MDTrip

Can anyone tell me where the interior connecting door is located? Do they take out the bookshelf's and put it there. Or is it between the bookshelf and the t.v.?

If anyone has a pic they can post that would be great. TIA

I was on Connie in Feb 2014. Cabin 8111 - Concierge balcony room. You entered the room and and the closet was on the left (bath on the right) after the closet was the TV with the refrigerator below it. Then the connecting door. Then the mirrored wall. Then lastly as we walked toward the balcony, was the desk.

The wall to the left as you walked in had the bath, then the beds, then the sofa.

The door did allow you to hear voices and TV in the other room. It was not too objectionable as our neighbors did not stay up much later than we did. But if you have loud neighbors, late neighbors or children next door, it can be annoying.

Celebrity with Service Dog -Trip Report

We cruised on Celebrity Constellation Feb 13, 2014 for 4 nights.

Tommi, my friend, is legally blind and her service dog "Gary" is from Leader Dogs for the Blind. He is a 72 pound male black lab, 3 years old. She has had Gary for 1.5 years.

- Boarding - we were told to say we needed "Pier Assistance" and were taken in the terminal to the line for wheelchairs, and it was much shorter than the regular check in line. Our entire party (two cabins, total four people, were welcome to use this special line.) After the first part of check in, we were told we had to wait for the Documentation Officer to come off the ship to review Gary's papers. There was a 20 minute delay for this, as we were told the officer has to come through customs to get off the ship. Gary's papers were in order. (The officer had to keep them so be sure to make a copy for yourself in advance.)

We were told that as soon as we boarded at 11:30 AM, go to Guest Relations and they would have someone take us to the dog relief area. This did not happen. They told us the assistant housekeeper would meet us in our stateroom. Staterooms were not ready until 1:30 and the housekeeper would not be available until then. Housekeeper did not come to the stateroom, so we called Guest Relations, asked several people, and finally she found us. She is not the person who changes the sheets, mind you, she is an officer-level employee. She took us to the box.

The box was supposed to be 4 feet by 4 feet, but it was actually only 3 feet by 3 feet. It was on deck 4, you had to go behind a large tarp that was flapping in the breeze and down a hallway into an area that was crew only. This was a maintenance area that had garden hoses on the floor, power equipment plugged in and charging, making a lot of noise and various other carts and obstacles and several crew talking on cell phones. Gary navigated these things just fine. But the box was in a hallway. The walls on both sides were steel, and it had open portholes high up with no glass, so there was a breeze, but I think Gary thought he was inside a building. He would not use the box. Tommi travels a lot with Gary and he goes anywhere, on command, but he would not go here.

We requested that the box (which was filled with cedar landscaping mulch) be moved to the outside deck (instead of the hallway) and were told this was not possible due to marine regulations that if the wind were to cause any of the mulch to blow overboard, there would be an environmental fine. We asked to have the box made bigger and got limited response. They finally agreed to build a bigger box, but still nothing happened. We tried Gary several more times and he would not use the area. I even had brought a bag of dirt with urine from another dog mixed into it, and sprinkled this on the mulch, but Gary still would not pee.

We talked to at least 6 other crew members and two different officers, and nothing was done. Finally we tipped a lower level crew member $20 and he and another man moved the box from the hallway to an outside area on the deck, but still nothing from Gary. Then the ship’s carpenter came with the Chief Housekeeping officer. Again we requested a bigger box. Instead they brought another box of mulch, which was 2 feet by 2 feet and three pieces of sod and pieced together a larger area. All the pieces of sod had only dead grass covered with mold. It was pretty nasty. We exercised Gary vigorously on deck and a few hours later, Gary finally peed on the box/sod area at 6:30 PM. After that, he went on command every time, just like the perfect dog that he is!

Needless to say, we were very anxious and this first day of the cruise was a total loss. However, Tommi is going on a second cruise this summer with her husband, so it was all worth it in the end!! The crew kept saying that sometimes dogs have difficulty adjusting, but given that Gary has always gone anywhere, on command, we did not expect this much trouble.

We had been told that the box would be in a place convenient to our cabin, but it was not. It was starboard deck 4 forward, and our cabin was port, deck 8, mid-ship. I am glad Tommi is very able-bodied as this was quite a distance.

Life Preserver:

We had read that some cruise lines provide life jackets for service dogs, but Celebrity does not. We bought one and brought it to the muster drill. We asked if it could be stored at our muster station. They checked with the safety officer, who decided it should be stored in our cabin, and that if there was an emergency declared that was not during sleeping hours when we were in our cabin, that we were to go directly to our muster station and someone from the crew would go to our cabin to get Gary’s life jacket and bring it to our muster station. I would think this policy may vary from ship to ship, or cruise line to cruise line.

Ports:

We went to Nassau, Bahamas (did all the prior paperwork for the Bahamian government) but decided not to get off the ship due to all the crime we had heard about in the Bahamas and felt like we might be a target with Gary and a person who is obviously blind. The Bahamas faxed the necessary paperwork quite quickly, but it took 1.5 months for the original to arrive by snail mail.

The other stop was Key West, where we had to pass through immigration before leaving the ship. After they viewed our passports, one of the immigration officers asked for Gary’s papers and when I handed them over, he didn’t even look at them, he just waved us on.

Summary:

After the initial problem with the box, everyone on the ship was very accommodating and gave us tables near the wall, so Gary would not get stepped on. Passengers were also great and Gary was a magnet for making friends.

Many thanks to all of you who have posted previously on this thread.

Hello all, my wife and I (both 29) are planning a cruise to Bermuda from NY. It seems that the two best options are NCL and Celebrity. We have been doing a lot of research on both ships and it seems they both have their pros and cons. We are looking for some help in deciding which ship to go with. We have two little kids but are going sans kids this trip. We both love trying new foods and will be planning on drinking as well. We don't go out much but would like the options on the ship to do so. We generally are laid back but wouldn't mind a little more hustle and bustle. Since we won't have any kids we would like as many options as possible without overdoing it. However, we do want to be on a clean well kept ship with the best food and nicest staterooms possible. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Sailed Summit to Bermuda last summer. Breakaway was there at the same time. Our taxi driver said that the "score" among the people he had driven was that Summit won, hands down. I will warn you, however, that you will be among the youngest people on the ship. There were a few in their 20's and a few honeymooners, but the average age would be over 60, I would guess.

We loved the Summit (but we are 59 and 62.) And would do it again in a heart beat.

Just following the thread looking for Dailys... thank you to whomever posts them.

Going on Celebrity Constellation in two weeks out of Ft. Lauderdale. It says boarding time is 11:30. Does that mean the earliest you can board is at 11:30 or that you can start checking in at 11:30?

We want to be on very early as my friend is blind and will be using a service dog. We want to get on the ship ASAP so we can check out the "potty" area provided for the dog to make sure it will all work out before we sail.

What time would you recommend we arrive at the port?

Thanks.

Going on Connie in two weeks out of Ft. Lauderdale. It says boarding time is 11:30. Does that mean the earliest you can board is at 11:30 or that you can start checking in at 11:30?

We want to be on very early as my friend is blind and will be using a service dog. We want to get on ASAP so we can check out the "potty" area provided to make sure it will all work out before we sail.

What time would you recommend we arrive at the port?

Thanks.

Going on Celebrity with my visually impaired friend cruising with her black lab, Gary, for the first time. I have two questions for those who have Celebrity experience. I have not found the answers on this forum, so any help would be appreciated.

1. They supply cedar chips. Is this like hamster cage shavings? or like the chunks of cedar bark you would use around landscaping? or something else? I can't picture either being absorbent enough for two days of urine. (Celebrity said they change it every other day.)

2. I read that Celebrity put the box in a crew closet. If Gary will not "PARK" indoors, will celebrity move the box to a deck outside?

3. Once we check in, who or where do we go to have someone show us where the box is?

Thanks very much.

Lynn

(Lab lover -- on my fifth lab. The last one, "Lois" lived to one month shy of 16!)

I drink wine and after tasting the wine on the Classic Pkg, I quickly upgraded to Premium Pkg. I am not a wine snob by any means. I usually pay about $10 - $12 per bottle in a store. I felt that the wines on the Classic Pkg tasted like $7 per bottle wines.