jhans24

We sail with our sons, 6 and 10, and we get towel animals all the time. 14 night cruise and I think they must have had 10 different animals.

How was the noise when you were pulling in to port and did you feel vibrations as well? What room number were you in?

Leffe and Franziskaner are both usually available in my experiences.

Happy to see if that’s still the case in 35 Days.

Here was my review of the MSC Orchestra . It is from 8 years ago so take it for what it is worth.

"While we had a good time, we would not cruise MSC again or recommend it. We have done both Princess and Celebrity and there is no comparison. We chose MSC because of the ports of call and the difference in price with the kids sail free option. Next time we will pay to take our 14 month old on a different line. It just wasn't worth it.

Embarkation and debarkation went extremely smoothly. We arrived at the ship around 12 and were inside and had our dinner table changed by 12:40 or so. They had put us on the first dinner seating even though we requested 2nd. As soon as we got on the ship we went to get it corrected and they were very accomadating. Embarkation and debarkation was a very fast and efficient system. If you have a tough flight to catch I recommend getting a porter to help you with your bags. Ours got us a cab as soon as we got out and there was a sea of people waiting for cabs.

On both of our previous cruises, Princess 10 day and Celebrity 11 day, we had normal balconies. This cruise we got an aft bacony, 8195. We did have concerns when booking the cruise with engine noise and being directly above the shaker lounge. We called MSC and talked to their reps and asked about noise from the engine and the lounge. they assured us that you would not hear either. Well they were partially right. The first three nights when the ship was traveling 20 knots we could not hear the lounge because of the engine noise and vibration. They were both nonstop. We had to open the closet doors partially, but not all the way, because of the rattling. You could not have any glass touching anyhthing, fruit bowl and plate etc. it was so loud when sitting out on our balcony you could not talk to each other in a normal voice, you couldn't hear each other. I have never experienced anything like that. The 4th night we were only traveling 80 miles and the boat was going half speed so there was no engine noise. Of course that meant at 10pm the shaker lounge speaker in our room was activated. Good lord. I apoligize to whomever was in 8197 sorry about the crying. Our 14 month old son was up from 11pm to 3am. To say the staff was useless that night, might be an insult to those that consider themself useless. It's always amazing how people can understand you until there is a problem, then there is a language barrier. And while I agree with others that the majority of the staff was very nice, I think just about every employee from italy was rude. It was amazing. My wife said she's not sure if she wants to go to Italy any more if everyone there is this rude. The next day they moved us to a different room but only had one available because a family had debarked in Antigua.

Our dinner server and waiter were very helpful and did an excellent job. Constantin and Carlo also did an excellent job talking and playing with our son. You just have to realize that you will have to ask for a water refill every time you want it. They were working their butts off because the ship was so full.

"Hunger is the best spice." I was amused the first time in my life I heard this phrase and laughed about how true it is. Well, it definitely applied to their food. Bland is the best way to describe the food. I don't think they used many spices at all. Very blah. The caprese salad was fantastic and our server got it for us on the final night even though it wasn't on the menu. I had a steak three different times and they were not good. Very mediocre cut of meat that was not tender. I am amazed at people who said the lobster was good, it was very low quality and not good. Your best option is to do the sit down lunch and breakfast vs the buffet. the quality is much better.

The rudeness of the guests was mind blowing as well. It is sad when a simple excuse me or thank you become so scarce. Their were so many loud and rude people it was disappointing. We had a couple large tables full of Italian Americans near us at dinner. It was as loud as a HS cafeteria the whole time.

The thing that impressed me most about the ship was the number of lounges that they had. It seemed like every 30 feet you walked you were in a new area with different music. From a live piano player to people dancing the selection was very wide and appealing. Plenty of places to sit down and relax.

St Maarten was our favorite stop and the definitely have the best duty free shopping of the four stops.

Overall we enjoyed ourselves but that was a product of our attitude, not this cruise. When reading all of the reviews prior to the cruise I kept a positive attitude and kept reassuring my wife. I told her it doesn't matter how the cruise is we can just sit out on our balcony and enjoy each other and the view. With our room we couldn't do that until last 3 days. There are just too many other options out there that are far superior for a little more money for us to do this line again. i've even read some people enjoyed the food which is mind blowing. I don't think there were two dishes that I would be proud to serve at my home. but that's the beauty of their being so many lines to choose from, something for everyone. I don't know if our blacony was so much louder because it was the lowest level of aft balcony or what. We will just stick with the normal balcony in the future and a different line.

Good luck to those of you about to head out and enjoy yourself. There will be plenty of people complaining about how bad it is because there will be many unhappy people. Be sure to avoid them and enjoy your time there. When everyone was debarking in Nassau we went out and walked the deck rather than wait in line with the complainers. It makes such a huge difference."

AWESOME! Hoping for the same this year for our kids!! [emoji195]

 

 

 

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There were about 35 kids between the age of 3-12 on that cruise, it was the 10 night Equinox.

We were on the Equinox over Easter a couple of years ago with our sons, three and seven at the time. They had a parade/kid march led by the Easter bunny up to the grass. They had a bunch of Easter eggs hid in that area and the kids could get pictures with the EB. Then they had a fun kids party set up in Quasar with tons of games and candy.

They did a great job.

We were on an 11 night cruise on the Equinox a couple of years ago over Easter. There were about 35 kids between the ages of 3 and 12 on the ship. On Easter Sunday, they had someone dress up in a Easter Bunny costume and had a parade following him up to the grass where they had an Easter egg hunt. After that, in the sky lounge they had an Easter party with face painting, games and other activities for the kids.

Celebrity went out of their way to make it very enjoyable.

We are traveling with our two sons, 6 and 9,on an upcoming eclipse cruise. If we are only checking luggage on the flight under two names, would we still be charged for the valet service for four?

Never used it before and want to See if it will cost $50 or $100.

We are taking a 14 night cruise in a few months and we are select members. Here is what the website states as a laundry perk for select members:

• One standard bag of laundry (wash, dry, fold) at discounted price on all Celebrity Cruises of 12+ nights

Does anyone know what the discounted price is?

Thank you

Thank you.

Glad to hear it is normal rules.

We have an upcoming cruise that includes an overnight in Aruba.

How is this treated in regards to the Fun Factory? Do they do anything special or restrict hours?

Thanks

Both Leffe and Franziskaner are priced into the classic package around $5. I'm a beer snob and hardly would consider these "crap" beers.

In general there will be fewer kids than carnival or royal Caribbean.

Dkjretired summed it up perfectly.

Have dinner specific toys that you only bring out during dinner. Dinners are long. You dont want your tot to already be bored with the toys.

I don't see why that wouldn't be possible- especially considering how few kids I would expect to see on the ship. I traveling with my 6 year old on the Summit next month- I'm hoping he will take dinner once or twice with the kids club!

Our sons love the buffet. Last year we did an 11 night and they ate with us twice. I got ready for dinner and took the boys, 3 and 6, down to the buffet for dinner around 615 while my wife got ready. They were done eating at 7 when kids club opened back up and wife was ready for drinks and dinner. Three weeks away from a 10 night and we are going to use the same plan.

When i bring my kids on a cruise, we sail carnival, or rccl. They LOVED it. They were bored on celebrity. Just stating my experience, and my kids experience. Just sating FACTS. So you are saying theres not MUCH more for kids to do on these other lines?

Nope, never said that. If you had made that statement I would have agreed with you. However, you said there was nothing to do for kids on Celebrity. I pointed out that you were factually inaccurate, which you were.

Theres nothing for the kids to do on celebrity. Carnival, ncl, or rccl would be great for them.

Please don't respond if you are going to be factually inaccurate.

You will have to excuse this poster. Some want an adult only vacation but can't afford it. They try to bully posters into believing there is nothing for kids to do onboard hoping they won't have kids on "their" ship. They are grumpy and wrong.

The fun factory is a fantastic program and your kids should have a great time.

We just called and upgraded from the classic we got on the 123 to the premium. Only saves us $6 for our ten night cruise. But a kids meal at Bimini boatyard costs $5.95. Not much, but it's a free meal.

We did 11 nights last March came home and booked 10 nights for this March. Beautiful ship. It was the first time we had been on a ship with 3k passengers, previous 5 cruises only 2k, and never felt crowded. Plenty of space on the ship.

I have read a few complaints about the elevator placement if you are near the front or back of the ship. We were right by the fore elevator and loved the location (step out of the elevator right to the martini bar). We have a room in the same area in two months.

The best tip I can give you involves dinner in the MDR. Bring some type of activity that they only get at dinner. Don't let them play with it any other time while on the ship. You want to have something that entertains them during the long dinner. Don't let them get bored with it in your room and then expect it to keep them entertained at dinner.

We had a magnet set that was a bunch of pieces of a car. They were in a metal tin that had scenery on it and served as the play area for the magnets. Our sons wanted to play with it in the room and we said no. The fact that they weren't allowed to have it in the room made it that much more appealing when they finally did get it.

I don't think I would cruise without a balcony for two reasons.

Our last couple of cruises have been with our kids, three and seven. I don't want to go to bed when they do. We sit out on the balcony and enjoy a few cocktails after they go to bed.

Even before kids and when we don't take them a balcony is a must. We spend more than two hours a day on our balcony. While others enjoy the cruise line activities, our favorite activity is sitting on the balcony enjoying each other and the ocean.

To me it's no different than any other service that costs extra. We don't pay extra for services we don't use. If we didn't use the balcony we wouldn't pay for it. For us, it's the most valuable "service" on the boat.

There has been a change in their policy recently. I would contact your TA or call Celebrity to check for specific offers. We were just able to combine the Kids Sail Free promo, $1800 in savings, with the classic drinks package.

My wife hates it when I sing "My Heart Will Go On" while we are on the ship. Three weeks ago on the Equinox they played the instrumental version of that song three times, that we heard. I laughed, she was not amused.

My view is not skewed! I simply don't like the title Elite or Elite plus. I find it very pretentious nothing skewed about that. It is my opinion and I asked the question to see how others feel.

I meant skewed from the majority opinion, which I believe it is.

Cruise critic is such small sample size of the total number of cruisers, I think the OP's view is skewed. Allowing a few people on this board who complain, to represent the view of many, is flawed.