Cathygh

Following on from Jean's report about P&O vs Fred, I thought I would give an overvie of my experience on my first Celebrity cruise. This was a much delayed cruise- 12 nights Best of Japan. We chose Celebrity for the itinerary, and because P&O don't go there for this type of thing. The following is just my opinion.

Checking in/embarkation.

Done online. 2 ladies waiting at the terminal, just before we got on the ship, mainly checking our ID on a tablet. 2 people in the queue before us. We could choose our own boarding time. Very efficient.

Passenger mix

900 Brits although it felt like more. The rest were from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South America and Europe. Most made an effort in the evening.I had expected it to be like the cruise we did on Princess in January 2023 where scruffy passengers were the norm

Condition of the ship/cabin.

Very good for a 24 year old ship. No leaks anywhere and no broken toilets. Had a $60m refurb in 2019. Cabins and public areas are very modern, but patio doors had a bit of rust. The first night was very windy and we could hear wind and the sea in the cabin. I thought maybe the door wasn't shut properly even though it was locked. I opened and found  I couldn't close it so my husband did and the door partly came off. We could still lock it! Maintenance arrived in about 2 minutes and fixed it back on. It happens a lot on this ship, and hearing the sea is also quite common. The next refit is this year and may be the doors will be replaced then.

The P&O bed is more comfortable IMHO

Hardly saw our steward but there is an evening turn down service. The chocolates were not nice.

Air con- I am not sure it worked well, but we didn't need it as we were never too cold/hot.

Dining.

We had freedom dining in Metropolitan. We ate there for all but 2 breakfasts and 1 dinner and also on port days.

Breakfast. Waiters come round with juice, water, tea, coffee and pastries while you wait. Wide choice and always hot. The quality of the eggs, sausage and bacon are superior to P&O.

Lunch - similar to P&O, but one day it was very bad and we sent it back, hot chicken was served luke warm with rubbery chips

Dinner. Usually a good choice and I only ate from the always available menu once. Always hot and tasty. 

Freedom dining was over subscribed so sometimes we were given a buzzer - the maximum wait was 20 minutes if you wanted to share

Buffet - manic as you would expect, but food was ok. 

Drinks package

We had the classic package, which included drinks up to $10. Alcohol wise the only drinks under $10 were 330ml cans of beer/lager. I drink white wine and there was a choice of 2-3 for $10. They were ok. Cocktails were all $12+. There were cocktails under $10 but there was no list so you had to suggest something and then find out if it was included or not. Baileys was $11 and I thought it was mean not to include it in the package and I was too stingy to pay the $1 and 20% service charge on top.

Wine service at dinner was slow one night. The waiter can take a drinks order, but not for wine, the sommelier does that, and they had a lot of tables to cover.

I think the drinks are unlimited and I was not aware of any drunken behaviour.

Speciality dining.

$60 per head plus 20% service charge. They were constantly trying to sell the speciality restaurants. Towards the end of the cruise they dropped the price of the Indian to $45 so we did that. Food was good but the service was terrible. The waiter got our order wrong 4 times. 

Note regarding eating in Blu, for which you pay a whole lot more for an Aquaclass cabin, people were complaining that they had to wait to get in, rather than walking in when they wanted and it wasn't worth the extra.

Little extras, sometimes they came round with free prosecco or canapes, as a gift from an officer

Captain/ officers

Captain Pierre was quite shy, I think, but he did do the daily update himself and & an info session in the Theatre. The hotel director was very visible, she was always there when we left and returned to the ship. Ents Director was also very visible

Entertainment

Good and varied but we rarely got to the evening shows which were at 7 and 9. We heard good reports.  We did go to the Skylounge every night where the Ents Director would have a bit of fun and created a great atmoshere. eg on Beatles night there would be a quick quiz which involved most of the audience followed by dancing. He is one of the best ets directors I have come across.

The App.

Useful for checking in beforehand. The drinks, menus for each restaurant and the entertainment for the whole cruise was listed before we arrived, You could book dining and shore excursions on it. What surprised me  was that they still use pen and paper to take orders, not tablets. It worked well.

Shore Excursions

Very expensive. You got up to 15% off if you prebook. We did our own thing. Food and transport was cheap in Japan and the metro system was easy to use, once you got the hang of it.

Price

On one TA website a week to the fjords in an inside cabin on June 8th is £660 on Iona, Celebrity  Apex is £1007 plus gratuities. Is Celebrity worth the extra? Not really TBF but Celebrity is meant to be a 5* line, not a 4* line, so perhaps a better comparison would be Cunard. 

10 hours ago, drakes2 said:

If that's in USD not worth it. I bought mine on the leap day special at 29% off

I think these sales are only avaiable in the US? In the UK we didn't have a leap year sale or St Patrick's Day sale

On 3/18/2024 at 3:06 AM, zitsky said:

I see with gratuity it’s almost $50 pp.  Not sure if I’ll do it again.

OMG gratuity is added? Not sure I'll bother

I've just seen a posting from a TA saying the new itineraries will be released in April

Thanks everyone, that has eased my mind

We are sailing soon on Millie and I can't find the white wines that cost $10 in most of the bar menus that I have seen on the app. Will they have them, say in Cellar Masters? Also cocktails up to $10 are included but I can't find any for that price. Can someone tell me which bars serve them or do I need to become a beer drinker? 🤣

I would like to do this but I can't see what day it is on. How do I find out please? I'm going to be in Millenium soon

26 minutes ago, davecttr said:

That confused me. I am booked on iona G437 and that departs on the 9th November.

Mea culpa . I copied and pasted from elsewhere and they had put the correct codes in but got I got years mixed up. The refit has been moved to October 2025, not 24! Sorry. I tried to correct the original post but it seems I can't.

It has been widely reported else where that G532 and G533 (October 2024) have been cancelled and Iona will have her refit then instead of March 2025. It will be for 17 days. Lots of complaints, obviously, especially as alternative cruises have risen in price. I expect there to be replacement cruises for March 2025 to be announced soon.

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

In my experience if you complete the Feefo one you get a questionnaire follow up and if there are genuine points with problems a call or reply asking you to pass the things on to customer service.  This has happened with my last five P&O cruises.  Some of my points were pretty mundane but I still got asked to do the follow ups.

We always fill in the feefo review, and always make comments and have never had a call back. I would love to be part of their focius groups so I can actively try to find solutions to gripes rather than whinging on the forums. Not all of my comments are negative BTW.

On the subject of food, the Exec Chef on Arcadia said they did a tasting of the evening's menu every afternoon at 4pm and then made adjustments. I can only think that he had lost his sense of taste (covid maybe?) and thought cold food that was meant to be hot was hot when it was tepid. 

Thank you for a great blog, I can't believe over 65 days have passed. I  do hope your throat is better.

A note regarding uncommunicative Captains. I am going on Celebrity soon and I read that if they miss a port, the Captain holds an information session in the theatre where he/she explains, along with slides, why the port was missed. It certainly shows that a decision to miss a port is not taken lightly. P&O captains could follow this example.

Secondly, regarging priority boarding which I think caused chaos on your cruise and also on the 35 nighter on Ventura.  I don't expect much support for this idea but some cruise lines don't have priority boarding in the same way. EG Princess and Celebrity  let you choose your own time, but they also know who is coming by coach. So if your coach is due at 2pm but you select 12 o'clock boarding you will be allocated 2 pm.

I do agree that CPS and Intercruises should have been more prepared and making all those elderly people stand in the cold for all that time is simply not on. As I have said before, there is no one sitting in the chairs inside the terminal so why not let people in? The alternative is that P&O stagger boarding times for the higher tier passengers, which will understandly annoy the passengers.

IMHO P&O, Intercruises and CPS know how many people are coming, but won't pay for extra staff to keep the queues moving. It's another cost cut and shows they don't are less about the passengers. 

Thank you both. We will be there at the end of this month, just in time for cherry blossom. I will take a look at your suggestions and draw up a shortlist. I know we can't do everything so I'll just concentrate on may be three must sees.

We have 1 free day in Tokyo, and it might be the only time we go there. Can any one recommend are the top 5 things to do that are easy to get to from the Mercure Ginza please? thanks. BTW we like history and culture, and may be a tea ceremony

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

It’s always worse late afternoon and evening when, of course, we are always on the ship. I also have a sneaky suspicion that it might be the air con, which is why I feel that I’m stuck with it until I am home. If I still have it after a few days at home then I shall definitely see my GP. 

Mine magically disappeared when I went outside.Next time I go on an older ship I will be looking for hints and tips to avoid it. Ice bucket in the cabin I read somewhere. We opened the door before we went to dinner and then kept it open all night, as that seemed to ease the coughing at night.  It has put me off going on Arcadia again. 

@Selbourne does your sore throat improve in the open air? If so I wonder if it's the ship's aircon? The only time I have had cruise cough since covid was on Arcadia, which has an older aircon system probably similar to that on Aurora. I had to have the balcony door open at night, which I've never had to do before. Just a thought. If not I agree with Snow Hill, see your GP asap.

6 minutes ago, TigerB said:

I hadn't noticed that it wasn't on the Epicurean menu. But yes, the fruit salad is always on the MDR menu for breakfast, and occasionally on the lunch menu. It is often also available in the Cattle Market that is Horizon, and at the Quays.

We used to have it with plain yogurt at breakfast, it certainly wasn't Greek yogurt and didn't taste like the Greek style yoghurt either. To be honest, it did have that fat-free taste to it. These days we have it with fruit yogurt.

Thank you. Shame they don't have it on the Epicurean one.

What great presents your lass got! Belated Happy Birthday.

I noticed there was no fresh fruit salad on the Epicurean Breakfast menu, just fruit segments or melon. Is fresh fruit salad still on the MDR menu? And is Greek yoghurt still oon it? Could be a deal breaker for me as it's how I keep my weight down on cruises!

I have not been in tis position but if I was travelling with a friend or sister I might very well want to go to the solo meet ups to meet new people. My companion might not want to go to them. If I was travelling alone but with family again I might want to go to the meet ups. I do not want to be reliant on my family or  a companion for company. But I agree there needs to be more clarity.

16 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I have never seen so many jewellery shops as there are in the Caribbean ports, especially ‘Diamonds International’ who are everywhere. Thankfully Lady S won’t even look at anything that’s not from Tiffany and we’ve only seen one of their shops this whole cruise and it was ‘Opening Soon’ 👍😅 I can’t imagine that there’s one in the Azores 🙏😂

I recall being told that the cruise companies own a lot of the shops in the Caribbean ports (and also in Alaska) which is why you find the same shops everywhere

20 hours ago, TigerB said:

Day 4 - Tuesday 20th February - At Sea 

 

We both had quite a restless night, with our lass not getting more than about four hours sleep.

We decided to go for breakfast at our usual time, 08:00, and come back to the cabin for some rest.

 

This morning we were in Aqua; the kids didn't join us. We were shown to table number 248, a two-seater that was about 30cm from another one.  Our waiting team were Rocky and Kim.

 

Afterwards we sat for a little while on deck 6 of the atrium, in order to give our cabin steward a chance to finish. 

 

After returning to our cabin we both read for a little while and nodded off. When I woke up I saw that it was 11:35, so I had missed the third of Julian Dismore's talks.

 

We went to lunch late, about 13:15; that was in the Quays.  Our lass had a burger and a piece of fried chicken; I had sweet and sour Quorn and noodles from Fusion, followed by a brew and a couple of desserts.

 

Still a little bit tired, we retired to our cabin for some peace and quiet and a doze. I went to the laundry to iron a couple of things.

For those of you that have an interest in such things, here are some photos of the deck 9 launderette, which is starboard side and just ahead of the mid-ship lifts...

 

 

 

Dinner tonight was in the Epicurean, pre-booked before the cruise.

Our reservation was at 19:00 and we were seated at a two-seater in the middle of the restaurant.

Our waiting team were Arman and Lalit; the latter was a funny lad with a beaming smile who, when asked how he was would reply, "I'm ticketyboo", and when asked if he was getting of the ship the next day, would ask what day it was, and that they all merge into one.

 

Tonight was Menu 1. I tried to photograph it on the board outside the restaurant, but they didn't come out well. A copy of this menu is available online.

 

 

Tonight we had...

 

Amuse bouche...

 

 

Starters:

 

Our lass...

She almost always chooses this from this menu, but I end up with the Fairy liquid mouthwash, and the parchment bread roll go untouched. I asked Arman how many of the latter go back to the kitchen untouched. He reckoned about 60% or more, saying some guests don't know the best way to eat them; he was keen to stress they get put in the bin and are not recycled.🫢

 

Me...

Even though the scallops could go with being a little bigger, I have never had a poor one of these starters.

 

Mains:

 

Our lass...

 

 

Me...

 

When ordering, I asked Arman if chef would allow it to be served as a single portion; it is meant to be shared by two. I ask each time and have only been refused once out of six requests; I always have the black cod fish to fall back on. When he returned he tried to kid me with his pregnant pause, but couldn't hide his smirk.

The encrusted halibut I had in Opal on the first celebration night was nice, but this one was on a whole other level; truly melt in the mouth gorgeous!😋

 

Palate cleanser...

Mango sorbet. Our lass is not keen on this, so I had both.

 

Desserts:

 

Our lass...

 

Me...

This is always my go-to dessert on this menu. There are still not flambéing it table side, but at least they are doing so in the restaurant, and not far from out table.

The ice cream chaser was pistachio 😋

 

Coffee and chocs to follow

 

Afterwards, we were supposed to meet the kids in the Crows Nest, and then I was going to join them at the silent disco. Our daughter-in-law was suffering with a bit of a dry throat, so we sacked it off.

Our lass was tired anyway, and wanted to retire. I took her to the cabin, got her sorted, and went to the 7/10 Club.

 

Tonight it was 'On The Rocks'

Another great set.

We had an excellet waiter on Aradia last August, called Armah, he was moving to Iona. I wonder if it's the same one? HIs cheeky sense of humour  sounds like him. He is one of the best waiters we have had and went over and above to help some one on our table who sent his food back every night.

45 minutes ago, TigerB said:

Well, not tomorrow! Lanzarote has just been cancelled 😕

Do you know why?

1 hour ago, cruisingiscool said:

Thanks for your advice. I expect the lounge bars etc will be very busy in the evenings  as well. I'll try to look on it as an adventure. 

You are welcome.Service was slow in the Emerald Bar and Andersons, a lot of pax meet there before dinner. I forgot to say the Infinity Pool at the back of the ship gets busy with kids, the others aren't as bad.

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Did you go to see the offshore registration building with the plaques showing you who had investments?  I found it fascinating to see they'd run out of space!  The tour guide was very proud to show us Mick Jagger and Bono in particular but I was astonished at how many individuals names I recognised and the really interesting one was the Welsh village who were making a protest to the UK government.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/crickhowell-inside-the-welsh-town-that-took-itself-offshore-in-tax-protest-a6752511.html

Wow no I didn't get to see that.Love the story about the Welsh Village!

We sailed on Iona in the May half term last year. Yes it was busy but you might not see many children around as they love the kids clubs so much. I would go to the MDR for all your meals but that will be busy in the evenings especially if you like to eat early or you don't want to share. Perhaps someone who has been during  a more recent school holiday can advise about wait times for the MDR in the evening.

12 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The cost of living in the Cayman Islands is extremely high. I can recall in 2014 watching a lady in a supermarket buy a box of 10 fish fingers for a sum I calculated to be around US$15.  I dread to think how much now.

 

This website gives interesting information on cost of living for people considering relocating to live permanently, I find it very interesting to get a rough idea of basic costs when I travel.

 

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Cayman+Islands&displayCurrency=USD

 Our tour guide told us that many many celebrities own property there as it's very private. She wasn't allowed to tell us who as most of the celebs sign a document to say they want privacy but Elton John hadn't signed it so she could tell us where he lives. So they can afford to pay exhorbitant prices. The guide said the islanders had a better standard of living than on the other islands as their government was not corrupts and did not strip the island's assets. Don't know if that's true. She also told us that crime is low as punishment is severe - you go to prison for littering.