absolutboy20

Bartosz was to be back on board but he apparently had some personal matters to attend to so Stephanie (I believe that was her name) is on board.

I believe her name is Stephanie.

One poster who is on a affected sailing is reporting they have contacted their traveler's insurance and they are calling it a "partial cancellation" which would trigger them paying for the change in airfare expenses/hotel fees. They are also waiting to hear what Celebrity's plans are with this significant modification in the itinerary. I can't imagine what the cruise line is dealing with in trying to make the needed changes especially with one of the cruises due to depart in a few days.

Thanks for posting. Celebrity just announced today that all calls to Istanbul have been pulled and being replaced with Athens. A logistical nightmare for Celebrity as they have several cruises in the next few months with Istanbul being the embarkation/disembarkation point. If they are making such a change so dramatic change, it looks like Istanbul and Turkey in general may be out of the picture for the near future.

Sorry to hear that noro's made it's way back on the Equinox. Looks like we were pretty lucky as our sailing was in between the two outbreaks and problem free. The "wash your hands" video played after the muster drill became a running joke among the comedians on board our cruise. I have to say that this cruise had one of the cleanest public bathrooms with attendants constantly cleaning them which I appreciated. We were also doused with fire hoses one dance which helped in the cleansing process. =P

Hoping that the crew on your cruise is able to get a handle on it soon.

I'm back in the states after finishing up on the charter cruise on the Equinox. We were the sailing that we were told on board that the overnight in Istanbul is cancelled and turned into a sea day. We had an additional three nights in the city and never felt unsafe. More scary to try crossing the street in Istanbul than fearing a terrorist threat in my opinion.

Celebrity seems to be the only cruise whose pulling the overnights. While I was there HAL was overnighting and I believe MSC was as well.

It appears that the next cruise after us will be pulling out of port instead of spending the night so it doesn't seem to be exclusive to the charter. The announcement came rather late, around 3PM from the captain that we will not be pulling into port tomorrow.

I personally am happy that we get another sea day tomorrow as this cruise was so port intensive. Now Atlantis is reshuffling their parties. White Party is still scheduled for tonight, but disco tea dance has been postponed until tomorrow.

Just enjoying the view of the Island Princess docked right across from us in Kusadasi while questions are shouted at us regarding why there's only men on this cruise =)

I'm on the Equinox right now and just had an announcement that the ship will not be overnight on August 23rd as previously scheduled and instead arrive in the city on August 24th at 2AM.

The captain stated that due to the increase in heightened security that the overnight was cancelled.

Will keep you posted if any other announcement are made. We already were spending a few more days in Istanbul, but I know there are others who were planning on disembarking tomorrow who are going to be affected.

Departure from Kusadasi has been delayed until 8PM with a sea day scheduled for tomorrow.

Thanks Pushka for updating us and thumbs up for for code red being lifted!! Hopefully it continues that way through your cruise. I'm very jealous that you still have six more days on the ship.

Had the staff put as much effort into the original service there would have been no need to pat them on the back for trying to make up for that terrible service.

 

Sure bad dining experiences can happen in some restaurants. The OP did what most people do in those situations. Leave and make sure to warn others of the potential for a similar experience.

So a restaurant that admits that they did not meet their own standards and asks that the customer come back for a meal on the house should be blacklisted?

I fully understand if the restaurant didn't care of the OP's complaint and did not do anything to try and rectify the situation, or if the OP picked up the offer from them and had a similar experience the second round that it may be a systemic problem with a restaurant.

Believing that even all high end restaurants have 100% satisfaction rate is unrealistic.

Sorry OP that they missed the mark on the restaurant that night. I am however impressed with how the crew followed through on three separate occasions to explain and then offer a complimentary meal for you to return. It seems like they did try everything they could to have you have another experience which hopefully would have been better. I wouldn't dismiss another Celebrity cruise altogether due to one bad dining experience especially since once they were informed of the fact, they did try to rectify the problem. A bad dining experience or bad waiter can happen at any restaurant if you hit it on the wrong night.

While I think the charter does do fair amount of business with RCL, next year they have two on Celebrity, one on RCL, I think Celebrity's main goal on your cruise is containing the virus regardless of whether the sailing is a charter or not. Unfortunately as this is not a US sailing, they have no obligation to report numbers to the CDC if it hits a certain threshold or having to have the ship examined by an inspector. I am sure Celebrity wants to keep the information out there regarding this issue to a minimum.

I think it's a very good sign that you don't see people walking around looking sick, as that would be the last thing I would want to see if I were on a code red ship. I also don't think I would personally be walking around the ship (or should be) if I had symptoms of noro, but more curled up inside my cabin.

Here's a link to a CruiseCritic reporter's experience of getting the bug on Solstice last year and the procedures that Celebrity follows:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/blog/index.php/2014/01/30/a-closer-look-what-its-like-to-be-under-quarantine/

Have they reopened all of the venues on the ship including the gym? While I completely agree long lines are annoying on vacation I would look at the alternative which you could have been the previous cruiser who posted about getting noro AND not having a normally functioning toilet. That kind of experience for me would personally put a dent in my plans for future cruising.

Question: Why aren't you dining in Blu for breakfast?

Thanks for keeping us posted and hope that you continue to do so, and of course code red getting lifted.

I'm curious as to why the next sailing being a charter has anything to do with their cleaning efforts? On my previous cruises on HAL, the ship normally started in code yellow, and self serving was not allowed in the buffet during embarkation. The rules were relaxed as the cruise progressed and no GI reports came in.

Per the above poster who was on the previous cruise, the sailing obviously did have a problem with a GI spike which resulted in the current sailing having strict requirements. If it's been four days and buffet is still not self serve and they are continuing to close off and disinfect parts of the ship, it sounds to me that the problem is still persistent on the current sailing.

Thank you for posting this. I don't know if this makes a suite any more appealing to me personally. Having a pod/capsule espresso machine in room doesn't compare to a cappuccino that you can get from the Neptune Lounge from the super-automatic machine. I just see this machine taking up more counter space.

I like the Sounddock feature, but they can become obsolete if the connection plug changes from the current Lighting connector for Apple, or is unusable if your using a micro USB connection.

Notjaded,

So my personal familiarity is with AT&T not Verizon, but going off of Verizon's website it seems correct. The only thing that the website doesn't list is the overage.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/international-travel/

Couple of items I would do if I were you would be to confirm through the above link the countries you are visiting are indeed part of the plan. I would also inquire if Verizon sends a free text message to you informing you when you are approaching your data limit for international roaming. If you keep roaming off the entire time, you're really won't be able to utilize anything your paying for. You need to turn roaming on as you're technically out of your own network, and turning roaming on authorizes the phone to be able to connect to the local carrier. If you're still concerned, you can always turn roaming on when you are actually using the phone to check e-mail, etc. and turn it off after you've finished.

I've utilized international roaming data packages on all of my cruises and trips, and haven't had a surprise bill. It's just a matter of getting an understanding of what plan you actually paid for and when to turn data roaming off and on.

I think a lot of people who purchase a cruise ship plan through their wireless carrier incur more charges for data as they are not aware of when they need to turn data roaming on and off. You will need to turn data roaming on to use the service as it's using the cellular connection, not the ship's wifi network.

I'm just going to use AT&T in this scenario.

When to have data roaming on:

If one purchased the cruise ship package through AT&T for $120 which is the only plan that AT&T offers with data included for 100mb, you will need to make sure to turn data roaming on while the cell reception shows "Cell at Sea" or something along the lines of "Sat..." . Once the cruise ship gets into the range of port, the cruise ship's cellular network is then turned off and turned over to the local carrier. At that point, if you do not have a separate international data roaming plan, you will start to incur roaming charges which is $19.97 PER MB.

When to have data roaming off:

If you only have the cruise ship data plan through your wireless provider, you will want to turn data roaming off when you get near port before the cell phone switches to the local wireless carrier. The tricky part is sometimes the cruise ship sails alongside the coastline of a country where your phone can pick up the local carrier's reception. What sometimes will happen is that unless you lock your phone to the "cell at sea" connection, your phone may start transmitting through the land based carrier at which point will start to incur the international roaming charges above. NOTE: I see a lot of people get confused with the ship's own internet option which uses wifi, and a cell phone providers data plan that uses cell reception. If one only uses the ship's wifi, data roaming can always be left off and you will not incur charges from your wireless provider.

Hope this helps. And yes Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands are part of included network for AT&T.

The only thing I can think of the two charges for $50.00 a month would be that you rolled over to another month on your cell phone billing during your cruise, so you were charged $50.00 again. If that is not the case, I would contest the 2nd charge for $50.00 if I were you as it appears they are charging you again for the second month of service that you were refunded. The voice, sounds like you were on roaming on the international and unfortunately your on the hook for that.

I personally don't think the cruise ship deal is that great. I rent an international mobile wifi router that I can connect to on port days or when sailing parallel to a country where I can get the local cell 3g service. This provides faster and more reliable service than on the ship, and since it uses wifi not the cell service through my phone, I can keep data roaming off and still receive calls for emergencies.

Perfect. Thanks Janice this just sealed the deal on the beverage package.

Thank you all. Michael's Club certainly seems like it has it perks but when I'm on another part of the ship (ie. poolside or a restaurant) I would like to have the option of just ordering it on the spot. Our particular sailing the 1-2-3 package is not offered nor any alcohol package except for the in-room bar setup.

If Luminae does not offer complimentary cappucino's/espressos I think I may just order the non-alcoholic package for the convenience.

I'm pondering whether to purchase the premium non-alcoholic package but need some clarification as to what is/isn't included with CS and Luminae.

My understanding is that in a CS stateroom in-room cappuccinos and espressos are included. Are complimentary bottled waters not included like they are in AQ?

Also as far as Luminae, are cappuccinos and espressos not included?

I fully understand perks like free laundry, expedited boarding, etc. Zero issues with that, power to the suite! My issue is with the claim that some things are perks *because* they are reserved for suite passengers only

I have tried to explain this to you in numerous ways but the only few people that continue to state that the exclusivity is what makes it a "perk" seems to be you. You have already pointed out numerous items that you have no interest/problem with that are indeed suite perks, but continue to harp on Luminae. Here are items that you continue to say are not issues to you from previous posts even though they are exclusive "suite perks" that cannot be individually purchased.

On HAL:

- Pinnacle Grill exclusive to suite guests for breakfast (You seem to be ok with it even though it's exclusive as the food is the same as the MDR. The exclusivity somehow does not bother you)

- Priority embarkation (exclusive to suite and high mariner's society. Again not an issue for you)

- Neptune suite is exclusive to suite passenger (Something you have dismissed as a windowless room with the same food you can get at other venues).

- Priority tender/disembarkation (Cannot purchase as an individual perk)

From your posts, it seems like you have never sailed on HAL or Celebrity. You just can't purchase these above perks separately. Sorry! I also think you'll see once you do book a room that there is a significant bump in price for a suite. Since you don't appreciate many of these items, I really don't see why you are so interested in this topic.

Well, there you see, there is a difference other than "only for suite passengers". How would you feel about opening it to everybody and putting a $5 surcharge on for non-suite guests? What value would you place on the better experience so that non-suite guests pay fairly for it?

If a guest of suite passengers are charged $50 per person,what do you think they would charge for non-suite guests who had not paid the premium price for their cabin? I will repeat what I stated before that Luminae is a small venue that is designed to accommodate the number of suite passengers. If you are looking for high end dining, Murano is available.

I just don't get how anyone finds any difference in a suite perk to purchasing a interior stateroom and expecting a oceanview balcony. Everyone can have a oceanview balcony, it just costs $$ to obtain it. There's nothing exclusive about that.

I do find the comments like the OP should never cruise HAL unfortunate when she simply expressed her experience on both lines.

I am always happy for a poster on CC who is excited as they received a great deal on an upsell offer to a suite. Everyone has their way of cruising, we splurge on a more premium cabin as we are both not retired, finding the time to get away is very difficult, and allocate funds to make this our once a year big vacation. Others have more free time and are able to cruise more and get balcony/interior rooms. I don't look down on their choices and in reality jealous, and certainly don't feel like I should be judged on mine.

We had a very good waiter in our MDR, for a number of nights he was seconded to the Luminae when they were short, leaving us short and our poor assistant waiter trying his best. Short changing us so their suite guests can be kept happy - not a nice feeling.

What is the difference between this and a waitress from Tamarind who also works in the Lido Restaurant during the day becoming ill and HAL having to reshuffle their staff? In the end this leads to some area of the ship being short staffed. This is diving into the overall cutbacks of cruise lines in general, not necessarily a reflection of Luminae.

if I was a suite guest that would appeal to me more, the ability to eat in any restaurant on the ship without extra cost, it would make more sense as you can then mingle if you want or eat quietly in your choice of venue, or even be joined by non suite friends as they can pay extra, something you can't do with Luminae.

One complimentary specialty restaurant is included with a 6 to 7 day cruise, two for any 8+ on Celebrity. This is not offered as a HAL suite perk. Passengers who have access to Luminae can also invite guests provided there is space available for a fee. I would also like to point out that Luminae is open for lunch upon embarkation, which I think many on HAL would appreciate if Pinnacle had a similar offering.

I've read here before that for breakfast, the food in the Pinnacle is identical to the food in the MDR, so serving suite guests in the Pinnacle is just a way of making extra seats available.

I highly doubt that HAL has the Pinnacle restaurant opened for breakfast to ease the congestion in the MDR. My prior experiences on the Oosterdam, on a sea day, visiting the MDR for breakfast was that it was empty with plenty of tables. We actually had the best service in the MDR as we had two waiters for the section serving us only and they actually had time to have a cordial/humorous conversation with us.

There isn't anything in the Neptune Lounge you can't get elsewhere.

I partially agree with this statement; however it is again what the individual cruiser values. The lounge offers easy access to a concierge for booking excursions, special requests, snacks, and drinks including fully-automatic espresso machine. If one doesn't value these items offered with suite perks, I certainly don't see the need to book a suite. However, others do value this with the ease of access from the stateroom. The equivalent offering on Michael's lounge on Celebrity goes a little bit further in offering complimentary cocktails at their bar.

Much like the Neptune suite is not available to non-suite passengers, the simple answer is Luminae is also not available as an a la carte option.

I get what you're trying to say, but backing into it, you're saying that Luminae is not more desirable. If not having Luminae is not less desirable, having Luminae cannot be more desirable. Just so you know, I think that giving the high value guests more is fine. It's just that your argument doesn't quite make the case. ;)

Never stated that Luminae is more or less desirable, just that the addition of the dining venue did not equate to a loss of an on board experience. I would understand the frustration if a cruise line took an entire venue that used to be included as part of the fare and made it all a fee based area or reserved for suite guests, but this is not the case. Everyone still has access to the MDR.

Their non-suite cabins will be less desirable given the restricted choices for dining, and in order to realize equivalent income, prices for suites will have to be increased, not only to entirely cover the expense of the exclusive restaurant(s), but also to cover the lower income realized from less desirable non-suite cabins.

Nothing has been taken away from non-suite guests for dining on Celebrity by the addition of Luminae so I don't get why non-suite cabins would become less desirable? The addition was carved out of a section of the MDR, which is still available to all passengers on the ship. So unless for some reason the passenger had a certain table that they favored in that specific section of the MDR that was lost by this addition, what "loss" is created that makes the non-suite rooms less desirable??

I don't see how previous posters are differentiating between having a surcharge on board for specialty restaurants, private cabana areas, are any different than a customer paying beforehand for a more premium experience when booking a suite? Both scenarios require the passenger to make a decision based on their budget and preferences, all of which requires more $$ for the extra service. It seems odd that some people find if one cannot pay for the privilege once on board it makes a difference.

By some of the posts, where is the outrage at HAL for the Neptune Lounge being exclusive only to suite guests? Or breakfast dining at the Pinnacle reserved only for suite guests? It was mentioned that offering these types of perks to suite only guests would make non-suite rooms less desirable, yet other posters have indicated that suites on HAL seem to be a hard sell due to the lack of bonuses offered compared to other cruise lines.

Suites always came with more perks than just the room. Priority line for embarkation, disembarkation, and a private lounge for suite guests. Why is it that having ONE specialty restaurant that is not available to customers who did not pay for the privilege when selecting a cabin category so discriminatory? All of the venues in question, Luminae, suite lounges, are small venues that cannot accommodate everyone on board.

Luminae is not an in your face dining area. It is not sitting on a pedestal on an island overlooking the MDR venue so that suite passengers can look down at others. If one was unaware that Luminae was only available to suite guests, the host will most likely point out that the dining area is reserved, much like how I imagine the host at the Pinnacle Grill would politely inform unaware passengers who approach it at breakfast. There is no cauldren of tar that the host drops on non-suite passengers when they approach the entryway.

Want a cruise where there is no priority line for suite guests, no surcharges for specialty restaurants, stocked in room bar with no service charge, no private lounges for any passenger and the only difference is the room size? Try Seabourn. I assume that people won't see this as a class issue since everyone is treated the same on board.

As for comparisons with first class on airplanes or trains, I haven't flown in years, but when I did, you could buy most of the first class amenities even if you weren't in first class.

If it's a long haul international route, I don't know of a airline that you can purchase first class amenities on board in another class. The plane is normally stocked for the number of passengers in the cabin, and maybe a few extra meals, but not for sale in another cabin.

I don't know of a domestic carrier where you can purchase a first class meal on board in another cabin?