cruzinlisa

We just departed today. When we got to customs there was only one person checking people out. It was frustrating. As we stepped up the opened a few more stations. But we were in group 30 so there were not that many behind us

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Thanks everyone. We are on board now and love it. Celebrity is amazing. We left our hotel room at 10 and were on board in less than an hour which included checking out of the hotel and wait for a cab. We are in an aqua class room and very impressed. I just wish the daiquiris were not made with a dark rum- it ruins them

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Yes I am talking about at the gangway. I don't remember having to show it in Cozumel before but perhaps we did.

Key west is a US port. Will he need a photo Id there? If we gave to take it in KW it's okay just not my preference. I am not as worried about it there as in Mexico ( and this will be my 5th time in Mexico so I can say that)

Do you think his work Id will work at all?

Thanks for the quick replies. I am stressed!

But it's my testimonial for cruising with passport otherwise this post would be about last minute cancelation

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We are leaving today on constellation going to Cozumel and key west. Yesterday morning we checked out of our park and fly hotel and arrived at airport. As we are checking in a and getting boarding passes, she asks for i.d. So Dh discovers that the insert in his wallet with his drivers license and other state Id is missing!

Thankfully we have passports so those work. But once we get on the ship I leave them in the safe because it's our ticket back home and now his only Id.

I do not want to start a debate about taking you passport in port- it's not something I want to do unless absolutely necessary (esp in Mexico where we have a beach day planned).

But I am worried about whether he needs a photo Id to get back into port area to get on the ship? Does anyone have specific experience with Cozumel and key west? If it is necessary is there anything besides Drivers license or passport that would work? He has his work Id (state of Missouri department of corrections) which has a photo but it looks about like a school Id or a copy of passport

If none will work we may not get off in Cozumel

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I am leaving soon for my cruise on Constellation so I am packing. I was wonder about the safes. Are they the kind that you have to swipe a magnetic card or ones with a pin that you choose? I have only been on Carnival and the ships I was on had a magnetic card.

Altho the eggs were good, I have had equally good food in other venues on ship....try eggs benedict station on Connie!!!!!..

Barb

Where is this?

We don't have a single restaurant in our town that serves lobster. In fact, I'll have to go to the city (2 hours one way) to get it. Steak on the other hand, is a dime a dozen in the Midwest - including at home from your own cattle. Nothing better than a KC strip or a good old T-Bone or a ribeye. Having steak out somewhere is not 'special' to us, but lobster and good seafood is.

I agree. Ribeye is great and I love it. But I can buy a good tasting steak at the grocery store for $10 or less most of the time and grill it at home. I don't need to go out to a fancy restaurant to eat it. But I love seafood. Lobster is the ultimate treat. The only place that I know that has it is red lobster. I have seen it on the menu at a couple of places here and there but its at "market price" and that scares me.

Mango Daiquiri

 

I am getting this.

Not sure why people report feeling bad about having the steward or assistant deliver room service. Like delivering laundry, that is part of their job. It's nice to tip extra, but don't think of it as adding to their workload excessively.

 

Perhaps on other lines it is handled differently ? Still, that doesn't mean that it's "extra" work, since it is already their job

I agree with you. I have only been on Carnival and they do not have the room steward delivering room service. I assume its kitchen staff. Because of that, I always tip. I wouldn't say that I tip alot or anything, but I would always tip a couple of dollars for room service, even if its someone that is already getting tipped by me.

Also, I agree if that is part of their assigned duties, that is their job. From my understanding, they work long hours so if that was not one of their responsibilities, I don't doubt that the cruiseline would give them something else to do.

I wouldn't order room service just for a single cup of coffee or something I could get quickly myself. I would feel bad about that, no matter who was doing it.

As horrible and cruel as that suggestion was, I couldn't help but to laugh out loud. :o

 

I was going to suggest something that the kids would not be looking forward to (like needing to go to a doctors appointment in Galveston).

I was going to say dentist appointment.

http://ships.cruisett.com/

 

pick the ship you will be sailing on, then the month.

Yikes, four other ships will be in port with us in Cozumel. But we are the only ship listed for Key West.

Thanks for the link.

How do you know how many ships are in port?

I've seen prices drop as the cruise line discounts in order to fill those last few cabins, particularly once shoulder-season hits. I've also seen prices go way up.

 

One example is my 7 night Adriatic to Aegean Cruise on the Celebrity Equinox this June. At one point in time, an inside was $1159. Now, an inside is $2049.

 

By watching, we were able to move last summer to balcony cabins for the same as an inside. Now, that balcony cabin goes for $2799!

 

This is after final payment!

 

My February cruise also doubled in price. By booking over a year out, I've gotten the room I wanted and been able to watch for price drops and specials. Once final payment comes, I stop checking as much. I generally have a room I like, so there is no point in watching. If someone on my roll call announces upgrades, I might see about one, but knowing Celebrity's policies, I generally don't since I don't want to risk my room, price and perks.

I agree with this, but some of it apparently depends on what room category you have booked. My cruise leaves in 13 days. The price now is the same that we paid for it in August. We are AQ. The regular balcony prices have dropped, but AQ and CC have stayed the same. And I don't think the price I paid was rock bottom. It was decent, obviously because I booked it, but it is not jaw dropping.

Now we are even more undecided. Considering that this is my 4th time to Cozumel you would think that I would have a better idea of what to do. Now I am thinking about either Paradise Beach or Mr. Sanchos. We have been to PB and while I like it, I am not sure I want to go there again. Its kind of a been there, done that thing. We have been planning on going to Mr. Sanchos the last two times and ended up elsewhere. We have a drink package on the ship so AI is probably not something we need. So we were thinking of doing pay as you go at Mr. Sanchos. But it looks like the pool is pretty small. PB has a nice pool, but I like the looks of everything else at Mr. Sanchos better. Plus they seem to be a tiny bit cheaper on their ala carte prices.

I have heard that Mr. Sanchos and Paradise Beach are very close to each other. Is it possible to walk from one to another- assuming we don't care for Mr. Sanchos much. If not, I am not going to do a taxi, we will just stay around. I guess we could go to the beach, as we probably should do in the caribbean, but I am more of a pool person.

BTW thank you Mitsugirly for doing your reviews. You have been to pretty much everywhere I am considering so its a great help.

Do you have to book in advance or can you just show up and pay at the door? Does anyone have any info on that?

If you must book in advance, do you have to pretend you are not on a cruise to get them to allow it? We are on Celebrity, if that makes a difference.

I am still deciding between Chankanaab and Playa Mia. DH is into snorkeling and he likes slides and a water park. From what I am gathering from Mitsugirly is that if he would rather snorkel we should do Chankanaab and if he would prefer the water park, we should go to Playa Mia.

I am not into either, I just want somewhere with a nice pool, preferrable overlooking the beach. If not overlooking then a pretty beach that I can look at and walk on. I am not much for sitting on the beach (I don't want to get sandy everywhere) or actually going into the ocean/sea. My dream is a beautiful infinity type of pool where I can sit and look out at the beach.

Or we could just go to Paradise beach, I know they have a pool and beach. But I am trying to convince DH that he should go somewhere that he can either snorkel or go to the water park, because we are not bring our DD to look after. So he can do what he wants, as I (of course) can supervise myself.

 

Belize, I could take it or leave it. Went into town last time, nothing really there, lots of poverty. The people are really nice. The long tender is not worth it unless doing an excursion which we normally do not do.

This.

We took a beach excursion through Carnival because we had our 2 year old DD with us and were limited in options. It was nice. After it returned us to the ship, we grabbed a tender and went to the port area. It was pretty underwhelming. There were a bunch of stores, selling the same junk as any other port, but a lot of it more expensive than other places. I bought us some t-shirts and dh grabbed a couple of beers. DD fell asleep on the tender there and snoozed the entire time. She really did not miss much. It was okay, but not my favorite place. I would not avoid it, but would not pick an itinerary just to go there either.

Sorry to revive this old thread but I am wondering if anyone who has recently been on Constellation who upgraded on board. Did you go to Guest Services to upgrade or a bar. Also, where is guest services?

Leave a little gift with Gma and Gpa for DD to open every day. Record a favorite story for them to use at bed time. DD may not "need" it but it can make you feel better knowing that you are still in touch with DD every day.

 

Very good ideas!

I agree with all of the above in theory, but emotions mess with our logical thinking! It's really up to you on how you think you will feel during the cruise. If you will feel guilty or preoccupied with how your daughter is doing or missing her, then you won't enjoy yourself. I would buy the minutes and stay in touch so you can be reassured that she is doing fine and having fun with her grandparents.

Exactly. This that are completely illogical keep popping in my brain. Like at my baby sitters they have an above ground pool. Its not a threat right now, the main reason is that its closed off. Its cold now and there is no water in it. And no ladder to get into it. But I saw it yesterday and I started to worry, what if something happens while we are gone. or what if she gets hurt, etc. I know she will be taken care of and I will do the power of attorney/consent to med treatment so that they can take care of her. But my mind still goes there.

I get bonnine because it doesn't make me drowsy.

I will have to try this. I bought some off brand medicine at the drug store before I left that I thought was off brand bonnine but it turned out to be dramamine. That makes me sleepy. Not sure about bonnine.

Last cruise we had an inside cabin, which is great for sleeping and I took the meds (which turned out to be dramamine). Everytime I was in the cabin (which was pretty often since we had a two year old with us who needed changing, etc), I would get tired. About 1/2 way through the cruise I noticed what I was taking.

Ever since my baby (now 3) was born, we have traveled with her. She has gone to Florida, on two cruises, Branson, Oklahoma and Kansas. The only time I have left her for more than a day was when we went to Las Vegas for DH's 30th birthday and it was a long weekend. There were really only two days that we did not see her during that time period. And we were able to call and talk to her.

So this year, DH and I decided to take a cruise by ourselves. She is not much of a cruiser to put it mildly (she was a big ole grumpy gus the whole time). WHen we booked it and DH's parents agreed to keep her, it sounded like a great idea. But now its in two weeks and I can hardly get excited about the cruise.

I know that DH's parents have raised 4 children and are perfectly capable of taking care of mine. And I know that my baby sitter has raised 3 children, 2 grandchildren and been babysitting for years. I trust them. But suddenly that paranoia is creeping in, what if something happens and I am not there.

Its only intensified by the fact that we will be pretty much out of touch for a lot of time. One port is in Key West so we do have regular cell service there. But that is the last port, the day before we get home. So basically I will have Tuesday at sea, Weds in Cozumel, and THursday at sea where I will be out of touch.

I have heard that Celebrity and ATT have some package where you can get some minutes for $30, which DH thinks is crazy. I know there is texting, but DH's parents don't text. DH's sis, who lives there, does text, but she is not always at home. His parents do not facebook and do not have internet.

If I get phone minutes, I worry that it will make her miss us more. And that I will cry. :(

What are your thoughts (besides buying a plane ticket and adding a 3rd passenger). DD is 3 years old.

After reading the interview with Celebrity's top chef

http://www.cruisecritic.com/blog/index.php/2014/03/12/wining-dining-celebrity-cruise-lines-executive-chef-dishes-on-top-chef-and-more/

I am revising my pessimism regarding whether Celebrity has a vision of where it fits in the cruising world. [i had thought it was something like Ford's Mercury division, which they knew was somewhere above Ford and below Lincoln but could never figure out what that meant in a way that attracted customers...]

 

• All the cutbacks in food and music allow the basic cabin rates to be kept low and attract those who look at price above all

• The drinks packages attract those who want to party hearty

• SPE Certified cuisine attracts the health conscious

• Ditto for Blu, which also allows them to charge top dollar for cabins that most websites advise against (not buffered by cabins above)

• The new private dining room for suites passengers, combined with the other suite perks, hearkens back to the golden age of cruising (at the golden prices of that golden age)

 

So I think Celebrity is aiming to be all things to all people. Whether they can manage this on one ship is the question, but at least there does seem to be a method in their madness.

I disagree with the part that is in pink above. I don't know about the rest. The statement is half true. The drink packages attract. However, it is not just the party hearty type. We did choose Celebrity over other lines mainly because of the pick your perk. So that part is true for us. But not because we just want a drunk fest. As far as we go, it will probably cause us to drink a little more alcohol than normal and will probably result in us having more soda, bottled water, etc that we normally would not order. But we would buy some alcohol anyway. I myself am not a big drinker so if I paid out of pocket, I might have 1-2 drinks a day, now I might have 2 or 3. WHat it will do for me, is allow me to try different things that I normally wouldn't, drink bottled water instead of tap and soda instead of tea. DH, may be a little different story, but he is not getting trashed or anything.

Thanks for your observations OP. I have not been on Celebrity yet (2 1/2 weeks), but I have been on 4 other cruises on Carnival. I understand what you mean about little cuts, especially service positions. I work for the government so I know how it goes to do more with less and then have them trim and trim a little more. I imagine it is frustrating, hopefully we do not encounter any overstressed staff later this month. I can deal with the issues with drink service. I have been to plenty of crowded bars in my day (I am not that far removed from my 20s :D) and I have notice on Carnival it seems like drink servers are non existent, so it won't be all that different. For my purposes I am just hoping that Celebrity is a step up from Carnival and the moderate priced AIs that we have been to. I don't expect a tiara or anything, but we are paying a good amount for this cruise so I do have expectations. Fortunately I do not have too many expectations, so hopefully they will exceed them. :D

You are automatically joined after your first cruise and the points from that first cruise are added. You can also join ahead of your first cruise and again the points from that first cruise will be added.

 

 

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Thanks. That explains it perfectly. :D

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I never saw a clear answer that I understand. I am brand new to Celebrity and about to sail on my first cruise later this month. I see that it says you can join the Captains Club (or whatever they call it) after your first cruise. So does this mean that you get points that you would have received for first cruise after the cruise is completed or do you start earning points with your SECOND celebrity cruise? Hopefully this makes sense.

I have a question about this, since I am about to go on my first Celebrity cruise soon. If you book on board and you get OBC (or perk), can you transfer it to a TA. If you do that, can you keep the OBC you got from booking on board and get whatever your TA gives you? Or is it one or the other? Just keeping my options open. I am not even sure if I will love Celebrity once I sail. We shall see.