CruisinManiac

wallie5446 - I didn't factor in the water, soft drinks, coffee, and my favorite...fresh squeezed OJ, because I already have that in the N/A package. I was just trying to figure out if it was worth upgrading another $40 a day for the alcohol. Those N/A beverages also add up. :)

Usually an Academy Award, a hit TV show , or a Platinum album. :)

:D:D

Which NA package do you have? If you have the Premium, you can get your coffee, water, soda, etc., plus frozen drinks without alcohol, if that would satisfy your yen for something fun and tropical. I'm not much of a drinker, so I might try virgin cocktails and frozen drinks for the most part, and pay by the drink for the occasional alcohol.

The difference between classic NA and premium is only $4/day.

Upgrading to an alcohol package is closer to $40

It's the Classic, but you are a genius! Thank you for that suggestion. I believe that might be the ticket! :)

I know what makes beverages fall within the Classic category. I just wondered if my Uncle Stan fit the category. He's a lush from way back.

I think I must have been the only person that got your joke, earlier. :D

The info you want is not difficult to find. Go to Celebrity's website, click Life on Board, Wine and Beverage Packages, Premium and Classic Beverage Packages, and all 4 packages are listed with prices. Classic non-alcoholic is $16, Classic alcoholic is $49, so upgrade is $33+15%=$37.95 per day. T

 

You don't have to upgrade in advance. On board you could buy your drinks for a couple of days and look at your bill to see if you are spending more or less than $37.95, which is $7.59 per drink if you have 5 alcoholic drinks, and $6.33 for 6. It looks to me that you would come out more or less equal and save the hassel of signing for every drink.

Very helpful post! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions....especially answering the cost to upgrade. :)

Your total cost per day that I might drink/spend came to about what my husband and I figured out last night based on the drink calculation link that someone else posted. My husband says that I would never drink that much. :rolleyes: He is probably correct. We plan to test it out on a cruise that we are taking together before my girls trip. We both have the free Classic Package for that cruise. I am going to do my best to prove him wrong. :D

Happy Cruiser and Lois, thank you. I can see sitting out there on a nice, cool morning and having a egg and bacon Pannini, with a fruit cup. Add in a cup of coffee. :) I'd pay for that!

Yeah, once I can figure those out. :D

What makes an alcoholic "classic?"

vulvan - I did try a search and got some outdated, lengthy threads.

about what is included, and not included in the package. Perhaps I was not putting in correct terms. I will look at the link you found.

Still looking for how much would it be to upgrade my free non-alcoholic Classic package to the Classic alcoholic package for a 7 day cruise.

Is there a charge for breakfast and what's on the menu?

cruises r us - That's really unfortunate. Is the full description online?

pammi44 - It too bad that you did not take a taxi to Trunk Bay or Cinnamon Bay. Your tour was called St. John On-Your-Own. Those two beaches had some of the best snorkeling and pretty beaches. If you ever visit again, do take the ferry on your own and then a taxi to one of the beaches. ;)

I should say "upgrade to."

I am going on a Caribbean cruise this spring. I have been given a free Non-alcoholic package for my cruise. I do not typically drink that much alcohol, but I do like frozen drinks, Mimosa's, Bloody Mary's, Margarita's, G&T and an occasional glass of wine or beer. I will probably drink more than normal on my upcoming cruise with my friends. :D :)

Will I drink enough to offset the cost of upgrading to the Alcoholic Classic package?

Let's just say that I may have 1 Mimosa in the morning, 1 frozen drink after lunch, 2 Margarita's pre dinner, and 1 glass of wine at dinner. I may even go for another drink after dinner. No judgements! :D

I may not, and probably will not have that much to drink everyday of the cruise, but since I do not know how much each of those drinks would cost, I don't know if the upgrade would be to my advantage.

How much would it be to upgrade my non-alcoholic Classic package to the Classic alcoholic package for a 7 day cruise?

You should be able to order pizza or something from any of the hotels. The one on Sheridan St in Hollywood is closest to I-95, and there is a Denny's you can walk to.

Thank you. ;) I have been reading the reviews on this hotel. It sounds perfect for our needs. Doesn't include breakfast, but with a huge buffet awaiting at the ship, we don't need much and can grab a muffin or something in the airport to have in the room the next morning. :) Price is more reasonable than the other hotels, too!

What about entertainment and staff?

We just want to be able to get a shuttle to the hotel from the airport, grab a bite within walking distance (nothing fancy or heavy), and go to sleep. In the morning, we will have a service pick us up and head out to POM. Thought it might be easier for the driver if we were near the interstate to Miami and not have to go out of the way to pick us up. ;)

Thanks. That's the one we have stayed in before when cruising out of FLL. I was hoping another might be better. Wanted something a little different this time, but the 'same ole' has served us fine.;)

Could someone tell me which of the following FLL AIRPORT Holiday Inn Express is closet to the airport and easiest to leave from to go to the Port of Miami the next morning? One near some eateries would also be helpful. :)

http://www.hiexpress.com/hotels/us/en/reservation/searchresult?qAdlt=1&qBrs=6c.hi.ex.rs.ic.cp.in.sb.cw.cv.ul.vn&qChld=0&qDest=FORT+LAUDERDALE%2CFL%2CUnited+States&qFRA=1&qGRM=0&qIta=99504425&qPSt=0&qRRSrt=rt&qRef=df&qRms=1&qRpn=1&qRpp=12&qSHp=1&qSmP=3&qSrt=sBR&qWch=0&srb_u=1&icdv=99504425&siclientid=10074&sitrackingid=693762054&dp=true

We took a cruise with my parents many years ago on HAL. We got to the port and realized that my parents stateroom number was not what we booked (standard balcony.) It was suppose to be next to us. :( We argued with the check-in employee that they had to put my parents back next to us. We were told that there were no other staterooms. Well, when we got up to the stateroom floor (thankfully, they were on the same deck, only a few doors down) we realized that my parents had been upgraded to a Suite! We all enjoyed that Suite and the perks all week long. :)

BTW - I like your CC name. :D

8 in our family

You have 8 children who are diamond? :eek: What are their ages?

It was the Marriott Grand Flora. For full disclosure, my Mom travels all the time and stays at Marriott hotels. So she booked us the hotel on points. She also is Platinum, so we got upgraded to an "executive king" room and we had free breakfast :)

 

I'm Gold on Hilton, but didn't have enough points to cover our stay, so my Mom was generous enough to give us points!

 

The biggest thing that bothered us about Delta was that when we checked in at Alitalia, they didn't have our reservation or seats for us...twice.

Oh, glad you mentioned the room size. I meant to ask what room type you were in. Thank you. ;)

Beautiful review and memories of our May 2011 Med. cruise on the Equinox. :)

Could you tell me what the name of the Marriott hotel was where you stayed in Rome? Looks really nice.

BTW - We flew Delta and did not have any trouble with our flight. Of course not many snow storms in TN in May. :D

This year was the second time that we have been able to use RomeCabs in the past three years. We actually used RomeCabs services for airport transfers, cruise port transfers, day tours while in the Rome area, and also a tour to the Etruscan countryside.

We have had the privilege of having Stefano as our personal driver twice now. YAY!!! He is excellent and such a nice person. His drivers are also wonderful and do their best to answer questions about the Rome area.

I wanted to mention an experience we had with a RomeCabs driver (I think Alex) while touring a Tuscan town. We were in Montepulciano when it began to downpour. None of our tour group had umbrellas, so the driver stopped in a shop and bought us 3 umbrellas (one per couple.) :) That's what I call service!

The beach is larger than I had expected...some prior threads made it sound like the beach was quite small but not so. A few of the day pass folks wanted the resort shuttle to drop them off in town for some shopping rather than returning to the dock. This is not possible; from what I gathered, dropping off in town requires a taxi permit which the hotel shuttle does not have, so if that's your plan, expect to call a taxi for the return ride.

I was at the resort a little over a week ago and wanted to be dropped off in town afterwards. The resort shuttle did drop me off, but the Princess shuttle wouldn't let me buy a one way pass back to the ship. I was lucky enough to find one of the few taxis to take me back to the ship. If you want to stop at the town and then take the shuttle back, be sure and buy a round trip ticket for the ship's shuttle before leaving the ship.

At the end of May, we had no problem with the resort shuttle dropping us off. We had already purchased the round trip ship shuttle to get back to the ship from town.

BTW - We thought the beach was small. I guess it is what you are used to. It was about the size of most Caribbean and Med. beaches. Disappointing after you have seen the beaches in South Carolina (leaving for a week long vacation this weekend ..YAY! )or the Cayman's.

We stayed by the edge of the pool and enjoyed the ocean from above. here's some pics.

Beach - Not very wide or long

Infinity Pool

Bar and Grill

Villa's

View from suite

Lobby

Equinox

Deck - Panorama

Cabin # - 9268

Class – 1A

Starboard or Port Side - Midship Starboard facing forward on the Hump

Bed near?(balcony or bath) – Balcony

Quiet Cabin – NO! :( See comments

Balcony View – View was fine

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Location on mid hump so balcony was larger than normal, but the smaller of the two sizes of larger balconies. Plenty of room with no tunnel effect looking out from the stateroom.

Was wind a problem? - Not that we noticed. I guess it could be windy when the ship is moving.

Any specific problems with this cabin? Our stateroom was inundated with noise from a small storage room (that no one has mentioned) just outside our door, and connected to our bathroom wall. The stewards were always in that closet getting something out. The storage room also backs up to 9266, so I imagine that stateroom also gets noise. Seems that there was another storage room outside of 9264. These storage rooms are not reflected on the deck plans.

Along with the storage room noise, when our neighbors opened their door, it sounded like ours was being opened. :eek: Additionally, the wall would shake when they closed the door. I think that the configuration of the staterooms with doors being next to each other is the problem. On other cruiselines, there is a wall space between stateroom doors.

Any other comments? Stateroom is near the elevators, and you have to walk through the card room to get to and from stateroom (which feels weird at first) or take the long way down the hall.

NOTE: We heard no noise from the card room or the elevators. ;)

We loved the location of the bed near the balcony. Gave the stateroom a more open feel. Easy to go from dressing table to bathroom when ladies are getting ready.

Sofa is comfortable, but too long. Makes getting into the cramped closet very hard.

The bedside tables were adequate for our needs. There was also enough storage and we packed heavy for an 11 night Mediterranean cruise.

MORE

CruisinManiac - thanks for coming back with your very positive thoughts on Saint Johns. Did you phone them prior to leaving to let them know when to pick you up from the port and did you give them your credit card details when booking? Glad you had a great cruise - Pam

Wow- the hotel looks fabulous. I have just emailed them.

How long did you stay at the hotel for as we are thinking of having dinner back in town as we do not sail till midnight. Were the transfer times fixed or do they drive you back when you are ready to go?

Sorry that I am just now seeing these questions. ;)

We did not call before leaving on our cruise. Email was sufficient. We did go ahead and give our credit card number and a pick-up time. I faxed the form from my husbands office.

Our pick-up time was for 9:00am. When we arrived in Mykonos, it was slightly overcast, cool and windy. At that time, we regretted our decision, however, once we got over to the resort, the weather was beautiful! :)

We stayed about 5 hours, and this included check-in and check-out, plus a tour of a suite that we asked for. Very nice rooms with a view!

BTW - The driver was a few minutes late, and we were not sure where to meet. For those yet to go, either a van (with hotel name on the side) or a car type SUV will pick you up right in front of the ship (there is a row of parking spaces - not to be confused with the large parking lot that we were waiting near :rolleyes:).

When we were ready to leave, we had the pool bar phone the front desk for us. They sent the smaller SUV down to get us. Once leaving the resort, we asked to be dropped off in town. From town, you need to take the cruiseline shuttle back to the ship. There is a cost of about $5-$10 per person. Can't remember. We bought the bus pass - good for both ways) before leaving the ship.

We are back from a wonderful cruise, and the best, most relaxing day was our time at the St. Johns Resort, and in the town of Mykonos. :)

Thank you again for the suggestion to check St. Johns out. ;) Well worth the 30pp! The people couldn't have been any nicer to us. They even gave us a tour of a couple of rooms when we were leaving. Smart on their part, as we plan to return either by ship or for a land vacation. Loved Mykonos! I don't think I could love a place more than Santorini.

We spent the bulk of our time lounging next to the infinity pool, and took a short walk along the pebbly beach (not very big) where I found some sea glass. The restaurant, bar and bathroom facilities are nice.

Oh, watch out, the bar drinks are really strong! :eek:

Thanks! You can send the info to my Cruise Critic email at ccshipmates at hotmail dot com

I'll just send them another email through my Hotmail account. I had trouble getting email to Rome using my Comcast account, so maybe that's the problem.

For those that made recent inquires, how long did it take for you to hear back? I wrote yesterday morning EST, and given the time difference, I thought I would at least hear by this morning. Nothing as of yet. :(

I am writing the resort today! :) Hope they answer quickly. We leave Friday for Rome.