just_looking

I guess RCL gets enough casual gamblers that they don't feel the need to cater to the more serious casino patron.  Very cheap of them not to even provide drinks.

Good luck at the MGM Grand!  Your post was very educational for me; I didn't know single-0 tables existed.  I live in SoCal and go to Vegas a couple of times a year - next time I'm going to look for these for sure.

On 9/28/2018 at 3:58 AM, mef_57 said:

Oops. Don't I feel emba:confused::confused:rrassed. I tend to review post dated but got suckered by a necropost. I wish CC would close dormant threads.

Haha, me too.  I clicked on the bad link.

But the great thing is that her friend is still making bags - I followed the other link to her Etsy shop. So we can't see the original tote bag, but plenty of her friend's current work. 

Dashofpepper, I loved reading your detailed experience of the Oasis Casino. You sound like a fun fellow cruiser.  I laughed out loud when you said you looked for someone to give a drink to from your package.  Although the other poster giving you a hard time is technically correct (this forum can be so mean)...even the staff don't really care about this.  When my husband and I had different drink packages on Celebrity, the staff were aggressive about making sure the premium drinks were taken from my account, and the non-premium drinks from my husband's account, even when we weren't paying attention to it.  

I hope you continue to post your cruising casino experiences!  (although it sounds like you'll be headed to Vegas instead!)

Gloves or bare hands? It's a wash

...

 

The disconcerting news: There was no statistical difference between glove-handled tortillas and ones that were touched by human flesh. Tortillas handled with gloves gave rise to microbe growth 9.6% of the time; those touched with hands, 4.4% of the time. But the sample size was not large enough to establish that the rates were truly different.

 

Dean Cliver, a professor of food safety at UC Davis, said he wasn't too surprised by the findings, because studies have shown that dirty hands almost inevitably contaminate the outside of gloves as the user puts them on.

 

"The main purpose of gloves is they look good to customers and inspectors. The only possible exception is if people have some kind of skin infection," he said. "Hand-washing is still key ... gloves are more a matter of keeping up appearances."

The professor says it's because the germs get on the outside of the gloves when they put them on - but I wonder also how much of it is employee ignorance about what they can & can't do with the gloves on, such as the story poncho told:

..

I had an encounter once with a manager of a sub chain (you know... the one built by former first responders) who changed the trash bag, walked back, and wrapped my sub.

 

I told him I didn't want that sub with trash hands.

 

His response "DUH! I'm wearing gloves! It's sanitary!"

...

I just wanted to point out that these guidelines are for food service employees. The woman in the photo looks like she might be working in a school or day-care. I have taken a food-service safety course. Many of the regulations are best practices that can apply to everyone (pull hair back when preparing food, refrigerate leftovers promptly, etc.) But the "wear gloves when handling ready-to-eat foods" rule does not apply! Otherwise none of us would ever be able to eat a sandwich, grapes, cookies, cheese & crackers, etc etc etc without wearing gloves! It's a food-service safety rule so that the workers' germs don't get passed to your sandwich. But if you are washing your hands before you eat, feel free to pick up your sandwich; gloves won't make a difference.

Ban curling irons, how many females would travel without this essential:confused:.

Me!

But don't tell me I can't bring my flat-iron. :D

Wow. I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion. Not sure if Jordan is "dreadful." I am not even saying that because we are his family. LOTS of posts on here about his talent.

 

But, hey, to each their own.

I don't know how anybody could possibly say "dreadful". Jordan was on the Summit last year during our cruise - we purposely headed for Cafe el Bacio every time he was there to hear him! He's very talented and has a great stylistic range. I bought Alicia Keys' "New York" song on iTunes when we returned from our cruise, and every time I hear it on my playlist I think of Jordan's fantastic rendition!

Agree 100%, but I'm curious what type of underwear do you have that is so heavy? Chain mail????

This totally cracked me up, mostly because last year I read a packing article that instructed me to buy panties at Victoria's Secret. So I did, and you know what? VS panties take up a lot less room in the suitcase than my previous brand! :o

I agree with others that you should check the ports of call boards, and your cruise's roll call.

We were on the same cruise last year and booked Thenford Gray's tour in St Kitt's. It was fantastic and would be totally appropriate for your elderly parents; at each stop they can do as little or as much as they are up to.

You only get the same rates plus keep the free gratuities plus the $200 obc if you book one of their listed cruises. You are not guaranteed anything else other than the $200 obc if it's another cruise. The airfare alone will cost more than $200 for two people. ...

I'm sorry your cruise got canceled. :( But...do you still live in Yachats? Seattle is 500 miles closer than SF. Not sure why you'd drive >800 miles to SF, but not 300 to Seattle, despite the free parking at your step-daughter's house. Airport parking would cost far less than the additional mileage.

No disadvantages that I can think of. We were on deck 11 on both the Summit and Millennium last year, and loved our staterooms!

Er... Robin, you realize that my "press release" was just a joke that I wrote, right? ;)

 

...

You did too good a job! I read it with disbelief, but still had to read it twice to be sure. :)

... Please, do whatever makes you comfortable...

Oh, that's bad advice. Some people (like a previous poster's BIL) are jerks! :rolleyes:

Does anyone have any personal experience with the Pick Your Perk promotion when the second cabin passenger is a minor? I booked a cruise during the PYP promotion and selected the Classic Beverage package. My TA assures me that my daughter will receive the non-alcoholic Classic package but I was wondering if anyone had actually experienced this.

 

Just looking for actual experiences, not speculation. Thanks!!;)

I'd pick another perk to be safe. Others have posted here that the minor passenger in the cabin had their package taken away. Lots of threads on this in the last year; I'm not sure how to search on it.

HOWEVER - last year we had the beverage package given to us by a large online travel agency. I'm pretty sure it was part of PYP (or 123, or another Celebrity-sponsored promotion) but that our travel agency only gave us the one option to keep things simple. (Otherwise I would have picked another "legal" perk). When we got on board our kids started using their package for non-alcoholic drinks. The second time my daughter used it, her card was confiscated! The food & beverage manager was called to come talk to us. He nicely offered to downgrade the package to non-alcoholic, we just had to make a stop at Guest Services (and then they had to call him to verify). I was so relieved it worked out for us, but I wasn't expecting it after reading the rules before we left on our trip.

Our children were both under 21 on our cruise last year. We booked through a travel agent who mistakenly assigned them the beverage package. We were lucky - this was outside the rules. It's unfair that a minor pays the same for the cabin but doesn't get the amenities, but I don't think you'll get Celebrity to break the rule for you. :(

Can you choose a different bonus? We would have chosen the prepaid gratuities, or the shipboard credit, to stay within the rules, but our TA was ONLY offering the drink package during the 123 promo.

I don't know anything about the reductions, but I don't think the amenities you mentioned are that big a deal. We were in Aqua Class on two cruises last year. Both times the fruit was 2 apples and an orange that sat on a small plate for the duration of the cruise. When there are so many other tasty options...I was never in the mood for a "red delicious" apple. Our room had a tiny vase with a single daisy-type flower, so also not a big deal. And, our sparkling wine was left untouched because we had the drink package. (If we didn't have the drink package, I admit this would have been an appreciated amenity).

Our favorite part of AQ, and the reason we'd choose it again, was dining in Blu. That's the only amenity worth paying extra for, IMO.

(I do understand your disappointment that the amenities were listed when you made your reservation, though).

This is great info, thanks! I've only cruised Celebrity (twice) but am considering both Princess and RCI for our next cruise.

I'm loving the review and the pictures. Thank you!

We will be on Millennium in just over 2 weeks...I can't wait to read more of your review!

...

Our day was about to go sideways and I didn’t even see it coming. The skies were pretty clear and it was a warm sunny day. But Captain Bob had some bad news. He welcomed us and then told us that everyone else booked for the tour had already canceled and he was advising us to do the same. It was very windy and he said we would encounter 10 foot swells, be soaked the entire day and get beaten up by the rough seas if we tried the boat tour. I was so bummed.

 

Captain Bob apologized and got all our info so he could refund our deposits immediately when he got back to his computer. He offered to call us cabs and help us choose an alternate activity. He said if he took us out in such rough conditions we would be miserable and he wanted us to have a good day in St. Maarten. I give Captain Bob total credit for being honest about the whole thing and doing whatever he could to help us make alternative plans. If we ever get to go on a cruise again I want to do this excursion.

UGH, sorry that happened to you, but I'm glad to hear that Captain Bob would rather give up the tour for the day than take you on a bad one! Great testimonial for him.

Can't wait to hear what you did instead!

You can find the menu on the Celebrity website here, if you haven't already seen it:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/level3Type1.do?pagename=onboard_celebrity_restaurants_cafes_ss_united_states_restaurant&parentpage=onboard_celebrity_restaurants_cafes

It's identical to the menu we enjoyed in Normandie on the Summit last week. We are cruising on the Millennium in June, so asked the Normandie staff how The Olympic compares. They told us that the food is identical; only the decor is different. We ate in Normandie 3 times and were not bored - we ate a total of 5 different entrees between us and NUMEROUS appetizers and loved everything. (except the mushroom capuccino soup which was good but really more of a gimmick presentation that should have been in Qsine!)

So I imagine (hope) that the SS United States would be as good.

Nice pictures! We're on the Summit in a few weeks; I look forward to the rest of your report! :)

Hi Just Looking,

 

A similar scenario was posted in the FAQ. If the 2nd person in the cabin is not of age to drink, and you select the Beverage package option, it would only be applied to the adult. I hope this helps.

 

Here's a link to the FAQ : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1764876

 

What if a Parent & Child are sailing together (2 guests in the cabin). How would this be handled ? Would they be entitled to any segments of the promotion ? If so, if the parent selects the drink package, would the child be offered a Non-Alcoholic beverage package ?

 

They can choose the beverage package but it will only be applied to the adult, or they can choose the other offers OBC or free grats for both guests.

Thanks for the link. That's too bad. Our TA is offering a drink package/on board credit combo. So I can't switch out for prepaid gratuities for the kids. :(

Has anybody had any luck upgrading/changing to a different beverage package other than the premium alcohol package? My husband and 2 kids and I have 2 cabins - of the 4 of us, I'm the only one who plans to partake of alcohol on the cruise. :) I asked my agent, who called Celebrity and was told it's the classic package only. If that's the case, it's too bad - we are getting a package they sell for $308 when we really want the one they sell for $126 (premium non-alcohol).

I understand why they might not do this for an adult in the same cabin, but it seems like the 17yo & 20yo in their own cabin ought to get the premium NA package.