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Priority check in at the pier ( Please ask for the priority check in line to our ground employees) in the terminal.

Use of the Concierge Club located on Deck 13

Spa Bathrobes for use onboard.

Upgraded bathroom amenities.

Continental breakfast served in the lounge daily from 7:00 am to 10:00 am.

Private breakfast every morning in the Chops Grille Restaurant located on Deck 6 from 7:00 am – 9:30 am.

Hors d’oeuvres, petit fours and complimentary bar set-up served in the Concierge Club every evening from 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Daily menus displayed and preordering for your dinner wine.

Full Dining Room, Room Service privilege (available when Dining Room is open)

Reservations for any of our Specialty Restaurants, sport activities, Explorations!, Salon and Spa appointments, personalized attention by our Future Cruise Consultant, etc.

Arrangements for private parties.

Business services such as faxes, copies, etc.

Cocktail party hosted by Captain and Senior Managers (invitations will be sent).

Reserved VIP seats for production shows.

 

 

Copied this from the email I received from the concierge last year.

If you cancel your reservation after a specific date, you may be subject to cancellation charges.

 

But this just mentions cancelling, if you are just upgrading to another cabin and paying the extra £40 surely, they'd allow that? Even if it means not getting the new promos (the onboard credit). I would call again and speak to someone else. Often I find some of the call center people say one thing and when you speak to someone else they tell you another. Can't hurt to try.

Personally, if it's only £20 more, I would upgrade to the CP balcony - any balcony is better than an inside, in my opinion. But that's just me.

I've never stayed in on OS only a GS, so forgive me if this is incorrect, but isn't the table on the balcony a little small for a family of 6 to eat off? We had breakfast on our balcony in our GS and we were only two people and found it to be a bit small. I realise the owners suite might have a slightly bigger table on the balcony, but I wouldn't think it would be big enough for 6. And as to the hot tubs on the balcony that someone mentioned, I didn't think owners suites had tubs on the balcony - I thought that was royal suites or higher category, so not sure what that has to do with this.

You can order by calling room service and you can only order from the MDR menus. Also you can order from the regular room service menu free of charge (for everyone not in suites it's 7.95 per order). If you're ordering multiple dishes (ie. Starter, main, dessert) you might want to stagger your order or else they'll bring them all at once. So call up for your starter, then call for main after they've brought the first course.

 

Congrats on the owners suite and the full size table!

Most of the girls (& many of the moms were dressed like the dolls). It was creepy to see adult women dressed like a doll

Ah, so just as weird as I thought originally. Thanks for clarifying. Sounds like a bit of a nightmare tbh, but good of Celebrity to give you future cruise OBC - also I agree about the creepiness. Kids dressed as the dolls fair enough, but the moms?? :o

It's nice...and scenic...but Pompeii beats it...

 

In your opinion. It really all depends on what you like and don't like. I for example am not a fan of walking around historical sites. I find them boring. I'd rather be in the towns and villages (Sorrento, Salerno etc) of the Amalfi Coast mingling with the locals, shopping, eating Italian food, drinking red wine, getting a feel for the place. And Pompeii is a loooong day - lots and lots of walking which is not good if you have mobility issues or back problems. If you like that type of thing, fair enough. But in my opinion

the Amalfi Coast wins.

 

As for Santorini, I have to agree with the shore excursions. It's so much easier getting a ships tour than having to get the cable car up. Oia is beautiful and has a lot of lovely shops, so be warned - you might spend a lot! :eek:

I'd also love to see Istanbul used as an embarkation port again with cruises going to Cyprus and multiple days in Israel and Egypt (I realize this won't be happening anytime soon but we can always wish).

 

Yes, I'd love to see some Cyprian ports!

I think we were in 1048 which is the left side of the ship and if I remember correctly it was fairly shaded and we would have preferred it a bit more sunny. I don't recall which side was better for views as we were going into or out of port though - if that's what you mean.

 

If you'd like any more info on any of the ports you're looking into, just ask - though we didn't get off in Mykonos because I had a back problem that day and didn't fancy getting into and out of a water taxi and making it worse.

http://www.americangirl.com/shop/dolls

So it was a cruise for kids (and/or adults?) who love those dolls? Okay...little weird but not nearly as weird as I was thinking.

 

the only buns I want to see should be in the center of the table with some butter next to them.

Haha, this thread is hilarious!

Sorry, but what on earth is an American girl doll cruise?

I did the 7 night Greek Isles on Jewel last year and loved it! Santorini has become one of my favourite places and I would love to go back there! We were in a GS on deck 10 and heard almost no noise from the deck above, which we were quite surprised about.

 

Don't think I could help you choose one over the other because whilst you lose Katakolon on the 9 nighter, you gain Naples which is equally as good in my opinion (I'm not including Messina in this because its not a great port in my opinion) and I've never done a TA so won't be any help there. I will however be doing many of the Western Med ports on my next cruise in July on Navigator. Corsica is meant to be amazing and I've always wanted to do Sardinia. Palma is a great stop too - always plenty to do there or places to go to within easy reach.

 

Sorry I'm not much help am I? :p

Haha, yes you are right. Pudding over here is often used as an alternative word for dessert. So someone might ask "what's for pudding?" However there are also desserts that are actually named 'puddings' like Christmas pudding, sticky toffee pudding etc. So I imagine it must be quite confusing for non-Brits, especially as I believe pudding in the US is a different type of dessert to our puddings.

I would love to see a 12 night out of Venice, that stops in Dubrovnik, Split, Kotor, Ljubljana (Koper), Santorini, Mykonos, Corfu and Rhodes (and/or maybe even Albania - I know Cunard do a cruise that includes that as a stop, which sounds different).

 

For cruises out of the UK, I'd just like more choices on ships - Indy and Navigator again? How many years do we have to be stuck with the same ships? There's a few itineraries on Navigator which don't sound too bad next year, like the one that stops in Alicante, but I'm doing Navigator this year so I don't want to be on the same ship next year as well. Also does every Med cruise have to visit Rome? It takes so long to get thete from Civitavecchia and I've pretty much done everything there is to do in Rome, so I generally stay on board now. Wish they'd switch it with Genoa on some cruises.

I've noticed that some of the cruise itineraries on the flyers say they'll be stopping in Ephesus. Since they cancelled all stops there this year, anyone think they might be doing that again or have they decided it's "safe" to go back there?

I was hoping to do Indy next year but those are some boring looking itineraries - same old, same old. Might try rhapsody or vision, but probably rhapsody as it's going out of Venice.

Maybe ships from the UK have high tea. Anyone know?

 

Again, as Rala pointed out above it would be "afternoon tea" not "high tea" (as high tea is a working class evening meal consisting of a mug of tea, bread, cheese, maybe a meat pie) and no, on cruises out of the UK the only afternoon tea type of thing is in the windjammer from 3pm-5pm, which is self serve but they do have scones, cream, jam and a few varieties of cake. Same as on other cruises really.

We are on Indy out of the UK in Sep and my guess is this won't be happening on that cruise as the Brits are not usually inclined to tip extra........watch this space.

 

My guess as well. When I sailed on Explorer our of Southampton I never received any slips but when I've cruised with a drinks package out of Europe and the Caribbean the tip slips were constantly being given out. It's a bit of a nuisance but I've come to expect it on any non-UK cruises.

I'm always able to book transportation whilst booking my cruise online - after you've chosen a room it asks you if you need flights/hotels and transport to/from airport and/or hotel. You can choose one, all or none at all. Might just be a RCI UK thing though as I've never booked on the US site so don't know.

Room Service is an optional choice, just like choosing a Speciallty Restaurant. Many perks we have enjoyed in the past have gone along the way side over the years, but that's a fact of life now. Norwegian has had a $7.95 surcharge for any room service order other than continental breakfast for awhile. But that's just the surcharge for no matter what you order. Still pretty cheap, if you ask me. If I'm still hungry late in evening, I go up to the buffet, or hit one of the other complimentary restaurants.

Okay first thing first, as you can see from the post above you, many people who are disabled rely on room service so it is not "optional" for everyone. Secondly, on RCI the buffet closes from anywhere between 8.30 - 9.30pm, so if you want something "later in the evening" as you put it, you can't just run up to the buffet as it will be closed. As for "one of the other complimentary restaurants" have you ever been on RCI? The only other complimentary place to eat late at night is Sorrentos/Cafe promenade and it's not a restaurant. You can only get pizza or cold food like sandwiches. But not if you're on the Jewel of the seas - there is not one place on that ship that you can get food after the windjammer closes, so you're only option is room service. I'm sure if there was somewhere open all night like O'Sheehan, people wouldn't be as annoyed with the charge.

Am I seeing the picture correctly, that the cake is wrapped up in brown tissue paper open at the top?

 

It's chocolate, not tissue paper.

One thing I've noticed about the new All Day menu is that it is pretty vegetarian unfriendly. There is one sandwich and three entrees, and the four of them are perhaps the four most unhealthy vegetarian options imaginable.

 

As a vegetarian myself, I don't mind the choices available at all. At least there are choices for us. I don't recall the vegetable wrap but then maybe that was an Oasis/Quantum class room service item and I've only been on Freedom or lower class where the room service menu for veggies has been cheese pizza or spinach dip - nothing else. The part about them being unhealthy, well yes they're not exactly the healthiest of options but then I don't go on a cruise to eat healthy. Besides, other than the salads there really isn't a lot of healthy food on the room service menu, period - even for the people who eat meat. So I don't see a problem. Would I prefer it if there were a few more veggie friendly options on there, sure! But then I'd also be happier if they had more than one veggie main dish that changed daily in the MDR for dinner.

I like the idea of solo suites - though I wonder what the prices will be like...

Wow...this sucks. We have a GS booked for July and ordering off the MDR menu is one of my favourite suite perks. Guess if this is implemented before we go then we won't be ordering room service - but it really is disappointing.

We stayed in the H10 Universitat. Very centrally located - just a quick walk away from Las Ramblas. Nice hotel, relatively cheap for the area. I'd book there again.