GrandBistro

For two nights, I'd encourage you to re-think renting a car so you can see more of the area. San Diego is a beautiful town. You'll want to see Old Town, Balboa Park, drive across the bridge and have a drink at the Hotel del Coronado. If you stay at hotel circle, you can get a less expensive room than at the convention center, and use that for the car. But, a good hotel in San Diego will never be inexpensive. It's a year-round destination.

Without a car, I'd only consider using Uber. Round trip by taxi would easily be in the hundreds of dollars. Just rent a car.

On a Friday afternoon, a 15 mile trip can easily take over an hour. There is usually quite a bit of congestion getting into Dodger Stadium and getting parked, too. If you want to make it easier on yourself, you can purchase preferred parking for $35 online or $50 on entry. Or you can pre-purchase offsite parking for $5- but give yourselves an extra 10-15 minutes for the walk. Nothing in LA is easy, and Friday nights are the worst. If you want to be in your seats at 6 pm, leave Hollywood no later than 4:45. Good luck! I'm trying to decide myself when I'll get to Dodger Stadium this season- Vin Scully's farewell.

I live in Long Beach and have taken the train between Union Station and downtown Long Beach many times. There are colorful characters on the train at all hours, but as a woman in my 60's riding alone I have never felt unsafe. Amused, annoyed, not unsafe.

When you get off the train at the end of the line, you are one block from the Renaissance Hotel at Pacific and Ocean. Walk there, order a drink from the bar and relax, then ask the concierge to call a cab to take you to the port or explain to you how the free shuttle works. This would work for San Pedro,too, just a longer taxi, over the bridges.

Have a great cruise!

We were on the Summit in January and while we don't have menus, I can tell you that lobster is on a formal night (it was on day 6 for us), but no one at our table thought it was very good. I was the only one who didn't order it and the only one who has happy with the meal!

We went to Qsine on day 4 and loved it. So clever and creative! And quite good. Enjoy!

I got a phone call from Celebrity today. After reviewing my email, they compared the items I described to the items on their lost & found log, and they found a match! They needed a credit card number to cover the FedEx shipping charges, and expect that I'll have my jewelry back in about a week.:)

They said that the detail in my email was really helpful in making the match - so if you do need to contact lost & found, the more information you can give them, the better.

Happy cruising!

We were on the Summit for the January 10 sailing. When we got home, I realized I had left a small jewelry pouch in the cabin. It's black, and I think I just looked right past it while packing.

I sent an email to lost and found, as directed on the website, with sailing dates, cabin number, and a detailed description but it's been a couple of weeks and I haven't heard anything - not even a reply that acknowledged my message.

Has anyone else had luck in recovering items left onboard? Is it a matter of me being more diligent, or do I just wait for them to respond?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Last week on the Summit it was $75 pp for a 7-night cruise. Last year on the Century it was something like $125 or $150 for two in the same cabin for a 15-night Panama Canal cruise (don't remember!). I don't know if itinerary affects pricing. Have fun!

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Summit

CABIN #: 6146

DECK #: 6- Penthouse

CLASS: S1

AREA: Starboard Aft

QUIET?: Very! No noise from above or below. We heard the piano in the adjoining Penthouse suite being played for a couple of minutes on day 1, and never again. We could easily hear the doorbell to the Penthouse, which the butler rang often, since they had room service a lot. Neighbors on the other side had a couple of loud pre-dinner drinks with music on their balcony, but that can happen anywhere.

BALCONY VIEW: great!

BALCONY SIZE: don't know the square footage, but big enough for 2 chairs, table, and 2 chaise loungers. Would easily accommodate 4 chairs.

WIND A PROBLEM?: no

SOOT A PROBLEM?: no

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: The room is next to the penthouse, so decor and bath match the PH. Bath has tub, separate shower and double sink. The drape and window shade are controlled by switches. The balcony door is a single glass door, not a double sized sliding door, which means less of a view from inside the room. The balcony is covered by a couple of tarps, but there are gaps, so you can get wet if it rains. There are 2 rooms like this on each M class- you can do a search and see good videos and photos of these rooms. We loved it! Closet is smaller than most, but there is certainly adequate storage.

I contacted Stingray City directly to ask them about best options for getting to them. They recommended signing up through the ship.

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There are so many variables! In most cases, an 11 am departure from LAX should be no problem. But if there is fog, or immigration delays, or traffic on the freeway, or any one of a number of things, it might be close. I wouldn't get a shuttle that may have other stops. But walk off with your luggage and grab a taxi, and you'll probably be okay.

I'm guessing many posters on this thread live in the USA, as do I. We are used to being able to say anything, wear anything, read anything we want because the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees us freedom of expression. No other country in the world protects expression to the extent the US does. Things like 'no camo' (which can seem silly to us) are actually good reminders of the freedoms we enjoy, and offer us an opportunity to be gracious visitors by being aware of and complying with the laws in other countries.

I used to get terribly seasick, and wore patches on cruises, but got tired of the dry mouth that goes with it. Now I do the following- it's worked like a charm for 40+ days at sea(!) with many days and nights of rough seas:

I buy Trader Joe's triple ginger cookies, and eat three a day starting 3-4 days before we leave and each day on board. Not one moment of seasickness since! If shared it with sick-prone friends before their recent cruise, and they also had no hint of seasickness. Lots more fun than capsules!

On my experience, the food is immeasurably better, beds are more comfortable and there are more activities on Carnival. I personally don't care for the free style dining- I like traditional dining at sea.

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Impossible to know at this point. I'm sure locals will scramble as much as their infrastructure will allow to keep high revenue tourist areas well supplied. But there could be more storms, there could be lags in the supply chain, there could be anything. Any cruise line can change any itinerary at any point for weather or safety or any other reason. I was once on a cruise that skipped Cabo because rough waves prevented the tenders from operating- the weather was otherwise lovely. Hopefully all will be well, but be ready to roll with the punches- you'll have a better cruise! Happy sailing!

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El Convento has a 2-night minimum stay, which is why we won't be staying there pre-cruise next January. Don't know about the Sheraton.

From the website:

"Smart Casual & Above" attire includes:

Ladies: Skirt or pants (no holes, rips or tears) with a sweater or blouse. Gentlemen: Pants (no holes, rips or tears) with a sports shirt or sweater. Shirts must have sleeves.

Enjoy the MDR without a jacket except on formal nights, and on those night choose from buffet, specialty dining or room service. Besides the carving station, the buffet has steak grilled to order.

Enjoy!

The easiest and cheapest way is to fold them as instructed, "laminate" them with clear packing tape, and then loop them through your luggage handle and staple.

You can also order personalized tags from Celebrity - they come printed with your name and cabin info, and are adhesive, just like airline luggage tags.

There are also a lot of clear plastic luggage tag sleeves available from a variety of online dealers. That's a little more expensive, but you might feel like they are more durable.

I've used each method and all work equally well.

Andy, thanks for the posts. We were on the Century just before the dry dock, the Jan 20-Feb 4 Panama Canal transit. At the Oceans Ahead lecture, I asked the captain about the ship being sold, and he danced around his response. He also said the dry dock would focus on mechanical repairs/upgrades/cleaning, and deep cleaning in food and hotel services. Cosmetic repairs badly needed!

Sounds like Michael's may do better as an elite lounge. I never saw one person in it over our 15 day cruise!

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15 night Century (Jan 20- Feb 4, 2014) offered the 'stuff the bag' option one day only, in the second week. One bag per stateroom; $45.

Just off the Century yesterday with a Sky Suite on 12. Love the location, loved a quick hop down the stairs to buffet and pool and bar. Room quite roomy and LOTS of space on the balcony. We lived there! Near the aft elevators meant we got on the empty elevator on 12 to head to dinner and by the time we got to 8 it was packed with people waiting to try to squeeze in. Enjoy it!

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Not the MDR menu, but good options. Pasta bar, sushi, grilled to order meats, carving stations, salad bar. You'll be well fed even if you skip the MDR.

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Just off the Century yesterday. At Sunday's Oceans Ahead lecture, Captain George commented on the dry dock. He said mechanical and technical repairs would be done and that the hotel and food service areas would be doing 'deep cleaning.' There was no mention of any upgrades or cosmetic improvements.

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Luggage valet was not available today from Century to FLL, even though website says they do provide the service at FLL. :-/

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Just off the Century today; we had the classic package and did not upgrade. We had pomegranate Mohitos in the day, also Coronas, wine recommended by the wine steward with each dinner in the MDR, espresso drinks daily, and a couple of bottles of water each day. They swiped our cards and gave them back. No signing. No extra charges. We like Absolut, and that's included. Very happy!