bbappel

We did the ship trip, and like others, enjoyed it thoroughly. The guide was brilliant. She rushed us to the most distant point, warning us not to stop for photos on the way up as there would be time on the way back. We got to the theatre with only 2-3 other tourists. She told wonderful stories, and if we had done it on our own, we might still have had lovely photos to share but we would have had no understanding of what we were seeing. I would do the tour again even though the trip back was a little unnerving. I spent some time calculating which what to do if we capsized. Running over safety procedures in my head. If you are very risk averse, aka a total scaredy-cat, sit on the inside where you won't see the water approaching you on the uppermost deck.

We had a terrific lunch in Mykonos on our return with a true Greek salad and I had an octopus pasta that was just perfect for the day.

And wine of course.

We did the 11 day Ultimate in December 2012 and

Enjoyed it more than expected so we booked the 14 day trip similar to what you have chosen for January 2014. We hated it so much we said never again the Caribbean. We had booked it for January 2015 as well. We aren't beach people and didn't find anything else to do. Beaches rum punch and diamond shops. We finally decided that we would go back to the Ultimate and just spend more time in FL. We did want to get out of the cold.

We won't know until January if it was a good decision.

Beth

We bring our Contigo coffee cups (thermal) and get a double shot latte for breakfast the at the MDR we turn our coffee cups upside down and just enjoy our lattes with breakfast. I'm guessing you could get an espresso and add it to the MDR coffee. I wouldn't count on getting a latte with breakfast from the MDR since we did it once and got the coffee as we finished the last morsel of breakfast. I think they may be understaffed at breakfast. The buffet has an espresso machine on the S-class ships. Not sure about M-class ships.

Because you can save money but buying OBC when the exchange rate is favoura le as a hedge against unfavorable changes.

We buy Euros or GBP cash when rates are good for us if we plan to travel.

Beth

And I spelled favour the British/Canadian way and the iPhone auto correct foiled me.

I haven't watched carefully but I believe Cafe Al Bacio does good tea. However it isn't free unless you have a drinks package. The classic no alcohol would be sufficient for good tea.

I've gotten a nice pot of Earl Grey on occasion though I'm more likely to have an espresso drink like a latte or cappuccino in the morning.

I don't know if the buffet has water at the proper temp and you may wish to bring your own tea if he is particular. They have standard US teas.

I'll see what the Summit has in September.

Beth

The pictures of my daughter's wedding. We were on a river cruise and I left them in the lounge. I realized hours later, but no one had any idea where they were. It was a serious disappointment and I've never gotten reprints, though my daughter said she would give them to me, but it just never happened.

If you really really prefer driving yourself, you don't have to go into Manhattan (or even NYC at all) if you cross the Hudson north of the city. Tarrytown (I-287) or Newburgh (I-84) are easiest. A map book or mapping program should be able to help.

I would not be driving since I prefer public transport, but I don't want to see you dissuaded from it if that would be your first choice.

Beth

I did a search, honest, but didn't really get a definitive response, so here goes.

Does Celebrity in Cape Liberty (Bayonne) provide the express luggage service where you put your luggage outside your cabin and it is passed through to your airport?

We will be sailing on the Summit in September. I'm actually asking for a friend on this cruise, since I'm in NY and won't be going to an airport.

Thanks,

Beth

If you quoted someone's message and put your message solely within those quotes and push send, you will get that message.

Thanks dkj - it was an original post in the roll call though, not a quoted one.

Stuff happens.

Beth

I have a MACbook and was using Firefox. I didn't try it on Safari, since it was late.

Beth

I just posted a message on my roll call (Jan 12, 2015 Equinox) and did the preview, but it blanked out the message. When I just ignored that and hit submit, it said the message was too short, that I must have at least 3 characters. Luckily, I had copied it to insert it, so I was able to get it back.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Beth

Your best bet may be calling them. Sometimes the website doesn't work well. Sometimes it doesn't work at all.

Generally you can at least look at the excursions by following some of the advice already given, but sometimes even with that, you get into some sort of loop that ends it "under maintenance" so that's why we end up calling.

It is worth the wait even with the recorded message looping.

Beth

We use the laundry service but I am cautious about what I send out. Never my most delicate items, nor the dark colored items that I want to retain their color. It seems that the laundry uses hot water and a hot dryer.

We do send out cotton undies, socks, and older tees that I don't mind getting faded and that are unlikely to shrink.

We do 14 day cruises and usually have a week or two on land. If we are in the US, we have done laundry the day before embarkation day - at a place that has cooler temperature wash and dry.

We tend to pack for 7 days on the cruise and then re-wear clothing that passes the sniff test, and send out or hand wash the stuff that doesn't. We send out clothing 6 days into the cruise for a 14 day cruise - if we were able to board with all clean clothing. If not, we split it and send out laundry on day 2 or 3 and then on day 9 or 10. We pack in 2 each carry-on suitcases and 2 each 24" suitcases.

I hope this helps.

And just a reminder - please, there is no right or wrong about this. Please don't criticize Celebrity because they choose to not have a self-laundry and don't criticize those who use the self-laundry on other ships. Again, there is no right or wrong. I might not choose to use my time to do laundry, but then I don't like doing laundry and put it off at home as long as possible (we have to use a laundromat because we are on a well & septic tank). Others might enjoy the task of transforming funky clothes into nice fresh ones.

Just a little civility - that's all I'm requesting. Please don't chastize others for their feelings about this very personal matter.

Smiles.

It appears that I'm the one that kills roll calls. I joined the roll call for our next cruise two days ago. Mine was the last post. Crickets is all I hear. I'll see if this works on a couple others.

It is a heavy-holiday week. Lots of people are traveling. The January RC has been very inactive and is about to go to the next page. It isn't you - it's the timing. Then again, if no one posts for another week or two, maybe it is you.:D. (please don't be offended - that was a joke).

Sometimes, it isn't personal, it just feels personal.

Beth

Me too.

Why am I avoiding it you ask?

- 3-4 people are dominating the discussion

I hope it isn't one of the roll calls I'm on. Dominating discussions often just means we don't have a life. :D I know I've spent too much time in front of the computer when my post count goes up by too much.

- These people are rabid about knowing your name, cabin number, etc.

I don't think I'm being rabid, just thorough. I remind people that they haven't really introduced themselves.

One issue is that the Connections Party name tag from Celebrity shows only your name (as listed on the manifest - which is an issue because I am H on the Celebrity booking) and not your Cruise Critic ID, so we go to the party and unless someone on the roll call has created nametags, we are clueless as to who people are. For instance, if you are on my roll call, but your booking name is Richard, I'd never find you at the party, even if I knew we had a common interest.

I always wonder why people are so reticent.

But then I'm an Ohio girl and we are entirely too friendly to strangers. Or so I've been told.

- These people are planning multiple events

You do know events aren't mandatory. The NY Times once had an ad "You don't have to read it all, but it's nice to know it's all there." Well you don't have to do it all. I help pull threads of events together, but don't feel committed to do them unless I've told the organizer that I'm going.

I hope you will reconsider and introduce yourself and just pass on the events and things you don't find to your taste.

Beth

We have a similar problem - our balance is much less but shows up when you click on Payment Details in My Celebrity. Probably when working on the website, this was neglected. My husband's guess is that the original programmers did not document the files adequately if at all. This means it is very difficult to fix all the problems when they start changing things. The little bits that used to explain to the Payment Details probably don't exist any more, so it gets confused.

I did call and Celebrity said, as with you, that it didn't show up on their end. My biggest fear was that we would lose our cabin. We booked early just to get this cabin - not that it is so great, but just the one we wanted.

Beth

We had this issue once so in the morning, we told our room steward we needed the MDR menu, then we our room steward delivered the food all at one time. We had the drinks package so on the way back to the cabin we stopped and picked up glasses of white wine (for our first course) and stuck them in the cooler-fridge. Then after placing the order, my husband went to Cellar Masters and got two glasses of red wine (with both cards) while I waited in the cabin. We had our first course on the balcony, then the main course inside since it was getting dark. It was a good solution, particularly since we were tired out from running around all day. No dressing, in fact, I think we ate in our robes.

The Room Service menu doesn't mention that you can get the MDR food as long as the MDR is still serving.

Other times we have booked the Specialty restaurant on days like this, but the time mentioned above, we would have been too tired to enjoy the Specialty restaurant.

Beth

Venice: The World Before Her, Deborah Weisgall and A Stopover in Venice, Kathryn Walker; Venice. Pure City, Peter Akroyd. Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti mysteries.

Malta: Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World. Roger Crowley. History

Rome: City of the Soul: A Walk in Rome, William Murray

Mediterranean: Traveling with Pomegranates, Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. Memoir (particularly for mother-daughter trips)

Panama: Path Between the Seas, David McCullough

Quebec: Louise Penny's Armand Gamache novels

I think Travel Agents are not permitted to list their location. I'm not one, so I could be wrong, but in my experience it has been the TAs who didn't list where they lived.

Beth

I'm probably one of the people that others say interrupts too much :)

 

Tom

Me too - I grew up in a family where if you didn't interrupt, you never got a word in. It has not served me well, so I'm trying to learn not to but at my age (nearing 3 score and ten) I probably won't learn.

Beth

Don't believe I've cruised with you, but thank you for your efforts to provide a better cruise experience for all.

I don't think so either, but I've left on my signature this time. You may have cruised with friends of ours. Seems like I may have seen your name on their roll call (yeah, I checked in once and a while to see how it was going).

Beth

Orator: The function of a Roll Call to me is to help people to enhance their cruising experience by introducing fellow cruisers and providing useful information. A roll call is good to the extent that it does that, bad to the extent it doesn't. ...

Orator: Thanks for starting this; I almost didn’t read it because it seemed it would be negative. To answer one question, though, most people don’t share full names on the Roll Call – I don’t – so it is unlikely someone would be able to find me if I didn’t give them my cabin number. Most of us have shared our cabin numbers off line so that we can get together onboard ship if we wish.

I’m probably being sensitive because I am a roll call “organizer” of private roll call information – not instead of the open roll call, but to augment it. I do this to share the information I am gathering for the trip, but don’t want out in the world of google, but still want to share (you do know that every post can be found by google, right?).

My introduction to this concept was on the Equinox when we were traveling without friends. It turned out to be quite helpful. Stacy had requested photos, cabin numbers, and kept track of everyone’s tours. Although we had booked ship excursions exclusively, it was quite interesting to see what others planned; the photos helped me recognize people so we felt like we “knew” them ahead of time; and they organized a pre-trip get-together. For our next cruise, Silhouette Adriatic, I decided to try my hand at it since it uses expertise I already had. That Roll Call was very supportive, and along with the roll call itself on Cruise Critic and all the commentary, there were also e-mail conversations going on. Because of the Roll Call, I have remained friends with several people on the trip.

Our next cruise, this time to the Caribbean, I did the same, and the roll call was still busy and allowed people to organize private tours and share information - not the level of the Adriatic cruise, but still good.

We organize shipboard activities that are totally voluntary and optional, but are nice for those who aren’t traveling with friends. Or for those of us who are particularly group-centric.

Currently, I’m doing another private roll call on the Summit (none of the critical posters here have introduced themselves on the Roll Call – that doesn’t mean they aren’t there; I was glad that Maxsales wasn’t negative). I hope no one on our roll call feels pressured.

Jade13: Or, those who want their personal lists to include others private excursions (including full names of the participants and tour company and contact person) that do not even involve them....

I organize this information in private roll call files as a tool for others to use. Not because I want the info - and I stress that it is confidential, not to be shared outside the roll call. As I mentioned before, I don't share my name in a public forum (though most can guess - I wasn't thinking ahead). I’d rather organize the private tours off line in the Private Roll Call because I’ve noticed people posting that they want to participate in one, only to find it has been filled for weeks.

This is something I do simply because I have always liked to make it easier for people to socialize and I don’t need (nor do I want) to be in the middle, just facilitate it.

tserface: I'm not bothered by any of this stuff. I figure a roll call is a great place to get to know people before the cruise and if there is someone who knows someone and wants to reconnect I don't see a problem with that. ... OK, I do know one thing that bugs me a little. Roll call police. The ones who say "roll calls are not for [insert here]" and try to restrict what happens. If you don't like what's happening you can ignore it.

 

Tom

Let’s Get Wet: I believe that the only option an individual has with their signature is to turn it on or off globally. There's no way I'm aware of to decide on a post-by-post basis whether to have it included or not.

Yes, you can turn off the signature for individual posts. It is down in Additional Options. I've turned it off for this posting but I do list all my cruises because if I'm on a cruise, I always look to see if someone posting has shared a cruise with me. And I have some signature quotes that are meaningful to me and help to introduce me to others.

Beth - upcoming cruise, Summit to Canada & New England

US Resident, so if you aren't this might not apply (I forgot to look if your location was listed)

We just made our final payment for a cruise (it is due in 4 days). The first page of Our Celebrity was accurate, it showed a zero balance, but when you clicked on Show Details of our payment to see what the charges were, it showed we owed ~$180 more. I had gotten a day credit just for me (illness on last cruise), and it didn't show up. So I called - I really don't want to lose our cabin on a nearly sold-out cruise - and was told by the agent that they wouldn't cancel me for this, but would call us to inform us that we hadn't paid.

So that good news is it is entirely possible that Celebrity would make sure you knew you had missed your payment.

Then again, since you used a TA, maybe they would call the TA. I didn't use one.

The only caveat here is that I never know if what I'm being told is accurate, nor if not paying at all would have the same results, but I felt a little better. We will keep checking since as I said, I really don't want to lose this cabin.

Beth

How long was the aerial tram portion of this tour?

Sorry to take so long to answer - but I don't have an answer. I'm not good with details - it was just the right length for me. Not long enough to get concerned about being way up there, and not so short that I thought it ended too soon. One person in our party is a little acrophobic (heights) and it didn't bother said person.

Beth