avp1234

I'll chime in about Excellence as well; we were at Excellence Playa Mujeres a few years ago. After reading one five-star review after another, we were beyond excited to finally experience it. Well, suffice it to say that it was one of the biggest letdowns I've experienced to date! My feelings pretty much mirror what others have said. The room was very nice...and that's where it ends. After a few meals, I looked at my boyfriend almost with tears in my eyes and said, "I would actually pay for cruise food right now" (and I've been pretty critical of cruise food!).

 

The saving grace? A hurricane was coming and we were able to get out of dodge about 3 days into the trip and got a refund for the unused portion of the stay b/c of the hurricane. I think I kissed the ground when I landed in Newark. You don't hear that statement often, do you??? :D

 

I read all those 5 star reviews on TripAdvisor as well and I just don't get it. The kiss the ground when you landed I can relate to because it was the first vacation that I was actually ready to be home early. It became a joke when we would see a cruise ship, I would say, "we're over here". When we got to the Atlanta airport we ate at Five guys burgers and fries like it was the best meal we had ever ate in our lives if that tells you anything.

The Excellence Resorts are fantastic as are the Secrets Resorts! We've been to both and would go back in a heart beat!

 

Mo

We took a break from cruising this year and tried our first all-inclusive, Excellence Cancun. Everything I read and researched ahead of time said it would be wonderful. To be honest, we were disappointed. We tried several restaurants, the food was almost inedible and we are not picky. I have to say the breakfast buffet was the only food that was ok. We have always been able to find good meals on Celebrity and really don't remember a bad one. I thought we could always "fall back" on the pizza before we left, but even that was terrible. I honestly didn't know if the crust was a tortilla or an attempt at traditional pizza crust.

 

The room was beautiful and very big. Service was hit and miss and we had paid extra for the "club level". Not one day was there a seat at the club pool and the ocean had a problem with seaweed and was totally brown. I didn't see one person in it all week. The entertainment at night was very amateur. I could go on, but there was no comparison to us. This was our experience and as they say, "different strokes for different folks". They did have top shelf premium alcohol but we are beer and wine drinkers that wasn't a big deal to us as it would be for others.

 

We may one day try Sandals, but I've read several posts saying Excellence is just as good if not better, so I really don't know. We love cruising so I guess we will stick with that and if we do a land vacation not go all-inclusive for now.

[quote name='travelux']we were supposed to board Caribbean Princess today. We arrived to the terminal at 10.30 a.m. There were NO representatives from the cruise company,no information, no food or drinks. People were sitting in the cold cars for many hours.There were 2 portable toilets and long -long lines.Why we were treated like animals. Why Princess reps could not come and inform people? We left the terminal at 16.00 to go to eat and other passengers informed us that there would be no ship. Their travel agent told them. It is not the way to treat customers. Shame and disgrace.You Princess ruined our cruise. We were lucky to get a hotel room together with other unhappy passengers and heard all kinds of comments from them.[/QUOTE]

Wow, that's really bad and I'm sure very frustrating. We will be trying Princess for the first time and are going out of Houston over New Years. We are Celebrity loyalists, we've never had one problem with them, but the price was right and the ports we wanted to see, so we are giving them a try. Hopefully things look up for you in the morning.

My husband and I cruised on Mar. 28, 2015 on the Reflection. I actually thought about this today and logged on to Celebrity, and no points. Does anyone have an e-mail address handy? I didn't see one on the website. Thanks

This has probably been answered in this thread, but I'll ask anyway. Is there anywhere to get a massage? I've been once, but don't remember.

Can the obc be used for spa treatments? I wasn't sure, thought the spa services were not through celebrity, so I didn't know they could. If so, I know where I'll spend mine! :)

The Couples resorts are just a few minutes closer to Port than Sandals. Depending on what you want, I'd recommend Sandals Grande Riviera. Large property, great little beach, excellent food, lively, and really nice. Couples resorts are nice as well, but they are a little smaller and may not have as many options for you.

 

What are you looking to do on your day there? That may help you decide. Pools: SANDALS, Beach: SANDALS, Relaxtion: COUPLES, Food options: SANDALS, Distance: COUPLES.

 

I would not hesitate to take a taxi to any of them. It's safe to take a cab if you stick with the regulated JUTA taxis. You'll be fine. We have stayed on the island many times and have also cruised, and we "wing" it all the time. There will also be taxis at the resorts to take you back to port when you are done.

 

It's about a 15 minute ride to the resorts from port.

 

Thanks!:)

Hi. We will be in Ocho Rios in March and would like to do a day pass to one of these resorts. If we like it we may come back and do a land vacation. From what I've read, I don't feel comfortable getting a taxi or doing this on our own. Does anyone know how far these resorts are from the port? Also, any ideas on safe transportation from a tour company, etc.? If we don't do this, we will probably stay on the ship and I really hate to do that. We don't want to do the Falls or tour the island (done that years ago), and we don't feel like it's safe to just grab a cab and wing it. Thanks for any replies.

We were on the same cruise and your are right. The embarkation was terrible. The baggage system in San Juan leaves a lot to be desired. There was no one to direct you where to go after disembarking from our cab. Had to ask. Then the baggage check-in required everyone to get in line and shuffle your bags until you got to the baggage handlers. Never had that type of baggage checkin anywhere. Upon boarding the ship, the temperature throughout the ship was really warm. Our cabin was hot. Eventually, after the ship sailed, it started to cool down. However, throughout the cruise certain areas of the ship were still very warm. During the cruise we noticed that the crew was working on refinishing the handrails and scrubbing rust off the rails. Overall it was one of our better cruises except for the aforementioned complaints. By the way, LOVED Blu.

 

This was our first time dining in Blu and we LOVED it too! Our embarkation was the best. We arrived at the port around 10am and dropped our bags off with the porter. We knew it was too early to board so went into Old San Juan and ate lunch and walked around a bit. We came back around 1 and saw the very long line of people in the hot sun checking their luggage, but since we had already dropped off our bags we were directed to the entrance where you show your passport to enter. We were literally on the ship within 10-15 min. of arrival. We stood on the ship and looked out at the long line of people waiting and were so glad we had stopped by earlier or we would have been out there standing. The ship was warm. I'm normally carrying around a sweater in the evenings, but not this time. I know one night our cabin was so warm we both had trouble sleeping. This was our 3rd time in a row on the Summit and we are ready to try out the new Reflection next Nov. We had a good cruise and loved the ports, but the ship felt a little old to us, although I would go on her again.

Hi. We were on the Oct. 26th sailing also and had the same issue with the temperature. Our stateroom stayed warm all week. We kept the thermometer as low as it would go, and at times it would cool down some, but most of the time it was warm in there. Your post was the first one I saw this mentioned so I guess it was just our room! We were on deck 9.

Thinking of you and lifting you up in prayer!