, hand it to your friend, and then order another drink, you will get busted straightaway.

There are bars all over the ship. If you get a drink at a bar, meet your friend on the way to another bar, hand them your drink, and order another a few minutes later, you'll likely be fine. If you are doing this a few times a day, I have a hard time believing you will get busted. If you start drinking at 10am and are trying to pack down 20 drinks a day, plus 20 for your friend, I would expect security to investigate your bill, and also have a look at what you're doing with the 40 drinks per day that "you" are consuming.

Do know what has been repeatedly stated above, which is that you are violating the rules, and there are consequences if you are caught. Be comfortable with those consequences if you take that risk.

14€ is the tourist train. I think the regular train is 5€. Plenty of room for baggage both FCO -> Termini and Termini -> Civitavecchia. The civitavecchia train station is a walk from the cruise port, but as I recall it was an easy walk and so short it certainly didn't make sense to transfer to a bus or find a taxi.

Because young people cannot have a serious accident?

Because younger people are vastly less likely to become so ill on vacation that they would need to be hospitalized or transported home.

I saw on itinerary on the Infinity and was thinking about swapping our Princess cruise. Then I found some really bad reviews about the ship. Horrible guest relations, smoking in cabins, balconies, etc., and nothing being done. The reviews don't sound like the same cruise line. Who has sailed on Infinity? Please post your opinions, since I'm thinking of changing my cruise tomorrow.

Just off Infinity. It's an aging ship. There's another thread going right now where some of that is discussed.

I agree with everyone else, if you have a balcony neighbor that smokes, it seems like smoke follows you everywhere you go. If you don't, you seldom notice smokers. We didn't notice anyone smoking.

I had three occasions to visit guest relations, and all three times the reception was nothing less than a snarl. One young fella treated me with such disdain that I noted his name and both left a comment on a written form on board, and again on the survey online.

The rest of the service was okay - pretty average cruise ship service. A couple who'd brighten your day, many who just went through the motions, and a few with a chip on their shoulder.

It seems that the surveys have really been drilled into them, and a lot relies on your comments on the survey. The service from the room steward and the dining room waiter was less about "let me provide you with excellent service such that it might stand out in your mind to leave a comment on the survey", and more about "DEAR GOD I'LL DO ANYTHING, PLEASE JUST DON'T WRITE ANYTHING BAD ABOUT ME IN THE SURVEY." Ironically, the ass't steward and the ass't waiter were both quite personable and friendly, and both made it in to the survey (and in fact walked away with an extra tip on board).

I wouldn't hesitate to cruise Celebrity again, but probably on one of the newer ships.

I have a few questions, I am sailing on this ship in July to Alaska, and wanted to know what the seating in the theatre was like? traditional theatre seats, bench seating etc.?

Two seats together (what I'd call a loveseat) separated by a tiny glass table and an armrest. It looks like hundreds of loveseats all side by side.

Also are there any poker games/tournaments in the casino? (preferably live with a dealer instead of video - and I accept that it's based on interest, but curious if it's offered at all)

There were live dealers on my Panama Canal cruise a few weeks ago, but I don't know about tourneys.

what is the furniture on the balcony like? (hoping to spend a fair amount of time out there watching Alaska go by)

I believe it's two chaise lounges and a little table, but we were on an aft corner so we had a much larger balcony and more furniture. The aft loungers were in great shape and worked well, I had no trouble killing a day sitting in one in the Panama Canal, I'm sure they'll do great for Alaska!

Dining room seating, mostly tables, booths

Is there anytime dining or only the two seatings?

Mostly tables, didn't see any booths. I felt the dining room had a good layout where most tables had a good view of the water. Some of the larger dining rooms it seems like many tables are buried so far from the windows (and at sunset no less), but not in this case.

Two seatings plus anytime that starts at 5:15p.

Thanks for the good information. We leave on May 11th. Is there a place on deck 10 by the Ocean View café where you can get special coffee`s like Café Al Bacio on Deck 5 ? ( Latte ect. )

No specialty coffees on deck 10.

I started traveling alone with more video gear than I can lug, and I was really perplexed as to how I would get it all from one place to the next. You know what I figured out? Twenty bucks lugs a lot of gear. Twenty bucks to the taxi driver will get that stuff from (literally) your living room into the taxi, then out of the taxi and all the way to the SkyCap at the airport. Twenty bucks to that guy will ensure you go to the front of the line and don't have to lift a thing. When you get to the airport, another twenty bucks will get the SkyCap on the receiving end to load you right into another taxi. I personally would not give that guy a huge tip, but the bellman at your hotel will appreciate the twenty bucks you palm him and your luggage will appear in your room. A few days later, another bellman will come get your luggage and load you into another taxi (twenty bucks), and the fella at the port will be glad to unload you and get your things to the ship for twenty bucks. By my calculations that is $120 in tips, and that's for 250lbs worth of video gear. If we are talking one or two suitcases, you could get by on $5 or $10. But you will be impressed at how fast people will move when there's $20 in their pocket.

My daughter is 6 and we've taken two Celebrity cruises.

There is a teen club (X club) that they can sign in and out of. Once they meet on the first day they seem to clique up and travel in packs. They do all meet back in X club frequently and the kids do shift from clique to clique. The club has staff and they will plan activities for the kids that some or all will participate in. I was impressed with the kids club and have no reason to believe X club would be any less fulfilling.

We only cruise during the school year so I don't know what the chances are of encountering a big group of rowdies. I know it happens and the only thing I know to minimize the chances of it is to cruise during the school year. :-)

This is from 7202 (corner aft) looking back toward 7180. Your cabin would be 10 cabins back on this side. I assume they're talking about obstructions looking down because of the canopies.

Two shelves.

Trashcan bottom right cabinet. The other three cabinets are very shallow, but largely empty.

We're just off the Infinity cruise through the canal. I can't see what your ports are but here's what we did:

Miami, hung out in south beach (this was cool, there is a huge nighttime scene here), drove through the Florida keys (this was kind of lame, despite it being a string of islands it is really hard to see the ocean from the road, and there is very little to pull off and do).

Cartagena, Columbia: we took a taxi (it was cheap) to the old city and walked around. From the old city there are tour guides walking around who will give you a walking tour for a few bucks, or you can pretty much figure it out yourself. The whole of the old city is walkable. For another few bucks, take a taxi back.

Colon, Panama: Take a taxi (outside the cruise dock gates) or a white tourist van (inside the cruise dock gates) to Gatun locks, they drop you off at the old visitors center, you hang out and watch a ship pass through (which is super cool), get back in, take a short drive through the area, and back to the ship. Taxi will be cheaper and not speak much English. White tourist van will be more expensive. We took the white van. The guy started at $50/person and I beat him down until we got it for $20/person (for 4 of us). I had to walk away and have him chase me down twice.

Cruising the canal, find yourself a seat on the rails on deck 4 and just watch it happen. From deck 4 you will be at eye level with the ground and you can literally watch the ship rise. It's incredible. If you are the low-pressure type, you can sit there all day. The passing area is beautiful.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica, we took an 8-in-1 with GioTours (google it) and were relatively satisfied. White tourist van, us and 10 others, intimate tour, saw lots of cool stuff.

Guatemala, we took the ship's transfer to Antigua, which is pretty much the only thing to see near the port. Ship's transfer is way more expensive, but it's 90 minutes and it seemed like the possibility of a taxi (much cheaper) breaking down or getting lost or not being able to hail one was much higher, so we paid the fee. Walked around Antigua. Again, there are gov't licensed folks walking around that will give you a walking tour for a few bucks.

Puerto Vallarta, we did the Extreme Zipline thing, which was fun, but maybe not your speed. PV has a nice boardwalk you can stroll up and down.

Cabo San Lucas has glass bottom boats everywhere. The tour is 45 minutes and costs $10/person. There are dozens (hundreds?) of people hawking these tours. I like to keep walking until I find someone who is not completely annoying selling them. We walked most of the way around the harbor (past the dolphin experience) until we saw the Super Mario boat (you'll recognize it), and took that one. Despite the fact that the tours are given by hundreds of different operators, they are all mostly the same, and pretty good overall. When you come back, either have them drop you at a beach and hang out, or back at the dock and boardwalk back to the ship. Buckets of beers are 5/$10, it's an easy way to catch a cheap buzz before getting on the ship. ;-)

Best of luck. I am also a "figure it out when we get there" guy.

I'm aboard Infinity right now. For checking e-mail, etc, the speed is fine. If you are on a limited minute package, you're going to want to set up some kind of e-mail system on your computer/phone that will download new e-mails, then you can logoff, write your responses, log back on and upload. For the unlimited package, I didn't bother.

You are sharing a relatively slow satellite internet connection with 3,000 of your closest friends. This would be a slow connection if you were using it alone, but with 3,000 of you it can be painful. At peak times (first thing in the morning, and just before dinner) it is difficult. After bedtime it's quite fast.

I like to download the google map of the area when we get to port. Without fail, I always forget until we are leaving the room and headed to the gangway. It's 300MB or so of data. I set it up as we leave the room and at every port, it was finished by the time we walked off the ship. (Data also extends to the dock.) Couple of minutes or so. I consider that pretty good.

Upload is much slower than download - if you are trying to upload photos or videos, bring your patience. I know the speedtest image above doesn't reflect it, but over 15 days I'd notice I could load a whole page of photos in a few seconds, but sending an e-mail with a couple of photos might take 5 minutes.

I'm aboard the Infinity right now. (Literally!) Ship feels worn. Still nice, just... like it has had 2,000 people a week on and off her for 15 years. Dings in doors, cabinets, scratches in walls, I concur with the other poster that my balcony door only opens with a metric ton of force, and many of the exterior doors throughout the ship slam like cell doors. Anything replaceable (sheets, towels) are in great shape - anything built in to the ship has seen better days.

Had no problem with heat/AC in the room - sweltering near the equator and the A/C cranked right up. Chilly as we get back to the US, heat warms the room right up.

The silhouette bar (what I would call the crow's nest) was cold every time I was in there. I would see a group of people come in, have a drink, and their shivering women would convince them to leave. This has been going on the whole 15 day cruise. The rest of the public spaces are temporate.

I've cruised Celebrity Equinox before and was really impressed with the Oceanview Buffet. The Infinity lacks what the Equinox has. The buffet is much smaller, and the same items are repeated over and over. The sandwich station is unbelievably slow. Overall the buffet service is surly.

I found the shows to be sub-par, but I'm not a cruise ship entertainment kind of guy in the first place. I'm more of a sit on my balcony and watch the waves guy. And the ship did great with that!

For timelapses I used the vehicle suction mount along with the goose neck arm to mount on the glass. Also be sure to use a tether the camera to the railing.

This.

When it falls, before the words "oh, shi..." come out of your mouth it will be in the water and 40 feet deep.

It is not heavy and basically and string or yarn will serve as a tether.

She probably only needs the notarized medical permission as she is not traveling without the parents, she is just asking about going ashore to a beach excursion while the parents presumably do their own excursion or relax. What you are referring to is required if she sailed without the parents.

Seems to me that something as simple as a taxi with a flat tire or having made a wrong turn could be the difference between watching the ship sail away with half of your family on it and the other half on shore in a third world country where you don't speak the language. For an extra couple of sentences, "has permission to travel internationally with my child" could be the difference between being stuck in Italy without a way to exit, and booking a couple of flights to meet the ship in the next port.

I'd advise a pretty extensive letter, giving the grandparents decision making power.

Nice review. We were on the Equinox in the Med 3 years ago and had a great trip. Tip for next time - the specialty restaurants often have 2 for 1 specials to fill seats. Look out for them as Murano was a great experience.

Had eyes peeled. Probably would have pulled the trigger for half price. No dice. Checked the program every day.

Thanks so much, we will be onboard in one week with a 3, 6 and 10 year old. You really helped us

Jamie runs the kids club, tell her the people who smuggled in bananas say hello!

It is six martinis in small glasses with a neat selection. Share it with a another person. It was sipping a classic martini , as one of the selections, I decided that I like a classic one without all the other flavors!:)

This is not on the beverage package, but if you go with five friends you can order a full size of each of the martini's and pass them around. Ask me how I know!

As stated, no shuttle. The tram is very modern and easy to use, as noted above, you do need to pay in advance with YTL. Cabs are everywhere. Depending on your physical condition, when we visit Istanbul we always walk from the ship to the Grand Bazaar and other Old Town sites It is a beautiful and very safe approximately 30 minute walk, depending on your gate. So you have these three options available. Enjoy

Just returned from Istanbul and agree that the tram is cheap and simple. Didn't try a taxi. The walk from the ship is long. Once you get to the other side of the bridge, all of the sites are walkable. I'd take the tram at least as far as the spice market (first stop on the other side of the bridge).