AstoriaPreppy

On 5/24/2024 at 12:29 PM, SerraG said:

We were excited to travel out of Kansas City’s brand new airport for the first time!  It feels much more modern than the old one and is full of local restaurants and shops.

As a frequent flyer, this makes me so happy to hear! For years MCI was hands down the worst airport in the US, and the new terminal looks 💯

Quick update: we ended up canceling our Celebrity excursion and are just doing Berlin by commuter train on our own.

After a bit of research, I discovered that there's nonstop IC trains that are exponentially less expensive than the excursion, round trip from Warnemunde to Berlin Hbf. We'll depart around 8 am and return at 5:30 pm, arriving at the train around 8 pm. We've done commuter trains while traveling in the past, and are pretty independent travelers, so this seems like a great option to maximize our time in Berlin.

6 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Most people (unless they're experienced at frat parties and the like) are probably not going to get through 4, 5, or 6 in a couple of hours either. Unless they're dragging a backpack to put unopened cans or bottles in.

Technically, Celebrity crew can get in big trouble serving unopened alcohol to passengers, but sometimes if you tip well... 

Also, 4, 5, or 6 drinks in a couple hours is what we in NY call "Sunday Brunch." 🤣 

5 hours ago, AKJonesy said:

We are 4 star Mariners on Holland.  We are growing tired of the old ships in the fleet and keep hearing about Celebrity being a bit more upscale? than Holland.  At least that is what we've heard from other cruisers that we have sailed with.  

As you may know, Holland is a bit more older crowd and we certainly like that.  I would not want to be on a ship with a lot of children.  I am considering a repositioning cruise and I could be wrong, but thought this might be a way to see a reduce number of school age children on the ship.

Saying that, I'm not familiar at all with Celebrity and where to start looking, but want to have a good experience.  My husband cruises for the rest, food and exercise.  I like the down time, good food, exercise and ports...in that order.  Ports are nice, but it's not the goal.  On Holland we've been in every class except Pinnacle and that is just way out of our reach.  We mostly sail in staterooms that are moderate in price...looking for value over a lot of amenities.  Certainly a few good upscale restaurants would be nice and entertainment is at the bottom of the list.  I don't want to be on anymore dreary and well worn ships but don't need to sail on the biggest and sparkly ships either.  

I'm not familiar with the classes (M class, etc) and what that means.  Also, what is included and what is not included would be nice to know.  

I know it's a big ask, but if you could chime in with some ideas that would be great.  I'm not looking so much at itinerary.  Instead, I'd like to have a first good experience on Celebrity and want to pick a decent ship.  Thanks for any info.

There are three Celebrity ship classes: M, S, and E.

In order of age; M stands for Millennium Class: Millennium, Infinity, Constellation and Summit. These are all panamax ships that can fit through the old canal locks. S stands for Solstice Class, with the ships being Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse, Silhouette and Reflection. These are all post-panamax sized ships.  E stands for Edge Class: Edge, Apex, Beyond and Ascent, with Xcel currently under construction.

In terms of ships to skip, the only ones that read old/tired (and I'd suggest avoiding) are the Infinity and Constellation. The Millennium and Summit received full renovations pre-pandemic, which included gut renovating all the staterooms and many of the public areas to more contemporary standards.

The larger ships have an absolute "wow" factor that you don't get on a Holland America ship. The Solstice class features giant atriums with glass elevators, while the Edge-class vessels introduced since 2018 have really innovative and upscale spaces. 

Re: exercise, Celebrity ships have full gym and spa facilities that are run by Steiner (like every other line). The one notable differential from other lines is that Celebrity has a number of Peloton bikes available on each ship, in their fitness facilities, which we enjoy using. 

11 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

It wasnt that bad, I saw plenty of Millennial👫🏻 and Gen Z ⛹🏻‍♂️in most activities and walking around the ship. However, a friend who went to Relection like 3 months ago noticed less young people👵🏻. Another friend went to the beyond this month and he told me is was packed🚦 with seniors. Lastly, I watched a youtube video 🎟️of a couple bbaoring the beyond last week and they uploaded almost 2 hours of video for day 1🧳, showing diferente places of the ship🚢 at different time without much editing or effect and I only saw 4 young people. 🗣️

 

I'd note that some of the "there are no millennials" reports come from friends, not your first-hand experience. As a millennial, I'd say that it tends to be highly dependent on timing and or itinerary. On some of our Celebrity cruises, we've had tons of people our age... other times (patagonia/South America in February) were the youngest passengers. It's hit or miss, but I'd say Celebrity definitely skews younger than Princess/HAL in our experience. 

12 hours ago, Moon Orchid said:

I know this was the old post but I need help with Santorini day. I just got an email today from Royal:
 

Dear Guest,

Recently, the tour operator for your Village of Oia On Your Own tour has revised their description. To avoid delays in your return to the ship due to lines at the cable car, your tour now includes an hour of free time in Fira. Please note, you'll also receive transportation back to the Athinios port for direct access to tenders which will take you back to the ship. Guests who wish to remain in Fira for an extended period should advise their guide.

So does it mean that after Oia the bus will bring us back to Fira ,wander around for an hour then use the cable car to go down  to catch the tender back to ship ?
And the other choice is taking the bus back to the Athinios port, then take the tender straight  to the ship ?
For some reason I am so confuse with this port ☺️. TIA
 

As others have pointed out, there are two places tenders go in Santorini. If you have an excursion booked, you'll take a tender to the "new port," get on a bus and do your excursion. If you're touring on your own, you'll take a tender to the "old port," which is where the cable car/stairs/donkeys are. 

As of last year, a lot of excursions would tour you around Santorini via bus, then drop you in Fira where you got a cable car ticket for the ride back down to the tenders at your leisure (the stairs are treacherous and filled with donkey poop, speaking from experience). 

The issue is that Santorini is getting WAY more people and ships than the cable car can efficiently handle. It's from the early 80s, and not like a modern gondola system that you'd find in a ski resort or Disney World. I think the Fira cable can can handle around 30 passengers MAX per trip up/down, which at the end of the night results in thousands of people stuck in a slow moving line winding around town, and hour+ waits. 

We did the Oia on Your Own excursion on the NCL Gem last year, and decided to not heed the tour guide's suggestion to take the cable car down early. Instead, we went and chilled out at a cliffside bar as the sun set, only to discover a total mess as nearly every passenger from the five ships in port waiting for the cable car back down. It sounds like the solution from some providers on the island is to just tour you around, and then take you back down to the new port via bus for a tender directly back to your ship. It's not ideal, but will absolutely save both the lines and the passengers major headaches on guided tours.

On 4/24/2024 at 8:30 PM, pja&raa said:

So my title pretty much says it. Can someone tell what this is, how does it work, when do they play it and what can you win. Just looking hood a little more information than what we are finding on the Celebrity website.

Thanks in advance for any information you are willing to share.

Essentially, you buy cards, like bingo. Each numbered case is a little pull-tab. A randomly selected card buyer will be called on stage to play the traditional Deal or No Deal game show: pick a case, and then open cases each round before receiving a buyout offer from the “banker” (aka the algorithm). 

Everyone not picked to play on stage plays a different game using their cards in the audience.  Let’s say the contestant on stage opens case 16. If the value of case 16 on screen matches the value of case 16 on your card, you get a “match.” The more matches you get in the audience, the larger prize you can win. 

Prizes for audience members differ based on cruise line and ship…. I suspect they may be customized based on the amount of sales for the came session, but I’m not positive on this. A few weeks ago on our Carnival sailing the two match prize was a free bingo package at a future session, and three matches was $35 in casino free play. 

On 4/29/2024 at 7:39 PM, DaKahuna said:

We went down to the hotel’s Ocean Terrace buffet for breakfast.  A very wide selection of food was available, including typical Japanese breakfast items as well as American and European fare (thankfully no beans though that I saw). It was good but I am not sure it was worth the price. 

 

 

This morning was cold, 65 F, and raining but it is starting to warm up a couple of degrees and it is cloudy and over cast.  

 

 This is where Millennium will be docking Thursday morning. 

 

 

 

 Yokohama Bay bridge.  We crossed over it last evening on the way from the airport.  Millennium will be sailing under her when we pull out Thursday. 

 

 

Our plan for this morning is to walk to Minatomirai station and take the train to Yokohama station.  It’s a six minute ride and cost 200 Yen per person.   Have Suica app, will travel!

 

When we did this sailing on Millennium in October 2019, we departed and arrived at the Daikoku terminal on the opposite side of the bridge. Getting there was a major PITA from both Tokyo and Yokohama (no public transportation), and the terminal was more like a random tent on what we ended up calling "parking lot island." You'll have a much better sailaway from Osanbashi. 

8 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

When is the last time you did that?

About three weeks ago, on the Venezia.

18 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Carnival limits you to 15 drinks... Cheers package or not.

This is absolutely not true. Passengers are able to continue to order drinks and pay out of pocket once they've exceeded the 15 drinks included with Cheers. Personally speaking, I've received a 16th night cap as my comp VIFP beverage the last night of a cruise multiple times. 

On 4/11/2024 at 9:08 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

The other dynamic with it not being profitable was it seemed that over half the guests were in a free room thanks to the casino.  Only way for Celebrity to become profitable from a comped casino room is for the guest to lose more in gambling than their cruise fare

On 4/12/2024 at 5:41 PM, phoenix_dream said:

Exactly.  And why did Celebrity pick that cruise for the Blue Chip free ones?  Because they weren't selling well otherwise.  Very, very disappointing as those have been some of my favorite cruises over the years.

I can attest to this... last year I received *two* casino comp cruises out of LA on Celebrity

The first one was offered when we sailed NJ-Iceland in 2022. Coming back to our cabin one afternoon, we found a letter saying we both had a casino comp for later 2022/early 2023. The letter specifically noted this was a book on board only offer. We both assumed it was a mistake, as we are very (very) low-level gamblers, but the future cruise desk confirmed the offer and we jumped at the option. 

Coming back from that cruise in January, we received an immediate bounce-back offer for ANOTHER cruise in the next few weeks. I ended up jumping on this offer again, as they offered me an aqua class cabin that I took as a solo cruiser (working remotely from the ship that week). The staff was very confused that I was back only two weeks later, and many remembered me by name. 

TBH, we also received casino comps on Carnival in 2022 which we certainly weren't qualified for (~$100 loss over the course of a 7 day cruise). As best as I can tell, this was a combination of unfilled capacity along with an algorithm trying to identify potentially new high-rollers/high-spend gamblers to receive more comps in the future. 

15 hours ago, First Aider said:

        Just to make things clearer, I understand why they removed him, but they never got back to me so I could show them they had the wrong person. I emailed them like I was supposed to, but they never replied to my email until 3 days after the cruise left.

         They were wrong and I want my money for the bus. I sent an email to the CEO of Carnival, but even he is not getting back to me.

         Carnival doesn't care about the passengers, only the money they spend. I will never spend a penny on Carnival again.

         My husband's birthday was right on the forms, so they only had to look at my sons and know they had the wrong guy. Carnival did not do what they should have. 

         

I'm not going to speculate publicly on what this similar-name relatives did, but it's clearly bad enough to be a major red flag for the US government (not Carnival). Carnival didn't target your husband, the Department of Homeland Security did when it got the passenger manifest, your husband's name popped up, was immediately flagged, and then flagged again because of an incorrect DOB. You might as well have entered his name as "Jerry Nothingsuspicioustoseehere" on the manifest.

It behoves you to make sure this doesn't happen again, not a cruise line or airline. If the government flagged your husband once, there's a good chance it could happen again on another line/flight. You're very bent out of shape over shared bus fare (on a bus that everyone else in your party used to board the cruise). If I knew I shared the same name with someone on a federal watch list, $280 in bus fare would be the furthest thing from my mind... I would be tripping over myself to make sure getting flagged by the feds didn't happen the next time I wanted to take a vacation!

TBH, in the time you've spent griping on this forum, you could have instead applied for a redress number for your husband. It's likely that this might happen again on another line or flight in the future, it's completely free, and will guarantee your DOB mistakes or paperwork snafus won't ruin any vacations in the future.

https://www.dhs.gov/dhs-trip

1 hour ago, noshoobie said:

We disembarked the Venezia in September and the taxis were NOT abundant. There were only 3 there and they were all giving us different prices to go to Penn Station. They definitely went "off the clock". The taxi ride to the Pier from Penn Station was $14. We ended up paying a taxi driver $20 and he had another passenger in the front seat who also gave him a $20. We just wanted to get to Penn asap as the train we wanted to take was leaving in 15 minutes. We did make it in time so it was worth it for us, but the experience getting the cab was very disappointing. 

A few notes for non-New Yorkers: 1) It's illegal for a yellow cab to not use the meter. The only flat fare route in the city is JFK to Manhattan (not vice-versa). 2) It's also not legal for a yellow cab to turn down a ride if they're accepting fares. That is, the cab driver can't turn you down because they don't like the destination. Legally they have to take you, and use the meter. 

More details on cabs in NY here: https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/passengers/taxi-fare.page

On 3/5/2024 at 8:04 AM, First Aider said:

They got my husband confused with my son. They have different birthdays, but never checked it till after the cruise left. We payed in full in November. Why wasn’t it checked then. Then 3 days before the trip they remove him. No explanation at all. We contact them the same day but they don’t return the email until 2 days after the ship left. And with only an apology, they made a mistake with the birthdays. They had my husbands birthday in November. Why didn't they check it?

 Someone screwed up royally and it wasn’t us. They didn’t even offer us free drinks on another trip. I just want my money for the bus!!!!

There is 100% an easy solution to make sure this never happens again: get a redress number from the US Government.

From what I've read, it sounds like your son and/or nephew may have 1) both the same name as your husband, and 2) some past legal issues that would get them flagged by Homeland Security or the TSA while traveling. Redress numbers exist for people in these situations: you apply, then DHS does a background check and verification to make sure person X is not person Y (who is getting flagged). They then issue person X a number to use when flying/sailing in the future to make sure they're not mistakenly flagged as person Y.

In this case, you could have just given Carnival that number when checking your husband in, and all of this would have been averted. 

On 3/18/2024 at 3:19 PM, kitkat343 said:

An overnight in Falmouth would make it easier to reach these attractions, but I don't know why they would want to route the ships in Falmouth versus  Ocho Rios (if anyone knows of better excursions closer in Falmouth please tell me since I'd love to know!)

 

When Oasis-class was developed, they were way too large for typical cruise ports... ie, Ocho Rios. Not in a beam/draft/length size way, but in a getting people on/off efficiently way.

That's why ports like Falmouth were developed. Royal could build a massive facility to their specs, and move a lot of the typical stuff that happens when re-boarding a ship (queues, x-ray, security, etc) off the ship and onto the landside space. It's become common practice now, but when those ships were launched at the end of the 00's, it was revolutionary.

6 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 

Can you post a description of your excursion?  I can't get to it without having a cruise booked.

 

It was years ago, but when I was on an excursion that did this, it didn't matter which train station we were taken to because once at a Berlin train station, we were put on a bus and then taken into the city center.  We were dropped off at the Berlin Hilton (near the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station).  Pickup was at the same location.  This info was included in the excursion's description, so I could plan accordingly.  

Hmmmm... maybe that's the case for us as well? I don't remember seeing details about a coach before, but it's absolutely in there now. 

Here's the description: 
 

---

Heading on a Celebrity cruise this summer, stopping in Warnemunde for the day. We’ve booked Celebrity’s Berlin on your own by train excursion, with pickup in Warnemunde on the chartered excursion train. 

One question: I’ve seen *multiple* reviews, comments, complaints and gripes across multiple lines, mentioning the drop off and pick up stations in Berlin being different for this excursion. However, none of these comments mention which station the train stops at on arrival and where it leaves on departure. Most of the times it’s an exasperated passenger saying “no one told us” or “we were so confused and had to take a taxi,” etc. 

Does anyone know specifics? It would certainly help us plot out our day in Berlin knowing what station we’ll start the day at and what station we’ll conclude. 

On 2/22/2024 at 12:17 PM, Yesimapirate said:

And personally,  I find it a bit distasteful to knock a particular employee repeatedly when we have no clue if this was something she was instructed to do or not.  Wrong to Trae her apart without the fill story.

Had the employee in question ever stopped to chat with passengers, I would have asked her 😉

10 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

For those who choose Breakway and Breakaway+ and Prima class ships, this is normal.

 

For those of us who love Jewel class and below ships, this is a change!  Cruise director, Emma, may have changed my future cruise plans and cruise line loyalty.

 

I have spent the whole evening looking for alternative cruise lines for our Prima cruise which has final payment due in 2 days and also for future cruises as we need to book a December 2024 and February 2025 cruise.

 

I can live without hash browns and cookies and breakfast in OV, but no rational location for live entertainment is pushing me to choose another cruise line such as Celebrity. We will be Diamond after our next Gem cruise in March.

We experienced this on the Gem in the Adriatic in August. Multiple nights the main theater was dark, or showed a five year old movie as the evening entertainment... meanwhile Emma was slogging though another round of Deal or No Deal in the atrium. TBH, we wondered if cruise directors have a revenue goal to hit now, so she moved the programing to the atrium to try and sell more cards? 

While we overall had a great trip, I will say that we found Emma to be one of the weakest cruise directors on 30+ sailings we've taken; completely disengaged from the passengers outside of her public address announcements and intros at shows. I've never seen officers sprint out of an elite guest reception faster than that sailing. It was like the 100 m at the Olympics. 

On 2/1/2024 at 7:16 AM, Frangipanni said:

When the ship says it arrives at Osaka at 8am, can you disembark then? Hoping to get to JR Kyoto station by 10.30am?🙏

If the ship arrives at 8 am, you should have no issue getting to Kyoto by 10:30... the trip to Kyoto from Osakako station takes around an hour, with two transfers. Even if you're slightly delayed arriving or disembarking, there's a lot of buffer time. 

On 2/13/2024 at 7:40 PM, daddyaddy said:

A golden circle tour is probably not in the cards since we don't arrive until 2:00 PM and leave the next day at 1:00.  We intend to stay on the ship overnight so in my mind that limits us to staying in Reykjavik.

Thanks for the advice on food.  I'm a seafood addict so I'm hoping to find something good.

One note on tours. In early May, you'll probably have daylight until around 10 pm, which gives you a lot of opportunity to see a lot, even with a 2 pm arrival.

Also, if you're a seafood fan I'd recommend the Arctic Char, which is sort an Icelandic cross between salmon and trout.

18 hours ago, daddyaddy said:

We will be sailing on the Pearl for a transatlantic on Apr 25th from NY to Southampton, arriving in Reykjavik on May 2nd at 2:00 pm and leaving at 1:00 pm the next day.  We would like to book a shore excursion (perhaps a food tour?) but I need to know whether we are free to come and go from the ship for the entire duration of time in port?  In other words, if we arrive back to the ship late in the evening on the 2nd, will there be any problems getting back onboard?  I assume the ship will be berthed at a terminal and shuttle boats are not needed to return.

Ships dock in Reykjavik (no tenders), and you can come/go as you please. Re: tours, you have plenty of options. As mentioned below, the "Golden Circle" is the standard tour out of Reykjavik: Gulfoss, Geysir and Thingvellir, where the North American and European plates meet. Very manageable in a day.

Re: a food tour... Iceland is an amazing country, but isn't really known for their food. It's expensive, limited, and largely underwhelming (despite what YT creators trolling for likes say). There's a reason Icelanders eat the most candy/chocolate/licorice per capita of any nation in the world.

7 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

The Golden Circle is a great excursion but the volcanic activity has affected that area so not sure what’s open. The southern coast is lovely too.

Current volcanic activity in Iceland is near Grindavik and the Blue Lagoon, not anywhere near the Golden Circle area. 

On 2/2/2024 at 5:52 AM, DiscoCV said:

They have switched to Ravenna on our cruise in late October... not impressed 😞

 

Ravenna at least has some spectacular things to see... some of the best preserved byzantine mosaics in the world. Rijeka, not so much.

We ended up getting diverted to Rijeka after all Venice stops were canceled by the line on our Gem cruise last year, and TBH it is absolutely a "stay on the ship" sort of port. Croatia is amazing (Split, Dubrovnik, etc) but Rijeka is just a dud. 

38 minutes ago, Mike981 said:

Ship: We have cruised S class ships before, so it was nice to have a good idea of how to get around and we found that we really like the Silhouette and will have no problem booking her again. There are definitely some areas that need attention, but other than that she is great.

We're going to be on the Silhouette this summer... could you expand on the areas that need attention?

1 hour ago, Toddcan said:

Few more follow up questions.  

 

I have not yet pulled the trigger on this upgrade  -  it might not even be available still, but just in case it is... Looking for opinions for those who have experience. 

 

1. I booked the 3 night specialty dining with the Fantastica experience. The thought was that it will be a little nicer than the MDR. But, it appears to me that the YC dining area will give me that same "less crowded" experience.  So, I could book YC, and cancel my dining package.   Does anyone have any cautions for me on this?

 

2. Internet.  for sure, there is a savings here. I would be buying the 2 device per person package, so YC saves me $212 pp there.   Only thing is - YC comes with the surf package only.  It says "no video", but I suspect that it's just a speed limitation?  Anyone have experience on the Meraviglia with just the basic internet?  I suppose a good litmus test is - can you watch a youtube video?

 

3. Ocean Cay YC area. I have booked a cabana under our Fantastica booking - we like cabanas and the price was great ( $252). I think the standard YC area is going to be a "less" of an experience to our booked cabana.  Looking for opinions here too. 

 

4. Drinks - we don't drink alcohol.  So the main benefit of the drink package included with YC is lost on us.  At best I could equate this to the non-alcohol package which includes the virgin drinks, etc.  But I see something about the drink package included soft serve ice cream - is there not a free soft serve ice cream for everyone?  What about the gelato station? Is that an extra fee for YC?  Looking for clarification here too. 

 

Thanks in advance for the help & opinions.   

Just off the Meraviglia a few days ago: 

1) We found the YC dining room to be fantastic... never crowded, great service, and elevated food. The one specialty dining we thought was well worth visiting was Hola Tacos, where you can order a-la-carte, or all you can eat for $18. Butchers Cut was good, but we had particularly poor chaotic/poor service. Kaito Sushi was very good for cruise ship sushi, and Ocean Cay was excellent, but especially on a 7 day cruise I don't know it would be worth eating outside of the YC, especially at dinner. Maybe a lunch or two? 

2) We didn't try streaming anything other than music on this trip, but found the internet generally stable otherwise. FaceTime calls were fine, but absolutely compressed and not high-res like a home wifi or 5G network. I will say that trying to receive/send photos in messages on an iPhone was laborious, and would take several tries to get working. 

3) You definitely do not want to be in a cabana outside of the YC area on Ocean Cay... you'll loose easy access to the Ocean House restaurant, butlers with towels, waters, drinks, snacks, etc. We're big cabana people on private islands, having done them on Half Moon Cay, Princess Cays, Labadee, etc. We didn't find it necessary to do a cabana on Ocean Cay. The private beach has tons of umbrellas, padded loungers, etc, and if you need a break/extra shade you can just hop up to the lounge space outside of the Ocean House. There's the added benefit of having a shuttle drive you directly from the ship to the YC space, instead of waiting in the crowd or walking to your own cabana. 

4) Gelato is an extra charge from the Jean Philipe shop in the galleria/promenade. There is soft serve on the main pool deck, but we avoided going out there as much as possible. That said, butlers will often do an ice cream/gelato service on the YC pool deck in the early afternoon on warm days.
 

Ultimately, it comes down to how you want to spend your vacation. We spent most of our time eating at the YC buffet for breakfast and lunch, and then lounging on the sofas on the YC pool deck for hours reading. We'd head out for activities or lunch sometimes during the day, but ended up spending much more time in the YC than we expected, especially because the rest of the Meraviglia was so chaotic... we only made it to the real buffet for about 20 seconds one afternoon, and then late at night if we just wanted a slice of pizza.