Mike981

Copied and pasted from our roll call:

Just saw that the drink upgrade cost is back to 35% off again. Last time I got it, it lasted just one day.

Edit to add, that the dining packages are at 15% off. Not enough for me to pull the trigger and if it doesn't come down before our cruise I will decide on the ship on a daily basis if I want to eat in a specialty restaurant. Constellation is limited with their specialty restaurants, so that weighs in for me.

I have found that when you have others traveling with you, it can make it hard to meet new people.

As others have said, my wife and I get a long very well and enjoy each others company. And this is after we have worked and lived together 24/7. We will proudly be celebrating our 35th anniversary in a couple of months.

20 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We rarely order steaks as I fell I can cook a better steak than any restaurant.     I use to work the grills in a steak house when in University. 

I would gladly listen if you were willing to share any tips, my wife and I love steak.

@jgmpuma thank you very  much.

4 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Since Oceania and NCL are own by the same same holding company it makes sense for them to use the dock 😉😁

I forgot about that, thank you for reminding me.

Dang Bigboy, that stinks.

I wish I could help, maybe reach out to Christopher Elliot. This is what he does and the very least, his website should have options for you.

I have come to believe that the travel industry is controlled by a few players. When I have done research to see who owns any of the big travel websites, it typically comes down to a couple of the same companies. It is all so intertwined it makes sense that it seems to be an industry wide problem.

It is scary for a company to be a leader/changer in an industry, and I am sure they know that it is costing them money, but it isn't enough to change the status quo.

7 hours ago, ExArkie said:

Not specific to M/S class or to any ship, really, but if the elevator is going up and people have been waiting on it, do not get on and push the button for a lower floor. Some elevators will cancel the original direction and take the direction indicated by the first button pushed. 

Thank you, I did not know that.

3 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Mercury predated the M class ships.

 

 

Thank you.

3 hours ago, bigbenboys said:

If I remember correctly Mercury was Century Class. I remember the Mercury, it had an escalator. The 4 ships were the Century, Mercury, Horizon, and Zenith.

Century class, that sounds right. Escalator, my wife and I do not remember one.

3 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

But then thread drift took over

I love this.

It has been a long time since I have cruised a M ship, I'm not sure what the Mercury would be classified as but that was our first ever cruise, then we followed up with the Millennium the next year. We are booked on the Constellation this coming January and really looking forward to it. Don't let the age of a ship throw you or the size of the ship. My DW and I like the smaller ships. I study the floor layout before our cruise to get and idea, but there isn't anything like actually walking around and seeing for yourself. It eliminates a lot of frustration on trying to get from one area to another, if you know you need change a floor to get there.

I will add what I have always said and my adult kids live by, learn to go with the flow.

EVERY trip will have things pop up that are not great, how you deal with it makes your trip. Remember, everyone with you is on vacation and want to have a good time.

I can relate to not liking to fly long distances. Four hours is long for me, we used to go to Jamaica and once to St. Lucia and they were tough. I now have had both hips replaced and it makes it even harder, I do purchase larger seats but those long flights are still tough.

Now if I could purchase those first class seats that Jim had, that might change things.

My wife and I will be visiting New Orleans for the first time this winter and I have been researching different tours and tour guides and one thing I keep seeing in the reviews is, "we should have just done our own tour." Even some who felt the tour was good, but still felt they could have had a better time on their own.

So I am wondering what your opinion is for two folks who will be traveling down from the frozen north for their first visit to New Orleans.

For reference we will be sailing on Celebrity Constellation, visiting on January 4 and our planned time at port is 9:30am - 10pm.

@abbydancer2003 thank you for the great pictures. You reminded me of a cruise my wife and I were on with and aft balcony. I can't remember the island, but we had an amazing sunset. If you looked to the right you could see the spectacular sunset and if you looked to the left you could see smoke coming out of a volcano in the wonderful light of the sunset. It looked like a movie scene and a moment that gets brought up every trip.

I can understand your feelings on bar soap, but...

I liked the bar soap so much that I purchased some when I got home.

Thank you @justcrusn, I posted it there as well.

For me: I click on 'manage reservation', then scroll down to 'cruise planner' and then click on 'drink packages'. You should then see 'drink upgrades'. If not, just give them a call.

Hi kids, I just upgraded our classic drink package to premium at a 35% discount. Just wanted to give you a heads up. I have been watching for a while and it has been at a 5% discount.

I believe this is often on a per ship basis and not fleet wide, just wanted to give you a heads up.

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I think the only time it is worth it to upgrade is once your device no longer is able to upgrade to the new operating system 

That is where I am with my iPhone 7s, I just read last week that Apple has moved iPhone 6 behind the barn to shoot it and there will be no more support.

Hi Jim, no need to check models on your busy vacation.

I was just wondering if products had turned over yet. When we purchased one back in 2020 on the Reflection they had a decent offering of iPads not the latest, but we were fine with what they had to offer.

I guess we will just wait until we board and see what they have for us.

Thank you all for your help.

6 hours ago, adolfo2 said:

They just LOVE re-selling a stateroom after someone cancels when in 100% penalty 😞 Should be made to sail w/empty stateroom in this case as it's been fully paid for!

Well I honestly don't get this thinking, it is just good business. I would be amazed if they didn't try to resell the room.

When I was in sales this situation would come up time to time. A client signed a contract that they paid in full so they could get a great rate, knowing if they change their plans then the contract was null and void. If they did cancel I would start calling my other clients and offer them the same rate, first come first serve. I would make commission on both sales, since both paid.

Doing a search I found there are many references to "Apple"; apple pear, apple pie, apple iPhone...But not what was looking for.

I remember after the Covid break many folks were saying that the Apple products for sale on board were rather outdated, have you seen any updating? We are sailing on Constellation next January and I am just trying to figure out the best use of our OBC.

Thank you~

Here in Minnesota it was a usual cloudy spring day. There was no chance we could see anything, but that is very common.

We did an AQ room this past January on Silhouette and loved it. I believe we were in room 1642, very quiet and just a short walk to the pool area. The room was a basic balcony room, the big enjoyment for us was Blu.

14 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

No that will be about a month later.   

 

We wanted to try Oceania before the other cruise we booked with them.   Sorry Celebrity You lost out on 6 bookings this year.  

 

While Celebrity's new announcement about cruise only fares for Zenith,  Member's in the private Zenith Group are finding it is useless.    To get the benefit they require you to rebook and loose the $800 OBC from booking aboard and Gratuities if booked before they were eliminated.   Many are reporting that if they took advantage it would actually raise their rates by $1,500 plus. 

 

So the theme is --- Yes we admit we have been screwing you for years and now will continue to do so for the next year or so.   They then scratch their heads and wonder why they lost over $100,000 in booking from us this year.

 

The more we read about Oceania the more we believe they may be a better fit for us.   Having said that Old Time Oceania cruisers are complaining about the cutbacks and decline in quality of food.   Hmmmmm....Must be contagious.

That makes me sad. I was hoping that they would fix the problem, not more smoke and mirrors.

24 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

The E-Class has many really nice aspect.  In my humble opinion the food suffers in Luminae due to it being cooked more diner style (due to Suite Passenger Load) in lieu of cooked to order.

 

Our favorite ship is Millennium -  Our first Cruise in 2000 when she was brand new.   Like an old girlfriend -  special place in my heart.

My wife and I sailed Millennium shortly after you. The year before we went on our first cruise ever on the Mercury. We have a 10 day cruise booked this January on the Constellation and hope to have some memories brought back from our Milly cruise.

Speaking of Constellation, we are toying with the idea of getting the Unlimited Dining Package. Do you think it would be worth it on that size of a ship, I  believe there are only two premium dining options and one is the cartoon meal? On our last cruise we did Blu and loved it, so if Luminae cuts it we would be happy with just one option.

This past January my wife and I were on the Silhouette for 10 days and it was very nice. It had been four years since our last cruise and we didn't notice anything wrong. As a matter of fact, there was more staff around and definitely more bar waitstaff than before. I thought they had done away with the bar carts and it seemed like they always had two going around this trip.

We ate in Blue and it was very good and the buffet seemed to be on par with other trips.

All in all, it was a great trip.