Zoedokey

They did not let us downgrade our kids classic alcohol package to the premium non alcoholic one even though the woman at the cafe said they would.  They went from classic alcohol to classic non alcohol.  

Alejandro was on our Alaska Infinity cruise summer of 2017.  We loved him.  

On 2/14/2019 at 12:34 PM, W283386 said:

We enjoy the 5 day cruises.  Last year we booked a balcony cabin (in February) for a December 8th cruise on the Infinity with two perks for $1440 leaving from Ft. Lauderdale.  This year the same cruise, ship, cabin and itinerary is $2025 and leaving from Miami.  That is over a 40% increase.  Looks like it will be an Air BNB in Florida this year.  Plus no need for parking or medical insurance. 

We did this 5 day on the Infinity this past Dec 17, and paid 900 for an oceanview with drinks package and 300 onboard credit.  I don't expect to get that kind of deal again, especially now that they are paying to upgrade the entire fleet.  

We did this as well and loved it.  They knew we were coming for the ship and were waiting for us.  The trip was amazing and we made it back with time to shop in town even.  Highly, highly recommended.

We did the tour with native choice as well.  Half the price for a much better experience.  

We went to the ruins with them in December, they were fantastic.  Small group, informative guide, comfortable van.  You need to exit the pier area, go through the door that says no exit, honestly.  The pier people don’t want you leaving to spend money with anyone else.  

The cost was half of what the ship was charging to go to the same location for less time with an entire bus full of people.  

Our 7 night Alaska. Raise had 2.

19 hours ago, catch annette said:

Good to hear as we are, once again, on Celebrity Infinity!  Short cruise to Key West & Cozumel.  Do they still have "formal night" on the short cruises?

 

We were on a short Infinity cruise recently and there is one evening chic night.  Yes there was a noticeable difference in how dressed up people were.  

We took a ruins tour in Costa Maya with Native Choice and it was amazing.  We walked to the office as it is outside the cruise port.  Totally safe.  The man at the office told us that they don’t even have a jail in the town.  They are adding on the port to allow more ships amd they don’t support it because it will bring more people amd more trouble to the area.

in Cozumel we took a taxi to the marina to take a fantastic snorkeling trip with Cozumel H2O.  Wonderful folks.  

On the Infinity recently Cellar Masters had 2 or 3 folks working whenever it was open.  Best service on board by far. 

Unless you consume no food on board the cruise, leaving the tips as it is the fairest way to take care of everyone.  If you remove tips and tip as you go, do you tip the person who scoops you ice cream in the buffet, or every waiter who brings you a drink every time for the entire cruise, or Cafe al Bachio each time you grab a coffee or a cookie.  Too much work, easier to just let the system work as it is supposed to.  

We always tip extra for people who we felt did a nice job.  For us, this would be the cabin steward and dining room servers and wine steward,  and a handful of bartenders as well.  On our last cruise, we tipped the team from Cellar Masters extra the last night, as they were just wonderful. 

25th Anniversary Martini.  Our go to wine is Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon.

We loved Celebrity for Alaska because of the enrichment speakers.  There were talks and events every day focusing on what we were seeing and going to see and giving information to enhance our experience.  On our cruise we had Mickey Live and he was just the best.  

HI, never cruised MSC before but I am seeing offers for Seaside from Miami in March that say all in:free drinks in all category cabins.  At 549 for inside cabins, I don't see how this is true. Does this offer sound weird to anyone? 

4 hours ago, villauk said:

On X, we prearrange meet up times with our teens or they leave voice mail messages on the cabin phone if this changes. On Princess last year, they had the Princess at Sea intranet where no internet package was required and they were able to text and leave message for no charge; personally, this was a much better system.

If Princess can do this, then Celebrity can too.  They want to be the leader, then they should lead.

1 hour ago, Fogfog said:

 

Bummer about the martini bar... though in several of our last cruises it was slammed by a large group traveling together (70+ folks in the group alone) and we hardly could get near it 

Had no clue there were bartenders in Cellar Masters--thought it was wines only... and Cafe Bacio? Didn't realize it was a bar beyond coffees/pastry. 

Thanks

Cellar Masters and the Cafe both serve drinks, not a wide range, but it was the service that set then apart this last cruise.  Engaging, friendly, responsive and just pleasant at both Cellar Masters and Cafe al Bachio.  Outside of one bartender (Nico) who was trying to be engaging, the Martini crew were very stern and unfriendly.  Nothing like our last experience where the martini bar were entertaining and friendly.  

The best bar staff on board was the crew that worked Cellar Masters in the evening and Cafe al Bachio in the morning.  The martini bar was very disappointing in December.  

On 11/26/2018 at 9:32 PM, CH_ca said:

I would never want any crew to bend the rule for me nor would I ever want to do anything illegal. That's why I'm asking if anyone who's been in similar situation had the forms or waivers available to them. I've heard one case that it is doable. I just want to know more cases to confirm it. 🙂

We are back from our cruise.  My daughters sea pass card was decorated with stars, I assume indicating she was under 21.  She never tried to order an alcoholic beverage, and actually never even opened the bottle of Prosecco we brought for her for the cabin.  After a rough semester, she just wanted to chill and rest, LOL.  

 Her beverage package that came with the cruise was coded as classic non alcoholic.  I did grab a couple of drinks for her on my way back to the cabin, but she is not a drinker anyway, so it was no big deal that she didn’t get served herself.  She was able to get tea at Cafe al Bachio, which she did a few times a day.  The staff there were just amazing.  They worked Cellar Masters at night and were the best bar crew on board by far.  The Martini bar was disappointing this time for us.  

We just returned from an Infinity cruise and the pushing of specialty dining was just awful there as well.  The galley tour could have been interesting but was a sales pitch and I would never take another.

The roving drink service was really good though.  

Loved Alejandro on our last years Alaska Infinity cruise.  Not so crazy about Luigi his replacement. 

Chic night for us was day 4, the day we were in Costa Maya, but the lobster and Beef Wellington dinner was day 5.  We did have to change a port, so that may have been a reason.  

Another thing i meant meant to add was that the pool staff did a poor job replacing towels.  We had to hunt all the racks most days to find pool towels and a couple of times just did without.  Rocks stayed empty for hours, not sure what is up with that.  There were always loungers to be found if you went up to deck 11 though.  

2 hours ago, RickT said:

On the Infinity in March.  Do you remember the names of the house band, guitarist, etc?  Were they good (in your opinion)?

Groovily was not that great, but we really enjoyed Nu Image.  Neptune string duo was lovely.  Peter Rossetti on piano was fun, he sang some Christmas songs.  

We returned on Saturday from a five night.  The captain swapped out Key West for Costa Maya due to weather which worked very well for us.  Overall, a five night Caribbean cruise is not my favorite but it fit our schedule this year.  I missed the Celebrity lectures and experiences of a longer trip.  A cruise is always fun though.

We booked a private snorkel with Cozumel H20 for less than the overcrowded Fury Catamaran Celebrity was offering and it was amazing.  We also booked last minute ruins tour with Native Choice in Costa Maya for half of what Celebrity was charging for crowded tour bus trips to the same spot.  Both of these trips were fabulous and I would recommend you look into them.

The martini  bar was a bit of a disappointment though.  There was no flair, no special pours, just guys making martinis and they weren’t friendly.  There was one bartender named I think Niko who was doing his best with some bottle tossing etc, but it was nothing like past trips when the Martini Bar was also a show.

The best bar staff was the team who worked Cellar Masters in the evening and Cafe al Bachio in the morning.  Friendly and efficient.  

The roving drink service was better on this trip than ever though.  

Really enjoyed the the live music throughout the ship.  We would sail Celebrity again for sure, but maybe not in the Caribbean.

1 hour ago, Geoff&Louise said:

Sounds like you were on a 5 night cruise. We have a 5 night cruise in March. Please could you kindly let me know how many formal nights there are? Many thanks.

We just returned from a five night cruise on Infinity.  There was one evening chic night, on day 4.  However, the best dinner with Beef Wellington and lobster was on day 5.  That may have been the result of a port change that had to be made due to bad weather in key west.