arsenalboy

I posted your answer last week, please follow link.!

1 hour ago, Toftwood said:

 We do eat later than many others on Select Dining, typically 8.15/8.30pm  The only thing I find and this is nothing that Celebrity or indeed any cruise line can have any influence over is that in my experience, those on Select Dining or whatever each cruise line calls it, seem to eat earlier. This means that the restaurant is pretty empty and void of any great ambiance by the the time we have finished our meal. 

Perhaps they only eat earlier on TA crossings? Port intensive cruises will make your day later.

I might not have many posts to my name, but over the last 4 months, before my latest cruise, I would imagine I have read virtually every post in the Celebrity section to prepare.

I have read many concerns about falling standards on most things i.e., personnel, food, service, maintenance etc.

Most of you good guys and gals are heavy cruisers, sometimes it is difficult to see what is happening if you are constantly there. An analogy is seeing your family all the time, you don’t notice them age, but if there were gaps of a few years between seeing them, then you would certainly see changes!!

We have been on 3 cruises with Celebrity. The first was 6 years ago on a Baltic cruise on the Eclipse. The second was 3 years ago on a Med cruise with Reflection. We have just returned from our last cruise which was another Baltic cruise on the Silhouette.

What differences have I noticed?

We have sailed Concierge class each time and have been amongst the first to board at circa 1100 and amongst the first to cabin when called at circa 1300.

I have read that the cabin stewards have reduced and they are therefore stretched. On the first 2 cruises we had only been in the cabin for 5 mins or so before the steward introduced themselves, this last cruise it was nearly 3 hours before he came in. Our luggage didn’t appear and I discovered  it with a group of hundred cases or so 50 yards up the hall, they had been there well over an hour. When he did arrive he said the luggage wasn’t available yet, I said I had fetched it myself some time ago, he didn’t seem amused.

Being left alone by the steward is fine by us and we make no demands. The only request we gave him was for more hangars and they didn’t arrive so we had to ask again the following day. I wouldn’t say he was inefficient, I think he was stretched too far.

No towel sculptures, no fresh flowers in cabin and no fruit in cabin. We had to ask for our bottle of bubbly. Again, none of that is a real problem for us, but the step change is noticeable.

We had anytime dining in the MDR and our thoughts were variable. First the positives, the staff were brilliant and there was no shortage of our wine being constantly topped up by the sommelier or indeed the waiter. We had the classic drinks package and I had noted the comments that refills were slow, but not our experience.

We did however think there had been a noticeable decline in the food standard in the MDR, both in quality and invention.

We ate a couple of times in Murano and Tuscan and the food was superb.

Our biggest gripe was availability of tables for two. On previous cruises the only waits we had were on formal/chic nights.

On this latest cruise we had booked the first evening online for 2000 and that was no problem. On previous cruises we would be seated all over the place and had no problems with that. On the latest cruise they wanted to keep us with the same set of waiting staff, whilst we had no problem with the concept it meant we were  competing for a small number of tables and this gave significant waits of 30 mins or more.

We thought we could get around this because our Concierge could get priority for us, this is a supposed benefit of paying extra for the class!

We went and saw him and asked for a table for 2000 that evening, he said he couldn’t book anything between 1800 and 2000 and we would have to ask at the MDR. We popped in when it opened at 1730 and was told to just come along at 2000, we asked if that meant we would be seated and was told no, you will get a buzzer.

We thought another way was to book a couple of days in advance but they were not accepting bookings more than 24 hours ahead!

All this meant we ate a few times more than we would have liked in Oceanview. Again variable experience on food. The standard had not seemed to have dropped as much as MDR but the choice was pretty much the same each day. The cakes and desserts looked a lot better than they tasted! The hygiene police would have had a field day but no different from seen elsewhere on shore all over the world.

No problems or waits at any of the bars, in fact more bar staff than on previous cruises. Was disappointed with the strength of the speciality coffees at Bacio, they have certainly cut back on the alcohol they put in.

In general the ship was looking slightly tired and ready for its makeover. Some of the chairs in the MDR were beginning to fray. The automatic glass doors on one side of Oceanview, out onto the rear of the ship, were not always working. You would think that was a simple fix.

It was a national holiday when we were in port at Warnemunde, I knew that in advance and knew that no shops would be open. The day before, in the Today newspaper in the cabin, it stated they would be showcasing German sausages in Oceanview. When none appeared I asked one of the managers what had happened and he said they went off ship to buy fresh and didn’t realise shops would be closed. You couldn’t make it up! Where is the planning by this mighty organisation?

Whilst our latest experience would not stop us cruising again with Celebrity, we have seen a decline. But I am puzzled by the dynamics of the whole equation? I understand that the cruise market and competition is growing but this normally drives down costs. But current Celebrity cruise prices can be a bit silly. So if the prices are not being driven down, why are the standards?

2 hours ago, yapmom said:

Can you get on the hop on hop off buses from Oceankaj? Thanks!

They probably cannot, because they were there 3 days ago 🤣

51 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

We were on the May 6 sailing out of Dublin, and they had Guinness in cans available.  It was included on the Classic package.

31 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi 

We was on the cruise after you,the 16th and they had none.

That was one of my points,it was home porting in the capital of Guinness,why didn't they stock up.

that's because cruiserchuck drank it all......🤣

4 minutes ago, BOGOman said:

When you have one of the drink packages, how do you know for sure that the drink you're ordering is included? For wines ordered anywhere on the ship it's impossible to know from the name alone if it's an included brand for one or more of the drink packages. For mixed drinks it's more complicated but I suppose some discuss those with the waiter before ordering. That is, if the waiter knows accurately which specialty drinks and which brands of alcohol are included in each drink package. If there is no systematic way to do that and if the waiters either don't know or give inaccurate info, then would you be charged the full price for a mixed drink made with a liquor not in your drink package or charged the difference?  

Your sea pass card will show which drink package you have and the waiter/bartender will only serve you drinks in your package. They will tell you if not included and you will sign a chit for the extra. No confusion.

Just returned from the Baltic cruise on the Silhouette.

We wanted quick transfer options and did not want to use valuable time on trains and buses from Oceankaj to the centre, nor pay for taxi if we could avoid that.

I could not find anything about shuttles apart from vague references that there might be one.

If it helps there is a shuttle running every 20 mins or so and taking circa 20 mins to complete the journey.

Tickets are purchased on board the ship in advance and are 20 dollars for 1 day or 35 dollar for 2 day, unlimited use.

The shuttle stops at Kongens Nytorv opposite Magasin Du Nord department store.

Runs until 2100 in evening.

Hope this is of use.

Just returned from the Baltic Cruise on the Silhouette. Was reluctant to purchase the premium wifi due to cost as only wanted to keep in touch with kids back home.

I reconsidered when they brought out the cheaper, but reduced, package.

If it helps anybody, I was able to send back 30 to 45 secs videos with sound to family on FB/Messenger. Whilst it took a few minutes to send all was okay on arrival, photos went immediately.

Speed of general surfing was obviously not the fasted but was not frustrating either, the trick is to find the time when general onboard usage is lower.

6 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

Yes, you will. The color will be determined based on your response to a disembarkation questionnaire you will receive early in the cruise.

6 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

Luggage tags are basically required for you porter to take you luggage to you room. Yes you will remove the ones you have now. Put on the ones you are given a night or two before. Put your luggage outside of your room so they can be picked up and be ready to put on shore when arriving in port. However. if you are able to take your own luggage with you (All of it) You can disembark just about whenever you want. You will be the very first to be offered to leave. No luggage tags required.

thanks guys!

Am on the Silhouette in a couple of weeks and have got our luggage tags printed from the cruise booklet supplied.

Towards the end of the cruise will we be provided with any identifiers to attach to cases for disembarking? 

My email stated " up to 20%" and on "select" excursions. So I was not surprised at its limitations, its just marketing!

I would suggest the second because the first will have a couple of sea days getting you down to the med. Hence the reason the second itinerary has more ports to explore.

As others have said there is sometimes random checks as you pass through. I also understand that sniffer dogs will often be present when luggage is taken off the ships.

As you disembark on the 2nd June you are on the Baltics cruise and your last port of call is Warnemunde in Germany i.e., a fellow EU country, so things should be relaxed.

However, you will have heard of BREXIT! The UK government wants to leave the EU before the EU elections on the 23rd May, this is highly unlikely.

But if it did happen then we would not be an EU member on the 2nd June and there might be point scoring as far as customs is concerned. !!

Suggest you post on the thread "Wonderful Copenhagen 2019" and the wonderful Danish Viking will answer your question from a position of knowledge.

That thread is within this section of the website.

Katmu, really sorry to hear of your injury and hope you are making progress.

I would like to think that with circa 14 weeks to go before your cruise you will have made significant inroads to your rehab and that the cruise will appear more manageable to you?

Had you considered booking ships tours that are basically drive bys , that way you get to see the majority of sights with just photo stops keeping your walking to a minimum?

I understand the process but have seen no discussion on how high/low to bid. I know one size does not fit all and it depends upon unfilled capacity which is not known to us.

We are on a Baltic cruise on the Silhouette in 5 weeks in a Concierge C2 . I have received an invite to bid email but do not understand the costs that are quoted. For instance in the email they quote a Sky Suite from £765 per person, but the current price difference between these cabins is £230 per person.

If you click on the link in the email for the Sky Suite it has a scale between £0 and £2675.

I don't understand the relationship between 230/765/2675?

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

If you were to purchase things like a Pre-Cruise Hotel Package, Transfer from Airport etc they would have a voucher printed on those sheets.   Since you did not book any most likely they are either blank or just not printed.

Thanks for putting some logic to it!

Have just had an email from Celebrity with a PDF attached with "Guest Ticket Booklet" for upcoming cruise.

The index at the front lists the pages etc i.e., Cruise Summary/Embarkation Letter/Travel Summary/Port Directions etc.

On this index is a page called " in- exchange for vouchers", but this numbered page is blank apart from vertical and horizontal dotted lines, spacing the page into quadrants, with scissor symbols on them to cut into 4.

Any ideas on what this is about? 

1 hour ago, Suite Susie said:

Thank you everybody.  Seems it's taken a dislike to Microsoft Edge!!  Have downloaded Mozila Firefox and I can access.

there appears to be a conflict between Celebrity Edge and Microsoft Edge 😉

14 minutes ago, kristabel36 said:

Hi Cruisers,  My husband and I are going to book a cruise for next summer (2020) and we will be starting in Stockholm and ending in London and most of the time we are in the Baltic.  The cruise we are favouring departs Stockholm at the end of August but if earlier in the summer is better we would reconsider.  All opinions welcome thanks.  My main concern is that early summer may be more spring like (with storms etc) than late summer but I can only draw comparisons with our seasons here in NZ (South pacific).

Would you really book a cruise by second guessing the weather? The weather can be different one year compared to the next.

8 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

 

We’re on Solstice right now, and have the Simply Surfing package for the duration of the cruise.  It is very slow and feeble, but adequate, and pretty cheap with the loyalty discount.  A Speedtest just now gives a download speed of 0.61 Mbps, and 0.12 Mbps for upload.  We are able to upload photos to Facebook and send them through WhatsApp, and as attachments to email.  We can’t play any video clips on Facebook, no matter how short. 

Re the speed.

Cruise ships are notorious for being slow, but are we saying that "simply surfing" is set slower as it is cheaper I.e., the more expensive package is actually faster? 

9 minutes ago, sandy66 said:

You are only able to surf the web, text, check emails.  Not able to stream or Skype, FaceTime ,etc.

 Can you upload photos on Facebook?

30 minutes ago, sandy66 said:

I got the Simply Surfing package for $129 for an 11 day cruise on the Reflection..  Just called Customer Service and had no problems cancelling the original package and adding this new package.  I understand this is not showing on  anyone's cruise planner yet, I just found out about it when I called about the Sale.

 what does Simply Surfing restrict you to?

9 minutes ago, mamoore said:

No cancellation  charges.

thank you!

2 minutes ago, mamoore said:

I have just cancelled my 3 tours online and rebooked them no problem.

Any cancellation charges?