cruzinlisa

I like these packages, because without them l, my wife will rarely order a drink and even be upset with me if I go get her one. With an all-inclusive package, she'll calm down and enjoy the drinks, and we'll both have a ton of fun!

 

In "real life" I'd not want a package like this, but on vacation it's lots of fun. The finances are secondary to me...you'll win or lose by a little bit either way. It's more about how you want to vacation.

 

 

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LOL. This is so true. I am just like your wife. I don't drink a lot, especially when I am paying out of pocket for them. We got our drink package as a promo (with upgrade to Premium from our TA) so I did not pay for it. I don't know that we would have bought it without it being included. Maybe for DH, but not me. Last cruise I had 1 or 2 drinks per day at most, which is really cutting loose for me. (When not on vacation I never order drinks). This year I will have a couple more since its not out of pocket and DD will not be with us, but not enough to get stupid or anything.

We have Cruised out of NOLA 3 times & cruised to NOLA(as an actual port of call) twice & have never had a delay. I would like to see the ship leaving the river during the day!! That would be cool!!

 

We are sailing on Sunshine in 4 weeks out of NOLA...Hopefully no delays then either!!

Ditto

Thanks. I can't open them now because I am on my lunch break (darn filters), but I will when I get home. We are leaving on Constellation on 3/31 for a 5 day so it is much appreciated!

Cold soup.....is that like juice?

No, more like a smoothie. I liked the strawberry soup. I made the mistake of giving my DD (who was 1 1/2 at that time) a taste. She ate the whole thing. That was the only one that I cared for though.

We are definitely not wealthy and we definitely are not frugal the rest of the year, but we usually do a vacation each year, either a cruise or AI usually. And we have a kid, in diapers still (please let that change) and with day care costs, a house, two cars etc. How we manage:

1. If we can cruise from New Orleans or Galveston, we pick that one. Even if its more expensive. We can drive there and save airfare for 2-3 people. If we have to fly to port, we sail from Florida. Airfare from the midwest to Orlando, Miami/Ft Lauderdale and Tampa is fairly reasonable.

2. We are not locked into a specific time of the year. So we make cost one of our deciding factors in picking a cruise. Its not always the deciding factor though, for the last couple of years we have sailed in April due to driving to port and wanting decent weather.

3. We typically cruise in the cheapest room available. I have been in an Ocean View, Inside with window (but no real view), regular inside and Balcony.

This cruise we are in AQ. Why- We needed OV or higher to get the pick your perk promo to get the beverage package. DH said if we do that he would rather have the balcony. Then we found a deal with an online TA that if you booked concierge class or higher you would get an upgrade to premium beverage package and prepaid grats. AQ was cheaper than CC at that time. SO that is how we ended up with that. I couldn't afford this same cruise every time. Normally we go cheaper. The last 2 years we drove to port and spent about $1500-$1700 total on cruise and taxes.

4. We book as far in advance as possible. We get deals and we have more time to pay it off.

5. We do not spend a lot on the other things when we travel. We got the drink package this time included. Otherwise we buy out of pocket. I don't drink that much. DH on the other hand, drinks like he is on vacation. We do not do expensive excursions, buy jewelry etc.

Is it open seating? Can I dine there even if I am in AQ class? I know we have BLU but if I dont get there in the 10 minutes they are open (yes I am exaggerating) or we do not like what they serve, I want to know what our options are? Also is lunch served in the MDR? Is that on sea days only?

DH and I are going to Cozumel again and this time our DD will not be with us. DH loves snorkeling and wants to go again ]. He would prefer to go from a boat, but would consider going from shore if it was good snorkeling. I do not like snorkeling and will not even get in a glass bottom or other small boat. I considered staying on the ship and signing him up on an excursion with the cruise line, but I would rather go somewhere together. I would love it if there was a place where we could go and I could sit and relax, while he goes snorkeling. I would prefer somewhere with a pool and beach, but just a beach would be fine too. It can be a rocky beach for all I care, I will probably just sit there and look at the sights. I just want a place where I would feel safe sitting around by myself for a while and where DH can snorkel. Thoughts?

DH and I took a ferry ride from the mainland to Coz a few years ago. I was about 6 weeks pregnant with DD, so that may not have helped but I did get sick. I get motion sickness fairly easily and take sea sick meds on cruises. DH got queasy but did not throw up. We went in mid May.

As far as ruins, I have only been to Tulum. It is beautiful there because the ruins are near the beach and overlook it at one point. I have heard Coba is nice too, more historical.

I have been to Mexico 5 times now (Puerta Vallarta, Riveria Maya and Coz x2)- always in Mid to late April to mid may and it is very very HOT. Pack lots of sunscreen and be prepared. Especially since you have your daughter with you.

THe inlaws do not have internet, so email and facebook are not an option. If I text from the ship will it still be the .$50 or will it be more since it is on the ship. We have AT&T. I am still torn on whether to get a package that has calling available (ATT has one available for Celebrity), but i am not sure that it would be beneficial and not make her cry.

Hopefully her grandparents will not feed her ice cream for breakfast. :eek: She is there a lot so they spoil her with some things, but she does not ask for them at home. For instance, they give her tea sometimes (and even caught DH's dad trying to give her a sip of his Coke), but we only give her milk or water. She doesn't even ask at home. Of course we hardly ever have ice cream so it does not matter if she wants it or not. :D

We are going on a cruise on Celebrity Constellation on 3/31 and for the first time, leaving our DD (3) at home with her grandparents. So we need a way to keep in contact with them and/or the baby sitter to make sure all is well. I know that ATT has a cruise package which I believe covers Celebrity ships for $30, but I am not sure that is best for us. I am afraid if we do talk to our DD, she will cry and miss us more. (Or that I will cry and miss her more). My in laws do not text, but their adult daughter who lives in their home does, as well as my baby sitter who will be caring for her during the day. I have heard it's like 50 cents per text, which I am okay with, we won't text that much. If we decide to just communicate a couple of times by text, how does this work. Specifically:

1. Do we need to sign up for a specific plan or can we just text

2. How do I avoid any other charges for roaming- I am not that familiar with international calling etc. I don't know if I get charged if my phone is on and thus looking for a signal or just if I use it.

3. I am assuming we can still do all of this with data turned off. Do we turn off roaming? We need to take it off airplane mode when we want to send/receive a text right? Should we even have it in airplane mode, assuming that data is off?

4. DH has an android phone (Galaxy S3) and I have an iphone. I am assuming its easier to just deal with his, so I do not have to worry about imessages or anything- right?

Sorry for the stupid questions, but I am obviously not that familiar with cell phone plans, etc.

Also, for anyone that has left a 3 year old behind, did you find it was more helpful for your child to talk by phone or just text the adult in charge.

We are going on a cruise on Constellation on 3/31 and I am getting excited. I have recently discovered an interest in using a flat iron to straighten my hair. Is this allowed or will it be taken? (I am talking about a hair item, not an actual clothes iron). Also, do they have hair dryers in the room on Constellation (we are in AQ on 9th floor if that makes a difference). How are they? I don't need professional quality or anything. The kind like you get in a hotel is fine. But if they don't have anything, I will pack one. Suggestions?

"Does anybody know if Asti is available by the glass and if so what package it falls under?"

 

They have Prosecco and the Classic package covers it. :cool:

Forgive me for the stupid question, I don't buy much wine. Is Prosecco like a sparkling white (sweet) wine? If not, what do they have that is? I pretty much only like sweet sparkling wine (like spumante) or something like moscato. I like to have something like that with dinner. Otherwise, I am likely to just drink a soda.

While we are on the subject of ordering drinks- Does the beverage package start as soon as you board the ship? Assuming so since you should have your sail card (whatever Celebrity calls it), but I wanted to be sure. When does it end? Is it when you get off the ship or is there a cut off time the evening before.

It stinks but atleast you found out in advance. I had one cruise where I did not find out until we had already sailed that they reversed the itinerary order. Some others in our group had found out right before sailing, but we did not. I actually only learned it when we went to one of the port talks and the lady was commenting about how the audience was not loud enough and that we should be excited as we were going to Cozumel the next day. DH and I were confused because the next day was supposed to be another sea day and then to Jamaica. We went back and looked at the Shore excursions booklet and sure enough, it showed the itinerary had changed. We had a reservation at Mr. Sanchos with a $10 deposit. We probably could have went there to see if we could change it, but we decided at that point we really did not want to do that anyway, so we did not bother with it and lost the deposit. Fortunately we had nothing concrete planned in the other ports.

If you ask politely and it's just one thing like a box of cereal or silverware, I think it's fine. If you want something more involved then I think you should wait your turn.

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If you are only looking to text, then look at the numbers to determine if you want to buy a package. Without a package, sending a text is $0.50, receiving is free. Note that these are SMS (text only) messages, no photos, videos, etc.

So you don't need to do anything to sign up in advance for this right?

Have any of you just used text messages? I have heard they run about 50 cents a text. Do you have to get a special plan for it?

The short 3/4/5 night Connie cruises I don't think are the best way to define the Celebrity brand. They are too quick for passengers and crew to get into the groove so to speak.

 

Also the crowd on these shorter cruises tends to be a bit more "party heavy" than other celebrity cruises.

 

I was on Connie in January, and while I had none of the issues you mentioned, I did feel the vibe wasn't quite Celebrity.

I hate hearing this, considering that we are booked on a 5 day cruise on Connie. Hopefully since ours is during the week it will be less of a party crowd. We paid considerably more for this cruise than we have ever paid before, so while it does not need to absolutely blow us away, it does need to be a couple of steps above Carnival to make us repeat customers. Since we are new to Celebrity we won't notice if the service is a little less than it was in the past, as long as it is above what we are used to. Of course, having the drink package included on Celebrity with a few other goodies from our TA does give it an instant advantage.

The only saving grace for me is that it seems like most of the dining related complaints are related to the MDR and not Blu and we are Aqua. Of course that does not change any issues people may have had with guest services or cabin attendants, but some of that can be catching someone at the wrong moment. (I hope).

Thanks OP for your honest observations. Hopefully it was just an off experience.

We turned Gold on our 3rd day of a cruise and started the cruise as Gold.

This

I haven't sailed Celebrity, but my favorite drink on Carnival was called Kiss on the lips. It is basically peach scnapps, mango puree, ice and a swirl of grenadine. I have tried to duplicate it at home, but never quite as good. It is just really super refreshing. I doubt Celebrity has anything similar but if they do, please let me know! Otherwise, my go to drinks frozen drinks are Strawberry Daquiri, Pina Colada or if I am feeling crazy, a Miami Vice.

The Sea Day brunch was something that we enjoyed last cruise on Conquest. I loved the steak and eggs. We really did not end up eating breakfast or lunch at the buffet that cruise, because on most port days we would get a quick and light room service breakfast and then when we got back, a Guy's burger. Sea days, we had a late brunch and then maybe a snack before dinner. I got buffet food for DD a few times and the offerings were pretty sorry, so I don't feel like I missed anything!

I haven't specifically been on the conquest, but the ships I have been on all have done the same "shows" nightly. You have to plan your dining to be there. For us it worked out to be about the same as when we had a dining time. We arrived early each night and it happened at dessert.

I have done it on Conquest twice. When we last went, the dining room for anytime dining was the Renoir dining room, which has ATD downstairs and I believe fixed dining is upstairs. The waiters still did their entertainment and stuff at the time that they normally would for regular fixed dining. So if you are there at that time, you will see it. I am not sure when it was, but we usually went around 7 and Shane, the Maitre D, would announce "showtime" at some point when we were there. One of my favorite memories was our 2012 cruise. DD was 15 months and they started dancing to the song "Low." DD thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen and she really got into it, laughing, singing, etc. It was great.

All sensible suggestions. We DID have them try it more than the one time. Believe me, we had steak house reservations one night so we told them they had to! My older son came out and told me he made a friend. That helped. Then he would only go in if the 'friend's' nametag was missing from the board (meaning that he was in the camp). It got a little better by the end but my point remains the same - their initial reaction threw us for a loop.

 

We didn't ever want to force them there if they hated it, but we did need some time to go do things as a couple.

 

We did not want a couples only vacation - but having them go to camp for 1-3 hours a day on seadays did not seem unreasonable to me! My goodness, at home if they were under my feet for 24/7 all week I would scream - why would it be any different on a cruise?

No, its definitely not unreasonable. Certainly if you were at home they would play outside (weather permitting) or with their toys. Unfortunately kids sometimes have different plans. :(

There are no babies in Camp Carnival.

Could have been a whiny 2 year old. Could have been mine last cruise. ;)

It is good to have reasonable expectations. Truthfully, the expectation should be that your child may not want to spend any time there. Last cruise DD was 2 and DH and I anticipated that this would give us a little time alone, to have a quiet dinner and maybe a show a couple of days or brunch on sea days. DD HATED it. They would call us after an hour or so that say that she was crying and wanted us to come back. Sadly, during this cruise there were times that we needed a break. DD did not nap much so she was cranky and she had a couple of two year old meltdowns. It was a little stressful. And I love her to pieces. So I can only imagine what others thought when they saw her having a meltdown!

SO we decided that this next cruise she is old enough to stay with grandma and grandpa. Maybe in a couple of years we will take her. We may try camp carnival again, but I won[t have any expectations.

What would you do? It's a 5 day on Connie with 3 people for $360 upgrade cost. I realize that the stateroom is not much larger, but isn't the balcony larger in an aft CC? One thing that I worry about is that this would be during Spring Break time and the Sunset Bar could be noisy at night. What time do they close?

Hopefully this cruise is not too crazy, we are booked on it as well.