BosoxI

I have to say, my flights with Delta have not been quite as bad as yours, but I refuse to fly Delta....They screw up on a regular basis. I realize that all airlines screw up occasionally, but they seem to do so even more than usual...one of their last screw ups was the disappearance of a couple of thousand miles, which somehow disappeared in the magical air....and never were found again...Good advice to quickly find another airline and deal with the problems of getting reimbursed later.

Funny how different people have such different experiences o airlines. Delta is our airline of choice; we've rarely encountered a problem and we fly regularly down to either FLL or MIA from RIC in Virginia or to RSW for our vacation home near Naples, FL. Sprinkled in with quite numerous trips to various cities in Europe. Yes, we've been stuck several times overnight in Atlanta, usually for mechanicals, but overall, Delta has done right by us. No airline is perfect, and I am surprised and saddened to learn of the need to speak to people in India, as I had no idea this is the case. My neighbor has just sworn off American, and I am sure others have sworn off every other airline for good and sufficient reasons. But I can't drive to Rome, and I don't want to drive to FL, so I can't eliminate boarding some plane, no matter the horror stories associated with it. Or I could just stay home, which is becoming a much more desireable place to be,:D

My DW flies frequently to NYC for business on small planes associated with Delta. Now there can be problems on those puddle jumpers. Any kind of weather will ground them and flights can be few and far between. That's the price we have to pay for living some distance from major airports. Over the years we've spent a small fortune on hotel rooms because of flying out a day early. Painful but not as painful as what the OP endured.

Finally received our room today. Same category as requested-Its a wheel chair accessible room- but I understand that's a good thing as they are bigger

Yes, you will love it, as did my wife in December. There is a ramp onto the balcony which slightly cuts down the useable space, but that is a small price to pay. We then did the second leg of a b2b on a different ship in a regular veranda cabin. What a difference!

Going with the cruise that visits your ports of interest is excellent advice. Price may or may not be consideration. You really can't go wrong with either of those ships. Don't torment yourself; you'll be happy either way

Just off our first trip on the Reflection and we were amazed that we never had a wait for Select dining, though we were eating there between 7:15 and 7:45 every night.

for the Celebrity cruising experience.

 

The first time I saw the present CD was at the Captain's Club Celebration for which Joanne and I try and look presentable while the officers are present.

I looked up and saw this guy in shorts and baggy shirt on stage and I turned to the Guest relations manager and said.. "You have to be kidding. This guy is making the presentation looking like that?" I thought it was a total sign of disrespect for the occasion. If this is modern luxury, I want nothing to do with it and the spokesman for the direction this company is going.

 

Yes, we were there, too, and my wife turned to me and said "My goodness, he's in shorts." We thought it very strange and inappropriate, but then, we think wearing shorts in the MDR for dinner or a baseball cap in the Tuscan Restaurant at lunch yesterday are also inappropriate. I do not understand why mature men cannot wear proper clothing in restaurants, not do I understand why Celebrity allows it.

To the person who asked about the quality of food in Murano, our experience has always been good. I doubt we'll dine there on our current cruise, but not because of any problem with the cuisine or staff.

:D That's the new European style and cut. Looks so uncomfortable!

Tat cut works ONLY with "skinny"; the CD is not a lightweight.:(

We had planned to eat most of our meals in specialty restaurants, the two dinners we've had in the MDR have been excellent, very good. But the service is really slow, the waiters seem either disinterested or even haughty, and it is the usual madhouse in the select dining area. Waiters running helter skelter, sommeliers running down the main aisle toting 8 bottles of wine. Not a pleasant experience but the food sure has been appealing and we've entered the select area at peak periods with no waits. On the other hand, the entertainment has been...lousy. Even my wife, who generally looks forward to the shows, walked out of last night's offering and the comedian the day before left lots to be desired. CDs are not a big thing with me, but this one amuses me because his clothes look like they last fit him in high school. :)

Rather than packing a jacket, he wore a nice dress shirt, bow tie and black vest/dress slacks. Looked dressy and nice!

 

From what we had read, sometimes one is given a jacket which can be put over chair back inside. He was prepared to do so if the bow tie/vest idea was questionned at the door...Never happened.

Don't pack a jacket, wear it. I always wear a blazer on the plane. Saves space and the flight attendants notice and smile at me, something women don't do so much anymore :( Clothes still make the man.

I've never seen a jacket supplied on a ship, and if it doesn't properly fit, I can understand putting it over the chair back. But I hate seeing a man doing that with his own jacket

We would never choose Aqua Class for the 'spa' aspect, particularly on M class where the spa is nothing special IMHO. We choose it specifically for Blu. We especially enjoy the breakfasts there - much, much nicer than the buffet and better service and atmosphere than the MDR. We enjoy the dinners as well - something like eating in a specialty restaurant, although the food is not as good as those restaurants have. The nicer shower is a perk, but not all that spectacular. Iced tea and bottled water in the rooms each day is nice, but since most of us have drink packages these days that perk is fairly worthless.

 

Also, do not fear that the Blu food is necessarily healthier (with the implication being not as good/tasty as 'normal' food). They call it 'clean cuisine' I believe but I have yet to figure out what that is! They have steak and short ribs and the like just the same as the MDR - just plated and prepared a little bit more fancy.

This is a very fair statement of Aqua class. The food in Blu is just OK but the ambiance sets it apart. If the price is right, go for Aqua. To me Concierge is not worth the money unless you're trying to rack up points towards Zenith. ;)

You can rent a tux onboard the ship?

You can give your measurements and order it well before embarkation . Now, understand that it won't be Pierre Cardin, but it's good enough and it saves packing space. If you already have shirts, ties, studs etc you don't have to order them, just bring yours along. I usually take my own tux but I rented one once and it was good enough. I love dressing up but I hate dragging the clothes.

But most times not. Late bookings are not always cheaper - next time let us know how much they went up. Why would you expect anything after final payment?

They're not always cheaper and they're not always available. If a cruise is on my bucket list (few are, anymore), then I book in advance. If it's just a "ho-hum, don't have anything better to do" type cruise, then waiting until after final payment makes good sense, and that's what I do.

I usually can't find much in any ship libraries, but I always check them out. Some of the book selections are very odd. The worst ever was the Navigator of the Seas--I can only think that they bought odd lots of remanded books from warehouse outlets or something because they had multiple copies of some of the strangest titles--Mushrooms of North America, any one?

You found Mushrooms of North America? I've been looking for it for years but it's out of print! ;)

The selection on most ships is pretty bad and it usually takes a lot of looking to stumble on something of interest. Thank God for Kindles. Incidentally, the QM2, and probably other Cunard ships, has a spectacular library, certainly the equal of what a small town might have.

Thank you for a really good review especially as it conforms many of my own opinions ,. One question: was the ship full?

Is it a full ship?

FYI....I can tell you that on one cruise, on the last day, I actually saw a bartender pouring Absolute in the Grey Goose bottle. So.....:eek:

I don't doubt it. A friendly bartender indicated the Beefeater in the Elite package was not really Beefeater at least at his venue. We didn't have to be told, believe me.

But this leads to another question: what government authority, if any, is responsible for oversight. Once at sea I guess all bets are off.

It's a good thing you caught it before you sailed because you would never get it while on board the ship. Celebrity CS has nothing but Lemmings working behind the counter. Make sure you get names and time you speak to them. Something's at Celebrity seem to fall through the cracks which sometimes seem a mile wide with them. You may need to fax or e-mail copies of the documents that show the OBC you have coming. Good Luck.

Can't say I agree with the lemmings comment. On one cruise several years ago, I noticed that an OBC from my TA had not appeared on my statement after several days at sea. CS couldn't have been more helpful in correcting the problem. Since then I have had various problems and they've always been corrected quickly and easily with the aid of CS. Now, X isn't perfect but I can't fault the Customer Service people. I never board a ship without having the paperwork backing up my credits. Makes life a lot easier.

While the steward should not have entered your cabin, your concern over belongings is misplaced. We routinely leave Kindles, computers, binoculars etc out in plain sight and never have had a problem on nearly 50 cruises with seven or eight different lines. On several occasions we have closed but not secured our safe, each thinking the other had done it. Never a problem there, either, although I confess to some nervous moments.

We're on the Reflection next week and when I checked initially several weeks ago, there was no dining package available. There also were no individual reservations available except very late in the evening. Several days ago, I received an email offering a dining package; when I checked, sure enough, a four night package was showing. Maybe someone canceled. In any event we didn't grab it, as dining times would be too iffy for us.

Your title says specialty dining so are you talking about purchasing a dining pkg at the speciality restaurants? If so if you book a package in advance you are assigned a time and restaurant for the 1st or 2nd night only, the remaining nights are booked once onboard and you do risk not getting the days and times that you want if individual bookings have sold well. We had the 5 night pkg on our 11 night cruise last November and were able to get pretty much what we wanted as far as day/time, but did have to be flexible and we do always eat early. If you always want to eat at prime time (7-8 pm) it might be a problem.

 

If you are talking about select dining you can book in advance the times you want on the website (which we do) or when onboard you can ask for the same time each night if available, but again you risk not getting the times you want if already booked.

Thanks to all of you. This would be a four night package on a seven night cruise and a full ship at that. I guess it's best to wait and see what's available once we're on board. Thanks again for the responses.

If we make a reservation on the first night, say at 7PM, does that mean that all the following reservations will also be at 7PM or will we be able to adjust the times? My concern is that we will be assigned a time that is simply not feasible on the following nights. Maybe it's best simply to book individual nights while on board, as we've always done.

The Zenith level on Celebrity also receives unlimited laundry, dry cleaning and pressing!

All I need is another 2000 points. I'm almost there. :D

If you read the Princess board they are no longer guaranteeing one day turn around on laundry for elite members. It's been reported that it sometimes takes 2 or 3 days.

We spent 16 days on Princess ships back in December. I think we sent out laundry/dry cleaning 3 times and got it back on the second day every time. I never expected one day service and didn't realize it was ever promised. It saved us quite a bit of money, too.

Now I feel even more special that out of 300 post you recall mine!

Oh, boy. This is getting good. Just remember, no gouging, no kidney punches, no hitting on a break, go to a neutral corner on a knockdown. :o

Definitely happened on a Princess Cruise that was featured on a TV Documentary last year. Non elites (or whatever they're called on Princess) were complaining that there were so many top tier travelers that Free Laundry was in such high demand they couldn't cope with laundry from fee paying travellers

Princess allows unlimited laundry and dry cleaning for its Elite passengers, and that's a very nice benefit, especially on a longer cruise. For anyone who can't get his laundry done, it's just a matter of shuffling down to the washing machines Princess has. Before becoming Elite, I was fortunate in meeting some very nice people there, an extra benefit.

I no longer book cruises in advance. In a position now to wait for the best deal. I think a lot of customers have taken that position.

We certainly have. As prices have skyrocketed, we'll wait to see what happens. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but we've been on so many cruises, it doesn't break our hearts if we can't go.