chemmo

We have cruised in the PH on S and M class. Last PH cruise was over a year ago and things are changing so I hope you get more recent responses… In our experience we have usually known what day and time we have wanted to cruise in suite. It is an occasional not a regular request. Usually it has either been a sea day lunch or an evening as we are leaving port. We have discussed with our butler options available and have been offered items not on any menu…I particularly remember one spectacular Indian ‘family style’ buffet. We have always request at least 24 hours early and we ‘ask’ not ‘demand’. Technically the PH is only entitled to the standard room service menu.

For many years my husband and I did book suites partly to assist with his growing health issues and my varying mobility issues…Being able to pick things up and take them to your room is a ‘perk’ of being healthy and mobile…many Celebrity cruisers (including us two) are not… The choice of a suite for many cruisers has been part driven by the desire to remain as independent as possible. A butler doing simple things like bringing a plate of fruit is something that those of us who would loose half the grapes before we got to the lift is something many of us haven’t taken for granted! I guess we will just have to be more vocal now and simply explain that trying to tote produce will result in some tottering guests! I do try to see the comedy of increasing disability rather than get cross with it! If there are things next cruise I can’t manage but are no longer on a suite service job list I will find an appropriate person to ask (F&B manager) perhaps?

Wineoclock, it has taken me the best part of six years to acknowledge that my mobility is below par despite not being wheelchair bound…It has taken me until last year to finally start asking for help with some of the smaller things in life both from family and services. We are presently enjoying a holiday in Turkey and I accepted the lanyard which fast tracked me through check in and security and at the hotel when the receptionist asked if I needed help with my luggage the answer was ‘Yes’….I have also accepted help getting my plate to my table at the buffet restaurant! Regardless of room category or butler changes I am totally sure if you explain to any staff member your issues your fruit plate will be delivered daily!

Celebrity changes aside I think we are all just being a bit more ‘canny’ with our cash and making sure our vacations (cruises or otherwise) meet our expectations… We all had an enforced break from cruising owing to the pandemic and it did make us value our leisure time more and our opportunities to cruise…The reverse side of the coin was we expected to return to a world unchanged and it isn’t…. I think the wise amongst us will go with the flow…we will do our research, read reviews, reflect on what we want out of a vacation and book accordingly….We will make no wild statements of sticking or moving from Celebrity we will in the next year or two perhaps book a few new adventures but perhaps with our eyes more wide open than in the past…

We have always had named contacts to make our bookings with and to follow up any issues/concerns. Are you suggesting that Celebrity UK as a contactable source for UK cruisers may go?

Sadly a sign of the times. My heart goes out to those who have lost their jobs. I hope my UK contacts are safe… I guess if this is the case we will get loads more ‘basic’ question on CC as unknowledgeable reps encourage new cruisers to spend their cash….

Very little…I contacted Celebrity direct. The dry dock is routine maintenance and they are rebranding the old family verandas as suites so I assume they will receive some upgrading of furnishings. We have the PH booked for our cruise and not expecting it to be upgraded. I specifically asked about whether or not a sun deck would be fitted and was told a firm ‘no’. On the positive side, most reviews on the Infinity say she is in good shape. I am expecting her to be a bit like me…Past her best and having a few wrinkles but still elegant and good fun to spend time with…

Every time I read your comments on Luminae I appreciate what you are saying. We have always found the menu limited too. Chicken by any other name is still chicken and we eat plenty of it at home! I have tried some of the fish/seafood dishes and found them disappointing…There are some dishes I do like in Luminae but I never feel spoilt for choice as I do, for example, in Murano…

So pleased for you all! Well done Celebrity for sorting things out too. Just hope now that the passports arrive quickly and you can begin to look forward to boarding…I will look forward to reading a few posts from you after you board!

Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise! Congratulations on your anniversary too… Looking forward to following along…We are presently enjoying a bit of Mediterranean sunshine in Turkey before winter sets in (not a cruise) on this occasion. We return as you set off so I will enjoy your cruise vicariously with my morning coffee!

If they could sail with you they may feel a bit safer too after their awful recent experience….The worse thing about being a victim of a crime, in my opinion, is it leaves you feeling vulnerable and can affect your confidence. Mark, I think you will be more than ready now for your cruise!

If I was touring Turkey or even independently doing trips I would consider taking my passport with me…The fact I am staying at an AI resort and any trips will be arranged and run by the tour company does, I think, make a difference. I am also wearing my AI wristband which I think pretty well marks me out as a genuine tourist to both the authorities and (unfortunately) to pickpockets who may see an older and petite tourist as easy. Another reason not to take my passport with me! But they will see my copy and picture ID…Again, if I was going off the beaten track it would be a different matter… To come back to my original post…I was simply commenting that while ‘officially’ in many countries you should have your passport with you in reality it is not usually an enforced law…

After travelling all over Europe for many years whilst the documents for several countries state ‘passport’ I genuinely think the police would rather tourists left as many valuables in the safe as possible. Pickpocketing is rife…We befriended a local detective in Lisbon and his big gripe with tourists was how often they stroll the streets with all their credit cards and cash on their person then just loose concentration for a moment… Also there is a big difference between how we are vacationing and if I was backpacking. I can see authorities boarding a cross country bus and asking for ID I can not see them stopping an obvious tourist bus, needless to say my backpacking days are over! When I am out and about I will have a minimal number of € and my photocopy and my DL…

Hi there, So kind of you to update us…You and your parents have been very much in our thoughts. We arrived in Turkey for a stay in an AI resort yesterday and I have never been so glad to get the passports in the room safe. Until your post I had no idea that passports had a ‘monetary value’ to thieves and, much as we have always kept them fairly secure, like your parents, I would have felt comfortable leaving them in a bag in my hotel room…. I am so pleased that Celebrity are going to help out and that your parents are keen to cruise still. 🤞 all goes well for them. Absolutely! I will very much be small print checking before our next cruise. I still find it almost impossible to believe that you pay out so much for travel insurance and yet the insurance company has a ‘get out of jail free’ card when someone is the victim of a crime…

Any more information? I do always think on sea days that Celebrity could up the options for lunchtime provision…If you get some sort of information/demonstration followed by a nice lunch then definitely worth pursuing… Further information would be useful…Has anyone experienced this on any ship?

No, you are right…On S in the RS class guests 3 and 4 have the sofa bed in the lounge and a toilet and sink. On M class the RS I think there is only one bathroom? On both S and M class guests 3 and four again have the sofa bed in the lounge but with two full bathrooms. Whilst I wouldn’t recommend the space for friends travelling together it can work very well for close families as we have found out. Everyone enjoys the lounge during the day but two distinct separate rooms at night as the sofa is changed into a bed…

Best decision…They would be paying a lot of money for facilities they would end up not using because they have opted to dine and drink with yourselves. The only other alternative is to see if ‘pooling’ their suite budget and your standard room budget and seeing if you can then afford a higher suite like a RS or PH…My husband and I have cruised with our son and fiancée in a PH and it worked out really well. Two bathrooms, masses of storage and all the suite perks for all guests. We loved having the shared family space during the day but two very distinct separate areas at night. Worth doing a few sums before dismissing…

So pleased it looks as if Celebrity are willing to help. As you say, it is a good gesture on their part…The decisions made were out of their hands. Anything they offer is a bonus… We have always been amazed over the years that some companies will go ‘above and beyond’ and others will resort to ‘terms and condition’ and not budge an inch…In all fairness to Celebrity, when my husband died earlier this year, they genuinely could not have been more helpful or flexible… Sincerely hope that your parents can enjoy a wonderful vacation without having to spend too many extra £££.

Thank you for that…I feel a bit better! Everything about the cruise (itinerary, timing, room booked…) really appeals but we were on Summit just before her upgrade and she was showing her age, I particularly remember the chairs in some of the lounges being shabby but not chic! I really wanted to revisit an M class ship again….Much as I love S class a change is nice. I think I can ignore a bit of faded fabric and a few scratches on the chairs…We board September 2024, I will do a review and definitely comment on the condition of the ship then.

I guess that many of us have an uncomfortable shiver reading these posts… We always get insurance. Our focus, however, has always been in the small print for medical issues. With the cost of cruise cover I have always expected that anything that stopped me boarding would mean you are covered in full if you can’t (for whatever reason) actually get your cruise! It has never occurred to me if my passports were stolen that I wouldn’t get my full cruise price back. I knew that I could be denied boarding and miss my cruise but I expected that if I was missing my cruise, through no fault of my own, I would be covered in full. As an older person with some medical declarations my travel insurance is expensive. It seems ridiculous to me that one can pay all that money out for cover, be a victim of a crime and then not be covered in full for your cruise… I, for one, will be looking very carefully at the small print next cruise….

Thank you for your review. How was the fabric of the ship? Did it generally look well maintained? Were the soft furnishings OK carpets, chairs etc? We are booked on Infinity next year…We are aware she is an older ship but there is a big difference between dated and tacky…Dated I am happy with…

Coming from the UK the Canary Islands are a great year round holiday destination for us. Often for a one week taste of sunshine Autumn or Spring…Cruises also go from the UK year round to the Canary Islands (not Celebrity). The food obviously has a strong Spanish influence…Avoid the main tourist areas and you will find traditional bars and tapas venues. Each island has its own sights to see. Mount Teide on Tenerife offers some great scenic drives and walks. In Lanzarote there are lava tunnels you can walk in and a National Park where they show the volcanic heat still being generated by dropping water down a hole and generating a very mini Old Faithful! Gran Canaria has dunes made from sand that has blown over from the Sahara… We cruised the Canary Islands in early October and had great weather, we have visited the islands individually late October and the weather during the day was usually nicely warm with a lovely breeze but cool enough to need a light jacket in the evening. You can get the odd shower, more frequently in the evening in our experience. Some of the itineraries for the Canary Islands also include Madeira and/or the Azores…Again each has its own distinct personality… The Mediterranean weather, whilst still fairly mild, can be both wet and windy by the end of October. The Canary Islands being that bit further South tend to keep warmer. They are all also year round resorts, unlike many Mediterranean ports that shut down by November. Barcelona is one of my favourite ports…full of culture, history and (if you get off the tourist route) great food! Hope this is helpful!

🤞 that Celebrity can help out…

My heart goes out to you and your parents. I so hope that between insurance and Celebrity they will be sailing again soon. A sorry tale for us all. Whilst we generally do use a safe we do usually consider a decent hotel room in a decent area as ‘safe’ itself… Sadly, as an older cruiser myself I realise that the worse thing about a bad holiday experience (be it theft, illness or travel issues) it can shake your confidence…We are booked on Infinity from Athens next year. My first priority when looking for a hotel was a view, suddenly a safe has become more important. Get them back on board as soon as you can! Sincere best wishes to you all…

I guess the really clever thing to do is take each vacation as it comes… Loyalty to no company Look for exactly what you want from a vacation at that one moment in time Consider a range of options and their prices Be willing to be adventurous For the first time in many years we are about to do an AI in Europe, first in a very long time… All we want is a crash out, we didn’t want to fly far but wanted good weather, we didn’t want much sightseeing…If we had chosen a cruise we may have seen good ports as a chore rather than a pleasure… Celebrity doesn’t only face competition from other cruise lines…