Quampapetet

Bueller? Bueller?

[quote name='Caribbean Chris']On Celebrity, no, they don't do it automatically. So I check their website every now and then, and if my category price has dropped (and if it still includes the Promo such as 123GO), my husband calls our travel agent. If it does not include the promo, I do the math, and decide if it is worth it to me to give up the free drinks package.

It's important to clarify if you'll give up anything by switching to a lower rate so you can make an informed decision. Sometimes a new rate drop or promo will specify "For new bookings only."

This time, there was a $100 per person drop. When we called, the agency had some sort of special price at that moment too, dropping an additional $150 pp, total $500 for our room. We had to go to a "guarantee" but within a few days, were reassigned to virtually the same stateroom nearby. We are quite happy we called.

I find that checking the Celebrity board on this forum gives very good info on the promos. Host Andy just posted info on a current one.

Enjoy![/QUOTE]

Gotcha. On my old laptop, I had a program that monitored your cruise' rates every day - it was very helpful! I don't know if it still exists or if they now have a phone/tablet app for such a thing.

[quote name='Algebralovr']My DD is allergic to soy, rice, peanuts, tree nuts, melon, citrus, eggplant, and a couple more that don't come to mind. They did a good job, just remind them every time you place a food order. She was even able to eat the chocolate fondue dessert at the Tuscan Grill specialty restaurant. She just had to pre-order her meal.

I'm not sure about the kind of lighting used. I believe the newer S - class ships are a combo of LED and fluorescent bulbs. My suspicion is that the Summit, and the rest of the M - class are the same, but I'm not certain.

Did you ask specifically about lighting on the Celebrity board? I'm sure someone can answer or look on an upcoming cruise. You might also ask on a roll call for the Summit.[/QUOTE]

Sorry to hear about all your daughter's allergies! :( Glad the ship did a good job with her food, though.

I did ask about the lighting on the Celebrity board and nobody replied.

[quote name='S.S. Cruisers'][COLOR=SeaGreen][SIZE=3]Quam: Another thing Celebrity did was buy one get one free for alcohol for the day. Hubby is a beer drinker, they let him buy a case and get one free! :o Which really only equates to 3.2 beers a day. Then we didn't have to worry about his beer purchases, just the foo foo ones! Quite a savings. As I said, they were very accommodating for us. Maybe not so much now, with all the penny pinching, but if you don't ask, you definately won't get the "other" perks. :D[/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Haha, nice! I don't like beer, but give me a Bahama Mama or Rum Runner any day! :D

[quote name='DUTRAVEL']No service dog for me yet. I am on CCI's waiting list. Hopefully I will get my dog in the next 12 months.

Dianne[/QUOTE]

I hope you get your dog soon! :D Twelve months is a long time to wait ... I only had about five months to wait between the breeding and actually getting my new puppy and I still overbought (especially toys), even with forcing myself to hold back until the puppies were born! ;) Yup, my pup is just as spoiled as my current dog and she doesn't even live here yet! I have to resist getting her anything else, but I will send something at Christmas, of course. :D

[quote name='Caribbean Chris']Hi Quam - We've been on Celebrity three times (no service dog with us then) and had good experiences. (A five-day from Florida to the Caribbean, a transatlantic from Southampton on an S class ship, and a 15-day from San Diego to Hawaii.)

The food & service was exceptionally good on the Hawaii cruise, especially the variety & preparation of fish dishes in the main dining room.

We'll be going back on Celebrity in December, 9-day Caribbean, first cruise for Hearing Dog Raylene. I will be reporting back.

Some positives for us: (which may not matter to everyone; other lines may have some similar policies, of course.)
- a firm no-smoking policy, including on your veranda (only a place on deck allowing smokers to congregate).
- they have a lot of wine-related events for an extra charge which we enjoyed very much.
- the staterooms and bathrooms are quite roomy and nice on the largest, newer S class ships.
-there are a lot of veranda rooms at fairly reasonable prices versus some of the Holland America ships with fewer verandas.
-they frequently offer promotions (123Go, or Wave, or Pick Your Perk) whereby the cruise fare includes a classic beverage package - alcohol drinks or wine by the glass up to a certain dollar amount, also soft drinks, fresh juices, bottled water, and barista type coffees like lattes. Sometimes promo also includes a shipboard credit.
- they have a policy to reduce your cruise fare if they institute a price drop before your final payment date, which saved us about $500 if I recall correctly, and did not affect the promo.

(We like Holland America for other reasons - excellent room stewards, the wrap-around full promenade deck, and the lovely library-internet-coffee lounges, some with views of the sea. I miss those three things, but have to say the food and dining room/wine steward service has been better on our Celebrity trips in recent years.)

Happy to answer questions.[/QUOTE]

I am looking forward to hearing about Raylene's first cruise! (LOL, autocorrect corrected her name to "Ray Leno"! She must be a musical and comedic dog!)

Do you have to submit a form when you find a lower price or do they automatically reduce your fare? On Carnival, I booked with the Early Saver fare that meant if you found a lower fare for your room category, you could submit a form to get the price for your cabin lowered. It did save me some money when I got to submit forms twice on one cruise!

I will have to sign up for their e-mails to know about such promotions; thanks for the tip on looking for those!

I love no-smoking policies on cruises and in hotels. :D

[quote name='DUTRAVEL']We have sailed Celebrity several times. Handicapped accessibility is very good (on the S class ships). No thresholds, automatic doors, huge rooms, ramps to the veranda. I have not cruised with a service dog (yet) so I can't answer anything about that. We have also had great wheelchair accessible excursions (in Europe). The special needs department responds quickly, but you do need to contact the shore excursion department well in advance.[/QUOTE]

Good to hear! :cool: I wish we could do a European cruise, but the man in the anniversary couple cannot fly for that long due to blood clots - too bad there are no round-trip transatlantic cruises/back-to-back cruises!

Do you have a service dog or are you on a waiting list to get one?

[quote name='S.S. Cruisers'][COLOR=SeaGreen][SIZE=3]Quam: We did the 15 day Hawaii cruise on Celebrity. (quite a few years ago!) without service dog. Hands down our all time favorite cruise line. Every thing was fabulous. Food was awesome, wait staff was above and beyond. The one bartender would even go get fresh fruit from the buffet for our fruity drinks! He was tipped nicely for his service. I can't think of anything bad to say about Celebrity. :D[/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Ooh, a fifteen-day Hawaii cruise sounds wonderful!! We can't do that one (not everyone in the family can be away for that long and one person has flight-length restrictions), but maybe someday I will get to Hawaii. I think the only way I would want to do Hawaii is a cruise.

So glad you enjoyed Celebrity! I am feeling much better now that everyone had good experiences with them! And, mmm, fruity drinks from the bar ... yes, please! :D

[quote name='fairbourne']Thanks Quam - that's great advice which I immediately undertook in the toilet .... only "two" other problems .... all "three" dogs trooped in after me! LOL! So two big dogs despatched to the kitchen and Aruba and me tried it. It took a few goes but we sort of managed it, but she has such long legs!

We took her to a local supermarket cafe for a quick snack yesterday and she went under the table and stayed there for most of the time but I had her blocked in with a spare chair - she did the occasional "head up" but when I tapped her lightly to go back down, she did. Yesterday I think all the idiots were in that supermarket, the number of people who tried to distract her was incredible and I had to leave as I was getting so cross! You know the sort of idiot who is a real smart "hmmm well I can't use the word here", who snaps his fingers and makes loud kissy type noises as he's passing her, or the woman who grabs her before I could say or do anything, or the lad who thinks he's being funny and whistles at her! Honestly, I do wonder if they left their brains at home, seeing as how it was Sunday!:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

First, what a wonderful photo of her in her vest! I'm sure she'll get used to it soon enough. :) The other day, my trainer took a photo of my new girl in her in-training vest for the first time - so exciting! It looked good on her, too! :)

Too funny how ALL the dogs went into the bathroom with you!! That must have been quite the sight! :-D

Unfortunately, once the dog is partnered with its disabled person, the idiots who try to distract the dog don't stop. :mad: I've even had idiots bark at my service dog! Crazy people! This is why your training Aruba to ignore such things is so important. Sounds like you're doing a great job with her!

[quote name='Rolls Royce Lover'][COLOR="Indigo"][B]I can remember how difficult it was to leave Brenda behind after Morey had passed away. My son took care of her when I cruised and although she couldn't walk far, it was still sad to leave her behind.[/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][B]Morey, Brenda and I did the Celebrity Summit out of L.A to Mexico for 7 days. We liked the ship and the staff. It was the only time onboard a ship where a staff person was sent to our cabin to walk Brenda to the potty box. I remember that we liked the cruise and were treated very well. The potty box was placed on another deck, forward [really far from our cabin.] [/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][B]Celebrity had a full room service breakfast [something that Morey and I both liked!] And, something that Princess does not offer. [/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][B]Our HC Cabin was huge, with a veranda. I'd cruise onboard Celebrity again.[/B][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Glad you enjoyed the Summit, as that's the ship we're looking at going on!

I will have to think about who to let care of my current service dog, since all those who I would normally think of for doing that would be on the cruise with us. We shall see!

[quote name='Algebralovr']We've done 5 on Celebrity. No SD, but I can answer most general questions. My DD spent the most recent on in a WC and she was thrilled with how they handled her requests.

What questions do you have?[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Glad you had good experiences with them.

I asked about special dining food needs over on the Celebrity board and everyone said they do it well, so that is good to hear, as both myself and another family member have special food needs and restrictions, leading to very limited menus of what we can eat.

I also asked about the type of lighting in the staterooms (specifically on the Summit), but haven't gotten a response to that question yet. Do you know what kind of light bulbs they use (fluorescent, incandescent, halogen, LED) in the staterooms, including the bathrooms? Fluorescents are harmful to me, so I will have to make special arrangements/bring my own bulbs for the table lamps if that's what they use.

Wear a repellent with Deet and don't worry about the mosquitos very much. I believe I heard there were some of those Dengue carrying buggers in Florida and perhaps I might have heard also in New England this summer. Avoid standing water and remember mosquitos mostly come out at dusk. Many ships will have left already though some have late sailaway from this really great port. Living is a risk. There is no way to go through life avoiding all risk. The risk here is low.

 

Actually, the type of mosquitoes that carry Chikungunya are daytime mosquitoes, so you are at risk at all times of the day. They can breed in just a tablespoon of standing water, too.

 

Chikungunya is now in the US, including Florida, Texas, New York, and California. It is believed to be the result of people who traveled to the Caribbean bringing the disease back to the States. Fun, fun. :p

Thanks, everyone!!

Great, thanks!

 

I didn't realize that Celebrity is part of RCCL. Can I use my RCCL past-cruiser number on Celebrity or are they two completely different programs?

Does Celebrity do special needs dinner orders the same way RCCL and Carnival have done it for me in the past, which is to ask you the night before to tell them what you want (or order off the next night's menu, if they happen to have something you can eat on the menu)? And do they do a good job?

 

If we do this cruise we're thinking of doing, we will have two special food needs people (myself and another family member) due to various health conditions.

I have cruised Royal Caribbean and Carnival, but not Celebrity. We're thinking of going on the Celebrity Summit next year. I am wondering what type(s) of light bulbs are used in the staterooms, including the bathrooms. Fluorescent, halogen, incandescent, LED? I ask because of a medical condition. Thanks!

Hmm, so I might go on my next cruise late next year, as my family is thinking about doing a big family cruise to celebrate a 50th anniversary. I will be in between service dogs at that time, as I am sure my current girl will be retired by then and my new girl won't be fully ready until a few months after that time, so it would be a dogless cruise. The bad thing about that would, of course, be having no help, but the up side would be getting to get off at islands that wouldn't allow my service dog to get off on (such as the British Virgin Islands). If my current girl is still alive then, I would have to figure out who could care for her, since all/most of my family would also be on the cruise.

Has anyone here sailed on Celebrity? I found an itinerary from them that I like, whereas the other lines didn't have much to my liking. (I am the cruise guru in my family, so would be helping to pick the cruise and all.) I don't know much about Celebrity.

[quote name='Rolls Royce Lover']
[COLOR="Indigo"][B]Surprisingly, there's a big world out there that has no clue about Cruise Critic, hard to believe, huh?[/B][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Today, I was talking to a woman working at a business I went into who mentioned her upcoming cruise, so we started talking about cruising. When she talked about loving to take two or three cruises per year, I asked if she was on Cruise Critic and she said she was! Pretty cool to meet another CC member "in the wild" (while not on a cruise ship). :)

[quote name='fairbourne']Quam - we did, we did - she's so gorgeous! :)

We haven't been to a restaurant yet with Aruba, and I was thinking a table against a wall or window so I can get her under the table and out of the way of passing traffic, but that may not always be possible of course.

We had a vet check this week with kennel cough vaccine - popped up her nose before you could say "Aroooooba" She didn't even notice! Weight now 26.7 kilos or 58.74 lbs! She's now slightly taller than Poppy. Max has lost 8 kgs, so he's lost a whole Puppy Aruba! She was 8 kgs when she arrived! He doesn't have to lose any more, so we will just have to keep him on track.[/QUOTE]

A good way to teach dogs how to curl up in small spaces is to use a laundry basket for them to go in. Another way is to sit on the toilet and have them lay between the front of the toilet and back of your legs. You can also practice at home under a table between your feet, where the dog will go if the table is not next to a wall or the person is not on the end of a large table.

Glad she did well at the vet! I love how they don't even seem to notice when the vet does stuff to them like injections and all! My current service dog is so good around needles (and I am definitely NOT!!) and it looks like my new pup is, too, as we took her to the vet when I was there to have her microchip inserted and she didn't even flinch or turn to look at what just went into her neck! You could never do that to me and expect me to react like that!! ;) :p (It was the new Mini Microchip, which is half the size of regular microchips and uses a smaller needle. I got the ISO chip this time for travel purposes, of course; those weren't available yet in the States when I microchipped my current dog.)

Wow, Aruba has gotten so big!! Great growing, Aruba! :D

[quote name='wizard-of-roz'][COLOR="Indigo"][B]When Horton and I go to the theatre there is NO WAY that anyone could get near him to touch him, let alone spill something on him! I choose seating that allows him either to lay at the end of a row or I sit in the back where the handicapped is located. I also get to the theatre in plenty of time to be able to pick and choose the most safe spot for him!

This last cruise a crew member got a "caution" sign to place in front of him so no one wheeled their chair into him![/B][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

This wasn't a movie theater, but a performance. You choose your assigned seats when you buy your tickets. All the seat spacing is the same, so it doesn't matter where you sit. I choose to sit where you can see the show best, which is in the center of the theater, and my service dog lays on the floor at my feet, not getting into the footspace of any strangers or anyone I am with who is not used to having a service dog near them. At this show, I had the people in my party to my left, so strangers were to my right. Unless you were to sit with people in your party on both sides, which I didn't do because of who they were, there is no way to prevent your stranger neighbor from being close enough to spill something on you and your dog. The other time it happened, we were at a baseball game and it was actually the person sitting behind me who spilled their beer, which poured down the stadium seating cement onto my dog whose rump was under my seat (the only way for her to fit into that space was rear under the seat and head between my feet).

Thanks; I'm glad you guys enjoyed the puppy pictures! I pretty much have to look at them (or new ones the trainer takes) every day to get my puppy fix! ;)

 

The last time I went to a performance, a couple sat next to me (the people I was with were on the other side of me) and the woman petted my service dog and asked about her and all. She then managed to spill her beer all over herself, my pants, and my dog. She felt really bad, but I told her it was okay and wasn't the first time someone has spilled beer on my dog. Her man got extra napkins and we cleaned up. A short time later, they left their seats and they never came back! The people I was with and I thought maybe they were too embarrassed, but had no idea how they could go sit elsewhere. We joked that it would be really funny if they ended up being in the wrong seats, LOL! At intermission, an employee of the show group let me know the couple asked to be moved because the woman was allergic to dogs. Hmm, yeah, that's why she went and petted my dog without asking and chose to be next to me rather than have her man next to me, right?! :p Some people use the "allergy" excuse when they don't have allergies. Oh well, more room for my dog to lay out!

 

On my last cruise, I preferred taking the seat next to the window so my dog could lay between the table and window (all my group's tables were next to the windows and I think sat eight). The cruise before that, my two friends and I stayed at the one four-top booth our group had, so we had the extra space for my girl under the table. The other one, we had a variety of table shapes and sizes for our group and moved around each night between them, so it was just like sitting at a regular restaurant where she curls up under the table.

Haha, yes, definitely a "she"; I wouldn't put a pink collar on a boy pup! :)

 

She's a Portuguese Water Dog. She's VERY good for a cuddle!! :D She loves to be held on one's shoulder - too bad she will soon be too big for it! Her hair is so, so, so soft and fluffy that I just want to bury my face in it. :D

Another puppy photo, as it isn't letting me add two to one message for some reason.

As promised, pupppppyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! :D

I have not been on a cruise in several years and never on Princess, but my last two cruises I made my own potty by putting plastic garbage bags as a floor liner, then disposable potty pads, then squares (same size as pads) of faux K-9 Grass on top. Even if they don't allow you to have it on your balcony, you could still put faux grass on top of the mulch, if you wanted to. It isn't cheap, but I like it better/cleaner than the mulch. My service dog goes on mulch and other surfaces, but grass is her favorite.