drarill

Not an easy situation, in port at Maui until midnight. This means many passengers on tours, etc., not back for MDR times. OK, as one such person, still hoping at 8:20 for my traditional Thanksgiving foods at the buffet, I was extremely disappointed to find no turkey dark meat, no mashed potatoes, and nothing remotely resembling American Thanksgiving desserts. Oddly, there was a big cake that had Happy Thanksgiving Day written in frosting. OK, I chose a cruise that included a long port stop that interfered with dinner service, but I'm baffled by Celebrity's failure to come through for the hundred or so passengers who need mashed potatoes and something resembling pie for it to feel right. I will live through this and it will not ruin my cruise, but it seems like the kind of thing onboard staff usually plans and executes better.

Hope you have a great cruise. We cruised once for Thanksgiving but dined at MDR, and the food was fantastic. I still think that my aunt's turkey is the best, and agree with "spookwife", if you want a traditional Thanksgiving, then you should stay home.

Anyone stayed at the Miami Marriott Airport Hotel for a pre cruise stay. Any information would be appreciated.

Go to the North-America home port board (Florida Departures forum) for more information. Karen@Steve is right this thread is probably going to be closed.:)

You are not nuts!! enjoy your GS and the beautiful Allure!!

You are so correct about the suites. My November cruise was my first in a suite on NCL and I won't travel any other way after that experience.

Wow!! we were agreeing on each other posts at the same time!:):) Happy Thanksgiving!!

I would have to disagree with the poster who said the food on NCL is bad. I've never eaten in the MDR on NCL, so I can't speak to that, but the food in the specialty restaurants is excellent. I just got off a NCL cruise this month and ate a couple times in the steak restaurant and a couple times in the Teppanyaki restaurant and once in the Italian restaurant and would not hestitate to recommend them all. And on the buffet, NCL's pasta bar, IMHO, is much better than the one on Celebrity (sauces much better, the ones on Celebrity were very runny, not so on NCL).

 

If food is really a big item on your agenda, you might want to try Crystal.

I agree with you!! NCL specialty restaurants are excellent, my children had the best time in the Teppanyaki. As suite guests we had breakfast and lunch in Cagneys, and it was so good. We did try the MDR and were disappointed with the service and food quality.

We are early 30s. My husband is a night owl and I'm an asleep by ten gal. We like to do things together. Nothing crazy. I appreciate what you said about NCLs food. That's major for us. We literally are from the second we got on to the second we left. It's one of the main things we connect on. :) to say the food is bad is enough for us to not go! Thank you so much. You may be only one person to say that but it would only take one for us to vote against it when we have others to choose from! Thank you so much ariawoman!!!

The only way we cruise with NCL is on a suite and booking specialty restaurants every night. NCL knows how to treat their suite guests, we have enjoy suites on NCL, RCCL, Disney and Celebrity and no other line treats their suite guests like NCL. Their specialty restaurants are actually really good. We chose them for our two cruises to Alaska looking for a family oriented cruise. There were over 700 hundred children on our last one and my kids had a blast. We are D+ in Royal and have fallen in love with Celebrity. We usually cruise with RCCL on caribbean itineraries, the Oasis and Allure are incredible ships and the entertainment there is the best. If you want to have fun and enjoy good shows, I'll recommend either ship for an anniversary cruise. RCCL is changing their smoking policy after January 1st, to us, that is a plus. During the summer we like to go to Europe and Celebrity is our favorite cruise line there. I like their itineraries, their ships, excellent service and food. We also have cruise with Disney, but you can wait until you have children for them. :):) Hope this helps!

Not often we get to see Adventure on the PTZtv webcams. She is on her way into Port Aruba right now

 

http://www.portarubawebcam.com

Great picture!! thanks for sharing, already booked on the Adventure after the 2014 revitalization.:):)

Ahhhh, so it was a hump cabin. These are very popular with certain cruisers. One would surmise that somebody with a little "pull" managed to get somebody at X to switch your cabin so they could get the hump. If you want to have some fun, stop by your old cabin (on the cruise) and use some charm on the residents to learn the truth. A line like "I sure would love to get one of these hump cabins, how long ago did you book it?" might answer some of your questions :)

 

Hank

Excellent idea!!! Hope Catch-a-ray takes your advice!!:):)

We had 8 old points and they gave us 25 extra new points. Our grand total is 265 points, still short of being a real Elite. BTW, we have enjoyed Elite status since our first Celebrity cruise through the reciprocity with C&A where we are D+. Just booked our next cruise with Celebrity next summer , this one (11 nights on a RS), will make us a real Elite. :):) 132 extra points!!:)

Many suite guests and that includes me are not one time wonders and are in fact repeat suite cruisers. On my last 3 cruises in a suite on Independence we have not been able to use the CL because of overcrowding in there at peak times.

No empty seats and a Concierge who is run off his feet.

The problem on Independence is that the CL is way too small for the amount of people entitled to use it. It is a problem that needs to be addressed by RCI as suite passengers pay a lot of money for their perks.

Maybe on some ships with the very small CL maybe relocation of the CL would be the answer to make suite guests and D+ guests able to both use the CL comfortably.Nobody wants to see anyone thrown out just to make the CL usuable by everyone that is entitled to do so.

I agree with you. Same thing happened to us last year on the Adventure, we are D+ and were cruising on an OS. Tried two nights to get a seat on the CL for a pre-dinner drink and it was impossible. The concierge was really apologetic and told us that most seats were taken by D+ members. Don't know how RCCL is going to fix this problem, we had the same experience on the Jewel back when Diamonds were allowed on the CL. I'm sure it has something to do with the CL size in different ships. We don't use the CL a lot but if this benefit is taken away from D+ and we happened to be cruising on a non-suite cabin, we will be happy to visit the D Lounge. We don't feel entitled to anything, we cruise with RCCL and Celebrity for different reasons; itineraries, service, entertainment, smoking policy (Celebrity) and specialty restaurants. We feel blessed for being able to cruise. We have three cruises booked for the next year; two with RCCL and one with Celebrity, no complains here about their loyalty programs. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, count your blessings, please!

It does seem to be getting a bit out of hand, doesn't it? :rolleyes:

But, we might need to be patient for a while. Host Andy is enjoying a well-deserved vacation cruise with his family. So, it looks like Host Walt is doing his best to hold down the fort, in these "interesting times". :eek:

 

Seems like a good day to stop and say "thank you" to all the hosts, mods, admins, and tech folks, here on CC -- who work hard to provide a place where we can all share our love of cruising. Happy Thanksgiving! :cool:

True!! Andy is the best!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!:):)

What you were planning to do is precisely the reason the program was changed. My heart bleeds that your loophole was closed.

True!!! same thing happened with RCCL, and they also had to change their program. I cruise with Celebrity because we like their product; their itineraries and excellent service. I appreciate everything their loyalty program gives us the same way we appreciate Royal's loyalty program. Loyalty programs change, and we know it. I already booked my next cruise with Celebrity and that makes me extremely happy. I'm so grateful for that!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!:):) Count your blessings, please!

I hope the beef wellington tasted as good as it looked.

 

Sailing on her in a few weeks and looking more and more forward to it.

I have to wait a couple of months for my beef wellington, enjoy it!!:):)

Loved your post sloop sailor!!:):) I was really afraid of opening this thread, thinking that you were going to complain about the changes.

Great review!! thanks for sharing your cruise with us. :)

We were elite under the old system with 24 points. What would our status be under the new system?

Check your status on Celebrity's website, if they gave you 30 bonus points you might be Elite +:):)

Thanks for sharing the link, we just booked the Reflection for next summer. The 15% off was a better offer for us. :):) but some of our friends were waiting for the 1,2,3 promo to book the cruise.

Well said Judy!!! :):)

Thanks for your well balanced review. We just booked the Reflection for next summer, it will be? our fourth Solstice class ship, and we are looking forward to cruise our cruise!! :):)

Great review! amazing pictures!! thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us!!:):)

Hi Everyone,

 

I'd like to wish my dear Cruise Critic friends, Your Families, and everyone at Celebrity a wonderful Thanksgiving. We're spending this Thanksgiving at Sea, on a fantastic cruise with my family, which makes us both thankful & happy.

 

For those in the path of the Winter storm, please stay safe.

 

Sincerely,

Andy

Happy thanksgiving Host Andy!! you are really the best!! Enjoy the rest of your cruise!!:):)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You said everything that I have been unable to articulate!

Ditto!!

Great review!! thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us!:):)

Gelato is all ships except the Century.:( We have a 15 night cruise on the Century in Jan... Did I mention that I love gelato and my husband does not care if he has any so I would have gotten 2..DARN!!!!

I was thinking the same!!! you bet I'm going to use his coupon!:):)

Great review!! thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us. We just booked the Reflection for next summer!!:):)