terigo

We would never pay that much more for aqua. If you consider that on a 10 day cruise you could get the ultimate dining for 290.00 per person, which allows you access to the ship's best restaurants every night, including Bistro on 5 for lunch, it's a no-brainer to not spend $1000 for Blu, which we didn't even enjoy that much.

The cabin would be the same as any other balcony.

Save your money for something that gives you value.

We just got off Millie in 6028 to Alaska... Loved the extra balcony space. Made it easy for my husband to set up his tripod and zoom lens camera. While everyone was paying big bucks in Icy Strait Point to go on whale watching boats, we were seeing humpbacks breach over and over again from our balcony!

Downside was the long walk to the dining room, but we no doubt needed the exercise!

Our travel agent hadn't heard of the Sweet 16, either. We educated her.

Some of the people here must have never had my experience...which has happened at least on 3 occasions.

I set my flatware with napkin down, along with my juice and coffee. I then go back to get my breakfast. When I get back, my place has been cleared and there are others sitting there.

When I reverse it, putting my breakfast down and then going to get coffee and juice, (leaving my eggs to get cold) the same thing has happened.

If you are not occupying a seat, any food at the table is considered fair game to get cleared.

We just got off her after a northbound Alaska.

We took the ultimate dining plan (which was FABULOUS!...and worth the money), but I will say that the people who were eating in the MDR were not too thrilled.

The ship was in fine shape, and very clean. There were a couple of worn areas, but nothing major. Our cabin was kept immaculately, and the staff were VERY friendly and helpful.

The entertainment was very good, and varied. I honestly don't know what some of the complainers were upset about, unless it was the cuisine, which for us, was beyond fantastic.

She's a very comfortable ship, and never felt crowded, even though we found out our sailing was booked solid.

I wrote a review, but it has not appeared yet.

We were on a Western Caribbean cruise when Ivan was heading up the Gulf of Mexico. The Captain reversed the order of our ports, staying one step ahead of the storm the whole way. We didn't even feel any waves. Smooth as silk the whole voyage.

The safest place to be during a hurricane is on a ship. The captain can avoid the storm, the cities on land are not so lucky.

This is the best one I have heard. While watching the World Series in the Casino Lounge the signal kept cutting in and out. Someone bellowed out "they must have cable!". At first it seemed funny but after he kept complaining and seemed serious it got scary!

you know how dicey those underwater cables can be! :rolleyes:

We just got back from an early June Alaska land/cruise. The mosquitoes were terrible in Denali and other inland spots, but not so much at the cruise ports. We sprayed with deep woods off and had no bites, but others who did not spray were miserable.

That is an interesting deal, I would have to think about it but would certainly consider it. I disagree with your assessment of Qsine but recognize some don't like it.

It isn't that we didn't like it, we just didn't think the cuisine was nearly as "wow" as what we had gotten at Olympic. Plus, they didn't have the lobster escargot available, and that was one of the main things we had wanted to try.

A lot of the enthusiasm from the staff and crew comes from the top down.

Would you know who the captain was on this trip?

No, sorry....it was an unpronounceable (to me, anyway) Greek name, and I can't recall it now.

The price for ultimate dining was still $29.00 per person when we just booked it 2 weeks ago on our Alaska cruise, but the price for Bistro, not on the package, had indeed gone up to $7.00

We just got back from a northbound cruise/tour on Millie. I am putting my thoughts to words, and will get a review going shortly.

To sum it up, we had a great time, and the staff were wonderful. The passengers were a mixed bag from a variety of countries, and we did not meet any bad apples. About the only nitpicky thing that I didn't like was our cabin steward did not change our towels if we hung them up on the hooks behind the bathroom door. He only changed them if we threw them on the floor. This struck me as odd, but not a major issue in light of the whole experience.

I posted about the ultimate dining experience earlier.

Teri

Thank you for your review. We may be looking at this on our upcoming cruises!

 

As I recall, this package cannot be booked in advance and must be booked onboard. I assume this must be done on embarkation. Where do you sign up? I also understand that there are a limited number of bookings offered. Do you know how many and if they regularly sell out?

 

Thanks, again, for your review!

 

Bruce

There is a table set-up for dining packages, including this one, before you even get on the ship...right after you get your sea pass. I don't know how many they allow, but on our cruise we were informed there were only 8 couples that booked it.

As for the person who liked the MDR food and would miss their tablemates, that is good for them. It is why there are so many choices!

We met plenty of people to hang with at various venues and excursions, and felt we missed nothing.

Hi and welcome back!!

 

Since we also plan to sail on Millennium to Alaska in 2015, it is great to hear that you had a nice time on Millennium, and that some horror stories are not true! :)

Althugh you have been at the extra-restaurants, did you also eat in MDR?

 

 

We ate one breakfast in the MDR. Honestly, it was not great. Service was slow and the food was lukewarm. We ate the rest of our breakfasts at either Bistro or Oceanview, and they were great.

We ate no dinners in the MDR

The UDP was offered before we even got on the ship, right after we got our sea passes. There was a table with all the dining packages available right there. We signed up for it, and it was the best decision we made. I have a post about it on this page. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2058473

Apparently not that many people do take advantage of it (which is weird to me). The maitre d told us there were only 8 couples who had the package.

teri

Do I understand that this allows you to dine in the specialty restaurants every evening, or is there a set number of times you can dine at each?

Every evening, at the venue of your choice. We ate once at Qsine, 6 dinners at Olympic, 2 brunches and embarkation lunch at Bistro, and the special lunch at Olympic.

We just got off the Millennium, northbound Alaska.

First let me say that tales of a shabby ship are incorrect. Sure, she shows a bit of age in places, but she is immaculate, and the staff is friendly, helpful and earnest.

Now, maybe I shouldn't rave about the ultimate dining too much, for fear it will not be available on our next Celebrity cruise, but we spent an extra $203.00 per person for a week, to be able to dine in each of the two specialty restaurants and unlimited times at Bistro on 5. This also included the special Olympic luncheon on the last sea day.

Why would we do this? Well, Celebrity is pretty much a mainstream cruise line, and the dining in the main dining room is good banquet food, but definitely not luxury dining. To sail on a more upscale line is way more than 200.00 a week more.

It is also more than $200 a week to book aqua class over a veranda cabin, but when we ate in Blu last year, we just thought it was ok.

Since the Celebrity staff, service and accommodations are as good as most of the upscale lines, the only major difference is the cuisine.

We only ate once at Qsine. It was quirky, but the food was fairly pedestrian.

Now, there are several choices on the dinner menu at the Olympic. We had 2 of them out of the 6 nights we ate there. Once they knew we would be eating there every night, they gave us "our" table at the window, with the same 3 attentive waiters each evening. They offered us special items which were not on the menu, and asked each and every time if there was anything else they could do to please us.

Escargot? Not on the menu...specially prepared for us each evening.

Steak Diane? Not on the menu, but they suggested doing it for us tableside one night, and we said "sure!".

We didn't like the idea of lobster cooked the way they do it normally. We just wanted broiled lobster tails. No problem. We had this one night, and the following night, the chef suggested a seafood platter, with lobster, mussels and shrimp. It was insanely good!

They said one night they would surprise us with a special dessert. What was it? Tableside prepared bananas foster, the likes of which I have only had in New Orleans.

This was 5-star dining with michelin grade service, every night.

If you really want to feel special and have extraordinary food and service, this is the way to go!

Postscript on this, we ran into quite a few fellow passengers who were not enchanted with the MDR food and service. We certainly did not have the same experience.

Teri

Does my husband need a jacket and tie on the "formal" nights?

Thanks for all the info. Still have not found one exactly like the one offered on Celebrity.

Dang!

We tried to sign up for a ship's excursion out of Ketchikan, that we did not see anywhere else online (Coastal Wildlife by boat) and the tour was sold out.

When we get to the pier in Ketchikan will there be vendors offering different tours there?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the encouraging words. We sail on her in 2 weeks and between the noro and the griping, we were getting worried.

I couldn't care less about a little rust and wear. My concern is cleanliness, food, and service. If those 3 things are good, then I am good.

Looking forward to our Alaska sailing from Vancouver!

I don't even know why you are thinking about it.

Last year, on the Equinox, we took a suite gty which was only 100.00 more per person than our CC cabin. At first we were assigned a sky suite. 2 days later they changed it to a Celebrity suite....With a suite, you pretty much get the same perks plus much more as you do in Aqua. (We didn't make a whole lot of use out of the butler, but the free specialty dinners, the free laundry and internet, those were GREAT)

We tried Blu, since we were entitled to it on a space available basis, and didn't even like it that much.

We have seen these sorts of comments on so many different lines, and always ask ourselves the same question ..."why do people go to a show that is clearly advertised as an adult show and then complain because the entertainment is 'too adult" for them?"

To me, it is like going to a Disney film and complaining there isn't enough violent action for ya. Did you not know what to expect?

Ya know how I stopped stressing over what to wear? Years ago I realized that everyone else was so concerned with how THEY looked, they couldn't care less about MY attire. :)

NCL is one of the most laid-back for clothing. "Freestyle" is what they call it. You do not need formal evening clothing at all.

Don't understand why seasoned cruisers still think Carnival is the same since the 80's.

I have NEVER had a loud music, smoking or crazy partiers issues. The Dream has my absolutely fav cove balcony. Nothing like it....so close to the water. Also, I've been on ships with 500 kids...noticed about 20 maybe. Camp Carnival is awesome.

Same exact experience on the Dream last year. We are in our 60s and loved it. We went in August and if there were a ton of kids, we didn't see them...never had a problem getting food at the buffet or finding a lounge by the pool.

I still say that most of the people who make disparaging comments about Carnival have never sailed with them.