melsdt

Fair enough. Our last cruise was 10 months ago. 10 more days 'till the next!

 

I know they have now introduced a second level to the Michael's club concierge specifically for PH & RS - it will be interesting to see how that works.

Can you clarify what you mean by second level?

 

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I won't even go in one of those open air trucks (after a frightening drive there many years ago). There is no way I would take my young children in them unrestrained.

 

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Thanks!!

 

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We have done two Celebrity cruises with our son, and have one booked now with two children. My son loved trying all the new foods, he enjoyed watching karaoke, dancing to the live music, chatting with all the staff, eating gelato, looking at the artwork, and just checking things out. The newness of it was enough to keep him entertained on both of his cruises. We will check out the kids club on this upcoming Equinox trip and report back.

 

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Does Equinox have the portrait studio? It was very expensive but we got beautiful family photos there on Solstice, and I'll likely have OBC to use. Thanks!

 

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We took our son at exactly 14 months to Bermuda. It was pretty smooth and easy! Little trickier at 2 years old!

 

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Wonder if the OP has tried the Cruise Critic search function -- a comprehensive list was posted recently.

Since when does this feature work? Does it actually work for others? It doesn't for me on the app.

 

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Thank you for posting. I have held off booking, as they had said very little about amenities for kids and families, despite heavy advertising to that target group.

 

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Once again there was at least one bridge closed in late June so the total route was unavailable.

That's one trip I wouldn't do in a tour bus. A small van yes.

The problem with a rental car is the poor driver misses the best views unless a passenger or two "urges" the driver to pull over.

A good guide/driver makes it a great excursion.

I have to disagree with this. We did this with a rental car on a land based trip. We were able to head out earlier than the tours, and stopped at SO many more places. There are excellent audio tours you can download. We watched all these vans and busses wiz by some amazing viewing and quick stop locations. Also, very few of the tours went to the waterfalls and pools.

 

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We just got of a Summit sailing in June. Dining in Luminae with our 9 yr old. Easily can finish a meal in just over an hour. Waiter will adjust serving to keep dinner moving along. About three families with children, no noise or disruptions seen.

Thanks-I appreciate your response. I think my not so great experience there was a result of the newness of it at the time. I'm hoping for a more positive experience on our next cruise!

 

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"chlidren hatred"... I think that is quite an exaggeration. There is a huge difference between hearing children talking and children running wild and screaming. If anything this thread's common theme is hatred of poor parenting, not children. After all, we all know poor behaving children is not the children's fault, it is the parents. In my experience badly acting children are the exception, not the rule. If you have taught your children the appropriate way to act in public and don't leave them alone, you will have no problem and those around you will enjoy your family's company. I am sure you have nothing to worry about.

When I say that, I am referring to this board, not this thread specifically. There are regularly threads on here where people say children don't belong on Celebrity, and so forth. In my experience, most parents do everything in their power to keep kids quiet and content, but they still are kids and deserve to enjoy themselves and not have people complain their vacation was ruined by their very presence. Luckily, my experience onboard has always been positive, but this board is hardly welcoming to families and I often want to cancel my cruise reading it if I may be honest.

 

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I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question, but the CARES harness is only for use on airplanes, not in cars.

 

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Families are allowed as everyone staying in a suite is assigned to that dining room. There may be some initial looks but as long as they're well-behaved or you remove them if they aren't, then I doubt anyone will say anything to you. If you can eat earlier as opposed to later, it should be less crowded. They'll pace your meal to be faster if you ask them to.

Thank you. I know they are allowed, but I'm not interested in the stares. It just stresses me out as a parent. Last time, they were unable to provide a more speedy service (we were not looking for fast food by any means, but it seemed they couldn't produce a meal that wasn't 3 hours in length so we gave up trying). My son has been in all kinds of fine dining and does just fine, and yet we still felt uncomfortable being there. However, it was when it first opened, there were no sky suites included which may it feel very quiet, and the service wasn't organized well yet. Hoping that is not the case this time :)

 

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I’m on the Reflection right now, and something I’m seeing for the first time on my many Celebrity voyages is parents sitting their kids down at dinner (in this case, in Luminae) and plopping down a phone or tablet in front of them and putting on cartoons - audibly - during dinner! As if no one else was in the entire dining room. On Tuesday night there were three different shows being played near us - two at a single table, since I guess the two kids wanted to watch different things.

 

When I asked the Maitre’D they said they weren’t allowed to ask them to turn the volume off as “Celebrity has no policy regarding videos during dinner”, but mentioned that we were the 3rd or 4th people that night to complain. The next night they came up to us and said that for this cruise families with children would be seated in the “back section” of Luminae, but that was all they could do.

 

But...just the concept of a parent that will play a video - with sound - during dinner in the restaurant is...so inconsiderate.

 

Another family was playing a video for their child quite loudly during the muster drill safety video; I was shocked the staff didn’t ask them to shut it off in the name of safety.

I don't allow my children to have phones or devices at restaurants (we bring coloring books etc), but I'm writing to confirm you saw families in Luminae? I'm asking because, based on the children hatred I have seen on this board, I have been feeling anxious to bring my kids there. I feel like if they even speak, someone will complain. Last time, we ate in Luminae in 2015, the service was painfully slow (2 plus hours for a hamburger at lunch) and you could hear a pin drop in there so we didn't utilize very much. I'm trying to decide how to approach this on our upcoming cruise.

 

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Forgive me if this is addressed in this thread and I missed it, but how does this work if more than 2 ppl are in a cabin? Is the pp bid only for first two or does bidding price reflect all occupants?

 

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We are sailing Celebrity Equinox western Caribbean.

Please report back on this trip. We sail this with our 2 and 5 years old next year.

 

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Have never heard of anyone getting food from Luminae in a sky suite, it is not one of the advertised perks. For as long as Luminae has existed, orders from room service for full meals come from the MDR. Again, probably depends on Butler but don't remember anyone doing this. I know we could not do this last year.

I'm not in a sky suite?

 

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No, you can only order from the MDR menu for dinner. Luminae does not provide any room service and neither do the Specialties. If you are in a Royal Suite or above you do have unlimited Specialty Dining in the restaurants.

I asked this question in a Facebook group and was told yes, if you are in suite, you can order Luminae room service as long as during their meal hours. Has anyone actually done this? We really like the food of Luminae but found the service to be too slow for us, so we didn't utilize it very much on our last Celebrity cruise (albeit 3 years ago). At that time, there was talks of adding it to suite room service but it wasn't yet implemented. I was hoping it would be available this time.

 

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We did Alaska on Solstice with my son at just over 2 years old on an intergenerational trip. It was his second cruise, first was Bermuda at 14 months. My son was pretty entertained just walking around the ship, watching and dancing to live music, eating gelato, trying new foods, watching karaoke and even checking out the artwork from the auctions Because we had grandparents, we didn't make use of the babysitting on either trip, but I have heard good things. The staff all over the ship were really excellent in their interactions with him (he and the captain were on first name basis!) If you are looking for suggestions for port excursions, let me know. We had a GREAT time with our stops on that trip.

 

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My husband and I have booked the Royal suite on Solstice for Alaska. Any info you can give would be great. It I'll be my first on Celebrity, so I'm excited to hear all about it. If I may ask, what room number are you?

 

 

Hi Chicogirl, we were in 1118. The room was awesome. The only thing I didn't like was that you had to close yourself into the closet to open the doors of the dresser. Obviously, this is minor but was a little annoying. The bathrooms were spacious and the shower was amazing. We did actually use the jacuzzi on the deck since the weather was so nice.

Hi again melsdt. I hope you and your family are having a wonderful time!

 

Please report if you get a moment: are spa specials being offered? ...and did you enjoy Murano? Thanks so much!

 

 

I didn't notice any specific spa specials. Actually, they did have certain time of day special listed in the daily. Like x% off appointments at 8am, etc. I used the 15% off elite coupon for a canyon stone pedicure which was pretty nice. Murano food and service were excellent.

Sorry for the delay between posts. The included free internet package did not work all week after the first day. This was one of many mishaps with our first suite experience after the new benefits kicked in. I will complete my full review later or when we return.

 

By the way, the weather was fantastic. In fact, here I sit in Seattle, on a cold, dreary, rainy day; a far contrast to the sunny warm weather we had all week.

Mel: We're booked on the Solstice in a Royal Suite later this year; I thought the premium beverage package was included in this fare catagory. Your initial comments suggest someone in your group was asked to Upgrade to the premium pkg? Perhaps this was someone not in an RS, or perhaps I'm just misinformed?

 

 

Yes, premium package was included and was awesome. It was for a traveling companion in another room category.

We rented from Avis in Skagway a few days ago. The dock is looong, so that alone is probably ten minutes and then another five to the office. They open at 8, we arrived around 8:20. There were a few people in line ahead of us but we were in the car within ten minutes.

a side note.....as in Ramapo...Rockland County, NY?......I always

try to have a happy mood when I am sailing:D

 

 

I thought Rockland at first too. I worked there for 8 years.