poolreader

We were on the Allure in June and we had trouble finding a seat in the shade. We finally found two right outside of the Solarium and enjoyed sitting and reading for about an hour.

We decided to go grab some lunch in the Solarium because it was so close. We left our towels on the chairs and went to grab some food, carefully noting the time. There was very little my husband liked there (in fact he called it the goat cheese place) so we just had a snack and ate it in there. We were gone for 15 minutes, but when we got back our towels were gone. The people in our chairs said the pool guy moved them because we had been gone too long the people who had been sitting near us shook there heads no. I told her is was not even more than 20 minutes, and the people who had been sitting near us shook there heads yes.

What irritated me was the place to get towels was so far away and I could see the towels were secured in the chairs the same way I had done them. Over, under, and back up with bunny ears. I almost asked for my towels back but she had on one of the little string bikinis.

Second hand smoke is extremely troubling to some people.

 

Celebrity has a clearly-stated smoking policy and I think it is up to them to come down hard on those who think they can just ignore the rules. Celebrity has the tools, they just have to enforce them on a three-strikes-you're-out basis:

 

1. a serious warning

2. a significant fine applied to their onboard account

3. being put off the ship.

 

Part of the cruise contract that we sign should be a very clear acceptance of these terms. Frankly, if they get everyone to sign a clearly-worded cruise contract on the subject of smoking, Celebrity should be able to go straight to #2 at the first infraction.

 

If Celebrity had to pay the client the difference between an ocean view cabin and whatever the passenger paid for their balcony cabin, for the number of days they were deprived of their balcony, I think they would ramp up their enforcement game in a hurry. After all, if you can't go out on your balcony because of the smokers next door, what you have, in effect, is an ocean view cabin.

This is a great idea, except if someone reports smoking and Celebrity catches them that counts as the second time and they are fined $250 and this money goes directly to the complaining party. If they are caught smoking again the smoker must pay for the difference between an ocean view and balcony cabin for the people they hurt by smoking. I bet that would stop the smokers, and make those who feel inconvenienced feel that they are fairly compensated.

I think part of the reason that seat saving is a problem is because sometimes the people for whom seat are saved do not show up. I remember one time on Princess when I sat in the row behind what appeared to be an almost empty row. But when anyone tried to enter this row anchored on each side with a couple, the men stood up and blocked people saying the seats were saved. Many people tried to use those seats, but the men would not budge. When the show started the seats were still empty, and some people were standing in the back, and some left the theater because they did not want to stand.

Finally the men gave up and these seats so they got used, but it caused a disruption because the show was already in process. When the show ended I sat for awhile, I had brought a book with me because I like to read and wait for the crowds to get out of the elevator. The two couples stayed also and were talking about the rude people who tried to take the seats they saved. Their friends had never showed up before the show, but now the 8 friends came up to them and said, "where were you? We saved you seats."

So not only did these friends not get to sit together, because it is difficult to find people in the theater, but they prevented others from seeing the show.

Have you compared the price of 4 people in a cabin, compared to 2 people in 2 cabins? I just checked on Oasis in December and even with a balcony it wasn't that great of a savings. What about one balcony and one interior?

I am sorry about your troubles. I hope she is okay. I recently sailed on the Allure, and needed to use my walker so I have some experience on this size ship with a disability. It is a really large ship and getting around even with a scooter will be a challenge. Depending on the type of room and location you could have additional challenges. We had a ocean view balcony and it was a struggle with the walker in the room. The only place to put it was in front of the closet, so we needed to move it to get access to the closet. This would more difficult with a scooter.

Besides the impact to your room this is a very physical activity orientated cruise. Zip-line, wall climbing, flow-rider, swimming, dance classes, etc. Although I felt this was a beautiful ship I did not enjoy the cruise as much as I have my 35+ other cruises because I could see so much I was missing out on doing, and getting around to the few more sedate activities was not easy.

So if you have a larger room than I had, closer to the middle of the ship (my room was second from the aft), and you were not planning on doing many activities then go. If you were looking forward to the ship as a destination in itself then wait until you both are in good shape.

Great review, thank you. I was on the Allure that left the same day as you did. It was nice to see the pic of our ship leaving, and we got a few of yours as we left.

I am sorry for your loss. I too want my ashes scattered from a cruise ship, I even have a separate life insurance policy so my immediate family can join me for one last cruise.

What about the library? It's already enclosed- has a bar and is (actually) little used

That would destroy the books and make them unreadable for non-smokers.Just because people do not sit in the library does not mean the library is not used.

I seem to remember coming back to my room one night, many years ago, and finding a towel animal monkey hanging from the sprinkler.

I had a similar problem and there are only two of us. I called them and they were wonderful in helping me work out the times. If you try to book MTD less than 2 hours before a show you have booked it will block you, that is what I found out when I called.

We are flying into FLL on Sat. June 21, at 10:41 p.m., we are staying at the Holiday Inn Express on 17th. Will we be able to find a place to eat dinner (it will be 7:41 p.m. for us)? Also we will be flying out of FLL on Sun. June 29, my plan was to take a taxi from the Allure to FLL, but my husband thinks we will never be able to get a taxi with all of those people. Our flight is at 11:30, will we be able to get a taxi?

My mother and I did a 2 week last cruise of September in Alaska, with a ride home to San Pedro. It was the best weather the ship had seen all that season.

It may not be worth bothering with the screen shots, I have found great (not fabulous) prices on both Princess and Carnival, taken the screen shots, but not had the price honored. Maybe it is just my experience.

I had just checked on the Star earlier, because I would like to go to Alaska and my hubby does not want to fly. We could drive to San Francisco. Both the May 9th and 12th sailings are no longer available to book, and they were a few hours ago.

I just got off the Crown for the Easter Cruise. I brought some treats to give out to the children, mini see through egg cartons, with colored gum balls, and little bunnies with arms and legs that stretch out. I always ask the parents first if it is okay, before I show it to the kids. A few times the waitstaff would see them and comment on how cute they were, I asked if they wanted one and they would get the biggest smiles, then run around showing the gumball eggs, or bunnies to others. This was all for my enjoyment.

I brought a good amount of dollar bills to give out to the workers in the International Cafe, and at the bars, that was for them.

I too was on this cruise and agree with most of what is being said. Arriving at the pier was difficult with two ships and a special celebration on the Iowa, it took 45 min to drive the last mile. So I will admit nerves were already frayed when we reached the pier to find long lines outside at noon with no one being allowed onto the ship. There was no crowd control and people were actually putting there hands on my walker to climb over me, and squeeze their way into line in front of me. Princess is not responsible for peoples bad behavior, but everyone was just left standing outside with no information or attempt to control the crowd.

The food was generally good to very good, with the exception of Horizon Court for breakfast. they had you order the omelet then stand there for 10 minutes waiting for it in the way of those trying to get their own breakfast. Other ship have had you sit down and give the slip with your order number on it to the wait staff, and they brought your omelet later, I wish the Crown had this. Also many ships have had a do it yourself Eggs Benedict station, I did not see this on the mornings we ate there.

The service in the bars was great, available but not pushy. The ship was very clean, and the staff was very friendly and welcoming.

The entertainment was good at night, but there seemed to be fewer activities during the day, maybe because there were only two sea days.

There was a big problem on the last morning because the doors to the dining room were blocked by equipment. When went to guest services to ask which dining room was open and they told us to go to the Horizon Court. Several guest were there and we pointed out that the disembarkation info said the dining room on deck 5 was open. They tried to call around to the dining room but could get no answer. An employee passing by said go behind the elevators and we could enter behind the closed and blocked doors. We did and found an almost empty room. We told them people couldn't find them and they just smiled.

There was no special room for Platinum to disembark, so we went to the assigned room for our tags. They called the first group early, and we were in the second group and waited, and waited, the smell of the fuel was so bad over half of the people were holding their nose or putting something over their nose. I went up to the desk where the girl had been and no one was there. People started leaving to get away from the smell and because no one was calling tags. Because of the smell and the fact that it was after our time I got my DH to try and wait outside the dining room with me and the girl was rushing in, she grabbed the microphone and said anyone still here from Gold 4 please go to 7 now. she had never called that number. When we got upstairs everyone was just pushing to get out and they were not checking luggage tags.

So getting on the ship was horrible, getting off was bad, but the cruise was wonderful and I would do it again.

rgmacm,

We are leaving on Sat. April 19th also. I had just checked my Personalizer before I saw your post and our celebrations were also missing. My DH's Birthday in the first part of May and our Anniversary was the end of March. I was hoping for an upgrade, because of 2 celebrations and many cabins available in higher categories. No such luck and my celebrations missing, I guess Princess is getting a call in the morning.

Maybe a Mermaid did her laundry just prior to the jeans being washed.

If you Fax a copy of your monthly brokerage statement showing your Carnival Corp. stock, with the booking number, date of cruise, ship name, and name of passenger requesting the benefit the credit will appear on your personalizer within a few days. The Fax number in Santa Clarita is 661-753-0180. After you send the Fax note the day and time you sent it on the paper work, this helps them find it if you do not see the credit soon.

Let close family know you are doing something special for her birthday, and she may need a little spending money. Clip coupons for shopping if you are not already doing this, and pay the total amount to the store, taking the extra savings back as extra money for your trip.

I got a call today from Princess wishing us a good trip, we are on the Crown April 19, 2014. I told her I was concerned about all the sick people, she said do not worry the ship is coming back early and will leave late on Saturday so they can clean the ship and the terminal. Has anyone heard about the ship coming back early?

We had to submit the DD214 for Carnival and again for Princess, and for Royal Caribbean. Stock for Carnival Corporation works for all their lines, but must be sent in for each cruise, as someone might sell the stock at any time. Royal Caribbean has their own stock that must be bought separately.

I am excited by the thought of another cruise we could reach with driving rather than flying. It would be great to take a leisurely drive into Phoenix, and then a shuttle into Mexico. New ports yay!

I know one of the passengers must remain on the booking, but I wonder if you could cancel one of you two, then add another name (of someone who could take the cruise). Then that new passenger simply takes the cruise solo, with the one of you two remaining on the booking becoming a no show. You might not get all of your money back but someone may be able to use the cabin.

On the Sapphire they had salad greens and oil and vinegar to put on them. I would have them add the roasted veggies, a little cheese, and maybe olives. then I would take it across the way to Alfredos to have with my Pizza.