ScottC4746

10 hours ago, Octavias said:

I hope not.  We have a 10:30 boarding time, I’d hate to have to wait a long time seeing as they assigned the time to us.  I also hope it’s not crowded with a bunch of people not willing to board at their assigned time.  Does it really make that much of a difference if you board at 10:30 vs 12:30?  It’s just a few hours.  It does make a difference for us as I’ve got dietary restrictions and am hoping to be able to eat lunch on board and will need time to talk to the restaurant etc.   if I’m understanding correctly most people hit the buffet after they board and that is open longer hours. 

Since we have a 12 PM Concierge Lunch, the board time assigned won't work.  Surprised they gave us one that late.

8 minutes ago, ICANTWAITTOCRUISE said:

You will be fine but you'll get a lot of opinions here saying you shouldn't. Im a rule follower and I know from lots of experience this isn't something they care about- they care more about what works for you! I was told they realize just as many people don't come when they're assigned due to delays ad  come early and it all works out.  Enjoy! 

They probably think, "Good you are here get on so we won't have to worry later about you."

1 minute ago, cruisestitch said:

You will probably be able to do the same as you did in the past, barring any unexpected delays on the ship’s arrival.

That is true.  The sooner they can push people off and clear the ship with customs the sooner they can open boarding.

I will say to look and plan.  We used them LAX-SEA in 2022 and when we booked they only showed Delta and the flight the day before was painfully early for us and painfully late coming home even though there were several carriers.

This time we booked on our own on an airline (nameless) we love as DH works for them.  While the return flight is painfully late, at least we have club/lounge access where Delta doesn't even sell day passes anymore.

I just checked in this morning for our Edge Alaska Dawes Glacier Cruise 7 Nights Concierge Class Seattle round trip 31 May 2024.  It is the second week of the season.  We got stuck with 12 noon for arrival.

Last time we took the exact cruise was 2 weeks before the end of the season on the Solstice.  Then in 2022 it gave us the same time.  We took the first shuttle from the self booked hotel and got to the port about 10 or 1030 with no issues boarding early.

Will we be able to do the same again?

I know we have to dump our stuff in the cabin and take off until they are released around 1 PM or so.

On 4/15/2024 at 3:07 AM, BigAl94 said:

Both on the web and smartphone app I am unable to sign in to my Celebrity account this morning - anyone else? I know the details are correct.

I ran into that too and just redid my password, which was the exact one I had and all was fine.

9 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

You should be able to book times ahead of sailing through the on line cruise planner.  That is the best way to assure desired times.  You can also book times on board with the Maître 'D as available, or just show up and wait in the non-reservation line for an available table, which typically is not too long.

In 2022 we had select and no problems just walking up around 6 PM.  In fact we were so nice to our waiter the first two nights, the rest of the cruise we would walk up and he was practically knocking servers down to get to the Maitre 'D to make sure we were seated at his table.

6 hours ago, 39august said:

What about the suite experience on Hal?

We did a Neptune Suite on HAL in 2015 and no experience like on Celebrity.  I don't know about their Penthouse Suite, but there is no retreat area outside for suite guests.

5 hours ago, the penguins said:

Very simple, the boss sends me to the Al Bacio.

LOL that is usually how we end up doing it alternating mornings...it's your turn, only we go to the buffet for coffee.

On 2/11/2024 at 7:02 AM, WesternBroncoCruiser said:

The scuttlebutt is that Celebrity is trying to appeal to a younger demographic, and that the customer survey cards from the guest who are new to Celebrity are extremely positive.  This is despite all the changes that us old timers have been complaining about.   If you are younger (say than 50) and tried Celebrity for the first time in the last year or so, I'd love to hear what your impressions were and how the value of the product felt to you, maybe compared to other types or vacations or other cruise brands? 

We jumped from RCCL to HAL to X in September 2022 and fell in love.  We loved HAL but it was a bit too old for us...in 2016.  We have gotten older so maybe not now.  We tried X and it was wonderful.  Great service in Alaska on the Solstice.  It was nice coming in from the ports that were cold and wet and having hot homemade consume to sip to warm up.  Shows were great with live orchestra.  We cannot say enough positive about X.

10 minutes ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

Need to vent here.  I understand that cruising is back and that cruise lines are busy again, so the value of loyalty is less, but man, it sure is disappointing.

 

My story - we booked the Solstice over a year ago to go from Hawaii to Vancouver on April 25.  Paid a princely sum for a nice balcony cabin and was satisfied at the time.  Of course once the 90 day mark passes we get that there will be some "sales" as folks don't want to make their final payments, but on this cruise we keep seeing deals that are less than half what we paid.  Apples to apples the same cruise for less than half the price.  Actually it's a

WORSE cruise now as they took Lahaina off the itinerary.  When I call Celebrity I get the standard "nothing we can do since you are all paid up" speech.  I asked them if there was really nothing?  Not an upgrade, not a credit, really?  nothing?  After a song and a dance and a "let me check with my supervisor" BS hold, I get nope - nothing.  FU loyal customer with well over 400 CC points and 2 more cruises booked after this one.  And the guy then rubs salt in the wound by saying "we see you booked over a year ago, if you had booked more recently then maybe we could have done something"!  Really???  it should be the other way around.

 

Anyhow, I agree with a lot of the posts here that Celebrity is really going downhill.  We also have status on Princess so I guess we need to start looking more seriously at them again.  And at least they have real balconies on their new ships.

This link spells out their best price guarantee with a form you can fill out and submit.

Best Price Guarantee | Celebrity Cruises 

While we are not in a suite but a regular room with a few extra perks, pun intended, I have a question about coffee service in the room.

How can we have a tray with a pot of coffee delivered each morning to the room?  Do we have to just do the hang tag on the door the night before or can we set up a standard order with the cabin steward?

On 3/3/2024 at 7:42 AM, beachhouse said:

I am on Celebrity Beyond now. The rumors of creaking and popping and sounds like the cabin is falling apart are a TRUE: I read the reviews before booking this ship and ignored all the people complaining about the noises.

there are other cruisers experiencing this also and the deck level doesn't seem to matter.

it is so bad there is NO SLEEP to be had on this ship. I have been on 15+ cruises and realize this is a ship but no other ship has been like this.  I will NEVER sail on this ship again. Celebrity has had 1-2 years to correct this problem and have ignored it.

My question is which will cause any ship to creak, which I love by the way, is what were the sea conditions.  That could make a new ship creak and groan.

On 3/11/2024 at 5:08 AM, Miznergirl said:

I haven been on Equinox in many many years. Heading out on her Thursday. Any recent Equinox guests:

1) is the hair dryer in the desk drawer or attached to bathroom wall?

2) is shampoo one that’s combined with conditioner in the shower stall, individual shampoo and conditioner  in shower stall, or individual bottles of each. 
 

Thanks in advance. I know this sounds like diva questions but conditioner makes my hair flat as can be. 
 

Lynne

Hairdryer I don't recall.  I don't have enough hair to use one.

Shampoo, conditioner and body wash in bottles on the wall of the shower.  More eco-friendly. 

As I have read on other threads, do not bring your own as the products they use are easier on the ocean, which unfortunately means they don't suds as well as other stuff.

Our last cruise we flew LAX-SEA using Celebrity Air and it really did not come out cheaper we found after I booked.  When we booked we were only offered Delta when we knew that American and Alaskan had flights also.  Closer to the cruise date we found the other airlines underpriced Delta's offering on Celebrity Air.  I will say you earn airline miles and status service for those that qualify on the different airlines.

On the plus side, we were alerted of schedule changes from Celebrity Air before Delta alerted us.

This time we are on the same flight LAX-SEA round trip and we booked directly with the airline.

Not sure about service if the flight is delayed or cancelled with Celebrity, but we learned never to arrive the same day you sail out.  Too stressful.  We will come home the same day we return, if we can.

4 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

Perhaps mainstream cruising is not for you! 😉

Or perhaps cruise critic is not for you. 😉

All good points about the buffet.  I'll give it another go as we are in better times now.  As they were pulling out of Covid my first X cruise, it was the same old same old for breakfast everyday, grant you not that much you can do for breakfast, but the lunch entrees never changed.  We did not even think about dinner based on breakfast and lunch.  We shall see in two months.

4 hours ago, kwokpot said:

I don't know where you're getting your information but there's no such place as Grand Plaza Cafe on any Celebrity Ship. The venue you're thinking of is Cafe Al Bacio and TBH there's not enough food there for an adequate lunch. Then you neglected to list the Spa Cafe for breakfast and lunch. Mast Grill isn't open for dinner as it closes at 6:00pm. Eden Cafe has been adjusting it's hours on various E--Class ships so you'll need to go on board to see what the hours are for your cruise since it may or may not be open during Port days. 

As others have said you have severely limiting yourself by not going to the buffet. Celebrity's E-Class buffets are the best among the mainstream lines.

Edit: The only time there was anything called the Grand Plaza Cafe was on the Edge's maiden voyage in December, 2018. It was located to the left of the Martini Bar. By the second maiden voyage, which we were on, it already had closed as a complete and utter failure of a food venue. So a cafe by that name literally existed for one week (not including review cruises) only on the Edge in December, 2018. 

Huh, I found it on X's description of the Edge.  Now looking at the same place, it is gone.  Odd.

6 minutes ago, jelayne said:

You don’t say when you were on the Solstice but there was a period last fall into early winter where the quality of food declined and the buffet was cut back.  
 

Even during that period we felt the food was better on the E class ships.  Having taken 3 cruises on E class in the past 5 months I would suggest you give the buffet a try, just probably not on embarkation day.  
 

Even we when we are in a Suite we will go to the buffet for breakfast and lunch about 60% of the time.

We do however avoid the rush hours.  Breakfast for me is 9:30 - 10 and we routinely go to lunch between 1:30 and 2.  

Sorry, it was Sept 2022 the same route Dawes Glacier Inside Passage.  Grant you we were just pulling out of Covid and wasn't sure if the cruise was even happening.

7 minutes ago, jwlane said:

You're way over thinking this.

Probably

Just now, Liao said:

Leaving a book on the table or a jacket on a chair does not in any way make you a table hog.  

I guess I am a bit old school cruiser.

So, we are both not a fan of buffets and specialty restaurants We have a problem paying for meals on a cruise) and this is our first cruise on The Edge for 7 nights to Alaska roundtrip from Seattle in May.  I have done some home work and looks like to avoid the buffet and specialty restaurants here is what I found being in Concierge Class and not doing room service:

Breakfast: 

Cosmopolitan Restaurant, Eden Cafe (Grab and go), and maybe Grand Plaza Cafe, mostly pastries

Lunch:

Cosmopolitan on sea days only, Eden Cafe (grab and go), Grand Plaza Cafe finger sandwiches, Eden, and Mast Grill for burgers.

Dinner:

Normandie, Tuscan, Cosmopolitan, and Cypress Restaurants, Mast Grill burgers.

Am I missing anything.

One reason we avoid the buffet is quality.  This is our second X cruise, the first on Solstice and we were not enamored with the buffet quality plus we not only had to deal with chair hogs at the pool, but we also had to deal with table hogs.  We actually saw people just sitting there playing solitaire, reading a book over coffee, and even a family playing games during the peak of the meal service.  We are two and one of us had to hold the table (making us just as bad) while the other got food.  By the time the other got through the line, the first was done and went for seconds so we never really got to eat together.  Someone suggested leaving a book or jacket, which in my opinion makes as just as guilty as table/chair hogs.

Any suggestions.

On 2/19/2024 at 9:10 PM, cachouonacruise said:

On a recent trip, we flew to Sydney Australia. During one of our excursions, we found, what we thought would be something nice to bring home: creamy honey made by a unique kind of bees in Australia. We bought two jars! 

 

We then boarded the Edge in Sydney, no questions asked!

 

However, during our cruise around New-Zealand, we saw multiple adds warning us about consequences for bringing agricultural substances considered a bio-hazard by New-Zealand. 

 

So, we begun to be quite concerned! Especially since sniffing dogs are used to smell luggage in both Australia and New-Zealand. The penalty for contravening to these rules is a $400 fine and the cancellation of the visa.

 

We elected not to risk the penalty and to declare the honey, on the electronic form filled while aboard the ship.

 

So, after the cruise, upon disembarking from the Edge, customs, immigrations and dogs were waiting to greet disembarking passengers.

 

The officers of course, asked us about the honey. We mentioned that the honey was in two jars, unopened and sealed and that we were just hoping to carry them from the port to the airport leaving New-Zealand, the same day.

 

The officers thanked us for our honesty....and then confiscated the honey. We were not subjected to the fine though.

 

So, just posting this experience, in case it could help fellow cruiser not to become....honey criminals like us! ( just joking by exaggeration a bit, but this added stress and an unnecessary expense to our trip)

 

For your consideration! 
 

As someone with family in NZ I can attest that NZ is VERY strict on agriculture products coming in as they are very protective of their delicate agriculture.  We are very spoiled here in the USA in that we can get fresh produce year round in and out of season, of course out of season is a little more.  We were there and bought zucchini or courgette as we saw them marked in the store and it was nearly NZ$7.00/kg out of season.  Even honey they are very strict coming in.  

On 2/17/2024 at 9:53 AM, amandas friend said:

I have been on two Celebrity cruises. Both times the venues sometimes seemed crowded. I have been on two HAL cruises but not in several years but I believe they didn’t ever seem crowded. We are going to Alaska in early May. TIA for any opinions. 

We were on Holland Eurodam April 2019 coming from RCCL.  We found many of the events and activities poorly attended, which was a plus for us.  The buffet we felt was crowded and what seemed to be "first time buffet users".  In the evenings the lounges were very quiet as far as crowd.

I was 54 and DH was 47 at the time.  While we had nothing but great things to say about HAL, we felt we were just a tad young by a few years.  It seemed like on our cruise, people turned in by 9 PM.

Season also comes into play with school holidays and seasons.  I am sure if we took it in the summer, things would have been different than.

Must have been a glitch because like I said, Solstice we were able to view this far out and further.

Perhaps we are the second week of the route rather than the second to the last week so they are still working out details.