tanelicus

It's not only well done, but is an excellent advertisement for the Allure. I want to go!!!

Wow what a wonderful and fun review! Very detailed. You should be a Celebrity marketing person.

Congrats on your trip and of course your engagement. Here's to many future cruises as husband and wife!

Great family!

Great family! Keep it going!

I just had my buddy (who owns a drive thru) order me a case of it. Can't wait.

I thought the main brewery is located in Trinidad-Tobago?

I have my eyes on a Independence of the Seas sailing in the Caribbean in 2014.

Having sailed on the Freedom, which my family loved, I am wondering if a similar experience can be had on the Independence. Other than the obvious, both being Freedom class, there has to be some differences.

Is the entertainment the same? Do they have a reggae band on the pool deck?

Is the overall ship energy similar? Food quality?

Any input by people who have sailed both would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately no because it was closed as we arrived on a Sunday. It is only open the last Sunday of every month (when it is free and even more mobbed).

I will have to keep that in mind when planning a trip to Rome.

There is no question it looked like you were having a great time. The pictures are great!

Did you go to the Sistine Chapel?

is more of a Italian steakhouse type of experience. Does anybody have a menu that they can post? We are planning on going to Qsine, but may try this as well.

Update: I just checked the Celebrity website and its on there. Looks like an interesting menu.

Love the pics and enthusiasm you have brought to your review!

Brings back great memories of our FOS cruise.

Glad you had a great time.

You guys have a great family!

 

TO JIMZGOLDFINCH,

 

Fair enough. As I said everyone needs to do their own math. And figure out what works for their own cruising style.

 

I notice though that you did spend on alcohol in other ways... with a Stateroom Bar Set Up (1 Litre Bottle*) for aprox $ 80 initially... and a Bottle of Wine with Dinner Daily (aprox $ 40) ... but then those items and in particular their "locations" might be a priority for some Cruisers but not others (I personally could never see myself with a Bar Set Up... I much prefer to have my Pre-Dinner Cocktail enjoying a more social atmosphere at the Martini Bar)

 

*NOTE - Your measures would have been 50 mls = 1.5 ounces (and not the 5 ml you mentioned... otherwise, you would have paid $ 80 for a 100 mls = 3 ounce bottle of gin) :eek:

 

As for your reference to a kettle on the Eclipse in your Cabin... anyone reading this should be aware that kettles are ONLY AVAILALBE on Celebrity cruises out of Southampton in the UK.

 

As well, some Cruisers mention that they cannot tolerate the FREE Water that is offered onboard (ship water) due to the high amount of sodium... so although they may not be bottled water drinkers at home, they are when cruising.

 

Additionally, Beverages delivered to one's Stateroom with Room Service are not FREE (even if one has a Beverage Package)... this also can impact costing.

 

As I said, everyone has a different cruising style. Only the Cruiser knows what configuration of purchasing beverages (with or without booze) will work for them

 

Cheers!

Thanks for your response to me. I think that between the two of us, we will spend on this cruise under $500.00 on alcohol. If we don't get the alcohol package(s) then I will most likely get the soda package.

With what you alluded to above. If I wanted to get a coke at 2AM, where would I get one that is not room service? A soda dispenser. My gut feeling is no. So if I am thirsty late at night, then I will have to pay for it, even with the package is what your telling me.

Celebrity allows 2 bottles of wine per stateroom to be carried onboard. Luggage is scanned at departure. Even if your friend "gets away with" bringing unauthorized alcohol on board, she cannot bring it to public places, ie pool, bars, so it may be very awkward if you plan to drink socially. The drink prices are reasonable IMO, so no need to stress and try to sneak in your booze.

Kind of off topic:

Over all the cost of the drink prices are fairly reasonable, if you don't have to drink high end beverages all the time. In that case I am not sure any two people actually drink $700-800 dollars worth of drinks on any particular cruise. I think it can actually lead to feeling like you need to get your moneys worth so you drink as much as you can.

Even if one drinks on a consistent basis throughout the cruise, I can't imagine it is much more than $800.00 anyways.

Just my opinion. Even with my opinion it still interests me and I may actually do it.

Now to get back to the topic. The drinks aren't too bad so one's bill shouldn't be too disconcerting. I think its silly to sneak alcohol on to a large extent. And they allow you to bring two bottles of wine to your stateroom that you can enjoy on the verandah.

You are mostly going to drink $5.00 beers and $6.00 mixed drinks.

It seems like you really need to indulge everyday to justify the cost. We definitely drink but aren't one of those that makse sure there is always a drink in our hand. A latte is 3-4 dollars so no real impact there. I don't want to drink more either to justify the cost.

We are thinking about it, but also realize there are other things we can do with the money such as in port.

Maybe the extra few hundred is the downpayment for another cruise? Lol

I saw a program on CNBC where the cruise line indicated that to be profitable each guest needs to buy 4 drinks. I can see they are doing all right with this. Plus coffee, smoothies and water.... my goodness that's pure profit!

Again considering it because it seems so fun, but wondering?