carlyshenk

Wow! Thank you everyone for your replies. I thought I would be criticized for asking for personal opinions. I got the perfect answers! I think we're going to enjoy our cruise and I feel so much better about trying HAL. I knew the smoking would be an issue. But we don't frequent the casino. I'm a little worried about smoking on balconies next to us. We have an aft cabin and I'm hoping it won't affect us too much. I will let you all know when we return how our cruise goes. We talked my sister-in-law into joining us. She has never cruised before. I'm hoping she's wowed just because she's never cruised before and will join us again on future cruises. :D

Hello everyone. We just booked a cruise on Veendam. It's a 7 day cruise leaving January 31st. This is our first cruise on HAL after 22 cruises mostly on Celebrity. I know Veendam is older, but I wanted a smaller ship and the itinerary is to our liking and the price was good also. Can someone who has sailed Celebrity and HAL give me some information comparing the two lines. I have become disenchanted with Celebrity. I'm tired of the "nickel and diming" everywhere you go on the ship and also they seem to be overworking the staff. They just don't seem as happy and friendly as they once were. Our last two cruises were just not enjoyable for us. I know ultimately we'll find out for ourselves, but I would like to get some other opinions before we sail. Thanks in advance for any info.

Carol

I followed your review here and on FB. I'm so very sorry for the loss of your mother-in-law. You and your husband and family are in my thoughts and prayers.

Carol

Great review! I love all the photos. We're sailing on Summit on February 18. We've been on her before many years ago and can't wait to get back to the smaller ship. The M class is definitely my favorite.

Carol

We're cruising next month on Summit and doing select dining for the first time. I thought I read somewhere that if you do select dining, you must prepay the gratuities. Is that true?

Carol

We had 7202 on Infinity through the canal a few years ago. This is the same family cabin as 8181 on the other side of the ship and one deck down. You are going to love this cabin! We invited our dinner table mates to our cabin going through the canal. That was 8 people on the balcony and we had plenty of room. Everyone stayed all day. You can see so much of what's going on. There is sun and shaded area as well. We loved it!

It was nice having the extra room. It was only me and my husband in the room and we felt like we were in a suite. I think you'll be very happy with the cabin!

Carol

There were four or five wearing a tux in December. I wore a long sleeved dress shirt like about 50%. About 35% had a suit or sport jacket and 10% in short sleeved shirts. I don't think you would feel awkward even though not many wear tuxes because it's still a dressy evening.

 

This was the third cruise I have done with Evening Chic and the number of tux and suits has been less each time.

 

 

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Thank you, Charles4515! That was the reason I asked the question. I just wondered if it was worth my husband packing his tux and not feeling like he was the only man wearing formal wear. I guess eventually, formal dress will disappear. So sad. We love to dress up and there's just nowhere else to do that for us except cruises. I guess everything changes. :(

Russterus, I totally agree with you! You described my favorite moment perfectly! ;)

There is a sticky that deals with Dress codes on Celebrity ships. I just wish posters when considering asking questions pertaining to CEebrity ships spent 5 or ten minutes scrolling through the various pages and their questions would have been dealt with in a lot of instances

I'm so sorry I took up your time. I titled my post so that anyone who wasn't interested in answering my question didn't have to open it!

And, by the way, I had checked the sticky and it has been closed and I wanted opinions of people who have cruised in the past year.

I think you meant "not required". ;o) IMO Celebrity's suggested dress guidelines for the MDR in the evening gives you plenty of options. Bon Voyage.

Yes, I did mean "not" required! Thank you! :)

Thanks to all of you! Yes, I do know that the code has changed and now jacket is required for men. I just wanted some other opinions.

Carol

This is not so much about the dress code, I understand that. We cruised last Jan/Feb and my husband wore his tux and I wore a long dress on the appropriate evenings and we didn't feel "out of place". We're cruising again next month and I was wondering if that's still the case. We do enjoy dressing up a few nights, but we don't want to be the only ones. So, my question is are there enough people who still wear formal wear or would we feel awkward if we dress up?

Lois,

Have a great river cruise. I hope you enjoy it as much as the Celebrity cruises you've taken. After nearly 20 years with only sailing Celebrity, we've decided it's time for a change. Celebrity doesn't seem to value the long time customers anymore, and since Michel Roux left, the food has declined to not much better than cafeteria food.

This is us exactly! We started cruising X in 1995 and thought it was a very good value for the price. But the standards have been so steadily declining, it's just not worth it for us now. We too have been terribly disappointed with the decline in food quality since Michel Roux. We have a cruise on Eclipse in February and not planning to book another on board as we usually do.

We love to cruise, so I'm sure we'll find another line...maybe Azamara or Oceania. But, Celebrity is not on our agenda at this point, even with the Elite+ perks.

Lois, I hope you have a wonderful time on the river cruise! Please come back and let us know how you like it. Who knows, maybe we'll give that a try in the future.

Happy New Year, Paul! Hope you had a wonderful time on the ship last night! Thanks for doing this live review of your cruises. We did a Christmas cruise on Silhouette in 2013 and we're on Eclipse next month. Your review is making me eager to get to Florida and board the ship! :) Thanks again for taking the time to do this review!

Carol

Yes, still Tuscan. Menu of pre plated offerings say Smoked Salmon with cream cheese bagels and garnish.

 

Day 2 and it is now accepted that the menu offerings can be varied and specific items added/taken off as you wish. Possible to get plate of bread and side plates to use if you ask for them. We were able to more or less ask for what we would have had from the buffet. Still some waste. Breakfast now takes longer than with the buffet.

Thanks! This answers my questions.

Regrettably Eclipse has now gone over to the platter style of Elite breakfast, no more buffet, just the pre plated offerings, which this morning there was some confusion over varying content and obviously some waste. Difficult to share a platter as separate plates not provided unless you ask for them, and even so the tables soon fill up with plates/platters etc. etc. Not a good move IMHO.

Is the breakfast still held in the Tuscan Grille? I'm not sure what you mean by platter style. Do you order from a menu? We really liked the buffet when we were on Silhouette last year. It was so peaceful and quiet. We were looking forward to going there on Eclipse in February. I guess we'll go to Blu if we don't like what they're doing now.

Carol

Twelve days until Canada/New England on Explorer! Can't wait!

Carol

You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for all the smiles you gave me in your reviews and your book.

Carol

I love reading all your "From the deck of..." reviews and this one didn't disappoint! I always learn something new each time. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

Carol

On our last cruise, December 2013, a couple, mother/mother-in-law and two young children came to the Elite breakfast every day. The children were very well mannered. The parents would seat the children and they would go to the buffet bar and bring the children's food to the table.

Great photos! We're on the December 22 Silhouette sailing to the Caribbean. This will be our 14th cruise with Celebrity but the first on Solstice class. We're very excited!

We got credit for our Azamara cruise in 2008.

Ashley, your review has been so much fun and so helpful!! I think this will be our next cruise and it has been so informative. I love waiting for the next post. I work during the week, so I usually only check on the weekends and I can't wait to get up on Saturdays and look for your posts.

Keep doing what you're doing! I'm loving every minute!

Carol

The Amalfi coast video is still blocked on my computer also. Love, love, love your review!! Can't wait until the engagement!!

What a great review!! We're doing this cruise in November and I can't wait. We just got back from a transatlantic on Constellation two weeks ago and now I'm really looking forward to the canal. Thanks for taking the time to post your review and wonderful photos.

Carol