Maya_C

5 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

That's good to know if we're ever there again.  Hard to understand why it would take longer--guess boats don't mover very fast.

It's a water taxi from the Boston cruise port to the airport. It runs about once per hour, and you have to call to tell them you want to take it. My daughter used it and thought it took 15-20 minutes. BTW, I meant to say we took the Veendam to Bermuda. 

46 minutes ago, FredT said:

For us, the focus is ALWAYS "cruising to travel", and the lure of new cities and countries win out every time.....   I just wish that Celebrity (or any of the other mainline cruise lines) tried a bit harder to schedule "Unique" itineraries rather than the "same old"....     

I agree. More variety in the itineraries would make cruising more appealing. 

6 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

Too bad no one offers a boat shuttle from the dock to Logan--it would be so convenient!  After all they have ferry boats taking folks from shore to the off-shore islands.

There was a boat shuttle last June when we took the Summit to Bermuda, but of course it leaves at set times and takes longer than ground transportation. We didn't take it because we had an early flight. Taxis were lined up at the pier when we disembarked and got us to the airport in 10 minutes.   

11 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

I'm particularly interested in the following:

 

• Food - specific to MDR and buffet
• Smoking issues (this is repeatedly brought up in X as a problem on HAL)
• Class differentiation.  Separate areas for those sailing in suites and higher cabin - exclusive deck areas, restaurants, bars, etc.
• Class differentiation - rooms/areas set aside for loyalty members, public rooms taken over nightly for loyalty members.

Here are some comments about the subjects you are interested in, based on our recent cruising in Oceanview rooms. 

In June we took a Boston to Bermuda cruise on the Veendam (1350 pass) and docked in Hamilton for 4 days, an itinerary HAL has dropped for 2019 and 2020. In January we took the Celebrity Summit (2150 pass) for a 12-day Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan.

It had been nine years since the last time we sailed on HAL, and we were agreeably surprised by how little the smoking impinged on us this time. HAL has cut down on the areas where smoking is allowed. We had no trouble avoiding the casino, walking through the shops area on the starboard side. Still, we would have preferred no indoor smoking, but only two of the ships in HAL’s fleet offer that. We also avoided the outdoor areas on the Summit where people were smoking, and sometimes the smoke wafted briefly into an adjacent indoor area.   

Though the HAL cabin had more square feet and a lot more storage than the X cabin, I liked it less because the bed was against the window wall, instead of sideways in the room. The HAL and X ships both showed their age, HAL’s more so, with drawers in the dresser sticking and water draining slowly from the tub. The TV on the Summit often didn’t work. When we called for maintenance, someone came in and jiggled the cables for 30 seconds and it worked, until we turned it off. We had to mess with the cables nearly everyday to get the TV working. 

X and HAL both had some nonfunctioning elevators for most of the cruise. X was redecorating the elevators prior to dry dock, so there was often one elevator in each of the three banks that wasn’t operational. On the Veendam one elevator in the aft bank was out of service for multiple days.  

The Veendam has some advantages, especially for passengers who are not in balcony cabins. Its fully walk-around promenade deck was a pleasant throwback to an earlier age of ocean liners. X has an unpleasant throwback (from my perspective) from earlier centuries: a “class system” by which parts of the ship (e.g., private dining rooms) are set aside for suite or upper-echelon passengers. That wasn't the case on the Veendam, but it's one of the older, smaller ships. I can't speak to whether the class system is in effect on HAL's newer, larger ships. 

Nickel-and-dime-ing is a lot more obvious on X, which charges for movies on the cabin TV. A bag of laundry on the Summit cost us $50. That was supposedly a discount price. HAL would have charged $20 a bag, but we used the Veendam’s self-service laundry, which cost us $3 to wash and dry.

MDR food was comparable on HAL and X, Service on the Summit was quite slow for tables of six, taking two hours or more for dinner. The dining room was crowded with tables and so loud that I had trouble hearing someone across a table for four. There was less crowding in Veendam’s MDR, and I had no trouble hearing people sitting across from me at a table for eight. The smaller size of the HAL ship might explain that difference.

Summit’s Oceanview café had more varied options for lunch and dinner. We particularly liked the grill in the aft part of the café. The fish was cooked to perfection, not overcooked as in most cruise MDRs. Grilled meat was also available there. The café also had ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt, in a greater variety of flavors than HAL offered. However, HAL gets one important thing right, IMHO, though some cruisers complain about this: Passengers do not serve themselves at the buffet, making them wait a little longer but significantly reducing the chance of picking up germs from the serving spoons (or from passengers who take food with their fingers). I hope the other lines adopt this policy though it means more personnel assigned to serve food.   

A couple of other pluses for HAL. The ship wifi enables texting between passengers onboard without paying for Internet access.  I enjoyed the America’s Test Kitchen presentations and appreciated the New York Times Digest available every day, as well as digests of newspapers from many other countries.

We'd be happy on either HAL or Celebrity cruises. The itinerary is the only thing that matters to us in choosing a cruise. I hope this was helpful.

What time do you dock and what day of the week? We had a 9:50 flight, docked in Boston at 7 AM on a Saturday, and lined up for self-disembarkation around 6:45. We weren't the first in line, but at least we could see the exit to the gangway. No one was able to get off the ship until 8:15 because medical emergency personnel had to evacuate an ill passenger first. Once they opened the gangway, we were waved quickly through customs, etc. Cabs were lined up at the dock. It took no more than 10 minutes to get to the airport, and we easily made the flight. I'm sure the ride to the airport would take longer with commuter traffic on a weekday.  

We did an Oceanview guarantee for Azamara Journey on a cruise that left in mid-October. I checked our reservation online periodically and saw a room assignment pop up about 2 months before the cruise. The cabin was on deck 4, which we liked a lot. It was very quiet and comfortable. I'd expected to be assigned one of the smaller cabins with an obstructed view on deck 6, but I'm glad to hear from previous posters that those cabins have better access to the bathroom and wardrobe area. 

~Maya

21 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

For us, the Edge colors were modern and neutral with splashes of color.  Posted pictures are nice but it is really hard to get the color scheme unless on the ship.  It does not come across as a hospital room or IKEA furnishings.  Again just my opinion after I sailed on Edge.  I'm sure others will disagree.  

I'm glad to learn that the reality is better than the photo! ~Maya

OV room on the Edge vs on an M-class ship (before dry dock). Judging by the blue of the small pillows, the Edge photo is not in black-and-white. The color scheme is so bland that the cabin resembles a hospital room. This comparison shows the value of warm colors. 

1 hour ago, mahi mahi said:

I know food is subjective however I give the edge to HAL.  Celebrity dining rooms are very noisy and tables too close.  We prefer HAL's dining rooms with lower ceilings and more privacy.....we can have a conversation and actually hear each other.

I totally agree with this assessment of the dining rooms. After three X cruises, I was amazed to actually be able to hear someone across a table for 8 on HAL. On a recent X cruise, I couldn't hear anyone except the people on either side of me in the MDR. Also the ambiance was hectic with waiters rushing as they tried to thread their way around the closely-spaced tables. For all that rushing, dinner still took 2+ hours at a table for six. The wait staff appear less harried on HAL. Food is comparable on the lines, with desserts better on HAL and the specialty dining less expensive. 

2 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I've not been in those cabins, but have been in a C2 with an adjoining door on the same deck.  Would never again book a cabin with a door to the next cabin in the room.  Noise travels!

Thank you for the advice, Linda. We had a cabin with an adjoining door on the Summit and never heard anything from the neighboring cabin. However, these were the new OV cabins added on Deck 3 between the midship and aft elevators, and they may have had better sound dampening than older cabins. I suspect, though, that the noise depends on the people in the adjoining cabin. Since you never know who will be there, your advice makes sense. I'm now thinking of changing cabins, but I'd have to take one 5 cabins closer to the bow, increasing the chance of seasickness in rough weather. 

59 minutes ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

Have not been in these cabins, but the deck plans show that they have convertible sofas (the cabins can sleep up to 4.)

Good point. Thank you. ~Maya

Hi, Has anyone stayed in an M-class adjoining room, 2C Veranda forward on Deck 7? I believe I read that there is no sofa or easy chair because the door to the adjoining cabins gets in the way. Is this true? I'd also appreciate any comments on the motion felt in those cabins. Thank you.

~Maya C

3 hours ago, phabric said:

I have asked on the Hawaii thread.  Sometimes, others on a different threads can help with suggestions.

 

Our flight arrives after 9am and by the time we get our luggage it will be after 10pm..  

 

We are two 70 year old ladies who will be tired after a 10 hour.

 

We would like a hotel near the Honolulu airport with a shuttle.

We stayed at the Best Western The Plaza Hotel close to Honolulu airport the night before an early flight out. Nothing fancy, but the rooms were fine, quiet, and relatively inexpensive. We took the shuttle to the airport, and it ran on time.  

Thank you for the information about the Summit. I'll be on my first Caribbean cruise ever on the Summit from San Juan in January.  I'm glad to hear that the food is good and that getting on and off is easy. I've heard that passengers who take Caribbean cruises from Florida ports tend to be older because the cruise lines offer last-minute great deals to Florida residents, many of whom are retirees. Being retirement age myself, I'm not prejudiced against seniors, but I'm curious if those who board the ship in San Juan might be younger on average. What was the mix of passenger ages and nationalities on your cruise?

We are new to Azamara, but belong to the Celebrity Captain's Club. Our cruise docs list Explorer my tier under Le Club Voyage, but it's blank for my husband. I'm guessing my TA didn't enter his Captain's Club number in the original reservation. Is there a way I can enter his number so that his account is also credited for our upcoming cruise in two weeks? Or does he need to create a My Azamara account too? He's never gone online for either Celebrity or Azamara.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

~Maya

I have also noticed a huge spike in the Choice Air prices between July and September. ~Maya

If you are a 3, 4 or 5 star Mariner, you can save some money if you buy a wine package. And if you don't finish the bottle one night, your wine steward will save it for you for the next evening. Or you can take the rest of the bottle back to your cabin and finish it there or you can take the bottle to any bar or lounge for the evening.

Or you can buy any bottle on the wine list without having the wine package and the steward will save the bottle (or bottles if you want both a red and white) for the next evening. We found that less expensive than buying wines by the glass.

~Maya

Yes, Fred Olsen.

Yes, Fred Olsen, and other cruise lines also go up the river and have overnights in Seville: Oceania, Silversea, Sea Dream, Phoenix, Hapag-Lloyd, and Voyages to Antiquity.

OP considers this a loss, but others might welcome two full evenings in port in a addition to the full day.

We had two evenings in port in the original schedule, which included one overnight and a departure at 10 PM. We also had a half day after arrival in port, as well as the next full day. That half day disappeared, replaced by additional port hours from 10PM to 6AM. The afternoon and early evening tours we planned for that half day aren't offered of the middle of the night. Very few people would consider this change anything but a loss.

~Maya (OP)

On the October 15 Spain Intensive cruise on Journey, the arrival and departure times for Seville were recently changed. Instead of 1 1/2 days in Seville, we have only one day there. In hyping this change, Azamara said we’d have “even more time” in Seville. The “more time” they gave us was in the middle of the night, when most of us sleep and the major sights are not open.

Azamara placed the blame for this change on Mother Nature: “We’ve revised your arrival and departure in Seville to coincide with proper tidal conditions in the Guadalquivir River.” My question is why the original schedule didn't coincide with proper tidal conditions. According to scientists, tides are the world's most predictable natural phenomenon, affected only by storms. Couldn’t Azamara have consulted the Seville Port Authority sooner, instead of advertising a schedule based on wishful thinking and then changing it two months before departure? The schedule for 4 out of the 5 ports we will visit recently changed, in one case shortening our time in port by 30%.

This is my first Azamara cruise and, with all the discussions on this board about port switches and schedule changes after final payment, I’ve learned that Azamara itineraries can’t be trusted. I will remember that when I shop for future cruises.

Thanks for taking the time to comment on guarantee staterooms. Cruise critics are really generous about sharing their knowledge and advice. My TA got my cabin changed to one in the same category but a more desirable location, at least to me. It took less than 2 minutes.

~Maya

Call and ask. We've had cabins switched as long as it is in the same category.

Thank you. Is this something my TA has to do if I booked through her, or can I do it myself?~Maya

We were assigned a cabin a few weeks after booking a guarantee for a cruise in mid-October on the Journey. I'm happy with the deck, but the cabin is next to the forward elevators. Booking sites show 7 or 8 cabins available in the same grade on the same deck, but closer to mid-ship, where there would be less motion. Is there any point in asking my TA to contact Az and request they exchange the assigned cabin for one of the others? I know I took a risk in booking a guarantee, and it's not a bad cabin, especially for someone who'd rather be close to the elevators. If it's a matter of a couple of clicks, maybe Az would do it. I'd appreciate any guidance on the Az policy on making this type of exchange. Thank you in advance for your help.

~Maya

Hi, We've just been assigned an ocean view cabin on deck 4 after reserving a guarantee ocean view. Can anyone tell me if the bed is by the window or by the bathroom or if, like the Celebrity veranda cabins, the bed location alternates. Thank you.

~Maya

We are staying pre cruise at a hotel near the Guggenheim. Is that walkable to the cruise terminal?

Google maps says it's about a 35-minute walk. That's if you don't get lost on the way. Everyone gets lost in Venice. You will have to cross several bridges over canals, which usually involves going up and down steps. Better to take the water taxi, but there may be a limit on how much luggage you can take. There are hotels within walking distance.

~Maya