Celebrity Secrets they usually don't tell you about

[safein]

Hi Night RN!

 

Here's some answers for questions you asked. Wish I could answer them all!

 

I just booked a 14-night round-trip Hawaiian cruise on the Summit for myself, mother-in-law and two sister-in-laws. My travel agent said that Celebrity and Royal Caribbean were related somehow. Does that mean that most routines on the Summit will be similar to the Monarch of the Seas, such as dinner, shows, etc?

 

No. Even though they are the same owners, everything will be very different between the 2. There will be somethings similar, like the Baked Alaska parade! :p

 

My husband and I are talking about taking our 4 kids on an Alaskan Cruise on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas in 2007. Can I book that on the Celebrity cruise?

 

Yes, you can. Of course, you might also want to check out what Celebrity is offering too, but you can book any RCI's cruises onboard the Summit.

 

Do they do the "martini tasting" on the Summit?

 

They do it on all Celebrity vessels. Just watch out for it on the daily newsletter, letting you know when.

 

I've been told that 70% of the people on this cruise are over retirement age. Is this true? Will myself and sister-in-laws be bored for the 7 days that we'll be at sea because of this age difference?

 

Go and look for the roll call for the Summit here on the Boards. We did the April Hawaii cruise on the Infinity and there was a good mix of ages. If you booked the one for the end of March, there is a very active roll call going on. And don't forget to register for the Cruise Critic party before you leave.

 

Am I correct in thinking that on the Summit you pay for the Persian garden, but not the Thalassotherapy pool? We're in concierge class if that makes a difference.

 

Neither suite nor concierge class gets free passes for the Persian Gardens. That could change, hopefully!

 

<We'll be celebrating my sister-in-law's graduation. Will the ship do anything special or can we order a cake or something?>

 

Have your TA double check with the cruiseline. They do have a special celebrations package that you can use to decorate her cabin. But since you'll be on the Summit, how about making reservations when you board for the Normandie restaurant. It's an extra charge, but well worth it!

 

Hope this helps!

 

Anita

[safein]

Double post!

 

Anita

[safein]

hic! Hic! Boards are hitting the Martini Bar!

 

Anita

[NightRN]

Thanks Anita for the info. Is there anywhere that has a menu for the Normandie restaurant? It sounds kind've exotic.

 

I was looking at doing the Alaska cruise on the Radiance because we need the room in the Royal Family Suite for the 6 of us. I couldn't find any rooms that compare to that on the Celebrity boat. It also has the rock-climbing wall for one son, golf simulator for my husband, sports deck for other son, miniature golf for daughter, video games for third son, self-levelling pool tables for the guys & hopefully something for me - if not, at least I won't have to listen to them whine about being bored! ;)

 

When my travel agent asked if we were celebrating a birthday or special occasion, I did mention my sister-in-law's graduation. She asked what day we wanted to celebrate it, so I randomly picked the second day that we would be on the ship. She made a comment about how that was a formal night. I don't know if it was good or bad or even what a formal night is, but I was wondering if they would do something or not, since she asked.

[canderson]

When my travel agent asked if we were celebrating a birthday or special occasion, I did mention my sister-in-law's graduation. She asked what day we wanted to celebrate it, so I randomly picked the second day that we would be on the ship. She made a comment about how that was a formal night. I don't know if it was good or bad or even what a formal night is, but I was wondering if they would do something or not, since she asked.

You're using a travel agent, and don't yet know what a "formal night" is? Might be time to look into getting a new travel agent who is more communicative. This is PRECISELY the sort of thing that they should be earning their keep explaining to their clients, especially those new to cruising. Sorry for the rant --- but they didn't do you any favors by not helping you there.

 

Before you travel, by all means get on the RCCL web site and acquaint yourself with the particulars of cruising with RCCL. So you're not caught with any surprises, here are a couple of excerpts:

 

 

 

What are the dress codes onboard?

There are three distinct types of evenings onboard: casual, smart casual and formal. Suggested guidelines for these nights are:

Casual: Sport shirts and slacks for men, sundresses or pants for women

Smart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or pantsuits for women

Formal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women

 

3 to 4 - night cruises include one formal night and the remainder nights are casual.

5 - night cruises include one formal and the remainder nights casual.

6 - night cruises include two formal nights, one smart casual and the remainder nights casual.

7 to 9 - night cruises include two formal nights, one smart casual night and the remainder nights casual.

10 to 13-night cruises include two formal nights, two smart casual nights, and the remainder nights casual.

14+ - night cruises include three formal nights, four smart casual nights and the remainder nights casual.

 

We appreciate your usual parental guidance and cooperation in observing these easy guidelines with your children.

 

Do you offer Special Occasion Cakes?

Royal Caribbean offers Birthday, Anniversary and Special Occasion Cakes fleet wide for a nominal fee of $7.95 USD.

 

There are two types of cakes available: Chocolate sponge cake with chocolate butter cream or Vanilla sponge cake with vanilla butter cream, both are decorated with flowers on the left side of the cake. These cakes are 6" round and serve 2-10 people. The name (or names) will be written on the cake with a candle placed on top. A minimum of 6 hours advance notice is required. All cakes that are ordered by 12 noon will be served that evening in the main dining room.

 

The cake will be charged to your Seapass card or credit card upon request at time of ordering the cake onboard the ship.

 

If you do not wish to purchase a cake, inform your waiter of the special occasion and a "slice of cake" will be provided for the birthday, anniversary or special event. This slice of cake, provided in our main dining room, will be based on the daily cake offerings for that evening. This will serve one person and there is no additional charge. There will be a "happy birthday" or "happy anniversary" placquered on top of the slice of cake.

[NightRN]

There are three distinct types of evenings onboard: casual, smart casual and formal. Suggested guidelines for these nights are:

Casual: Sport shirts and slacks for men, sundresses or pants for women

Smart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or pantsuits for women

Formal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women

 

Does this mean I can't wear jeans?????:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

 

My mother-in-law is in a wheelchair. How am I going to get her into a formal dress?:confused:

[coleridge]

[Hi Heather,

 

Longing to hear your report of the Summit cruise. Are you rested and ready to give it? We will be going on the Christmas cruise to Hawaii and are wanting to hear the latest. Coleridge

 

 

QUOTE=HeatherInFlorida]We're leaving on the Summit next Sunday (10/23) for a 2 week cruise L.A. to Ft. Lauderdale. I'll be doing a review when I return and let you know.

 

No matter what may be said here and there on these boards, I have friends who cruised her this past April for 11 days and had the time of their live. So...............

:rolleyes:

[Char]

Does this mean I can't wear jeans?????:eek: :eek:

 

My mother-in-law is in a wheelchair. How am I going to get her into a formal dress?:confused:

I believe you are asking about Celebrity, right? It is a bit more formal than Royal Caribbean in it's dress expectations. Jeans are allowed during the day, but NOT at night in the dining rooms or public rooms. NEVER in the Normandie.

 

On formal nights your mother-in-law can wear a nice dressy top and basic black pants--or if she doesn't do pants, a nice dress that would be appropriate for an evening wedding or other fancy social event would be just fine. Simple dresses and tops can be accessorized to make them more formal looking.

 

Some will be dressed to the nines with tuxes and long formal gowns, while others with have on dark suits & ties and cocktail dresses. We have seen sports coats and "church" dresses on formal nights, but that is the rarity on Celebrity.

 

Celebrity doesn't have the "smart casual" that RCL has. It is the traditional "Informal", which is what we have come to regard as semi-formal. Sport coats and ties are "required" according to the daily newsletter (Celebrity Today) that you will get in your cabin. The first day when you board check out the daily schedule of dress for the whole cruise. It will tell you on the fiont page which nights are formal etc.

 

There will be a martini tasting on the first night (the day you board) , so look for the times-- in the little "ad" for the Martini Bar on the back of the Celebrity Today. Usually from 5:00 to 6:00 and from 7:00 to 8:30, but times may vary slightly from ship to ship depending on sailaway schedule. There will be a second tasting during the 2nd week of 2 week or longer cruises.

 

Here is the link to the Celebrity FAQ about dress:

Celebrity dress requirements

 

Enjoy your Celebrity experience :)

 

PS--here is something else from the Celebrity web site:

Evening Dress Codes

Celebrity's evening dress codes include three types: formal, casual and informal. The daily program, delivered to your stateroom and available at the Guest Relations Desk, will be your guide to the appropriate evening attire.

 

Formal Night Attire

Ladies: Evening gown or fancy dress

Gentlemen: Tuxedo, dinner jacket or dark suit

 

Informal Night Attire

Ladies: Informal dress or pants and blouse

Gentlemen: Jacket and tie with slacks

 

Casual Night Attire

Ladies: Pantsuit or sporty outfit

Gentlemen: Sport shirt and slacks

 

Dining in jeans detracts from the overall ambience and is therefore not allowed in the main dining room after 6:00pm.

Evening dress codes apply to main restaurant dining. Specialty restaurant dining*, requires a jacket for gentlemen and a dress or pants and a blouse for ladies every night.

 

Before Six

Dining options abound aboard Celebrity. For breakfast and lunch, jeans, shorts and casual daywear are allowed in all dining venues before 6:00pm. After 6:00pm, this attire is allowed only in casual restaurants and cafés.

[tomatopa]

i didn't think jeans and shorts were ever allowed in the dining room. BUT you are saying they are allowed at breakfast and lunch? i think that will be nice as then you don't have to change for the day time. please let me know if i have understood correctly. thanks, all.

[canderson]

I believe you are asking about Celebrity, right?

I don't think so. She was referring to Radiance (RCCL) for her Alaska trip.

 

"I was looking at doing the Alaska cruise on the Radiance because we need the room in the Royal Family Suite for the 6 of us."

 

Perhaps she was talking about another cruise, but that's where the "formal" issue arose.

[NightRN]

Actually, my concern was with the Celebrity cruise, but it's good to know in case we do go with the Alaskan cruise.

 

Thank you so much for all of the information.

[senior lady]

All that info comes from the Celebrity site. We're going on a 10 day Mexican cruise this friday and it looks like.............

 

5-casual

2-informal

3-formal

 

only 3 more sleeps:D

[Lois R]

i didn't think jeans and shorts were ever allowed in the dining room. BUT you are saying they are allowed at breakfast and lunch? i think that will be nice as then you don't have to change for the day time. please let me know if i have understood correctly. thanks, all.

 

Hi, Yes you are allowed to wear jeans in the dining room

during breakfast and lunch.

[CruzinSuz]

We'll be on Mercury 12/12 for an 11 night cruise. I see that someone has said that Celebrity does not do smart casual for informal nights as they do on RCCL. Myself and DH will be doing smart casual on those nights. We cruise often and have a very nice wardrobe for doing so. We'll take what we normally do and hope we don't get chucked overboard!!!!:)

[tomatopa]

Before Six

Dining options abound aboard Celebrity. For breakfast and lunch, jeans, shorts and casual daywear are allowed in all dining venues before 6:00pm. After 6:00pm, this attire is allowed only in casual restaurants and cafés.

 

does the above mean you can wear nice shorts to breakfast and lunch in the dining room? thanks

[Char]

does the above mean you can wear nice shorts to breakfast and lunch in the dining room? thanks

 

Yes, the Celebrity site says that you can, and that is indeed the practice on all the 19 Celebrity cruises we have been on....as long as they are not short shorts or cut offs and no halter tops or midriffs exposed, though.

[ahoymatey3]

They will lie to you, not hold up their end of the bargain, and generally treat you poorly. "be treated famously" is a total and complete lie.

[getaway101]

ahoymatey3...........I see you sailed on the Maasdam. How did you like that ship and company? How would you compare them to X? We are sailing on the Maasdam in 4 weeks.

[ahoymatey3]

Overall, I had a great time, and loved the maasdam. Here's a link to a review I did of the trip:

 

http://www.cruisereviews.com/HollandAmerica/Maasdam35.htm

[hajekfam]

Ahoymatey is on the Millie transatlantic cruise next week. If you check the rollcall you will find that we (the transatlantic cruisers) feel we have been lied to by Celebrity reps - not just once but twice - last year when they decided to put the ship in drydock and changed the date from 11/6 to 11/18 and just again this past weekend when they changed the drydock site and moved our cruise again to 11/20. It is hard to get a straight answer from Customer Service, the Captain's Club, etc.

I am a loyal Celebrity cruiser and have only cruised them since 1992 and am feeling rather let down by their attitude regarding this cruise. The whole fiasco with this trans is causing me to think about considering other lines besides Celebrity for our next cruise.

[Faygelah]

I'm on the same cruise as ahoymatey3 and hajekfam. I share their frustration. I have only sailed Celebrity and have been so pleased with them that on this trip I am taking both my in-laws and my parents. The Celebrity secret that I have learned is that you don't necessarily get treated famously when things go wrong, and that their so-called customer service folks give you totally different service than their staff onboard. We have been given the runaround on our cruise.

 

We are being delayed two days in Barcelona (I know, there are worse places to be stuck) and Celebrity is providing us with hotel rooms far away from the center of town -- hotel rooms that I could reserve myself for $100/ night on the Internet-- and they won't provide any meals beside breakfast or transportation into the city. Our cruise deleted two (of four) ports and when we try to get some help with making all these last minute changes to our travel plans, the customer service folk act as if they can't be bothered with us in addition to giving us misleading conflicting information.

 

ahoymatey3 isn't whining; he's deservedly angry.

[ahoymatey3]

thanks for the support, hajekfam and faygelah.

[ahoymatey3]

Your profile shows you have yet to cruise with X. Is there more to the story that might be told?

 

Any other questions? I think hajekfam and faygelah expressed my feelings quite well.

[amyr]

Well, guys, to be fair, isn't wasn't so much that the Celebrity reps weren't helpful as the wild tales they told us, from "It's a website error and the techies won't be in until Monday to fix it" to "You'll be sailing on Infinity (currently in Hawaii) because Millie won't be out of drydock in time" to "You'll be able to board Millie for three days in Barcelona while she's at wetdock." Just today in our roll call, someone posted that their travel agent was informed that she would sail on 11/18 as planned!

 

I appreciate the logistical nightmare that Celebrity has on their hands, but the lies and nastiness from some of the reps was very, very poor.

 

I'm fortunate to have sailed Celebrity before, so I know that if we actually depart on this cruise and the crew isn't too stressed out from missing their 12 day drydock vacation and dealing with angry passengers, we're in for a delightful vacation.

 

The Celebrity secret: They're not giving their phone personnel the tools they need to do their job properly and it's a shame - for them and for us.

[Host Joe]

I just finished reading this entire thread, very cool.

 

I have something to add... quite a few pages ago someone asked about whether there is every a "bag" special for laundry on a long cruise... in November of 03 we did an 11 night Hawaii on the Infinity, and towards the middle or latter part of the cruise, they had a one-day special for, I think $10-$12, all of the clothes we could fit into these plastic bags. The laundry was delivered cleaned and folded the next day. It was very nice.

 

We are on the 14 night Hawaiian Infinity cruise on 11/20/05, and I will report back if they offered that again.