UKLloyd

Hi, I hope you are all well.

Me and my wife have only ever sailed on Royal carribean and NCL. However have seen a fantastic itinerary on celebrity Solstice in 2025 sailing around Asia. 

However, having never sailed this line, Just want to make sure we won't be completely out of place. 

Has anybody sailed these lines and seen any major differences? We sailed last year on Jewel of the seas around Greece, It was the first time we had done a smaller ship (without water slides etc) and really enjoyed the smaller ship. Is the Solstice a similar size? 

We will be mid to late thirties when this sailing happens, Doing a little research suggests age range on celebrity will be 50 plus. Not massively concerned about this as I know all sorts of age ranges sail, However curious if this is accurate and if we will be out of place?

Any advice for first time celebrity cruisers?

Appreciate any help in advance.

4 hours ago, quattrohead said:

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Thanks very much for the response.

 
Tried this but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference. 

lloyd 

Hey, 

I hope everybody is well. 
 

We have just booked our first cruise with Carnival for mid October next year.

When I try to reserve something (chefs table) on the manage my booking page, It doesn’t give me the option to add anything at all into my cart. I have tried to add different things, even the Cheers package. However the cart button remains greyed out. 
 

Have searched the forums and previous issues show the cart wouldn’t allow people to check out, However I couldn’t find anything for my specific issue. 
 

Wasn’t sure if it’s a case of Carnival blocking everything due to the Covid situation or if it’s an IT issue. 
 

Can anybody help?
 

Appreciate your time and hope you all stay safe. 
 

Thanks. 

Caribbean.

Hey, 

Don't suppose anybody has a rough idea when 2021/ 2022 cruises will be released for sale?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hey,

It has been a while since we last cruised but are looking to get something booked. Was firstly wondering when NCL release their October 2021 cruises? Also, What is the weather normally like? I am aware it is hurricane season, However from what I have read online, It is generally ok mid to late October. Just thought would be good to ask on here where people have lots of experience with it.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. 

sorry, I have googled it many different ways but cannot find an answer. Also when I look on Royal Caribbean’s site, it doesn’t have Christmas and New Years dates.

Do royal Caribbean and other cruise lines sail over Christmas and New Years, if so, how do I find dates and prices etc?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Wondering if somebody can help,

Was just wondering when royal carribean usually release late 2018 dates and prices?

Thanks for any help, It is much appreciated.

I was on the November 12 – November 19 Eastern Caribbean sailing of the Norwegian Escape. The itinerary included three sea days (Sunday, Monday, Thursday) and three ports of call. They were St. Thomas (Tuesday), Tortola (Wednesday) and Nassau (Friday). I sailed with my girlfriend. We are seasoned cruisers with over 20 cruises between us. We stayed in cabin 11679 which is an inside aft cabin. We chose an inside for two reasons:

 

1) We don’t spend much time in our cabin

2) Inside cabins are so dark that we sleep very soundly.

 

The 11th deck met our main requirement of being sandwiched between two other decks that are exclusively cabins to help minimize any noise disruptions (unfortunately our nearby neighbors made this difficult at times. More on that later.)

 

I’m not going to write a full review but rather a bullet point listing of the Good, The Bad and the Meh!

 

The Good

• Overall friendliness of the crew – everyone was very helpful and made you feel like a valued cruiser.

• The UBP. Not just good but great. It was so convenient to just hand the card over and not deal with all the slips of paper and reconciling your account. We got our money’s worth on the deal. Like most folks, we received it free and only had to pay the 20% gratuity.

• Tyler the Cruise Director was outstanding. A super talented guy with lots of energy and a good sense of humor. He was extremely visible. He even sat in with the Howl at the Moon guys on Friday night and played drums for several songs. Boom-Shaka-Laka!!

• The Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. NCL has really stepped up their game. Not only did NCL provide the usual spread of coffee and pastries but they also served fruit smoothies and assorted chocolates in addition to the attendance of several of the officers and CD Tyler.

• For the Record: The Brat Pack was right up our alley as we both graduated from high school in the 80’s. It did not disappoint. The show runs one hour and 27 minutes but flew by. A note to parents: It is rated PG16 so that means a few F-bombs, sexual humor and mature themes. We saw several parents leading their young children out after the first 10 minutes.

• Popcorn shrimp and chicken nachos appetizers on the lunch menu at Taste and Savor dining rooms. Get them both. Do it.....you’re on a cruise.

• Spice H2O on deck 17 aft is a great place to spend your sea days. Spice H2O is an adult-only area with loungers, two hot tubs and its own bar. There is also a grotto area with waterfalls to cool off. Most importantly ......it is nice and quiet. Some folks like the music and action of the main pool area.....not us. It’s so much more relaxing to be able to have a conversation without having to yell at each other. WORD OF CAUTION: Get there early as the place fills up quick.

• Howl at the Moon Dueling Pianos is a rocking good time. Great music and fun banter between the performers and crowd. I like how they played a good mix of crowd favorites like Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock and Roll and Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline but also deeper non-traditional dueling piano cuts like Interstate Love Song by the Stone Temple Pilots and In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. Outstanding!

• Our favorite bar was Mixx which is situated between the Taste and Savor dining rooms on deck 6. It’s a great place to have a drink before a show and people watch. Joao De La Cruz is a great bartender. GF said he makes an outstanding Moscow Mule.

• The Awesome 80’s Party should not be missed. We danced.....we sang......we played air guitar! WE HAD A BLAST!! Cruise Director Tyler and Assistant Cruise Director Andre guided the crowd through a musical tour of the 80’s with all genres represented......pop, dance, hair band metal, rap.....you name it. Don’t miss it.

• The chicken dishes in the Taste and Savor dining rooms. I loved the Chicken Kiev and both the GF and I enjoyed the Chicken Parmesan. The Herb Crusted Chicken Breast was also delightful.

• CALLING ALL BEACH LOVERS! If you want to visit one of the greatest beaches in the world then take the NCL excursion “Escape to Jost Van Dyke”. It is a 45 minute catamaran ride aboard the Rebel Yell from the port in Tortola to the White Bay, Jost Van Dyke. They drop you off right by the Soggy Dollar Bar which has free beach chairs and serves the most delicious beach drink...the Painkiller. The sand is soft and fluffy. It rained a little while we were there but we stayed in the water and drank our Painkillers in the rain and loved every minute of it. Rum punch is served on the ride back to port to put the exclamation point on a fantastic excursion.

• If you want to hear a bunch of Frankie Valli/4 Seasons’ songs and some corny humor then make sure you make it to Oh What a Night! We saw the show in the Escape Theater on Day 5 (Tortola) as opposed to the The Supper Club which has several showings at 6 PM.

• I liked the light system in the cabins for “Do Not Disturb” or “Make up My Room” Basically; you switch on a light from inside your cabin for either setting. No more placing a tag on your door handle.

• The chicken wings in the O’Sheehans Bar & Grill at 11:30pm were pretty tasty…..especially after a few Moscow Mules. We watched the end of the Sunday night football game there. Sorry, Patriot fans.

• We saw a couple of comedy shows and it just so happened to be Vince Acevedo both times. He’s a really funny guy with a quick wit that really doesn’t have much prepared material but rather just riffs back and forth with audience members. Jay Stevens was the host both times and did a warm up set and was good too.

 

The Bad

• The port of Nassau is disappointing. The town is dirty, the people are rude and the beaches lacking. We will treat Nassau as an additional sea day on any future cruise we happen to port there.

• Late arriving people to shows. Buy a watch and show up on time. I’ll just leave it at that.

• The cabin seemed to lack storage space......especially shelving. Not a big deal just had to be a little creative with the storage.

• I could not get the Norwegian iCONCIERGE app to work on my phone.

• The NY strip steak in the main dining rooms. Chewy and over cooked. Just say no.

• Our breakfast order was not picked up from outside our stateroom overnight on one occasion. We like to hit the gym first thing in the morning so we order coffee, yogurt and pastries to enjoy in our cabin while getting ready. You can’t sweat the small stuff so we course corrected and headed up to the Garden Cafe.

• Noise from nearby cabins. Somebody in a cabin near us fired up the TV at 6 AM every morning and turned the volume up to not 10 but 11 (because it’s one louder). Also, our neighbors were bouncing a ball off their cabin wall one time. C’mon man!

• The deserts in the complimentary dining options leave much to be desired. They are great on the eyes and disappointing in the mouth. The single worst item item was the no sugar added carrot cake in the Taste Dining room. It tasted like motor oil.

• The taxi situation in St. Thomas was chaos. Both at the port and at Magen’s Bay. We had to get off one van and get on another in the pouring rain at Magen’s Bay because they had loaded them in the wrong order. Cruise ships have been coming to St. Thomas for a long time. One would think they would have a better system in place.

•I don’t like the last day of the cruise being a port day. It just feels like it brings the cruise to an abrupt end. A sea day just eases you back into the impending reality.

 

The Meh!

• The production show After Midnight was OK. There were some real show stoppers in the show but a lot of it seemed to drag. Jazz is not my favorite genre of music so that probably affected my thoughts. Hardcore jazz fans may love it. I did like that there was a live band providing the music instead of a prerecorded track.

• The bedding is just OK. The mattress was hard and I woke up most mornings with a stiff lower back. But the most annoying issue was the lack of fitted bed sheets. The bottom of the bed sheet barely came down to the end of the mattress and would ride up most nights.

• The Fitness Center had a lot of equipment but it is of average quality. The treadmills had all kinds of entertainment options but the belts had a lot of drag. The elliptical machines were flimsy. They did have a rowing machine which delighted my GF. The cold towels are a nice touch.

• The ship actually did not sail until 8 PM so it was kind of strange to sail away in the dark.

• The scrambled eggs and poached eggs in the Garden Cafe. Most of the yolks in the poached eggs on the eggs benedict were hard boiled.

• Casino……..who knows? We only walked through it on our way to someplace else.

• Pay restaurants…..again who knows? The food was so good in the Taste and Savor dining rooms we didn’t bother with them.

 

This was our first cruise on a megaship and admittedly was a little apprehensive at first. But after a day or so we pretty much figured things out. The layout and the signage both make it easy to get where you want to go. Another thing we liked was all of the entertainment options. There were so many shows we just couldn’t fit into our schedule. There was a comedy juggler, game shows, trivia contests, Q&A sessions, karaoke....... not to mention all the live music at several of the bars.

 

As I said at the beginning of my review, the crew was outstanding. The level of service was top notch. We had a large organized group on our sailing of hearing and sight challenged folks. We witnessed one example after another of the crew going out of their way to patiently assist them. I saw one bartender use one of these folk’s cell phone to clarify what brand of whiskey they wanted to drink at O’Sheehan’s. We were extremely impressed with the level of professionalism by all of the crew.

 

Two of the most important criteria we judge a cruise by are level of service and entertainment. This cruise only reinforced why NCL is our cruise line of choice as they exceeded expectation on both counts. No cruise is perfect......but overall it was another great cruise on NCL.

 

I’d be happy to answer any questions or elaborate on any of the above comments here or feel free to send me an e-mail at LD_Silver_Cruiser@Yahoo.com.

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

Just wondered what the weather was like all week? We are on the escape in a couple of weeks and have been checking the weather. It just says rain all day constantly at the moment. How did you find It?

i booked this excursion when i was onboard and my sailing was in january. I have zipped a few times, let me tell you this one is scary. the crossing of the bridges swaying was nerve tracking. I did enjoy it but it did raise my blood pressure. Don't let that stop you of course but just wanted to give you heads up, and the idea of just walking off the plank was hard to do but once i did it i enjoyed the ride. other zips I have done, I just had to pick up my feet and not walk off a plank and the yo yo zip at the end is fun. There is much to do in st thomas but you should be ok to book on line but of course there is no quarentees. good luck and have fun

You have made me even more excited. It sounds fantastic, thank you for your response.

oh wow.

When do they put the decorations up? We sail December 3rd. Will they all be up by then?

Wondering if somebody could help me.

We are sailing 3rd December on the Escape. Have booked the Escape to Jost van dyke excursion as I know from these boards it will sell out. so we pre booked that one. Just wondering about the Zip lining in St Thomas. We have quite a bit of onboard credit so would rather wait until onboard to book so we can use the credit, However dont want to miss out on this excursion. Was wondering if anybody had any idea if this is popular or not? Would you pre book or wait until onboard?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hey, great video!!

Do you mind me asking where you went in Nassau? That beach looked amazing and we would live to go there.

We are in the Haven in December, it looks amazing. Thank you for posting your experience.

Within the last few days and - Yes - it has made a difference to what you can get (massive is a relative term depending on your viewpoint - I drink single malts - they are now gone from the UBP - so a big difference for me).

Would it be correct to say that premium brand spirits are now out of the $15 range?

thanks for your previous answer. I only ask as I am getting continually frustrated, We booked our cruise on the Escape early 2015 for December this year and these changes are now starting to add up and make a very big difference to the product we origianlly purchased.

Was this increase in drink prices recent? Is it making a massive difference to what you can and cannot get on the UBP?

Hey,

Apologies, I would not normally start a negative post but wanted to get some information.

I replied to somebody else post earlier and it got me thinking. I did a quick search but could not find a thread that helped.

Has anybody kept track of all the changes over the past 18 months? Just wondered if anybody had these changes noted down in 1 place?

Thanks in advance if anybody can help.

I was killing time on Youtube the other day and a video popped up that said "cruise fight" so I was curious and opened it and it turned out to be about 10 against 10 fight on a Carnival Cruise ship so that made me do a search for "Carnival cruise fight" and hundreds of videos are posted so I searched for NCL/Norwegian cruise fight and 1 fight of a few 14 year olds showed up from 5 years ago and I searched Royal also and they only had 1 fight. It is clear that if Norwegian does not continue to raise prices as inflation happens Norwegian is doomed to be a lowlife cruise line like Carnival. For me to take 3 people for a 7 day vacation and visit 3-4 exotic islands in the Caribbean for under $5,000 is amazing, and when I am spending that kind of money it makes no sense to cry about having to pay an extra $68.00 for a bottled water package once on board or $40.00 for a soda package etc. It is amazing how people are willing to spend thousands of dollars and then cry about a little extra. And the people who complain about gratuity being included and not wanting that are the same people that go to dinner and leave a dollar for a $100.00 meal.

 

 

Stop being so cheap and pay for the services provided, Cruises are a business and they are here to make a profit and all the employees that are away from families for months at a time also deserve to make a living. k, done with my rant...sorry

I see where you are coming from. Dont completely disagree with you. However, I purchased my cruise back in Feb 2015 for my December 2016 cruise, The product I am getting now is a very different product to what I was originally paying for. No bother, It is what it is and I shall run with it. Not everybody has the same mentality however.

I do feel as though you are going to get flamed for this post. Ive just put my popcorn in the microwave. Lets see where this goes. :D

Hey,

Wondering if any body can help. Am just looking to do some quick budgeting. The excursion is not available in my cruise planner as of yet but was wondering if anybody has any experience of it, How much does it cost?

Thanks in advance for any help.

I used to waitress in a restaurant in NJ, 4 miles out of NYC, in a complex with a lot of hotels. Everyone was very friendly with the hostest, because if folks from overseas came in, no one wanted that table - too much of a risk of being stiffed.

Us terrible overseas folk. Massive risk of you getting stiffed. Maybe its the terrible assumpion you make that all non americans dont tip that meant you got stiffed.

A waiter is an "included service" in a restaurant -- you certainly aren't expected (or permitted) to go into the kitchen and pick up your own meal. A Bartender is an "included service" at a bar, right? You cannot go behind the bar and make your own drinks. Housekeeping is an included service in a hotel, right? But you tip a waiter and a bartender and the maid staff, right? (or at least I hope you do). How is that different?

 

Terry

No you are 100% right. Cant disagree with you. I will rephrase what i meant.

Use the example of a plate of cookies in the room in the afternoon brought to us by the butler.

In my opinion, that is an "included service" of the Haven, purchased in my fare, Not something that should cost an additonal x amount per day in service charge/ tips/ gratuities. ( not too sure of the difference :) )

However, If we have breakfast in the cabin everyday brought to us by the butler, or any other requests fulfilled by the butler. Absolutely, pay what they deserve. cant argue with you.

i D

Disagree. They are NOT included in the "daily tipping".

 

And although they are salaried their positions are ones that are heavily weighed by tips. Because they delivered daily snacks, maintained coffee machine, etc. I would tip something. I am sure they would be grateful.

 

Anyone who intends to tip zero should be upfront on day one and refuse ALL services.

No they shouldn't refuse all services. People pay a premium for the Haven. Included in the Haven is a butler. They advertise the butler as an included service when purchasing the Haven.

I googled it for you: About Cruise Next. Also, at the bottom of that page is a link to the terms and conditions.

Awesome. Thank you very much. I'm reading it now.

Be sure to use as much as you can to eat in Food Republic. It's the best use of $$ there is in the ship. Also, use some to purchase a CruiseNext certificate for a future cruise.

Oh yeah I've seen the pictures and reviews of food republic. Will definitely use some to spend there, it looks so good!! Ah yes, future cruise credit, we are possibly looking to do one in 2018 already, how does the future cruise credit work?

You can use non-refundable OBC to charge anything onboard; all shops, bars, etc. Only thing excluded is DSC.

 

Don't know about the current situation of cash withdrawals from onboard account in casino.

Fantastic!! I sure will be flying home with an awfully large amount of Lacoste!! Thanks for your help.

Starting to realise we have OBC that we will struggle to spend due to various promotions.

Question is specific to the Escape, can we use OBC in the Lacoste store? Or duty free stores? Also was it ever cleared up whether or not OBC can be withdrawn and used in the casino? OBC had all been given to is from NCL.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Happy cruising.