VOTS from Galveston

[STXCruisers]

We are faithful Celebrity cruisers living in Texas. We are considering taking our family (there are 7 of us) on a cruise. Hence, we are considering VOTS out of Galveston to save the airfare for 5 additional people:eek: and also to have more activities for the youngsters. Celebrity is pretty sedate. I'm hoping y'all can answer a few questions for me.

1. What is the smoking policy? This is a biggie for me and one of the reasons we are faithful to Celebrity is their smoking policy.

2. We are elite on Celebrity and I understand that we will be Diamond on RCL. Is that correct? Anyone know if the perks are similar to those on X?

3. Anyone have any experience with a family group in a family suite vs. multiple cabins? Guidance would be appreciated here.

Any other information you think of that I have not considered would be appreciated as well. I know I can count on you CC folks!

Doris

[Tucker in Texas]

We are faithful Celebrity cruisers living in Texas. We are considering taking our family (there are 7 of us) on a cruise. Hence, we are considering VOTS out of Galveston to save the airfare for 5 additional people:eek: and also to have more activities for the youngsters. Celebrity is pretty sedate. I'm hoping y'all can answer a few questions for me.

 

1. What is the smoking policy? This is a biggie for me and one of the reasons we are faithful to Celebrity is their smoking policy.

 

The biggest difference is they allow smoking on the balcony which they don't on Celebrity. They allow smoking on one side of the ship on the Lido deck by the pool. Smoking is allowed in the sports bar, a portion of the Schooner lounge and the casino. On formal nights they sometimes have non-smoking in the casino.

 

2. We are elite on Celebrity and I understand that we will be Diamond on RCL. Is that correct? Anyone know if the perks are similar to those on X?

They have a reception every night from 5:30 to 8:00 with free wine, champagne, and soft drinks. Other drinks are 25% off. No food other than trail mix. They have a special area for breakfast which includes speciality coffees for free. If you get a balcony or higher cabin you can get a discount. Not positive about that but it is free to ask. I think it is $100 on a 7-nighter. However, if you take that, you can't get any other discounts/benefits like owning stock, booking on board, etc. You get a worthless coupon book which is mostly BOGO or 25% off something you don't want anyway (lol). No free laundry other than $5 off a $25 or larger order. Maybe 15 minutes of internet free--can't remember exactly how long but not much particularly because the computers are slow so you can't do much with it other than print your boarding passes.

 

3. Anyone have any experience with a family group in a family suite vs. multiple cabins? Guidance would be appreciated here.

 

Can't help you there.

 

Any other information you think of that I have not considered would be appreciated as well. I know I can count on you CC folks!

 

 

Doris

 

 

Tucker in Texas

[STXCruisers]

Tucker in Texas, Thank you so much for your reply. It is really helpful. There are a lot of things to be considered in making our decision, but the cost of taking the family cruising would be much less on RCL out of Galveston (driving to port)than to fly somewhere and cruise X. I also think that the granchildren (ages 10 and 12) might enjoy RCL more with more activities for them. I wish RCL had a smoking policy like X has, but I don't think that would be a deal breaker.

Again, thanks so much for your help!

Doris