Clydesmom7865

Yes, it used to be allowed in the days before megaships and security checks. People would come on board, take a tour of the ship, have a drink, visit with friends and family and then get off and stand on the deck and wave Bon Voyage while the passengers threw streamers from the deck. It was exciting for everyone.

Wasn't that also the opening credits on the Love Boat? I seem to remember one of those episodes in the 70s about some guy not disembarking and half way through the cruise getting busted by Captain Steubing and not having any money to pay for the fare. Of course in the digital age that would be much less possible to pull off. I would hope.

Hi just had a thought.? When you are getting on board for the first time can visitors come on with you, as long as they are off before sailway.?

Really don't know what made me think of this. LOL.

Nope. The port is chaotic enough I can't imagine how much worse it would be if visitors were also coming on board and trying to disembark before sailing.

As far as I could tell, there were no fountains in place for soda. Even at the large bar at the back of the ship off the buffet (Sunset?), they would hunt for cans of Diet Coke. When they were out of cans, sometimes it was tough luck. But one very nice bartender went off for 10 minutes looking for some. Unfortunately without success. I had one bartender tell me one morning he thought they had some stored somewhere below on the ship and they would hopefully unload it sometime that day while we were at port. That evening, they were opening larger screw cap bottles and pouring it into glasses with ice, saying that's all they had. It looked like someone might have even gone ashore and purchased some?

 

At the bar at the entrance to the buffet, there was no diet coke the first two days. Then they had it for a couple of days, then none again for the rest of the cruise.

 

While having lunch on St. John with a couple from an excursion on Friday, the husband was drinking Diet Coke as well as myself and they brought up the frustrating inability to get it on the ship. So it wasn't just me. Admittedly, I tend to drink 8-10 a day when on vacation, as it's really the only thing I drink other than water, so it affected me more than most people I'm sure.

 

Other than the previously mentioned episode with the plastic bottles, it was always served in a can but the cans were taller and skinnier than I've seen previously. Coca Cola Light is what I order in Mexico for Diet Coke but I thought the ship's cans had the typical Diet Coke logo. I didn't notice what it was at the ports.

There must have been something unusual about this cruise because on my first one I had no trouble getting one in any venue I went to. I was not happy about paying the same amount for one can that I pay for an entire 12 pack so on my next cruise I slapped a luggage tag on 2 twelve packs and had plenty.

My traveling companions had NO trouble getting cans anytime they wanted them on both cruises. I suspect they may have had a delivery problem prior to sailing that created the shortage on your particular cruise.

is room service an extra charge ? We will not be packing formal wear on our cruise but my wife really wants lobster which is served on formal night so room service would be a way to get it-

There are some foods that just cannot be fully enjoyed through room service and lobster would be one of them. Please tell your wife not to worry about formal night. No need to bring a ball gown or get out the Bedazzler to paste plastic crystals on the good jeans. ANY nice simple outfit will be fine. I didn't bring any formal wear and never felt out of place on formal night.

Another option for lobster is Murano. They do not require formal wear in any of the specialty restaurants even on formal nights. I am sure she would enjoy the lobster in the state room (assuming it arrives hot or warm) but an intimate evening in Murano or something festive in the MDR would be much more fun.

I cruise extensively as a solo traveler (who is also 51!) I have always met a lot of nice people to hang out with UNTIL I went on my first Celebrity cruise in January. It is the only cruise I have been on where I actually felt lonely. No one seemed interested in talking to anyone other than the people they were traveling with. I also found select dining to be a very solo experience as no one wanted to share tables so I was often seated alone. I do enjoy my own company and love traveling solo, but if my last trip is any indication, I will not be going back to Celebrity.

My experience was exactly the opposite. My first cruise was as a solo cruiser and I was at the early dinner seating and Celebrity had formed a table of solo cruisers and sat us all together. We made fast friendships and 3 of us are still friends. So much so that my cruise last year was the three of us getting together again and while we all prefer our own cabins, we don't consider it a solo cruise because we decided to travel together.

On that first cruise I met the only single Jewish male on the entire ship and we hang out together a few times. His mother definitely wanted us to get together but the thought of dating a guy who at 48 still lived with his parents made me skeevy. He wasn't interested either. We had a good time otherwise though.

Beyond that: I never got the impression that Celebrity was a line for dating opportunities.

As for being uncomfortable about clothing, why are people leaving clothing lying about? Put your clothes away--no problem then.

Both my cabin attendants have been male and did an outstanding job. It NEVER occurred to me to request one gender over another. That said with regard to clothing I have to agree about putting items you don't wish tended to away.

I learned this the hard way on my very first cruise. It was 11 days and by day 3 I had a routine that the cabin steward was in tune to. Day 4 I headed out to an early breakfast and then napped in a hammock chair for a couple of hours. Knowing that the cabin attendant had already done the room I headed back and changed for the pool and to meet friends. In the process flinging clothing willy nilly planning to pick it up later. I returned to the cabin hours later to find it all picked up and neatly folded on the bed. Boy was I embarrassed! :o Had I known he would return to check the cabin after I was there I would NEVER have done that!

Lesson learned.

My wife is more concerned about where she leaves her clothes for a male attendant. It does not relate to his or her ability to do the job, nor would we request either or, but it is a logical consideration that cannot be dismissed by PC BS.

Then the logical consideration is not to leave any garments she doesn't want them to handle out where they have to disturb them to do their job. Seriously, whether the attendant is male or female is irrelevant if your underwear is in the drawers or suitcase.

What if I did not want a male giving me a massage? Does that make me a bad person?

There is a MAJOR difference between an attendant cleaning your room who is not allowed to even be in there when the passenger is in the room and a masseuse who will be touching your personally for an hour or more. It doesn't make you a bad person but I don't understand it. I am a woman and I prefer a male masseuse not for gender or titillating reasons but because they are able to exert the level of pressure I prefer over their female colleagues.

You will get more replies if you post this in the roll call for your sailing.

Judging by the date this should be yours: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1884774

Polo shirt has a collar a t-shirt doesn't.

"Will I "be allowed" to wear a t-shirt under a sports jacket on non-formal nights, so long as I lave my jacket on (which of course I always would).

And is a long-sleeved t-shirt still a t-shirt?"

My educated guess is that a plain colored t-shirt under a nice dinner jacket with khakis would be just fine as it would qualify for smart casual. A long sleeved t-shirt with no jacket might be pushing the edges a bit.

ANY shirt with an offensive message such as "I got my monkey spanked at the Banana Bar in Jamaica" or obviously advertising a product, political message, or controversial pictures/images is going to be a no-no. Collar, sleeves or not.

We will be sailing in two weeks aboard the Reflection. Currently in a 2A, verandah.

JUST decided we would like to pay the difference and go for a Sky Suite (yes, very last minute). After speaking with our TA, if we change now we would forfeit our amenties and the price difference is much higher than what we compared on the Celebrity website due to the promotion we received. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH...

 

Our TA and the Celebrity rep I spoke to suggested we inquire at check-in. Has anyone had any luck in doing this?

My understanding is that the days up upgrading at the pier are LONG gone. Even if you did upgrade at the pier they may still stick to corporate policy and you lose the amenities and they will definitely charge you the current price. I know on my two cruises there were signs up both times stating NO UPGRADES AVAILABLE.

DH is fairly addicted to his phone - he loves to check the news, the weather, shop for his latest desire on Craigslist, etc.

 

We'll be on Celebrity Constellation in March and I'm wondering what sort of access he will or can have. He likes cruises but I like them more. Want him to be happy and have a great time and those are part of his down-time and relaxation that he enjoys!

 

When it says, "WiFi available" I assume that means you still pay for it??? Anyone know?

The connection speed is VERY slow and you WILL pay. Not only the wifi access which can be pricey even with a package of minutes but the charges from your cell phone company for data and roaming can be astronomical too. You could easily come home to a cell phone bill in the thousands from the internet surfing alone let alone the downloads that happen in the background to update the phone etc. There is no streaming of video and the download speed can be glacial depending on the signal and how many people on board are trying to check the price of the teapot on E-bay.

Hubby will most likely need to unplug for the cruise except when in port unless you want to spend a lot of money so he can surf recreationally. When you get off the ship you will notice people searching for free wifi hotspots and huddled up along the walls getting on line.

The basic charge for wifi access is .75 cents a minute and once you start a new minute you pay for the whole thing. There are packages and unlimited access is something like $400. If you are elite status you get a coupon for 90 free minutes but that does not address the cell company charges.

Good luck!

If you were in a suite this is a service the butler does provide but I have not heard of it being provided in any other cabin class other than suites. All you can do is ask your cabin steward if they can do this but I would not get your hopes up. I know that room service cannot do it as part of the beverage package.

We have 3 couples taking a cruise on Celebrity Silhouette and at Santorini would like to get Priority Tender status in order to maximize our time on shore. How do I do this? Can I do it before we depart? Thanks. We have cruised before but never tendered. :)

When we were tendered in the Caymans I had a private snorkeling excursion booked. I was up EARLY and had breakfast in the buffet and brought my backpack with stuff for the day and fins with me. I was third in line and suddenly the cruise director asked who was ready to leave now. I and about 15-20 people raised our hands and we were shuttled down to the tender and allowed on the one taking off duty crew to the island. It left not even full. I ended up being 90 minutes early for my tour. At least 100 people in line were disappointed because they had to gather their party, get their stuff from the cabins, or eat breakfast and could not get tickets for that tender leaving in the next five minutes nor would they hold it for them.

If you are READY to go when in line for tender tickets you could find yourself on one leaving immediately if there is space.

Have heard Celebrity won't allow anyone to bring a hand held clothes steamer... We will be on Eclipse soon and would like to bring one. Any thoughts on this and should it be in my checked luggage or my walk on backpack?

Thanks for any help!

You will get busted. On my first cruise I brought my flat iron for my hair and that IS allowed and delayed my luggage. I didn't have to go retrieve it but it didn't arrive until well after 8 pm.

Don't do it. You won't be allowed to use it. There are many ways to remove simple wrinkles once on board and it isn't necessary.

Yes, as many as you like.

 

When we tag our bags and check them in at the pier, we just pick up some extra luggage tags right there, peel off the backing, slap a couple of tags on each beverage case and check it in along with our luggage.

 

I second this. I took two 12 packs of soda on my last cruise and simply slapped a couple of luggage tags on them and they were delivered right to my state room.

We just returned from the Feb 8th Reflection cruise. I wondered about towel animals too. We never got any, and I figured that Celebrity just didn't do them, as this was our first cruise on X. At dinner though one night, a lady said that she had gotten 3 during the week, but then another couple 2 doors down from her with the same cabin steward had not gotten any. Friends of ours during the same week said they got one during the week. I'm wondering if it's just up to individual cabin stewards? I think they are really cute, but I didn't miss them. I think the inconsistency seems weird though.

Not weird at all. Celebrity as a line does not do towel animals as a perk. However, they do not prohibit individual cabin stewards from providing this added amenity to their cabins if they choose to. It is entirely up to the cabin steward as to whether they have the time and the talent to do them.

As Nessies manager I'm sorry to have to tell you she wasn't on that cruise :p

Actually I hate to be the bearer of bad news but your client may be dead. No one has seen her in 18+ months.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2553915/Is-Nessie-DEAD-Loch-Ness-Monster-disappeared-time-90-years.html

We purchased 2 watches while on board which we gave to our sons when we got home. One watch did run at all and the other watch, the buckle broke the first time my son wore it. Has anyone had a similar problem? How do we return them/exchange them? I tried emailing Celebrity, but it' been 5 days and no answer. Thanks for your help!

All Celebrity did was rent the store space to the company you bought it from. That seller is an independent contractor. You will need to look at any paperwork you got with the watches to see what recourse if any you have for a warranty on them.

I have read stories similar to yours SO many times that I would NEVER buy anything on board a cruise ship that might need to be returned or repaired. It just isn't worth it. Despite their claims of high end merchandise more often you hear that it just isn't.

On our first cruise together on NCL we had a towel animal in our cabin every night of the 5 night cruise. On our next cruise we where on the Eclipse and only saw 1 towel animal during our 7 night cruise. Does Celebrity only do 1 towel animal per cruise?

If you get towel animal(s) on Celebrity it is ONLY because your cabin steward has the time and the talent. On my first cruise 1 out of 11 days. On my second: 0. My friend got the same animal 4 times and we laughed because we could NOT tell what it was. We finally settled on the Loch Ness Monster because ultimately it disappeared and we had no reliable footage to prove it existed.

While they are cute, it isn't something I need to make my cruise special. If I was traveling with kids: maybe.

I've searched on Celebrity's website as well as this forum and can't find what I'm looking for.

 

Does anyone know Celebrity's single supplement policy?

 

Thinking of taking my mom along with us on an upcoming cruise.

 

Thanks.

200%. As someone who has cruised twice with them solo I have yet to pay less than that. There is talk (and that is ALL it is) of doubling the cruise credits because of the double price but it hasn't happened as of yet.

As long as you don't leave your chairs empty for too long (more than a couple hours) the pool butlers won't remove your stuff.

The pool butlers on Celebrity WILL remove your things after 30 minutes at least on the Solstice class ships. I saw them diligently patrolling the chairs and stuff left unattended to simply hold the chair was first given a card explaining the time limit of 30 minutes. Then the stuff got removed if the person did not return within the half hour.

Floaties take absolutely no room to pack, so do bring them. With no lifeguards and sometimes crowded pool conditions, why take a chance?

Packing space isn't the issue, SAFETY is. Those floaties do nothing to prevent a drowning and in a crowded pool give parents a false sense of security that their child is safe. Add to that the issue there is no life guard and it could be a recipe for disaster. Swimming lessons are in order for ANYONE who intends to spend time in a pool on a regular basis.

Are pool noodles allowed?

 

MacAllan, got it :cool: DH favors Glenfiddich:)

No. No floats, noodles or toys allowed. Pools are WAY too small if everyone brought one it would be a major problem.

Thank you. I was mainly concerned about the nightlife after seeing a few posts about the age groups onboard. I'm sure we'll probably find enough to entertain ourselves. We're on the Equinox and it looks like there is quite a lot going on most evenings

I am in the same age group and most evenings I was falling asleep in my dinner plate at the early seating from exhaustion from everything I did during the day. Night life entertainment was not the problem. Finding enough time to do all the stuff I wanted to was!

Oooh ... I have another question about the pools. What are their depths? I have two small boys who love waterplay. If the pools are shallow enough, I'll be able to leave the floaties at home. (I'm asking about the Solstice, if that makes a difference in pool depths).

Shallow. NO diving. I think 3-4 feet maximum. However there is no graduated stairs all the way to the bottom. One wood deck and a ladder.

If by floaties you mean the arm bands those are allowed but pool floats and large toys are not. The pools are just not that big. From a safety standpoint you should get your boys swim lessons ASAP. Those arm bands provide a false sense of security and actually do nothing to enhance water safety at all. In fact they encourage children to be more daring than they should. If there is time look into a survival swimming course for them before you sail. Until they know how to swim the Coast Guard and American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a CG approved safety vest and a parent within arms reach at all times in the water.

Think it won't happen on a cruise? It just did ONE week ago: Swimming Accident

Your vacation should be fun and a few simple swimming lessons at the Y will ensure that your boys are safe near or in the pool.

1-I have read many complaints of not enough loungers near the pool area, can anyone confirm? I never had a problem but a lot will depend on how crowded your sailing is.

2-What types of entertainment are there? Plenty for everyone. Boredom was NOT a problem. Finding enough time to do all the things I wanted to do was.

3-Will there be anything like a calypso/island style band by the pool? Not as much as you would like but occasionally.

4-We aren't party-the-night-away people, but would like to be able to dance a little after dinner. On our most recent RC cruise, the dance club didn't get started until 1am. That's too late with ports the next day! We didn't use the club at all, and were a little sad about that! Also, even if it had been available earlier, it was so full of smoke we wouldn't have wanted to go in!

I am not a dancing kind of person since I am uncoordinated. Celebrity is No Smoking so that won't be an issue in the club but I can't tell you what time it gets going. I have seen plenty of people dancing on the ship though.

5-DH and I are 37 (and look a decade younger, lol), we are afraid that if the rest of the pax are much older, they may not be interested in talking with us. We have friends of all ages, and are easy to get along with, enjoy being social, and are only concerned with age from the perspective of being excluded. Also, our kids are 7 & 9, and we hope there will be other kids their ages on whichever cruise we choose. Can anyone give me details on these items?

NO ONE will be disinterested in talking to you. I have socialized with people of all ages on my two cruises. Celebrity does not really "cater" to families so there may or may not be a lot of kids the same age on your cruise. They don't have cartoon characters, rock climbing walls or extensive social clubs for kids. Depending on when you cruise there could be a small number of kids.

Does anyone know if there is any type of religious service on Sundays?

If the cruise is over a major holiday such as Easter, Passover, Hannukah, or Christmas they try to have a minister and a Rabbi on board but there are no guarantees.

My first cruise was during Hannukah and there was a Rabbi to conduct evening services during the cruise. As for regular services on a non-holiday related cruise my understanding is no they do not have one unless there is a member of the clergy traveling and wishes to conduct one.

From the FAQ Page:

Are religious services available on board?

Celebrity ships offer religious services for Catholic and Jewish faiths, as well as, Interdenominational services during major religious holidays (see detailed information below). Guests of all faiths are able to host their own spiritual fellowship or group gathering by inquiring with the Guest Relations Desk onboard.

Catholic Mass: A Roman Catholic Priest will conduct daily mass during Lent, Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas Day.

Interdenominational Services: A Minister will conduct services on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day.

Jewish Services: A Jewish Rabbi or Cantor will conduct services during Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Hanukkah.

In-Port Religious Services: Please check with the Guest Relations Desk for information pertaining to your respective faith. Due to the varied itineraries, each ship has religious services information for local houses of worship.

Holy Land Voyages: A Roman Catholic Priest will conduct Daily and Sunday Mass during each Holy Land cruise. A Jewish Rabbi or Cantor will conduct Friday evening Shabbat Service during each Holy Land cruise.