Cruising89143

2 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I love those words!  woohoo

With the plane arriving ten minutes early, hopefully that means that you also leave early. 🙂

47 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Just landed in Dallas. So a taxi is faster than a waiting Uber?

Here is some info for you concerning ground transportation.

https://www.flylax.com/lax-traffic-and-ground-transportation#four

2 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Just landed in Dallas. So a taxi is faster than a waiting Uber?

In this instance I would say yes. The taxis are already there and ready to go. Others here may have more suggestions. 

I looked up her flight. Good news is that she is only a few minutes away from landing in Dallas. Her second flight is still showing as on time. 🤞🤞🤞🤞 With it being a Saturday the traffic should not be as bad as the weekday LA traffic. Grab a taxi as that will be the quickest form of transportation. Good luck. 

Well that just stinks. Finger crossed that you get here on time. 

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I think AA, in their own hub can be a great option.  However, in these parts, where AA is just another airline in the mix, situations such as this, where a pilot was needed makes for a precarious situation.  After much delay, we are told that we might finally get to board at 10 PM.  Nearly 5 hours after our scheduled departure.  Were we on Delta with an abundance of pilots because this is a hub, we might not have met with such delays.  

Good luck. Fingers crossed for you.

30 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Yeh, I think we are one and done with American as well.  Live and learn, I guess.  I just asked DH if he thinks we will miss the boat..he's optimistic that we will make it...we have 18 hours...

You’re much more calm that I am. I would be down at the Delta counter looking for a flight to LAX. We flew nothing but Delta when living in ATL but now that we’re on the west coast it’s United who has proven to be on par with Delta. At least for us. Good luck on the flight. 🤞🤞🤞🤞

1 hour ago, gkbiiii said:

I think this ship, is the first Celebrity ship, in 1990.  Am I correct, it is the Horizon?

https://www.lifeatseacruises.com/the-ship

The former Horizon is now razor blades and the former Century currently sails for Marella Cruises as the Marella Explorer 2.

As soon as the “daily” emails arrive in my inbox, they go to the trash. It’s just more of the same old garbage. 

We miss it as well. We’re not huge Suzuki fans so we have stayed away. That is one plus for Izumi on RCI. A much better menu. 

1 hour ago, ValerieJo said:

Looking and tasting are two different things. 

Sure which is why I prefer to make my own judgements. 😉😉 Again, first world problems.

We had lunch in Luminae back in December on the Solstice. No issues and a very good lunch with great service. 

Looking at the new menus, they look just fine. Plenty of options. First world problems.

8 hours ago, PatricF said:

We recently booked a cruise on RC and have noticed there are significant expectations for tipping.  Most of the food and drink packages expect a tip of 18% over and above the cost of the package.  Also, we included the daily tip for our cabin crew and I hope we're not expected to tip them more.

 

All of our previous cruise experience is with Celebrity and we don't remember seeing anything like this.

 

Is there a major difference in tipping standards between cruise Lines?

Celebrity has the exact same policy. All specialty dining and drink packages have an automatic 18% gratuity added at checkout if you pre purchase or it will be added to your check if paid on the ship. Either way it’s not optional. This is totally separate from the standard gratuities.

Thanks for the review. Good to read some positive comments.

For us when looking at Europe we look at the itinerary first and the ship as the secondary to get us from one place to the other. Usually the itineraries are very port intensive so I would look at it that way. We haven’t cruised on Carnival in over 18 years but we may one day stick our toes back on a Carnival ship. Carnival has a big presence out here on the west coast. 

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I usually find you have to go all the way to the page where you enter credit card payment before hitting the Logo to get it to offer a hold.

 

I have noticed that if after final payment date they do not offer the Hold

Same here. I about drove myself crazy trying to figure out the last time when I had no problems doing this previously. 🙂 Finally figured it out. 

2 hours ago, zgscl said:

As someone who typically sails suites I regret waiting so long to try Celebrity. 

First of all, thanks for taking the time to share your trip and IMHO Celebrity really knows how to do suites. 🙂

I agree with the last two posters above me concerning the show times. You will have no issues making the second show.

Thanks for sharing your experience. We were on board the Solstice in early December and found the ship to be in great shape as well which surprised us as some on this board stated the opposite. We board again five weeks from today for a PCC. They were installing new slots on our last cruise and they were not activated until the next sailing so it will be nice to see them in action. 

26 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

Am I the only person on this thread that prefers the Voyager class to the Oasis class?

LOL

That said, one comment that the hurricane season is almost over by October so there's little risk there so the Allure out of Galveston might be a good choice. If there is a hurricane, your itinerary can change. We try not to cruise the Caribbean between May and October. We got caught during a hurricane once and it changed our itinerary completely to stay away from the hurricane. We ended up missing islands that we wanted to see. (Not to worry, we got them on subsequent cruises!!)

No. We prefer a Voyager class over an Oasis class any day. We love the NV but it can be chilly most of the year when leaving from San Pedro. Once you get down to the MR ports then it will warm. Very warm even in October. 

1 hour ago, Dar & Bob said:

Same reason we don't get any in Tampa.  If we want to sail close to home we'll go with what they offer 🙂  Seems the newest go on the tried and true itineraries so you have a choice - itinerary or ship 

 

The Skyway bridge has more to do with the ships deployed in Tampa more than anything else. 

We were on the Solstice on the 12/03 sailing. An older ship…………………… We did not notice any new crew. They “ALL” went through their daily routines as normal. We did not feel that anyone was going through training. They were all professional, friendly and helpful and provided service with a smile. We did not notice anyone overworked or stressed. We also did not see a decline in service or quality overall. We will be back on X in about five weeks. Same ship. We will look for changes and report back. 

9 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

They’re fundamentally different, on RCI you get free room offers based on your current sailing play as you generally receive a free room offer on the last night.  That offer has a code and you have months for the offer to expire

 

X seems decades behind, you don’t receive your tier points until a few days after the sailing ends for table games.  That means you cannot utilize your current sailings play to book a BCC sailing with Future cruises

 

We always receive offers left in our room on RCI plus they continue to load new offers weekly on their website, sends emails weekly plus a postcard. I have about eight offers sitting on the website right now. It’s amazing how different the two cruise lines operate. 

13 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

1--- " uplifting scriptures "-- Not in my terminology---- I copied that from a post a few days ago from a thread about bringing gifts for Staff.  

2-- "wondering what your thoughts on this might be"---

LOL--- Totally nuts !!

Who the hell thinks that a Staff member would like anything else but a "Thank you " and a few $$$ ?

" We ( staff ) are here to serve you and provide an excellent cruise experience. We are friendly to you . That's our job . Of course we would like to meet up again on future cruises, but, that's it. 

No exchange of email addresses , No information on future contract schedules, and No, I can't tell you the cabins that have a pineapple sticker on their door ".

C'est la vie !!

 

 

“This” and please no one ask me what I think about Carnival’s mouthpiece. 🤮🤮🤮🤮