cruisead

Well I certainly do. Celebrity Infinity 'round the horn cruise February 2012. Muster drill was held in five languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and French. Alternating every couple of sentences so everyone had to sit through all five. Midday announcements were usually in this order: English, German, French and Spanish. Europeans far outnumbered South Americans (and were only slightly fewer than North Americans) and I was led to understand that Spanish was used in the announcements simply because the ship felt obligated not to make the handful who spoke it feel neglected or inferior to the German and French speaking passengers (who predictably ran roughshod over any sense of decorum). The first few nights the cruise director's spiel at the end of the show was translated as well, but later in the cruise they used slides in the four languages projected before and after any event in the main theater, which actually worked out better but only came about (so I heard) because the one officer who spoke German got fed up with translator duty.

Celebrity does the muster drill in all those languages on ALL their cruises, regardless of port of embarkation, so it wasn't just your South America cruise. We recently did a 10 day cruise on Equinox, which started in Ft Lauderdale, and part of the muster drill was in about 5 different languages (this was on their video presentation in all muster stations). Before the drill ended, they made an announcement in English that more safety information would be available in their cabin on the television in many languages. We also did a cruise on Reflection out of Miami and they did the same muster drill video in the different languages. After that, the only time they did multiple language announcements was if it were safety related, or related to disembarking in a port, or if it was related to a particular passenger who was not English speaking. The cruise director never did announcements in anything other than English, despite the fact that there were a number of passengers from Mexico and Russia.

There's no way I'd want 100 people coming to our cabin on a cabin crawl. To be honest, that's way out of line in many ways. And, I just don't understand how people on roll calls take over things and plan so many activities. When did this kind of thing start? I can see a meet and greet, and maybe another get together, but I've seen roll calls where they have something planned for every single day of an 11 day cruise. That's just too much, imho. I've even seen someone plan a special lunch in the MDR where people did a gift exchange, and again, to me, that's just way too much.

Short term storage at Canada Place terminal only.

The only time we dined at the Captain's table that wasn't in the MDR, was this past February when they were doing the construction on Luminae and they held the invitation only dinner in Murano, on Equinox.

Are you asking if Celebrity will pay for your airfare? There's no way they'll pay for your airfare to another city. It's your choice to take two cruises in different cities, so they're not going to pick up the cost of your airfare.

As I understand it, all booking names on ships manifest must be submitted to Feds or whomever 72 hours in advance.

Not true at all. The manifest is submitted 60 minutes before sailing, not 72 hours.

Beer starts at $5 and up. Soft drinks are now $2.75. Mixed alcohol drinks start at $7 and go up to $10. Wine, for barely drinkable stuff, starts at $9 a glass and goes up to as high as $20. Martinis are $10 and up. Bottled water starts at $4 a bottle and goes up for Evian and sparkling water. Specialty coffees are $3.50 and up. Foo Foo drinks like Pina Coladas are $7, but can be a bit cheaper if it's the drink of the day. All drink orders have an 15% or 18% tip added to the bill (I'm not sure if Royal Caribbean has increased their gratuities like Celebrity has, to the 18%, but they will do so in the future).

In reality, only you can decide if it's worth it for you to purchase a drink package. Just realize that depending on what package you buy, it will include more than just alcohol beverages, but also water, fresh squeezed juice, smoothies, specialty coffees and more.

Personally, I would look at November through the first two weeks of December. Sept and October cruises are prime for tropical storms or hurricanes. The weather in Nov and Dec is about as perfect as you can get. Not too hot and the rainy season hasn't started in the Caribbean.

We feel Summit is in need of upkeep. Not necessarily on the inside, but outside. On other cruises, we saw crew members always doing exterior upkeep on the ships while in port, whether it be scrubbing or painting the hull or redoing the railings on the decks. We never saw this at all during the three days in Bermuda. They didn't even wash the windows. While sitting in Normandie on a couple of nights, by window tables, the window wells on the outside were covered in rust, and not just a speck of rust, but one half of the windows were rusty. Not a good sign of a captain that cares about the appearance of the ship.

That said, we love the M class ships, always have, but for whatever reason, the people who run Summit just don't seem to take as good of care of that ship as she deserves. It makes no difference if she's older, but to have upkeep issues that should be easily taken care of not addressed makes you wonder about those in charge of Summit.

I don't think the QG or PG on Cunard compares with Luminae. We feel the Grills are superior to Luminae, especially in terms of variety of menus. Menus in Luminae are sparse, and they did not change the lunch menu at all, and after a week, you're tired of the same things for lunch. Celebrity needs to revise their menu options in Luminae and provide at least three different lunch menus, if not more, so diners, who are paying a premium for their suites, don't have to go to the MDR or buffet to get different kinds of food. We also found the QG menus to be more diverse and offer more options that the Luminae menus.

We don't care for HAL at all. We find their ships to be dark and dreary in their public areas and the ships seem to go to sleep around 11pm. But the real deal breaker for us is HAL's smoking policy. They still allow smoking in the casino and in the one sports bar next to the casino (on Eurodam) and they allow smoking on balconies.

RCI ships are glitzy but they are too crowded feeling and their food isn't all that great.

Princess is OK, but we found service to be lacking. In the larger lounges, we would almost have to hunt down a bar server to get a drink.

If you loved Celebrity, I say stick with them. But stay with their S class ships and not with their older M class.

Celebrity allows two 750ml bottles of wine, per cabin, per cruise, and no more. Any more than that and they take, and keep the bottles until the end of the cruise. You don't go through Customs when you board the ship, but you do go through security where all bags are xray'd. If they see bottles in your checked bags, you will be called to the "naughty" room to open your bags and then the bottles will be taken.

We know from experience that Celebrity is VERY reluctant to give their on board wheelchairs. They don't have many, and keep them for any emergency that might happen on board. Best to rent your own from a local company. Unfortunately, it's too late to order one from CareVacations as they require at least a 7 day lead time.

The only time Celebrity provides wheelchairs is for embarkation and disembarkation. Otherwise, passengers are expected to provide their own wheelchairs. Even the Celebrity website states they provide wheelchairs for embarking and disembarking only.

Looking at the dining times on sea days. You wont be able to get breakfast in Luminae. They do not open until 10:30am on sea days. If your looking for breakfast before 8:00am you can not eat in Blu or the MDR. So your left with room service or the buffet.

 

I have booked 2 sky suites on a 15 night cruise with 7 sea days. Is the cost difference between Sky and Aqua per cabin really worth it. It just makes me think. On the other hand Blu is closed for lunch.

Your information on the breakfast time in Luminae is wrong. We were just on Summit and breakfast is 7 to 9:30, every day. The one meal we loved in Luminae was breakfast. The fresh squeezed juices, waffles, eggs any style, sausage and bacon, smoothies, cereals and all kinds of baked goods were excellent. We dined there every morning, even on sea days, and usually we were in there by 8:30.

I think where you might have gotten the idea of the 10:30 time is that after regular breakfast, they have a buffet-like "breakfast" with limited items until 11:30.

Yes, like Michael's Club:D:D:D

Michael's Club isn't for all suites. Sky Suites cannot use MC.

We're a different drum here. We didn't like Luminae at all. The lunch menu never changes and we didn't like any of the lunch selections. There were very few dinner menus we liked at all, and thought that for the price you pay, especially in Celebrity Suites and higher, that the dinner selections are sparse. Service has been great in both Blu and Luminae, in our experience.

Celebrity has one of the most restrictive smoking policies. If caught smoking on your balcony, you get a warning and may also get a $250 fine. Future violations could mean removal from the ship.

Sooooooo Hotel Directors and CDs on ships have fewer abilities to handle clients request than say a hotel or resort on land? ;)

Do you want something SO special and different that you need to get the Hotel Director and Cruise Director involved? What, exactly, are you expecting? Special menus? Special entertainment? A private venue for a party? Fireworks at sea? Seriously, why do you feel the need to involve the higher ups on the ship? I'm sorry, but with all due respect, upper echelon crew members do not get involved in planning individual birthday parties, anniversary parties or parties for a graduate.

Hey Guys, we all were in the military about 50 years ago. Why rehash old stories from that long ago? Let it go and enjoy your wonderful cruise. Great shows, very good food, good tours, Martini Bar, and good looking babes on the beaches. Can't we go for a couple of weeks without having war memories from 50 years ago?

Excuse me, but military veterans are not only from WW II or Korea, or Vietnam. There are lots of vets from Desert Shield, Desert Storm and vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. Don't belittle any vet and what they've given for your right to cruise and other freedoms.

BTW, someone dug up this thread from 2011.

You can dine any night without a package. You can reserve online or wait until you get on board.

Cousins did a Spanish Pullmantur cruise and said that since there were so few English speakers on board, not every tour, nor every port, offered English speaking guides---actually very few had English speaking anything. We personally found that to be the case even on Costa. So few English speakers on a cruise we were on that we were shut out of a lot of tours.

Try Celebrity Summit to Bermuda. They have a great Solarium that is adults only, which is nice when you have lots of kids on board.

Seriously, after nearly 90 cruises, on most every line out there, and some lines that unfortunately no longer exist, we're not NCL fans at all. Too flashy, not great food, in our humble opinion, and just not what we like in a cruise. We like Celebrity for their excellent specialty restaurants, and for their very strict smoking policy. My son, who cruises solo, has found Celebrity to be very solo friendly.

This is not something for the cruise director to handle. If you're wanting something special at dinner, it's your head waiter or waiter that will assist you. If you want some kind of special party in a private area, that's something that you arrange with Guest Services once you're on board. I would guess that on any given cruise, there could be a hundred passengers or more celebrating some special day or anniversary.

And, depending on when your cruise is, no one will know far in advance who those people are, as crew members come and go without notice to passengers. You might have a waiter that leaves in the middle of your cruise, and the same goes for the maitre'd and head waiters.

Do you have something specific in mind? Do you want private parties to celebrate these happenings? A lot depends on what you want to happen.

BTW, cruise directors (CD) don't take direct requests from passengers for party planning. They have a lot of responsibilities and really don't plan individual celebrations for passengers. Can you imagine if every passenger celebrating something contacts a CD for planning a bunch of events, how much time that would take from his other responsibilities?

Celebrity and Azamara are doing more and more charters than any other line I've seen. When I go to a certain website that lists theme cruises, by far both those lines seem to have the lion's share of total charters. Celebrity alone has 31 total or partial charters listed for 2015 and 2016. NCL has a lot of theme cruises for rock and roll cruises, but not nearly as many as Celebrity. So, it's obvious that Celebrity is actively pursuing charters.

We will be on board Summit in a Royal Suite, and received an email from the concierge in Michael's Club, Jole Jacoby. I asked if non suite guests will be able to dine in Luminae, at the invitation of a suite guest, and it was confirmed that Celebrity will allow as many guests as space allows into Luminae for the $50 per person fee, as long as they are guests of the suite passengers. They will be able to dine every night, if they desire. So, I guess that, in reality, Luminae is nothing more than another specialty restaurant, in basically the same category as Murano, Normandie, et.al. I mean, those two restaurants are available on a space available basis also. Sorry, didn't ask about kids.

We always choose the longer cruise.