gijoe76

4 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Strange that they would change this so fast.

We were there in early summer, so maybe they have started allowing Hibachi. That would be great!  Keep me updated. 

We were not allowed to eat at Hibachi, but my understanding is that it can vary between all the ships.

Best of luck!

We had the unlimited dining package on Symphony this summer. We could not eat at Chops on embarkation day because of The Key people eating there, but we ate a great burger at Playmakers. The $35 a la cart price is per meal, per person. Anything open for lunch on sea days is available to you.  You could even have appetizers at one place, dinner somewhere else and dessert somewhere else.  You could also have dessert at three different restaurants on the same night.  It would be possible to snack at Playmakers all day long.  It was truly unlimited!  

The only exceptions we found were:  Chops on embarkation day, Hibachi, and Chefs Table.

TV now shows Fox News and CNN. Fair and Balanced.

That is too bad, your cabin steward should have explained that to you when you first met them.

 

Another important thing to remember, if you have a balcony, is to keep the door handle in the locked position or your a/c will turn off. You can put it in the locked position even if you are sitting out on your balcony.

How can you put it in the locked position even if you are out on the balcony?

Is it possible to buy the drink package on day 3 or 4 and still get the 30% discount?

Thanks!

Solstice to Alaska has an amazing naturalist, Brent Nixon. If you have the drink package, the wine stewards in Blu will pair wine with each course every night at dinner.

Take the Orca whale watching trip in Victoria. We saw a dozen Orca feeding. It was amazing!

We try to catch the Aqua cabins when they are on sale. We love them!

OBC from Visa points is refundable.

Thanks for the information and congratulations on your 100,000+ posts!

Which types of OBC are refundable at the end of the cruise? We have $500 of OBC from Visa. Can we get cash if we don't use it all?

Just returned from doing a B2B (2 April and 9 April) on the Jewel. We were in a D1 balcony (9060) and there was no shampoo (pump) dispenser in our cabin shower. The mounting bracket was still there for the dispenser. Plenty of Soap disks, shampoo, conditioner and moisturizers were supplied. We always bring our own shampoo, conditioner and moisturizers.

Thanks! We will be in Europe for a month, so I'm trying to figure out liquids for a party of 5! We are in 9594. The last half of our trip is on Celebrity Reflection! Getting excited!

Hi!

We will be on the Jewel in May. It will be our last cruise as Diamond before becoming Diamond Plus for our next cruise. My question is about perks.

Will there be shampoo, etc. in our cabin or will we need to ask for it? Do Diamond/Diamond Plus have nice shampoo supplied? I'm planning to use the pump soap to wash undies.

Thanks!

We have been on the Summit and the Jewel in the Southern Caribbean. Both ships are somewhat elegant compared to Carnival. From our experience with recent cruises, we would say that the food is comparable. Even on Carnival, the upscale steakhouse is to die for! IMHO, the Southern Caribbean is so port intensive that you should be worn out by the time you get back on the ship every day. Every island is different and has much to explore both on land and 'under the sea.'

Our personal favorite is Celebrity, but with the Southern Caribbean, I would choose the ship with the best itinerary.

Have fun!

Thank you, Hoopster95, for your detailed pictorial review! We were on the fence as to which Caribbean cruise to book for our first venture down south. Your review convinced us that this was the cruise for us!

 

We're booked for next year (with maybe one different port, I believe). I will be reviewing this thread in the months preceding our trip, I'm sure.

 

It's our first time with RCI as well. They should give you some OBC or something :)

 

Thanks, again!

Melinda,

Can't believe you are here on the NOS review! I have been reading your review on the Solstice out of Seattle to Alaska. We leave on the Solstice on July 11 for a B2B, then we are home for a week before we do the NOS out of Galveston. Your Solstice review is fabulous!

This review of the Navigator is fabulous too! Thanks to both of you for reporting back. It really helps with the planning.

BTW, make sure the Southern Caribbean is on your list. Sailing out of San Juan is wonderful! Then there's Europe!! Oh no, you've got me started! I'm looking forward to reading many more reviews from you in the future.

Happy Sailing,

Ginny in Houston

Book online or book as soon as you get on board. We've never had a problem.

My family and I were on this cruise as well and I saved the Celebrity Today dailies on the trip. I've scanned them in and hosted PDFs for those interested:

 

May 23rd - Seattle, Washington

May 24th - At Sea

May 25th - Ketchikan, Alaska

May 26th - Tracy Arm Fjord (Cruising) / Juneau, Alaska

May 27th - Skagway, Alaska

May 28th - At Sea

May 29th - Victoria B.C., Canada

 

Enjoy!

Bump

Bump

My family and I were on this cruise as well and I saved the Celebrity Today dailies on the trip. I've scanned them in and hosted PDFs for those interested:

 

May 23rd - Seattle, Washington

May 24th - At Sea

May 25th - Ketchikan, Alaska

May 26th - Tracy Arm Fjord (Cruising) / Juneau, Alaska

May 27th - Skagway, Alaska

May 28th - At Sea

May 29th - Victoria B.C., Canada

 

Enjoy!

These are beautiful! Many thanks!

We have been to Alaska several times. We have figured out that it is worth the money to have a balcony. It is like being on an excursion 24/7. We saw so many more whales, etc. when we had the balcony. On one of our trips with an inside cabin, we saw virtually no wildlife.

And yes, cabin 1100 is amazing and always booked months in advance!

The Honolulu to Vancouver is not considered a Transpacific cruise - it is a Hawaii cruise and therefore eligible for the 123.

 

I would never be without a Passage Certificate. We usually book as soon as the itinerary's come out and I would rather not drop $900 18+ months out. It holds my room and price and then if something else comes along I can keep my cabin and then move the passages to another itinerary. I have two floating right now and everything I seem to be looking at seems to be going up in price so it has worked so far.

Could you please give a few helpful hints as to how to get the best deals using the Passage Certificate? We have one not being used at this point because we can always get a better deal with our TA. What is the best way to use the certificate? Can you ever get any 123 perks with the certificate or just the OBC?

This sounds like a wonderful itinerary, thanks for the review.

 

We're hoping that in 2016 this itinerary will be the first cruise after the Honolulu to Vancouver cruise that finishes Solsitice's 2015/16 Australia/South Pacific season, as we're looking at flying from Australia to Honolulu to do the cruise to Vancouver, followed by the first Alaskan cruise, Alaska before heading by train across Canada to Toronto & Niagra Falls and down to New York.

FUN!!! I want to go too!

Hi

 

Is there an outlet for this small 120v 14w appliance?

 

Thank you.

 

Sheila.

No. DH uses an extension cord.

Can any of you upload the daily activity newsletter? I think they are Celebrities Dailies, but can't remember for sure.

Also, I head that quite a bit of activities on ship may be shut down on the last night when we are in Victoria. Any truth to this?

Thanks.

Did you see Orca on the Victoria whale watching tour?

You will not be disappointed with the Adventure of the Seas. RCL ships are just different than Celebrity Solstice class ships. They are both wonderful in their own way. If you are taking a wide range of ages, the RCL ship is a better choice.

You can "preview" Brent Nixon on You Tube. He also has a website.