Desertbelle

I will be on the Reflection in April and had considered buying an iPad while on board at the Apple store. I got to thinking that whenever I have bought a new Apple product it takes a couple of hours for it to completely sync using wifi/cell connection with my iCloud information, such as downloading apps, songs, photos, etc.

I'm thinking this can't happen on a cruise, especially out in the middle of the Atlantic. Am I right, or do they have a fix for that at the cruise Apple Store?

Don't exist?? Really?? :confused:

 

Even my TA said that if there is a problem with a website, more often than not, it is Celebrity's website.

Really? That's what what you chose to pick out of my comments and question? I was poking a little fun at the previous poster's remark that they hadn't had any problems on others cruise line websites, so it must be just Celebrity's site that is bad.

The websites on all cruise lines have numerous problems, go over to their forums and you will see...it's part and parcel of the expanding Information Age...we all want to do whatever we want with our reservations whenever we want to and we expect perfection. Unfortunately it's not going to happen.

Picking apart websites has become the new "smoking on balconies" topic on Cruise Critic.

Never once have I had a problem with the online check in on:

Princess

Norwegian

Royal Caribbean

Holland America

Carnival

 

Wouldn't those be similar to that of Celebrity?

Just a thought!

I've never had a problem on any cruise line website, so maybe the issues don't actually exist. :)

Though, when I do a search for "website" on each of those cruise line forums on Cruise Critic I find complaints on all of them. So apparently the Celebrity website isn't unique.

I'm assuming you have heard of online retailing??

Yes, I have. It's not even close.

Just throwing this out there, because everyone thinks it's such a travesty of Celebrity for having such an inept web site and I see the complaining daily:

Other than cruise lines, I can't think of another industry that allows 10's of thousands of customers to log in from different types of computers, different operating systems, different internet programs, and let's these customers make and change and input hundreds, if not thousands, of changes to their product.

It's not a simple thing we are asking for:

Imagine what these thousands and thousands of people are doing at any given moment on the Celebrity's website:

Making and changing a reservation, making a payment, making a specialty dinner reservation, ordering merchandise, making dining room reservations, making pre and post cruise arrangements, ordering and paying for excursions, ordering and paying for drink packages, filling out check-in information, immigration information, looking at their cruise documents, printing out their documents and Xpress passes, etc.. And this doesn't touch on the people who are just looking around the site for information about cruises, putting cabins on hold, exploring the different ships, looking up Captain's club benefits, looking at specialty restaurants and the hundreds and hundreds of stuff people are interested in finding out about the Celebrity product.

During my online check-in process the other night I was able to put it all on hold while the website looked up my husband's Captain's Club number...that seems pretty awesome to me....and no small fete of website excellence.

It doesn't take much to make people feel entitled to a flawless system that wasn't even available a decade or so ago!! And a system that is technically and consistently changing.

I have a son who is a software engineer and works for IGT. He and his team will work a year or so on ONE new video slot machine....and all someone is going to do is sit at it and push a few buttons. The amount of time the Celebrity IT people spend on their website must be enormous....and they get no love from the people who use it.....only complaints.....maybe more like a slot machine than I thought!! :D:D

LOL, we have small bits of foreign currency tucked all over travel bags and purses. Euros, Pounds, Kroners (of multiple countries), Pesos, etc. You never know when you might get back to one of those countries and need money for a cab or a Coke. :)

I did our online checkin and printed our Xpress pass last night. Even the Captain's Club number look up worked, which is a first for me. Interesting that it works well for some people and not at all for others.

Yes, cabs, restaurants, shops, hotels, tour companies, every type of

business in the Caribbean accepts US $$.

And this would include Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan.

...since we were last on a Celebrity cruise. I can't believe it's been so long because I have always loved sailing on Celebrity. I guess we got caught up in all that Diamond member thing on Royal Caribbean and those nice benefits kept us over there. But, we are back!

I am so excited about our upcoming Reflection cruise....less than three months to go!!! :D

We've been on both and if you plopped me down in the middle of either ship I wouldn't be able to tell you which one I was on without looking at a map or something with the name on it. :D They are both great!

Dozens of times in the Caribbean and have never used anything but USA currency.

Oh, brother. Thanks for the heads up! :eek:

Can you give advice as to reliable town car transportation from Houston to Galveston?

We used Houston VIP Taxi, from HOU to Galveston Hilton was $126.50 (6 passengers). We also used them after the cruise to take us to Johnson Space Center and then from the Space Center back to the airport. They were great...always on time and very pleasant. They picked us up in a very large late model SUV that easily fit 6 of us and a lot of luggage.

There are the Waiter and the Assistant Waiter who take care of your table and your food needs and generally a few tables. The Head Waiters (in the jackets, they are not always red) are overseeing several Waiters and many tables....they generally distribute the food as it comes from the kitchen. Then there are the Maitre'ds, who oversee the whole dining room. I believe the Maitre'd is directly under the Hotel/Food manager/officer.

I agree that sometimes the Head Waiters are very attentive, checking on our table every night, and there have been cruises where we haven't had a single interaction with a Head Waiter.

I, for one, never pay much attention to bad reviews. My husband and I are easy travelers and don't complain much. We don't expect everything to be perfect and we know food and service are subjective. Without a doubt we have always been treated well on cruise ships. Even our "worst" cruise was a lovely cruise.

We are booked on the Reflection for the April TA and I am so excited. I can't wait to give a Solstice class ship a try. It's been several years since we were last on a Celebrity ship and I know it's going to be great!

Now, I just need a way to get the next 3 months to zoom by!! :D

In the last 3 years my parents, 82 and 86 and my husband's parents, 94 and 92, have passed away. During that time, and the many years before, we often wondered what we would do if one of our parents died or became critically ill while we were on a cruise. None of our parents desired funerals...my parents were to be cremated and only wanted a simple internment without fanfare, and my husband's parents gave their bodies to the local University and only desired a small memorial service. We decided if they died while we were away we would continue with our vacation and the services would be done when we returned. All the death arrangements were made years earlier, so there was very little for anyone to do immediately following the death and we both have siblings who are close by who could do whatever needed to be done.

As it turned out none of our parents died while we were traveling.

Neither of our parents would have wanted us to change our travel plans simply for them, and I feel the same way about my children and their plans.

HI Margie:

 

We are booked on the November 14, 2016 cruise on the Solstice, which I understand is the first cruise after drydock.

 

I would appreciate it if you could share your concerns.

 

Thanks!

I am sure it depends heavily on what they do in the dry dock, but our experience was horrible. Others might have completely different experiences with post-dry dock cruises.

The ship we were on was having engine issues and during the dry dock an engine was replaced, and the engine had a "breaking in" period which meant the ship couldn't go top speeds for a couple of weeks. So our 10 day, 7 port cruise turned into 4 ports, and three of those were half days....we were traveling with people new to cruising and small children, so 6 sea days was a bit much for them. Also, they were still replacing pool decking, so the pool was closed a few days. We had no internet connection (which also means no TV, phone service, ATM's, etc.) until the 7th day. Because the dry dock was nearly 3 weeks long the staff and crew were a mess for the first several days....I guess a lot of time off impacts the crew. There were a few minor things, like carpet still being laid (and the smell of carpet glue was pretty obnoxious) and there were a few areas still being worked on, such as bar or two and the card room. Some passengers were so mad they were walking off with their luggage and flying home from some of the ports.

We stuck to it and have a lovely time....because we made the best of it and we were with family. Even a bad cruise is better than being home and at work! :)

This cruise was with Princess, and I feel that Princess handled it very badly. We got $100 OBC for our inconvenience. :mad: We were informed of the "possible problems" the week AFTER final payment and they wouldn't make any concessions about canceling or switching to another cruise.

We will never cruise on Princess again and we will never book a cruise after a dry dock again.

I would highly recommend that you not book the cruise immediately following the dry dock, as we have a terrible experience with that situation.

We enjoyed the food in both the dining room and the windjammer last month on the Liberty of the Seas. No problems with temperature. There were a couple of items I didn't like, but it was easy enough to find something else that was yummy.

I may have one of the funniest lost luggage story.

We get off the ship in Ft. Lauderdale and we can't find one of our pieces of luggage...a very large rolling duffle bag. We look everywhere, even with the help of port personal and it's nowhere to be found. We file a report and leave. I was taking my elderly parents on a rode trip to Bradenton to visit my aunt so we were pretty much the last people off the ship and there wasn't much luggage left to search through.

At about 3 am in the morning I get a phone call from a Greyhound Bus driver calling from Mississippi (I have luggage tags with my cell phone number on them, a good idea). She tells me she just off-loaded a bus of cruise passengers she had picked up in Ft. Lauderdale and my piece of luggage was left standing there. She said she had no idea how it got on her bus but she felt terrible and promised to put it on a Greyhound bus back to us. About a week later our piece of luggage arrived at the Greyhound station in Las Vegas, unharmed. We were very happy.

We always laugh that our luggage had a better vacation than we did because it got to go on a cross country trip in addition to a Caribbean cruise! :D

Our last cruise was on a Royal Caribbean ship and the rake was 10% up to $15....but it was a $2/5 game, so pots got big, quick. That was the first time I had see a $15 rake (it's been $10 for years and years) and rumor has it that it's been raised on most ships.

We will be on the Reflection in April and I am hoping they are still at $10, but I am not getting my hopes up. I brought this subject up on the Royal Caribbean forum and someone said that it was $25 recently on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. Casinos getting greedy.

Considering that the normal rake on a poker game in Las Vegas is $4 max, and you get free booze and credits towards other benefits, $15 is crazy! When you consider that there are approximately 20-25 hands an hour on a poker table and say the average, with a 10% rake up to $15 is $10 per hand, that table is making $200-250 an hour (compared to Vegas where the table would make about $60-80)....if the table is busy from 9pm to 1 am each night, that table makes about $1000.

I will probably keep my game to Hold 'em. Maybe a little roulette. Just watching the Canada/USA junior game in the world hockey championship. Pretty evenly matched so far.

As I said earlier, be ready for a $15 rake on the poker table.

Paying 6/5 on blackjack, 8 decks, hit on soft 17. Profits must be down.

The only time I have seen 6/5 blackjacks on a ship was in a single deck game, not a shoe or shuffler.

We prefer 150 Central Park. Don't forget to try a Basil Cucumber Martini, yummy!!

If you think that is bad try to win at poker with a $15 rake. The casinos on ships have a captive audience and can pretty much what they want. :(