goofysmom99

I'm with t-mobile and have their unlimited voice and text and .5GB data for $50/mo. to which I add 2GB data for an additional $10/mo. When their worldwide coverage came into being last Fall, it cost me 1 cent to upgrade (49.99 to 50.00 per month). The basic plan comes with .5GB data but you can't tether unless you add at least 2GB more. The point of this is that I took 3 cruises in Apr/May B2B2B for 5+ weeks and my phone worked in every country (Portugal, France, UK, Netherlands, the entire Baltic, and Norway). Once we could see land, I'd take it off of airplane mode and within 1 - 2 mintues I would receive a text welcoming me to whatever the country of the day was. I used it for walking directions which was wonderful when I didn't know which way to head to the hotel. I've used it in Rome to keep a taxi driver honest, too (really pissed him off). :D Because it's my data and not wifi, I can use either my phone or tethered tablet to conduct banking and do things involving passwords.

The only additional charge I had was for some voice mails ($.20 each). Phone calls are $.20 each. So when I got home and got my phone bill covering the trip, it was a whopping $2.40 more than my regular bill. I could handle it. ;)

The first time I used my phone this way was in December for Italy, Spain, etc., with an unlocked Galaxy S3 that I brought over from AT&T. This last trip, I was using an unlocked Nexus 5. If you buy your phone from t-mobile, however, it doesn't have to be unlocked since it's their service.

I used to buy SIM cards on every trip. Now I don't have to. Haven't found an easier, cheaper way to connect. BTW, I came nowhere close to using all my data but if I had, it would be easy enough to go into my t-mo account and upgrade another 2GB for $10. Data speed (usually 3G) was fast enough to do everything I needed including GPS.

OP, from your list, the only one I'm familiar with is the Hotel Golden. It's in a good location, but it's on a busy street with lots of buses. Pretty basic (zero charm), small rooms and not much sound-proofing between them.

I've stayed in a lot of hotels in Rome. The one that I particularly liked was the Hotel Abruzzi which is right next to the Albergo del Senato at half the price (should be under $200). I stayed 3 nights in the annex and it was charming - it's next door in an apartment building. Had an unobstructed view of the Pantheon, corner room with three windows with wooden shutters which opened, and it felt like I lived in Rome. I love the Pantheon area because it's a "no car" zone. For the included breakfast, you cross the Piazza della Rotunda (it's deserted early in the morning, too, so great photos) to one of the cafes on the piazza. When the folks at the cafe found out I needed gluten-free (hotel had called to advise them), they'd gone to the store and bought some special GF treats for me. It was the most magical visit I've had in seven trips. I also recommend the Villa Borghese area but it is NOT in the historical center.

Wherever you stay, you'll love Rome and walking is the best! Just last week I made my air reservations to be there again in October - can't wait! :D

Recently on the Constellation, they had Mediterranean sea bass in Blu, MDR, and Tuscan Grill. I'd had it in MDR on Silhouette in December and didn't care for it. It was identical on the Connie. I was told Chilean sea bass from legal sources had become prohibitively expensive. Bummer.

Do they allow smoking in the casino on Princess? I recently took a Royal cruise. where smoking is allowed, and that has now become a deciding factor for me as to which cruise line I choose in the future.

My recent experiences included cookies with oatmeal, we requested some variety. I seriously doubt they paid $5 per pound for gluten free oatmeal. Beautiful chocolate mousse on rice krispy crust, barley malt. Cheesecake where they removed the crust, Blu. Scones, muffins, pizza crust, waffles with pure rice flour. Some nights with no gluten free choices. I could go on and on. Write to the culinary team and let them know. I welcome a change to the gluten free bread offerings, I can't believe they still serve something so bad. Yes, you need to mention cross-contamination to nearly everyone.

 

When I met with the FBM, I brought along one of the cookies. They were rather tasteless, dry, hard, with a sawdust interior (would make great packing material). Anyway, I offered it to him and asked if he'd ever eaten one. He sheepishly said yes. Then I asked him if he'd ever met anyone who had eaten two. They really are dreadful. Bless their hearts, though, they did try to make different cookies afterwards (no oatmeal). The butler brought me a big plate every afternoon and waited to see if I liked them. Twice in twelve days, they were pretty good. I offered the HD the use my internet minutes to download some decent GF cookie recipes for a crowd. I think they all assumed I was kidding. I didn't encounter any of the cheesecake, rice crispy foods, just a lot of creme brulee, cherries jubilee, and bananas foster. The sugar-free, GF pot de creme was by far the best dessert I had the whole time so they made it special for me on several evenings. Very nice gesture. They also made me key lime mousse in a cup (no crust contamination). Yummy. My second favorite.

When all is said and done, I think the FBM on the Connie needs some additional training and if that doesn't work, he needs replacing.

I also wonder how they make gluten free crepes. Do they have a dedicated crepe maker? If not, how well do they clean the crepe maker before making the GF crepe. Many people are eating GF. Quite a few do not have Celiac disease. In one way this is good because more GF options are available. But in another way it is bad if GF isn't taken seriously and is viewed as a choice, or worse, a fad diet.

When you order GF crepes in Bistro on Five, they warn you it's going to take awhile and they totally clean one of the machines. Then they keep one set aside and the food comes faster on a second visit. Ditto waffles. They will serve you a GF waffle in the MDR. For toast, they're supposed to have a dedicated toaster and on other cruises, they have. On the Connie in Oceanview, they tried to run that yummy bread through the regular toaster. I had to fuss about that too. Overall, they do a pretty decent job. The Oceanview on the Constellation had the issues. I blame the FBM and the chef. They were quite cavalier about my concerns. That's why I visited with the Hotel Director. He listened. I also am writing a letter to corporate and I took some swell photos to accompany it, too. ;)

What I've done in other cities is to book a night in a hotel then ask to leave my luggage until I return and stay another night. I've never been turned down. Did it in Rome so I could tour Italy by train for a week with just a 22" rollaboard and a backpack. Also worked well in London to do the same thing to Paris. I'm sure there are many other options, but this has worked well for me.

Not so fast on the Not To Worry. I recently got off of the Constellation after 27 days onboard. They had some issues with GF (I have celiac). The first day, I noticed GF cookies in a cookie jar right next to 3 jars of regular cookies. . . .and one set of tongs. So I brought it to the attention of two maitre' d's and got lip service about them taking care of it. After the 3rd day with no change, I met with the Food and Beverage Manager. He said he'd take care of it. Nope, never happened. I finally met with the Hotel Director and told him they just need to separate the jars by maybe 4' and get another set of tongs. Happened immediately. The point being, no one worried a whit about cross-contamination where I could see it. I wonder what I couldn't see. Seemed to be an Oceanview issue because in Cafe al Bacio, they kept the cookies separately in the back to avoid contamination. For 27 days, I ate mostly in Blu and all was well, if repetitive eventually. They brought me the next night's menu after each dinner so I could preorder whatever I wanted. I did eat once in My Time Dining on the Transatlantic portion and unfortunately, there was gluten in something that was marked GF. I'm pretty sure it was the soup. Made for a tough night and following day. If I never see another piece of that pitiful prepackaged GF bread they offer, it will be great. The HD said that later this year, the fleet will be offering 3 kinds of fresh GF bread, like RCI does. That will be a welcome change. As far as the pizza goes, I usually order one to see if the crust has become edible. Not yet. So I peel off the toppings (that's the good part anyway). ;) The crusts I've been served on X are about 6" in diameter, 3/4" thick, and rock solid hard. Some sort of corn & rice concoction. Mmmmm. Had a pizza on Adventure of the Seas last week and it was just like a REAL pizza. I continue to hope that X will follow suit someday. Anyway, don't trust everything they say and be vigilant.

I just remembered, they now have GF soy sauce so you can have stir-fry in the evening in Oceanview. I did have to ask for them to go down to the storeroom and get it, however (I already knew it was onboard).

Duplicate.

I, too, was on this same cruise, after coming off of 27 days on the Celebrity Constellation. Both ships are almost the same age and both need some extra love (mostly furniture condition and paint). They were both clean but worn. The AOS has 50% more pax than the Constellation but only 11% more staff and it shows. Nice, friendly staff but there's a wait for everything. I also found the ship too dark. For example, the designers could easily have exposed the windows behind guest relations, but chose a false wall. I had a JS (9624 - nice location) and ended up spending a lot of time there for the quiet view. It had new carpet which did leave little blue fuzzies everywhere but was no big deal. The 560 children on board obviously contributed to the crush (note to self, always check school holidays for 7-day cruises in the future), but, for the most part, after the first day, I didn't notice them that much. . . .except in the Windjammer which was beyond ridiculous. I went up there the first day and there wasn't a seat to be had. None of the headwaiters (or whatever their designations were) knew what foods were gluten-free (I have celiac). Finally the chef came out and took me on a field trip. Even he didn't know if there were GF cookies or pizza available. He did manage to find me a GF hamburger and a GF hotdog bun. Room service provided the rest. I used room service a lot more than I ever have before so I could have a place to dine quietly without fighting for a seat, be assured of GF food (they did an outstanding job of it), and enjoy the view. The MDR salad-tossing buffet (Basserie 30?) was delicious. Very nice. Also liked the food at dinner in MDR and tablemates were delightful! (Huuuge improvement in the sorry food I had this past September on the Brilliance Transatlantic.) Great waiter and asst, too. The Viking Lounge and Diamond Lounge were nice because of the windows. The crush of people on the Promenade was very claustrophobic for me - sort of like 10 pounds of flour in a 5-pound sack. Add to that the stench of smoke rising up the steps from the casino and it made for a memorable experience.

I very much enjoyed the ports, especially Flam and Stevanger. Which reminds me of another glaring irritant on AOS. In Flam, they had one, yes ONE, gangway open for returning pax! The queue went all the way to the end of the ship. That's just silly and not well-planned. Have they cut back on security personnel too? With only 2000 pax, the Connie always had two gangways for returning pax so no one waited in a line longer than 15-20 people, ever.

I suppose if I were traveling with children, perhaps the Voyager-class would appeal to me more. But, for my tastes, I'll be limiting my future Royal cruises to Radiance-class ships (booked two Brilliance cruises for next year). I like their smaller size and the design of Deck 6. I also like Chops and Portofino a whole lot better than Giovanni's Table (really lousy experience).

So, this was my first, last, and only cruise on Adventure of the Seas. :(

That's exactly how it worked on the Constellation this month. I set it up from my tablet while in my cabin. They ask you for your birth date, folio number, and you choose username and password. Minutes are already there. They give you an additional free 30 minutes to complete the online cruise survey on the 2nd leg of the B2B. I used the internet on both my tablet and phone as well as their computers occasionally. Connection in Aqua cabin on Deck 9 midship on first cruise was significantly better than the suite on Deck 6 aft on the second. You can only connect one device at a time. It was also set up the same way on Adventure of the Seas last week, too. Definitely simpler now.

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I got off the Connie yesterday and ate in Blu for 18 nights, as I recall. The food and service really were much more personal. They handled my specific dietary needs (celiac) seamlessly. You definitely can converse with the people sitting beside you. I arrived at roughly the same time every evening and requested the same waiter so I wouldn't have to explain things repeatedly. Only had to wait in Cellar Masters twice, maybe 10 minutes. After this delightful experience, I'm probably going to upgrade my future cruises to AQ. BTW, after my guarantee cabin was assigned, I switched it from under the pool deck to the first cabin under the spa area. Knew the spa treatment room above would be carpeted. Super quiet. For $100, I'd be there in a heartbeat! Enjoy!

Can you tell me which browser you use on your samsung? He told us it never works with chrome and then could not get it going on the stock browser or firefox either.

I always use chrome with my tablet (Nexus) and it works fine onboard. For an upcoming cruise, my larger-screen android phone is all I'm taking (trying to save weight for European flight). I put the phone in airplane mode to avoid calls and manually turn on the wifi. And as everyone has said, set up your account first.

Once you're assigned your cabin, you can look at various websites which show all available cabins. If you find a better one in the same class, pick the one you'd prefer and tell your TA to switch you to that specific cabin. You don't have to go back into the pool.

Without looking up the number, you accumulate more points with a suite. Factor in the two complimentary specialty restaurant dinners (I'm assuming your cruise is longer than a week) that come with a suite, and the price difference is a wash. You can also eat in Blu on a space-A basis and most folks are successful. Celebrity will assign you a suite, usually within a few days. Worst case would be a Sky Suite which are pretty nice. I know folks who have gotten Royal Suites recently, too, but it doesn't happen often. I especially enjoy in-cabin dining at a regular height table (coffee table raises up) after a particularly long shore excursion when we're too pooped to participate. I did a suite guarantee for an upcoming cruise and got a very nice upgrade. I'd go for it.

I like both classes of ship a lot. However, if all things are equal, I guess I prefer M-class. I tend to take longer cruises and just hate that big storage cave-like thing over the bed on S-class. I make it work but it's hard to reach and organize and, if it's open and the ship pitches, stuff falls out. I love the drawers in the M-class nightstands! Bathroom storage on S-class is definitely better but at the expense of cabin storage. Two of my all time favorite things on M-class are aft elevators and aft cabins, and not just the aft-facing cabins either. I think they're quieter while still being convenient. On S-class, if I have an aft-area cabin and forget my camera, I might let it go. I do like the Tuscan Grill location on S-class. A table by the window overlooking the wake at sunset is wonderful (big sigh, wish I were there now). It's been a few years since I've sailed an M-class but have 5 cruises booked on the Connie based solely on itineraries. Don't think I'll be disappointed. ;)

I am a big fan of Choiceair for overseas flights. Got a one-way business class flight from Orlando to Rome for just over $1100 five months ago for a TA. Everywhere else wanted at least 4X that amount. I got the fare during a phone call to choiceair. The agent played with various options and found United flights for a total of $500 more than my refundable coach reservation! I had no idea that my original reservation WAS refundable. It's been decades since I've had a refundable fight. I was really impressed (airlines charge to speak to someone these days).

For US flights, especially roundtrip (including returning from a different city), I can usually do better with the airlines.

As in no soya sauce (or only high-priced g/f soya sauce) used? Why do I find myself somewhat skeptical...

No, the soy sauce isn't GF; they use Kikkoman. I tote along my own bottle of GF soy sauce. No problem with them using it to make stir fry for me. I've been doing this for about the past 6 cruises. Never a problem on X. On RCI, however, my suitcase ended up in the naughty room. I assume they thought it was booze. :confused:

I always worry about a place like Bistro, however. If a person has diagnosed Celiac's, then cooking a gf crepe on the same pan as a regular crepe would certainly be dangerous. They would need a dedicated gf cooking surface. Does anyone know how Celebrity handles the cross contamination issue? My 34-year-old daughter was recently diagnosed with Celiac's and learning about the changes has been really eye-opening for me. I just had no idea that even a few grains of wheat or other gluten can cause quite serious problems.

I was diagnosed with celiac 10-yrs ago. It's soooo much easier traveling now. You'll find GF super easy on Celebrity. There's usually a crepe machine set aside for GF. If not, your meal will take longer while they prepare one. Ditto waffle machine in the buffet. The GF pizzas on Celebrity are inedible in my book. . .a sort of corn pone/shortbread thing. Yuck. There are yummy GF cookies, though. You have to ask for them at the buffet and Cafe al Bacio since they keep them separately in the back to avoid cross-contamination. They're really good, too. ;) There are corn tortilla chips available on request, too. Every time I cruise, I find more and more options. Much easier than land vacations.

Edit: The chocolate chip cookies are big enough to take to the ice cream bar, get a scoop of vanilla, and make an ice cream sandwich. Mmmmm.....

We travel internationally all the time. The luggage excuse is just that, an excuse.

Hi Joan. It's been quite a few years, hasn't it? Five plus? Say hi to George.

Limiting myself to one suitcase is a necessity. Traveling solo means watching/managing your suitcase yourself, no second set of eyes while you use the restroom, etc. Porters aren't easily found, at least in my experience, and I certainly won't leave my luggage to go find one. After struggling with two suitcases in airports all over Europe (carrier allows two), I've reprogrammed myself to take only what I can personally manage, even when traveling with a friend. And lo and behold, I didn't really need it. Still go to formal evenings in the MDR occasionally, but just as often as not, will opt for something else. I also rewear my formal top on a long cruise and I'm pretty sure it doesn't smell. :D

You get a sofa in the aft cabins, 2 chairs in C1s on 6. My DH preferred 6144 because he could open the bathroom door if I had the closet door open. Also walk around the foot of the bed easily. Other than suites/handicapped rooms, 6143/4 are the only two cabins you can do that in. I preferred aft. We'd alternate.

Yes, you can. In fact, on many of our cruises they never took away wine when we bought it a ports along the way. We bought it, prepared to have them take it away, as we try to follow the rules, but they never have. If they do take it away, yes, after you get it back from the first leg, you can take it on the second. Enjoy your cruise adventure

I was hoping that was the case. Now I'll have something a bit more interesting to do in Honfleur for a change - I've noticed several wine shops there in the past. I doubt I could get away with a bottle of calvados, but it might be worth trying.

Thank you!

If I buy two bottles of wine in France in Honfleur, which, I assume, the ship will deliver back to me the night before we arrive in Amsterdam, can that then be my two bottles for the next leg (Baltic)? :confused: It'd sure make it easier than trying to find something in Amsterdam on turnaround day, since we're hot-footing it to Keukenhof. Anyone messed with wine on a B2B? Thanks in advance!

So what you are saying is that instead of looking at your email through the email app on your tablet, you are using Safari, Chrome, etc. to go to your email provider, such as Hotmail? Doesn't it take just as long to go through the steps to your provider than it does to have emails downloading in your app's mailbox? Perhaps I am not understanding. :o

 

Getting to know my iPhone a little better today. :)

It's faster for me to go in through a browser so I don't run the risk of receiving a whole boatload of unwanted emails. Plus, my relatives never remember when I'm out of the country and regularly send humongous email attachments (usually photos). I wait to see them when I get home or ashore. When I go in through a browser, I only look at the email subject lines. I do it twice/day and it usually takes 1-2 minutes each time, max. I'd have no way of knowing how big/long downloads would be without previewing.

In the FWIW department, I'm with t-mobile and have taken two European trips since they went to that unlimited worldwide phone, text, and data program. I signed up for it in August (raised my monthly rate from $49.99 to $50.00, no kidding). During my stays in London and Rome, and whenever I was in port, I used my phone to send/receive texts to the tour operators, download emails, check the internet, and occasionally GPS. My bill never increased. Well, actually, I did have a charge for 20¢ for a voice mail in France, but that was it (international calls are 20¢/minute). When I'd get back on the ship, I'd just set my phone to airplane mode until the next port.

When onboard, I use my tablet to go into webmail through my browser rather than downloading. I can see the titles and quickly read the ones that matter. If I need to respond, I can do that offline and reconnect to send. If I have minutes to burn (I usually do now with Elite+), I can take the time to delete the junk titles. Anyway, this leaves everything on the server until I get home to download.