Celebrity Secrets they usually don't tell you about

[hajekfam]

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.

 

We have done about ten cruises with Celebrity including a couple of longer cruises - 14 night transatlantics on Celebrity - and there was never a bag special for laundry. They usually have a special the last day or so that waives the fee for quicker service.

Maybe there wasn't enough people sending clothes to the laundry to keep the employees working so they offered the special.

[ahoymatey3]

HAL knows how to do laundry. Various by-the-bag and 'unlimited' packages.

[Host Joe]

That is strange that we had it on our Celebrity cruise, and others have not. I will be interested to see if it happens again in a week on our next cruise!

[Char]

That is strange that we had it on our Celebrity cruise, and others have not. I will be interested to see if it happens again in a week on our next cruise!

I've never been on a Celebrity cruise that offered any laundry deals, either. We just got off the Infinity Hawaii cruise on Sunday, and it was NOT offered during this cruise.

[Barry ATL]

I thought I have read in this thread (way, way back) that you could get unlimited pressing for $30??

[ahoymatey3]

I thought I have read in this thread (way, way back) that you could get unlimited pressing for $30??

 

On HAL, yes. Celebrity is by the piece.

[Host Joe]

I've never been on a Celebrity cruise that offered any laundry deals, either. We just got off the Infinity Hawaii cruise on Sunday, and it was NOT offered during this cruise.

 

I am glad that you interjected that they did not do it on this past cruise. That will impact my packing plans! I had planned on taking advantage of that bag deal again. I just went through my documents from 03, just to make sure that I was not mixing that up with one of my other 14 cruises, and they did offer it then. It must have been a slow week in laundry or something! :)

[beccaburm]

Hubby and I are sailing Infinity/Celebrity for the first time in December -- Panama West to East passage. I have read all these posts and appreciate your info so very, very much. We have cruised in the past, but not recently -- have opted for land-based all-inclusives instead. But this hurricane season has hurt some of our favorites so we're trying a cruise again.

 

I have some questions and am grateful to anyone who can help.

 

1. Most importantly, advice on tipping. Of course we will do the standard end-of-cruise tips, but what is the amount that is appropriate for extra acts of service? I mean helping with dining room extra requests, room service extras, special room steward request, kindly bartenders, etc. We're a bit out of touch with cruise ship standards now.

 

2. Do Spa services have the gratuity built in?

 

3. Has anyone had a refrigerator that actually keeps things cool or do we need to bring a small fold-up cooler and add ice to keep sushi for a few hours?

 

4. I would love to hear you talk about the things you pack that are widgets and gizmos to make your trip better. We always take walkie-talkies, fight the airline wars carrying our own straw hats (we're from Texas and partial to ours!), large and small plastic baggies, a list of our prescriptions.

 

5. How is the sea-sickness factor on Infinity. Do I need to bring Bonine?

 

6. What is the food like in the buffet? I think I've got it on the dining room, pool grill, Spa lunches, etc. But I haven't heard anyone talk about whether going to the buffet is worth blowing off the main dining lunch or dinner.

 

Thanks all!

 

Becky

[safein]

Hi Becky!

 

I hope I can answer some of your questions.

 

1. Most importantly, advice on tipping. Of course we will do the standard end-of-cruise tips, but what is the amount that is appropriate for extra acts of service? I mean helping with dining room extra requests, room service extras, special room steward request, kindly bartenders, etc. We're a bit out of touch with cruise ship standards now.

 

For a bar server that we feel went above and beyond the call, we give either $10-20, depending on service and length of cruise. We don't do this for all the bartenders & service staff. For the others, it's generally a judgement call. It all depends and what you ask for and whether you feel it was worth the extra.

 

2. Do Spa services have the gratuity built in?

 

They have an automatic 15% added in. If you want, you can add more.

 

4. I would love to hear you talk about the things you pack that are widgets and gizmos to make your trip better. We always take walkie-talkies, fight the airline wars carrying our own straw hats (we're from Texas and partial to ours!), large and small plastic baggies, a list of our prescriptions.

 

There are several threads on this. Do a search on gadgets and you should be able to find the threads.

 

5. How is the sea-sickness factor on Infinity. Do I need to bring Bonine?

 

We were on the Infinity in April sailing across the Pacific with some rocky seas. Didn't need the Bonine!

 

6. What is the food like in the buffet? I think I've got it on the dining room, pool grill, Spa lunches, etc. But I haven't heard anyone talk about whether going to the buffet is worth blowing off the main dining lunch or dinner.

 

On Infinity, in addition to the regular buffet, there is a pasta station on both sides. They're good, but unless you time it right, you can find a line. In the very back of the ship, there is also another place you can get sandwiches and some theme/ethnic foods, like Indian & Mexican. In the AM, that's where they make the waffles!!!!!!!! YUM!

 

Enjoy the Infinity!

 

Anita

[beccaburm]

Anita, Thx so much for the info.

 

On the tipping, let me try my question again. As I said, we have been doing all-inclusive resorts. Tipping is "forbidden." We found that a $1.00 tip every day or two for a pool employee who tended us well made us heroes. $5.00 to a maitre d' in a specialty restaurant broke the code and got us reservations. A few extra dollars here and there to our housekeeper kept our rooms cleaned at the right time and brought extra ice and bed mints, etc.

 

But we haven't cruised in awhile. I don't want to insult with an extra tip that is far smaller than the norm. So specific questions: Do you tip extra for someone delivering "free" room service; if so how much? If the wait staff is delivering special requests, do you tip extra; if so how frequently and how much. If a bartender is doing generous pours, ditto?

 

As for gizmos and gadgets, I've read every post on this board and haven't seen much info on this. Is there another board where I might get more tips?

 

Thanks so MUCH!

 

Becky

[beccaburm]

Oh Anita, one more question re buffets. The area at the very back of the ship with theme foods and sandwiches -- is that in the buffet and/or in a different location or on a different deck?

 

Again thanks a lot.

 

Becky

[safein]

Becky,

 

There is a standard for tipping the cabin stewards, waiters and asst waiters. If they were helpful during the cruise, we would bump up their tip. For example, for the 2 of us and the tip based on the standard were $77 and we felt the extras they did were special, we would bump it up to at least $85.

 

You'll have to go to the main Celebrity board for the gadgets threads. I'll look through my subscribed threads to see if they're still around.

 

The waffle and sandwiches are in the rear of the buffet restaurant.

 

Anita

[Lsimon]

Beccaburm - Tipping is a pretty personal decision, but in the past:

- for room service we usually tip a couple of dollars for each delivery

- Matre'd usually we request little and tip the minimum if they make themselves known and do something for us, nothing if they don't. On our last cruise the Matre'd did a lot for us, including a couple of special seating requests and promises to take care of us on a future cruise. We tipped a few multiples of the suggested amount, but not until the end of the cruise. On prior lines we once started to have some issues getting a needed table change done and offered a $40 tip on the spot which changed the outlook quickly.

- We've tipped $20 to $40 for bartenders that really got to know us and provided excellent service.

- We've given similar tips to lounge entertainers we frequented and who have made out trip special.

- We usually have very good waiters and stewards and tip well above the suggested amounts when this is the case. On our last trip the assistant steward, who is not usually tipped directly, was great and we tipped him seperately as well.

Again - these are personal amounts and with a couple of exceptions were given at the end of the cruise to show our gratitude. Our general experiance on the Summit has been that we don't need advance or "on the spot tips" to get good service - it is always excellent so the tip is an after the fact show of our thanks. In fact we've actually had some "early" tips declined with a polite indication that we could take care of them at the end of the cruise.

 

The "buffet" on the Summit, probably the same for all the Millenium ships, had the standard buffet lines as you enter. You should note that there are actually two identical lines on each side (total of four) at busy times. The longest lines will be in the front. The shorter ones feed from the rear of the main buffet lines. All end in the "middle". So walk right past the lines in front if it is prime lunch or breakfast time and the lines are long! The specialty stations (omlettes in the morning, pasta or pizza later on) are one side or the other towards the aft. In the far rear, just inside the aft outdoor seating area, but in the same part of the ship as the buffet lines, is the area which has nice sandwiches & specialty food at lunch, waffles in the morning and sushi in the evening. At lunch we always tour the entire cafe area, and the spa cafe, before deciding what to eat.

 

You'll really find the service on these ships is excellent, and you'll be surprised what you can get if you ask for it!

[safein]

Larry,

 

I forgot all about the omlette stations. The set-ups are the same on all the Millie class ships, having been on 3 out of 4. Thanks!

 

Anita

[coleridge]

Hi,

 

I see you went on the great Mary.We would love that . Would you recommend it?

 

Coleridge

 

 

I am glad that you interjected that they did not do it on this past cruise. That will impact my packing plans! I had planned on taking advantage of that bag deal again. I just went through my documents from 03, just to make sure that I was not mixing that up with one of my other 14 cruises, and they did offer it then. It must have been a slow week in laundry or something! :)

[Host Joe]

Coleridge,

 

We did go on the QM2, and it was a great experience, although we were so built up about it that we were a little disappointed. My advice would be to pick your itinerary carefully, as if you do a caribbean cruise you should brace yourself for tendering in nearly every port. I personally would go on her again, but only on maybe a transatlantic. That way you are on her for a good solid few days to see everything onboard, but don't have to worry about the hassles of tendering constantly. The other reason that I would not do a caribbean itinerary is that her outside decks have minimal pool areas, she is really built to be a transatlantic liner.

[beccaburm]

Thanks so much for your excellent feedback. I love this board.

 

If you're doing land-based resort travel, www.tripadvisor.com is equally helpful.

 

Becky & Richard

[Brucemcdou]

Hi, Beccaburm - You've posted some good questions and I concur with the answers you've gotten. Like LSimon, we've occasionally offered tips up front, such as $20 to our steward on boarding day when we asked him to rearrange the beds and make sure our room is made up early in the day, and had it politely declined. So other than slipping a Maitre d' a $20 to take care of a seating issue, and $2-3 cash for the person who delivers a room service order, we now just tip at the end, and generally tip over the recommended amounts. To us the "recommended" amount is really a minimum for passable service, and we tip over for anything beyond that, never less.

 

One thing we've realized recently is that the bar servers and wine stewards really take note of you if you order expensive drinks or wine early on. On a recent cruise, we ordered two glasses of the "expensive" champagne in the theater the first night, and that bar server would spot us coming in every night from then on and insist on taking care of us, even if he had to scoot across the room. The same thing with the wine steward in the dining rooms: if we order an expensive bottle the first night you can be sure he/she is at our table immediately every night after that. We also tip the servers or wine stewards extra at the end of the cruise.

 

Re: gizmos, there are some threads you could find, but probably the best point is that there is only one US - style outlet in most of the cabins, so you'll either have to switch things around to charge your camera/phone/iPod/computer, etc., or bring a power strip or at least a "christmas tree" plug to have enough outlets. Also, there's no clock in the cabins, other than suites, so a lighted alarm clock is a good idea if you want to know what time it is when you wake up in the night. A night light helps to find the way to the bathroom.

[brrgrr]

NOW your post makes sense. All by itself it gave no info as to why you were angry. Hope you enjoy the cruise as best you can...I share the frustration you feel, as last winter on the Dawn Princess over New Years we lost 2 ports , as well as geting to Curaco on a Sunday when the shops we closed. Left a sour taste in many a mouth.

[canderson]

Also, there's no clock in the cabins, other than suites, so a lighted alarm clock is a good idea if you want to know what time it is when you wake up in the night.

No "secret", but a tip, especially for those with inside cabins. If you leave the TV set to the channel for the bridge cam, you'll find that it displays the time in white. Typically, it's pitch black out there all night, and all you'll see on the screen is the time (and temperature? can't recall) You can set the brightness on tube as you like.

[coleridge]

I hear you and that is just what we want to do,the transatlantic. Good luck on your Infinity adventure. coleridge

 

Coleridge,

 

We did go on the QM2, and it was a great experience, although we were so built up about it that we were a little disappointed. My advice would be to pick your itinerary carefully, as if you do a caribbean cruise you should brace yourself for tendering in nearly every port. I personally would go on her again, but only on maybe a transatlantic. That way you are on her for a good solid few days to see everything onboard, but don't have to worry about the hassles of tendering constantly. The other reason that I would not do a caribbean itinerary is that her outside decks have minimal pool areas, she is really built to be a transatlantic liner.

[Host Joe]

Thanks very much!

[beccaburm]

I appreciate the info and the tips!

 

Becky & Richard

[becca23]

Larry,

 

I forgot all about the omlette stations. The set-ups are the same on all the Millie class ships, having been on 3 out of 4. Thanks!

 

Anita

 

When are you going to sail on the "Mercury." Some say best of the fleet:)

 

Becky and David

 

P.S. Phil is a walking advert for her, and very protective of her.

[DougB]

 

4. I would love to hear you talk about the things you pack that are widgets and gizmos to make your trip better. We always take walkie-talkies, fight the airline wars carrying our own straw hats (we're from Texas and partial to ours!), large and small plastic baggies, a list of our prescriptions.

 

My favorite cruise gadget is my iPod - and not just for music. One of the handiest accessories is the Camera Connector. It's a small adaptor that allows you to connect your digital camera to the iPod to transfer pictures.

 

This works best with one of the full size iPods, with the large storage capacity - a 30 or 60GB iPod can store a LOT of music AND a LOT of pictures. Not as useful with an iPod Mini or Nano, with the relatively limited capacity.

 

The adapter is only about $30. Even if you don't already have an iPod, it may be worth it just for picture storage on a long cruise - compared to either buying larger larger memory sticks for the camera, or the time and aggravation of using the ship;s facilities for transferring images to CD's, I think the cost is reasonable - oh, and you have a rather nice music player as well :)

 

If you have an older iPod (with the black and white screen) there is a similar device made by Belkin called the Media Reader which let's you put in various types of memory cards to transfer the files to the iPod - you can't actually view the images on the older iPods like you can with the last couple of models, but it still works great for storage until you get home.