spotornot

Due to the hurricane damage, the itinerary for the Celebrity Eclipse was changed for our trip in January, 2018 and the planned day on Dominica was canceled (St Lucia instead). We had pre-booked one of the excursions offered by Antours and used PayPal to reserve our space. Today I sent an email to our contact explaining the situation — asking for a refund of the amount paid. I held my breath knowing that communication to Dominica was limited as much of their infrastructure and many businesses were severely damaged by the hurricane. I wasn’t sure the tour company was still operational and our deposit might end up being an unplanned contribution to hurricane relief. In less than an hour, I received a nice email directly from Anison as well as confirmation from PayPal that the money was credited back to us. Hooray! I am being careful to save the tour information for our next visit to the Caribbean and the possibility of a visit to Dominica. We will absolutely book an excursion with Antours!

We stayed (or tried to) in 3128 for our 14 night Canada/New England cruise in the Fall of 2016. It was with great anticipation that we "moved in" -- wonderful, huge window with the normal exceptional Celebrity stateroom accommodations, and really convenient to the seldom used aft elevators not to mention a great price. As we settled in for our first quiet night at sea away from all the "noise of civilization," I noticed a continuation of what I thought was a minor dock-side annoyance; the hum of a Diesel engine. It wasn't loud, rather a continuous throbbing similar to a utility company testing their emergency power stand-by system; a constant RPM with a soul penetrating low frequency hum. No problem, I said. We're on a much anticipated cruise. I'm bullet-proof. Nothing is going to bother me!

I awoke the next morning feeling like I had endured some kind of subliminal torture. Not a restful night at all. Returning from breakfast upstairs, it was apparent that the humming was specific to our stateroom. Day 1 was a sea day. A day for complete relaxation. We didn't notice the humming anywhere else on the ship and unfortunately, it was having an impact on the enjoyment of our stateroom and the cruise in general.

Several of the ship's officers were introduced at our connections (meet & mingle) party including the Chief Engineer and Hotel Manager. After exchanging pleasantries and the usual "how is everything" question, I mentioned the incessant hum that seemed to be limited to our stateroom. The Hotel Manager asked if a staff member could check it out while we were ashore the next day in Halifax.

When we returned from our day of tromping around town, a voicemail message from the Hotel Manager asked that I call Guest Relations to see about moving to a different stateroom with their complements and assistance. Housekeeping brought two hotel-style garment/suit case carts and facilitated our move to an unsold balcony stateroom on deck 7. It took less than an hour. Heavenly quiet. And happy cruisers!

Much later in the cruise, I ran into the Chief Engineer who offered this logical explanation: The Millennium-Class ships use gasoline powered engines that turn generators and make electricity for both propulsion (infamous pods) and domestic services (lights, heating, air conditioning, toilets, etc). The gas turbines are much cleaner to operate than the traditional diesel power plants. But gasoline is more expensive than diesel. A few years after the Summit entered service, a diesel generator was added specifically for the domestic services and is located just below what was then the conference rooms on deck 3 (no harm, no foul). When the Summit was "solsticized," among other revenue generating changes, the conference rooms were replaced with the staterooms we see today that happened to include the very large windows. The generator remained and is run continuously as the primary source of electricity for the domestic operations of the vessel. This makes total sense to me.

We enjoyed a great cruise and thanked the staff repeatedly. After many months of anticipation of the quiet stateroom with a huge window, we were disappointed. But Celebrity's on-board staff listened to us and responded in a wonderful and much appreciated way.

My disclaimer: the humming bothered me more than my spouse. Your experience and sensitivities may be different.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks Carol for the great information regarding the stay/park/cruise offer from Trinity. $202 is their rate for our early October 2016 cruise on the Celebrity Summit. I've shopped around and you're right -- it's a great deal. The info on this thread will be of great use to us as we enjoy our first visit to NYC prior to the cruise. Hello public transportation!

Cabin #: 7360

Deck #:7

Class: SV

Area: Aft

Bed near: Balcony

Quiet?: Quiet

Balcony view: Outstanding

Balcony size: Larger than standard

Wind a problem?: No

Soot a problem?: No

Problems/comments: The walk to elevators was never a problem. 1/3 overhang from above was perfect for sunning with privacy maintained by simply staying back from railing. I would definitely book it again.