Clydesmom7865

Absolutely correct - thank you! On one HAL cruise I even attended an RN gathering. Someone must have noted how many nurses were onboard, contacted the CD and sure enough, on a sea day we had some 50+ RN's gather for several hours and just socialize. It was great. :)

There ya go. I will give one more reason that the cruise lines support it: typically the LGBT community prefers to meet in BARS. They spend quite a bit of money on alcohol during these social gatherings and NO cruise line is going to turn down that revenue.

It is the same reason when the LGBT community plans an annual unofficial trip to Disney World that no matter how many protests conservative and religious groups have over it: Disney will NOT turn them away. Disney has a long standing policy of not turning away ANY guest as long as they pay the park fee and their behavior conforms to park policy. The ONLY thing they do is post a sign at the park entrances that states there is a large gathering in the park and if you are not comfortable then visit another day.

Be realistic: which do you think Disney prefers? The LGBT community with platinum cards by the fistful staying in their hotel rooms, spending gobs of money in the parks, restaurants, and bars or the local church group with 34 kids who have $100 in their pockets for one day? Like most businesses Disney only cares if your money is good not what you do behind closed doors.

It isn't like you have to give a lengthy explanation to anyone either. When my friend's nine year old daughter asked why everyone was in red shirts at the local amusement park one year during the LGBT outing we simply told her that they were all from one group like the Smith family reunion might wear shirts to recognize relatives they had not seen in a long time. She simply shrugged and said that makes sense and there was no further discussion. If the kids saw shirts that said FOD on them they are more likely to assume they all like the Wizard of Oz than anything else.

I thought it was Alcoholics Anonymous......never hear of "Friends of Dorothy". It's a good thing the "Friends of Bill" don't meet at the Martini bar:cool::cool::cool:

The "Friends of Bill W" was started so that those attending meetings on vacations, business trips etc. could maintain that anonymity. Not everyone in recovery is comfortable with everyone else knowing that they are an alcoholic.

"Friends of Dorothy" was started a long time ago as well modeled after the AA privacy name. Tolerance to alternative lifestyles is relatively new and even today not everyone is. Having FOD meeting was a way to connect with others of their "community" without having to out themselves. It was also a way for LGBT people to converse with one another in public and ask about someone's identity without cluing in Nosie Rosie's listening in the conversation what the true subject was.

As to why they get a "special" meeting: because if there are enough passengers of a similar group that desire to have one the ship will provide the space if available. So if you want to have a Friends of Wine, Crocheting for Cats, or Bob the Builder Bridge Buddies meeting by all means speak to the CD and if there are enough supporters on board you can meet to. No one is telling any group they can't meet. They are saying if there is a sufficient number to form a group that desires to meet once, often, or daily on a cruise the line will support it.

2. We have the late MDR seating. Clearly it is best to arrive on time, but if others are late to the table, does this hold up serving the whole table?

It is best to arrive right around the same time as it could hold up the table. It is considered good table etiquette to alert your tablemates or the wait staff that you will be late or not dining. When we dined at specialty restaurants we always told our server that we would not be there the following evening. The one evening I was exhausted and decided to skip dinner I called my friend and alerted her so she could tell the wait staff I would not be joining them. Of course there are always those who don't do that.

3. From what I gather dining in the MDR is multi course. If you do not order an appetizer, do you then have to wait until the main course is served to eat? I am thinking about this more if you are sitting with a lg party. If you opt out of dessert, can you leave whenever even if others are leaving?

You may leave the meal any time you wish. A few times we had other plans and simply told the staff up front so that we could politely excuse ourselves. On our first cruise we decided to have appetizers with table mates before going to specialty dining. We did and reminded the staff we would not need to order the entire meal. We enjoyed the appetizers then bid everyone a good evening and left for Tuscan Grille.

4. For formal nights, how long do folks wear their formal outfits for? Do you change after dinner, or do you stay dressed for the post dinner show and/or drinks, perhaps pre-dinner drinks? Seems a shame to put all the work into dressing up just for dinner. [i realize this is subjective and you can probably wear your formal attire for however long you want, but trying to get a general idea]

The majority stay in the one outfit.

5. How does disembarkation for ports work with and without an excursion. Do you queue up? Do you get a number? If port time is 8a-5p, what time can you expect to be walking on land if docked - 8a, 830a?

For tender ports I HIGHLY recommend being ready to GO when you line up to get the tickets for the tender. I was and found myself on the very first one off the boat with crew who were off duty for the day. Those who were not ready got tickets for a later tender. You can expect to walk off the gangway within 30 minutes or so of that posted time.

6. Do you have to be back onboard 1 hour before sail time? Or just by the end time for a 8a-5p docking? Obviously better to play it safe, but I wasn't sure what context I read the 'be back on board 1 hour before.'

Be back on board 30 minutes before that on board time. As someone who made the colossal mistake of cutting it WAY to close and watched them pull the gangway up behind us: never again. The stress almost killed me! Yes, they WILL leave without you.

The Lava Crab and Silver Bullet dessert in Q-Sine and the Chocolate Fondue in Tuscan Grille. I could go for that fondue right NOW.

Hi All,

 

First time poster here. I will be on my first cruise in early April aboard the Celebrity Reflection. I'm toying with the idea of proposing mid cruise but have not made up my mind. This is a thought I just had recently with as I know it will catch my girlfriend completely off guard.

 

Does any one have tips, advice, ideas, on the subject? I would really appreciate general advice but here are a few specific questions as well: How to travel with the ring? Best place to propose? (Thinking about upgrading to a balcony) Will celebrity assist either by staffing help or free upgades/goodies?

 

Thank you very much in advance.

My father did something sort of similar when his wife turned 50. They were booked for a trip to Europe and to sail back on the QEII and her actual birth date was during the cruise. He had a neighbor camp out and watch the mail box and when her AARP membership arrived they secreted it away for him.

On board he spoke to the CD and guest services and asked if it would be possible to dine with the Captain on her special birthday and present her gift. They arranged it and at dinner with the Captain and all the other table guests he gave her the AARP envelope. :eek: Thankfully she has a sense of humor and he followed it up with fabulous jewelry.

Not all women appreciate a completely public proposal like in the theater, MDR, or on the kiss camera at a professional sporting event. Give it a little thought and the perfect idea will come to you. If you are not certain she is on the same page private is better and at the end of the cruise otherwise the second half of the cruise could be very awkward if she says no.

2/can someone remember prices in dollars for speciality resteraunts ?

Everyone else has adequately addressed the other things you asked about so I will take a crack at this one above.

The specialty restaurants range from $5 to $45. There is usually a high tea in Murano that is $25. (make reservations early it was popular on my cruise and we got bumped from the one we wanted to the last one on another day)

I would not book specialty dining in advance as there are too many deals to be had on board. Even simply asking the maitre d' you can get some decent discounts and they get an added commission to their paycheck for booking it for you. On our cruise friends and I used ours to book because we appreciated her added attention to us and that way she got something extra as well.

I don't want to abet law-breaking, but what's to keep someone from putting one sort of pill in a pharmacy container marked for a different drug? I know that most (all?) pharmaceuticals can be identified by shape, color and printed ID, but does TSA or other authorities who might look in your bags have a drug identification book?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Absolutely nothing. Same as NOTHING prohibits someone from getting a pill carrier and loading it with narcotics to smuggle and hoping they don't get caught.

While some responses to this thread are from "right fighters" who simply argue for the sake of it: As a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL I do not ever advise travelling with unmarked medication. While you probably won't be challenged, if you ARE is it really worth risking your vacation and your freedom for the convenience of a pill sorter? What happens if you fall ill and cannot communicate to the medical staff what those pills are? There are THOUSANDS of generic drugs and not all are stamped with any identifying marks or unique coloring. Even pharmacists are challenged with difficulty identifying all of them.

In the absence of a clear label in a marked dispensing container law enforcement may detain someone until they can identify it.

There will ALWAYS be people who go through life figuring it has never happened before so they are safe in continuing the behavior. They are free to do so. For this situation my recommendation is that you do not do it.

You are totally misinterpreting this; there is no law against someone putting prescription medications into pill caddies that are not controlled substances (again most prescription medication is NOT a controlled substance) and traveling with them.

No I am NOT misinterpreting this. In my state (MI) it is a felony to carry prescription medications outside the dispensing container. It is the same in CT. I have not researched every state but there are certainly more than two states that have similar laws.

TSA specifically states that when flying all prescription medications in carry on luggage MUST be in in the dispensing containers. Unlabeled pill caddie containers in checked luggage can subject the passenger to additional screening.

Senior travel websites recommend that due to varying laws of the states and other countries that you travel with the medications in their dispensing containers and sort once at your destination. For patients who have issues such as dementia and a sorting box is necessary to ensure compliance it is advised that a letter from the prescribing physician be provided stating that the sorting caddie is necessary to ensure compliance by the cognitively limited patient.

So as I said before: There are ALWAYS people like you who are willing to roll the dice and take their chances. Just because it is not a frequent problem does not mean that some TSA or Customs agent isn't going to have one of "those" days and make someone's life miserable over the fact they have a dozens of pills in an unmarked container.

You can keep arguing but as a medical professional there is absolutely NO way I am going to ever advise someone to put unmarked pills of ANY kind in a sorter and get on a plane or travel outside the country. The risk is not worth the convenience.

I do not believe you are correct. Most prescription medications are not considered controlled substances. While IMHO it is wise to travel with medications in the labelled bottles they were dispensed in (even if inconvenient) in most cases it is not illegal to travel with in pill boxes, baggies etc. While the vast majority of the time one will not incur problems when traveling with medication not in it's labelled container, there is a very small (but real) risk of being hassled.

In addition to the Controlled Substances Act the DEA also requires that ALL prescription medications be dispensed in the exact same way as described in the CSA. There is overlap between both laws. "Controlled" does not have to automatically mean narcotic or amphetamine. Under DEA law "controlled" means the drug is controlled by prescribing and dispensing law as well.

None of which changes the fact that if you are stopped and searched for even the most innocent of reasons and are found to have unidentifiable pills in your possession you can very easily find yourself in handcuffs followed by a holding cell charged with possession of a controlled substance. Not the way anyone wants to start or end a vacation.

Here is one quote from a legal website from someone with criminal charges based on legally available prescription medication even when labeled:

" because they searched my vehicle and found capsules which are a sched 4 med. I had no idea because they hand them out as free samples at the doctors office with out a perscription"

I have several friends who are cops and they said you would be amazed at the number of times they search someone to find random pills in their possession. That includes those with pill caddies that are acting odd or under the influence.

This subject comes up on the boards several times per year and regardless of the risk there are those that will continue to use those convenience boxes. What it doesn't do is answer the question about whether it is legal which under the CSA and DEA laws it is NOT.

I use those 7 day boxes also. With my smartphone, I snap a photo of each pill box with a sample of the pill in the foreground. Vitamins and homeopathic also. I do this for convenience.

Keep in mind that the authorities are not required to take your word for it that the photo is accurate or believe you.

I don't use any controlled substances so I 'm not worried about violations.

THIS is the most common misbelief. While the schedules I quoted mention the commonly used narcotics or amphetamines, if the drug requires a prescription it is a controlled substance and subject to the act. If you are found in possession of a pill they cannot identify by the dispensing bottle in your possession (a photo won't do it due to high quality photo shopping abilities) then you can be charged.

Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it WON'T!

Which law is that? :confused:

Federal law regarding the dispensing of controlled substances known as the Controlled Substances Act. The Act signed into law in 1970 by President Nixon controls the manufacture, importation, possession, distribution, and use.

Under possession and distribution it is required that all scheduled medications be distributed in a container identifying the patient, pharmacy, physcian, drug, strength, quantity dispensed, and dosage i.e. 1 pill four times per day.

Anyone found to have an unidentified scheduled drug in their possession without the accompanying pharmacy information and the dispensed bottle can be charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Each prescription medication has a "schedule."

Schedule I

Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence. Some examples of Schedule I drugs are:

heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), methaqualone, and peyote

Schedule II

Schedule II drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a high potential for abuse, less abuse potential than Schedule I drugs, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence. These drugs are also considered dangerous. Some examples of Schedule II drugs are:

cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), oxycodone (OxyContin), fentanyl, Dexedrine, Adderall, and Ritalin

Schedule III

Schedule III drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Schedule III drugs abuse potential is less than Schedule I and Schedule II drugs but more than Schedule IV. Some examples of Schedule III drugs are:

Combination products with less than 15 milligrams of hydrocodone per dosage unit (Vicodin), Products containing less than 90 milligrams of codeine per dosage unit (Tylenol with codeine), ketamine, anabolic steroids, testosterone

Schedule IV

Schedule IV drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence. Some examples of Schedule IV drugs are:

Xanax, Soma, Darvon, Darvocet, Valium, Ativan, Talwin, Ambien

Schedule V

Schedule V drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with lower potential for abuse than Schedule IV and consist of preparations containing limited quantities of certain narcotics. Schedule V drugs are generally used for antidiarrheal, antitussive, and analgesic purposes. Some examples of Schedule V drugs are:

cough preparations with less than 200 milligrams of codeine or per 100 milliliters (Robitussin AC), Lomotil, Motofen, Lyrica, Parepectolin

While they are typically not interested in Grandma's insulin and blood pressure medication, when you start having 5 or more unidentified medications authorities start to get suspicious of not only what they all are but the potential for illegal distribution being possible. After all what a great way to transport narcotics for illegal sale by mixing them in with random pills in a caddie and hoping you slide on through.

Might not be a problem on an Alaskan cruise but head to the Caribbean or Europe where many controlled substances that are prescription here are for sale non-prescription there and you get people who innocently purchase a pain killer because of injury or illness and the get nailed upon return because they have no prescription. It isn't worth the risk.

I usually use those S-S pill holders. I was told all medications have to be in the original containers. Is this true. I have a LOT of meds I take daily from blood pressure to thyroid. And in big containers. Anyone know the true policy?? I'd hate to have my S-S pill container confiscated. LOL

By LAW they do have to be in the bottle the pharmacy used for dispensing.

However, that does not mean you have to bring the giant bottles. Your pharmacist will be MORE than willing to type up labels for smaller travel bottles so that you can take a small supply with you and not risk a problem. While it is not typical to have issues it does not mean you won't from a legal perspective. All it takes is one customs officer or police officer to find them and if the circumstances are that they cannot identify the meds you will be detained while it is sorted out and that may take DAYS. Due to the sheer number of generics even many pharmacists cannot immediately identify a pill when asked to without significant research.

ANY medication for pain should be in a legally dispensed container. Those will be the first ones targeted. Having multiple pills in an unmarked container simply increases the chances they question what they are.

A second reason to keep them in labeled containers is YOU. If something happens heaven forbid, the medical staff on the ship or in the hospital have immediate access to what you taking and in what dosage and quantities. Those unmarked pill containers while convenient make medical providers jobs VERY difficult playing "guess the pill" if the patient or a family member is not able to help. While some people keep a typed list you would be SHOCKED at how often that list is out of date an inaccurate or left behind in the other purse or wallet and neither the patient nor family can remember the accurate list.

While convenient and some people swear it is no big deal to me it is just not worth the risks to your health and liberty.

It's not a cruise line policy.

 

When traveling internationally, some countries require original containers for certain meds.

Cruise line policy is not the problem. While it may be law in some foreign countries it IS the law in the USA. It isn't worth the risk because if the cops have a reason to search while traveling to the cruise port and they cannot identify the medications you WILL be detained while they get it identified. Missing a cruise while you sit at a precinct in a jail cell would be a major bummer for the convenience of a pill caddie.

No that is an industry wide statistic that is present so that passengers can use that information, provided by the cruiseline, to make an informed decision. It is not a hiring number, why would a hiring number be present on a travel agent site or the cruiseline's info page for each of their ships. The staff level may not be precisely that number, but it would not be much less, anything more than about 5% and you could argue that they are advertising a product that they are not delivering......

 

Also, when staff are off, meaning that they have left the ship, they are replaced. When they are off for the night, they are still on the ship and count toward the number. Many of the staff are in positions where you will never see them.

 

Princess staff rests as well.

Okay, you seem to want to split hairs.....

That number is published to indicate the approximate number of staff that are on board as crew but is NOT an absolute guarantee of exactly how many on board. It is merely a staffing ratio they aim for. There are many reasons to publish the average crew numbers and this is but one of them. When I said "hiring" number I equated it with "staffing" but you took it to a whole new level.

There are many reasons it could be way less and quite frankly unless there was a 30% drop in staffing or more how would the average passenger know if there was a 10% reduction in crew? The captain certainly isn't going to line everyone up so that some disgruntled passenger can count every one of them.

Off duty, off the ship not working is not working regardless of WHERE the crew does it. If there are a specific number off for the evening, ill, assigned to another area it can make the crew appear short when in reality it is not.

I stand by my assertion that I would not judge by one cruise.

We usually characterize it as 238 years of tradition, 3 years of progress. :D

 

Just kidding -- Semper Fi to all my USMC buddies.

LOL

In the Navy we say NAVY stands for Never Again Volunteer Yourself.

You got my curiosity up on this, so I googled both ships. Not sure how accurate the information is (as it changes all the time), but here is what I found.

 

Celebrity Eclipse: Passengers 3,000 and crew 1,500

Royal Princess: Passengers 3,600 and crew 1,346

That is most likely the allotted staffing for hiring purposes. It does not indicate how many are likely to be on board at each sailing.

Don't forget that at any given time some staff are off duty as well. They do need to rest too.

I actually think cruise ships are more thoroughly cleaned than the Navy ships. Don't we see that on every single cruise, every day??? I do on RCCL at least. I've seen the same brass banister rail cleaned and polished every single day by the same person...I took special note of it.

The banister rail isn't the source of the problem. They don't clean many areas of the ships with that kind of detail. That is PR cleaning not sanitary cleaning.

The problem is the passengers who use the public restroom and don't wash their hands. They contaminate the door when leaving so that the ones who DO wash are then contaminated. The problem is that they also return to the buffet after not having washed and then handle the utensils which are then picked up by other unsuspecting passengers or staff.

The restroom doors, elevator buttons, food utensils in the buffet during serving (unless they fall on the floor etc), etc. are all not cleaned and polished to the degree that those high profile railings are.

Add to that the ones who don't do a good job "cleaning" while in the restroom and then get in a pool or hot tub creating an e-coli soup to share it gets worse. While I agree that the issue is the passengers I hardly think it is necessary to call anyone who doesn't live in a barnyard and oink a "filthy pig" even if you do put a smiley after it.

I haven't noticed it but I have only been on two cruises and I don't see the allure of AQ or Blu so I have no comparison in that venue.

It could be a one time issue due to not being able to on board enough new crew prior to sailing. Sometimes crew are due for vacation, ship change, or they simply return home after quitting and there isn't time to replace them quickly enough but it is resolved on the next sailing. I would not judge by one cruise.

Hoo-boy...

 

A "GI SHOWER"....?????

I have not heard that term in many, many years...

 

I was in the NAVY, and, loved it, took pride as a sailor, "back then".

 

Even from back then, I remember a guy named "Myles", that was not very hygenic...and, he was given a "G.I. Shower"...

They used "scrub brushes" on him....

 

I think he got the message. He became pretty "squared away" after that.

 

I think now-a-days in the NAVY, that would be a court martial offense...

but, when I was in the NAVY, it wasn't....

 

The new NAVY isn't like the old NAVY....:rolleyes:

GI Shower is more Army than Navy. We called them "bucket brigades" and my Corps School intructor discussed how he knew at least ONE would happen in each class every term.

He went on to describe how there is always that ONE sailor who believes personal hygiene is "optional" and has that one uniform they wear 24/7 and one set of sheets on their rack. He said "don't think I won't know who you are either. First your shipmates eyes start watering. Then the "fanning" starts in a veiled attempt to dissipate the smell and it ends with everyone but the offending sailor pulling their desk in a tight circle around the instructor to avoid the person."

He went on to say that eventually your ship mates will tire of your odor and stench and will take matters into their own hands. If they use the metal scrub brushes typically used on the steel deck of a ship he isn't going to intervene.

It took a couple of weeks and we had a candidate. A couple of people spoke to him and he didn't see or smell the problem. Several days later with a dozen buckets of soapy water, the hard bristle scrub brushes and hard cake soap you used on those white leggings with they eyelets we cornered him and got the job done. He too learned his lesson and got squared away.

You are SO right that the "new" Navy is not what we experienced. You can't even do good natured hazing anymore. Like when we sent one new guy all over the base with a requisition for the light bulb repair kit! :D The one that got us in trouble and had us doing a few push ups for the C.O. was the guy who we sent all over creation on the base getting signatures on a req for fallopian tubes. :eek: Unfortunately the C.O. was a woman and an OBGYN who was not amused. She said if we were that bored she could find something for us to do. I don't even want to think about what that might have been. The guy we hazed got sent to a health class about reproduction so that hopefully he would not knock up some townie not knowing how that happened. SIGH. Some days I miss all that. Then I sober up. :cool:

As someone who also was in the Navy there is two other issues that you are not considering:

1) service members are technically "government property" and therefore the government can enforce a lot more cleanliness standards than private citizens who are paying to sail. Another issue that solves it was mentioned i.e. the GI shower. When you have a crew mate who has less than desirable hygiene the fellow shipmates deal with it and there are few if any consequences. On a cruise ship other passengers can't do that and often the crew takes an attitude of "we can't do anything" out of not wanting to lose the revenue from an unhappy cruiser. The government has being happy at or near the bottom list of their concerns when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness.

2) service members aboard ship live together for months to years. Unlike cruisers who might be on board for up to 28 days. When you put animals or humans in a close environment eventually the immune system builds up from the continuous exposure to each other and the bugs in that environment so they become more resistant to getting sick. Cruisers are on board with each other for as little as a few days and as clean as that cabin looks after the previous occupant left, we all know that not ever cabin attendant cleans to the same standard. All it takes is a less than thorough job in cabins where the occupants don't have good hand washing or hygiene combined with a constant influx and departure of new immune systems for the chance of an outbreak of SOMETHING to get a foothold that even the heartiest of travelers cannot overcome.

I can add to the "they don't always confiscate it" list.

In several ports on my last cruise I bought bottles of rum for myself and to take back as gifts. In Barbados I had two fifths of rum. I placed the bag on the conveyor and sent it through. NO ONE said a single word about it and I simply picked up the bag and went to my room.

In St. Lucia I had a fifth of banana liquor and a fifth of rum. Same drill. Simply sent it on through but this time they said I would have to turn it in and I smiled and asked if the "table" to do the paperwork and turn it in was by the elevators. They smiled and said yes and handed me the bag. Well, they were right the table was there but NO contraband and no one manning it. I waited 15 minutes and no one appeared with the paperwork. The elevator came and I simply got on and went to my room. No one asked and I didn't volunteer to find anyone to continue trying to turn it in.

On my first cruise the rum I bought was confiscated and brought to my room on the last night. There is no way to predict how it will go. Prepare to hand it over and keep quiet if it never happens is my motto.

Just an FYI.....we were turned away on embarkation day last year without a reservation. They were too busy to accommodate us.

Varies from cruise to cruise. Last year my friend and I were the only ones there for a couple of hours or more.

Will be cruising on Equinox soon. May it be used by all passengers? Is the Solarium adults-only? Is it disabled accessible?

Thanks!

It is VERY disabled access. On my last cruise there was a woman on board who had severe MS and was wheel chair bound but had very limited walking ability. EVERY day her wonderful husband brought her to the indoor pool and she walked down to the edge and he lowered her in and spent two hours or more doing aquatic therapy with her all around the pool.

Isn't it true that Celebrity doesn't have access to the new larger building on Saturdays and Sundays as that is when it is used by Royal for the Oasis or the Allure? So if you were embarking on those days, using the smaller facility, the lines might appear longer.

Depends on the weekend. Some of the S class ship itineraries are 11-14 days and if they are departing/arriving on different days it may not matter if the S class is still out to sea when one of the mega-ships docks.

Both my cruises left from the larger building.

I know that many people like to start their cruise as soon as is feasibly possible but I tend to arrive later to avoid the crush. My first cruise had no choice because I flew in the same day due to a college final exam I had to take. My last cruise I flew in the night before but had a leisurely breakfast, hit the nearby grocery for my carry on sodas, and headed to the pier around noon. No line and breezed right in in less than 20 minutes.

If I am irritated by being crushed in a cattle call of people all scrambling to board then I am NOT enjoying the start of my vacation. Later and more relaxed is fine with me.

MAYBE CELEBRITY THINKS THAT AS I AGE, MY HEARING IS GOING. :D:D. PERHAPS THEY ARE ONLY TRYING TO KEEP ME HAPPY.

 

Enjoy

M

I haven't read all 3 pages but as someone whose hearing IS going at a young(er) age due to exceedingly loud rock concerts well into their 30s, head phones, and ear buds I can tell you I do not need any more LOUD venues to take what little hearing I have left.

I was on the Eclipse last January and it was SO loud by the pool it was not a relaxing day in the sun. I retreated to my balcony and sadly it was SO loud I could clearly hear it there.

As a younger "demographic" said on page 1 I don't cruise for the entertainment I cruise based on itinerary. I have chosen port intensive cruises and most nights was so exhausted from all my scuba and other activities those days I literally was falling asleep in my dinner plate. It would have been fine if I could have turned in early to recharge for the next port but due to the LOUD music invading my state room I could not get to sleep until much later than desired.

I made many wonderful acquaintances on both trips but sadly there was not ONE night we could have a drink and quite conversation prior to dinner due to the decibel levels. The first cruise was before Christmas and as entertaining as Jingle Bells is it does not improve at 120 decibels!

I don't care what demographic they are trying to lure as long as I don't have to go deaf while they do it.

I was told there are two cells in the brig on each ship. I can't find the post since the search feature is disabled but I read one about a year or so ago that talked about seeing them on a ship's tour and the crew had put a label over each one. One was labeled "Hilton" and the other "Sheraton" LOL.