Mike981

Great advice given, I would also suggest looking at trip reports to give you a better feel for the ship. Also look for videos that can give you the look and feel.

As a person who has had food poisoning multiple times, I feel for you.

I think I got the picture to work. Thank you @omahabob. @Gracie115 you reminded me of how anxious I was to eat in the MDR. I remember sitting down the first time and seeing all the plates and silverware and having no idea what to do. The assistant waiter saw my bulging eyes and came over and pointed to the silverware and gently said, "start from the outside and work your way in. Easy" Another wild thing was the wait staff. We were seated at a table of ten and the head waiter came to take our orders and with no note pad or anything. People were asking for special changes and I was amazed at how he was able to remember it all, of course we were not his only table. I can't remember where he was from, but he would walk up behind you and say, "And you Sir?" Then he would turn away from you as you gave your order. At first it was very strange, but then we had fun with it. Remember the crumb catchers? There was much more theater back then.

It really was a different style of cruising then. I don't miss renting a tux or wearing a suit and tie though.

I like to look for local artists and support them. In January we stopped in Trinidad and purchased a few items from a local artist. He asked for $15 and I told him I did not like that number, I will only take the items for $20. The smile on his face was well worth the extra $5.

Perfect explanation hcat. We feel so fortunate to have Mercury be our be our first cruise. It was our honeymoon 10 years in the making and oh so worth the wait. Thanks again for your post. @doghog I hear you. I don't remember the actual passenger numbers, but when we went from the Mercury to our second cruise on Millennium Milly seemed huge.

I was a radio announcer for many years and can tell you, when I made ANY mistake on air I was going to hear about for days.

It was our first cruise @C-Dragons on the Mercury. I found two of our drink glasses from that cruise.

Forgive me, I am trying to upload a picture and for some reason it won't take. IMG_4274(1).heic

24 years ago.

Just booked yesterday.

Agree

Oh, thank you for this. I will definitely give both of these a try.

You are man after my own heart. My whole family loves to take in storms, especially when we were camping. Thank you again for all of your work doing this live review. I have shared many of your stories with my wife and she has enjoyed them as well. No matter how long the cruise, the last day is a bummer. I wish only safe travels for you and your mother.

Put my DW and myself in the minority. Cheese; is a very big deal.

Love it and I am right there with you.

Keep it up, the dairy farmers need your support. My wife and I grew up in Wisconsin, so we are good supporters as well. Probably more on the cheese side, but I still love a good glass of milk. Oh I hear you on the weight gain. Years ago I went hard on the Keto diet and cut way back on my drinking before our cruise. In one week I gained 15lbs and both my wife and I were getting limited on clothes.

Thanks again for the great review. I am close to booking a 2025 January trip on Constellation and your attention to detail has made the choice easier. Since I have Irish blood in me, I love how they put the extra time and effort into celebrating the day. I would love to do an "inside tour" of all the stuff they need to store for holidays and special occasions, and the logistics of storing off site as well.

I have never done a move up bid because I like to know where my room is on the ship. That is more important to me than the type of room. That said, I have been tempted to do it to surprise my DW. If I got the room category in a bid and then Celebrity "changed their mind", I would be beyond upset. Especially with what was offered as compensation to the OP. I have had customer service reps tell me that I can't talk to their manager because they are out of the office for an extended period. My reply usually is, "and I am sure they deserve their time away because of their important job. So I am sure that there must be someone else covering for them while they are away, yes?" Once I had a rep tell me that they didn't know who was covering for their manager and I just said, "I understand, I'll wait while you find out." OP, only good wishes to a wonderful vacation for you and your spouse.

Sorry if you answered this already, how is the gym? Only made it to the gym once on our last cruise on the Silhouette, and that was only a walk through. But I thought it was nice. 😉

Yes on the Silhouette two months ago.

I got that as well Jim. I also like when a website/email asks you to just answer one question and when you go there it is a full survey. *Interesting issue with another website* Last week I tried to reach customer service for an appliance that is not working correctly. This is a major international company and i went through the proper channels (aka hoops) to contact support and when I went to hit enter with my all of my information I got one of those captcha boxes, "click the images that have a bus in them." No luck. I really wanted to move this forward so I tried at least six times and it never worked. Just a big waste of my time and I still have the same issue.

Thank you, I look forward to following along.

Years ago I booked our family of four on a cruise that left from Tampa. I read about how cool it was to cruise under the bridge and more than one person said you need to get your spot early because it will get crowded. So I made a huge deal out of us getting a good spot right away and then the wait. A very long wait, unfortunately by the time we cruised under the bridge it was anticlimactic and I felt more than a little embarrassed. Not to say it isn't a neat thing to see, but when you have two young kids and they are ready to go have fun it was a bit of a let down for them.

Only pointing out that there is a BIG difference from a multi-billion dollar company and an individual who is posting on a internet forum. In this case, Celebrity has shown time and time again that they just don't care like so many others.