chemmo

Agree! Lost a ‘friend’ and gained a very expensive alternative…

We have been lucky enough to cruise both. Two very different experiences. The S class PH is a decadence of light and space. The balcony is big with sunshine and shade but rather long and thin, not wonderful for entertaining. Views everywhere….If I was to criticise it…almost too much space….We never understood why they didn’t put a small sauna in the bathroom as there is enough room in there to dance in. In the lounge area now the piano has gone, or is going to go, there is enough space for two sea facing inside lounging chairs but none there. If we were on a cold weather cruise (Alaska or Norway) I would ask the butler to round up a couple of sun beds for inside, there is plenty of space. On S class there are more options of speciality restaurants to enjoy which is a factor… The M PH feels more opulent. The hallway separating the bedroom from the lounge makes it more suitable for 3/4 guests. The strengths are the bath with a view and the balcony….Simply stunning. The negative is I would not book it for a cold weather cruise. Firstly it is right at the back so you do feel the motion on rougher seas and from the inside of the room your wake view is some distance away, lovely still though, you can’t beat a wake view. Obviously less dining options but when I return to the M PH next year I can see us enjoying several meals on the balcony… To answer your question we did notice some people looking down on us. We invited two of them for a look around and a drink on the balcony one evening…

If I remember correctly burgers are on the lunch menu not the evening menu…Hopefully someone can confirm…

Hi, So pleased you had a wonderful cruise! Agree…A really pleasant place. Nice to relax there on sea day afternoons and just enjoy the view and in the early evenings just wonderful to watch day turn to night…

Some well detailed comments already written. We cruised on Silhouette about a year ago. She is a lovely ship. The only other information I would add is… Check the ‘Today’ delivered every evening to find out where and when live music is happening. Easy to miss otherwise. Re speciality dining, Murano and Tuscan are definitely worth visiting. Speak to one of the M’Ds about dining specials. They will often offer deals on longer cruises that can include lunch at The Porch or Sushi on Five. As on sea days (of which you will have many) the buffet can be busy this can be a good option.

What are the dates of your cruise and ship? If it is more than 6 months away it is not unusual to be quiet. You could always look up some possible tours yourself and post your ideas on the roll call and see if others are interested.

If you go to the roll call for your cruise you should find people who possibly are arranging trips like this you may be able to join. Alternatively they may be able to advise you. Alternatively look at cruise critic ports of call. If you have difficulty finding your roll call reply here and I will direct you…

We usually cruise suites and being small I find the robes too big and heavy, especially the length of the sleeves…I sometimes ask for one of the light weight ones, much better, especially in hotter climates.

I thought the same… Agree, much cheaper to watch at home too. Some friends of ours booked an ‘Exclusive behind the scenes experience’ for the Italian Grand Prix a few years ago. It was pricey but offered a ‘small group’ behind the scenes tour early morning on qualifying day and a champagne post race party. The ‘small group’ was 250 and they were herded around very quickly. Strict rules on where they could go to/stand and a commentary that was hard to hear. They were disappointed but still looked forward to the champagne post race party. Another let down. The champagne was very slow in delivery and they kept seeing trays of nibbles empty before getting to them. Entertainment was a loop video of the last three laps of the race….They described it as the ‘biggest none event they had ever been to’… I think I would prefer to visit Vegas when the Grand Prix wasn’t on…

Must confess to rarely sending food back myself…It does spoil the flow of the meal for everyone but if I had received that pathetic piece of meat I might have done!

My husband was ready to do so…I just felt it would escalate the situation more, the guest would then have started arguing with us too. As the lounge was fairly full the best scenario happened, the guest stormed off. One of the reasons we do love Celebrity is situations like this are rare…I could recall several on RC…

OP, I feel for you and your party. It is always so disappointing when a well planned and much anticipated holiday goes pear shaped…Please don’t let it dampen your full vacation…. My mother always said hope for the best but plan for the worst…So…. We cross pack our check in luggage. We have one simple change of clothes in each hand luggage. Our travel insurance kicks in a significant payout for clothes once missing over 24 hours. We always spend a minimum of 3 days in the port we are cruising from. Being a glass half full person as long as I get to the port I am not going to get too upset if my luggage doesn’t arrive with me. A good excuse to buy another Posh Frock! Personally I am not willing travel with hand luggage only when going on a cruise. I do enjoy in the weeks (and months) pre cruise choosing some nice things to take with me. It is part of my holiday planning pleasure! I could manage with less clothes but it is nice to wear nice things…Then I like to take my decent binoculars, a couple of ‘real’ books some of my own cosmetics….As I have already said, if my luggage didn’t arrive with me I wouldn’t let it spoil my cruise but every time it does arrive I enjoy having what I want to take with me. In years of travelling world wide we have only ever had luggage go awol on two occasions meaning that for the vast majority of the time it is not an issue. One doesn’t stop playing golf because of the minimal risk of being struck by lightning so why worry too much about something that doesn’t happen very often and if it does you can have a plan B? I know I may live to regret this post if next cruise my luggage goes missing but I am sure there must be a lot of Posh Frock shops in Athens!

We usually have visited a couple of times per cruise. First few visits I struggled to find a drink I liked (too strong) then I found a mango one, yummy! When I asked if they had anything like the mango one but not mango he made me a special orange one…I guess it depends how busy they are…

On the one occasion we really did witness real rudeness to staff followed by “I am going to complain about you…” (a suite guest to the suite concierge) we didn’t mind our own business. The suite guest had wanted to bring the four other (none suite) family members travelling with him into Michael’s Club. The concierge explained that it wasn’t possible (and did point out how busy the lounge was) but she would invite the full family to the helipad sail away and she could also arrange for the full family to access a galley tour too if they were interested…You can imagine the response “I spent $xxx on this cruise, your job is to make me happy, how can you expect us not to all drink together….” We immediately reassured the concierge we had overheard the unreasonable request of the suite guest and her polite responses. She was clearly shaken. We later left a message for the Hotel Director and asked for him to contact us (pre suite manager days). When he came to see us we explained exactly what had happened and how politely, kindly and calmly the concierge had behaved and how we felt the guest had been both unreasonable and abusive…He was very grateful for the feedback we assume the complaint had arrived. The concierge spoke to us later to thank us minimising the incident with “These things happen” and “Sometimes it comes with the job…” There are definitely times on a cruise to mind your own business and times to support the hard working staff.

Did you send it back?

Agree about the view on S class. One of our cruise highlights has always been first evening dining in Tuscan slowly watching day turn into night…

We became very friendly with a couple on Equinox one cruise who had a ten month old baby girl. At breakfast time they ordered their evening meal and told the waiter the time they would be arriving meaning that as they sat down their starters and first drink were immediately served. The little one also had a plate of finger food she could enjoy independently. As their starters were cleared a dish of something or other would be brought in for parents to feed to the little one then as the parents mains arrived the little one had a couple of small toys on the table. Depending on how settled the little one was they either stayed for dessert or had it sent to their room. It really was an excellent bit of choreography by both parents and staff. I write this simple so that the OP knows there are ways around the meal being too long for a little one to sit still… As others have said the staff were fantastic! Most of the guests were welcoming too. Most evenings as I was dining I would also be playing peek a boo across the room with ‘the little princess’ as the waiters called her. Unfortunately, as others have said, not all guests were pleasant. One guest in the Retreat Lounge started complaining to me about ‘that baby’ being allowed in the Retreat Lounge expecting me to agree. Unfortunately for her I said I couldn’t wait for the little one to arrive as I loved my evening cuddle! Also as a side note on another ship there were two couples both with toddlers (2ish) and most nights you saw one or the other couple but rarely both. One couple each evening seeing to both children and the other being free. That seemed to work well too.

I think it is about 10 years since we were last on M class. I guess we have simply become ‘comfortable’ with S class. We will board Infinity with our eyes wide open to her status as a refined old lady with a few wrinkles…I bit like me really…I should fit in really well… Seriously we have no intentions of comparing her to the S class, we aim to enjoy as a different experience but hopefully still that lovely relaxing ambiance we book Celebrity for…

Agree! So nice the number of people on this site that will really make the effort to help others…

We stayed at a country farm house in Yorkshire some years ago. At breakfast the lovely farmers wife asked us at breakfast if we would like “Moa mil”…We needed a man from Leeds to translate it to ‘more milk’…Later in the day I went into a lovely local bakers and I asked for two barm cakes and confused the lady serving. When I pointed to the desired items she said “You mean our floury baps”…One country and many dialects! As an ex teacher it is signs that really get to me… ”Please switch of the lights” being one in our community hall (couldn’t change or alter or I would have offended someones wife or mother) and “Help yourself to desert” in a local hotel… I had to pin my husband to his seat to prevent him asking what flavours of sand they had…

I thought you just paid the difference…So if your Classic limit is $10 and the drink you want is $12 you just pay the $2 + service…Never had a classic package so maybe I am wrong. It may help the OP if someone can confirm…

One of the main reasons for us not cruising on M class for some years has been the removal of the ‘liners’ restaurants. They were beautiful and always felt special. I can remember them doing a champagne afternoon tea with a string duo as well as that lovely Murano style evening service. Well we are now booked on Infinity for next year! A mixture of an itinerary we liked plus a yearning to return to M class has made our mind up. We plan to do the following to ‘fill the gap’. We are in a suite so we will have access to Luminae. We are aware you can order from the MDR so will consider, also we have read that with 24 hour notice Luminae will prepare off menu items. We have only ever done this once but may utilise more. We will visit Tuscan and Sushi at least twice each. Possible visit LPC once. Look for the chefs market tour excursion which is a trip to a local market followed by a special meal for the group later using some of the produce bought. Use evening room service at least one night and dine on the balcony (Santorini when we don’t leave until 10pm). Look out to see if Sushi does a ‘Taste of India’ special night. Use the buffet one or two evenings if we are tired… Consider doing a Chef’s Table again. We were put off this after dining with Mr Talk a Lot and his wife Mrs Drink a Lot but I think they are the exception rather than the usual… I don’t think we will starve… Can I suggest you look at the recent Norwaylady live B2B report. Lots of great Blu pictures from the first cruise and MDR from the second. The MDR food looked very nice…

Yes, there is a point where the logistics of cruising can outweigh the pleasure. We have had to cancel a few cruises over the years either because of my health or my husband’s. Each time we have cancelled, however, we have booked another for the soonest opportunity! Totally agree to always thinking positive and every day I count my blessings for the wonderful cruises we have enjoyed. Sincere best wishes for the future!

Recent reviews have indicated that LPC has been very quiet and some second seatings have been cancelled. This would imply that all the more OBC is heading to Tuscan and Sushi. We are on Infinity next year and have speciality dining included with our room so I think I will book in both restaurants in advance for the nights we plan on using them.

Can I suggest you contact Special Needs at Celebrity and ask them if they have any real toppers on board rather than just the thin things? If they haven’t then you know to take your own but I seem to remember the one they provided me with on Eclipse was quite thick and bouncy. I had contacted them pre cruise as I was going to be in an orthopaedic boot and asked if they had anything that may help when I put my feet up. When I boarded they had the topper in my room ready for approval and a selection of pillows for me to choose from. Nothing to loose! Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise!