terigo

Did anybody visit the Holocaust Museum in St Petersburg?

There is a Holocaust museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Are you sure that is not the one you are thinking of?

If the price is a very small difference, I might book aqua or concierge, just for the extra loyalty points. Otherwise, the price would make it unattractive to us. We were upgraded to aqua on one of our cruises on the Equinox, found we just did not care much for the Blu menu, and wound up switching midcruise to the main dining room. If we had had to pay a substantial difference, we would have been pretty disappointed.

Balcony, concierge, and aqua are all the same size.

On our last transatlantic we were in a Celebrity suite, and after dining in the MDR for the first 5 nights (Luminae was not an option yet) decided to try Blu, since as suite people we could dine there when space was available. We found the food we had been eating in the MDR superior to the offerings in Blu and never went back to Blu again.

Personally I would say that you should not go. There is a lot of walking and the crowds, even with timed entry tickets make the use of scooters difficult. In addition you do not say when your planned visit will take place, but in the summer it will be HOT!

Thanks for the response. We will be there the beginning of November, so I'm not anticipating extreme heat, but is there an ability to sit and rest periodically while visiting? That would make it a bit more feasible.

My husband and I have difficulty walking for any fairly long period of time. Would you recommend Alhambra to us, as well?

I was under the impression you could only purchase onboard. Thanks for the information.

You are correct. You cannot book the ultimate dining in advance.

I think comparing an older HAL ship to an S class Celebrity ship is just unfair. The better comparison would have been with the Millennium.

We have many sailings on both lines and can find no fault with HAL. Of course, we have no qualms about Celebrity, either.

For us, it comes down to price and itinerary. Either way, we are satisfied with the product.

The cheerleaders for various cruise lines crack me up. In the mass market, they all are more the same than they are different.

From my observations, prices have gone up as time went on. Our last two cruises on Celebrity sold out of suites and aqua class and the verandah cabins went up several hundred dollars from our early booking price.

Right now we are booked on a transatlantic leaving this October. When we booked it (a year in advance) the price was quite reasonable. It is now $300 more per person than we paid and the category left is lower than what we booked. Our category (along with 5 other categories) is sold out.

Will inventory open up after final? Maybe. But I'm content with what we paid for what we got with an early booking.

As far as the best place to view the glacier, anywhere outside will be a great viewing spot, as the captain pivots the ship so that both port and starboard get to see it well. If you have a balcony cabin, you only have to go out on that. It's quite spectacular, especially when the glacier calves.

We had a wonderful time on the Millennium!

We did a northbound this year, and had a sweet 16 starboard cabin. The extra large veranda allowed my husband to set up his camera gear while I sat outside. There were people who spent big bucks on whale watching expeditions. We sat outside and saw many whales breeching and swimming next to us, especially at Icy Strait. It was phenomenal.

Enjoy!

We have seen that not everything that is offered on regular cruises is also offered on transatlantics.

Has anyone who has been on a transatlantic noticed whether the sign-up for ultimate dining was available right after check-in?

We did a transatlantic a couple of years ago, but did not notice whether they had it or not, because we weren't looking for it. Now we might like to take advantage of this, after doing it on our Alaska trip this year.

Thanks in advance!

Teri

We have had both regular balcony cabins and suites, and have never been issued shaving cream.

Have a great cruise!

We love the risque humor...and the striptease has never "turned on" my husband. Maybe because we are adults, not giggly teenagers?

They tell you at every turn that this is 18+ adult entertainment. If the warnings don't keep the prudes away, I don't know what else they can do.

It's like movies and tv shows....if you find them offensive, don't watch. There is plenty of other entertainment out there.

Personally, I find prudish judgmental tongue-clickers far more offensive.

Our kids always ordered from the adult menu.

This reminds me of an amusing story. Back when we had set dinner times we were seated with a young couple from the midwest who were newbies. I told them I would not be offended if they wanted to sit with people who did not have young children (ours were 7 and 10) but they assured us it was fine.

One day the husband looked at the menu, saw quiche and said, "what is a "kwitch"? My seven year old calmly explained, "It's pronounced "Keech" and told him what it was. I chided her for correcting an adult, but he was very gracious about it, and said he was grateful for knowing the correct pronunciation.

After that, at every meal, he deferred to my 7 year old to find out whether a menu item would be to his liking!

Thanks for the info... just the sort of feedback I was looking for... We're thinking our stay will be wonderful!

Got it but after looking at pictures, it looks like those are somehow obstructed...don't the pillar type metal things get in the way? I would imagine, for the most part, the verandah doesn't get much sun. Is that correct?

To the OP....sorry for hijacking your thread. Sorry you did not have a good experience.

The first couple of cabins have the metal columns, the others don't. The way the overhang is set up, the veranda has coverage over half the veranda (what would be the normal sized veranda) and the outside half is open to the sun.

We were in 6028, which is the second to the last "sweet 16"... the veranda was great for my husband to set up his tripod and camera and us to still have plenty of room for relaxing.

What is a sweet 16 Verandah...I'm not familiar with that term, only cruising once on X.

On the M class Celebrity ships there are 16 cabins to the fore of deck 6.... 8 on each side, that are the same price as regular veranda cabins but have oversized verandas. If you google Celebrity sweet 16, you will see images of how they look in comparison to the other verandas.

Oddly, the people at Celebrity seem to know nothing about these cabins, but just about everyone on cruise critic does.

Teri

Yes, we are aware they are a small property. That is actually what appealed to us.

We are only paying $130.00 a night, which for that location did not feel was pricey at all.

I'm just asking to see if anyone here has actually stayed there.

Based on Tripadvisor reviews, location, and price, we think this is ideal for us for a couple of nights precruise out of Barcelona. Has anyone here actually stayed there with any feedback?

Thanks

Teri

We did the Millennium Alaska a few months ago, and everything was wonderful. We were in a sweet 16 veranda, our cabin steward was great, the ship was clean and all the staff seemed very eager to please.

Even at the beginning, we wanted to sit outside, but all the seats were taken. One of the bar servers went inside to grab us a couple of chairs. This went above and beyond.

I cannot address the MDR, because we do ultimate dining, and everyone at the specialty restaurants knocked themselves out for us, making sure we had a great table, suggesting things that were off-menu, etc.

The post cruise tour went like clockwork, and there again, the staff was extremely friendly and helpful.

About the only complaint we had was embarkation, where there were not enough staff checking people in, and it went fairly slowly.

Otherwise, our experience was as pleasant as it has been on the S class ships.

Teri

Are my husband and I the only 2 people who did not like anything at all about Qsine?

We liked both, but actually preferred Tuscan overall.

We get the ultimate dining, so we never eat in the dining room.

ymmv.

Look to buy up. We were on a transatlantic that went down in price by quite a bit. We had booked a veranda cabin. When the prices dropped after final, the price of a suite guarantee was only $210.00 more per person (2 week cruise) and we were permitted to go for the higher priced higher category. We were immediately assigned a sky suite, and 2 days after that, upgraded to a celebrity suite. What a deal!

We are hoping something like that happens again for us on the transatlantic we currently have booked for next year.

Teri

We took the ultimate dining package on Millennium, and ate one night at Qsine. We noticed a large table with a family and there were 2 little kids, so I don't believe there is an age limit.

We had 6 bags between the 2 of us on a cruisetour. We were not required to keep just one or hand luggage or anything at all. The only thing we had to do with our luggage at any time was make sure it was outside our hotel room at a certain time, so it could be collected. Other than that, we never touched the bags. They were carried from the bus to our rooms and from our rooms to the bus.

Easiest touring we have ever done.