jlawrence01

One of the problems that I have in comparing Celebrity with other cruise lines is that it is HIGHLY dependent on the ship. One of my friends does a YouTube channel on food just showing all of the food options with limited commentary. They did a cruise on the Apex and one on the Millennium. There were dozens of different options available on the Apex that simply were NOT available on the older ship. Let's start with food. Both have very creative MDR menus and generally the food is very good. Celebrity has a few more upscale options in the MDR. My major complaint with Celebrity is that there are also ways a couple of technical issues with the food that could have been resolved had a chef actually tasted the food. Risotto is served that is really not even el dente and lentils were also undercooked to the point they were inedible. I saw fewer issues with Princess but the quality of any beef steak product in the MDR was mediocre. The buffet was more varied on the Regal Princess than the Millennium but bother were very good. We liked the entertainment on both ships a lot. However, the lighting and sound in the main theatre on the Millennium is primitive The performers deserved better. The enrichment talks on Princess were the best that we experienced. Also, the port talks on Princess covered EVERYTHING that was available at the port including THIRD PARTY excursions and off the beaten track shopping opportunities as opposed to the usual ones. In terms of service, Celebrity wins hands down. I have never seen a team of servers in the MDR work seamlessly to provide excellent service all six nights like I saw on the Millennium. They anticipated every need and after the second night were bringing out beverages before they were requested. Princess was professional and did well but they did not engage as well. Both of our cruises were in 2023. It seemed like nearly all of the Celebrity staff were very experienced. The Princess staff was doing a decent job but you could tell that about 25% of the staff was on their first contract and some were having difficulties. I think that Princess was hit harder with COVID and they lost a lot of staff who decided not to return. I have heard rumblings from some of my Filipino friends who did not feel like they were treated right after the outbreaks and don't want to return. I do not feel like Celebrity or Princess push shopping and other services to the extent that you experience on NCL or RCCL where it is a constant. I agree with some of the other posters that the itineraries on Princess (and HAL) are far more interesting than you will find on Celebrity which tends to focus on shorter cruises. In addition, I find a lot more value on Princess (and HAL) than on Celebrity. For the record, I have two cruises booked on Celebrity and a 14 day on HAL this year. And we are looking at a Princess Cruise in the 2nd quarter next year.

Or their ministry is in academics. My cousin worked as a high school counselor and did retreat work most of the school year. For several summers, he worked for one of the Alaskan diocese as vacation relief. All week long, he would be flown by bush pilot to remote villages. It was a great way to spend a summer.

Two comments on the subject. We have been on eight cruises on seven different lines. The ONLY cruise line where we were always hounded for a good review was RCCL. It got to the point of being annoying. When we finally did get home ten days after the cruise, the link to the survey did not work as we had waited too long. Second, if you are unhappy with any aspect of service, it is better to take it up with a manager immediately as it is likely that others are having the same experience. That allows the problem to be resolved. On my cruise on the Millennium, I only had two comments - that the sound system in the Main theatre was not good and that certain dishes in the MDR were not properly prepared. They were minor issues.

The priests are provided by a ministry called the Apostleship of the Seas and are on nearly all HAL cruises.. https://www.aos-usa.org/ The priests are considered to be cruise employees and are provided room and board. Many serve three to six months at a time. In general, the perform a Catholic Mass daily, not just on Sundays. The times vary by day.

I have a question about the Veal Kroketten that is served on HAL in the dining room and the Dutch Cafe. When we have Veal Croquettes at home, the texture of the veal was a relatively course ground and was similar to a typical meat loaf. On the Hal ships - in particular, the Konigsdam, the veal tasted like it had been pureed like baby food? Is that typical of what you would find in the Netherlands? I like to see a good variety of ethnic foods on all of the cruises.

I do not have any problems having 100 shares of three companies in a large portfolio of stocks. There is no requirement that the stock be held for longer than it is necessary to get the shareholder discount approved.

Personally, if I were strictly looking for musical performances and the food, I would probably choose one of the newer Holland America ships. The problem with the NCL ships is that the entertainment venues tend to be relatively small for the size of ship. We found it almost impossible to get into smaller venues unless we were there over an hour in advance. Also, the food selection, quality and the service was inferior to the other cruise lines that you mentioned.

NCL and Carnival have very similar programs. To their credit, the RCCL program is the easiest to apply to your reservation.

I have never seen one that is more than L or XL and my stewards have not been able to get a larger one

I listen to so much of the cruise press that tells me I need to "book now" as bookings for ALL of the large cruise lines are "at record levels" and that all of the good ships will be sailing full. If that were truly the case, why is HAL offering $1 deposits? Why is Carnival offering $25 deposits on a lot of their cruises? Maybe these cruise lines are doing some "window dressing" to keep Wall Street happy. By the way, in the past two weeks, RCCl has dropped the price of their cheapest fare on the Icon of the Seas from over $2900 to $1899 for a December 7th sailing and that is one of the "latest, greatest ships". Personally, i think that we are going to see a lot of discounting in future months and i think that I am going to hold off booking anything past September 2024 until i see the deals available.

When you are on a 31 day cruise on HAL, how often do they change the menu? Or is it 4+ weeks of the same menu?

Personally, I found the steak on the Regal Princess in the MDR to be mediocre at best. Admittedly, we did not pay extra for a steak. That was our only complaint about Princess food on the cruise.

Some thoughts: 1) There is so much more information out there on cruising than there was 25 years ago from so many different sources. In the past, you would talk to a CLIA travel agent or attend a travel show. The travel agent could "hold your hand" and answer MOST of your questions. 2) While there is a lot of information out there, there may actually be too much. And there is very few filters. You have to evaluate a lot of the sources of information as there are so many influencers who are quietly sponsored. After a while of watching hundreds of YouTube videos, I can pretty much guess what will be stated about the particular cruise. 3) Personally, when friends ask me about taking a cruise, I get some basic ideas as to what they are looking for and steer them toward lines that would work for them. I always ask them to pack some patience and try as hard as possible to do everything on the ship. I also try to get them to try different lines. We have done eight cruises on seven lines.

I have been on Konigsdam and Eurodam in the past eighteen months. I did not find either one of them crowded even though they were both nearly full. I will say that we avoid the MDR on the first day of any HAL cruise as it can be frustrating as everyone gets down to the MDR as it first opens. It seems that after the first day, the crowd at opening thins out.

I have been very impressed with the laundry service on HAL. I think that in 30+ years of drop off laundry, I have never seen it folded so well. I don't know about the television but you can always access it via the Navigator app on your phone.

The Dive Grill serves a good variety of hamburgers and sausages. The menu is creative and well executed. All food is made to order. The Celebrity grill was disappointing in that the hamburgers are made well in advance and the staff on the Millennium could not cook French fries properly. I have been on two HAL cruises and never had problems eating at the Lido on Embarkation day.

Actually, when I am on HAL, I prefer a cruise with a number of sea days as there is always something going on. I would prefer sea days over port days at places like Bimini, Half Moon Cay, and Falmouth.

I have been to Falmouth twice. The first trip we took an excursion that was a 45 minute van ride. I am glad that I was not driving as there were so many near misses with vehicles trying to pass on narrow two lane highways. I do not remember much about the excursion other than it involved too much shopping and a promised restaurant meal that turned into a carryout. When we returned to the cruise port, we left the port area heading into the town itself. It is not something that I can recommend unless you have numbers. On our last trip, we stayed in the cruise port.

We paid a guide who took us all around the island. Other than the Dolphin House and a stop at the bakery, it was a real waste of money. I would probably take a shuttle ride in the AM and then head back to the ship for lunch.

I always carry my own insulated coffee mug to the Lido and fill it up by pouring the coffee from the glass mug into my travel mug so as not to break any rules I prefer doing that over carrying a china mug and having to find a place to return it.

In general, my wife and I order three appetizers, three entrees, and three desserts as we like to try a wide variety of dishes. Honestly, we have never had to send back a dish in two cruises on HAL as they are so well executed. I have had more execution problems on the RCCL lines and any steak product I have had in the MDR with Princess.

And you do not have to be age 50+ to join AARP at $12 per year.

We RARELY book cruise ship tours. I found this through either Get Your Guide or Viator. They are cheaper and exactly, what does a cruise line add to it? It is a fifteen minute walk at the most and it is a very easy walk. To be honest with you, the walk from the Carnival cruise ship port to DT Cozumel is a 30 minute walk and is very pleasant on cooler days. However, cabs are readily available.

When we were on the Eurodam, the doggie area was still there from the last cruise when we arrived. On the first full day of the cruise, the staff was towing it away as there was no need on our cruise.

if the dog is a legitimate service dog, the dog accompanies the passenger everywhere. And if the HAL ship has a dog on board, the crew rolls out a small pallet with grass and a "fire hydrant" for the dog out onto the Promenade deck in the aft portion of the ship.